_The Second Battle of Carabobo. Ambitions and Rewards. Bolívar's
Disinterestedness. American Unity_
(1821)
Sucre had been placed by Bolívar in command of the army of the South, with
instructions to go to Guayaquil,--a section which was not covered by the
armistice,--in order to negotiate its incorporation with Colombia. San
Martín desired to have the province of Quito form part of Perú, and there
is no ground for believing that he did so without sound and patriotic
reasons. Bolívar, on his part, insisted that Quito and Guayaquil should
belong to Colombia. Sucre had a very delicate mission, for he represented a
man totally opposite in ideas to San Martín, although inspired by the same
lofty motives and with the same noble purpose of freedom. Sucre went by sea
to Guayaquil and prevented its invasion by the royalists, who had Quito in
their possession.
Meanwhile, new commissioners came from Spain to undertake peace
negotiations. On that occasion Bolívar wrote a very courteous letter to
Latorre; and in a private communication he sent these friendly words to
him:
"I feel happy, my dear General, at seeing you at the head of my
enemies, for nobody can do less harm and more good than you. You are
destined to heal the wounds of your new country. You came to fight
against it, and you are going to protect it. You have always shown
yourself as a noble foe; be also the most faithful friend."
He also sent commissioners to Spain with a very polite and cordial letter
to Ferdinand VII, so as to do his best to obtain the freedom of Colombia
and its acceptance by Spain, avoiding, if possible, further fighting.
Maracaibo, which, as we have seen, had always been a royalist city, also
decided to break with Spain; on this occasion, Latorre thought that Bolívar
had broken the armistice, a thing that Bolívar denied, for he had not
intervened in the movement, although he was ready to support the city in
its labors towards freedom. He was willing to submit the decision of the
question to arbitration, but Latorre did not acquiesce. Bolívar then
notified him that hostilities were resumed. He was convinced that the
Spanish Government never thought seriously of granting peace to the former
colonies through accepting their independence. He immediately concentrated
his forces, organized an expedition against Maracaibo, called the cavalry,
ordered invasion of the province of Caracas, obtained incorporation of Páez
and his plainsmen, and advanced towards the enemy. On opening the campaign,
he published a proclamation offering pardon to the Spaniards and promising
to send them to their country, and in all respects to obey the treaty
on regularization of warfare. He also ordered his soldiers to obey the
stipulations of that treaty.
"The Government," he said, "imposes on you the strict duty of being
more merciful than brave. Any one who may infringe on any of the
articles on the regulation of war will be punished with death. Even
when our foes would break them, we must fulfil them, so that Colombia's
glory may not be stained with blood."
It must not be forgotten that these enemies of Bolívar were very different
from the murderers commanded by Yáñez or Boves.
The new Colombian Congress convened in the city of Rosario de Cúcuta.
Bolívar, as usual on such occasions, submitted his resignation in order to
leave the Congress free to give the command to whomever it might select.
Among the members of the Congress there were some men openly hostile to
Bolívar, and in his communication he not only presented the usual reasons
for resigning, but also stated frankly that he was tired of hearing himself
called tyrant by his enemies. The Congress answered very cordially, asking
him to remain in his position and assuring him of the gratitude of the
Assembly for his valor and constancy.
Knowing that Latorre had advanced to Araure, the General moved with his
army towards the town of San Carlos, where he received some reinforcements.
As other independent commanders were harassing Latorre at different points,
the Spaniard had to send some of his troops to repel these attacks, and so
was forced to weaken his own army. Then he placed himself on the plain of
Carabobo, where Bolívar, in 1814, had defeated the royalists commanded by
Cagigal and Ceballos. There he was attacked by Bolívar on June 24, 1821. At
eleven o'clock in the morning the battle began, and it developed with the
swiftness of lightning. In an hour the royalist army was destroyed, not
without great losses to the independents. In one hour not only the royalist
army was defeated, but the Spanish domination in Venezuela had come to an
end. In this battle, a very decisive rôle was played by the British legion,
and by the brave _llaneros_ commanded by Páez.
As the battle of Boyacá practically secured the independence of Nueva
Granada, the battle of Carabobo secured the independence of Venezuela.
