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torial powers, and appointed Torices Vice-President, Torres raised an army of 2,500 recruits, with which he forced Calzada, who was advancing on the capital, to retreat to Ocaña. But Calzada, after receiving some reinforcements, turned upon him and completely routed him on the 22nd February. The three Provinces of Pamplona, Socorro, and Antioquia were then occupied by the Royalists, and the capital lay defenceless. Torres resigned, and a physician named Madrid was appointed in his place. He called for volunteers; only six men offered themselves.
Cundinamarca, which had been forced into the Union, had remained disaffected, and now became openly Royalist. The rest of the country was worn out, and was only eager for peace. Congress authorised Madrid to negotiate with Morillo, and dissolved itself. The new President retired to the South with the remnant of the army, and joined the division of Popayán under Mejia, who then marched against a Royalist force under Sámano, which was advancing from Quito, and was totally defeated.
Morillo left a strong garrison at Cartagena and divided the rest of his diminished force into four light columns for the complete subjugation of the country. Bogotá fell without a shot being fired, but while he was at Ocaña with the reserve, news reached him that Venezuela was again in commotion, that a fresh insurrection had broken out in the island of Margarita, and that the emigrants, headed by Bolívar, were preparing an expedition to rekindle the flames of revolution on the mainland. Seriously alarmed, he sent Morales with a division back to Venezuela to secure his base of operations.
Morillo now, for the first time, appreciated the magnitude of the enterprise he had undertaken, and, with rare perspicuity, foresaw its fatal termination. He wrote to the Home Government that, in spite of his success, he could not without reinforcements bring the Llaneros into subjection, and that it was necessary to establish a military government, and so crush rebellion by the use of the same
