The Repository Códice

Peru Begged San Martin Back. He Insulted Its President

October 21, 2026 · Runtime 9:49 · Watch on YouTube

In 1823 Peru's generals, Chile's government and his own friends asked San Martin to come back. The answer he sent from Mendoza began by telling Peru's president to obey the Congress, 'bad or good', and the next one ended by calling him a rogue.

Transcript

Bad or good 0:00

Peru was losing its war, and everyone was asking San Martin to come back. His answer, sent from Mendoza, began with an order. Recognize the Congress, he told Peru's president, bad or good, however it is. The president did the opposite. And San Martin's next letter ended by calling him a rogue.

If a country called him 0:23

This is the story of the letters that called San Martin back to Peru, and of the one he wrote in answer. Every quotation comes from one chapter of Bartolome Mitre's history, and from the footnotes under it. And the question at the end is simple. If a whole country called him, why did he not go?

The interrupted page 0:42

The chapter has a sentence for the moment his last plan died. As the plan was buried by two defeats, Mitre writes, the book of his destiny, sealed for ever, seemed to reopen before his eyes. At the interrupted page.

Guayaquil's letters 0:59

The first calls came from Guayaquil, soon after he left Peru. Two of its leading citizens wrote to him in November and December of eighteen twenty-two. Only the hand of San Martin, they said, can perfect the great work of the liberty of Peru. He cannot look with indifference at a people that has its eyes fixed on him. And posterity, they added, would find no excuse for him.

A surprising hand 1:25

Then came a letter from a surprising hand. On the second of January, eighteen twenty-three, Riva Aguero wrote to San Martin. San Martin is necessary to America, he said. Let the day come soon when I have the pleasure of giving him an embrace. Mitre adds a clause. This was the same Riva Aguero who had conspired against the ex-Protector, and who would soon be at war with the Congress.

All eyes turned 1:53

Then came Torata and Moquegua. After those disasters, Mitre writes, all eyes turned to him. On the second of March, a friend passed on the wishes of Peruvians, in a multitude of letters. The clamor of Lima for his return is general, he wrote. They believe that if he does not come, all Peru is lost. Then he added, I am so stunned that I would care very little if someone shot me.

Chile asks too 2:22

Chile asked too. Its government, which had replaced O'Higgins, wrote to him officially on the fourth of March. The Liberator of Peru and Chile has taken on such sacred duties toward Peru, it said. The judgment of posterity would forget his immense services if he refused any sacrifice to finish his work.

The act of the chiefs 2:43

In Peru, the army and the navy spoke next. A council of chiefs, presided over by General Portocarrero and Admiral Guise, drew up a formal act. With the authorization of Riva Aguero, it declared that the votes of all Peru called Protector San Martin to fly to the aid of the country. The votes of the people, of the army, of the president, of the last citizen. The country's existence was in danger.

The hero who alone can save 3:12

The chiefs sent that act to San Martin with an official letter. There are certain men chosen by destiny, it said, whose names belong to history. When they fall into misfortune, the base men who insulted their genius in prosperity vanish from the scene. And every heart calls the hero who alone can save the state. The army, it promised, would gather under the standards of the victor of San Lorenzo, Chacabuco and Maipu.

The offer of command 3:42

Riva Aguero, by then in conflict with the Congress, went further. He offered to hand San Martin the supreme command of Peru. He sent General Iturregui to Chile, with powers to negotiate his return. Iturregui later wrote what happened. He crossed the Andes to Mendoza. And when he arrived, the general had already left for Buenos Aires.

Guido's petition 4:07

An old comrade wrote on the seventeenth of August, eighteen twenty-three. The patriots who do not speculate with the country, Guido said, are turning their eyes to you. A week ago a petition circulated, collecting signatures for your return. As the only mediator, and the end of all the parties. Your name is reborn in the midst of these misfortunes.

