Chapter 34
volume three chapter three of garcia moreno by augustin berth this librivox recording is in the public domain according by maria terese the assassin cornejo the revolution appeared to be crushed by the advent of garcia moreno and the promulgation of the new constitution but there was one card left for them to play and that was assassination if one might believe a future murderer ignacio ventimilla had strongly advised his friends to get rid of garcia moreno by the dagger give this lesson he said to the despots of america brutus killed caesar in the midst of the senate to avenge roman liberty is that liberty less dear to you at quito than in rome or is the race of brutuses exhausted the five hundred who had voted against the new constitution accordingly set to work with vigour their first attack on garcia moreno was that he had made the state subject to the church marino replied with henry the fourth this country is incontestably a part of the kingdom of god it belongs to him and he has confided it to my care i must then do my utmost so that god may reign over this kingdom so that my commands may be subordinated to his and that my laws may cause his to be everywhere obeyed and respected
they then accused him of having destroyed all liberty garcia moreno answered with his favourite maxim i grant liberty to all and for all except for evil and evil-doers after three months of agitation and secret revolt the conspirators thought the moment was right for their infamous designs at the beginning of december a number of young men with a certain manuel cornejo at their head who was the relation of the old trader espanel held a meeting in the house of the latter to concert measures for the assassination of the president and to take possession of the quido barracks while a rising was to take place simultaneously at guayaquil in guenca their idea was to surround garcia moreno and attack him at once but espinal suggested that it would be better to charge him in front and having disposed of him to massacre general sanz who was at the head of the troops and then to proclaim urbina as president providence once more interposed to save garcia moreno on the fourteenth of december when everything was prepared one of the initiated sanchez smitten with remorse revealed the whole plot to the president all the assassins were seized save the old villain espinelle who escaped at the first note of danger
coroner joe and its accomplices were tried by a council of war and condemned to death unhappily colonel dalgo was moved by coroner joe's tears to intercede for him with garcia moreno who commuted his sentence to exile for eight years but no sooner had he safely gained the frontier than he published an infamous pamphlet against the man who had given him back his life declaring that the assassination of such a monster was simply an act of legitimate defence the only faults committed by garcia moreno were those the pardoning men of that stamp on that same day a troop of brigands resolved to kill the governor of cuenca carlos odones and to sack the town their leader geronimo torres with about a hundred men disarmed the guard at the palace and seized the governor whom they overwhelmed with blows and outrages and then stole all the money they could lay their hands on out of the treasury the next morning they summoned all the principal citizens to declare the overthrow of garcia moreno's government and the substitution of urbina but no one would join them torres exasperated at his failure dragged the governor to the public square fastened him to a post and fired at him he felt badly wounded and would inevitably have been killed had not a body of men from a neighbouring hamlet rushed to the rescue overwhelmed the rebels and remained masters of the field
ordonez covered with wounds was carried to his palace and escaped death almost by a miracle no sooner had the conspiracy broken out than cuida was placed in a state of siege which was extended to the whole republic after the rising in cuenca garcia moreno made a touching address to his people imploring them to trust in the mercy of that god who so visibly protected them and assuring them that he would answer for the peace and prosperity of the country the rebels of cuenca were tried by a council of war and given them to death or to imprisonment with hard labour certain ladies tried to intercede for the guilty with the president but received this indignant reply it is the fate of the governor of cuenca that should excite your sympathies when people remain deaf to the cries of the victims they lose the right to plead for clemency in favour of assassins thus after ten years of struggle garcia moreno gained the mastery beaten three times in nine months at guayaquil quito and cuenca the revolutionists at last began to realize that the people were united to the government in determining to resist the anarchists the leaders of the freemasons fled to peru or new granada to wait for a more propitious moment to carry out their nefarious schemes a complete calm fell at last upon the country and garcia moreno was able to devote himself entirely to works of civilization chapter three
