The Akmy. — IIevenue. 87 



The Supreme Court consists of five judges. Criminal 

 cases only are tried by jury; and an attorney is not permit- 

 ted to question a witness. There are no penitentiaries : sec- 

 ond-class criminals are made to work for the public, while 

 political offenders are banished to the banks of the Napo, or 

 to Peru. Here, as in no other country, every man's house 

 is his castle. No search-warrants are allow^ed ; a policeman 

 can be shot dead on the threshold. The person and prop- 

 erty of a foreigner are safe ; and no native in the employ 

 of a foreigner can be taken by the government for military 

 purposes. All, except pure Indians, can vote if over twenty- 

 one, and can read and write. A man's signature is without 

 value if it lacks his flourish — a custom of Spanish origin. 



The permanent army consists of two regiments. The 

 soldiers are mostly half-breeds, and are generally followed 

 by their wives. They are poorly paid ; and as they are im- 

 pressed into the service, they carry out the principle by 

 helping themselves wherever they go. In marching, they 

 have a quicker step than Northern soldiers. The chief ex- 

 penditure of the republic is for the army, about $500,000 ; 

 the next is for the payment of the national debt, $360,000. 

 The foreign debt is £1,470,374. Ecuadorians claim a rev- 

 enue of a million and a half, of which one half is from the 

 custom-house, and one fiftieth from the post-office. 



One w^ould suppose that the people who breathe tliis high 

 atmosphere, and enjoy this delightful climate, and are sur- 

 rounded by all that is truly grand and beautiful, would have 

 some corresponding .virtues. But we find that Nature, here 

 as every where, has mingled base and noble elements. The 

 lofty mountains, bearing in their steadfastness the seal of 

 their appointed symbol — '^ God's righteousness is like the 

 great mountains " — look down upon one of the lowest and 

 most corrupt forms of republican government on eartli ;^'' 



* Asking the late Chilian minister for his view of the rank cf tlie different 



