371
PAPERS OF MIRABEAU BuoNAPARTE LAMAR
to guard the constitution and the laws; infringing this and breaking those I would have committed a perjury; perjury is a crime; and the cause most holy becomes unholy when crime is laid hold of to sus- tain it . . Praise the man who in the seat of power can express himself thus ! How pleasing to his conscience to be able to say: "I have ruled over the destinies of the people who honored me with their confidence, in conformity with their will! A free man, I was elected to the first magistracy, I swore to maintain their liberties and to care for their welfare, I have fulfilled my mission: today I lay down the power without having failed in my oath, and I offer prayers for the one who takes my place in order that he may fulfil his duties as I have ful- filled mine." Venerable man ! How distinct will be his voice from that of the Moras. What, perhaps the hyena has a conscience? They will fall under the execration of a whole people, whom they will leave in mourning: they will always see before them poverty, widows, orphans: their dreams will be scenes of pillage, of blood and of dead bodies: their ears will h~ar only curses: their only comfort will be to say to themselves mea culpa, mea culpa. Such is the fate which awaits the despot. Would to Heaven that this may be his only punishment! Poor Costa Rica, poor and honored people worthy of a better lot! Look at your tyrants, their ambition is satisfied with nothing: they have ap- propriated your ·Public treasury, and even this does not satisfy them. Today a nephew of theirs, a minor in age, is Judge of the first instance in this capital, and follows the footsteps of his uncles: supported by them, he goes to court, in order that, like them, he may enrich him- self at your expense: not being able to count on the Public Treasury, that has nothing in it, except a debt of more than a million pesos, he tries a new system, and what! that of taking the property of another. For this he counts on the wicked tribunals : he tries suits on the right hand and on the left imagining that he can get hold of real estate which his father never had, from whose will it was evident that he only left debts of more than five times the value of his small property; this very President Mora was his attorney: at his instance he called a meeting of all the creditors and renounced the inheritance. The property was legally sold at auction to prorate the proceeds among the creditors. Now what was done with the will? it was stolen by the self- same President together with many other files of papers from which it appeared that he was debtor to various pious funds, and in par- ticular to that of public instruction: fragments of the will appear to be in his possession, and with these fragments, they attempt violent spoliations. We do not doubt that the present tribunals will close their eyes to facts known to them: Why? because Senor Mora protects his own and orders the courts to do his will, and they will obey, some on account of wickedness, others on account of weakness, and others on account of fear.- People of Costa Rica! the properties which thus they attempt to appropriate are some in the hands of the native sons of the country, others in the hands of foreigners, if the former can do nothing, the latter will demand justice outside of the country, and the country is responsible; the people are the ones interested .and the ones who should respond to these acts of power, and ·have the right to op- pose them. Heaven grant that thus it may happen!
Powered by FlippingBook