THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE--II
It was at Mendoza that the famous Argentine General, San Martin,
recruited the army destined for the campaign of Chile. In 1817
everything was prepared, and with an army of 4,000 men San Martin set
out on one of the most extraordinary military marches that history has
known. Indeed, his passage of the Andes is considered as unique by
numerous military experts.
The advance of San Martin was not altogether unexpected by the Royalist
forces, whose spies kept the Spanish commander informed of this latest
move on the part of the patriot army. General San Martin, becoming aware
of this, repaid these spies in their own coin. Taking them, as it
seemed, into his confidence, he informed them of the route he was about
to take, and when the time came chose another and a parallel pass.
Hastening down the tremendous rocky walls of the western side of the
Andes, San Martin engaged the Spanish forces and won an important
victory at Chacabuco. The Royalists, under General Osorio, rallied and
made a last desperate stand; but their forces were decisively and
finally defeated on April 5, 1818, at Maipu, and this action resulted in
the definite liberation of Chile.
San Martin was now the hero of Chile, and was begged to accept the
protectorship of the new Republic. His deeds on land were rivalled by
those of Admiral Cochrane on sea. The gallant Irish sailor was at the
time busily occupied in sweeping the Pacific Ocean clear of the Spanish
vessels, and in performing those extraordinary feats of valour for which
his memory is famed. Unfortunately, misunderstandings between the pair
eventually resulted in open enmity between Cochrane and San Martin. This
became accentuated when the campaign was undertaken in Peru, when San
Martin, not content with his victories in Chile, led his armies for the
liberation of the north into Peru itself, and into the head-quarters of
the remaining Spanish power.
It was in Peru, then, that the dispute between Cochrane and San Martin
broke out in a public fashion. Its origin in this instance was a
difference of opinion concerning the measures to be taken for the
capturing of Callao Castle. The impetuous Irishman was for storming the
place at once. The prudent San Martin, on the other hand, was desirous
of bringing about the surrender without bloodshed. The latter had his
way, but was subjected to some criticism, since a number of Royalist
soldiers who escaped were enabled to carry on the campaign in the
interior.
The second and more violent dispute broke out on San Martin's refusal to
pay the fleet out of the funds in Lima. On this Lord Cochrane took
forcible possession of a large sum of money at the Port of Ancon, thus
widening still further the already grave breach between the two. Once or
twice, indeed, it was a mere chance which prevented an outbreak of
active hostilities between the sea and land forces. Fortunately for all
concerned, matters were not destined to reach such a pass. This,
however, is somewhat in advance of the period with which we are dealing,
and it will be necessary to return for a short while to Peru in its
colonial state.
In Peru, during the last few years of the Spanish regime, the Royalist
authorities, bending to the urgent necessity of a concession to public
opinion which might enable them to retain their power for a little
longer, published some periodical papers, which, although of course
strongly biased in their intelligence in favour of the Royalist cause,
nevertheless gave a more or less accurate account of many of the events
which had passed into hard and fast history. Thus the inhabitants of
Lima were enabled to learn of the establishment of the Republics in
Colombia, Buenos Aires, and Chile.
In 1812, moreover, the Inquisition had been abolished. Of this, Lima had
been the head-quarters in South America from the day of its first
institution. Here a similar stern and merciless procedure to that in
other parts of the world was carried on. Indeed, the capital of the
senior Viceroy was in every way the most reactionary spot in South
America. In 1812, when it became known that the Cortes of Spain had
abolished the Inquisition, a number of Peruvians entered the premises of
the Holy office in order to inspect them. According to one who took part
in it, the visit was unexpectedly exciting, for, on ransacking the
documents, many of those present found their own names marked down as
those of future victims. The sight of the torture-room inspired very
different feelings in the breasts of the Limanians, and the sight of the
iniquitous instruments enraged them to the point of destroying much
within the building. Many trophies and relics were carried away as
momentoes of the occasion. The following morning, however, the
Archbishop proceeded in state to the cathedral, and declared all those
excommunicated who had taken, and were retaining, any object belonging
to the Inquisition. By this means a certain proportion of the objects
were recovered.
