himself the oath of office.

He soon issued three decrees: One granting general amnesty, another
calling a national convention at Ocana, and a third for the
establishment of constitutional order throughout Colombia. All eyes were
now turned to the national convention at Ocana, which was to assemble in
March, 1828. This was made the more important by the fact that it was to
determine whether Bolivar's plan for a strong centralized government,
backed up by ample military force, or a government controlled more
directly by the great body of the people, should prevail. The events of
the past year had served rather to strengthen Bolivar's position, and
the action of the convention seems to have crystallized it into law, for
a decree soon followed, dated August 27, 1828, giving to Bolivar supreme
power over Colombia, which he continued to exercise until his death,
which occurred at San Pedro, on December 17, 1830.

Thus closes the life of one of the most remarkable characters the world
has ever known. He possessed the intrepid courage and dash of a Sherman,
the unrelenting firmness of a Grant, and the tenderness of a Lincoln.
Local revolts against lawful authority always yielded to his personal
presence and counsel. We fail to find in his history a single act of
cruelty recorded against him. His proclamation of "War to the death,"
was a military necessity. The Royalists had shown no mercy to his
soldiers. They had refused to treat them as prisoners of war. They had
fired upon his flag of truce. They gave no quarter to revolutionists,
but put them to death wherever found. And there was but one alternative
left, and that was, unpleasant as it must have been to a man of such
kindly nature, to meet such brutalities by a threat of retaliation in
kind. The proclamation was not prompted by a spirit of cruelty, but
rather by a love for humanity. It had the effect which he no doubt
intended it should, and that was to secure the same treatment for his
soldiers when captured, that the civilized world acknowledged due to
prisoners of war. He was in no sense mercenary. He expended nine-tenths
of his fortune for his country's freedom, and when voted a million
dollars by Congress he promptly declined it. He was always magnanimous,
even to his bitterest enemies. He died comparatively poor. His remains
sleep at Caracas, the place of his birth. His soul is with God.
Monuments have been erected to his memory, one at Caracas and another at
Lima