He gave the details of the proposed campaign, and finished with a most
eloquent and forceful appeal in the following words:
"The honor of Nueva Granada imperatively requires the punishment of the
daring invaders, their persecution to the last trenches. Her glory will
be the undertaking of going to Venezuela, and freeing the birthplace
of Colombian independence and its martyrs, and that worthy people of
Caracas, whose clamors are addressed to their beloved fellow patriots
of Nueva Granada, for whom they are waiting with deadly impatience as
for their redeemers. Let us hasten to break the chains of those victims
who moan in the dungeons, ever expecting their salvation from you. Do
not betray their confidence, do not be heedless of the lamentations of
your brothers. Be eager to avenge the dead, to bring back to life the
dying, to relieve the oppressed and to give liberty to all."
This noteworthy document was published in Cartagena, on December 15, 1812,
and presents Bolivar as he was in the maturity of his life, as a thinker,
apostle, general, and practical statesman; it shows him as the man destined
to give liberty to five countries. This proclamation is the first full
display of Bolivar's genius.
Bolivar was sent to command a small place where he had to be inactive. He
prepared an expedition against the city of Tenerife, considered one of the
strongest in Nueva Granada and which prevented the free navigation of the
Magdalena River.
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