therefore four kinds of authorities to which the colonies were required to give allegiance; they were ready to recognize any proper authority of Spanish origin, and while they differed as to their proper course between the various juntas, they were all agreed in their hatred for the French.
The efforts of the viceroys and their subordinates to secure colonial allegiance to Joseph Bonaparte led to collisions between the populace and the authorities in several cities, and finally to open warfare. Owing to the disorders in Spain there was no central power which the colonies could respect, and this circumstance led to the formation of juntas of their own. The first was in Quito in 1809, but it was suppressed by the viceroy; the second was at Santa Fé de Bogota in the same year, and many of its members were imprisoned and afterwards massacred in cold blood. Similar scenes were enacted in other parts of the colonies, and tended greatly to weaken the authority of the mother country. Naturally the colonists asked the question, "What will become of us if Spain falls completely under the domination of France?" The discussion of the question naturally led to independence, and it is easy to see how a struggle which began in extreme loyalty to Ferdinand VII. and the government he represented, could develop into a battle for complete independence. From 1808 to 1812 the French armies gained ground in Spain. There was little hope of a restoration of the Spanish power and the expulsion of the Bonapartes, and long before the disasters of Napoleon in Russia, and the consequent retreat of the French from Spain, the colonies were on the high road to absolute freedom from the yoke of their mother country.
The government of Joseph Bonaparte adopted repressive measures towards the colonies; troops were sent to awe the people into submission, the province of Caraccas was declared in blockade, and the colonial rulers were ordered to enforce obedience at whatever cost. After the
