The movement against Bolivar from Colombia proper involved Pasto and Popayan--the northern division of the old Quito presidency--while Quito and the southern provinces were left largely to their own devices. General La Mar, who had succeeded in making himself president of Peru, conceived the idea of enlarging the limits of that country by the acquisition of Guayaquil and Cuenca, and he was the more enthusiastic because the latter was his native province. In 1828 war broke out between Colombia and Peru. Peruvian ships blockaded Guayaquil, and in January, 1829, forced the surrender of that place, while a Peruvian army seven thousand strong invaded the Ecuadorean plateau and penetrated beyond Cuenca. Flores and his rivals united in face of the common danger, the Colombian veterans scattered through the country rallied to the banner of Sucre, who came in person to take command, and the decisive battle was fought at Tarqui in February. The Peruvians were so badly defeated that they sued for peace, and agreed to surrender Guayaquil and the greater part of the southern provinces. [Illustration: GUAYAQUIL, ECUADOR.] By this time, however, Bolivar's own position had become desperate. Venezuela had already separated from the confederation, and when on the 12th of May, 1830, Flores proclaimed the Quito presidency independent, it was little more than the announcement of an existing fact. He attempted to disarm jealousy against Quito by christening the country by the fanciful name of Ecuador, and by decreeing that each province should have an equal vote in the legislative assembly. Flores was merely one of a multitude of military chiefs who had been fighting among themselves since the expulsion of the Spaniards. Though married to a Quito lady he was a Venezuelan and could rely on few local friendships or sympathies, and the Colombian veterans, who swarmed over the country devouring the substance of the people and eager for pay and plunder, regarded him as one of themselves and were ready to desert him for any chief who might offer higher wages.