New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-05-29

celIent preliminary chapter on the hfsso-..
Spanish rule in America, keeps Bolivar ~
centre of the picture. where he beIOngs In
feat and victory, in encouragement and 60
ing progress always alone like a commands. :
sea. doing his best with troops that wers =
better than heterogeneOusly armed nobs u,u
ming battles in spite OF strategcaI and taetic.,
mistakes. neutralizng the effects Of defeat ozi.L
a skill that is not the least OF his claims :.
greatness. meeting opposition and hostiti,T
within his own camp. exposed 20 assassioatio1
freely giving his own wealth for the Gauss. NJ,
til. in the end, he was a ruined man:
Few men ever had greater opportunities % on
Flch a aIe sun fe sb more honestly
commenced life as rich man. he died alr7ost :
pauper. Peru offered him million pesos. which "a
refused for himself. though he accepted il for ne
benefit OF his native city He renowned the En-
dowrnents which mis- country proposed to confer az
him. . He refused to accept them or tn non on
den the impecuniOus state with obligations in bis
OWN favor. until absolute want compelled his ac
ceptance OF the pension Of 1880
In the same year he died. not yet forty-eigb,
on December II, worn out in body and spirit h.
the struggle, with the knowledge that b4i,,n
the respect and the hOnors paid him thsr.
Iurked deep hatred and dark suspicion. He baa
his faults great and grieyoUs faults: we aIvva,
see them much clearer In other nations,
heroes than in our own He was VAIN with tb
vanity OF the young Latin. but that was e,
weakness, not a fault He has been acc7Isst
of vaulting ambition. Of aspiring TO royal ard
even imperial, dignity The charge has never
been proved; it may have originated in hi,
growing recognition that republic on the No-+,
American system was impossible among ueoDla.
on so low a level OF civilization They needed
a dictator. and he saw it. perhaps he wished n
be that dictator himself. for their own good
There was. no doubt, a touch OF Napoeoni.
rnegaIomania in his ever growing plans. which
ultimately contemplated federation incIudjn,
Chile and the Argentine. well as the coun-
tries he had liberated. His career is stainat
with dark deeds of cruelty. but his opponents
were better in this regard than he Without
military legal training. he achieved his end
always a master among men, dominating them
with his iron win. It was his win alone that
made possible the crossing Of the Andes. and
though his horses died and his muskets rusted
he kept his ammunition dry Says Mr. Petre:
His life is the history Of a great success AMI a.,
great failure. He succeeded in throwing OF for-
ever the yoke of SPAIN which had pressed for .hrs
on the Shoulders Of South America ~
failed to set u9, in place of Spanish dominion
anything resembling a stable free AMI popular gov
eminent Bolivar's success marks him out as rbe
greatest South America has produced enc ~
whom the title "E.l DlUStre Americana might haye
been more properly given than TO CiIzrnln B,a1co
hardly detTacts from his greatness for the asE
of making a great nation out OF the materials h.
had to work with was an impossible on. He nal
to deal with peoples depraved by centuries Of bad
government The mass OF the population. sunk N
initiative or capacity the majority OF its leaders
been endowed by the Spanish system with a nar-
row literary and legal education which turned
them into professional intrguers and fostered their
innate vanity. With such materials Washington
could never have evolved the United States and
part of Europe