CHAPTER XIX
Difficulties with Perú. Slander and Honors. On the Road to Calvary
(1829-1830)
The wound received by Bolívar's heart had no possible cure. His physical condition was getting worse and worse from day to day, but he had to remain in power. Serious dangers threatened the country. In Bolivia, Sucre, a victim of the conspiracy of Perúvians, had been wounded and forced to leave the country where he had been in command, but not without showing his generosity in a message to the Bolivian Congress, in which he said:
"Although through foreign instigations I carry broken the arm w in Ayacucho put an end to the war of American Independence, which destroyed the chains of Perú and gave birth to Bolivia, I am comforted, feeling in these difficult circumstances that my conscience is of any guilt…. My Government has been distinguished by clemency, tolerance and kindness."
All of this was the naked truth. Perú had invaded Bolivia and had attacked Colombia. Bolívar immediately organized an expedition, under the command of General José Maria Córdova,—who distinguished himself in Ayacucho,—and he, himself, prepared to go immediately. After attending to several matters of an administrative character, he started towards the South, in spite of declining health. It was torture for him to ride on horseback. He knew that little of life remained for him, and still he was going to give his last days to the service of his country. He did not seek revenge on his enemies then in power in Perú. He only wanted to defend the integrity of Colombia against the foreign invader.
As was his custom, he tried first to settle all difficulties through negotiation. His aide-de-camp, Colonel O'Leary, was sent to offer the Liberator's friendship to Perú, but the Peruvian Government did not deign even to answer O'Leary's communication. In January, 1829, the Perúvians obtained some success; they occupied Guayaquil and other places with an army of over 8,000 men well organized, while the Colombians numbered only 6,000 men, poorly equipped, but commanded by the greatest of all South American generals after Bolívar,—Sucre, who was able to inflict two defeats on the enemy during the month of February, and, after his final victory, offered a capitulation, which was accepted by the enemy, with the stipulation that the boundaries between Perú and Colombia were to be settled by a special commission, and that neither of the contracting parties would intervene in the domestic affairs of the other. The city of Guayaquil was to be surrendered to Colombia. The Peruvian army was commanded by La Mar, head of the anti-Colombian party of Perú.
The inhabitants of Pasto had again rebelled against Colombia, but they were subdued without bloodshed. Upon receiving their submission, Bolívar went to Quito, where, after long separation, he met Sucre, and found in the loyal friendship of the Great Marshal of Ayacucho some comfort in the midst of all the bitterness which filled his soul. On that occasion, for the first time, Bolívar's facility and felicity of language failed him, and his tears were the only expression of his feelings. He received in Quito a manifesto issued by Páez regarding the murderous attempt of the 25th of September, once more protesting that he was loyal to Bolívar. Again mentioning the sword that his illustrious chief had given him, he said: "In my hands it will always be Bolívar's sword, not my own; let his will direct it and my arm will carry it."
La Mar, on trivial pretexts, did not surrender the city of Guayaquil, but undertook the reorganization and enlargement of his army. Bolívar prepared himself for new struggles, while in private he did his best to have the capitulation fulfilled. Advancing to Guayaquil, he succeeded in recovering without a single shot the land lost by Colombia, for La Mar had become unpopular in Perú on account of this war and was deprived of his command and expelled from the country. Immediately after his banishment public feeling in Perú expressed itself freely in favor of Colombia and a friendly arrangement was very easy. La Mar died soon after in exile, forgotten by all.
In Guayaquil, Bolívar's life was in great danger because of very serious illness, and his soul was sick of the unjust attacks by his enemies. In 1815 the Duke of Manchester, governor of Jamaica, had said of him that the flame had consumed the oil, but at this time it was really true. Yet on August 31st, while barely convalescing, he plunged again into activity by issuing a famous circular asking the people to express their opinions freely on the form of government and on the constitution to be adopted by the next constitutional congress. After recovering from that illness he went to Quito, where he worked in the reorganization of the southern departments, and at the end of October he left for Bogotá.
Then another man added his bit to the work of Bolívar's enemies. Córdova, tempted by ambition, and believing in the necessity for the separation of New Granada from Venezuela, claimed that, since Bolívar was getting old and had very few days to live, he should be deprived of the command. He tried to form a combination with Páez, Mariño and others. Bolívar knew of his actions and talked to him in an attempt to win back his friendship. He thought that so distinguished a general would hesitate much before smirching his glory with ingratitude; but at the bottom of his heart this wound, added to the others he had received, pushed him a little farther towards his premature end. Córdova finally raised the flag of insurrection, based on the Constitution of Cúcuta, calling Bolívar the tyrant of the country. He and his improvised army were destroyed by O'Leary, and he was fatally wounded on the field of battle. He was young, rich and endowed with great powers of attraction; he was brave and clever, and his disloyalty and insurrection form one of the saddest episodes of this part of the history of America.
