Nothing of this, however, was foreseen when the age of liberty first dawned; then the men who had organized the campaign and who had won the battles were still heroes in the eyes of the people. Bolivar was frenziedly acclaimed as the deliverer of Peru, an honour which, in the absence of San Martin, none could dispute with him. Although it was obvious that the circumstances about him were changing, and that the once high ideals of many were becoming affected by sordid considerations, Bolivar's exaltation of spirit seems to have continued unimpaired. That he had become sterner and more imperious there is no doubt.
Many anecdotes are told of him at this period, one of which shows him in a light rather uncommon in South America, where gallantry towards ladies is apt to be carried to the extreme. It is said that at a ball a lady insisted on singing his praises with an admiration that was positively fulsome. Bolivar, according to the story, reproved her by these words: "Madam, I had previously been informed of your character, and now I perceive it myself. Believe me, a servile spirit recommends itself to no one, and in a lady is highly to be despised." No doubt the reproof was well earned, but at the same time the language reveals a gruffness which scarcely tallies with Bolivar's usual conduct.
Another anecdote will suffice to show the various situations with which the Liberator had to contend. At a public dinner given to Bolivar at Bogotá a fervent admirer of his uttered an incautious toast: "Should at any time a Monarchical Government be established in Colombia, may the Liberator, Simon Bolivar, be the Emperor!" A stern patriot, Señor Paris, then filled his glass and exclaimed: "Should Bolivar at any future period allow himself to be declared Emperor, may his blood flow from his heart in the same manner as the wine now does from my glass!" With these words he poured the wine from his glass upon the floor.
Bolivar, far from being offended, sprang up and, approaching Señor Paris, embraced him, exclaiming: "If such feelings as those declared by this honourable man shall always animate the breasts of the sons of Colombia, her liberty and independence can never be in danger."
The story is pretty enough, and doubtless it occurred much in the way related at the moment; but it must not be forgotten that convictions on the part of public men must frequently wait on policy, since it is well known that Bolivar's own views for the independence of South America ran rather in the direction of Empires than Republics.
Simon Bolivar, indeed, worked on large and Imperialistic lines. As has been said, he dreamed of a single State of Spanish South America, of a great community with a single heart. It is not surprising that he found opponents to this scheme, the chief of these being Chile and Buenos Aires. Even in his own country these stupendous plans of his, though they were conceived in a disinterested and loyal spirit, led to troubled and harassing times. Thus revolutions against his authority broke out in Venezuela, and even in parts of Colombia itself. International complications followed. In 1827, Peru declared war against Colombia, alleging that Bolivar was attempting to place her in a state of vassalage to Colombia.
Discord was now arising on every side. Bolivar saw the majestic turrets of his castle of state fall with a crash to the ground almost ere they had had time to rear themselves against the darkening horizon. The tragedy was too much even for his enthusiastic spirit. Broken and spent, he retired to Santa Marta in New Granada, where his grief brought him to a death in solitude in 1830. Thus his fate supplied yet another link between his career and that of San Martin, whose death in Boulogne on the French coast, when it occurred, scarcely occasioned a passing notice.
In Chile, as has been said, the career of the famous Bernardo O'Higgins, although shorn of so many of the tragic elements that attended that of Bolivar, had ended with almost equal abruptness. It is true that the great Chilean for his part had the satisfaction of performing one of the greatest acts of his life at the close of his official existence. When, faced by the deputation of those who were in revolt against his authority, he stepped forward to confront them, and, with deliberation and calmness, tore from his person his insignia of office, he knew that his deed had been echoed through the whole length of Chile, and that it had caused a shock of astonishment and sympathy in the breasts of even those most strenuously opposed to his policy. In other respects the results were much the same as in the case of Bolivar. The great O'Higgins had retired from the eye of the nation and from the scene of his struggles and self-sacrifice.
In Argentina the tale was similar, notwithstanding the enlightened and progressive influence of intellectual men, such as Belgrano, Rivadavia, and numerous others. The tide of civil strife burst out, and its mad eddies swept away many of those who had proved themselves heroes in the cause of independence. The severing of ties and of friendship was necessarily abrupt, and occasionally claimed a victim. Among these was Liniers, who in the last days of the Spanish régime had gathered together a local force on the River Plate, and had dislodged the British forces from Buenos Aires. This, however, did not prevent his execution by the patriots soon after the outbreak of the war.
To enter into the details of individual cases is impossible here, since volumes could be written on every separate decade, and on a score and more of the personalities of this particular epoch in Argentina alone. Paraguay stood out as an exception to the rest. In that State the reins of power fell into the hands of Dr. Francia, a merciless autocrat, who suffered nothing whatever to be disturbed within the frontiers of his country, and who now ruled with a ferocious tyranny, such as had scarcely been approached even in the darkest days of the early colonial age. After that Paraguay was destined to undergo its baptism of fire as well as the rest; the process seemed inevitable. In Paraguay it had not been avoided; it had merely been postponed.