Page:Haiti- Her History and Her Detractors.djvu/188

 170 he was peace-maker between Bolivar and his two companions, General Bermudes and Commodore Aury, who had quarrelled, thus dispelling for the time being the misunderstanding which was about to set them at variance. Haitians were authorized to join in the expedition. In the following letter written on the 8th of February, Bolivar expressed his intense gratitude to Pétion:

"Mr. : I am overwhelmed with your favors. In everything you are magnanimous and kind. We have almost completed our preparations and in a fortnight we may perhaps be ready to start; I am only awaiting your last favors. Through Mr. Inginac, your worthy Secretary, I take the liberty to make a new request. In my proclamation to the inhabitants of Venezuela and in the decrees I have to issue concerning the freedom of the slaves, I do not know if I am allowed to express the feelings of my heart toward Your Excellency and to leave to posterity an everlasting token of your philanthropy. I do not know, I say, if I must declare that you are the author of our liberty. I beg Your Excellency to let me know his will on the matter. &hellip; "

Pétion refused to be designated as the author of the independence of Venezuela and made the following answer to Bolivar:

".

"February 18, 1816, the 13th year of the Independence.

": Your kind letter of the 8th instant reached me yesterday. You know my regard for the cause you are defending and for yourself; you must then be convinced how great is my desire to see freedom granted to all those who are still under the yoke of slavery; but out of deference for a power which has not yet openly declared itself an enemy of the Republic, I am compelled to ask you not to mention