Mr. Wilson to Mr.
Seward
No. 6.]
Legation of the United States,
Caracas, November 3, 1866.
Sir: On the 28th ultimo, that being the day set
apart by the government of Venezuela for the celebration of the
anniversary of the birth of “the liberator,” Simon Bolivar, the
diplomatic body was received by General Leon Colina, the executive in
charge of the republic, and the cabinet, in the government palace, at 11
o’clock a. m.
On this occasion, as the representative of the diplomatic body, I
delivered the congratulatory address, in my colleagues name and in my
own, to the government.
This address (a copy of which I enclose, marked enclosure 1) has, I am
happy to say, met with general commendation.
The spectators with whom the reception hall was crowded manifested their
approval, during its delivery, by repeated and enthusiastic
applause.
The copy of the reply of his excellency the primer designado (General
Colina) is herewith enclosed, marked enclosure 2.
As appertaining to the events of the day, I also forward a newspaper slip
taken from an editorial article in “El Federalista,” the leading journal
of Venezuela. This enclosure, with its translation, is marked enclosure
3.
With much respect, I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient
servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
[Page 446]
No. 1.
[Untitled]
Your Excellency: I am happy that it has
devolved upon me to offer, in the name of my colleagues of the
diplomatic body, and in my own, our congratulations to the
government on this, the commemorative festival of Venezuela’s
noblest son—the hero, patriot, and sage— the illustrious Simon
Bolivar, father and liberator of the South American republics.
Scion, as he was, of a noble family, nurtured in the lap of luxury,
highly educated and highly endowed, he devoted himself, his talents,
and his wealth to giving to his native land the blessed boon of
liberty.
With everything to lose in the way of position, wealth, and worldly
honors, he strove, with a noble ambition, to free his beloved land
from the chains which bound her to a distant kingdom, and trusting
in justice and in his God, he happily and gloriously succeeded,
leaving to a grateful posterity to erect that monument to his memory
which, more lasting than monumental marble, shall live forever in
the hearts of his countrymen.
Happy should Venezuela be to have given birth to such a man; but
although Venezuela claims him as a son, all men claim him as a
brother, for the character, the deeds, and inspirations of Bolivar,
in making him the friend of his fellow men, made him likewise a
citizen of the world.
Here are gathered about you, sir, the representatives of different
nations, of empires, kingdoms, and republics, and not one—I am sure
I speak their feelings, as my own—not one who does not sincerely
feel that the glory of Bolivar is a just and true glory, deriving
its halo from the purest motives which could actuate the human
breast, and who does not fully appreciate the respect and veneration
in which his memory is held. For, as a gentleman, he he was polished
and courteous; as a statesman, he was profound; as a leader, he was
humane; as a soldier, he possessed the happy faculty of animating
others with his own indomitable courage and perseverance, until even
his enemies themselves declared that he was more to be feared after
a defeat than after a victory; in a word, he was one of nature’s
noblemen, his every aspiration and every hope, honor and
liberty!
Once again, your Excellency, I beg to renew to you the
congratulations of the diplomatic body, and to express the hope that
the institutions of Bolivar, built on the foundation of his genius,
and cemented by the blood of so many heroic men, may be as lasting
as the great hero’s memory, and endure forever!
No. 2.
[Translation.]
Mr. President of the Diplomatic Body: With
careful attention I have listened to the congratulations which, in
your own name and in that of the other members of the diplomatic
body here present, you offer to the government on this day, which
the nation has consecrated to the memory of the liberator. A
knowledge of our history, and in particular that of Bolivar,
elevated and impartial judgment of his motives and his deeds, the
qualification of his titles to the gratitude of human kind, that
eloquent enthusiasm which the love of liberty inspires, all this and
more are revealed in the bold sketches with which you describe the
sublime gifts and glories whose remembrance crowd upon our agitated
minds.
It is for me a pure satisfaction to see how the illustrious nations
on whose part you speak— and who it cannot be supposed under the
powerful influence of love of country—have on this solemn occasion
done that full justice to his noble cause, to the man of South
American liberty, to be doubtless continued and affirmed by
posterity. After having listened to you, I feel more than ever proud
of being a Venezuelan, a compatriot of Bolivar, and I regard as a
special favor of Providence that it has been given to me to hear
from your lips that brilliant testimony of the appreciation in which
you hold his work, and your kind wishes for its perpetual
preservation.
Not less will the grand citizen marshal (Talcon) be delighted; he who
admires almost to idolatry the eminent son of Caracas, whose example
has taught us to venerate him (Bolivar,) whose honorable conduct
towards the witnesses and companions of his dangers is known to all,
and whose particular words, even yet ringing in our ears, with which
he addressed one who consoled the hero in his last hours, are like
the far echo of the sentiments with which, saving the distance, he
comes to share in the national rejoicing.
Great must seem to him who contemplates it the magnitude of the task
which Bolivar accomplished, the. extraordinary obstacles opposed to
him, the never discouraged, never receding energy with which at all
times, vanquished or conqueror, he held aloft his torch, his
high-minded perseverance, such as it was necessary for him to have
who would happily redeem a continent bowed down for more than three
centuries in bitter slavery.
To have broken the foreign chains which bound us, raise us to free
and independent democratic existence, to have enrolled us among the
nations of the earth, and opened to us the roads of progress; this
is what we owe to Bolivar, this is what makes us so grateful to his
[Page 447]
memory. Well have you
said, that memory will live immortal in the heart of every
Venezuelan, his worthiest, most precious, and most durable
monument.
Permit me to call to memory that it was in the land of Washington
where first appeared the dawn of liberty; that thence it irradiated
towards the east and the south, since when its glories bathe, while
magnifying them, the regions of the Old and New Worlds.
The government of the United States of Venezuela will know how highly
to esteem, and will ever be incapable of forgetting, the very
expressive manner in which the countries you represent have joined
you in paying a tribute of respect to the gigantic leader of South
American independence.
No. 3.
[Translation]
Let us make mention of a happy circumstance. The speech which, in the
name of the diplomatic body, congratulated the chief of the
executive administration, and in his person the republic and
America, was that of the minister of the United States of the north,
who naturally gave to the discourse all the character of a lively
expansion of enthusiasm for the memory or the great South
American.
It should be known that the diplomacy of the United States is
characterized in all and everything by an especial manner, beginning
with the dress of their servants, when they choose to make a
contrast, with their black coats and round hats, and ending with the
manly frankness proper to those who speak in the name of the freest
and greatest people on earth.
Thus the discourse of Mr. Wilson was not a discourse of a European or
South American diplomat, (we are in all things copyists of Europe,)
but a noble and warm exposition of those historical appreciations
which the figure of Bolivar presents to all the monarchies and
empires represented in ceremony of congratulation, as the classical
representative of popular right, and of triumphant heroism in
service of that right. It was, then, natural that those who assisted
at this ceremony, although out of all rule and custom, should crown
with applause the American words of the son of the land of
Washington.
