s
of South America were denounced as rebels and traitors, and the vengeance
of the State, and the anathemas of the Church, directed against them.
That a contest commenced under such auspices should have become a war of
extermination, and in its progress have exhibited horrid scenes of
cruelty, desolation, and deliberate bloodshed; that all offers of
accommodation were repelled with insult and outrage; capitulations
violated, public faith disregarded, prisoners of war cruelly massacred,
and the inhabitants persecuted, imprisoned, and put to death, cannot
occasion surprise, however much it may excite indignation. As violence
and cruelty always tend to provoke recrimination and revenge, the
outrages of the Spaniards exasperated the Americans, and led to
retaliation, which rendered the contest a war of death, as it was often
called, characterized by a ferocious and savage spirit, scarcely
surpassed by that of Cortes and Pizarro. The violent measures of the
Spanish rulers, and the furious and cruel conduct of their agents in
America, toward the patriots, produced an effect directly contrary to
what was expected; but which nevertheless might have been foreseen, had
the Spaniards taken counsel from experience instead of from their
mortified pride and exasperated feelings. Arbitrary measures, enforced
with vigor and cruelty, instead of extinguishing the spirit of
independence, only served to enliven its latent sparks and blow them into
flame. Miranda died in chains, and Hidalgo, the patriot priest of Mexico,
was put to death by his cruel captors, but Bolivar and Paez, Sucre and
San Martin, led the patriot armies to ultimate victory, and established
the independence of Spanish America. Only one great revolutionary leader,
Iturbide, failed to follow the example of Washington. Iturbide attempted
to found an imperial dynasty in Mexico, and lost his life and his crown.
Bolivar, on the other hand, with a foresight worthy of Washington
himself, sought to form a general confederation of all the States of what
was formerly Spanish America, with the object of uniting the resources
and means of the several States for their general defence and security.
This great project was accepted by Chile, Peru and Mexico, and treaties
concluded in accordance therewith.

* * *

Throughout the South American struggle for independence Great Britain
gave assistance to the patriots almost as freely and openly as