San Martín had insured the independence of Argentina, which then included Bolivia, had driven the Spaniards from Chile, and now declared the independence of Peru. But the last remnants of the Spanish forces that had fled to the mountains of northern Peru had still to be vanquished before his task could be said to be fully accomplished. As the Argentine historian Mitre says, San Martín might have attempted this task with the forces at his command, unaided by either Chile or Argentina, which were then in the throes of civil discord, but he had too much at heart the independence of those lands in whose cause he had been fighting for over ten years. He preferred to take no chances. He invoked the coöperation of Simón Bolívar, who had done for Colombia and Venezuela what he himself had done for Argentina, Chile, and Peru. On the 26th of July, 1822, therefore, there took place at Guayaquil, Ecuador, a famous interview between the two greatest generals of South America. What took place at that meeting has been wrapped in mystery, though the results are known full well. San Martín delivered his armies into Bolívar's hands, so that he might strike the last blow in behalf of the independence of South America. The combined forces of Colombia and Argentina under the command of General Sucre, Bolívar's lieutenant, won a brilliant victory at Ayacucho in 1824, which crowned once for all the efforts of the peoples of South America to obtain their independence. Thus, first by the military prowess of her greatest son, San Martín, and later by his greatness of soul and self-denial, worthy of the best traditions of Rome, Argentina insured the independence of South America. Though the words exchanged between Bolívar and San Martín at Guayaquil are not known, acquainted as we are with the natures of both, we can easily surmise what took place. Bolívar was a brilliant military genius, but like Alvear, was consumed by an unquenchable thirst for power, save that he surpassed Alvear in ambition in the same ratio that his military ability was superior to that of the Argentine Alcibiades. San Martín was a thorough military leader, leaving nothing to chance, a great disciplinarian, and once his plans were completed, as powerful in their execution as he had been patient in their preparation; but above all, San Martín was preëminently a man of lofty ideals and high moral worth. He may not have been endowed with the keen intuitive military genius of Bolívar; he was averse to all dramatic appeal and display, and hence never became popular in the sense that Bolívar and Alvear were popular; but in the unselfish qualities of devotion to a cause, even to the point of self-effacement, he stands the equal of the greatest men in history, a worthy peer of Cincinnatus and Regulus.