It may have been of some comfort to Bolívar that at that time a special envoy from France went to Bogotá to express the esteem of his country for the great man of the South. Addressing the Council of Ministers, the French envoy, Bresson, voiced the hope of seeing Bolívar soon, and of
"expressing to him verbally to what extent Simón Bolívar's name is honored among us. France admires in him not only that intrepidity and celerity in enterprise, that vision and that constancy which are the qualifications of a great general, but pays homage to his virtue to his political talent, which are guaranty of independence and order—the essentials of the freedom of the country, which has placed her destiny in his hands."
Europe was unanimous in her admiration for Bolívar. In England they also had the highest opinion of the American hero.
"It is impossible," wrote the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Dudley, in March, 1828, to Campbell, British Chargé d'Affaires in Colombia, "to have observed the events which have occurred in Colombia and its neighboring provinces since their separation from the mother country, without being convinced that the merits and services of General Bolívar entitle him to the gratitude of his fellow-citizens, and to the esteem of foreign nations."
But this general feeling also gave foundation to slanderous affirmations that Bolívar wanted to make himself king. We have seen how untrue this was. Bolívar had no other ambition than the freedom and the union of his country,—Colombia, the child of his genius. For himself, he wanted only to keep his honor untarnished and to pass his last days as a simple citizen.
During his stay in the South, the Council of Ministers started to work for a monarchy. A letter was sent to him, not speaking openly of the monarchical question, but dwelling on the restless condition of the population and the need of preparing for the future. In answer, Bolívar expressed his agreement and, knowing that he could not live much longer, said that in order to avoid civil war with its terrible results, which he expected to occur within ten years, it would be advisable to divide the country by legal and peaceable means. He declared that he considered the stability of the government impossible because of the hostility between Venezuela and Nueva Granada. He pronounced himself against a foreign monarch and said that, as for himself, he took it for granted that it was understood that he was tired of serving and of suffering ingratitude and attempts against his own life. He still insisted that, "in case no other solution seems feasible, the best way out of the difficulty would be a president for life, and a hereditary senate," as he had proposed in Guayana. In a letter to O'Leary, he wrote:
"I cannot conceive of even the possibility of establishing a kingdom in a country which is constitutionally democratic because the lo and most numerous classes of the people want it to be so, with an indisputable right, since legal equality is indispensable where there is physical inequality, in order to correct to a certain extent the injustice of nature. Besides, who can be a king in Colombia? Nobody, for no foreign prince would accept a throne surrounded by danger and misery, and the generals would consider it humiliating to subordinate themselves to a comrade, and resign the supreme authority forever."
He wrote that the idea of monarchy was chimerical, and that it should be discussed no more. In another letter he expressed his decision to relinquish power, whether Congress met or not.
Bolívar arrived in Bogotá on the 15th of January, 1830, and on the 20th Congress began its work under the presidency of Sucre. With the inauguration of the Congress, Bolívar considered that his public duties had ended, and in that sense he published an eloquent proclamation, which closed with this supreme appeal:
"Fellow citizens, listen to my last words, at the end of my political career. In the name of Colombia, I beg you, I pray you, always to remain united so that you may not become the murderers of your country and your own murderers."
In this proclamation he mentioned the fact that a crown had been offered to him more than once, and that he had rejected the offers with the indignation befitting a strong Repúblican. In his message to the Congress, he offered to obey any person elected to occupy his place and to support him with his sword and all his strength.
"The Republic will be happy," he said, "if, on accepting my resignation, you appoint as President a citizen loved by the country. She would succumb if you insisted that I command her…. Beginning today I am nothing but a citizen, armed for the defense of my country and for the obedience to her government. My public functions have ended forever. I deliver unto you the supreme authority which the will of the country conferred upon me."
The circular issued by Bolívar from Guayaquil on the 31st of August had been received by Páez, who circulated it in Venezuela, and organized demonstrations asking for the separation of Venezuela from Colombia. As the union of Colombia had been Bolívar's greatest conception, he was attacked, and in Valencia his ostracism was demanded. Páez was asked to prevent his entering Venezuelan territory. Wherever Páez exercised any influence, Bolívar's authority was denounced, and Páez was asked to assume the highest authority of the country. Bolívar was insulted by the press of his own nation, which called him a tyrant and a hypocrite, and insisted on his banishment. At last Páez declared himself openly. He went to Caracas, approved the rebellion of the capital against Bolívar, broke with him, declared Venezuela a sovereign state, appointed a cabinet and convoked a congress to meet in Valencia. He asked the people for subsidies for the war against Bolívar, and at the same time wrote a letter to the Libertador warning him not to oppose the will of the Venezuelans, who were ready, he said, to deliver themselves to the Spaniards rather than to Bolívar.
