Page:The History of San Martin (1893).djvu/428

398 was no longer the man of 1813 and 1814. He shot one only of the prisoners he took, the man who had headed the mutiny at Puerto Cabello in 1812. By incessant activity, he soon became master of the whole country, which responded with enthusiasm to his call. He raised new battalions and organized a fresh army to make head against Morillo.

Where Bolívar triumphed there could be no lack of honours. Washington and San Martin avoided ostentatious demonstrations of gratitude, but Bolívar delighted in them. The municipality of Bogotá gave him a cross of honour, a triumphal entry, and a crown of laurel. A picture of Liberty supported by Bolívar was set up in the council chamber, and it was decreed that the anniversary of the great battle should be celebrated for ever. The crown of laurel sat well upon his head, upon that of Washington it would have been a caricature.

But, great as was Bolívar's vanity, there was room also in his head for great ideas. Making use of the ample powers conferred upon him by the Congress of Venezuela he founded the Republic of Columbia, which was the dream of his life, and named Santander Vice-President of New Granada.

During a temporary absence of Bolívar, Santander shot the thirty-eight Royalist officers who were taken prisoners at Boyacá, with Barreiro at their head, and finished off the hecatomb with a countryman who had protested against it on seeing the blood-stained benches. Santander justified his cruelty by saying that it was done in retaliation of similar barbarities committed by Barreiro; but some said it was done in revenge for the death of his mother, occasioned by the privations she had suffered while hiding herself from the persecutions of Sámano.

Bolívar returned to Angostura on the 11th December, and found that affairs had greatly changed there during his absence. Zea had been deposed by a revolution, and Arismendi was now Vice-President. Mariño was General-in-Chief, and he himself was branded as a deserter for