When San Martin returned to Lima he found affairs in a worse
state than ever. The tyrannical conduct of the officer he had
left in charge had provoked an uprising that made his position
insupportable. Conscious that his mission had come to an end and
certain that, unless he gave way, a collision with Bolivar was
inevitable, San Martin resolved to sacrifice himself lest harm
befall the common cause in which both had done such yeoman
service. Accordingly he resigned his power into the hands of a
constituent congress and left the country. But when he found that
no happier fortune awaited him in Chile and in his own native
land, San Martin decided to abandon Spanish America forever and
go into selfimposed exile. Broken in health and spirit, he took
up his residence in France, a recipient of bounty from a Spaniard
who had once been his comrade in arms.

Meanwhile in the Mexican part of the viceroyalty of New Spain the
cry of independence raised by Morelos and his bands of Indian
followers had been stifled by the capture and execution of the
leader. But the cause of independence was not dead even if its
achievement was to be entrusted to other hands. Eager to emulate
the example of their brethren in South America, small parties of
Spaniards and Creoles fought to overturn the despotic rule of
Ferdinand VII, only to encounter defeat from the royalists. Then
came the Revolution of 1820 in the mother country. Forthwith
demands were heard for a recognition of the liberal regime.
Fearful of being displaced from power, the viceroy with the
support of the clergy and aristocracy ordered Agustin de
Iturbide, a Creole officer who had been an active royalist, to
quell an insurrection in the southern part of the country.