Simon Bolivar ‘El Liberator’: A Life Of The Chief Leader In The Revolt Against Spain In Venezuela, New Granada & Peru

By Francis Loraine Petre

Renowned military Historian F. Lorraine Petre takes on the legacy of the Simon Bolivar, the liberator of the Hispano-American territories from misrule of the Spanish Empire.

Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios[c] (24 July 1783 – 17 December 1830) was a Venezuelan military and political leader who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and Bolivia to independence from the Spanish Empire. He is known colloquially as El Libertador, or the Liberator of America.

Simón Bolívar was born in Caracas in the Captaincy General of Venezuela into a wealthy criollo family...When the Spanish authority in the Americas weakened due to Napoleon's Peninsular War, Bolívar became a zealous combatant and politician in the Spanish American wars of independence.

Bolívar began his military career in 1810 as a militia officer in the Venezuelan War of Independence, fighting Royalist forces for the first and second Venezuelan republics and the United Provinces of New Granada. After Spanish forces subdued New Granada in 1815, Bolívar was forced into exile on Jamaica. After befriending Haitian revolutionary leader Alexandre Pétion and promising to abolish slavery in South America, Bolívar received military support from Haiti. Returning to Venezuela, he established a third republic in 1817 and then crossed the Andes to liberate New Granada in 1819. Bolívar and his allies defeated the Spanish in New Granada in 1819, Venezuela and Panama in 1821, Ecuador in 1822, Peru in 1824, and Bolivia in 1825. Venezuela, New Granada, Ecuador, and Panama were merged into the Republic of Colombia (Gran Colombia), with Bolívar as president there and in Peru and Bolivia.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Braunfell Books
• Release date: Mar 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9781805231967

Book preview

CHAPTER II — BOLIVAR’S EARLY LIFE AND THE FIRST VENEZUELAN REPUBLIC, 1783-1810

THE family of Bolivar appears to have been amongst the earlier of the emigrants from Spain, after the conquest of the American dominions. In 1589 it had evidently attained considerable eminence in Venezuela, for in that year Don Simon Bolivar was sent as envoy to Philip II. to lay before him the position of affairs in the colony, and to seek to enlist for it the sovereign’s interest and sympathy. Some of the concessions he obtained, notably one allowing the free import annually of a ton of African slaves, are of very dubious value. In 1663 Francisco Marin de Narvaez obtained, at the price of 40,000 pesos,{17} a concession of the copper mines of Cocorote and the adjoining territory of Aroa, 50 or 60 miles west of Puerto Cabello, to which was attached the privilege of appointing and removing the local magistracy. From Narvaez was descended, on his mother’s side, Don Juan Vicente de Bolivar, who, towards 1780, was high in the service of the royal treasury, and later was colonel of the militia of the Aragua Valley. His wife, Doña Maria Concepcion Palacio y Soto, of another noble family,{18} bore to him a son, Juan Vicente, and two daughters, Maria Antonina and Juana, none of whom are of much interest to us.

Her last child was born on the 24th July 1783, at the family town house, in the Plaza de San Jacinto in Caracas, a boy destined to play the chief rôle in the emancipation from Spanish rule of what are now the Republics of Venezuela, Panamá, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. It is said that the name to be given to the boy at his baptism, on the 30th July at the Cathedral of Caracas, was matter of dispute between his father and his maternal uncle. The latter, evidently representing the more conservative side, would have named him Santiago, after the saint on the eve of whose feast he was born. The father, preferring to seek his patron saint in the family, insisted on naming his son after the Simon Bolivar of 1589. The child’s full names were Simon, José, Antonio, de la Santisima Trinidad, but the last three need never again be referred to. Before he was three Simon Bolivar lost his father, whose intention it had been to send his sons to Europe for education. Whatever the widow might have done in fulfilment of this design her father succeeded in stopping. The education of the boys was confided to the best masters Caracas could produce. In 1789 Bolivar’s mother died, and he was left to the guardianship of his maternal uncle, Don Carlos Palacio, an easy-going, indolent personage, incapable of taking any great personal interest in his ward’s studies, or of insisting on steady application to them. The boy, credited with a good memory, ready understanding, and quickness, was described as of open and affectionate character, but irritable and impatient of contradiction. His first tutor was Simon Rodriguez,{19} an eccentric, who, besides trying without great success to teach the boy the elements of Spanish, Latin, arithmetic, and history, certainly exercised in other ways a much greater influence on his mind. Rodriguez, with his eccentricity and uncouthness, his coarse features and harsh speech, was not popular, or likely to ingratiate himself with most boys. Still, he seems to have appealed early to the young Bolivar by his philanthropic views, which he expressed freely, whilst judiciously suppressing those anti-Christian ideas which he held, but which might have frightened his pupil, to say nothing of getting himself into trouble with the authorities. He was more or less of a dreamer, and his ideas of free education were not calculated to meet with the approval of the government under which he held a post in the department of Education. He seems to have been to some extent implicated in the revolutionary plot discovered in 1797. Fear of discovery, joined perhaps to his natural tendency to rove, induced him to leave Venezuela in that year, and to resort to Europe, where, outside Spain, he could live in safety, and indulge his love of science and learning. To him succeeded, as Bolivar’s tutor, Andres Bello, then a mere boy a couple of years older than his pupil.