The Congress of Colombia had asked Bolívar to remain in command, to suppress anarchy, and to fulfil his promise that he would exercise power until the constitution had been proclaimed and magistrates duly elected. Bolívar accepted provisionally, and immediately tried to obtain a friendly compromise with Venezuela. He wanted to have a personal interview with Páez, but Páez declined. He had unsheathed the sword Bolívar had given him, and the one he had sworn to carry according to the will of the Libertador. The Congress of Colombia appointed a constitutional committee, and Bolívar proposed that a peace mission be sent to Venezuela to make known the intentions of the national representation, and to show the basis of the constitution, in order to destroy any suspicions which might have been conceived in Venezuela regarding this document. The mission was appointed, one of its members being the illustrious General Sucre, President of the Congress, another, its Vice-President. The Commissioners were asked to inform the Venezuelan people that the future constitution was to be entirely Repúblican, that the Congress hoped to obtain a friendly agreement with Venezuela, and that the Congress was firmly decided to preserve the principles of integrity of the Republic and unity of the government in the new constitution; that all dissensions were to be forgotten and that all existing differences would be settled in a friendly way. Sucre said very frankly that, considering the state of affairs in Venezuela, he did not expect favorable results. The basis of the constitution as finally adopted provided that
"the republic should be unitary according to its fundamental law; the government should be popular, representative and elected for terms of eight years; the legislative power should be divided among the Senate, the House of Representatives and the Executive; there was to be a Council of State to help the President of the Republic, and this Council should have no responsibility except in the case of treachery; the Cabinet officers were to be responsible. Local legislatures to be created to take care of local interests; individual rights were guaranteed."[1]
[Footnote 1: Larrazábal—Vida de Bolívar. Vol. II (6th Edition), New York, 1883, p. 531.]
Bolívar showed his generosity again by pardoning those who were in exile on account of the conspiracy of the 25th of September, and then asked permission of the Congress to be relieved of his duties because of ill health. Once obtaining permission, he went to a country place to recover. He was never again to exercise the executive authority of Colombia. Using his power, he appointed General Domingo Caicedo to take his place. He was a very kindly and patriotic man and the best suited to mediate between the contending parties.
The peace commission was not even received in Venezuelan territory, but had to stay on the border to meet the delegates appointed by Páez, one of whom was Mariño. Claiming that Bolívar was oppressing Nueva Granada, Páez had prepared himself for a campaign, not only to support the Venezuelan Revolution but to deliver Nueva Granada from its so-called oppressor. The real cause was simply his inordinate ambition. The conferences between the two groups were fruitless, and the delegates of the Congress withdrew. Meanwhile, Páez was issuing proclamation after proclamation against Bolívar, who had to leave the country place where he was caring for his health and go to Bogotá to meet the new situation. He was asked to resume the supreme command, but he knew that he was not strong enough for the task. He consulted the Ministers and some friends, but nothing was decided. Some members of the Congress wanted to elect him constitutional President; these, however, were vehemently attacked by others. Many friends deserted the Libertador, knowing perfectly well they had little to expect from a life which was rapidly nearing the end. Bolívar saw all this, learned of the intrigues of his enemies, and, convinced that the best thing he could do was to withdraw not only from power but from the country he had loved so dearly and for which he had done so much, he sent a message on the 27th of April, 1830, to the Congress, in which he reiterated his decision not to accept again the supreme power of the state.
"You must be assured," he said, "that the good of the country imposes on me the sacrifice of leaving forever the land which gave me life in order that my presence in Colombia may not be an obstacle to the happiness of my fellow citizens."
Three days later, Congress answered, praising the patriotic disinterestedness of Bolívar and protesting that the country would always respect and venerate him, and take care that the luster of his name should pass to posterity in a manner befitting the founder of Colombian independence.[1]
[Footnote 1: Upon the disruption of Colombia, Nueva Granada kept her old name. Later she changed it to Colombia. It is necessary to bear in mind that Colombia of today is only a part of Bolívar's Colombia.]
CHAPTER XX
Friends and Foes. Sucre's Assassination. The Lees of Bitterness. An Upright Man's Death
(1830)
Bolívar prepared to go to Cartagena, where he intended to sail for Jamaica or Europe. His melancholy was relieved by a message from Quito, in which the most prominent citizens asked him to select as his residence that city, where he was respected and admired. "Come," they said, "to live in our hearts and to receive the homage of gratitude and respect due to the genius of America, the Liberator of a world." The Bishop of Quito, Monsignor Rafael Lasso, also sent a communication, in his own name and in the name of the clergy, endorsing the petition. Bolívar did not accept this invitation. On May third, the constitution of Colombia was signed, and on the following day don Joaquín Mosquera and General Domingo Caicedo were elected President and Vice-President of Colombia, respectively. Bolívar showed his pleasure at the result, and uttered the following words:
"I am reduced to the private life which I have so much desired if the Congress wants any special proof of my blind obedience to the constitution and the laws, I am ready to give whatever may be asked."
He left the palace and went to live in a private residence. There he received a delegation of the principal citizens of Bogotá, who placed in his hands a beautiful document containing the following words, especially worthy of notice:
"You conquered the plane upon which our future happiness will be built and, believing yourself to be an obstacle to that happiness, you resign voluntarily the first authority, protesting never again to take the reins of government. Such a noble, generous and magnanimous action places you above heroes. History has its pages filled with the actions of brave soldiers and fortunate warriors, but it can make them beautiful only with the actions of a Washington or a Bolívar. In private life, you will receive unmistakable proofs of our devotion to your person. We shall always remember your merits and services, and we shall teach our children to pronounce your name with tender emotions of admiration and gratitude."
