much momentum that it was plain to all
that Spain could never prevail without help from others. In Mexico, upon
the refusal of Ferdinand VII. to accept the separate crown of Mexico,
General Iturbide proclaimed himself emperor. On May 19, he assumed the
dignity. As Augustine I., he was crowned in the Cathedral of Mexico in
July. At the same time San Martin and Bolivar met at Guayaquil to dispose
of the destinies of South America. San Martin had just succeeded in
liberating Peru, and had made his triumphal entry into Lima. Bolivar had
brought aid to Ecuador, and established independence there. Jose de Sucre,
whom Bolivar called the "soul of his army," defeated the Spaniards in the
famous battle of Pichincha, fought at a height of 10,200 feet above the
sea. When Bolivar and San Martin met on July 25, San Martin announced his
determination to give a free field to Bolivar. The two men parted at a
great public love-feast at which San Martin toasted Bolivar as the
"liberator of Colombia." In his farewell address he said: "The presence of
a fortunate general in the country which he has conquered is detrimental to
the state. I have won the independence of Peru, and I now cease to be a
public man." Speaking privately of Bolivar, he said: "He is the most
extraordinary character of South America; one to whom difficulties but add
strength." With his daughter Mercedes, San Martin retired to Europe, to
dwell there in obscurity and poverty. Bolivar, with Generals Sucre, Miller
and Cordova, assembled a great liberating army at Juarez. After a
preliminary victory at Junin, Bolivar returned to Lima to assume the reigns
of government, while his generals pushed on against the forces of the
Spanish viceroy. Late in the year a decisive battle was fought at Ayacucho.
The revolutionists charged down the mountain ridges upon the Spaniards in
the plain, and utterly routed them. The viceroy himself was wounded, with
700 of his men, while 1,400 Spaniards were killed outright. In these
casualties the unusual disparity between killed and wounded reveals the
unsparing ferocity of the fight. In Brazil a peaceful revolution was
effected in September. After the return of Juan VI. to Portugal his son Dom
Pedro reigned as regent. On September 7, he yielded to the demands of his
American subjects, and proclaimed the independence of Brazil. He was
declared constitutional emperor of Brazil on October 12, and was crowned as
such shortly afterward at Rio Janeiro.