San Martin
had voluntarily forsaken the scene of his triumphs. In one sense he was
fortunate, since the fierce rivalry which arose at the conclusion of the
War of Independence left his colleagues little chance of making their
_conge_ with a similar amount of dignity.
Bolivar died impoverished and exiled, one of the most sublime and tragic
figures of the revolution. O'Higgins, it is true, divested himself of
his insignia of office by a spontaneous act. This, however, only came
about when the opposing parties had stretched forth their hands to
clutch at each other's throats. In the majority of cases the ending of
the careers of these early patriots was equally abrupt.
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.
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