This document was signed on May 5, 1830, by Caicedo, the Vice-President, in the exercise of the executive power, the Archbishop of Bogotá, the members of the Cabinet and 2,000 distinguished citizens. Three days later, Bolívar left Bogotá, accompanied for six miles by the members of the Cabinet, the ministers of the diplomatic corps, many military men and citizens, and almost all the members of the foreign colonies. The following day, Congress passed a decree which is an honor to it and to Bolívar, by which homage of gratitude and admiration was paid him in the name of Colombia, and it was ordered that wherever Bolívar might choose to live he should be treated always with the respect and consideration due the first and best citizen of Colombia. In that same decree, it was ordered that a pension of 30,000 pesos per year, decreed to Bolívar in 1823, be punctually paid for life.
Among the many sad things which can be told of this man of sorrows, is the fact that this pension was sorely needed. In March of that year he had been forced to sell his silver, and even then did not have enough money to pay for his trip.
On his way to the Caribbean, Bolívar received homage in all the towns he entered. He advised everybody to respect the law and to obey the government. Every day saw him poorer. His personal fortune in Venezuela had been greatly diminished, and possessions left to him by his ancestors were involved in litigation. Consequently, he could count on very little. He had planned to sail from Cartagena, but was unable to do so. From there he endeavored to secure some money from his relatives in Caracas, in which effort he failed.
While in Cartagena he received news of several insurrections in favor of the integrity of Colombia and of himself as head of the nation. Bolívar refused to heed these calls, and continued his life of poverty, embittered and saddened by the news received that Antonio José de Sucre, his beloved friend and lieutenant, the hero of Pichincha and Ayacucho, had been murdered on his way to Quito, on the 4th of June, while crossing a mountain called Berruecos. It is difficult to conceive how Sucre could have had enemies, he who was perhaps the purest and kindest figure of all the American War of Independence, all generosity, forgiveness and benevolence. He was riding alone when shot from an ambush. His orderly, who was at some distance behind him, rushed to the scene only to find that Sucre was dead. His corpse remained there that afternoon and all night. On the following day the soldier buried him in the forest.[1]
[Footnote 1: Sucre's body was lost for a long while. In the Pantheon of Caracas there are three beautiful monuments: the one in the center contains Bolívar's ashes; the one to the right, which we have already described, is devoted to Miranda; the one to the left is devoted to Sucre, and contains an expression of hope that some day Venezuela can pay homage to her great son. The body of Sucre has been found at last in Quito, and it is expected that very soon it will occupy its place near Bolívar, Sucre's leader and friend. (See: Manuel Segundo Sánchez, Los Restos de Sucre, Caracas, 1918.)]
That news was perhaps the last blow to Bolívar. The day he received it he was attacked with a severe cold, which he neglected and which developed into his fatal illness, an illness which had been long latent in his frail body. He remarked that the murder had perturbed his spirit. As a matter of fact, from the day he received the news, he sank rapidly in both mind and body.
Venezuela was doing her best to thrust the dagger still deeper in Bolívar's heart. Since she had decided to withdraw from the Union, it was resolved by Congress that no negotiations should be exchanged between Venezuela and Nueva Granada while "General Simón Bolívar remains in the territory of old Colombia." One representative proposed, as a provision for the continued relations between Venezuela and Nueva Granada, the expulsion of General Bolívar from all the territory of Colombia, and his motion was accepted. Most of the former friends of the dying man were now his bitter enemies, all due to the ambition of Páez and the intrigues of his partisans and of those who, in good faith, believed that idealistic Repúblican principles could meet the practical needs of Colombia.
The President of Colombia, Mosquera, committed so many errors in government that he lost his prestige and was forced to leave Bogotá. The government then passed into the hands of Caicedo. A military insurrection overthrew the President and the Vice-President, and the military element proclaimed Bolívar chief of the republic, granting him full powers. General Urdaneta, old friend and constant companion of Bolívar, was entrusted provisionally with the executive power, and he organized a cabinet. He at once sent a commission to meet the Libertador in Cartagena. Many friends wrote Bolívar beseeching him to return to Bogotá to establish public order. The foreign representatives also used their influence to induce Bolívar to accept authority, for he was the only guaranty of peace.[1]
[Footnote 1: Among the foreign representatives who showed pleasure at the idea of Bolívar's accepting the power was the representative of the United States.
It is worthy of notice that the reputation of Bolívar as an ambitious man was discredited in the State Department at Washington by the very person thought to be its originator. When Watts was in Bogotá, in his correspondence with Clay (No. 19, Nov. 28, 1826), he asserted that he did not believe in the anti-Repúblicanism of Bolívar, who had consolidated the departments and acted with prudence and discretion. Watts expressed his firm conviction that Bolívar would not act as dictator but in conformity with the constitution, stating also the fact that Bolívar had refused the Bolivian and Peruvian dictatorships. In his communication of March 2, 1827 (No. 26), Watts denies the rumors of the monarchial ambitions of Bolívar, and says that he has nothing but the greatest magnanimity. On March 15, Watts himself asked Bolívar to assume power.
