As was his custom, he tried first to settle all difficulties through negotiation. His aide-de-camp, Colonel O'Leary, was sent to offer the Liberator's friendship to Perú, but the Peruvian Government did not deign even to answer O'Leary's communication. In January, 1829, the Perúvians obtained some success; they occupied Guayaquil and other places with an army of over 8,000 men well organized, while the Colombians numbered only 6,000 men, poorly equipped, but commanded by the greatest of all South American generals after Bolívar,—Sucre, who was able to inflict two defeats on the enemy during the month of February, and, after his final victory, offered a capitulation, which was accepted by the enemy, with the stipulation that the boundaries between Perú and Colombia were to be settled by a special commission, and that neither of the contracting parties would intervene in the domestic affairs of the other. The city of Guayaquil was to be surrendered to Colombia. The Peruvian army was commanded by La Mar, head of the anti-Colombian party of Perú.
The inhabitants of Pasto had again rebelled against Colombia, but they were subdued without bloodshed. Upon receiving their submission, Bolívar went to Quito, where, after long separation, he met Sucre, and found in the loyal friendship of the Great Marshal of Ayacucho some comfort in the midst of all the bitterness which filled his soul. On that occasion, for the first time, Bolívar's facility and felicity of language failed him, and his tears were the only expression of his feelings. He received in Quito a manifesto issued by Páez regarding the murderous attempt of the 25th of September, once more protesting that he was loyal to Bolívar. Again mentioning the sword that his illustrious chief had given him, he said: "In my hands it will always be Bolívar's sword, not my own; let his will direct it and my arm will carry it."
La Mar, on trivial pretexts, did not surrender the city of Guayaquil, but undertook the reorganization and enlargement of his army. Bolívar prepared himself for new struggles, while in private he did his best to have the capitulation fulfilled. Advancing to Guayaquil, he succeeded in recovering without a single shot the land lost by Colombia, for La Mar had become unpopular in Perú on account of this war and was deprived of his command and expelled from the country. Immediately after his banishment public feeling in Perú expressed itself freely in favor of Colombia and a friendly arrangement was very easy. La Mar died soon after in exile, forgotten by all.
In Guayaquil, Bolívar's life was in great danger because of very serious illness, and his soul was sick of the unjust attacks by his enemies. In 1815 the Duke of Manchester, governor of Jamaica, had said of him that the flame had consumed the oil, but at this time it was really true. Yet on August 31st, while barely convalescing, he plunged again into activity by issuing a famous circular asking the people to express their opinions freely on the form of government and on the constitution to be adopted by the next constitutional congress. After recovering from that illness he went to Quito, where he worked in the reorganization of the southern departments, and at the end of October he left for Bogotá.
Then another man added his bit to the work of Bolívar's enemies. Córdova, tempted by ambition, and believing in the necessity for the separation of New Granada from Venezuela, claimed that, since Bolívar was getting old and had very few days to live, he should be deprived of the command. He tried to form a combination with Páez, Mariño and others. Bolívar knew of his actions and talked to him in an attempt to win back his friendship. He thought that so distinguished a general would hesitate much before smirching his glory with ingratitude; but at the bottom of his heart this wound, added to the others he had received, pushed him a little farther towards his premature end. Córdova finally raised the flag of insurrection, based on the Constitution of Cúcuta, calling Bolívar the tyrant of the country. He and his improvised army were destroyed by O'Leary, and he was fatally wounded on the field of battle. He was young, rich and endowed with great powers of attraction; he was brave and clever, and his disloyalty and insurrection form one of the saddest episodes of this part of the history of America.
It may have been of some comfort to Bolívar that at that time a special envoy from France went to Bogotá to express the esteem of his country for the great man of the South. Addressing the Council of Ministers, the French envoy, Bresson, voiced the hope of seeing Bolívar soon, and of
"expressing to him verbally to what extent Simón Bolívar's name is honored among us. France admires in him not only that intrepidity and celerity in enterprise, that vision and that constancy which are the qualifications of a great general, but pays homage to his virtue to his political talent, which are guaranty of independence and order—the essentials of the freedom of the country, which has placed her destiny in his hands."
Europe was unanimous in her admiration for Bolívar. In England they also had the highest opinion of the American hero.
"It is impossible," wrote the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Dudley, in March, 1828, to Campbell, British Chargé d'Affaires in Colombia, "to have observed the events which have occurred in Colombia and its neighboring provinces since their separation from the mother country, without being convinced that the merits and services of General Bolívar entitle him to the gratitude of his fellow-citizens, and to the esteem of foreign nations."
But this general feeling also gave foundation to slanderous affirmations that Bolívar wanted to make himself king. We have seen how untrue this was. Bolívar had no other ambition than the freedom and the union of his country,—Colombia, the child of his genius. For himself, he wanted only to keep his honor untarnished and to pass his last days as a simple citizen.