CHAPTER XVII
Bolivia's Birth. Bolívar's Triumph. The Monarchical Idea. From Honors to Bitterness
(1825-1827)
Immediately after Ayacucho, Bolívar ordered the cessation of conscription and called a constitutional convention for February 8, 1825.
"The deplorable circumstances which forced Congress to create the extraordinary office of dictatorship have disappeared," he said, "and the Republic is now able to constitute and organize itself as it will."
Passing from national interests to his great idea of American union, he issued a circular to all the governments of the continent to carry into practice the assembly of plenipotentiaries of Latin America.
"It is now time," he wrote, "that the common interests uniting the American republics had a fundamental basis to make permanent the duration of their governments, if possible. The task of establishing this system and affirming the power of this great political body must rest upon that lofty authority which may direct the policies of our governments and keep their principles of conduct uniform, an authority whose name alone will calm our storms. So respectable an authority can exist only in an assembly of plenipotentiaries, designated by each one of our republics and united under the auspices of the victory obtained by our armies against the Spanish government…. The day when our plenipotentiaries exchange their powers will start an immortal epoch in the diplomatic history of America. When, after one hundred centuries, posterity seeks the beginning of our international law, it will remember the agreements which affirmed its destiny and will gaze with respect upon the conventions of the Isthmus. And then it will find the plan of the first alliances showing the course of our relations with the world. What will the Isthmus of Corinth then be, compared with the Isthmus of Panamá?"
Bolívar now sent his resignation to Colombia, stating that since he had fulfilled his mission and there were no more enemies in America, it was time to carry out his promise. At this very time he was beginning to be attacked by his enemies as an ambitious man who desired monarchial power! These attacks, it was clear to him, would become more numerous, and even foreigners would take part in the abuses. But there does not now exist one document which warrants a single accusation against Bolívar for immoderate aspirations.
When the War of Independence had practically come to a close Rodil was holding Callao, and Upper Perú was still in the hands of the Spanish. Sucre undertook to remedy this situation while Bolívar attended to the convening of the constitutional congress in Perú. The Liberator remarked how dangerous it was "to put into the hands of any one man a monstrous authority which could not be placed without danger into the hands of Apollo himself." Speaking to the delegates he said he desired:
"to compliment the people because they have been freed of that which is most dreadful in the world, war, through the victory of Ayacucho, and despotism, through my resignation. Proscribe forever, I pray you, such enormous authority, which was the doom of Rome. It was praiseworthy, undoubtedly, for Congress, in order to pass through the abyss and face terrific storms, to substitute the bayonets of the liberating for its laws, but now that the country has secured domestic peace and political freedom, it should permit no rule but the rule of law."