THE INTERVIEW AT GUAYAQUIL.
1822.
Once only do astronomers record the meeting of two comets at the point
of intersection of their eccentric orbits. Almost as rare in the records
of mankind is the meeting of two men who have made the history there
recorded.
After Washington, San Martin and Bolívar are the only two men of the New
World whose names figure in the catalogue of the heroes of humanity at
large. They were greater as liberators than as men of thought, but the
influence of the deeds accomplished by them yet lives and works in their
posterity.
Events are the logical sequence of causes which have preceded them,
nevertheless they are moulded by the influence of individuals. If
Columbus had never lived, America would at some later date have been
discovered by some one else. If Cromwell had never lived the Revolution
would have occurred in England all the same, but without him it would
not have triumphed. The emancipation of the British colonies of North
America must in any case have produced a great Republic, but it was
Washington who impressed upon the democracy the seal of his moral
greatness. The French Revolution was the natural outcome of what had
preceded it, but had it been directed by others than those who did
direct it the result might have been better. The insurrection in South
America was a spontaneous movement, resulting from historical
antecedents and from the circumstances of the time, but the triumph
would have been delayed, and the losses in the struggle would have been
greater, but for the genius of San Martin and Bolívar, who directed the
discordant elements to one definite end.
San Martin acted more from calculation than from inspiration, Bolívar
more from instinct than from method, yet both were necessary, each in
his own place. While they went with the current they were mere agents,
but they laid hold of the forces that were in action, condensed them,
and impelled them to act on one general plan by them devised, which was
unseen by the masses. And they worked in concert, the idea of San Martin
being carried to a successful ending by Bolívar. Neither could alone
have achieved the emancipation of the Continent.
Now these two men were to meet for the first time, under the fiery arch
of the Equator, with the ocean on one hand, on the other the giant range
of the Andes. The world listens intently and hears nothing of what they
say. One quietly disappears, saying words which have no meaning in them;
the other as quietly takes his place. For twenty years all is mystery;
then the veil is partially drawn aside, and it is seen that there is no
mystery, that nothing had happened save what everyone knew was certain
to befall. Only now that the masks have fallen we can read in the
character of each one of them the motives which made the one relentless
in his purpose and forced abdication on the other.
San Martin sent an auxiliary force to aid in the war in Quito without
making conditions of any kind, and expected to receive help in Peru on
the same terms, but after Pichincha, Bolívar was master of the
situation, and could dictate his own terms. San Martin indulged the
illusion that he was still one of the arbiters of South America, that
Bolívar would share with him his political and his military power, and
that in conference they would arrange together the destinies of the
nations by them emancipated. Without other plan, he sought that
interview with the Liberator which was to decide his own destiny and was
to paralyze his career.
Guayaquil was the only province of the late Viceroyalty of New Granada
which was not yet absorbed in the new Republic of Columbia. With this
acquisition her territory would stretch from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, and Bolívar would lay his powerful hand upon Peru, “the last
battlefield of America” as San Martin expressed it. Bolívar was now
arbiter of the destinies of South America, and could not tolerate
opposition from San Martin. His policy, a union of personal ambition
with grand designs of emancipation, now began to show itself.
At Quito he saw for the first time the troops of San Martin, and could
compare them with his own. He marked their soldierly bearing and strict
discipline, more especially he noted the Argentine mounted grenadiers,
and saw that, compared with them, his own Llaneros, brave as had been
their deeds, were but an undisciplined mob of horsemen. From that time
there arose in his heart that jealousy of Argentine influence which was
presently to mould his policy.
At a banquet given in his honour at Quito he exclaimed in his
enthusiasm:--
“The day is not far distant when I will carry the flag of Columbia
triumphant to Argentina.”
Five Argentine officers were present, and Juan Lavalle, rising to his
feet, proposed a toast:--
“To the independence of America, and of the Argentine Republic.”
There were no more toasts.
On the 11th July Bolívar entered Guayaquil, under triumphal arches
inscribed with his name. The gunboats on the river hauled down the white
and blue flag of Guayaquil and hoisted the tri-colour of Columbia.
