_Bolívar's Early Life. Venezuela's First Attempt to Obtain Self-Government_
(1783-1810)
Simón Bolívar was born in the city of Caracas on the twenty-fourth day of
July, 1783; his father was don Juan Vicente Bolívar, and his mother, doña
María de la Concepción Palacios y Blanco. His father died when Simón was
still very young, and his mother took excellent care of his education. His
teacher, afterwards his intimate friend, was don Simón Rodríguez, a man of
strange ideas and habits, but constant in his affection and devotion to his
illustrious pupil.
Bolívar's family belonged to the Spanish nobility, and in Venezuela was
counted in the group called Mantuano, or noble. They owned great tracts of
land and lived in comfort, associating with the best people, among whom
they were considered leaders.
The early youth of Bolívar was more or less like that of the other boys of
his city and station, except that he gave evidence of a certain precocity
and nervousness of action and speech which distinguished him as an
enthusiastic and somewhat idealistic boy.
Misfortune taught Bolívar its bitter lessons when he was still young. At
fifteen years of age he lost his mother. Then his uncle and guardian, don
Carlos Palacios, sent him to Madrid to complete his education. The boat on
which he made the trip left La Guaira on January 17, 1799, and stopped at
Vera Cruz. This enabled young Simón Bolívar to go to Mexico City and other
towns of New Spain. In the capital of the colony he was treated in a
manner becoming his social standing, and met the highest offícials of the
government. The viceroy had several conversations with him, and admired
his wit; but it finally alarmed him when the boy came to talk on political
questions and, with an assurance superior to his age, defended the freedom
of the American colonies.
Bolívar lived in Madrid with his relatives, and had occasion to be in touch
with the highest members of the court, and even with the King, Charles IV,
and the Queen. There he met a young lady named María Teresa Toro, whose
uncle, the Marquis of Toro, lived in Caracas and was a friend of the young
man. He fell in love with her, but as he was only seventeen years old, the
Marquis of Ustáriz, who was in charge of Bolívar in Madrid, advised him to
delay his plans for an early marriage.
In 1801 Bolívar went to Paris, where he found Napoleon Bonaparte, as First
Consul, undertaking his greatest labors of social reorganization after
the long period of anarchy through which France had passed following the
Revolution. Bonaparte was one of the most admired men at that time. He
had come back from Egypt and Syria, had been victorious at Marengo and
Hohenlinden, and had just signed the Peace of Lunéville. One does not
wonder that Bolívar should admire him and that his letters should contain
many expressions of enthusiasm about the great man of Europe.
In the same year he returned to Madrid and married María Teresa Toro,
deciding to go back at once to Venezuela with his wife, to live peacefully,
attending to his own personal business and property. But again fate dealt
him a hard blow and shattered all the dreams and plans of the young man.
His virtuous wife died in January, 1803, ten months after their arrival in
Caracas. He had not yet reached his twenty-first year, and had already lost
father, mother and wife. His nerves became steeled and his heart prepared
for great works, for works requiring the concentration of mind which can be
given only by men who have no intimate human connections or obligations. As
a South American orator lately declared:[1] "Neither Washington nor Bolívar
was destined to have children of his own, so that we Americans might call
ourselves their children."
Bolívar decided immediately to leave for Europe. Nothing could keep him in
his own country. He had loved his wife and his wife only could have led him
to accept a life of ease and comfort. He decided never to marry again and,
perhaps to assuage the pain in his heart, he decided to devote his time
to the study of the great problems of his country, and to bend all his
energies and strength to their solution. At the end of 1803, he was again
in Madrid, giving his wife's father the sad news of their great loss.
[Footnote 1: Atilano Carnevali, on the occasion of placing a wreath before
Washington's statue in Caracas, July 4, 1920.]
From Madrid, Bolívar went to Paris, and was in the city when the Empire
was established. All the admiration the man of the Republic had won from
Bolívar immediately crumbled to dust before the young American. "Since
Napoleon has become a king," said Bolívar, "his glory to me seems like
the brilliancy of hell." He did not attend the ceremony of Napoleon's
coronation, and made him the object of bitter attacks when among his own
friends. He never hesitated to speak of the liberty of America with all his
acquaintances, who enjoyed his conversation in spite of the ideas that he
supported.
In the spring of 1805 he went on a walking tour to Italy, with his teacher
and friend, don Simón Rodríguez. In Milan he saw Napoleon crowned as King
of Italy, and then witnessed a great parade passing before the French
Emperor. All these royal ceremonies increased his hatred of monarchy.
From Milan he went to Florence, Venice, Rome and Naples, studying
everything, informing himself of all the currents of public opinion, and
dreaming of what he intended to accomplish for his own people. While in
Rome, he and his teacher went to Mount Aventin. There they denounced in an
intimate talk the oppression of peoples and discussed the liberty of their
native Venezuela. When their enthusiasm had reached its highest pitch, the
young dreamer took the hand of his master, and at that historic spot, he
made a solemn vow to free his country.