With such tutors, and an indolent guardian, it is not surprising that young Bolivar should have given more time to gymnastics, riding, and other outdoor pursuits than to regular study. He spent much of his time at his brother’s estate of San Mateo, in the Aragua Valley, at the eastern end of the lake of Valencia, and, in 1797, was appointed ensign in his father’s old command, the Aragua militia. His military education in that post was probably very little, but it is all he got.

In 1799, Carlos Palacio, probably tired of having to look after a rather unruly and idle boy, relieved himself of the burden by sending his ward off to complete his education in Spain. Under charge of the captain of the Spanish ship San Ildefonso, Bolivar embarked, in January 1799, at La Guaira. The ship made a long stay at Vera Cruz, whence Bolivar went to visit the city of Mexico. There he was hospitably received by Azanza the Viceroy and others. He ended, however, by somewhat shocking his Spanish friends with his freely expressed views on the French Revolution, views which he had doubtless imbibed from his friend Simon Rodriguez. On his return to Vera Cruz Bolivar wrote a short account of his doings to his uncle, Pedro Palacio, the spelling of which shows that he had not profited much in that respect by his studies. Altogether, it is a very ordinary boy’s letter. Leaving Vera Cruz, the San Ildefonso touched at Havana, and finally made the port of Santona, on the shores of the Bay of Biscay, in May 1799. From Santona Bolivar went to Madrid, where he lived with another maternal uncle, Esteban Palacio, until the latter left the capital. Amongst Palacio’s friends was Manuel Mallo, a native of Popayan in New Granada, who had lived for a time at Caracas, and was now sharing with Manuel Godoy the illicit affections of Charles IV.’s disreputable wife. Bolivar was taken up as a compatriot by Mallo, and witnessed some of the Queen’s unworthy doings. There is a curious story told by Bolivar himself of his having been invited to play tennis with the Prince of Asturias, whom he beat. The Prince was vexed and would have stopped playing, but his mother made him go on. This Prince was afterwards Ferdinand VII., from whose grasp Bolivar wrested a large portion of his South American dominions.

A more worthy friend than Mallo was the cultivated Marquis de Ustáriz, who, amongst other things, used to discuss with the young man the idea of a separation of Spanish America from the mother country. The Marquis, whilst not disapproving generally of the idea, was so much impressed by the difficulties of its execution as to discourage the enthusiasm of Bolivar. At the house of Ustáriz, Bolivar met and fell in love with a mere child, Maria Teresa Rodriguez de Toro, niece of the Marquis de Toro of Caracas, who reciprocated his affection. Her father, Don Bernardo de Toro, was willing to agree to the marriage, but, in view of the youth of the parties (Bolivar was but eighteen, and the girl fifteen), insisted on some delay.

Bolivar now got into trouble owing to his friend Mallo. The young man was arrested and searched, under the pretext of breach of a sumptuary regulation; but it is surmised that the real object was to ascertain if he had letters indicating Mallo’s infidelity to the jealous Queen. Bolivar consequently followed Don Bernardo and his daughter to Bilbao, and, when they returned to Madrid, betook himself to Paris, where he arrived early in 1802. In the French capital he soon became an admirer of the Republic, which he imagined to be the only good form of government. For Bonaparte he expressed the warmest admiration, which disappeared when, in later years, he found Bonaparte the Consul transformed into Napoleon the Emperor.

