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Daniel Florence O’Leary, Soldier, Diplomat, and Historian
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
Extract
A Young Irishman from Cork was among those who answered a call sent out by Luis López Méndez, Venezuela’s agent in London, for foreign volunteers to join the patriot forces in their efforts to win independence from Spain. Though such enlistments were expressly forbidden by the British government, it would seem that little effort was made to stop them, for we know that several thousand Englishmen and Irishmen volunteered for service over a period of a few years. So it was that on December 3, 1817, Daniel Florence O’Leary left Portsmouth on board the corvette Prince, bound for the New World. What was it that led O’Leary to leave family and home at the rather tender age of seventeen? Was it the desire for adventure and excitement in an unknown land where a war was being waged or was it because the economic crisis in the British Isles after the Napoleonic wars gave an enterprising young man little hope of forging a successful career for himself? It is difficult to assess his motives at that time, but there seems to be no doubt that he felt strongly attracted by this struggle for freedom going on across the seas, all the more so because he came from a land where the Act of Union decreed by the British government in 1800 had ended the limited autonomy granted the people two decades earlier and had re-established many of the intolerable restrictions previously in force. It seems very likely, too, that the young adventurer had been influenced in his decision by the great champion of Irish rights, Daniel O'Connell, a family friend, who followed with keen interest the struggle for freedom and became a fervent admirer of Bolivar, even to the point of offering the latter the services of his son.
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- Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1966
References
1 The exact date of his birth has never been satisfactorily determined, despite a careful search instituted by the Sociedad Bolivariana de Venezuela and the Academia Nacional de Historia. All the evidence indicates that he was born between 1800 and 1802. A very likely date is February, 1800, as claimed by members of his family.
2 Hasbrouck, Alfred, Foreign Legionaries in the Liberation of South America (New York, 1928), p. 397.Google Scholar
3 Memorias del general Daniel Florencio O’Leary. Narración (Caracas, 1952), I, 489. The three volumes of the Narración formed part of his thirty-two volume Memorias originally published by order of the Venezuelan government between 1879 and 1888, except for the third volume of the Narración. The references in the present article are based on the 1952 edition of the Narración.
4 Narración, I, 3.
5 For a complete account see Narración, I, 563–580.
6 Narración, III, 57.
7 Manuel Vila, Pérez, Vida de Daniel Florencio O’Leary (Caracas, 1957), p. 101.Google Scholar
8 López, Manuel Antonio, Recuerdos históricos de la guerra de la independencia (Bogotá, 1889), p. 76.Google Scholar
9 Narración, II, 154–155.
10 For the most comprehensive and thorough study of the interview and the documents pertaining to it, see Lecuna, Vicente, La entrevista de Guayaquil, restablecimiento de la verdad histórica (Caracas, 1948).Google Scholar
11 Memorias del general O’Leary, XX, 54.
12 Carbonell, Diego, General O’Leary, íntimo (Caracas, 1937), p. 45.Google Scholar
13 Many of O’Leary’s letters from Chile, are found in Memorias del general O’Leary, XII, 423–473.Google Scholar
14 Lecuna, Vicente, Papeles de Bolívar (Caracas, 1917), pp. 60–61 Google Scholar.
15 Lecuna, Vicente, Cartas del Libertador (Caracas, 1929-30), V, 52.Google Scholar
16 Narración, III, 15–16.
17 Narración, III, 134–136.
18 Carbotiell, General O’Leary, p. 137.
19 Narración, III, 152–242.
20 According to the Colombians, the Peruvian government proposed to overthrow Sucre’s government in Bolivia and annex the provinces of Guayaquil and Azuay.
21 Narración, III, 403–430.
22 Pérez Vila, Vida de O’Leary, p. 415.
23 Fabio Lozano y Lozano, “El general Daniel Florencio O’Leary,” Academia colombiana de historia. Conferencias. (Bogotá, 1937), p. 385.Google Scholar
24 Narración, III, 496.
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26 Pérez Vila, Vida de O’Leary, pp. 458–459. Letter from O’Leary to Mosquera.
27 Narración, I, 3.
28 The Watchman and Jamaica Free Press (Kingston, May 11, 1831), III, No. 38, p. 8, lists General Daniel F. O’Leary among the arrivals at Port Royal, Jamaica, on May 8, 1831.
29 The present writer discussed the question of authorship in Hispania, XXIV, No. 4, pp. 416–422. Additional information will be found in Pérez Vila, Vida de O’Leary, pp. 474–476.
30 The most complete study of this phase of O’Leary’s life is found in Monseñor Nicolás Navarro, E., Actividades diplomáticas del general Daniel Florencio O’Leary en Europa. Años 1834 a 1839 (Caracas, 1939)Google Scholar.
31 Carboneil, General O’Leary, p. 321.
32 Mendoza, Cristóbal L., “Un minuto de silencio,” Revista de la Sociedad Bolivariana de Venezuela, XIV, No. 42 (April, 1954), p. 17.Google Scholar
33 Carbonell, General O’Leary, p. 110.
34 For a complete description of the vicissitudes of this volume, see the editor’s note in Memorias del general Daniel Florencio O’Leary. Narración. (Caracas: Imprenta Nacional, 1952), III, 5–10 Google Scholar. This edition was prepared by the eminent Venezuelan historian Pedro Grases.
35 The present writer has translated into English the entire three-volume Narración under the sponsorship of the Sociedad Bolivariana de Venezuela. It is hoped that the translation will eventually be published so that the English-speaking world may have an opportunity to become fully acquainted with this exceptional account of the war for independence which contains invaluable biographical material on the life of Bolivar.