f the southern
provinces of Peru, and the object being the independence of the whole
country, it was joined by numerous Creoles. This insurrection was,
however, speedily put down by the royalists. In 1816 the Spanish general
Laserna, having been appointed commander-in-chief of Upper Peru, made an
attempt to invade the Argentine provinces, intending to march on Buenos
Aires, but he was completely foiled in this by the activity of the
irregular _gaucho_ troops of Salta and Jujuy, and was forced to retire.
During this time and in the six succeeding years a guerrilla warfare was
maintained by the patriots of Upper Peru, who had taken refuge in the
mountains, chiefly of the province of Yungas, and who frequently
harassed the royalist troops. In June 1823 the expedition of General
Santa Cruz, prepared with great zeal and activity at Lima, marched in
two divisions upon Upper Peru, and in the following months of July and
August the whole country between La Paz and Oruro was occupied by his
forces; but later, the indecision and want of judgment displayed by
Santa Cruz allowed a retreat to be made before a smaller royalist army,
and a severe storm converted their retreat into a precipitate flight,
only a remnant of the expedition again reaching Lima. In 1824, after the
great battle of Ayacucho in Lower Peru, General Sucre, whose valour had
contributed so much to the patriot success of that day, marched with a
part of the victorious army into Upper Peru. On the news of the victory
a universal rising of the patriots took place, and before Sucre had
reached Oruro and Puno, in February 1825, La Paz was already in their
possession, and the royalist garrisons of several towns had gone over to
their side. The Spanish general Olaneta, with a diminished army of 2000
men, was confined to the province of Potosi, where he held out till
March 1825, when he was mortally wounded in an action with some of his
own revolted troops.

Bolivia a nation.

General Sucre was now invested with the supreme command in Upper Peru,
until the requisite measures could be taken to establish in that country
a regular and constitutional government. Deputies from the various
provinces to the number of fifty-four were assembled at Chuquisaca, the
capital, to decide upon the question proposed to them on the part of the
government of the Argentine provinces, whether they would or would not
remain separate from that country. In August 1825 they decided this
ques