ested with
absolute power as dictator, and authorized to call into action all the
resources of the country. Owing, however, to the intrigues of the
republican factions in Peru he was forced to withdraw to Truxillo,
leaving the capital to the mercy of the Spaniards under Canterac, by
whom it was immediately occupied. But this misfortune proved only
temporary. By June 1824 the liberating army was completely organized;
and taking the field soon after, it routed the vanguard of the enemy.
Improving his advantage, Bolivar pressed forward, and on the 6th of
August defeated Canterac on the plains of Junin, after which he returned
to Lima, leaving Sucre to follow the royalists in their retreat to
Upper Peru--an exploit which the latter executed with equal ability and
success, gaining a decisive victory at Ayacucho, and thus completing the
dispersion of the Spanish force. The possessions of the Spaniards in
Peru were now confined to the castles of Callao, which Rodil maintained
for upwards of a year, in spite of all the means that could be employed
for their reduction. In June 1825 Bolivar visited Upper Peru, which,
having detached itself from the government of Buenos Aires, was formed
into a separate state, called Bolivia, in honour of the liberator. The
first congress of the new republic assembled in August 1825, when
Bolivar was declared perpetual protector, and requested to prepare for
it a constitution of government.

His care was now directed to the administration of the affairs of the
freed provinces. His endeavours to satisfy his countrymen in this
respect did not always meet with encouragement, and sometimes exposed
him to slander. In December 1824 Bolivar convoked a constituent congress
for the February following; but this body, taking into consideration the
unsettled state of the country, thought it proper to invest him with
dictatorial power for another year. His project of a constitution for
Bolivia was presented to the congress of that state on the 25th of May
1826, accompanied with an address, in which he embodied his opinions
respecting the form of government which he conceived most expedient for
the newly established republics. This code, however, did not give
satisfaction. Its most extraordinary feature consisted in the provision
for lodging the executive authority in the hands of a president for
life, without responsibility and with power to nominate his successor, a
proposal which alarmed the friends of liber