doubt that this horizon of the
northern liberator had extended itself to a somewhat dangerous and
impracticable degree. His dream was a federated South America--a single
nation, in fact, which, save for the great Portuguese possession of
Brazil, should extend from Panama to Cape Horn.

Bolivar's enthusiasm on this point refused to be curbed at any cost--at
all events, at this period. It must be admitted that he did not take
into full consideration the differences which climatic influences and
the varying degrees of racial intermarriage had worked in the
populations of the several provinces. Thus the ethics of the northern
and equatorial countries had become widely different from those in the
southern and temperate zones. Nevertheless, such was Bolivar's faith in
the destiny of South America as a whole that he would have flung the
entire mass together, and left it to work out its complicated will.

San Martin, as the representative of what might be termed, in one sense,
the European States of the River Plate and Chile, was keenly alive to
the defects of this plan. It is certain that the two theories were
discussed in the course of the momentous interview between San Martin
and Bolivar, and it is equally certain that San Martin realized that,
holding such divergent views from those of his colleague as he did,
friction between the leaders would in the circumstances become
inevitable. He determined, therefore, on a piece of self-sacrifice which
has few rivals in history. At the moment when he had achieved his
triumph, and when the inhabitants of three powerful new countries were
waiting to salute him with a thunder of acclamation, he laid down his
office, unbuckled his sword, travelled quietly to Chile, and from there
he crossed the Andes to Mendoza in a very different fashion to the one
in which he had come on the occasion when he had commanded the army of
liberation. From Mendoza he crossed the plains of Buenos Aires, and from
there he took ship to Europe.

It is generally supposed that he never again returned to his native
country. This, however, was not the case, since he once again sailed
back from France with the idea of watching the progress of the land he
loved so dearly. Perceiving, to his sorrow, that the country was
temporarily lost in complete anarchy, he sailed to France again without
having descended from the deck of the ship which had borne him out.

The remaining embers of the war had now become localized