Nevertheless, during its latter days--doubtless from a presentiment of
the nearness of its end--the methods of the Inquisition had become
comparatively softened. Thus, when at the beginning of the nineteenth
century an old fortune-teller, accused of witchcraft, was made to stand
penitent in the chapel of the tribunal, and one of the secretaries read
out a list of the wretch's misdeeds, the result was very unusual for
anything connected with so justly dreaded an organization. For the old
fortune-teller, doubtless tickled by a recital of his feats, burst into
loud laughter, in which he was joined by the majority of the spectators.
It is said that the Viceroy Castelfuerte, when summoned before the
Inquisition, obeyed the mandate; but he brought with him his bodyguard,
and stationed two pieces of artillery outside the building of the
tribunal. After this he entered, and, placing his watch on the table,
told the Inquisitor that, unless they finished their business with him
in an hour, the place would be battered to pieces. In the face of this
information the interview terminated almost immediately.
It has been frequently brought against the inhabitants of Lima that,
while in almost every other part of the Continent the Americans had
already freed themselves, or were fighting with that object, they had
remained in a more or less passive state. Yet this condition of affairs
was practically inevitable when it is considered that Lima was the great
stronghold of Spain, filled to overflowing with Spanish officials and
military officers. It is certain enough that, had Lima been captured in
the first place by the insurgents, the Royalist resistance in all the
other colonies would inevitably have collapsed immediately; but it did
not in the least follow that because Buenos Aires, Santiago, and other
towns had become the seats of Republican Governments, that the movement
should influence the mainspring of Spanish authority at Lima.
The Spaniards of Lima were reputed, for that reason, the haughtiest of
any in the Continent, and their manner towards the Criollos continued as
overbearing as ever during the first stages of the revolution. It is
said that when the reinforcements came from Spain--as, for instance,
when in 1813 the regiment of Talavera arrived--the behaviour of these
Spaniards became more arrogant than ever. This attitude proved in the
end to be possessed of a disconcertingly slender foundation. As a matter
of fact, the troops which arrived from Spain during this period were for
the most part composed of very indifferent material, both officers and
men bearing the worst of characters, since every efficient soldier was
urgently required in the Mother Country at that time.
Numbers of the Spanish troops themselves at this stage gave many signs
of insubordination, more especially when, as occasionally occurred,
their pay was delayed; and on two occasions a widespread mutiny was only
staved off by the intervention of the Viceroy. Nevertheless, the
exultation of the Spanish civilians reached its most fevered height in
April, 1818, when the news of Spanish victories over the Chileans were
succeeding each other at short intervals. According to contemporaneous
historians, the Spaniards formed themselves into groups in the streets,
and mocked and insulted every Criollo who had to pass them by. So
arrogant was their conduct that no Criollo who valued his self-respect
dared to enter a coffee-house in which a group of these Spaniards was
assembled. The total news of the defeat of the Spanish General Osorio at
Maipu came as a thunderbolt, and the shocked and humbled Spanish had to
make the most of an altogether unexpected and painful situation.
W.B. Stevenson has an interesting account of the contrast which obtained
at this period between the state of affairs in Lima and in Santiago:
"The contrast between the society which I had just quitted in the
capital of Peru and that which I here found in the capital of Chile
was of the most striking kind. The former, oppressed by proud
mandatories, imperious chiefs, and insolent soldiers, had been long
labouring under all the distressing effects of espionage--greatest
enemy to the charm of every society--the overbearing haughty
Spaniards, either with taunts or sneers, harrowing the very souls
of the Americans, who suspected their very oldest friends and often
their nearest relations. In this way they were forced to drain the
cup of bitterness to the last dregs, without daring by
participation or condolence to render it less unpalatable, except,
indeed, they could find an Englishman, and to him they would
unbosom their inmost thoughts, believing that every Briton feels as
much interest in forwarding the liberty of his neighbour as he does
in preserving his own. In Lima the tertulias, or chit-chat parties,
and even the gaiety of the public promenade, had almost
disappeared, and _quando se acabara esto?_--'When will this
end?'--was constantly ejaculated.
"In Santiago every scene was reversed. Mirth and gaiety presided at
_paseos_, confidence and frankness at the daily tertulias.