All these stories of disinterestedness seem to be contradicted in the correspondence of Harrison and Van Buren. In his note of May 27, 1829 (No. 13), Harrison speaks of monarchical plots, expressing his belief that Bolívar is behind them, founding his assertions only on the opposition of Bolívar to foreign princes. He is very free in speaking of plans, but he gives no precise data about them. In his note of July 28, 1829 (No. 18), Harrison states that the monarchists are determined to put Bolívar on the throne, and adds that he saw a letter of "a man in high position who has enjoyed the entire confidence of Bolívar, but who is now in complete opposition to all his schemes of personal aggrandizement." Bolívar, according to this letter, intended to become the monarch of Colombia, Perú and Bolivia. Then Harrison mentions the printing of a paper on the evils of free government, and states that that paper, of which he had seen a single copy, had the purpose of making propaganda in favor of Bolívar, but had been suppressed for fear that it would injure Bolívar's cause. All this sounds very much like personal hostility, and shows that the practice of some diplomatic representatives of making trouble for the countries where they are accredited instead of representing their own country in a dignified manner is not new.
After the correspondence of Harrison, we find the papers of Moore to Van Buren. In No. 10 of December 21, 1829, Moore affirms that Bolívar had no monarchical designs and encloses a letter of Bolívar to O'Leary, ridiculing monarchical government. That letter is dated August 21, 1829, and in it Bolívar suggests the election of another president. Moore accuses Harrison of insulting the Colombian government. The author is indebted to Dr. Julius Goebel, Jr., for the references to these papers.]
Bolívar, declining to accept command of the insurrection and condemning the movement, sent General O'Leary to the assembly provisionally organized to advise them to use the right of petition and to inform them that he condemned all other actions. He reiterated his offer to serve as a citizen and as a soldier, and repeated that he would not accept any position except as the majority of the people willed. In a letter to Urdaneta he said that between him and the presidency there was "a bronze wall," which was the law. He advised them to wait until the election could be held, and said that he would then assume the executive power in case he were chosen in free elections held according to the law. This letter was the last public defense of his career. The last principle he sought to establish was the most sound of Repúblican principles.
"The source of legality," he wrote, "is the free will of the people; not the agitation of a mutiny nor the votes of friends."
From Cartagena he went to a town called Soledad, and then to Barranquilla, where he remained during October and November, receiving daily news of the insults with which Venezuela was rewarding his services, and knowing very little of the good work of his friends, for he still had friends in several sections of the countries he had set free. All Nueva Granada was in favor of his assuming power as supreme chief of the republic. Ecuador proclaimed him father of his country and protector of Southern Colombia, and the government of Bolivia, learning that he was going to Europe, decided to appoint him its ambassador to the Holy See.
But Bolívar was preparing for his last voyage. He planned to go to Santa Marta, where his friends urged him to rest. His physician heartily approved, thinking that there his health might improve. When he arrived at Santa Marta, on the 1st of December, he had to be carried in a chair. Subsequent to an examination by a French and an American physician, he was sent to a country place called San Pedro Alejandrino, situated about three miles from Santa Marta, where he obtained temporary relief. On the 10th there were symptoms of congestion of the brain, but they disappeared. The same day he drafted his will and, not desiring to die without speaking again to his fellow citizens, issued his last proclamation, which read as follows:
"Colombians, you have witnessed my efforts to establish freedom where tyranny formerly reigned. I have worked unselfishly, giving up my fortune and my tranquillity. I resigned the command when I was convinced that you did not trust my disinterestedness. My foes availed themselves of your credulity and trampled upon what is most sacred to me—my reputation as a lover of freedom. I have been a victim of my persecutors, who have led me to the border of the tomb. I forgive them.
"Upon disappearing from your midst, my love prompts me to express my last wishes. I aspire to no other glory than the consolidation of Colombia; all must work for the invaluable blessing of union; the peoples, obeying the present government, in order to free themselves from anarchy; the ministers of the Sanctuary, by sending prayers to Heaven; and the soldiers, by using their swords to protect the sanctions of social order.
"Colombians, my last wishes are for the happiness of our country. If my death can help to destroy the spirit of partisanship, and strengthen union, I shall tranquilly descend to my grave."
After this act he became delirious and, calling his servant, he said: "Joseph, let us go away. They are throwing us out of here. Where shall we go?" On the 17th of December, at one o'clock in the afternoon, the great man of the South, one of the greatest men in the history of the world, died. On that same day, eleven years before, in Angostura, Colombia had been created by his genius. He died at the age of forty-seven and one-half years.
"Few men have lived such a beautiful life in the whirlpool of action; nobody has died a more noble death in the peace of his bed."[1]
[Footnote 1: Bolívar—J.E. Rodó.]
