BOLIVAR Y PONTE
rator. The Spaniards, all the Granadian prov- inces having risen against them, shut them- selves up in the fortified town of Mompox. Having regulated the Granadian congress at Bogota, and installed Gen. Santander as com- mander-in-chief, Bolivar marched to Montecal in Venezuela, where he had directed the pa- triot chieftains of that territory to assemble with their troops. Morillo withdrew before Paez from San Fernando de Apure to San Carlos. In October, 1819, the congress of An- gostura had forced Zea, whom Bolivar had made vice president during his absence, to re- sign his office, and chosen Arismendi in his place. On receiving this news, Bolivar sud- denly marched his foreign legion toward An- gostura, surprised Arismendi, exiled him to the island of Margarita, and restored Zea to his dignities. On Dec. 17, 1819, the two re- publics of Venezuela and New Granada at a general congress united under the name of Co- lombia, and Bolivar was made president. In New Granada 15 provinces out of 22 had joined the government of Colombia, and the Spaniards now held there only the fortresses of Cartagena and the isthmus of Panama. In Venezuela six provinces out of eight obeyed the laws of Colombia. Such was the state of things when Bolivar entered into negotiations with Morillo, resulting, Nov. 25, 1820, in the conclusion at Truxillo of a truce for six months. On Dec. IT Morillo embarked at Puerto Cabello for Spain, leaving the com- mand-in-chief to Miguel de la Torre. On June 24, 1821, Gen. La Torre was totally defeated by Bolivar and Paez at Carabobo, about half way between San Carlos and Valencia. In this battle the royalists lost 6,000 men and all their baggage and artillery, and by it the war in Venezuela was virtually concluded. La Torre fled to Puerto Cabello, where he shut himself up with the remainder of his troops. On Sept. 23 Cartagena capitulated to Santan- der, and Puerto Cabello was captured by Paez in November, 1823. The Colombian congress, opened in May, 1821, at Cucuta, published on Aug. 30 a new constitution, and after Bolivar had again resigned, renewed his powers. Hav- ing signed the new constitution, he obtained leave to undertake the campaign of Quito (1822), to which province the Spaniards had retired after their ejection from the isthmus of Panama. This campaign ended in the incor- poration of Quito, Pasto, and Guayaquil into Colombia. Gen. San Martin, the liberator of Peru, having asked the assistance of Bolivar in driving the Spaniards from that country, he left the government in the hands of the vice president Santander, marched upon Lima, which the royalists evacuated at his approach, entered the city in triumph Sept. 1, 1823, and on Feb. 10, 1824, was made dictator by the congress of Lima. With 6,000 Colombians under Gen. Sucre and 4,000 Peruvians under Gen. Miller, he crossed the Andes, and on Aug. 6, 1824, defeated the Spanish army on the plains of Junin. He then returned to Lima to reor- ganize the government, leaving Gen. Sucre to follow the retreating royalists to Upper Peru, where on Dec. 9 he achieved the decisive victory of the war at Ayacucho. Bolivar convened a congress and resigned the dictatorship of Peru, Feb. 1 0, 1 825. The provinces of Upper Peru met in convention at Chuquisaca, and having assum- ed for their country the name of Bolivia they made Bolivar perpetual protector, and asked him to prepare for them a plan of government. He returned to Lima, and from there on May 25, 1826, presented the Bolivian code to the con- gress of Bolivia. In the mean time a serious antagonism had broken out in Colombia be- tween the centralists or Bolivarists and the federalists, Paez, the vice president of Vene- zuela, having broken into open revolt. Bolivar went to Bogota, assumed dictatorial powers Nov. 23, 1826, and meeting Paez at Puerto Cabello the last of December, he not only con- firmed him in his command of Venezuela, and issued a proclamation of amnesty to all the rebels, but openly took their part. Bolivar and Santander were reelected president and vice president; but in February, 1827, the former wrote a letter to the senate declining the po- sition. A large minority were in favor of ac- cepting his declination, but his friends proving a majority, he was induced to withdraw it. He repaired to Bogota to take the oath, but before doing so issued a decree, March 21, 1828, con- voking a national convention at Ocafia, with a view to modify the constitution in favor of the executive power. When, however, a large majority declared against the proposition, his friends vacated their seats, by which proceeding the body was left without a quorum, and thus became extinct. From a country seat some miles distant from Ocafia, to which he had retreated, he published a manifesto attacking the convention and calling on the provinces to recur to extraordinary measures. Popular as- semblies at Caracas, Cartagena, and Bogota anew invested him with dictatorial power. An attempt was now made to assassinate him in his sleeping room at Bogota, which he escaped only by leaping in the dark from the balcony of the window, and lying concealed under a bridge. Santander, convicted of ta- king a part in the conspiracy, was banished, and Gen. Padilla on the same charge was con- demned to death. Violent factions disturb- ing the republic in 1829, Bolivar in a new ap- peal to the citizens invited them to frankly express their wishes as to the modifications to be introduced into the constitution. An as- sembly of notables at Caracas answered by denouncing his ambition, declaring the separa- tion of Venezuela from Colombia, and placing Paez at the head of that republic. The senate of Colombia stood by Bolivar, but other insur- rections broke out at different points. Having resigned for the fifth time, in January, 1830, he again accepted the presidency, and left Bo- gotd to wage war on Paez in the name of the
