south, and directed his efforts against the province of Pasto. This region is almost impregnably fortified by nature; and its hardy inhabitants are celebrated for their bravery, but not less for the obstinacy with which they cling to preconceived opinions. The Pastusos continued to adhere, voluntarily and perseveringly, to the old régime, when all the rest of Colombia had abandoned it. Bolivar's troops suffered severely in attempting to reduce this district, while general Sucre was liberating the provinces of Loja and Cuenca. Meantime Sucre, an officer who first became distinguished under Piar, and afterwards attained high reputation in the staff of Bolivar's army, gained the great battle of Pichincha, May 24, 1822, and completed the liberation of Quito; a victory so important as to fix the public attention upon the commanding general, and create those anticipations of his future eminence, which the sequel so amply justified. Bolivar, having sufficiently repressed the Pastusos to remove all apprehensions from that quarter, entered Quito, June 16, 1822, and proceeded to Guayaquil, which claimed to be an independent state, but which, contrary, it is alleged, to the wishes of the inhabitants, he incorporated into the republic of Colombia.

Α

Animated by the brilliant result of this campaign, which had completed the overthrow of the Spanish power in the southern provinces of Colombia, and left nothing to fear in that republic from the common enemy, Bolivar now began to turn his thoughts toward the neighboring government of Peru, torn by conflicting factions, and still the seat of obstinate warfare. A division of the Colombian army of two thousand men, unoccupied at home, was despatched to Callao, and public expectation looked to the Liberator of Venezuela and New Granada to perform the like service for Peru. In fact, soon after Bolivar's arrival in the south, the Protector, San Martin, repaired thither for the purpose of having an interview with his brother in arms. They met at Guayaquil, July 26, 1822. The particulars of the interview have not transpired, or at least have not come within our knowledge; but General Miller intimates, that it was not wholly satisfactory to San Martin, who left Guayaquil in forty-eight hours after his arrival. One of its consequences, however, was the sending the auxiliary force of two thousand Colombians, under general Juan Paz del Castillo, to Lima. This happened previous to San Martin's resignation of the protectorate; and the junta gubernativa which succeeded,

disagreeing with general Castillo respecting the conditions on which his division should serve, caused them to be transported back again into Guayaquil without calling them into the field. In order, therefore, to have a right understanding of the nature of the services rendered by Bolivar to Peru, and of the occasion which called for them, it is necessary to explain the situation of affairs in that country at this period.

San Martin, having achieved the independence of Chile, by the successive victories of Chacabuco in 1807, and of Maypu in 1818, was induced, by a conviction that no part of America, bordering on the Pacific ocean, could be secure of its liberty so long as the Spaniards retained possession of Lima, to organize an expedition in Chile for the invasion of Peru. After various military operations, he gained possession of Lima, July 9, 1821; and although La Serna, the viceroy, still maintained his ground in the interior, the independence of the country was proclaimed with great pomp on the twenty-eighth, and on the third of August San Martin assumed the title of Protector of Peru, with supreme authority in civil and military affairs. Still the war continued. The battle of Peruvian independence was not yet fought. The republic possessed only a nominal freedom, and met with no small difficulty in defending the name of independence. San Martin continued to administer the government, and to prosecute the war, until September 20, 1822, when the Congress assembled, and he resigned his authority, and bade farewell to Peru.

The control of public affairs now passed into the hands of a junta gubernativa, with general La Mar for president, which, by reason of their apathy and indecision, gave so little satisfaction to the chiefs and officers of the army, that they insisted upon its dissolution, recommending to the Congress to elect Colonel José de la Riva-Aguero, President of the republic. Whatever reluctance the Congress may have felt in adopting this suggestion, a recommendation, so backed, was not to be slighted; and accordingly on the twenty-seventh of February, 1823, RivaAguero became President. This revolution was mainly.effected by General Santa Cruz, the particular friend of RivaAguero. The new government displayed great activity in making preparations for the approaching campaign. Santa Cruz, with the main body of the Peruvians, undertook an expedition to the southern provinces, thinking to strike a blow where it was least anticipated, and thus to strike the more

