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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.
From the beginning the federal system and the central system appeared in opposition.
On the 4th of April, there occurred a second earthquake which lasted eight hours, and which destroyed the little remaining courage of those who were not heart and soul with the movement of emancipation.
He denounced the misuse of public funds and declared himself against state paper money not guaranteed, pointing out that such a currency was a clear violation of the right of property, since men who had objects of real value had to exchange them for paper, the price of which was uncertain and even imaginary.
"It is necessary that the government identify itself, so to speak, with the circumstances, times and men surrounding it. If they are prosperous and calm, the government must be mild and protective, but if they are calamitous and turbulent, the government must show itself terrible and must arm itself with a firmness equal to the dangers, without paying heed to laws or constitution, until peace is reestablished."
"Public elections performed by the ignorant peasants and by the intriguing inhabitants of the city are an obstacle to the practice of federation among us, because the former are so ignorant that vote like machines, and the latter are so ambitious that they make everything into factions. For these reasons Venezuela has never k a free and reasonable election and the government has fallen into the hands of men, either opposed to the cause, weak or immoral. Partisan spirit decided everything and, consequently, it disorganized us more than circumstances did. Our divisions, and not the Spanish Army,
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(libertada). His habit of adding the word "libertada" to the cities captured from the royalists contributed greatly to his later receiving the name of "Libertador," by which he is most generally known in history.
Atanasio Girardot and Antonio Ricaurte.
August 6th, 1813, marks the entrance of Bolívar in Caracas, the end of the campaign which he had begun with 500 men,—his first campaign as a general, one in which he fought six pitched battles, covered a distance of 1,200 kilometers, destroyed five hostile armies, captured 50 pieces of artillery and three ammunition depots, and reconquered all the western part of Venezuela, while Eastern Venezuela had been recovered by Mariño. All this was done within ninety days, and established forever the reputation of Bolívar as one of the most distinguished generals in history.
Furthermore, we must not forget that most of the enemies of independence were Americans, and that some publicists refuse to speak of it as a war of independence but term the revolution a civil war.]
Bolívar was very much concerned with the increasing wave of discontent which threatened to destroy his work. As we said at the beginning, there was no public opinion to support him. The masses were moved by their feelings, by early acquired habits, by superstitions or by low interests, and the llaneros (inhabitants of the plains) would follow any chieftain who could guarantee them sufficient loot. At only thirty years of age Bolívar had proved himself as great a statesman as he was a soldier. He arranged for the organization of all public services, and when this was attended to, he took care
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"It is true that our armies have avenged Venezuela. The largest army which has tried to subjugate us lies destroyed on the field. But we cannot rest. Other obligations await us. And when our native is entirely free, we shall go to fight the Spaniards in any part of America where they are in control, and we shall throw them into the sea. Freedom shall live protected by our swords."
"The lessons of experience should not be lost for us. The spectacle presented to us by Europe, steeped in blood in an endeavor to establish a balance which is forever changing, should correct our policy in order to save it from those bloody dangers…. Besides that continental balance of power which Europe is seeking where it seems less likely to be found, that is, through war and disturbances, there is another balance, a balance which concerns us, the balance of the universe. The ambition of the European countries is to reduce to slavery the other parts of the world, and all these other parts
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"It is necessary that our country be sufficiently strong to resist successfully the aggressions which European ambitions may plan; and this colossal power, which must oppose another great power, cannot be formed but through the union of all South America under a national body, so that a single government may use its great resources a single purpose, that of resisting with all of them exterior aggressions, while in the interior an increasing mutual cooperation of all will lift us to the summit of power and prosperity."
"I accepted and retained the supreme authority in order to save you from anarchy and to destroy the enemy who tried to support the p of oppression. I have given you laws, I organized for you the administration of justice and revenue, and, finally, I have given you a government. "Fellow citizens: I am not the sovereign. Your representatives should draw up your laws. The national treasury does not belong to the government. All those who have kept your wealth should show you the use they have made of it…. I am anxious to transfer this power to the representatives you must appoint, and I hope you
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"I have not come to oppress you with my victorious arms. I have come to bring you the empire of law. I have come with the purpose of preserving your sacred rights. It is not military despotism which can make a people free, and the power I have never can be good for the Republic except for a short period. A successful soldier does not acquire any right to command his country. He is not the arbiter of
laws and government; he is the defender of freedom, and his glories must be identical to those of the Republic and his ambition satisfied if he gives happiness to his country…. Elect your representatives, your magistrates, a just government, and be sure that the armies which have saved the Republic will always protect the freedom and the national glory of Venezuela."