In the spring of 1802, Bolivar returned to Madrid, where, at the end of May, he was married to Maria Teresa de Toro. The young couple spent their honeymoon on a vessel sailing from Coruña to La Guaira, the port of Caracas.

On Bolivar’s side, at any rate, the marriage was one purely of affection; for his will shows that his wife brought no dowry, and the husband was extremely wealthy as wealth went in Caracas.{20} The poor girl had little opportunity of proving her disinterestedness, for, a few months after she had reached her husband’s estates in the Aragua Valley, she died, after five days of fever, leaving Simon Bolivar, at the age of 19, a childless widower.

He was in despair, vowed he would never marry again, a vow which he observed,{21} and offered to make over his whole estate to his brother, reserving only sufficient to live upon. The brother refused, and Simon resolved on another prolonged visit to Europe. Bolivar himself said that his wife’s death changed the whole course of his life. Had she lived, he would perhaps not have been satisfied to remain Alcalde of S. Mateo, but, unless she had died, he would not have revisited Europe, or gained the experience which he acquired there.

Landing at Cadiz about the end of 1803, he spent some time in Madrid with his father-in-law before proceeding to Paris, which he reached in May 1804.{22} There, according to Ducoudray-Holstein, he led a life of the wildest dissipation. Though this is not alluded to by Larrazabal, and is somewhat slurred over by O’Leary, it is probably not without foundation; for O’Leary speaks of Bolivar’s giving up gambling, after he had lost and then regained a large sum, and states that his health was much broken by ten months of Paris life. Both M. de Schryver and the writer of the introduction to his work{23} make no secret of the fact that Bolivar’s devotion to dancing, and to the fair sex, severely tried his constitution.

Things in Paris had changed much since Bolivar had been there in 1802. Napoleon was declared Emperor about the time of his arrival, and Bolivar was so disgusted with the line taken by his former idol that he deposed him from the niche which he had formerly occupied, and would not even go to see the sights of the coronation. Bolivar himself has recorded this sudden change in his feelings towards Napoleon.{24}

He had long ago repented of his youthful idleness in study, and, during his first visit to Spain and France, as well as in the short period of his married life, had become a diligent student and a voracious reader. He was a great admirer of Hobbes, but, according to O’Leary, Spinoza was the writer who most influenced him. For Rousseau, too, he seems to have had a great admiration, and amongst his possessions mentioned in his will is a copy of the Contrat Social, formerly in the library of Napoleon. He acquired from French translations some knowledge of Greek and Roman history, and of the heroes of antiquity. He learned to speak French and Italian fluently, and could understand English.

His friends in Paris were many. Amongst them were Eugène de Beauharnais, Delagarde, and Oudinot; whilst of the savants he knew Humboldt and Bonpland. With these two he discussed the question of the possible revolt of South America, a subject on which their views differed. Humboldt holding, as did Bonpland, that the Spanish colonies were ripe for separation, doubted if a man was to be found capable of leading the revolt. Bonpland, on the other hand, believed that with the occurrence of revolt the necessary leader would arise.{25} Neither had any suspicion that the nervous, weakly-looking youth they addressed was to be the leader.

A propos of Bolivar’s personal appearance at this time, a story is told of his meeting Eugène Beauharnais at the house of a lady,{26} a mutual friend. She mischievously asked Eugène to what bird or animal he would liken Bolivar. The reply nearly resulted in hostilities, for Bolivar was furious until it was explained that Eugène’s answer had been the French word moineau (sparrow), and not the Spanish mono (monkey) as the Venezuelan had supposed. His forehead appears to have acquired premature wrinkles at a very early age, and it was perhaps this peculiarity which made him think for the moment that the more objectionable description had been applied.

