Bolivar went to New Granada, where Camille Torres, the president of that Republic, was his staunch friend. He is said to have cried: "So long as Bolivar lives, Venezuela is not lost." There Bolivar never ceased to work for his country, even though he was unjustly exiled. The cause of liberty suffered severe reverses during these days. Ferdinand VII., who was once more securely seated on the throne of Spain, sent a great army to America, under the command of General Morillo, who had instructions to subdue the insurgent colonies even "if no patriot was left alive on the continent." New Granada was conquered and all the revolutionists on whom the Spanish could lay hands were massacred. Peru, Chili and Buenos Aires were also made to bow to the power of Spain, who outdid herself in cruel injustice to show the revolutionists that revolt was useless. Of the Spanish action in Venezuela, an official report says: "Provinces have ceased to exist. Towns inhabited by thousands now number scarcely a hundred. Others have been entirely wiped out. Roads are covered with dying, dead and unburied skeletons. Heaps of ashes mark the sites of villages. The trace of cultivated areas is obliterated." Bolivar next banded his little following together on the island of Santo Domingo, and at the close of 1816 landed just off the coast of Venezuela, on the island of Margarita. He convened a congress, instituted a government, and issued a proclamation abolishing slavery in Venezuela; almost fifty years before the famous Emancipation Proclamation of Lincoln. Then he entered upon a two years' campaign, of fierce and fearless fighting against the huge forces of General Morillo. On July 17, 1817, his capture of Angostura marked the turning tide of his fortunes. In 1818 his followers were increased by a large number of soldiers of fortune who were seeking new employment in the pastime of fighting, now that the end of the Napoleonic wars had taken away their occupation. These men were an acquisition because they were skilled in warfare and used to its hardships. A congress was convened at Angostura, in February, 1819, and Bolivar, as the unanimous choice for President, was given supreme power. He made an address which is famous in the annals of history. Among other things he said: "A republican form of government has been, is and ought to be that of Venezuela; its basis ought to be the sovereignty of the people, the division of power, civil liberty, the prohibition of slavery and the abolition of monarchy and privilege---- I have been obliged to beg you to adopt centralization and the union of all the states in a republic, one and indivisible."