The Irish standard., 1896-01-11

u .a T 49, . g I'D as s' y.
age of 47-at the prime of hfe-he died.
cos Solo, of equally high birth. Their
united estates made their family one Of
the wealthiest in the Spanish possessions.
Their children were feft orphans before
the future liberator had reached years.
In compliance with the custom which OBJ
tanned among wealthy Spanish Ameri-,
cans, Bolivar was sent to Spain when he
was II years old to be educated. After
five years residence abroad, devoted
somewhat to study and largely to pleas
ure and travel, Bolivar married young
noblewoman at Madrid, and after seven.
years more in Spain, returned to his
home. He was almost a sovereign. His
elder brother, himself and two sisters
had vast properties. An idea OF the ex-.
tent may be given by the fact that on one
of the family estates, near Carcaras, l,5O0
slaves were regularly kept, prior to the
revolution They owned, besides, count
less herds of cattle and measureless
ranges and plantations, some 1000 peons.'
Ills great fortune Bolivar devoted to
the cause of freedom, along with himeslf.
Iii marshaling. the facts which make
strongly in the liberators favor, one BIZ.
ographer says:
:'He conquered the independence OF
three countries and secured their recogni-
tion by otner nations; gave them laws
which provided for the better admins
tration of justice; he died no richer from
having had the control of the treasures.
Of Columbia Peru and Bolivia, and he
expended in the peoples services nearly
all the large fortune which he inherited
The future general returned from
Spain ia 1909, and lived in retirement
with his young wife on one of his es-
taies near Caracas. The change OF Gil
mate presently proved fatal to the young
Spanish woman, and Bolivar sought IN
travel and public life forgetfulness OF his
grief He had taken little part in the
revolutionary movement, which had been
progressing since the beginning OF the
present century, perhaps because he was
abroad, and also too young. The war for
independence which resulted in the for
nation of New Granada and Venezuela
into the Colombian republic was opened
without his active participation. This
was the. revolution ait Caracas OF April
10, 1910. Later he took a commission to
represent the new patriotic government
in London He returned home the fol-
lowing year and retired to his estate.
!. In 1911 he first appeared as prominent
in the republican cause. He was recog-
nized as a leader from the start until his
death, although he was practically in ex-
lie at the time of the latter event. In
1913 he had firmly established his posi-
tion and 1naintalned4it with the excep-'
tion of brief intervals, when he was tenn
porarily thrown down by conspiracies
and iealousies, until he resigned the
presidency, i'm 1880. and went to Santa
Maria. where he died, discouraged and
broken hearted, Dec. II, of the same year.
After six years Of tighting-in 1919
Gen. Bolivar was made president OF the
Republic OF Colum mbia-formed Of Vene-
zuela and New Granada. He had prev,
iousIy assumed the title of liberator aud
dictator, and ruled as such, except when
he temporarily gave way to Spanish
arms. In 1928 Spain gave UP the strug-
gle to maintain dominion. In the ten
years Bolivar had been in the saddle, the
parent country had at no time exercised
sway. Her rule was spasmodic and con-
fined only to districts. 1t did not exist
unnte1Tuptedly at any point In the
series Of skirnlsLes and stricken fields
that made up his military history, which
is also history Of South America indie
pendence, Bolivar showed himself
thorough general He fought q waiting
fight, and to large extent, let the cli-
mate and fever and agtle do his killing.
He also conducted one or two campaigns
ON the plan which made a general OF the
United States army famous. He had no
established base Of supplies, but relied
on the enemy's stores for his subsistence.
Bolivar was brilliant militrist,r- and if
his procla1nations and general orders
sound sometimes like a comic opera, 1t
should be borne IN mind that they were
addressed to a vivacious, effervescent
people. and that Bolivar himself was not
native of the frozen, temperate north.
In an engagement he was brilliant and
dashing, something of the late Custer
style of warrior
After fairly establishing the independ-
ence Of the home country, he went To-
Peru upon invitation of the natives and
marched q, triumphant army into Lima,
the seat Of government. He established
dictatorship, crossed the Andes, drove
out the Spanish forces and resigned his
rule after recognizing the government.
He next proceeded to the territory now
known as Bolivia, n his honor. The
provinces and colonies here suffering un-
der the Spanish oppression ami rapacity,
harder and more tyrannical with each
succeeding century, called upon the lib
orator for deliverance. The armies of
reputation as an invincible warrior help
ed him much in the conquest Of Peru
and Bolivia. The forces of Spain were
made up to an extent of the soldiers who
had made Intellectual stand before him in
Colombia. -
He gave Bolivia a government under
constitution. and also drafted code of
laws In establishing republics the lib
orator had not alone the Spanish rule to
break. He had to contend with the am
bitions Of his own generals, who, when
the conqueror had gone, would establish
small but invariably futile relationships
of Their own. Some OF them paid for the
political ambitions with their heads, for
the liberator proceeded on radical lines
when necessary. 1t was disloyalty and
jealousy, the evil reports and conspira-
cies of his lieutenants that hastened the
patriots death. One Of his s,lbordiuatesl
-Paez- grasped the Dictatorship. as the
result of one Of these numerous conspira-.
cies. Bolivar retired to Santa Maria, re-
signing his position as nominal head OF
the government. 1t was regarded as a.
matter of months only when he would
again be in control, but the sense of in-s
gratitude and loss Of political power, to-
gether with q constitutionf,Worn by MIL
tar1- hard IN and veal a]z+np1 hv tho gcny1-