which could not obscure his real heroism, and which a breath of common sense would have dispersed. He had the power to solve the political problem in a manner which would have made him the equal of Washington, but it was not in his nature so to do. He lacked the moral strength to keep a cool head at the height to which he had attained. As was the case with San Martin, the apogee of his career marked the commencement of his decline.
One of the most noteworthy phenomena of the revolution in South America is the contrast between the qualities of the leaders and the instincts of the masses of the people. Emancipation came in the process of natural evolution, organized and directed by popular leaders, who had only one principle in common with those they led, the instinct of independence. They devoted their attention to mechanical facts, and for the most part knew nothing of the hidden forces of the movement they professed to guide.
The revolution in South America was twofold in its action, internal and external. One force was directed against the common enemy, the other against the elementary organism of the peoples themselves. The spirit of South America was genuinely democratic, so could not be other than republican. The first development was into anarchy, from which was to arise a new national life. To check this anarchy monarchical projects were hatched in the United Provinces, which resulted in their dissolution. The idea of establishing a monarchy in Peru destroyed the moral power of San Martin. The empire of Mexico furnished proof enough of the error of this plan. The prolonged dictatorship of O'Higgins in Chile brought him to the ground. The oligarchical theories of Bolívar, which tended to monocracy, were rejected by Congresses of Republicans, and brought about his fall. The Liberators, with all their power and all their glory, could not turn the revolution from its natural sphere of action; the day they ceased to go with it they were cast aside as obstacles to the march of progress.
When the independence of America was secured at
