“To justify what I have said, it will suffice for me to give a short sketch of the progress which has been made in these last two years, referring you to the various departments of the government for documentary and detailed information. And that you may see exactly how far we have advanced in this period of regeneration, I shall compare our present condition with that from which we started; not for our own glory and self-gratulation, but to glorify Him to whom we owe everything, and whom we adore as our Redeemer and our Father, our Protector and our God.”
Here follows an enumeration of all the improvements which had been made. He continues:
“We owe to the perfect liberty which the church has among us, and to the apostolic zeal of its excellent prelates, the reformation of the clergy, the amendment of morals, and the reduction of crimes; which is so great that in our population of a million there are not enough criminals to fill the penitentiary.
“To the church also we owe those religious corporations which produce such an abundance of excellent results by the instruction of childhood and youth, and by the succor which they give so liberally to the sick and to the destitute. We are also debtors to these religious for the renewal of the spirit of piety in this year of jubilee and of sanctification, and for the conversion to Christianity and civilization of nine thousand savages in the eastern province, in which, on account of its vast extent, there are good reasons for establishing a second vicariate. If you authorize me to ask the Holy See for this foundation, we will then consult as to what measures to take to promote the commerce of this province, and to put an end to the selfish speculations and the violent exactions to which its poor inhabitants have been a prey by reason of the cruelty of inhuman merchants. The laborers, however, for this field are not now to be had; and that those which we shall have may be properly trained, it is right that you should give a yearly subsidy to our venerable and zealous archbishop, to assist him in building the great seminary which he has not hesitated to begin, trusting in the protection of Heaven and in our co-operation.
“Do not forget, legislators, that our little successes would be ephemeral and without fruit if we had not founded the social order of our republic upon the rock, always resisted and always victorious, of the Catholic Church. Its divine teaching, which neither men nor nations can neglect and be saved, is the rule of our institutions, the law of our laws. Docile and faithful children of our venerable, august, and infallible Pontiff, whom all the great ones of the earth are abandoning, and who is being oppressed by vile, cowardly, and impious men, we have continued to send him monthly the little contribution which you voted in 1873. Though our weakness obliges us to remain passive spectators of his slow martyrdom, let us hope that this poor gift may at least be a proof of our sympathy and affection, and a pledge of our obedience and fidelity.
“In a few days the term for which I was elected in 1869 will expire. The republic has enjoyed six years of peace, interrupted only by a revolt of a few days in 1872 at Riobamba, of the natives against the whites; and in these six years it has advanced rapidly on the path of true progress under the visible protection of divine Providence. The results achieved would certainly have been greater if I had possessed the abilities for government which unfortunately I lack, or if all that was needed to accomplish good was ardently to desire it.
“If I have committed faults, I ask pardon for them a thousand times, and beg it with tears from all my countrymen, feeling confident that they have been unintentional. If, on the contrary, you think that in any respect I have succeeded, give the honor of the success, in the first place, to God and to his Immaculate Mother, to whom are committed the inexhaustible treasures of his mercy; and, in the second place, to yourselves, to the people, to the army, and to all those who, in the different branches of the government, have assisted me with intelligence and fidelity in the fulfilment of my difficult duties.
“Gabriel Garcia Moreno.
“Quito, August, 1875.”
That is the way that a really Catholic ruler can speak, even in this XIXth century. It seems, while we read his words, as if we were listening to Ferdinand of Castile or some other one of the saintly kings of the most prosperous days of Christianity. With great justice, then, did the government of Ecuador, when it published this message—which was found, as we have said, on Moreno’s dead body—append to it the following note: