This answer had nearly included him in the general proscription; but
the good offices of Don Francisco Iturbe, secretary to Monteverde, procured
the passport, and Bolivar was allowed to sail for Curacoa. From that island
he went to Carthagena, where he obtained the command of a small force, with
which he proceeded up the Magdalena, and having beaten parties of the
royalist troops at various points on that river, he continued his march
from Ocana to Cucuta, and solicited assistance from the government of
Cundinamarca. Five hundred men were placed at his disposal, and with these,
added to his own small party, Bolivar undertook to effect the liberation of
his country. Four thousand Spaniards, under General Correa, were then on
that part of the Venezuelan frontier. A division of these was beaten by
Bolivar, who pursued his march to Truxillo, defeating on the way several
royalist detachments.
[2] Bolivar seems to have been hurried into a dreadful error by the
warmth of his feelings. Not only is the _expediency_ of the
capitulation admitted by eye witnesses of the first
respectability, but also that Miranda had no other alternative.
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