The bells of the city rang out a joyous peal. Cannon were fired. And such a roar of voices went up as was never heard before in Lima.
Then from the platform silver medals were rained down on the crowds. On each was inscribed:—
Lima, being liberated, swore its Independence on the 28th of July, 1821, under the protection of the Liberating Army of Peru, commanded by San Martin.
San Martin adopted the title of “Protector of Peru.” He took upon himself the temporary government of the country until its Independence should be assured.
“I do not want military renown,” said San Martin, “I have no ambition to be the conqueror of Peru. I want solely to liberate the country from oppression.”
HAIL! NEIGHBOUR REPUBLICS!
San Martin continued to wage his successful campaign against the Spaniards. Now, let us leave him and Peru for a moment.
Let us turn to the United States and see what we were doing about all this.
We recognized our sister Republics for the first time on March 8, 1822.
On that day President Monroe sent a special message to Congress saying, “the Provinces belonging to this hemisphere are our neighbours.” He recommended that Congress should recognize as independent Nations, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Mexico, and Argentina, then called La Plata.