The Evening Star SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1930. BOLIVAR.

Evening Star, Issue 20672, 20 December 1930, Page 16

The Evening Star SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1930. BOLIVAR.

In’ his lifetime, it has heen .said of Simon Bolivar, men spoke of him, of George Washington, and of Napoleon in the same breath. Now, on the centenary of his death, Mr Arthur Header son talks formal commonplaces about him and of tho-Statcs which ho founded. “ The greatest man the Americas have yet produced,” says Mr Cnnninghame Graham. If only the Liberator, and not bis right hand, the Llaneros Paez, had given the grandfather of that glowing chronicler two horses ho might have been the hero of a history which wwilcJ havo made his name to future generations of Britons a household word. As it is, he comes near to dominating the entrancing volume dedicated to a less renowned if not less engaging paladin. Bolivar’s life was the very stuff of romance. Ho was statesman as well as soldier. His name, ’ho Liberator, has been called “ perhaps the most glorious that mankind has it in its power to bestow on anyone.'” There are more statues of him to-day than there arc of any national hero except perhaps Garibaldi. They are the tardy atonement of South America for ingratitude which was shown to him while ho lived. . . Thd war for the liberation of the Spanish South American colonies was a merciless'struggle. It lasted for seventeen years. Bolivar did nob begin it. An earlier leader, Francesco Miranda, raised the standard of revolt first in Venezuela, which was declared a republic. Defeat followed that too early triumph. Bolivar, who thought Miranda was a traitor —the two men had been on bad terms—caused bis arrest by the loyalists, and ho died in a Spanish prison. It was a bad beginning for the greater man’s career. Miranda did not know how to use irregular troops in a vast country. Bolivar had still to learn. He had all tho qualities for a romantic leader. 'He was rich, of good birth, knew Madrid and Paris, had drunk deeply of tho doctrines of the French Revolution. Grief for a lost love and dissipations which followed it gave a Byrbnic tinge to his early character. Tho second republic which he established in Venezuela, after invading that colony from New Granada (now Colombia), did not last long. A disastrous flight and bloody proscriptions followed it, the Spanish fortunes were reestablished in both tho subversive colonies, and the fortunes of Bolivar reached their lowest ebb. But lie had learned by now how to make a success, of his warfare, by avoiding the coastal strip, except for raids, and maintaining his position on the Orinoco Plains, whence ho could strike west and east at Spanish power. The blow which he struck when ho turned suddenly westward, marching his army first over swampy plains, then over tho frozen Cordilleras, to free Colombia from the joke vies with the Alpine descent of Hannibal for its boldness, overcoming of almost superhuman difficulties, and surprise.

A British legion, semirings of English slums and old soldiers of Wellington, who fought to escape starvation in their own country, shone with glory in that audacious enterprise. When Bolivar led hia army back, again to free Venezuela it showed its mettle again. At the Battle of Carabobo —Juno 24, 1821— Pacz, tho beau ideal of a primitive guerrilla leader, had charge of the cavalry. Tho first attack of a colonial regiment was repulsed by the Spanish infantry, always stubborn in these encounters. To quote Mr Cunninghamo Graham: “ Pacz then ordered tho British Legion to advance. In perfect order, with drums boating and their colours flying, they took up their position, under the command ot Colonel Farrar, who got off his horso and ordered Ins men to kneel. Then, in tho words of the Venezuelan writer, words that set the blood tingling with pride, ‘ the British Legion ceased to bo a corps like all the others, but, having rooted themselves in tho ground, became a granite wall. 1 Exposed to a murderous fire from two Spanish regiments, men fell like corn before tho reapers, but as they fell silently their comrades closed up their decimated ranks, keeping up a hot fire, as little shaken as if they had been at a field day.” Officer after officer was killed, till Paez, fearing that the little force would be overwhelmed, gave the order for a bayonet charge. The Legion sprang to its feet, and under tho command of a young lieutenant, joined by a native regiment, swept tho enemy away. In less than half an hour the British Legion had lost seventeen officers and almost half its men. Its firmness turned the tide. Then Paez, brandishing his lance, charged at the head of his Llaneros and broke the Spanish cavalry, and tho decisive battle of that part of tho war was won. “Saviours of my country!” was Bolivar’s greeting to the British mercenaries as they passed before him. They did not love the Venezuelans or their country; they had small interest in their cause; hundreds of Venezuelans, for that .natter, fought on both sides alternately in this warfare; with no irony, on this occasion, it could be said that the alien levies “ saved . the sum of things—for pay.” Bolivar’s statesmanship was heroic like his strategy. It was too bold for his time. When Ecuador and Peru, following tho earlier States, had been liberated by him, and Upper Peru, as it had been called till then, adopted bis name as still another now republic, he aspired to join Venezuela, New Granada, and Ecuador in a single State —La Gran Colombia. Tho three territories had littio - in common. Tho union was distasteful to them all. Venezuela broke away tinder Paez as President. Witbin a few years Bolivar was almost hated in his native State. Ho was accused of designs for making himself a king. He bad a great dream of freeing the slaves of Cuba and loading them as an army against the effete monarchy in Spain. As a private person. worn out by toils, though lie was only forty-seven years of ago, lie returned to Venezuela to die. Few exec;- Pacz honoured him. Only one officer who served under him had remained faithful to. tho end. : He had

cause for questioning whether the peoples he had freed deserved their freedom. TJio long wars, during eight years of which by the practice of both sides no mercy was shown to prisoners, were the worst preparation for it. The patriotism of Bolivar was unselfish; the rich man died poor. At the height of his fame one who had marvelled at his exploits was surprised to see “ a little man in a blue coat, wearing a forage cap, and mounted on a mule.’’ His two principal distinctions of appearance, - Mr Cunniughamo Graham tells us, wore “ the extreme mobility of his body and the brilliance of his eyes, which were black, lively, and penetrating as those of an eagle.” His nature was gallant, ardent; he had the gifts of an orator; and in the heat of the battle ho was most calm. South America has much cause to ho proud of Bolivar, though her pride was not shown at the best time. _____