His death was the end of Colombia.
For twelve years his remains rested in Santa Marta, and then they were carried to Caracas, where they now lie in the Pantheon, between two empty coffins, that of Miranda on his right and that destined for Sucre on his left.
There the Venezuelans honor him as the protecting genius of their country. They have blotted from the memory of man the ingratitude of their forefathers. They live in constant veneration of the great man, and consider him as the creator and protector of their country, and the greatest source of inspiration to live austerely and united within Venezuela, since they cannot form a part of that greater country, the dream of which went with Bolívar to his tomb.
A patriot, a general as great as the greatest who ever lived, a statesman possessing an exceptional wisdom and a vision which has been justified by a century of American history, a loyal friend, a man of generous and liberal nature, always forgiving, always opening his arms wide to his enemies, always giving all that he had in material wealth and in spiritual gifts, a conqueror of the oppressors of his country, a founder of three nations (which later were converted into five, by the disruption of Colombia); the man who consolidated the independence of America, making his power felt as far as the provinces of the River Plata and Chile; a symbol of freedom, even in Europe where his name was like a flag to all those who fought oppression; a sincere Repúblican—all this was Simón Bolívar, and he was something more. He was the best personification of his own race, the Spanish race, which made him the brother of Morillo, Latorre and Rodil, a race which lives in twenty nations of the earth and in whose memory all names now stand equal, if they represent the same principles, whether they were written in Covadonga or Carabobo, by the sword of Pelayo or by the sword of Bolívar.
A man who writes of Bolívar's life, actions and sorrows, can hardly retain the serenity of the historian, but surrenders to that deep emotion composed of profound awe and human love, and, though his work may have been begun impersonally, it ends with the creation in his heart of those deep feelings which at times have no better expression than tears.
CHAPTER XXI
The Man and His Work
Bolívar was of rather less than medium height, thin and agile. In all his actions he showed quickness and alertness. He had large, black, piercing eyes, his eyebrows were curved and thick; his nose straight and long; his cheeks somewhat sunken; his mouth, not particularly well formed but expressive and graceful. From early youth his forehead was deeply lined. His neck was erect; his chest, narrow. At one period of his life he wore a mustache and sidewhiskers, but he resumed shaving about 1825, when grey hair began to appear. His hair was auburn at first, and his complexion very white in his youth, but tanned after his long campaigns. His appearance evidenced frankness of character, and his body, spiritual energy.
Bolívar was always a great reader. In his style and his quotations he shows his predilection for the classics, especially for Plutarch's "Lives." He also read much of the literature of the French Revolution. He was a very impressive orator; his addresses and proclamations show much emphasis, and the rhetorical artifice is apparent, as it is in all literature of this kind. In his letters he uses a very simple and naturally witty style. He was a great coiner of sentences, many of which can be found in his proclamations and addresses. His political perspicacity was remarkable. He could and did break the conventionalities and the political principles sacred in that epoch, to formulate those which were better for the condition of the country. He was a shrewd judge of men, and knew how to honor them and please them for the good of the cause they defended. All his intellectual power was necessary to become a master of men like Páez and Bermúdez. His mental alertness was exceptional. He could make a decision promptly without showing the effect of haste. He had a brain for large problems and for small details. He would attend to the organization of his army down to the most minute details, as well as to the preparations for long campaigns.
The most admirable moral quality of Bolívar was his constancy. It rose above everything.
His energy was marvelous to carry him through the difficulties he had to encounter. In defeat he had
"the virtue of Antheus as no other hero had to such a degree; a singular virtue of growing to more gigantic proportions when the fall had been deepest and hardest; he had something like a strengthening power to assimilate the sap of adversity and of discredit, not through the lessons of experience, but through the unconscious and immediate reaction of a nature which thus fulfils its own laws. His personality as a warrior has in this characteristic the seal which individualizes it, as was aptly said in a few words by his adversary, the Spanish general Morillo: 'More fearful vanquished than victor.'"[1]
[Footnote 1: Bolívar—J.E. Rodó]
His soul could be like steel, as in the case of Piar, and it could be soft, as in his untiring forgiveness to Santander. His generosity was unlimited. He gave all. Any soldier could come to him and receive money. It is said that no common soldier went away from him with less than a dollar. When he was on his way to Cartagena, having resigned power forever, when he was writing to Caracas for money, at a time when he had not enough to pay his transportation abroad, he was still giving of his limited resources to all who begged of him.
His ambition was legitimate. In a communication he acknowledged that he was not free from all ambition; but that does not mean that he yielded to it. Virtue does not lie in the absence of temptation, but in fighting it successfully. He was truly ambitious for glory, and when glory is as legitimate as his was, there is no worthier ambition. He was accused by Lorain Petre of craving flattery, and of having been delighted with the homage paid him on his way to Potosí. Great men have been flattered always, and that they are flattered does not mean that they like flattery. Furthermore, there is a certain delicate flattery which every man likes. We, sober-minded Americans, have often heard some of our great men who are still living, even called saints, and we do not feel shocked. After having given life to three countries, one of them composed of three large divisions, Bolívar could receive homage without finding it incongruous or exaggerated.
