The men who had succeeded in escaping from Cartagena were
also well received by Petion, and treated in a most hospitable manner.
Among them many were personal enemies of Bolivar. None the less, Bolivar
was elected supreme head of the expedition, and the refugees from Cartagena
followed him in his new undertaking, with Marino as Major General of the
Army and Brion as Admiral. About 250 persons constituted the party, but
they carried enough ammunition to arm six thousand men, whom they hoped to
gather together on the continent. Once more Bolivar seemed to undertake the
impossible, but, as ever, he had full confidence in the ultimate triumph
of liberty. The proportion of his enemies to his followers was 100 to 1.
Public opinion was still against him, but he was still the same man who, at
that time more than any other, had become a symbol--the symbol of America's
freedom.
Bolivar made his way to the Island of Margarita, where the Spanish
commander had systematically carried on a work of destruction of wealth and
humiliation of families.
In November of 1815, Arismendi, the man who had submitted to Morillo, again
proclaimed independence in the Island and started to fight with no better
arms than clubs and farm implements. The Governor determined to destroy the
population of the Island, even allowing his anger to fall on Arismendi's
own wife,--but Arismendi continued fighting and, knowing his attitude,
Bolivar decided to come to Margarita before touching the continent.
Pages:
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98