The Irish standard., 1896-01-11
BELOVED BY VENEZUELA
Simon Bolivar the Washington OF
Several South American
States.
Were He Living Today He Would
Not Ask Others to Settle
His Questions.
A Sketch of His Warlike Exploits
and His Bravery and In
telligence.

telligence.
J It is possible Venezuelan standards are
| deteriorating. There was a day, and
! that within the memory Of men who are
yet alive, when the Cayenne republic
would not have demanded a jury of ma
tions to pass upon the title Of real estate.
Venezuela has produced men Who ran
their line fences and established their
| boundaries without invoking surveyors
| from without, says writer in the Chi
cago Times-Herald.
| This is said in no spirit of despite or
detracton. Crespo and his predecessors,
but Crespo particularly, have not been
distinguished for avoiding trouble. They
have made strong war talks and have at
| all times held themselves in readiness to
mingle their Creole blood and the "san-
gre azul, 1.-THE blue blood of the older
families-with that of the Anglo-Saxon
! invaders. The war propositions. how
ever. have always been in the subjunc-
tive. If arbitration cannot be had, if
| Great Britain will not permit the consti-
! tuition of an unfhterested, unbiased board
of inquiry, then come war and slaughter.
Doubtless arbitration is the humane
and logical means for settling intelna-
tional disputes. It is a consequence
| which naturally attends intellectual en-
| lightenment and material development.
But arbitration would not have satisfied
Simon Bolivar, the liberator, or General
Santander his very capable lieutenant.
or others of the old style. Bolivar had
his own views on national proprieties.
| He would have resented any attempt to
| contract his territory by crowding the
edges. He would have fought the war
| OF dispossession first. Judging his rec
ord dispassionately as one can, since he
has been dead 65 years, it is safe to
! say he would have won. Afterward he
might have asked other nations to come
and witness the erection of monuments
and establishment. of landmarks.
| 1t is not to be understood that Bolivar
! did not welcome assistance from foreign
ers. On the contrary, he gave the hand
of JOY to such aid when offered by indi-
viduals. His staff of subordinates was
| largely made up of soldiers of fortune
| Captain Dalgettys-from all European
| countries If a man could swing a sabre,
ride horse and drill company his
calling and his election was sure in Boil
vars camp. Tt was the offers of alien
governments to render aid against Spain
and be present at the division of terri
torial spoils that the liberator rejected
His business was the discriminating ct
South America, or SO much thereof as one
ambitious, energetic. educated, fighting
man might hope to free. No other coun-
try could share in the territory which lie
hewed-literally cut out with the saber-
from the dominion of Spain. 1t is prob
able, it is almost established as fact,
that Bolivar was the original proponent
of the now familiar doctrine, america
| for Americans" The proposition may
not have been phrased so briefly and so
vigorously as Monroe framed it, but it
found among ideas left by Bolivar.
Bolivar has many different characters
given him by biograhpers. No prom
inent man of any country has been more
yariously described than he by contem-
poraneous writer's With the calmer
judgment of years it is seen that tnes pa
triot, the unselfish lover of his country
predominaEed in his makeup. Other
views held concerning his nature, the
criticisms touching his personal honor
and his motives were those of men Or
other nations, unable to comprehend the
enthusiastinl, buoyant and changing ma
ture of the man. 1t is impossible to
measure a Ma11tuano, a South American,
made up of composite characteristics of
the Castil.an couQuerors, native chiefs,
by Teutonic Or Anglo-Saxon standards.
Bolivar has been written as a great man,
the Washington of South America, the
enslaver Of his countrymen. the bene
factor Of his people, a mansof the first
order of genius, a tyrtlalt and an oppres-
scr, the Napoleon of the western world,
the Cromwell of the Colombian states.
All these readings have been made him.
The conclusions depend on the point OF
view.
The South American patriot resembled
Washington as much as 1t is possible
for one of his lineage to approach one of
the great Americans breeding. The fact
is comparison is impossible. They had
| oIe point in common-an ingrained love
of country, and determination to establish
domestic government At this point they
came together. and here, also, they sep
arated Their training and habits Of
thoughts their education and their meth
DDS were wide apart. Bolivar had in
many respects the harder task. He not
only had to form public opinion to a great
extent, but also had to direct it and re-
strain the license which many OF his fol-
lowers mistook for freedom. The revolu-
tionists Of North America needed but a
guide and leader. They had never been
slaves; therein they possessed great NOR
al and physical advantage over Bolivar's S
following
1t teaches respect for American insti-
tutions established by Washington and
his fellow patriots that it was the obser-
vations made in casual visit to this re-
public that animated Bolivar with a zeal
to detllrone tyranny and give freedom a
toot1old in his native country. Simon
| Bolivar was born at Carcaras. July "a,
1888. Before he was 80 years old he
buckled on his war belt and before he
had reached 40 had won the ipdepend-
! ence, not alone of his own, but other
states: had drafted constitutions and
framed laws and established democratic
governments which exist today. At the
His work was completed. His title Of
Iliberator had been earned.
BoliYar's parent tswere of the blue blood
| OF Venezuela. His ather, Don Juan Vim
cent BoIivar..y Ponfe, Was a. descendant
sof one OF the early Span iaTds 1 1 1i moth,
ler Was Donna IA rla ConceIlc i'm Falac-|