From Italy, he came to the United States, where he visited Boston, New
York, Philadelphia and other towns, sailing from Charleston for Venezuela.
He arrived in Caracas at the end of 1806.
Upon his return home, Bolívar devoted himself to the care and improvement
of his estate. Yet his ideas continued to seethe, especially when the
constant spectacle of the state of affairs in Venezuela stimulated this
ferment of his mind.
Among the American colonies, Venezuela was not considered by Spain as one
of the most important. Mexico and Perú, celebrated by their production of
mineral wealth, were those which attracted most of the attention of the
Spaniards. Venezuela was apparently poor, and certainly did not contribute
many remittances of gold and silver to the mother country. It had been
organized as a captaincy general in 1731, after having been governed in
different ways and having had very little communication with Spain. It is
said that from 1706 to 1722, not a single boat sailed from any Venezuelan
port for Spain. Commercial intercourse between the provinces was forbidden,
and local industries could not prosper because the purchase of the products
of Spanish industries was compulsory for the natives, at prices set after
all transportation expenses and high taxes were taken into account. The
colonists were oppressed by taxes and kept in ignorance.
This state of affairs had produced a latent feeling of irritation and a
desire for a change. The native white population read the books of the
French philosophers, especially those of Rousseau and Montesquieu. The
ideas proclaimed by the United States of America and those preached by the
most radical men of the French Revolution were smuggled in and known in
spite of prohibition.
At the middle of the eighteenth century, there had been a movement against
the Compañía Guipuzcoana, established about 1730, and which greatly
oppressed the people. This movement failed and its leaders were severely
punished.
At the end of the eighteenth century, Spain allied herself with England to
fight against France. This war ended in 1795 with the Treaty of Basel,
by which Spain lost Santo Domingo to France. A year later, Spain allied
herself with France against England, and the disastrous war which followed
resulted in the loss of the island of Trinidad to England, by the Treaty
of Amiens, in 1802. France and England used these possessions to foster
revolutions in the Spanish colonies.
In 1797 a conspiracy was started in Caracas, but it too failed. Some of its
leaders received death sentences, others were expelled from the country and
others were imprisoned. In Mexico, in Perú and in the southernmost part of
the continent, men were working in favor of the idea of freedom.
In Europe, at this time, there was a very prominent Venezuelan, don
Francisco Miranda, who had played an important rôle in the world events
of that period. Miranda was born in Caracas, came to the North American
colonies, and fought under Washington against the English power. Afterwards
he went to Europe and fought in the armies of revolutionary France,
attaining the rank of general. His friends were among the most
distinguished men in Europe in political position or international
achievement. He talked to them tirelessly, trying to convert them to the
idea of the necessity for emancipating the countries of America. He failed
to receive the attention he desired in England, and came to America. In New
York he prepared an expedition and went to Venezuela, arriving there in
March of 1806, with three boats, some arms, ammunition and men. He found
the Spaniards prepared, and was defeated, losing two of his ships and many
men as prisoners. He escaped with the other boat to Trinidad. In the West
Indies he obtained the help of an English admiral, Sir A. Cochrane, and
with larger forces returned to Venezuela, landing at Coro, which he took
in August, 1806. But there he found the greatest enemy with which he and
Bolívar had to contend, and that was the lack of the sanction of public
opinion. Men whom Miranda had expected to increase his army failed to
appear, and perhaps this indifference was aggravated by the antipathy with
which the natives saw the foreign element which predominated in Miranda's
army. Lacking the support of the people and the reserves which Miranda had
expected to get from the English colony of Jamaica, he withdrew and went to
London, altogether discouraged.
At that time great changes had occurred in Spain. Charles IV, its weak
monarch, saw the French army invading his country under the pretense of
going to Portugal, and feared that Napoleon would end by wresting the
Spanish throne from him. If he allied himself with Napoleon, England
could easily seize America, and should he ally himself with England, he
would make an enemy of Napoleon, who already was in possession of Spain
itself. The Crown Prince of Spain, Fernando, was intriguing against his
father, and Charles IV had him imprisoned. Then it was discovered that
the Prince was in treacherous relations with the ministers of Napoleon.
