370 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



confess that I was surprized at this thought, which at first 

 sight appeared to me to be paradoxical ; but on revolving it 

 in my mind, and on considering this celebrated sentence : 

 Omnia quippe docii'it diiris in rebus urgcns egestas^ I was convinced 

 of the Eusebian truth delivered by the mentor Hardil. 



" Yes, gentlemen, our great misery and poverty constitute 

 our greatest felicity, now that harmony is established among 

 us, and that we witness the formation of an industrious, 

 a6live, and vigilant society. Not any force can resist the 

 union of the learned, when their studies aredire6led to the in- 

 vestigation of the three kingdoms of Nature, namely, the ve- 

 getable, animal, and metallurgical. If in this my beloved 

 capital and diocess, there were a mint in which eight or ten 

 millions of piastres should be coined annually, all would unite 

 in declaring Quito to be a powerful and abundant , kingdom. 

 And will it be possible for us, of ourselves, and by ourselves, 

 to form this important machine, or mint ? Will it be possible 

 that in Quito, so poor and miserable, the great art of making 

 money, which is the spirit and political soul of all cultivated 

 nations, should, provided it be your wish, gentlemen, be es- 

 tablished ? 



" The art of making money, is the art of colle6ling gold 

 and silver. But what is this art ? Let us divest ourselves of 

 every idea of conquests, oracles, and superstitions. What 

 then, I proceed to ask, is the true, solid, and permanent art 

 of making or acquiring money with all security of conscience ? 

 The learned exclaim with one voice, that it consists in agri- 

 culture, in the arts, and in maritime commerce, without ne- 

 glecting the working of the mines, when that is practicable, 

 and with well-founded prospects. By agriculture, by the 



artSj 



