After the conference with Bolívar in Guayaquil, San Martín returned to Peru to find that the people whose independence he had declared were hostile to him. He immediately called a meeting of the constitutional congress, and, on the 20th of September, 1822, resigned his title of Protector. Coming to Chile, he met with equal, if not greater, hostility. He retired to the province of Mendoza in Argentina, where for a while he devoted himself to farming, and then made a voyage to Buenos Aires, then torn by contending factions, to meet there, in his own country, with indifference and disregard. San Martín clearly saw that despite his devotion to the cause of independence, despite his mighty accomplishments in behalf of his country, his presence, if anything, would only lead to greater strife. Stoically, therefore, and without a murmur, he betook himself to voluntary exile in France, where he died in poverty, in 1850, forgotten by his countrymen, attended only by his daughter, who faithfully remained by his side throughout the long years of his exile. Once only, in 1829, he returned to Buenos Aires; but the newspapers of the times published this insulting paragraph: "Ambiguities--General San Martín has returned to his country after an absence of five years, but only after knowing that peace has been signed with the Emperor of Brazil." Even after this crowning insult San Martín uttered no plaint, but quietly returned to France to devote his time to the cultivation of flowers of his native land. His was not the Marian temperament; no messenger was ever sent by him to his fellow-countrymen to tell them that their liberator had been seen in France eating the bitter bread of exile. "A truly great man...", Shakespeare has said of Cæsar. Much more aptly could that apply to San Martín in point of pure manhood. Argentina, to-day, has made reparation for the oblivion with which she requited her greatest man during his lifetime, by erecting imposing monuments to his memory; but, above all, by enshrining his name in the heart of every one of her sons. * * * * *