He was refined in manner and always a gentleman. In his campaigns he was careless of his clothing through necessity, but when in the cities he liked to have all the refinements. He never thought of money; he would spend it if he had it, and if he did not spend it, he gave it away. He enjoyed society and was a great admirer of women. "He knelt before love, without surrendering his sword to it."
He was human. He enjoyed a good joke, and sometimes his jokes hurt. It is related that once, after a long march, he arrived at a small town where he expected to get some food. He was received by the notables of the town, among them a young intellectual, who took from his pocket a long address. Bolívar listened to the beginning and at once knew that it was going to be not only long but tedious. The young man came to a sentence reading: "When Caesar crossed the Rubicon…," at which point Bolívar interrupted him, saying, "My dear friend, when Caesar crossed the Rubicon he had had his breakfast, and I have not yet had mine. Let us first have breakfast." Generally, he respected everyone's feelings, and was much inclined to praise others, the living as well as the dead. We may well remember the honors paid to Girardot, his beautiful words in homage to Cedeño and Plaza, how Páez received his dues after the battle of Carabobo, and how Sucre was given his right place as one of the most legitimate glories of the continent by Bolívar. Speaking of Anzoátegui's death, he said: "I would have preferred the loss of two battles to the loss of Anzoátegui." No more beautiful way could be found to be generous while being just.
We have called Bolívar a gentleman; we might rather call him a knight. He loved an ideal and lived for that ideal, and that ideal was his last thought before he went to his rest.
He was judged in Europe and North America in very flattering terms. Daniel
Webster, J.H. Perkins and Joseph Story, in the name of the Bunker Hill
Monument Association, wrote Bolívar the following:
"When we read of the enormous sacrifice of personal fortune, the calmness in difficult situations, the exercise without misusing a power greater than imperial power, the repeated refusal of dictatorship, the simplicity of your Repúblican habits and the submission to the constitution and law which has so gloriously distinguished the career of Your Excellency, we believe that we see the image of our venerated Washington. At the same time that we admire and respect his virtues, we feel moved by the greatest sympathy to pay equal homage to the hero and Liberator of the South."
Martin Van Buren wrote:
"What better example could be presented of human glory than that the great chieftain who, after having successfully resisted foreign aggression and extinguished domestic commotion, also conquered the weakness to which noble hearts have been subjected at all times."
Murray, an English rear admiral, wanted to present his homage to the "leader of all South America"; Lord Byron, whose yacht was called Bolívar, also expressed his desire to visit him. Lafayette, Monsignor de Pradt, Martin de Nancy, Martin-Maillefer, and the noted Humboldt, among others, expressed their admiration for Bolívar. Victor Hugo praised him. His name was on the lips of the Repúblicans of Europe as a symbol of liberty.
We have seen the words of Lafayette in transmitting the present sent to Bolívar by Washington's family. A former member of the French Convention wrote to him: "You are the first citizen of the world." The noted Irish orator O'Connell sent his son to him with the following words: "I am sending him to you, illustrious sir, in order that, admiring and imitating your example he may serve under Your Excellency." The same was done by Sir Robert Wilson, member of the English Parliament. Kosciusko's nephew went to him to have the honor to serve him. The Dutch representative in Bolivia compared him with William of Nassau. Bernadotte, King of Sweden, spoke of a striking analogy between Bolívar and himself. Joseph Bonaparte, King of Spain, expressed his desire that Murat's son go to Bolívar as his aide-de-camp. Iturbide's son preferred also to serve under him. J.P. Hamilton, British commissioner to the republic of Colombia, says: "He is the greatest man, the most extraordinary character produced up to this day by the new world." He considers him "supereminent above all heroes living in the Temple of Fame."
Many persons have made comparisons between Bolívar and Napoleon, Bolívar and Washington and Bolívar and San Martín. Juan Montalvo (in "Simón Bolívar") writes that Bolívar is not so well known as Napoleon because the glamour of Napoleon's life reduced to silence the lives of his contemporaries. He asserts that in the future, Bolívar will take his place beside the French Emperor. Napoleon owes his glory to Chateaubriand, to Lamartine, to Madame de Stael, to Byron, to Victor Hugo, while Bolívar has had few biographers, and a very few have spoken of him with the power and authority of those who praised or attacked Napoleon.