Englishmen here had evinced their love of universal liberty, and
were highly esteemed. Friendship and conviviality seemed to reign
triumphant, and the security of the country, being the fruit of the
labour of its children, was considered by each separate individual
as appertaining to himself; his sentiments on its past efforts,
present change and future prosperity, were delivered with
uncontrolled freedom; while the supreme magistrate, the military
chief, the soldier and the peasant, hailed each other as
countrymen, and only acknowledged a master in their duty or the
law."
As has already been explained, it was inevitable that the struggle which
was taking place in Peru, the Viceroyalty, where was now centred all the
remaining Spanish power of the Continent, should have been more
prolonged than that in Chile, and far more so than had proved the
contest in the provinces of the River Plate. So far as Lima was
concerned, the result was not so long in doubt. Finding his hold on the
capital no longer tenable in the face of the advance from the south of
the victorious army, the Viceroy evacuated the town on July 26, 1821,
and the patriot forces, entering the city, proclaimed from that place
the freedom of Peru.
General Bolivar, in the meanwhile, having now cleared the northern
countries of the Spanish troops, was marching down into Peru, and thus
the stream of liberators from the south came into contact with those of
the north. An historical interview was held at Guayaquil on July 26,
1822, between the two greatest men of the Continent of that time, San
Martin and Bolivar. The details of this interview have never been made
public, but what occurred may be surmised more or less accurately from
the knowledge of the characters of the two men.
In one sense Bolivar's horizon was wider than that of San Martin. For
practical purposes, indeed, there is no doubt that this horizon of the
northern liberator had extended itself to a somewhat dangerous and
impracticable degree. His dream was a federated South America--a single
nation, in fact, which, save for the great Portuguese possession of
Brazil, should extend from Panama to Cape Horn.
Bolivar's enthusiasm on this point refused to be curbed at any cost--at
all events, at this period. It must be admitted that he did not take
into full consideration the differences which climatic influences and
the varying degrees of racial intermarriage had worked in the
populations of the several provinces. Thus the ethics of the northern
and equatorial countries had become widely different from those in the
southern and temperate zones. Nevertheless, such was Bolivar's faith in
the destiny of South America as a whole that he would have flung the
entire mass together, and left it to work out its complicated will.
San Martin, as the representative of what might be termed, in one sense,
the European States of the River Plate and Chile, was keenly alive to
the defects of this plan. It is certain that the two theories were
discussed in the course of the momentous interview between San Martin
and Bolivar, and it is equally certain that San Martin realized that,
holding such divergent views from those of his colleague as he did,
friction between the leaders would in the circumstances become
inevitable. He determined, therefore, on a piece of self-sacrifice which
has few rivals in history. At the moment when he had achieved his
triumph, and when the inhabitants of three powerful new countries were
waiting to salute him with a thunder of acclamation, he laid down his
office, unbuckled his sword, travelled quietly to Chile, and from there
he crossed the Andes to Mendoza in a very different fashion to the one
in which he had come on the occasion when he had commanded the army of
liberation. From Mendoza he crossed the plains of Buenos Aires, and from
there he took ship to Europe.
It is generally supposed that he never again returned to his native
country. This, however, was not the case, since he once again sailed
back from France with the idea of watching the progress of the land he
loved so dearly. Perceiving, to his sorrow, that the country was
temporarily lost in complete anarchy, he sailed to France again without
having descended from the deck of the ship which had borne him out.
The remaining embers of the war had now become localized, and it was
obvious that Spain was at her last gasp. Bolivar came down with his
armies from Quito to Peru to complete the task of the destruction of the
Spanish garrisons. In 1824 the Battle of Junin was fought, which
resulted in a striking victory for the South Americans. The patriot
forces on this occasion made a particularly gallant fight, and the
brilliant cavalry charge made by Suarez is said to have been largely
responsible for the victory.
Bolivar then gave over the command of the army to General Sucre, who on
December 9, 1824, fought the Battle of Ayacucho, completely defeating
the Royalist forces. This proved to be the final action of the war; the
last shred of Spanish authority had been torn from the Continent, the
last of the Spanish garrisons were now ploughing their sombre course
back to Europe, and it was left to Spanish America to shape its own
destiny.