"I have decided to leave for Venezuela, and I want you to know this, warning you that I absolutely do not want you, on your account or on mine, to incur the least expense, for you well know how poor I am."
And this was the man who had been born wealthy, who had declined to accept a million dollars from Perú, who gave his salary to the needy, who could have had all life can give, but who renounced all to devote himself to his country!
When the constitution was drafted, Bolívar found that it was going to be contrary to his desires, and he made ready to return to Venezuela, but was persuaded by the insistence of his friends to remain. At last, they, fearing the oppression of Santander and his followers, left Congress. This destroyed the quorum, as other representatives had already resigned. On June 11th, they issued a proclamation explaining the failure of the Congress, attributing it to the oppression by a party which desired a constitution unsuited to Colombia, and which overlooked the real facts of the situation; and declared that the legal status of the country was as follows:
"The constitution of the year 1811 is in full vigor; the laws are in force, and at the head of the government is the Libertador Presidente, who has the confidence of the nation."
When Bolívar was informed that the convention had adjourned, he wanted to return to the capital and withdraw from public life. This would have meant civil war with no man powerful enough to put an end to it. In the emergency an assembly of respectable persons met in Bogotá and established a Junta, asking Bolívar to resume power and to hasten to the capital to handle the situation. Bolívar had nothing to do but to obey; it was a matter of his own conscience, even more than of the demands of the people.
He had full power in governmental matters, but he decided to exercise it with due consultation and only during the crisis through which Colombia was passing. Bogotá received him with unusual enthusiasm. He declared publicly that he would always be the champion of public liberty.
"When the people want to deprive me of the power and separate me from the command, I shall gladly submit to their will and will surrender to them my sword, my blood and my life. That is the sacred oath I utter before all the principal magistrates, and what is more, before all the people."
In truth, he used his powers with great prudence, and devoted his time especially to the reorganization of the army and the extinction of privateering, ordering that no more licenses should be issued and that those in force should be recalled.
Memorials to him were drafted in every part of Nueva Granada, and even the smallest villages showed their unanimous wish that Bolívar should take the situation in hand and save the country. Guayaquil and Venezuela did the same. It seemed that everything was settled and that peace was to last forever. Bolívar did not use the name of Dictator nor that of Supreme Chief, but the one given to him by law, Libertador Presidente. He regulated his own powers, created a council of state, ordered that all guarantees granted by the constitution of Cúcuta be respected, and offered to convoke the national representation for January 2, 1830, to establish at last the constitution of the Republic. In papers concerning the constitution, he expressed disgust for dictatorship.
"Under a dictatorship, who can speak of freedom?" he said. "Let us feel mutual compassion for the people who obey and for the man who commands alone."