Bolivar: American Liberator (80 page)

Given his later criticisms:
Gould,
Library of Freemasonry
, IV, 180.

made a point to study its public services:
Racine, 54–64.

He spoke of irrigation, mines, schools:
Mijares, 186.

the portraitist Charles Gill:
Mancini, 315.

“singular adventure”:
Perú de Lacroix,
Diario
(
version sin mutilaciones
), 57.

police had raided the White Swan:
“Police. Bow Street,” London
Times
, July 10, 1810, Issue 8029. Also “Police. Diabolical Club in Vere-Street,”
The Morning Chronicle
, July 16, 1810.

Bolívar was dismayed:
O’L, XXVII, 35.

“a deadly animosity exists”:
Robert Semple,
Sketch of the Present State of Caracas
(London: Robert Baldwin, 1812), 57.

only member of the junta:
Juan Germán Roscio to Andrés Bello, June 8, 1811,
Epistolario de la primera república
, II, 200.

Expecting to be greeted as the leader:
Miranda to Francisco Febles, London, Aug. 3, 1810,
Archivo
, XXIII, 490.

The coat was sky blue:
Angell,
Simón Bolívar
, 11.

“I saw Miranda enter in triumph”:
Díaz, 88.

had bombastically opposed his return:
Roscio to Bello,
Epistolario
, 200.

where he would lodge:
Miranda,
América espera
, 650.

a title of lieutenant general:
Toma de Razón, libro de registro de nombramientos y actos oficiales
, 1810–1812 (Caracas: Ministerio de Relaciones Interiores, Imprenta Nacional, 1955), 177–78.

demoted him from lieutenant colonel:
Ibid., 285–86.

took control of the
Gazeta de Caracas: Lynch,
Simón Bolívar
, 55. The spelling of
Gazeta de Caracas
changed to Gaceta, depending on which side was publishing the newspaper. Under the editorship of José Domingo Díaz, it was spelled
Gaceta.
This accounts for the different spellings that occur throughout this book. The
Gaceta de Colombia
, however, was always spelled the same. Pacheco, Carlos, et al,
Nación y Literatura
(Caracas: Bigott, 2006), 178.

Miranda’s Patriotic Society was well in the lead:
Madariaga, 154–55.

Epigraph:
“Liberty is a succulent food”:
From Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Letter to the Polish People,
Oeuvres Complétes
, V (Paris: Dupont, 1825), 280.

“He listened to toasts”:
Germán Roscio to Bello, June 8, 1811,
Epistolario de la primera república.

the marquis received more than one letter:
Oct. 6, 1808, Miranda,
América espera
, 650.

he refused to be disloyal:
Cristóbal de Mendoza, Prefacio,
Documentos relativos a la vida pública del Libertador de Colombia y del Perú Simón Bolívar
(Caracas, 1826), I, ix.

too raw a soldier, . . . too impulsive:
A. Rojas,
Obras escojidas
(Paris: 1907), 573.

absconded with the War Department’s plans:
Díaz, 32. Also Parra-Pérez,
Historia
, II, 50.

the moment had come to discuss:
Parra-Pérez,
Historia
, II, 51.

“Let us valiantly lay the cornerstone”:
SB,
Discursos
(Caracas: Lingkua, 2007), 17.

“Among all the rest”:
Richard Colburn,
Travels in South America
(London, 1813), cited in Gabriel E. Muñoz,
Monteverde, cuatro años de historia patria
, BANH, I, no. 42, 143–44, translated from the Spanish.

All night long, young revolutionaries, etc.:
Díaz, 33.

Miranda took the floor, etc.:
Angell, 26. Also Díaz, 33.

duped Juan Vicente into believing:
Parra-Pérez,
Historia
, I, 446–48.

Blacks taunted the wellborn, etc.:
Flinter,
History of the Revolution
, 22.

“carried insolence so far”:
Ibid., 23.

cutlasses, muskets, and improvised tin shields, etc.:
Díaz, 34.

“Unless we spill blood”:
Germán Roscio to Bello, June 8, ibid.

Only citizens who owned property, etc.:
Constitución Federal de 1811 (21 de Diciembre, 1811)
,
http://www.dircost.unito.it/cs/docs/Venezuela%201811.htm
. Also Parra-Pérez,
Historia
, I, 370–86.

“enjoy the benefits”:
Constitución Federal.

the old nobleman . . . had proceeded to correspond:
Angell, 21.

“Because he is a dangerous young man”:
Austria,
Bosquejo
, I, 128.

“How can you refuse me”:
Larrazábal,
Correspondencia
, I, 97.

he singled out Bolívar for his valor:
Yanes,
Relación documentada
, I, 5.

But privately, he was more critical:
Mancini, 127.

“Where are the armies”:
O’L, XXVII, 46.

debilitating number of dead:
There were 4,000 troops total under Miranda’s command during the Valencia campaign. Eight hundred died, 1,500 were wounded (among them, Fernando del Toro, SB’s friend and cousin who traveled with him to Rome): Admiral Fraser to Rowley, July 21, 1811, in W. S. Robertson,
Francisco de Miranda and the Revolutionizing of Spanish America
(American Historical Association, 1909), I, 450. Also, Eduardo Blanco,
Venezuela heroica
, xv; and Pedro Rivas,
Efemérides americanas
(Barcelona: Ramírez, 1884), 255.

hemming and hawing about the rights of man:
Lynch, 58; also Eduardo Blanco,
Venezuela heroica
, XV.

named the new nation Colombia:
Constitución Federal.

made himself head of his own army:
Sherwell, 33.

the sun was oppressively hot, etc.:
Díaz, 98–102, for all subsequent details.

heaving and rippling:
Humboldt,
Personal Narrative
, 451.

A cacophony of bells, etc.:
Díaz, 98–102.

