Page:The History of San Martin (1893).djvu/494

464 aristocratic, nor autocratic; the historian has had to invent a word to describe it,. For the new Republic formed in Upper Peru he invented a new name, derived from his own,.

The constitution drawn up by him for the new State is an amalgam of ancient traditions with modern practice. It has something of the Greek Republic, something of Roman Cæsarism, something of the English Monarchy, something of the consular constitution of Napoleon. The base of the system is a President, nominated for life, with power to name his successor, and elected by a representative assembly, appointed by an electoral body. The legislative power was shared by three chambers, one of which exercised a species of censorship over the other two, like to that of the Council of the Areopagos of Athens.

With some slight modifications, this constitution was adopted by the Constituent Assembly, and Sucre was elected President, but with power subordinate to that of the Liberator when he was there.

But Bolivia was too small a sphere of action for Bolívar. For the realisation of his plan it was now necessary to impose the same constitution upon Peru and Columbia, binding the three States together by one supreme authority, vested in his own person as the Liberator.

When the Congress of Peru re-assembled there appeared in it a new national party, opposed to the Dictatorship and to the continued presence of Columbian troops. Government then found that the elections were irregular, and fifty-two of the deputies asked for their own dissolution. At the same time the discovery of a conspiracy against the Dictator sent some victims into banishment, and brought others to the scaffold.

While preparations were being made for a new election, Bolívar threatened to leave Peru to its fate. With the most abject servility all classes besought him not to desert them; one high dignitary actually asked him to set his foot on his neck that he might have the honour of bearing the weight of the greatest man of the age. Still he remained