BATTLE OF PICHINCHA



VII to accept the separate crown of MNexico, General Itur-
bide proclaimed himself Emperor. He assumed the name of
Augustine I. 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. Jos6
de Sucre, whom Bolivar called the "soul of his armv," de-
feated the Spaniards in the famous battle of Pichincha,
fought at a height of 10,200 feet above the sea. When Boli-
var and San Martin met on July 25, San Martin announced
his determination to give a free field to Bolivar, whom he
proclaimed "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 Juniin, 1Boli-
var returned to Lima to assume the reigns of governikient,
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 ferocitv of the fight. In Brazil a
peaceful revolution was effected in September. After the re-
turn 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 Bra-
zil. He was declared Constitutional Emperor of Brazil on
October 12, and was crowned as such shortly afterward at
Rio Janeiro.
                          436



1822