with my bride in 1801 [1802], let me say at once that my mind was filled only with the emotions of passionate love and not with political ideas, for these had not yet taken hold of my imagination. When my wife died and I was left desolate from that premature and unexpected loss, I returned to Spain, and from Madrid I went to France and then to Italy. It was then that I began to take an interest in public affairs, politics began to concern me, and I followed the different changes then emerging.... Without the death of my wife I would not have made my second journey to Europe, and it is probable that the ideas I acquired on my travels would not have taken root inand highlighted the French occupation of Andalusia, which precipitated the decision to remove the Spanish administration and place authority in the hands of the citizens. He made the Venezuelan position clear: while loyal to Ferdinand VII, the Venezuelans regarded the regency as illegal and unacceptable. Wellesley, however, insisted that to reject the regency was to declare independence; any province could do the same, which would mean the disintegration of the Spanish empire and the triumph of France in the peninsula. Britain regarded this as incompatible with the Anglo–Spanish alliance.

Bolívar was not finished. He denied that the disavowal of the regency was critical to the case, as Venezuela was ready to continue helping the cause of the Spanish patriots in the best possible way, as could easily be proved.