371
PAPERS OF MIRABEAU BUONAPJ\RTE LAMAR
these sums of money were paid out of the public treasury of Costar1ca:. by his order; that, in consequence of this revolution, Walker was called to Nicaragua; that consequently we can say, quoting the principle of right which says: "he who is the cause of the causes, is responsible for the result." The administration of }fora is not only the cause of our misfortunes, but those of all Central America in these latter years. Senor Mora tells us in his proclamation, that Providence has wished to prove our resignation and our valor, war, the plague and the locust have struck us successively. We can say to him that he has wished to try our patience with these plagues, granted that what he attributes to Providence, is in the greater part his own work.- The war 'be- cause it is he more than anyone who has brought it about, as we have- said before; and the plague broke out in Rivas in consequence of the- war, of the inability of the Mora brothers, and above all owing to their cowardly flight. But, enough speculation over these two calamities: proof of them, the immense sums extracted from the Public Treasury, whose investment is not yet known to anyone with the exception of Senor Mora who, we hope, at no distant day will render an account of them. The locust, ,this plague for which we cannot account and which is caused by Senor MQra, none the less served as a great speculation; a proof, no doubt, of his love for his very dear people of Costarica. It has been about 3 years since Costarica was invaded by the locust. ~is Excellency saw fit· to declare war upon it. To that end he issued a decree, in the form of martial law by which every citizen was obliged to serve his turn [working] eight days in the country against the in- sect, and those who do not wish to go in person, should pay ten dollars. each time his turn came. This was agreed to by all, but, what wa&: our surprise when we learned that in place of making war on the locust,. more than 100 men were being employed daily for many months in destroying the weeds in the canals of .the "O.fos de Agua," on the- hacienda of President Mora, and that the sum of the quota of 10 pesos paid by those who did not work in person was used to buy beef at. double the current price, from Senor Mora to maintain the peons who. thus cleaned his hacienda gratis. . These are acts of the paternal administration- Mora's acts which· we all recognize and for which, no doubt, we should thank him, accord-- ing to his ideas. We could cite much more in detail to you, but we will omit it for· the present and only hope that he whom he calls his director or the- maker of his proclamations, may cite as virtue only one of these charges,. in order to publish a collection of the deeds and the documents which; support them. We believe this is enough, that Sefior Mora will not insist on remain- ing, as he shows his desire to, with the very flattering task of preserving_ that which he calls to himself the interior order, and in order that as· soon as possible (would that it might have been sooner) he may fulfil}! his threat of departing far, very far, from power, for which we will be, more obliged to him than if he had compelled us to use the right which all people have against the tyrants.- Amen San Jose, May 20, 1858 SOME COSTAR/CANS [Endorsed:] Los Habitantes of Costa Rica
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