He never felt that his own glory had to suffer from the unstinted praise he bestowed on his followers.
"I command you to execute immediately all the Spaniards in the fortress and in the hospital, without exception."
"Let us not be dazzled by the victories Fate gives us; let us prepare ourselves for greater struggles; let us employ all the resource our good or bad condition, based on the principle that nothing is accomplished when there is something more to do; and we have much still to do."
"It seems that Heaven, to grant us at one time humiliation and pride, has permitted that our conquerors be our own brothers, and that our brothers only may triumph over us. The army of freedom exterminated the enemy's force, but it could not and should not exterminate the men for whose happiness it fought in hundreds of battles. It is not just to destroy the men who do not want to be free, nor can freedom be enjoyed under strength of arms against the opinion of fanatics whose depraved souls make them love chains as though they were social ties…. Your brothers and not the Spaniards have torn
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garrison
"The events of the mainland have proved that perfectly representative institutions do not agree with our character, habits, and present state of enlightenment…. So long as our fellow citizens do not acquire the talents and the political virtues which distinguish our brothers of the North, who have a system of government altogether popular in character, I am very much afraid these institutions might lead to our ruin instead of aiding us….
Then Bolívar ventures to prophesy the destiny of all nations of the continent, from Mexico to the River Plata, and he does so with such accuracy of vision that almost to the word the history of the first half century of independence in Latin America was shaped according to his prediction. The tranquility of Chile, the tyranny of Rosas in Argentina, the Mexican empire, all were clearly seen in the future by his genius. Near the close of his letter, he adds these inspired words:
"How beautiful it would be if the Isthmus of Panamá should come to be to us what the Isthmus of Corinth was to the Greeks! May God g that some day we may have the happiness of installing there an august congress of the representatives of the republics, kingdoms and empires, to discuss and study the high interests of peace and war with the nations of the other three parts of the world! This kind of cooperation may be established in some happy period of our regeneration…."
"Alone, poor, in a foreign land, when his friends had denied him and had persecuted him, and his enemies had torn him to shreds in blind rage, when everybody saw America carrying once again the yoke imposed upon her, Bolívar saw her redeemed, and from the depth of his soul he felt himself bound to this wonderful task of redemption. His spirit, animated by an unknown breath, and which had lived a superior life, saw Colombia free, Chile established, Argentina expanding, Mexico Perú liberated, the Isthmus of Panamá converted into the center of communications and activities of human industry; it
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"The day of America has arrived, and no human power can stop the course of nature, guided by the hand of Providence. Join your efforts to those of your brethren. Venezuela goes with me to free you, as you in the past with me gave freedom to Venezuela…. The sun will not end the course of its present period without seeing altars dedicated to liberty throughout your territory."
"The continuation of authority in one individual has frequently been the undoing of democratic governments. Repeated elections are essential in popular systems, because nothing is so dangerous as to permit a citizen to remain long in power. The people get used to obeying and he gets used to commanding it, from which spring usurpation and tyranny." … "We have been subjected by deception rather than by force. We have been degraded by vice rather than by superstition. Slavery is a child of darkness; an ignorant people becomes a blind instrument of its own destruction. It takes license for
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"The most perfect system of government is the one which produces the greatest possible happiness, the greatest degree of social safety, and the greatest political stability."
"A Repúblican executive is an individual isolated in the midst of society, to restrain the impulses of the people toward license and the propensities of administrators to arbitrariness. He is directly subject to the legislative power, to the people; he is a single man, resisting the combined attack of opinion, personal interests and the passions of society."
"Here is no other authority and no other power than mine. Among all my lieutenants I am like the sun; if they shine it is because of the light I lend them."
"I should rather die a hundred times," he said, "and lose every drop of my blood than to permit this sword to leave my hand, or ever attempt to shed the blood which up to now it has set free…. Bolívar's sword is in my hands. For you and for him I shall go with it to eternity. This oath is inviolable."