Repulsion 4:32

And what did San Martin feel? Mitre says he felt repulsion for the personality of Riva Aguero, and did not trust his loyalty. He did not want to be an instrument of bastard ambitions, or the leader of a military plot. But he could not ignore a call made in the name of America. For a moment, Mitre writes, he glimpsed the possibility of returning to Peru.

From Mendoza 4:57

He was about to leave for Buenos Aires, to find his daughter. Her mother had died, and the girl was alone. From Mendoza, he answered Riva Aguero. Peru is being lost beyond remedy, he wrote, and perhaps the whole cause of America. There is only one way to save it.

Bad or good, or however it is 5:18

Without losing a moment, let them give up their complaints and resentments. Recognize the authority of the Congress, bad or good, or however it is, since the peoples have sworn to it. Unite, and the Spaniards vanish from Peru. After that, he wrote, let us kill each other, if that is the unhappy fate that awaits the patriots. I have said my opinion. If it is acceptable, I am ready to sacrifice my private life.

The condition 5:48

Read the condition. He would come, but only after the president submitted to the Congress. Send me, he wrote, without losing a single moment, the news that the authority of the Congress has been recognized. I wait for it to decide my destiny.

The president answers 6:06

Riva Aguero did the opposite. He dissolved the Congress, as Mitre says, and invited San Martin again. If within three days the Liberator of Colombia, Bolivar, has not arrived, he wrote, I will march at the head of the army. I will enter Lima the day I please. The time has come for you to keep your offer.

Two governments 6:29

By July and August, Peru had two governments. The Congress had given executive power to Torre Tagle. On the eighth of August it declared Riva Aguero a traitor, outside the law. Riva Aguero, relegated to Trujillo, Mitre writes, like a useless piece of furniture, called the congressmen traitors in turn. To San Martin, that invitation could mean only one thing. Civil war.

A rogue 6:58

The general was indignant, Mitre writes, and forgot his dignity. He answered in terms as harsh as they were insulting. You invite me to march, he wrote, and you proscribe the Congress and declare it a traitor. Enough! A rogue cannot hold the attention of an honest man any longer. The letter is dated the twenty-second of October, from Mendoza.

Another general 7:23

But one line in that letter says more than the insult. If I offered my services, San Martin wrote, it was on the precise condition of being under the orders of another general. Mitre does not name him. On the next page, he says who was the arbiter of Peru.

The copy to Guido 7:42

San Martin sent a copy of that correspondence to Guido. Guido answered on the sixth of December. The letter was a mortal blow, he said, to those who had dreamed of your shadow. They had persuaded themselves, and others, that you were working with Riva Aguero. To come and take a hand in the affairs of this country. And with whom? With the man who was driving Peru to ruin.

Irrevocably decided 8:09

Mitre's next sentence is short. The destiny of San Martin was irrevocably decided. Bolivar was the arbiter of Peru. The Liberator of the north would finish the task of the Liberator of the south, and crown the work of both.

A phantom of power 8:26

The man who had offered him the command did not last. A revolution of officers, like the one that raised him, threw him from power. Mitre's epitaph is a phantom of power, led by the wind of vanity, with no goal but a senseless and sterile ambition.

Called back, or asked? 9:05

Count the calls. Guayaquil, in November and December of eighteen twenty-two. Riva Aguero, in January. Lima and Chile, in March. Guido and Riva Aguero again, in August. And against all of them, one answer, on the twenty-second of October.

A year of letters 8:43

So was San Martin called back, or asked to lend his name? Peru called, in letters from Guayaquil, from Lima and from Chile. Every one of them asked him to come. Only his own letter says on what terms. Obey the Congress, bad or good. And serve under another general.

The banquet in Lima 9:27

That same year, Bolivar landed at Callao. Mitre describes a banquet in his honor, where every toast went to him, and the founder of Peruvian independence was studiously forgotten. Next episode: the banquet in Lima where every toast went to Bolivar, and the one he raised to the man who was not there.

Description and sources

This episode reads the letters that called San Martin back to Peru, and the answers he wrote, in Bartolome Mitre's Historia de San Martin (vol. IV, Buenos Aires, 1890, ch. XLVIII, section IX, pp. 40-46, with pp. 49 and 51 for the close).