Trinity collapsed to its foundations:
Heredia, 46.

severed limbs, crushed corpses:
Flinter,
History of the Revolution
, 35.

“I will never forget that moment”:
Díaz, 98–102.

More than ten thousand, etc.:
Heredia, 46.

Survivors, caked with dust and blood:
Mancini, 127.

The looting began almost instantly, etc.:
Flinter,
History of the Revolution
, 34.

Bolívar’s house had been seriously damaged, etc.:
Mancini, 118.

dug with their bare hands:
Humboldt,
Personal Narrative
, p. 452.

“On your knees, sinners”, etc.:
Mancini, 118. For all subsequent details.

He combed the ruins, etc.:
O’L, XXVII, 50–51.

men of means married slaves:
Flinter,
History of the Revolution
, 34. Also O’L, XXVII.

colossal wooden crosses:
Flinter,
History of the Revolution
, 34.

proceeding in devastating opposition:
Humboldt,
Personal Narrative
, 451.

Strange natural phenomena occurred:
Ibid., 454.

the loss of life at 30,000:
Flinter,
History of the Revolution
, 34.

as high as 120,000:
O’L, XXVII, 49.

the only house that remained standing:
Mancini, 118.

crushed in their barracks:
Humboldt,
Personal Narrative
, 451.

there was hardly a brick out of place:
Ibid., 454.

the gallows to which dissident Spaniards, etc.:
Díaz, 98–102.

he had no trouble recruiting troops:
Heredia, 47.

blazing comet:
J. Zeilenga de Boer,
Earthquakes in Human History
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005), 129.

its epicenter between Memphis and St. Louis, etc.:
Ibid., 126–29.

news of the Caracas disaster:
When the U.S. Congress learned of the extent of damage in Venezuela, it approved a gift of $50,000 in aid. Many North Americans complained that the country had not provided the same to its own citizens. Ibid., 129.

“The period is portentous and alarming”:
Ibid.

hang a ball from a string:
E. S. Holden,
Catalogue of Earthquakes on the Pacific Coast, 1769–1897
(Washington, DC, Smithsonian, 1898), 33.

a volcano on the Caribbean island:
W. A. Garesché,
Complete Story of the Martinique and Saint Vincent Horrors
(Chicago: Monarch, 1902), 155.

rumblings went on for months, etc.:
Holden, 32–33.

forty percent of all U.S. exports:
J. H. Coatsworth, “American Trade with European Colonies, 1790–1812,”
William & Mary Quarterly
, Series 3, 24 (April 1967), 243.

a virtual monopoly in Latin America:
T. O’Brien, “Making the Americas,”
The History Compass
, 2 (2004), 1–29.

In the address, etc.:
President Madison’s message to Congress, Nov. 5, 1811, in J. Richardson,
A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of Presidents
,
www.gutenberg.org
. Also W. S. Robertson, “The Recognition of the Hispanic American Nations by the United States,”
HAHR
, 1, no. 3 (Aug. 1918), 239–69.

Congress issued a dry statement:
Dec. 10, 1811, ibid., 242.

when John Adams had first heard:
Adams to James Lloyd, Quincy, March 26, 1815,
The Works of John Adams
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1856), X, 140.

Monroe met with Ambassador Orea:
Robertson, “Recognition,” 239–69.

republican population decimated:
The population of Venezuela in 1810 was estimated at 800,000. The republican population was a small fraction of that. The Caracas population in 1810 was 40,000. Citations for the numbers of dead in the earthquake (throughout Venezuela) range from 20,000 to 50,000. See Bethell, 150.

“not without misgivings”:
Austria, 299.

powerful enemies of the revolution, etc.:
Parra-Pérez,
Historia
, 440.

the day after Monteverde readily took:
O’L, XXVII, 56.

Many were farm boys, etc.:
Becerra,
Ensayo histórico
, II, 219–20.

Miranda had six thousand, etc.:
Heredia, 49. Some sources (e.g., Sherwell, 35) cite up to 12,000 soldiers for Miranda.

defected to the Spanish side:
O’L, XXVII, 56.

Even the Marquis del Toro:
Archivo General de Indias (Sevilla), Caracas, 385, in McKinley,
Pre-Revolutionary Caracas
, 211.

massive slave insurrection:
Paz del Castillo to Miranda, Caracas, July 5, 1812,
Archivo del General Miranda
, XXIV, 288. Also G. R. Andrews,
Afro-Latin America, 1800–2000
(New York: Oxford, 2003), 59.

something turned in Miranda:
“Acta de la decisión,” La Victoria, July 12, 1812, Miranda,
América espera
, 461.

an act that freed slaves:
The Conscription Act, Robertson,
Francisco de Miranda
, 466.

he had instructed a diplomat:
Miranda to L. M. Martín, La Victoria, July 2, 1812, Miranda,
América espera
, 460.

half the province of Caracas:
M. Lucena, “La sociedad de la provincia de Caracas a comienzos del siglo XIX,” in
Anuario de Estudios Americanos
, XXXVII, 8–11.

“As much as I desire liberty”:
Miranda to John Turnbull, Dover, Dec. 6, 1798, in
Archivo del General Miranda
, XXIV, 207.

fragrant gardens, well-kept houses, etc.:
Flinter,
History of the Revolution
, 50, for all subsequent details.

“The graveyard of Spaniards”:
Ibid.

to attend his own wedding:
Madariaga, 170.

Taking advantage of his absence, etc.:
Lecuna,
Crónica
, I, xxi.

urging the renegades to reconsider:
Ibid.

most of the republican munitions, etc.:
SB’s report to Miranda, Puerto Cabello, quoted in full in O’L, XXX, 517.

the captain in charge of defending:
Parra-Pérez,
Historia
, p. 489.