The name is absent

242         Hispanic America

Without the intuition, the deep poetical view, which is the
real view, the strong sympathy, and the intimate knowledge
of the nature and race of South America, it is impossible
to put South American Independence in its real place.

The Independence, like the conquest, being a tremendous
effort, exhausted the economic elements and the human
energies of the race. Independence was achieved, but all
the other things were sacrificed. Wealth had disappeared;
all the economic elements were destroyed; and a generation
of the most brilliant men died in the struggle. Bolivar was
aware of this when he said: “The only thing that you have
attained is independence at the price of the others.”

The struggle for independence explains in itself the con-
dition of many South American countries during the nine-
teenth century. The war that destroyed the economic basis
of society, developed, in compensation, original personali-
ties, and the nineteenth century is characterized by the lack
of economic progress and a dangerous increase of indi-
vidualism.

After the conquest, due chiefly to the individual initiative
of the great captains, the Spanish Government succeeded
in checking the development of individualism. It sup-
pressed the rebellions and built the whole organization of
the most powerful colonial empire. The aggressive work
of Pizarro, Cortes, Alvarado, and Valdivia was followed
by the organizing work of Mendoza, Velasco, Gasca,
Toledo. After the individuals came the action of the state.
The War of Independence, in contrast, left the new nations
to their own resources. And that is the difference between
the colonial period and the nineteenth century. The or-
ganization of the new states demanded men of great ad-
ministrative ability, strongly supported, to suppress anarchy
and dissensions. The War of Independence developed

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