The fall of the Bourbons in France had once more raised the hope of the Spanish Liberals. On the other hand, King Ferdinand's abolition of the Salic law of succession in Spain, so as to assure the throne to his new wife, raised up a party of absolutists against him. His brothers, Don Carlos and Francisco, became the heads of this movement and rallied their supporters around them, in the Basque provinces. In Portugal kindred dissensions rent the land in twain. Dom Miguel's claims to the crown were disputed on behalf of the constitutional government by the Duke of Palermo. Across the seas, Dom Pedro of Brazil proclaimed himself the legitimate heir to the throne of Braganza. [Sidenote: Death of Bolivar] Like other South American States, Brazil was itself a prey to internal dissensions and civil strife. To put an end to the recurrent revolutions of South America, Simon Bolivar conceived a scheme for a Pan-American Congress to weld together all the quasi-republican governments of the Southern Hemisphere and Central America. Unfortunately for this project, Bolivar's own aspirations to dictatorial rule told against him. His chief opponents were those who were striving for a disruption of the Colombian Union. His own States, Peru and Bolivia, had already declared against him. The Congress finally voted to give Bolivar a pension of $3,000 a year on condition that he should leave America forever. Bolivar's pride was stung to the quick. He resigned all public offices and honors, and went to Caracas to sail for England. He died at Santa Marta, on the sea-shore, on December 17. His last words were: "The people send me to the tomb, but I forgive them." [Sidenote: Bolivar's career] In Bolivar, South America lost the most fiery of her liberators. Born at Caracas, in 1783, he was pre-eminently a child of the modern spirit engendered by the French Revolution of 1792. He saw Spain in the days of its quasi-medieval darkness, and was in Paris at the close of the great revolution. Later he was a witness of Napoleon's coronation as King of Italy, and saw for himself the benefits of republican institutions in North America. The turning-point in his career was the loss of his young wife after two years of domestic happiness. As he said himself: "I loved my wife so much that at her death I made a vow never again to marry. I have kept my oath. Perhaps, had I not lost her, my career would have been different. I might not, then, have been General of the Liberators. My second visit to Europe would never have been made. The ideas which I imbibed during my travels would not have come to me, and the experience I have had, the study of the world that I have made, and of men and things--all this, which has so well served me, would never have been. Politics would never have attracted me. But the death of my wife caused the love of my country to burn in my heart, and I have followed the chariot of Mars rather than Ceres' plow." [Sidenote: Van Diemen's Land]