SUCRE. 



437 



several sieges. At the time of the Scotch war, Sir 

 John raised a troop- of horse for the king's service, 

 who behaved so badly in the field as to disgrace 

 both themselves and their commander. An abor- 

 tive attempt to effect the escape of the earl of 

 Strafford, confined in the Tower under articles of 

 impeachment from the commons, implicated Sir 

 John so seriously, that he thought it advisable to 

 retire to France, where he died in 1641. His 

 writings consist of letters written with ease and 

 spirit; some miscellaneous poems; Aglaura, a play ; 

 Brennoralt, a tragedy ; the Sad One, a tragedy left 

 incomplete ; and the Goblins, a tragi-comedy. 



SUCRE, ANTONIO JOSE DE, was born in 1793, 

 at Cumana, in Venezuela. He was educated at 

 Caracas, and entered the army in 1811, where he 

 served with credit under the orders of the celebrated 

 Miranda. Afterwards he became favourably known 

 for activity, intelligence and courage, under Piar, 

 the mulatto general. From 1814 to 1817, Sucre 

 served in the staff of the army, and displayed the 

 zeal and talent which characterized him. In 1819, 

 he had attained the rank of brigadier-general, and 

 was one of the commissioners appointed, after the 

 battle of Bojaca, to negotiate a suspension of hos- 

 tilities with Morillo. Subsequently to this, he re- 

 ceived the command of a division sent from Bogota 

 to assist the province of Guayaquil. He met with 

 a severe check at Huachi, but succeeded, late in the 

 year 1821, in concluding an armistice with Ayme- 

 rich, the royalist general, which was, in its effects, 

 equivalent to a victory. It enabled the Peruvian 

 division, under Santa Cruz, to form a junction with 

 the Colombians. Hostilities recommenced in 

 February, 1822, and the united armies were so for- 

 tunate as to achieve the decisive victory of Pichin- 

 cha, May 24, 1822, which was immediately followed 

 by the capitulation of Quito. This brilliant suc- 

 cess fixed the public attention upon Sucre, and 

 raised expectations of his future eminence, which 

 the event fully justified. Meanwhile Bolivar had 

 proceeded to the south, at the head of a large army 

 destined to act against the Spanish forces in that 

 quarter; and, in July, 1822, had an interview with 

 the protector, San Martin, at Guayaquil. Early in 

 1823, Sucre was despatched to Lindas Colombian 

 envoy, accompanied by an auxiliary Colombian army 

 of 3000 men. Lima, having been left unprotected, 

 at this time, by the departure of Santa Cruz to re- 

 duce the southern provinces, was retaken by Can- 

 tarac, and abandoned by the president, Riva-Agu- 

 ero, and the Peruvian congress, June 18, 1823. 

 Hereupon Sucre was appointed commander-in-chief 

 of the forces, and, a few days afterwards, supreme 

 military chief, with powers almost unlimited. He 

 retired to Callao, which was invested by the royal- 

 sits, until the successes of Santa Cruz in the south 

 obliged Cantarac to evacuate Lima, July 17, 1823. 

 Sucre then determined to place himself at the head 

 of an expedition sent against Arequipa, and to co- 

 operate with Santa Cruz. But the total destruc- 

 tion of the patriot army, under the latter, in Up- 

 per Peru, made it necessary for Sucre to re-embark, 

 and return to Callao. In September, general Bo- 

 livar made his public entry into Lima, having ob- 

 tained permission from the Colombian government 

 to prosecute the war in Peru, and was immediately 

 invested with supreme authority in military and 

 political affairs. Of course, general Sucre now 

 became only second in command of the liberating 

 army, consisting of 10,000 men, assembled at Hua- 

 nw, preparatory to commencing offensive opera- 



tions. But after the battle of Junin, gained by the 

 patriots, August 5, 1824, Bolivar quitted the army, 

 and went to Lima, to attend to affairs on the coast, 

 leaving the prosecution of the war with Sucre. 

 In the arduous and masterly movements which 

 followed, Sucre displayed the skill of a consum- 

 mate general. The scene of operations was the 

 mountainous region of Peru. It was necessary that 

 he should march and counter-march, for the space 

 of two months, over this difficult ground, in the 

 face of a much superior army, commanded by the 

 ablest royalist generals in America, whose aim it 

 was to cut off his resources, and reduce him without 

 the hazard of a battle. But the impatience of the 

 troops on each side brought on a general engagement 

 in the field of Ayacucho, December 9, 1824, the 

 most brilliant ever fought in South America. Both 

 armies consisted of veteran troops, well appointed 

 and disciplined, who fought with undaunted courage. 

 The battle resulted in the capture of the viceroy 

 La Serna, and the loss of 2000 of the royalists in 

 killed and wounded ; and on the same day general 

 Cantarac, with the rest of the army, comprising 

 fifteen general officers and nearly 4000 men in all, 

 surrendered themselves prisoners of war, by capitu- 

 lation. Sucre promptly followed up this glorious 

 victory, and his troops entered Cuzco on the 12th 

 of December in triumph. As Olaneta, with a 

 small body of royalists in Upper Peru, refused to 

 comply with the terms of the capitulation of Aya- 

 cucho, Sucre was obliged to march upon Puno, 

 which he entered in February, and thence proceeded 

 to Chuquisaca. The death of Olaneta, who was 

 killed in April, in an affray with his own troops, 

 accomplished the delivery of Upper Peru. Until a 

 regular government could be established, Sucre, of 

 course, remained in the exercise of authority as 

 supreme chief; but he summoned a congress to 

 assemble, as speedily as might be, at Chuquisaca, 

 to decide whether Upper Peru should be annexed 

 to Lower Peru, or to Buenos Ayres, or form a 

 republic by itself. The constituent congress de- 

 creed, August 11, 1825, to form a new republic, 

 by the name of Bolivia, and to call the capital by 

 the name of Sucre, in whom the government was 

 vested for the time being, with the title of " captain- 

 general and grand-marshal of Ayacucho." The 

 congress, having solicited Bolivar to prepare a 

 fundamental code for Bolivia, dissolved itself, Oc- 

 tober 6, 1825. The new congress assembled to 

 receive it, May 25, 1826. Sucre then resigned the 

 discretionary power, which he had exercised 

 hitherto ; but, contrary to his expressed wish, and 

 contrary, probably, to his real desire, he was elected 

 president of Bolivia, under the new constitution. 

 How far apprehensions of the auxiliary Colombian 

 army, still remaining in Upper Peru, influenced this 

 decision of the electors, we do not know; but 

 Sucre's reluctance to assume the presidency seems 

 to have been sincere, because it was constantly 

 persisted in by him, and ended in his resigning the 

 office, and returning to Colombia. The influence 

 of the revolution at Lima, in January, 1827, when 

 the Colombian troops there overturned the govern- 

 ment of Bolivar, and the people trampled under 

 foot the Bolivian code, was of course felt in Bolivia. 

 But Sucre endeavoured to guard against the example 

 being followed in Bolivia, and at the same time 

 gave the strongest assurances to the new govern- 

 ment of Peru, of his determination to maintain a 

 strict neutrality. This did not prevent uneasiness 

 and disturbances from growing up, which eyentuated 