“What, so soon!” he exclaimed, thinking this was a signal for the
incorporation of the Province. But when the boats had fired a salute up
again went the white and blue flag, and was hailed by a unanimous shout
of, “Viva Guayaquil independiente!”
He replaced his cocked hat, which he had till then carried in his hand,
and the procession went on, but the incident excited much comment in the
city, and especially in the Peruvian legation.
The intentions of Bolívar were no secret; he had brought 1,500 men with
him, who occupied the city. Within twenty-four hours of his triumphal
entry a deputation of his partisans waited upon the municipality and
asked them to proclaim the Province a part of the Republic of Columbia.
They refused, alleging that the decision of the question lay with the
representatives of the people, who were then in Assembly. The
application was repeated, and was again refused.
On the 13th July an appeal was made to Bolívar himself. Bolívar sent his
secretary to the Junta and an aide-de-camp to the Assembly, to announce
to them that in consequence of the anarchy which prevailed he had
assumed the supreme power, and had annexed the Province to Columbia. The
Junta resigned and fled on board the Peruvian squadron, then lying at
anchor in the harbour. San Martin had sent this squadron in support of
his own partisans, thinking that Bolívar was yet in Quito, but the
Liberator had been too quick for him.
On the 25th July San Martin himself arrived in the schooner _Macedonia_.
Bolívar sent off two of his aides-de-camp to salute him, and to offer
him hospitality “on Columbian soil.” The next day he disembarked amid
files of silent soldiery and crowds of enthusiastic people. Bolívar,
dressed in full uniform and surrounded by his staff, awaited him at a
house which had been prepared for him. The two heroes met, and embraced
for the first and last time, at the foot of the staircase, and turning,
entered the house arm-in-arm. In the salon the Liberator presented his
generals; then the authorities of the city came to bid him welcome. A
deputation of ladies presented an address to him; then a beautiful girl
of eighteen years of age placed a laurel wreath of gold upon his head.
San Martin, little accustomed to such theatrical ceremonies, flushed and
took the crown from his head, but said that he would keep it for the
sake of the patriotic sentiment that inspired the gift, and for the sake
of those who bestowed it, in memory of these happy days.
The two representatives of the Revolution being left alone, walked up
and down the salon together, but what they said to each other could not
be heard by those in the ante-room. Bolívar appeared to be agitated, San
Martin was calm and self-possessed. They shut the door and talked
together for more than an hour and a half. Bolívar then retired,
impenetrable, and grave as a sphinx. San Martin accompanied him to the
foot of the staircase, and they took a friendly leave of each other.
Later on the Protector paid a visit to the Liberator, one of mere
ceremony, which lasted only half an hour.
The next day, the 27th, San Martin sent his baggage on board the
schooner, saying that he should sail after attending the great ball
given in his honour, and at one P.M. went again to call on the
Liberator, remaining closeted with him for four hours.
At five P.M. they sat down together to a splendid banquet. When the time
for toasts arrived, Bolívar stood up and proposed one:--
“To the two greatest men of South America--General San Martin and
myself.”
San Martin then proposed another:--
“To the speedy conclusion of the war; _to the organization of the
different Republics of the Continent_; and to the health of the
Liberator of Columbia;” words that indicated the thoughts which occupied
his mind.
They then passed to the ball-room, where Bolívar gave himself up with
juvenile ardour to the delights of the waltz, of which he was
passionately fond. The rude behaviour of the Columbian officers, who
were roughly reproved by Bolívar, gave a grotesque aspect to the scene.
San Martin looked coldly on, evidently pre-occupied with thoughts of a
much more serious nature. At one A.M. he called his aide-de-camp, Guido,
to him, and said:--
“Let us go; I cannot stand this riot.”
Bolívar had already taken leave of him; a chamberlain showed them out by
a private door, and accompanied them to the landing place. An hour
afterwards the _Macedonia_ was under way.
The next day San Martin rose early and was silent and pre-occupied.
After breakfast, as he was walking the deck, he exclaimed:--
“The Liberator has been too quick for us.”