Regarding a comparison between Washington and Bolívar, Montalvo says:
"Washington presents himself to memory and imagination as a great citizen rather than as a great warrior; as a philosopher rather than as a general…. Washington and Bolívar have in common their identity of purpose; both aspired to the freedom of a country and the establishment of democracy. The difference between these two illustrious men in the excessive difficulty one had to conquer and the abundance with which the other carried on his work to the end. Bolívar, during several periods of the war, had no resources at all, nor did he know where to get them; his indestructible love for his country, the sense of honor active in his breast, the fertile imagination, the supreme will, the prodigious activities which formed his character, inspired in him wisdom to turn the impossibility into a reality…. North America was rich, civilized and powerful even before its emancipation from Mother England; if the colonists had not had their leader, one hundred Washingtons would have presented themselves to fill the place, and not at a disadvantage. Washington was surrounded by men as remarkable as he was, if not better: Jefferson, Madison, men of great and deep counsel; Franklin, a genius of Heaven and earth. All these and many others, no matter how great they were, or how numerous, were as one in the service of the cause, were rivals in obedience…. Bolívar had to tame his lieutenants, to fight and to conquer his own fellow citizens, to fight one thousand elements conspiring against him and against independence, at the same time that he fought the Spanish legions and conquered them or was conquered by them…. Washington presents himself to the admiration of the world, more venerable and majestic, and Bolívar, higher and brighter. Washington established a republic which later became one of the greatest countries on earth; Bolívar founded also a great country, but, less happy than his elder brother, saw it crumble down; and though he did not see his work destroyed, he saw it disfigured and diminished. The successors of Washington, great citizens, philosophers and statesmen, never dreamed of tearing up the sacred mantle of their mother in order to cover their scars with rags of purple; Bolívar's companions, all of them, stabbed Colombia order to take for themselves the greatest prize. Washington, his work finished, accepted the trivial presents of his fellow citizens Bolívar refused millions offered by Perú. Washington declined a third presidential term in the United States and, like a patriarch withdrew to live tranquilly in the bosom of private life, enjoying without any mixture of hate the respect of his fellow citizens, venerated by the people and loved by his friends. This singular and happy man had no enemies. Bolívar accepted the tempting command that came to harass his spirit for the third time, and this time from an impure source, he died rejected, persecuted, insulted by many of his contemporaries. Death has erased this small blemish and we see only the light which surrounds the greatest of South Americans. Washington and Bolívar were august men, the glory of the New World."[1]
[Footnote 1: "Simón Bolívar," Juan Montalvo.]
In reality, great men cannot be compared. Each one stands by himself. Washington was an able general, ready to sacrifice himself for his country; a learned man, trained in military affairs; the representative of the will of his fellow citizens, who were behind him in his tremendous fight for freedom. Washington was the Father and the servant of his country.
Bolívar did not receive special training in military affairs. He did not represent the will of his country, for his country had no will. His country really did not exist. Bolívar created it. He was obeying no commands but those of his conscience. He was making something out of nothing, and in his campaigns it was the flash of genius which led him rather than science.
Washington was successful as a military commander and more so as a statesman; Bolívar had remarkable successes and crushing defeat a general, and, as a statesman, he showed a vision which amounted to inspiration—but the creation of his mind and soul, Colombia, was a sad failure. Washington lived in a country of law; Bolívar had to make the law. When Washington was absent from a place, law remained in that place; when Bolívar turned his back, law was violated.
San Martín is a noble figure. He stands alone in the southernmost part of America. He did not begrudge praise given Bolívar, whose superiority he acknowledged by withdrawing in time from the scene in America. Because of this acknowledgment, San Martín grew greater than he had been before their interview in Guayaquil. To endeavor to establish invidious comparisons between him and Bolívar does harm to both heroes and good to no one. Let both stay where they belong, in the hearts of their fellow-citizens, and in the minds of lovers of freedom.
Strong resemblance might be found between Bolívar and Lincoln. Both gave freedom to slaves; both fought a real civil war, for we must not forget that most of the royalists were Americans. Both were men of sorrows. A close examination of Bolívar's pictures and statues will reveal to the observer that in the eyes of the great man of the South is the same inexpressible melancholy which is obvious in those of our own man of sorrows, the beloved Lincoln. Bolívar was insulted and slandered as was Lincoln, and if Lincoln was assassinated by a man, Bolívar escaped the weapon of the assassin only to sink under poisonous treachery and ingratitude. It is true that Bolívar was quick-tempered, at times sharp in his repartee; his intellectual aptness had no patience with stupidity, and occasionally his remarks hurt. But when the storm had passed, he was all benevolence, enduring all, forgiving all, like Lincoln.
He compared himself with Don Quixote, and in many ways this comparison is the best. As Don Quixote, he created Dulcinea. It was not Don Quixote's fault that the lady of his thoughts, the ideal Dulcinea, proved to be just the uncouth peasant girl, Aldonza Lorenzo. Bolívar's Dulcinea was his people, and he was not to blame for all the weakness, the roughness, the grossness of those with whom he came in contact. But the American Don Quixote had a higher virtue than the knight created by Cervantes, for Don Quixote never could transform Aldonza into Dulcinea, while the peoples that Bolívar saw in his imagination, those peoples who at first were hostile to his work, through a century of constant purification, through a century during which Bolívar has become a symbol, a protecting genius, a warning against danger, an irresistible force to conquer difficulties and an imperious finger pointing to higher destinies, are approaching more and more each day what Bolívar thought they ought to be. The Aldonza Lorenzo of America, through Bolívar's sublime madness, rid of her dross, will be the Dulcinea of Bolívar's dream.