254 



ECUADOR. 



shield with hieroglyphic inscriptions has like- 

 wise been found in one of those sepulchres of 

 the ancient Quitus. 



The shipping movements at the port of Gua- 

 yaquil in the year 1873 were as follows: 



Locomotives were reported to be running 

 over a distance of some thirty miles on the 

 Southern Railway. The highway from Loja to 

 Santa Rosa had been completed, and several 

 others were in rapid course of preparation. 

 According to Garcia Moreno's message hereto- 

 fore alluded to, Ecuador possesses thirty miles 

 of railway, and rails for fourteen miles more ; 

 nearly 200 miles of cart-roads, with good, sub- 

 stantial bridges, and about 250 miles of mac- 

 adamized roads. It can boast of a magnificent 

 penitentiary, an astronomical observatory, an 

 orphan asylum, a foundling hospital, and a con- 

 servatory of music and of fine arts. Many other 

 enterprises were recommended and sketched 

 out, among them a normal school and a school 

 of medicine. Ninety-three schools have been 

 established, with an attendance of 32,000. To 

 put primary instruction within the reach of 

 all, in a sparsely-inhabited country, is difficult, 

 but perseverance was recommended to Con- 

 gress, inasmuch as, without a Christian educa- 

 tion, society is sure to fall into a state of bar- 

 barism. Trial by jury was pointed out to be 

 unsuitable for many sections of the republic, 

 and the Government ought to be authorized to 

 suppress it in such places, as it has the power 

 of ordering its establishment wherever con- 

 venient. A hospital for the cure of inebriates 

 was strongly recommended to be built some- 

 where on the banks of the river Toachi, where 

 inveterate lovers of strong drinks could be put 

 on diet and made to do out-door work. 



The Academy of Ecuador was duly inaugu- 

 rated at Quito on May 4, 1875, in accordance 

 with the decree of the Spanish Academy of 

 Madrid ; Don Pedro F. Ceballos having been 

 appointed director, Don Pablo Herrera cen- 

 sor, and Don J. Modesto Espinosa secretary. 



The year 1875 was fraught with events of 

 transcendental importance to the political ex- 

 istence of the Ecuadorian republic, and fore- 

 most among these rank the melancholy fate 

 of Garcia Moreno, murdered in one of the 

 Government buildings on the very eve of the 

 inauguration of his third presidential term; 

 and the establishment of an entirely new order 

 of things under Dr. Antonio Borrero, the 

 chosen candidate of the non-official party, in- 

 comparably the most numerous in Ecuador. 



The assassination of the late President was 

 briefly related by a correspondent, under date, 

 Guayaquil, August 14, 1875, as follows: 



On Friday, the 6th instant, the President of Ecua- 

 dor, Don Gabriel Garcia Moreno, was assassinated 

 in the corridor of the Public Treasury, in Quito, 



between two and three o'clock in the afternoon. 

 Passing from one office to another in the same build- 

 ing, he was met by three men. who, having saluted 

 him as they passed, turned and attacked him ; one, a 

 Colombian, with a machete, and the other two, na- 

 tives of Quito, with revolvers. In the struggle, the 

 President fell over the balcony into the public 

 square, and report eays that the Colombian de- 

 scended the stairs and then further maltreated him. 

 The President died a few hours after the attack, and 

 the Colombian was shot on the spot by a sentinel 

 then on guard at the barracks, opposite the Treas- 

 ury. An unarmed aide-de-camp of the President, 

 on hearing the shots, rushed out, and also received 

 a bullet-wound, but not a severe one. The two Qui- 

 tenos escaped, and it is not vet known whether they 

 have been apprehended. Ihe name of the Colom- 

 bian is Faustino Kayo ; Manuel Cornejo, and Ko- 

 berto Andrade, are those of the Quitenos. It is 

 doubtful as yet what action of the President called 

 forth the revengeful feeling which prompted the 

 attack, but it is reported to be of a private nature, 

 and ascribed to personal animosity. Kayo, the Co- 

 lombian, had been Governor of the Napo, and it is 

 said his animosity arose from the mode in which he 

 had been degraded from that position. The Presi- 

 dent has done so much to create bitter feelings 

 against himself since he descended to banish the 

 women of Ecuador, after having shot or exiled 

 their fathers, brothers, or lovers, that it is a wonder 

 there has not been found even one of their own sex 

 brave enough to have dispatched him, and little 

 short of a miracle that he has lived BO long. 



Immediately upon receiving the news of the 

 assassination, Sefior Vicente de Santiest6ban, 

 Governor of Guayaquil, published a procla- 

 mation, of which the following is a translation : 



To THE ARMY AND PEOPLE. 



Fellow-countrymen : The decree published to-day 

 has brought to your knowledge the grave event 

 which has taken place in the capital of the republic, 

 on the 6th inst., in which the chief of the Supreme 

 Government was attacked and fatally wounded. 



We do not yet know the fate of the President, 

 Senor Garcia Moreno, but, in any case, you know 

 that, in view of this unexpected event, the execu- 

 tive power will be exercised by the Designado ap- 

 pointed by the Constitution ; and it becomes us to 

 trust that he will dictate measures which shall con- 

 ciliate the liberty and rights of Ecuadorians with the 

 respect due to the laws. 



Fellow-countrymen : The republic being declared 

 in a state of siege, and powers extraordinary being 

 conferred on me, by the terms of our Political Code, 

 I invite your patriotic aid to preserve the public 

 peace, the only source of personal security. 



Chiefs, officers, and soldiers : Faithful supporters 

 of individual guarantees, your behavior under these 

 circumstances will secure the gratitude of the people. 

 Let me remind you of the loyalty and moderation 

 which have always been the pride of the national 

 army. 



Friends and countrymen all : While I remain con- 

 stitutionally at my post, as governor of the prov- 

 ince, you may depend that it will be always my 

 principal object to preserve public order. 



VICENTE DE SANTIESTEBAN. 



GUAYAQUIL, August 9, 1875. 



After the death of Garcia Moreno, the politi- 

 cal community was divided into two grand 

 parties : the official and the non-official. The 

 latter chose for their candidate Dr. Antonio 

 Borrero ; and the former was subdivided into 

 the three following parties : the Catholic, with 

 Dr. Luis Antonio Salazar as candidate ; the 

 Liberal Conservative, under Dr. Antonio Flores; 



