"I am reduced to the private life which I have so much desired if the Congress wants any special proof of my blind obedience to the constitution and the laws, I am ready to give whatever may be asked."
He left the palace and went to live in a private residence. There he received a delegation of the principal citizens of Bogotá, who placed in his hands a beautiful document containing the following words, especially worthy of notice:
"You conquered the plane upon which our future happiness will be built and, believing yourself to be an obstacle to that happiness, you resign voluntarily the first authority, protesting never again to take the reins of government. Such a noble, generous and magnanimous action places you above heroes. History has its pages filled with the actions of brave soldiers and fortunate warriors, but it can make them beautiful only with the actions of a Washington or a Bolívar. In private life, you will receive unmistakable proofs of our devotion to your person. We shall always remember your merits and services, and we shall teach our children to pronounce your name with tender emotions of admiration and gratitude."
This document was signed on May 5, 1830, by Caicedo, the Vice-President, in the exercise of the executive power, the Archbishop of Bogotá, the members of the Cabinet and 2,000 distinguished citizens. Three days later, Bolívar left Bogotá, accompanied for six miles by the members of the Cabinet, the ministers of the diplomatic corps, many military men and citizens, and almost all the members of the foreign colonies. The following day, Congress passed a decree which is an honor to it and to Bolívar, by which homage of gratitude and admiration was paid him in the name of Colombia, and it was ordered that wherever Bolívar might choose to live he should be treated always with the respect and consideration due the first and best citizen of Colombia. In that same decree, it was ordered that a pension of 30,000 pesos per year, decreed to Bolívar in 1823, be punctually paid for life.
Among the many sad things which can be told of this man of sorrows, is the fact that this pension was sorely needed. In March of that year he had been forced to sell his silver, and even then did not have enough money to pay for his trip.
On his way to the Caribbean, Bolívar received homage in all the towns he entered. He advised everybody to respect the law and to obey the government. Every day saw him poorer. His personal fortune in Venezuela had been greatly diminished, and possessions left to him by his ancestors were involved in litigation. Consequently, he could count on very little. He had planned to sail from Cartagena, but was unable to do so. From there he endeavored to secure some money from his relatives in Caracas, in which effort he failed.
While in Cartagena he received news of several insurrections in favor of the integrity of Colombia and of himself as head of the nation. Bolívar refused to heed these calls, and continued his life of poverty, embittered and saddened by the news received that Antonio José de Sucre, his beloved friend and lieutenant, the hero of Pichincha and Ayacucho, had been murdered on his way to Quito, on the 4th of June, while crossing a mountain called Berruecos. It is difficult to conceive how Sucre could have had enemies, he who was perhaps the purest and kindest figure of all the American War of Independence, all generosity, forgiveness and benevolence. He was riding alone when shot from an ambush. His orderly, who was at some distance behind him, rushed to the scene only to find that Sucre was dead. His corpse remained there that afternoon and all night. On the following day the soldier buried him in the forest.[1]
[Footnote 1: Sucre's body was lost for a long while. In the Pantheon of Caracas there are three beautiful monuments: the one in the center contains Bolívar's ashes; the one to the right, which we have already described, is devoted to Miranda; the one to the left is devoted to Sucre, and contains an expression of hope that some day Venezuela can pay homage to her great son. The body of Sucre has been found at last in Quito, and it is expected that very soon it will occupy its place near Bolívar, Sucre's leader and friend. (See: Manuel Segundo Sánchez, Los Restos de Sucre, Caracas, 1918.)]
That news was perhaps the last blow to Bolívar. The day he received it he was attacked with a severe cold, which he neglected and which developed into his fatal illness, an illness which had been long latent in his frail body. He remarked that the murder had perturbed his spirit. As a matter of fact, from the day he received the news, he sank rapidly in both mind and body.
Venezuela was doing her best to thrust the dagger still deeper in Bolívar's heart. Since she had decided to withdraw from the Union, it was resolved by Congress that no negotiations should be exchanged between Venezuela and Nueva Granada while "General Simón Bolívar remains in the territory of old Colombia." One representative proposed, as a provision for the continued relations between Venezuela and Nueva Granada, the expulsion of General Bolívar from all the territory of Colombia, and his motion was accepted. Most of the former friends of the dying man were now his bitter enemies, all due to the ambition of Páez and the intrigues of his partisans and of those who, in good faith, believed that idealistic Repúblican principles could meet the practical needs of Colombia.