The King complained to the French Emperor, who persuaded him to forgive
and release his son. Meanwhile, the French army was advancing into Spain
while the English were fomenting among the Spanish people the hatred for
the French. The latter availed themselves of their advantageous position
and, feeling sure of their strength in Spanish lands, demanded from the
Court the cession of the northern section of Spain contiguous to
Portugal. Rumors ran wild in the Court, and it was even said that the
monarch and his family would leave Spain for Mexico. A favorite of the
King, named Manuel Godoy, received the greatest blame for this
situation, and Fernando, the Crown Prince, being the main antagonist of
Godoy, was regarded as the champion of Spanish right and was loved by
the Spanish people. The people rose and demanded that Godoy should be
delivered to them. In March, 1808, the King abdicated and Fernando was
proclaimed King. But the abdication was insincere, and Charles IV wrote
to Napoleon that he had been compelled to take that action, certain that
if he did not do so, he and the Queen would perish. Not content with
this communication, Charles IV went to Bayonne to meet Napoleon, where
his son Fernando had been invited by Napoleon to meet him. There one of
the most disgraceful episodes in Spanish history occurred. Fernando
renounced his rights to his father, and then his father renounced his
rights and those of his family to Napoleon and to whomever he might
select to rule. Napoleon immediately made his brother Joseph King of
Spain. This occurred in May, 1808. The Spanish people had never been
taken into consideration in all these dealings. But they wanted to be
considered and they decided that they would be. Murat was governor in
Madrid, and on May 2 the people rebelled against him. Great ensued.
Though the rebellion was suppressed, the fire burning in the Spanish
soul was not extinguished. Everywhere _juntas provinciales_ (provincial
assemblies) were organized against the intruder; they allied themselves
with England and declared that Fernando VII was the legitimate King of
Spain and that the nation was at war with France. In order to unify the
actions of the different juntas, a central junta was established in
Aranjuez on September 25, 1808.
All these events had a tremendous effect in the American colonies. News
was received in Venezuela of the abdication of Charles and Fernando, with
orders to the colonies to recognize the new government. But at the same
time an English boat sent by Admiral Cochrane arrived, and announced to the
Venezuelan authorities the establishment of the juntas and the organization
of resistance to the French. The authorities concluded to obey the orders
brought by the French messengers, but the people rose in Caracas as in
Spain, went to the city council and forced it to proclaim Fernando VII
the legitimate monarch of Spain, thus starting a revolution, which in its
inception had all the appearance of loyalty to the reigning house of Spain,
but which very soon was transformed into a real movement of emancipation.
Some days later the city council asked the governor to establish a junta
in Caracas, similar to those already established in Spain. The Spanish
authorities wanted to have recognized the supremacy of the junta assembled
in Seville, Spain, which had assumed the name of Supreme Junta of Spain and
her Colonies. The Venezuelans insisted that they should have a junta in
Caracas, and in order to foster this idea the most prominent leaders of
public thought met secretly at the house of Simón Bolívar. Most of the
conspirators were young men, united by strong ties of friendship or family.
Among them were the Marquis of Toro and don José Félix Ribas, a relative of
Bolívar, two very distinguished men. The meetings were sometimes held at
the house of Ribas. It was not long before they were discovered. They
determined to petition for the establishment of a junta in Caracas. The
authorities ordered them to be put into prison; and in spite of their
efforts, the Supreme Junta of Spain and her Colonies was recognized in
January, 1809. The Junta Central declared in that same month that all
the Spanish colonies formed part of the Spanish monarchy itself, which
statement apparently was a declaration of equality. However, in fact, it
was not so, since the elections of deputies to the junta were not to be
made by the people but by the captain general, advised by the city council.
The representation was also very disproportionate. The deputies for Spain
were to number 36 while those for America only 12.
In May of that year, a new captain general, don Vicente Emparan, arrived in
Venezuela. This man was more imperious than his predecessors had been, and
immediately alienated the good will of the city council and the audiencia.
He set up still greater obstacles to commerce, sent many prominent men into
exile, declared criminals those who received printed matter from abroad,
and established an organized system of espionage.
In 1810, when Emparan was exercising his power with the strongest hand, the
patriots were meeting in the country wherever they could under different
pretexts, in order to organize themselves and to work for their ideals.
Bolívar was on the point of being exiled; many prominent men were either
imprisoned or sent out of Caracas. The French armies seemed to conquer all
opposition in Spain, and the Junta Central had been forced to take refuge
in Cádiz. Rumors were circulated that Cádiz had fallen into the hands of
the French. Then the patriots decided to wait no longer, and Bolívar, Ribas
and other friends planned to take immediate steps.
On the morning of April 19, 1810, Holy Thursday, the city council assembled
to attend the religious services in the cathedral, and Emparan was invited
to be present. Before leaving for the service, the council told the
governor that it was necessary to establish in Venezuela a government of
its own in order to defend the country and the rights of the legitimate
monarch. The governor answered that he would consider the matter after the
service, and left the council. On arriving at the church he was stopped by
a patriot called Francisco Salias who asked him to return to the council,
declaring that the public welfare so required. Emparan saw that the troops
were not ready to support him and, willingly or not, went back to the
hall, where he yielded to everything that was proposed to him. Emparan was
deposed and the first locally chosen government of Spanish America was
established. The principle that the provinces of America possessed the
right of self-government, since no general government existed, was
proclaimed.