surely. For a while his success answered his expectations, and he advanced in triumph as far as La Paz, with the most flattering prospects of final good fortune. Riva-Aguero, meantime, conscious of the inadequacy of his own forces to bring the contest to a speedy conclusion, and feeling how injudicious it was in the junta to send home the auxiliary Colombian division under general Castillo, earnestly solicited Bolivar to supply an auxiliary army of sufficient strength to secure the immediate independence of Peru. As an earnest of more effectual succor, three thousand troops immediately embarked at Guayaquil, and Sucre, now rapidly rising to eminence, repaired to Lima as diplomatic agent of Colombia; a convention for the supply of the auxiliaries on the part of Colombia, and their support by Peru, having been concluded at Guayaquil, March 18, 1823, in a manner satisfactory to both parties. Unfortunately, the departure of Santa Cruz left Lima undefended, and the royalist general, Canterac, took advantage of the circumstance to march upon the capital, which he entered June 18, 1823, and thus threw the affairs of the patriots into most pitiable confusion. Sucre was appointed commander in chief of the forces, consisting chiefly of the Colombian troops, which he posted for security under the protection of the batteries of Callao, whither Riva-Aguero and the members of the Congress also retired. The Congress forthwith appointed Sucre supreme military chief, and divesting Riva-Aguero of his authority, compelled him to withdraw to Truxillo. Sucre being thus left in undisturbed command, resolved to despatch an expedition to the south, to cooperate with Santa Cruz; and in order to place himself at its head, caused the Marquess of Torre Tagle to be chosen President. The capital was now in the hands of the patriots once more, Canterac, on finding he could not reduce the castles of Callao, having evacuated Lima, July 17, 1823, and marched for Huancavelica unmolested. But intelligence soon arrived of the total destruction of the army under Santa Cruz in Upper Peru; and that party dissensions might come in aid of other public disasters, Riva-Aguero no sooner reached Truxillo, than he reassembled a portion of the members of the Congress who had followed him from Callao, called in question the validity of his deposition, and raised and equipped a body of three thousand recruits to maintain the war and his own pretensions. Peru was fast relapsing to the last degree of distraction and political abasement. At this pressing emergen

cy it was, that Bolivar opportunely threw himself, his talents, fame, and influence, and all the disposable military resources under his command, into the cause of Peruvian independence, having obtained permission from the Congress of Colombia to quit the territory of the republic for that purpose, and leaving Santander to administer the executive authority in his stead.

Bolivar made his public entry into Lima, September 1, 1823. He was received with the strongest marks of enthusiasm, and invested with the authority of Dictator, which was needful enough, it must be admitted, in a country governed already by two Presidents, each at the head of a hostile army. In November, 1823, he marched to Pativilca, where he took a strong position, and devoted himself unceasingly to the task of organizing an army of adequate force to enable him to undertake offensive operations. Riva-Aguero being arrested by Colonel La Fuente, one of his own officers, and compelled to embark for Europe, everything might have proceeded prosperously but for the revolt of the garrison of Callao, which, owing to the folly of the Congress in withholding their arrears of pay, mutinied in February, 1823, and surrendered up the castles to the command of the royalist general Monet. This event was soon followed by the defection of Torre Tagle, San Donas, Portocarrero, and some others, fickle and interested men, who, despairing perhaps of the patriot cause, passed over to the Spaniards. Their loss was an eventual gain. The republican party was now thoroughly weeded of its lukewarm and doubtful adherents. Bolivar, invested with unlimited authority, freed from all apprehensions of insincerity in those about him, and supported by six thousand veteran Colombian troops of tried courage and unshaken fidelity, was enabled to exert all the powers of a military dictatorship with a degree of revolutionary energy demanded by the character of the times. But indications are not wanting, that many discerning persons in Peru were jealous of the intentions of Bolivar, and of the views of Colombia. It is probable they did not fear so much the personal ambition of Bolivar, as the disposition to territorial aggrandisement, which all the South American republics have more or less displayed. In reference to these fears, he made the celebrated declaration, contained in a proclamation, dated Truxillo, March 11, 1824, so often referred to in Peru; Your chiefs, your internal enemies, have calumniated Colombia, her brave men, and myself, saying, that we

aim to usurp your rights, your territory, and your independence. I declare to you, in the name of Colombia, and by the sacred liberating army, that my authority shall not extend beyond the period necessary to prepare you for victory; that on the departure of the army from the provinces which it now occupies, you shall be governed constitutionally by your own laws and your own magistrates. Peruvians, the field of battle shall attest the valor of our soldiers and the triumph of your liberty; the same fortunate field shall see me throw down the palm of the dictatorship, and from thence will I return to Colombia with my brothers in arms, without taking away a grain of sand from Peru, and leaving to you liberty.' We may presume that Bolivar sincerely felt what he expressed at this time; since views of ambition, like the occasions which foster it, gradually arise out of the progress of circumstances. But the suspicions of a few did not retard his military arrangements; on the contrary, the charm, the prestige, which enveloped his name like a glory, enabled him to urge forward the preparations for that splendid campaign of 1824, which finally established the independence of South America.

At the commencement of the campaign, the royalist army consisted of nine thousand men under Canterac, in the valley of Xauxa, and five thousand under Valdez in Upper Peru. Olañeta also, in Upper Peru, commanded another body of five thousand men, but had withdrawn his obedience from the viceroy La Serna, on the ground that the latter was a constitutionalist. The liberating army was concentrated at Huaras, preparatory to crossing the Andes, and compelling the enemy to a decisive battle. It consisted of about ten thousand men, forming three divisions of infantry and one of cavalry, commanded by generals Lara, Cordova, La Mar, and Necochea, with General Sucre as chief of the staff. Everything being done, which the military skill of the best generals in South America could devise, to facilitate the passage of the army to Pasco, and, when arrived there, to carry on the war in earnest, Bolivar reviewed his forces, August 2, 1824, on the elevated table land between Rancas and Pasco, in the midst of the towering peaks of the Andes, and on the margin of the lake of Reyes, the principal source of the Amazon. It is impossible for language to do justice to the enthusiastic excitement felt by the troops on this occasion. The scene, presenting one of the most magnificent prospects in the world,-the moment, when