Boyacá and Carabobo were up to that moment the greatest titles of glory for
Bolívar, but his work was not completed, and America had still more and
brighter glory in store for him. He, in his vigorous style, described the
battle in a communication to the Congress, in which he said, among other
things:
"Yesterday the political birth of the Republic of Colombia was
confirmed by a splendid victory."
Then he praised Páez, whom he immediately promoted to the rank of full
General of the Army, and paid last homage to General Cedeño, who died in
action,--
"none braver than he, none more obedient to the Government ... He died
in the middle of the battle, in the heroic manner in which the life of
the brave of Colombia deserves to end....
"The Republic suffers an equal pain in the death of the most daring
Colonel Plaza, who, filled with unparalleled enthusiasm, threw himself
against an enemy battalion to conquer it. Colonel Plaza deserves the
tears of Colombia ... The Spanish army had over 6,000 picked men. This
army does not exist any more; 400 of the enemy's men entered Puerto
Cabello today."
The struggle for Venezuelan independence opened on April 19, 1810, in
Caracas, and closed on June 24, 1821, at Carabobo.
The Congress decreed the highest honors to the conquerors of Carabobo,
ordered a day of public rejoicing throughout the whole country, and set the
following day for the funerals of all those who had fallen on the field of
battle.
After the battle of Carabobo, Venezuela was divided into three military
districts, which were placed under the command respectively of Mariño, Páez
and Bermúdez, who had also been promoted to the rank of general. In this
way, Bolívar tried to satisfy the ambitions of his officers, who, in more
than one respect, considered their conquests as private property.
This was especially true of Páez. The Liberator had to be very careful in
dealing with them, constantly impelled by the fear that through peace their
restlessness would become a danger to the stability of the country. Bolívar
summarized the situation when he exclaimed:
"I am more afraid of peace than of war!"
His attention was then turned to the campaign of the South. He had been
informed that San Martín was inclined to deal with the royalists, and
he wanted to hasten there to avoid any such compromise. At this time he
learned that the independence of Mexico was a fact, and he became impatient
to finish the emancipation of Colombia by means of the freedom of the
Isthmus of Panamá, which he used to call the "carrier of the universe."
Upon the organization of Colombia, as a result of the union of Nueva
Granada and Venezuela, Bolívar was made president, and in that capacity he
signed the constitution of 1821. In his communication to the Congress of
Rosario de Cúcuta, he reiterated his desire to resign the command. On this
occasion, his declaration could not be more emphatic.
"A man like me is a dangerous citizen in a popular government. He is an
immediate threat to the national sovereignty. I want to be a cit
in order to secure my own freedom and the freedom of everybody else. I
prefer the title of citizen to that of Liberator, because the latter
comes from war and the former comes from the law. Change, I beg you,
all my titles for that of _good citizen_."
Of course, no one would think of accepting his resignation at a moment when
his genius was most needed for the organization of the country.
We have mentioned very often the resignation of the Liberator from his
command, and the invariable nonacceptance of it. Some enemies of Bolívar
have declared that he never resigned in earnest, and have gone so far as to
pronounce him an ambitious man who wanted all glory and power in Colombia
and South America. The declarations made by Bolívar were made before the
whole world. He had gained sufficient glory to be termed a great man,
even though he left the army. If his resignation had been accepted, it is
absolutely certain that he would have abandoned the power in order to
keep untainted his reputation as a warrior, as an organizer, and as a
self-sacrificing patriot. At that time he was praised by the North American
press, as well as by men in every part of the world. The press of the
United States opposed his resignation, considering it premature. General
Foy said:
"Bolívar, born a subject, freeing a world, and dying as a citizen,
shall be for America a redeeming divinity, and in history the noblest
example of greatness to which a man can arrive."
The Archbishop of Malines, Monsignor de Pradt, said:
"The morality of the world, weakened with so many examples of violence,
baseness, ambition, covetousness and hypocrisy, was in need of a
stimulus like Bolívar, whose moderation and whose unheard-of abnegation
in the full possession of power have rendered ambition hate
The example of this great, virtuous man may serve as a general
purification, strong enough to disinfect society."
