“He is very thin, but his whole person shows great activity. His features are well formed, but are worn by fatigue and anxiety. The fire of his black eyes draws attention at once. Never did the exterior give a more exact idea of the man himself. Egoism, determination, activity, intrigue, and a persevering spirit, are clearly expressed in his bearing, and in each movement of his body.”
Bolívar’s first care was to put an end to the dispute with Riva-Agüero, but finding all friendly overtures unsuccessful, he resolved upon using force. The country seemed on the verge of a civil war, when his own troops mutinied against the ex-President. He disappeared from public life, and the danger was averted.
Bolívar remained absolute master of Peru. He thought that all America was now his.
CHAPTER XLIX.
JUNIN—AYACUCHO.
1823—1824.
THE day-dreams of men often mould the course of their lives. The day-dream of Bolívar was the unification of South America. It was in pursuance of this dream that he created a great military power, and carried his arms in triumph over half the Continent. His first step was the creation of Columbia. Then he dreamed of a South American Confederation, ruled by an international assembly, after the manner of the Achaian League of ancient Greece; and, at last, of a monocracy under the protection of Columbian bayonets. Then the dream became delirium.
In the treaties with Chile and Peru, forming an alliance offensive and defensive, it was stipulated by Bolívar:—
“That an Assembly should be convened of the American States, composed of plenipotentiaries, with the object of establishing on a solid basis intimate relations between each and all of them, which may serve as a council when great questions arise, as a point of contact in common danger, as an interpreter of treaties in case of a misunderstanding, and as an arbitrator and conciliator in disputes and difficulties.”
On the field of diplomacy the Liberator of Columbia came for the first time in contact with Don Bernardino Rivadavia, the highest personification of the Liberalism of South America. One was at the head of four great States, the other was the constitutional minister of a province. Bolívar aspired to the laurel crown of an American Cæsar, Rivadavia to that of a pacific liberator.
Rivadavia was at this time the soul of the Provinces of La Plata, which were separated by political shipwreck. The Argentine Republic, exhausted by her great struggle for the independence of America, and prostrated by civil conflict, took no more part in the continental war, but her soldiers still fought for her in far-off lands; her integral parts, in spite of separation, had still cohesion and sought reunion. A centre of attraction was wanting to this constellation of fourteen wandering stars—Buenos Ayres provided that centre. Rivadavia welded this province into a State, which became the organic cell of national life. On the small theatre of a province, the representative system of a republic was seen for the first time at work in South America. These institutions, which were then a novelty in the world, except in the United States and partially in England, showed to the peoples of South America what the republican system was; from Buenos Ayres they spread over the entire Continent.
The Argentine Republic was then threatened with the war which broke out two years later. The new Empire of Brazil had occupied by force the Banda Oriental, which was one of the United Provinces; the Government of Buenos Ayres, inspired by Rivadavia, faced the question with all its consequences. In these circumstances, in January, 1823, Don Joaquin Mosquera arrived in Buenos Ayres as minister plenipotentiary of Columbia. Rivadavia was provisionally in charge of the Government. He rejected at once the idea of a Congress with power to decide international disputes. The treaty was reduced to a defensive alliance, in support of their independence from Spanish or from any other foreign domination. As Rivadavia explained to the Legislature:—