On reaching Callao he commissioned General Cruz to write to O’Higgins:--
“The Liberator is not the man we took him to be;” words which are a
compendium of the results of the interview. Of what passed between them
no account was published, but at that time there were only two questions
which could be discussed between them: the conclusion of the war, and
the political organization of the new States.
What occurred at the famous conference at Tilsit is as well known as
though all the world had been there to listen; the interview at
Guayaquil is still more easy to reproduce, illuminated as the subject is
by later disclosures from the pen of San Martin himself.
The unsteady glance and ill-concealed vanity of Bolívar produced
repulsion in San Martin, who read his character at once, but Bolívar,
full of himself, failed to penetrate the calm exterior of San Martin; he
learned nothing of his ideas, and looked upon him as one who owed his
victories to fortune more than to genius.
Bolívar had in his head a confused plan for the consolidation of
America, in which everything was to hinge upon his own personality. San
Martin, who had no personal ambition, said of him:--
“His feats of arms entitle him to be considered the most extraordinary
character that South America has produced; of a constancy to which
difficulties only add strength.” But he had none of the frankness of a
soldier, and disclosed nothing of these plans to San Martin; there was,
therefore, nothing to discuss between them--on that point they could
treat only of facts already accomplished.
San Martin expatiated upon the importance of bringing the war to an end.
Three or four thousand Columbian troops, placed at his orders, would
enable him to finish it in three months. Bolívar offered him only three
battalions, and the war lasted for yet another three years. San Martin
then offered to serve under him, if he would only take a sufficient
force with him. Bolívar declined the offer, alleging that he could not
leave Columbian territory without special authority from Congress. San
Martin then saw that the Liberator would not make common cause with him,
that one or the other must give way, and it is probable that he then
formed the resolution of retiring from the scene.
The organization of the new States was the only other subject on which
they could exchange opinions. Doubtless San Martin set forth his reasons
for believing that in the establishment of independent monarchies lay
the solution of the question, the people not being yet so educated in
the principles of self-government as to be capable of sustaining the
common responsibility of democratic rule, and Bolívar would scout the
idea, showing that monarchy was a European, not an American institution;
his own power, as the head of a republic, was greater than that of any
constitutional king. Deep in his mind lay the teachings of his old
master, Simon Rodriguez, who had taught him that the bestowal of all
offices for life was the means whereby stability could be given to
democracy. The result of this talk was seen in the toast which San
Martin proposed at the subsequent banquet:--
“To the REPUBLICS of South America.”
Was there more than this? Likely enough. The reserve which both
maintained on the subject for so many years is an indication that such
was the case. San Martin foresaw the failure of his scheme, and silence
became a patriotic duty, lest he should place arms in the hands of the
enemy. Bolívar, recognising the moral superiority of his rival, felt
abashed in the presence of such abnegation, and cared not to speak of
that which could only throw a slur upon his own fame.
On the return of San Martin to Peru, he announced publicly his
satisfaction with the result of the interview, the conclusion of a South
American alliance, and the speedy arrival of a reinforcement of three
battalions of Columbian troops. But immediately afterwards he wrote to
Bolívar, setting forth the great numerical superiority of the Royalist
forces, and showing that much more efficient help was needed to put an
end to the war. He concluded with these remarkable words:--
“My decision is irrevocable. I have convened the first Congress of Peru;
the day after its installation I shall leave for Chile, convinced that
my presence is the only obstacle which keeps you from coming to Peru
with your army.
“For me it would have been the height of happiness to have concluded the
War of Independence under the orders of a General to whom America owes
her liberty. Destiny has decreed otherwise, and I must resign myself to
it.”
This letter explains one of the principal causes of his retirement from
public life, and may be considered as his political testament. He yields
his self-imposed task into the hands of a more fortunate rival,
congratulating him upon the glory of finishing the great work.
By the bearer of this letter he also sent Bolívar a fowling-piece, a
brace of pistols, and a war-horse to carry him on his next campaign,
with this special note:--
“Receive, General, this remembrance from the first of your admirers,
with the expression of my sincere desire that you may have the glory of
finishing the war for the independence of South America.”
History records not in her pages an act of self-abnegation executed with
more conscientiousness and with greater modesty.