In Paris, Bolivar again met his old tutor Simon Rodriguez, who, fortunately, persuaded him to leave the capital and go for an extended walking tour with his old friend. The idea of travelling on foot, which was Rodriguez’s, was well calculated to restore Bolivar’s shattered health. The two trudged off in May 1805 to Italy, were in Milan at the time of Napoleon’s coronation as King of Italy, witnessed his mimic reproduction of Marengo, and passed on to Venice, with which Bolivar was disappointed, after having heard so much of it as the place after which his native country was named.{27}

In Rome, Bolivar declined, it is said, to kiss the cross on Pius VII.’s shoe. The Pontiff tactfully offered his ring to be kissed. When remonstrated with by the Spanish ambassador, who had presented him, Bolivar replied, The Pope can think very little of the emblem of Christianity since he wears it on his shoes, whilst the proudest sovereigns carry it on their crowns. The reply was characteristic. As a matter of fact Bolivar then, and probably throughout his life, whilst conforming outwardly to the practices of the Catholic Church, was far from being religious. His attitude probably did not differ much from Napoleon’s. At Rome, Bolivar, in a moment of enthusiasm, inspired by the surrounding monuments, vowed to Rodriguez that he would liberate his country.{28}

Returning from Naples to Paris, Bolivar left again for home, viâ Holland, Hamburg, and the United States, regretfully parting from Rodriguez, who would not, or dared not, return to Caracas. When Bolivar reached Caracas in the end of 1806, Miranda’s abortive attempt to raise the standard of revolt was already suppressed.{29}

Once more he retired to his Aragua estates, to his studies, his reading, and an out-of-doors life.

In 1808 and 1809 came the news of decisive events in Spain, the action of Napoleon in compelling the abdication of Charles IV. and his son Ferdinand, the gift to Joseph Bonaparte of the Spanish throne, which his Imperial brother had wrested from its rightful occupants, the rising of the Spanish people against the French dominion, and the institution of the Central Junta of Aranjuez. Napoleon, having bestowed on his brother the crown of Spain, naturally desired to transfer with it Spain’s transatlantic possessions; but the destruction of his naval power at Trafalgar had rendered him powerless to employ force. The French corvette Le Serpent safely reached La Guaira on the 15th July 1808, closely followed by the British frigate Acasta—Captain Beaver. The last-named officer, as well as the captain of the French ship, landed, and Beaver followed the Frenchman to Caracas, where he was received almost with insult by the Captain-General, Juan de Casas, who had already been gained over by Napoleon’s emissary. The populace, however, informed by Beaver of the true state of affairs, regarded matters very differently. They would have nothing to do with the French usurper, demonstrated vigorously their loyalty to Ferdinand VII., and compelled his public proclamation. The French, in considerable danger of being torn to pieces, were got away quietly to La Guaira, whence the Serpent sailed. She was followed by the Acasta, and taken at sea.

After this, there were numerous secret meetings in Caracas, in which Bolivar and his brother, as well as many others of the Caracas aristocracy, took part. The idea of a separate Junta, similar to the provincial Juntas now being set up in Spain, was mooted for Venezuela. Nothing, however, came of this, despite the dissatisfaction aroused by the decision of the Central Junta of Spain to give to America only twelve seats in the Cortes, against thirty-six allotted to the mother country. Even these twelve were to be nominees of the Government, not delegates of the people.

Early in 1809 there arrived at Caracas Vicente Empáran, the newly-appointed Captain-General. Larrazabal affirms that he governed with great tyranny, and that Bolivar left Caracas in order to avoid banishment, with which he was threatened by Empáran. O’Leary, whose version we prefer, says that Empáran was aware that plots were brewing for the establishment of a Junta, and that Bolivar actually toasted, at a banquet at which Empáran was present, the independence of America. That he was not immediately imprisoned, but was permitted to retire to his estates, certainly does not point to a tyrannical government.

On the 18th April there reached Caracas Count Carlos Montúfar and Antonio Villavicencio,{30} who had been sent to announce the installation of the Regency, and then to pass on to pacify Quito and New Granada. From them the agitators ascertained the course of events in Spain, which decided them to take immediate action. Larrazabal says Bolivar was present, but again we prefer the account of O’Leary, according to which, looking to his former friendly relations with Empáran, Bolivar honourably decided to hold aloof, and remained at his farm in the valley of the Tuy.

