The Patriot Who Kept Faith
In romantic Spain, there was everything to entice young San Martin to forget his native land so far away, and the little Indian village on the Uruguay.
The crimson and gold banners of Spain waved over victorious battle-fields, the drums beat triumphantly, the trumpets sounded to the charge. There was glamour of combat with Moors and other brave enemies. There were romances of knights and ladies, and legends of Aragon, Castile, and the Alhambra. There were serenades, fandangos, and feasts. While in the quaint Spanish towns, maidens with dark witching eyes half hidden by mantillas, peeped through the latticed casements. And they must have peeped out joyously whenever the stalwart, handsome, young San Martin went by.
But he never forgot his native land.
As the years passed, he kept deep in his mind the memories of his childhood. He heard that some of his countrymen in Argentina had formed a Patriot Army, and were trying to gain their independence from Spanish rule. He learned of their unsuccessful attempts and of their sufferings.
San Martin heard, too, that the English Colonies of North America had cast off the rule of their mother-country, England, and had established a free government of the People under a Constitution.
Meanwhile, Napoleon Bonaparte was throwing Europe into confusion, pulling down Kings from their thrones, and setting up whomsoever he wished in their stead. He forced the King of Spain to abdicate, and proclaimed his own brother Joseph Bonaparte, King of Spain.
Now the Spanish-American Colonies were the property of the Kings of Spain, “the most precious jewel in their crown.” Some of the Colonists had remained loyal, but when they heard how their King had weakly abdicated many of them, in disgust, went over to the Patriots’ side.
It was then that San Martin, although he had opportunities for rising much higher in the Spanish Army, decided to return to Argentina.
He landed on Argentine soil, March 9, 1812.
As a little boy, he had left Argentina. Now he was returned as a man, offering her his sword, his life, his all. “Forsaking my fortunes and my hopes,” said San Martin later, “I desired only to sacrifice everything to promote the Liberty of my native land. I arrived at Buenos Aires in the beginning of 1812—thenceforward I consecrated myself to the cause of Spanish America.”