CHAPTER XIX
_Difficulties with Peru. Slander and Honors. On the Road to Calvary_
(1829-1830)
The wound received by Bolivar's heart had no possible cure. His physical
condition was getting worse and worse from day to day, but he had to remain
in power. Serious dangers threatened the country. In Bolivia, Sucre, a
victim of the conspiracy of Peruvians, had been wounded and forced to leave
the country where he had been in command, but not without showing his
generosity in a message to the Bolivian Congress, in which he said:
"Although through foreign instigations I carry broken the arm w
in Ayacucho put an end to the war of American Independence, which
destroyed the chains of Peru and gave birth to Bolivia, I am comforted,
feeling in these difficult circumstances that my conscience is
of any guilt.... My Government has been distinguished by clemency,
tolerance and kindness."
All of this was the naked truth. Peru had invaded Bolivia and had attacked
Colombia. Bolivar immediately organized an expedition, under the command of
General Jose Maria Cordova,--who distinguished himself in Ayacucho,--and
he, himself, prepared to go immediately. After attending to several matters
of an administrative character, he started towards the South, in spite of
declining health. It was torture for him to ride on horseback. He knew that
little of life remained for him, and still he was going to give his last
days to the service of his country.
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