Marquis of Ustariz, who was in charge of Bolivar in Madrid, advised him to
delay his plans for an early marriage.

In 1801 Bolivar went to Paris, where he found Napoleon Bonaparte, as First
Consul, undertaking his greatest labors of social reorganization after
the long period of anarchy through which France had passed following the
Revolution. Bonaparte was one of the most admired men at that time. He
had come back from Egypt and Syria, had been victorious at Marengo and
Hohenlinden, and had just signed the Peace of Luneville. One does not
wonder that Bolivar should admire him and that his letters should contain
many expressions of enthusiasm about the great man of Europe.

In the same year he returned to Madrid and married Maria Teresa Toro,
deciding to go back at once to Venezuela with his wife, to live peacefully,
attending to his own personal business and property. But again fate dealt
him a hard blow and shattered all the dreams and plans of the young man.
His virtuous wife died in January, 1803, ten months after their arrival in
Caracas. He had not yet reached his twenty-first year, and had already lost
father, mother and wife. His nerves became steeled and his heart prepared
for great works, for works requiring the concentration of mind which can be
given only by men who have no intimate human connections or obligations. As
a South American orator lately declared:[1] "Neither Washington nor Bolivar
was destined to have children of his own, so that we Americans might call
ourselves their children."

Bolivar decided immediately to leave for Europe. Nothing could keep him in
his own country. He had loved his wife and his wife only could have led him
to accept a life of ease and comfort. He decided never to marry again and,
perhaps to assuage the pain in his heart, he decided to devote his time
to the study of the great problems of his country, and to bend all his