The author of this monograph has been very keen to find all papers and
documents in which appears disparaging criticism of the life of Bolívar. He
declares that he has never found one which is not invalidated by reasons of
personal interest, political antagonism or prejudice. Bolívar's life was
always consistent with his words. He was a man of power. Whenever occasion
demanded it, he became a real dictator. At times necessity made him rather
weak in dealing with the stormy elements of his own party, and only in
exceptional circumstances, as in the sad case of General Piar did he rise
to the plane of severity in letting justice take its course. A careful
study of the life of Bolívar has produced a great change in the mind of the
author of this work. He has come to realize that he was studying not merely
the life and deeds of a great American, or even of a great man among all
men, but the history of one of those exceptional beings selected by God to
perform the highest missions and to teach great lessons. The student, upon
leaving the subject, feels the same reverence experienced upon leaving
a sacred place, where the spirit has been under the influence of the
supernatural. Bolívar's ambition was the legitimate desire for glory, but
he never wanted that power which consists in the oppression of fellowmen
and the acquisition of wealth.
We have seen that General Sucre had gone by sea to Guayaquil, while Bolívar
decided to go by land to Quito. He considered this campaign as decisive,
but while he was making his preparations, he did not neglect the diplomatic
relations of his country, the organization of finance nor the domestic
service. He continued to dream of the unity of America. He never succeeded
in attaining it, but that dream was the star to which he had hitched his
chariot. He had been in communication with the statesmen of Argentina and
Chile, and, as we have seen, in his proclamation sent to the inhabitants
of Nueva Granada he expressed a desire that the motto of America should
be "Unity in South America." He sent one plenipotentiary to Mexico, and
another to Perú, Chile and Argentina. In his instructions to the latter he
said the following words, which sound today, a century later, as though
they had been uttered yesterday:
"I repeat that of all I have expressed, there is nothing of so much
importance at this moment as the formation of a league truly American.
But this confederation must not be formed simply on the principles of
an ordinary alliance for attack and for defense; it must be closer than
the one lately formed in Europe against the freedom of the people.
"It is necessary that our society be a society of sister nations,
divided for the time being in the exercise of their sovereignty, on
account of the course of human events, but united, strong and powerful,
in order to support each other against aggressions of foreign powers.
"It is indispensable that you should incessantly urge the necessary
to establish immediately the foundations of an amphictyonic body or
assembly of plenipotentiaries to promote the common interests of the
American states, to settle the differences which may arise in the
future between peoples which have the same habits and the same customs,
and which, through the lack of such a sacred institution, may perhaps
kindle deplorable wars, such as those which have destroyed other
regions less fortunate."
In the projected treaty carried by the same representative, the following
appears:
"Both contracting parties guarantee to each other the integrity of
their respective territories, as constituted before the present war,
keeping the boundaries possessed at that time by each captaincy general
or viceroyalty of those who now have resumed the exercise of their
sovereignty, unless in a legal way two or more of them have agreed to
form a single body or nation, as has happened with the old captaincy
general of Venezuela and the kingdom of Nueva Granada, which now form
the Republic of Colombia."
Similar instructions were given to the representative sent to Mexico.
The treaty arranged with Perú was similar to another entered into
afterwards with Chile. In both documents it was stipulated: that an
assembly should be organized with representatives of the different
countries; that all the governments of America, or of that part of America
which had belonged to Spain, should be invited to enter into that union,
league, or perpetual confederation; that the assembly of plenipotentiaries
should be entrusted with the work of laying the foundation for, and of
establishing, the closer relations which should exist among all of those
states; and that this assembly should "serve them as a council in great
conflicts, as a point of contact in the common dangers, as faithful
interpreter of their public treaties when difficulties occur, and as an
arbitral judge and conciliator in their disputes and differences." In this
way, two great principles were sanctioned by Bolívar: the principle of
_uti-possidetis_ and the principle of arbitration, which was proclaimed in
America, for the first time, by Bolívar as president of Colombia.
Before leaving for the campaign of the South, the Libertador Presidente
received the good news of Cartagena's fall into the hands of Montilla after
fourteen months of siege, and of the insurrection of Panamá, which became
independent and formed the eighth department of Colombia.
The importance of the independence of Panamá cannot be exaggerated. Bolívar
wisely deemed it of greatest moment, and what has occurred during the
twentieth century has proved that Bolívar was absolutely right in his
judgment.