The calls (Mitre, pp. 40-43): two citizens of Guayaquil wrote on 14 November and 31 December 1822 that 'only the hand of San Martin can perfect the great work' (note 42); Riva Aguero, on 2 January 1823, 'San Martin is necessary to America' (note 43), although Mitre notes he had conspired against the ex-Protector; after Torata and Moquegua, a friend wrote on 2 March 1823 that 'the clamor of Lima for his return is general' (note 44), and the government of Chile wrote on 4 March (note 45); a council of army and navy chiefs presided over by General Portocarrero and Admiral Guise drew up an act calling him to 'fly to the aid of the country' (note 46); Riva Aguero offered him the supreme command through General Iturregui, who wrote years later that when he reached Mendoza the general had already left for Buenos Aires (note 47); and Guido wrote on 17 August 1823 that a petition for his return was circulating (note 48).

The answers (pp. 44-45): Mitre says San Martin felt 'repulsion' for Riva Aguero and did not trust his loyalty. From Mendoza, about to leave for Buenos Aires to find his daughter, he answered that the only way to save Peru was to recognize the Congress's authority, 'bad or good, or however it is', and that he was ready to come after that. Riva Aguero instead dissolved the Congress and wrote again, in August; San Martin's reply of 22 October 1823 (note 50) says that if he offered his services it was 'on the precise condition of being under the orders of another general', and ends: 'A rogue cannot hold the attention of an honest man any longer.' Mitre judges that he 'forgot his dignity'. Guido's answer of 6 December (note on p. 46) calls the correspondence a mortal blow to those who said San Martin was working with Riva Aguero.

The close (pp. 46, 49, 51): 'The destiny of San Martin was irrevocably decided. Bolivar was the arbiter of Peru'; Mitre's epitaph for Riva Aguero is 'a phantom of power'. Bolivar's banquet in Lima (p. 49) is the subject of the next episode.

What is not in the sources: the date of the act of the chiefs (note 46 prints 28 September 1827, which cannot be the year of events that follow the defeats of 1823) and the date of San Martin's first answer (Mitre gives none). Both are said as such.

PRINT-READY, FROM THIS CHANNEL

The Document Set, Vol. 01 — Cajamarca 1532 and Buenos Aires 1595-1680 — the documents at reading size, with author, date, archive and licence

https://therepository.gumroad.com/l/document-set

SOURCES — every image in this video is a public-domain document.

Each plate below is listed with its author, date, holding archive and licence.

Bartolome Mitre — 1890 | Internet Archive (scan) | Public domain
Bartolome Mitre — 1890 | Internet Archive (scan) | Public domain
Bartolome Mitre — 1890 | Internet Archive (scan) | Public domain
Bartolome Mitre — 1890 | Internet Archive (scan) | Public domain
Jacques Marie Hacq — 1826 | Wikimedia Commons | Public domain
Bartolome Mitre — 1890 | Internet Archive (scan) | Public domain
Attributed to Jean Baptiste Madou — c. 1828 | Wikimedia Commons | Public domain
Bartolome Mitre — 1890 | Internet Archive (scan) | Public domain
Daniel Hernández Morillo — 1921 | Wikimedia Commons | Public domain
Archivo Historico del Guayas — 1804 | Wikimedia Commons | CC0
Bartolome Mitre — 1890 | Internet Archive (scan) | Public domain
Bartolome Mitre — 1890 | Internet Archive (scan) | Public domain
Unidentified painter — 19th century | Wikimedia Commons | Public domain
Bartolome Mitre — 1890 | Internet Archive (scan) | Public domain
Bartolome Mitre — 1890 | Internet Archive (scan) | Public domain
Bartolome Mitre — 1890 | Internet Archive (scan) | Public domain
Bartolome Mitre — 1890 | Internet Archive (scan) | Public domain

... and 37 more plates, each credited on screen in the video and listed in this project's manifest.