The Emancipation of South America

by Bartolomé Mitre

white, Europeans and Creoles, 913,000 were of indigenous races, 615,000 of mixed races, and 138,000 were negro slaves. Santa Fé de Bogotá was the capital of New Granada, Caracas was the capital of Venezuela. The City of Quito, situate high above the level of the sea, had been the centre of pre-Columbian civilization; during the colonial epoch it was at times attached to the Viceroyalty of New Granada, at times to that of Peru. The district of which this city was the capital has been styled the Thibet of the New World.

The two parallel ranges of the Andes, which form the valley of Chile, unite to the north of Argentine territory, but again separate in Peru, and running northward enclose Quito and the valley of Popayán, which forms the extreme south of New Granada. They then again diverge, this time into three branches, one of which forms the isthmus of Panama, while the others extend to the north-east as far as the Gulf of Mexico, wide valleys interposing between each range.

To the east of the most easterly of these ranges lies a vast plain, drained by the great river Orinoco and its tributaries. Situate under the tropic of Cancer summer and winter are there unknown, but the season from March to September is one of constant rain. During the intervening months, the rivers leave their beds and convert the vast plain into as vast a sea. When the waters retire, the plains are covered with luxuriant pasturage, giving sustenance to millions of cattle and horses, which are herded by a semi-civilized race of horsemen, known as the “llaneros” of Columbia, a race similar to the “gauchos” of the Argentine pampa. The llaneros live in lonely huts, and pass their days in the saddle. Inured to fatigue and danger, they are sober and abstemious, dress in the most simple manner, are dexterous in the use of the lance, and are splendid swimmers. Endowed with such qualities, and led by men of their own race, their deeds eclipse those of the most renowned heroes of antiquity.

The Columbian revolution broke out separately, in each of the three great sections. The first outbreak took place at Quito in August, 1809, almost simultaneously with similar movements in Mexico and in Upper Peru. The Captain-General, Ruiz de Castillo, was deposed, and a Junta was appointed. The movement was crushed by the combined forces of New Granada and Peru, and the leaders were put to death in prison in August, 1810. They were the first martyrs in the cause of independence in South America.

These outbreaks, simultaneous but unconnected, proceeded from identical causes; these causes not being removed, the consequent effects were naturally reproduced, and found echo all over the Continent.

On the 25th May, 1810, the star of liberty arose in Buenos Ayres, but previous to that date, on the 19th April of the same year, the municipality of Caracas, joined by deputies from the people, deposed Emparán, the Captain-General, denied the authority of the Regency of Cadiz, and appointed a Junta to rule over the “United Provinces of Venezuela,” in the name of the King. The leader of this movement was a canon of the church, named Madariaga, by birth a Chilian, and a member of the Secret Society established by Miranda, whom he had met in London. His associates were Roscio and Ponte, men of noble character, whose political knowledge was more theoretical than practical. Most of the Provinces answered the call of the capital by deposing their governors and appointing Juntas.

The Central Junta issued a Manifesto to the other colonies of Spanish America, inviting them to form a continental league, for mutual protection. No such league was formed, but the example was everywhere followed. The first act of the Junta was to summon a Congress, elected by the people, into whose hands they proposed to surrender their provisional authority.

The northern provinces of Maracaibo and Coro had not deposed their governors, Generals Miyares and Ceballos. These two officers denounced the movement, and commenced to raise troops to oppose it. The Junta took precautionary measures so as to be prepared against any attack, and meantime sent envoys to the United States and to England; looking to the latter power for protection in the event of an invasion of Venezuela by the French. Don Luis Mendez, Don Andrés Bello, and Don Simon Bolívar, a colonel of militia, were selected for this mission.

Bolívar was at that time twenty-seven years of age. There was nothing heroic in his appearance; he was short in stature, thin and narrow-chested, but his rugged, irregular features, gave a look of energy to his sallow countenance. His hair was black and curly; his high narrow forehead was deeply seamed with horizontal lines; he had thick, sensual lips, and beautiful teeth; his large black eyes were sunk deep in their orbits, and sparkled with an unsteady light, indicative of his character. He looked like one possessed by a latent fire, a man of feverish activity, combined with duplicity and arrogance; his profile was that of a deep thinker. Altogether his aspect was that of a man of great ideas, but of small judgment; his deeds do not belie that impression.