"The morality of the world, weakened with so many examples of violence, baseness, ambition, covetousness and hypocrisy, was in need of a stimulus like Bolívar, whose moderation and whose unheard-of abnegation in the full possession of power have rendered ambition hate The example of this great, virtuous man may serve as a general purification, strong enough to disinfect society." The author of this monograph has been very keen to find all papers and documents in which appears disparaging criticism of the life of Bolívar. He declares that he has never found one which is not invalidated by reasons of personal interest, political antagonism or prejudice. Bolívar's life was always consistent with his words. He was a man of power. Whenever occasion demanded it, he became a real dictator. At times necessity made him rather weak in dealing with the stormy elements of his own party, and only in exceptional circumstances, as in the sad case of General Piar did he rise to the plane of severity in letting justice take its course. A careful study of the life of Bolívar has produced a great change in the mind of the author of this work. He has come to realize that he was studying not merely the life and deeds of a great American, or even of a great man among all men, but the history of one of those exceptional beings selected by God to perform the highest missions and to teach great lessons. The student, upon leaving the subject, feels the same reverence experienced upon leaving a sacred place, where the spirit has been under the influence of the supernatural. Bolívar's ambition was the legitimate desire for glory, but he never wanted that power which consists in the oppression of fellowmen and the acquisition of wealth. We have seen that General Sucre had gone by sea to Guayaquil, while Bolívar decided to go by land to Quito. He considered this campaign as decisive, but while he was making his preparations, he did not neglect the diplomatic relations of his country, the organization of finance nor the domestic service. He continued to dream of the unity of America. He never succeeded in attaining it, but that dream was the star to which he had hitched his chariot. He had been in communication with the statesmen of Argentina and Chile, and, as we have seen, in his proclamation sent to the inhabitants of Nueva Granada he expressed a desire that the motto of America should be "Unity in South America." He sent one plenipotentiary to Mexico, and another to Perú, Chile and Argentina. In his instructions to the latter he said the following words, which sound today, a century later, as though they had been uttered yesterday: