242 



ECUADOR. 



EGGERT, FRANZ X. 



The speech delivered br Dr. Borrero on the 

 occasion of his inauguration, on December 8, 

 1876, presents his views of public policy. The 

 following is a translation : 



The oath which I have taken to-day is not, sir, as 

 you have well said, a mere formula, but a solemn 

 compromise made to my God and my country. As 

 a sincere Catholic, I will protect the religion "of our 

 fathers a religion which has civilized the whole 

 world, and which I think has not an enemy in all 

 Ecuador. To attack the Catholic religion would be 

 treason to the country, because, if Ecuador is now a 

 civilized and cultivated nation, she owes it entirely 

 to the light received from the Evangelical Church. 

 The Ecuadorian Church will be therefore really in- 

 dependent, and the Government will protect that 

 independence, respecting it, and making it respected 

 by all. A church which is not free is not the church 

 established by Jesus Christ, nor is it the most pow- 

 erful element of social civilization and progress, but 

 on the contrary an instrument of oppression and 

 tyranny. 



The duties which I have contracted with my 

 country are set forth in the Constitution ; but as 

 that Constitution is vicious, it is natural that we 

 should reform it ; and the reform has already been 

 begun by the honorable Senators and Deputies. 

 Upon this point I think it well to indicate to you 

 what are my ideas. The political world, if we may 

 say so, is divided into two principal schools of gov- 

 ernment. According to one, the permanent subjec- 

 tion of a nation to tutelage, under a strong and re- 

 pressive^government, is the best and most convenient 

 system for the political, social, and material progress 

 of a nation. According to tne other, the govern- 

 ment ougjit to hold, for the rule of its conduct, the 

 hisses faire (dejad hicer), so much recommended by 

 that class of politicians. I think, sir, that a tutor- 

 government is unacceptable equally for governor and 

 governed: for the first, because, if the tutorship of 

 a minor is a heavy duty, that of a nation must be 

 an insupportable task ; and for the second, because 

 the dignity of man, without which he becomes a 

 nure machine, is incompatible with a government 

 which does all and directs all for him. Popular 

 suffrage, the free press, public opinion, and moral 

 sanction, etc., are not required, when the govern- 

 ment believes itself omnipotent and omniscient, and 

 consequently infallible. I do not hold, therefore, 

 with a tutor-government, for that government means 

 only a permanent dictatorship, and the degradation 

 of the nation. 



As little do I hold with a government of the lals- 

 ses faire principles of certain visionary politicians, 

 because such a government is incapable of fulfilling 

 the duties imposed by God on those who direct pub" 

 lie affairs. If liberty is sacred, authority is not less 

 so ; if the first has its rights, so also has the latter ; 

 but if liberty wishes to overstep its bounds, and be- 

 come license^ if force and violence wish to overcome 

 'justice and right, then authority is called, on its part, 

 to restrain this license, and to withhold the ad- 

 vances of that anarchy which is far more dangerous 

 and to be dreaded than is authority. 



The two principal public liberties which are the 

 essence of the republican system, and which con- 

 tribute more than any others to the culture and the 

 progress of a nation, are the liberty of election and 

 the freedom of the press. The first is the exercise 

 of the most important of political rights ; the second 

 is the expression of the sentiments, the necessities, 

 and the opinions, of the governed. Without liberty 

 of election, the republic would have no solid, legiti- 

 mate base on which to erect the political and social 

 edifice; because a government which does not de- 

 rive its origin from this pure fount is contrary to 

 the law of God and of humanity, and, for the same 

 reason, destitute of all authority. Without a free 

 press, there are no means of restraining the ex- 



cesses of power, nor any means of exploring the 

 public sentiments ; there is nothing to guide the 

 government in grave and difficult questions, nor, 

 finally, anything to lead public opinion in the direc- 

 tion of true scientific, literary, and political prog- 

 ress. Under my administration, then, there will be 

 in Ecuador full liberty of election, a legally free 

 press; and, moreover, all legitimate freedom will be 

 real and effective. 



Kaised without title or merit to supreme power, 

 by the popular vote, and not by any party or fac- 

 tion, I do not see, in my fellow-countrymen, to 

 whom 1 owe so much, and from whom 1 have re- 

 ceived the most splendid mark of distinction and 

 confidence, one party of oppressorsj and another of 

 oppressed people ; but I see a nation of brothers, 

 strongly interested in working together for the 

 honor and advancement of the country. A govern- 

 ment which has its origin in revolution and violence, 

 and not in the popular will, needs to sustain itself 

 by tyrannical and oppressive measures ; but a gov- 

 ernment raised up by the force of justice, which is 

 the only legitimate and respectable force ; a govern- 

 ment whose origin is not vitiated or corrupted, be- 

 cause it is born of the genuine will of the people ; 

 a government, in fact, which has been placed at the 

 head of the destinies of the nation which it is called 

 upon to rule, by assuredly providential circum- 

 stances, has nothing to fear, and needs nothing but 

 the cooperation of good citizens, the aid of our loyal 

 and disciplined army, and of its worthy and hon- 

 orable generals like yourself. I assure you there- 

 fore, sir, that the authority with which I am now, 

 against my own will, invested, and to which I never 

 for one moment aspired, will not be used for an evil 

 end, to plot against public libertieSj nor to enthrone 

 despotism, but to guarantee the reign of justice, of 

 order, and of liberty, and to render practical and 

 eifective the popular, elective, alternative, and re 

 sponsible republic a republic which, until to-day, 

 has only existed in writing, in the eight constitu- 

 tions which we have had in Ecuador. To bring to 

 a good end the programme which I have indicated, 

 I do not count upon my weak powers, I count only 

 upon the protection of the All-Powerful, which 

 never fails for him who, like myself, is animated by 

 the purest patriotism, and the most upright and just 

 intentions. 



The revolution already alluded to broke out 

 in September, headed by General Veintemilla, 

 military commandant of Guayaquil, and who 

 had been appointed to that post for the pur- 

 pose of maintaining order and peace in the dis- 

 affected district. All the available forces dis- 

 pensable from the capital were placed at his 

 disposal, as the Government placed implicit 

 confidence in his loyalty. By the end of the 

 month the insurrection was gaining adherents 

 in the neighboring provinces; yet Borrero, 

 spite of the imminence of the peril, had not 

 retired from the presidency. He declared his 

 intention to stay in Quito and oppose the in- 

 surgents. 



EGGERT, FBANZ XAVEE, a German painter 

 on glass, born in 1802 ; died in October, 1876. 

 He studied decorative painting in Augsburg, 

 attended the Art Academy in Munich in 1824, 

 and was afterward employed in the Royal 

 Glass-painting Establishment. He was en- 

 gaged on the windows in the church at Aue, 

 and in the cathedral in Cologne, where he ex- 

 ecuted the greater part of the ornamentation. 

 In 1837 he published several folios of Gothic 

 ornaments, which he had engraved on stone 