The 19th April 1809 was Maunday Thursday. The Municipal Council had assembled, as usual, preparatory to attending the religious office in the Cathedral opposite the Town Hall. The Captain-General, invited according to custom to join them, arrived in the council chamber. Some of the members spoke to him regarding the state of Spain, urging the necessity for a local Junta in Venezuela to protect the interests of Ferdinand VII. Even the names of the proposed members of the Junta were mentioned. After listening quietly, Empáran replied that he would consider this delicate subject after service. The astonished agitators followed him across the square, convinced by his resolute demeanour that he would order their arrest as soon as he got into the square, which was full of soldiers. But he merely returned the salute of the guards, and was passing into the Cathedral when Salias, the leader of the agitators, took him by the arm and told him that the public interest demanded his return to the Municipal Hall. The guard, seeing Salias’ action, were on the point of interference when they were stopped by their commander, who knew nothing of what was going on.

Empáran’s courage had failed him, and, the demand for his return being repeated by others, he meekly recrossed the square as bidden. The fact that the guard, probably taken unawares by this unexpected move, did not repeat their salute, completed his discomfiture. So completely was he overcome that, when J. G. Roscio and Felix Sosa proposed the installation of a Junta, he made no objection, and failed even to observe that neither of them was a member of the Cabildo. Yet, so great was the respect still felt for Spain, that the agitators were about to elect Empáran President of the Junta when there arrived on the scene, from the Cathedral, Dr. José Cortés de la Madariaga, a Chilian-born ecclesiastic, styling himself the Deputy of the Clergy.{31} In a violent speech, which completely cowed the Captain-General, Madariaga pointed out the condition of Spain, insisted on the necessity for a truly local government, and demanded the deposition of Empáran. Then, going out on to the balcony, he shouted to the crowd below, asking them if they were content with the present régime. When he was answered with cries of No! we do not love it, Empáran only said, I love it just as little. Then the Cabildo passed a resolution laying down the principle of the right of the provinces of America to rule themselves in the absence of a general government. Furthermore, they disclaimed the authority of the Regency, and, in the exercise of their natural and political rights, proceeded to the establishment of a government to exercise authority in the name of Ferdinand VII.

The Junta’s first acts were to proclaim equal treatment for Spaniards and Americans, to invite all Venezuelans to the union and fraternity demanded by their interests, to abolish the Indian tribute and the duties on necessaries, to prohibit the importation of slaves, to organise the branches of the administration, and to order the establishment of patriotic societies for the improvement of agriculture and industry. They also sent missions to try and gain over the other Venezuelan provinces, and wrote to the Regency informing them of what had occurred. As for Empáran and his friends, they were sent out of the country, with salaries paid up to date, and enough money to take them to the United States.

Bolivar, as we have said, took no part in the events of the 19th April. As soon, however, as he heard of the establishment of the new government he proceeded to Caracas to tender his services. He was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the militia, of which he was already captain, and of which his father had been colonel.

The Spanish Regency, not in the least inclined to recognise the new state of affairs in Venezuela, promptly decreed the blockade of her ports. England being now the ally of Spain against Napoleon, the Junta of Caracas determined to send a mission to inform the British Government of recent events, as well as to solicit its good offices with the Regency in Spain. The suggestion came from Bolivar, who with some difficulty also induced the Junta to send himself as head of the mission. He was only twenty-seven years of age, and without diplomatic experience. With him, as a make-weight, was sent Luis Lopez Mendez, a person whose name was far from popular in England in the following years, when he was financial agent of Colombia. The Secretary of the Mission was Bolivar’s former tutor, Andres Bello.{32} Reaching London in July 1810, Bolivar at once obtained an interview with the Marquis Wellesley, then Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to whom he delivered the letter for George III., with which he had been charged by the Junta. This document, after a lengthy denunciation of the misdeeds of the Central Junta of Spain, and an exposition of the impotence of the Regency, distinctly says that the special object of the provisional government in Caracas is, to maintain the integrity of these dominions for the sovereign (Ferdinand VII.), to whom we have sworn fidelity. It goes on to implore the assistance of Great Britain against French pretensions, and her mediation with the Regency. Nor did Bolivar’s instructions say a word about independence of the lawful sovereign of Spain, though, on the other hand, they said nothing of submission to the Regency whilst Ferdinand was a prisoner.

Bolivar, however, appears to have exceeded his instructions, and to have revealed to Wellesley his personal views, which were for breaking altogether with the mother country. Naturally, the Foreign Secretary could not encourage an idea of this sort, seeing that England was in alliance with Spain. The bases of reconciliation which he agreed to propose to Spain