Nostromo - A Tale of the Seaboard.pdf - Planet eBook

of his beloved Antonia. He accepted it in the benighted wayof men, who, though made in God’s image, are like stoneidols without sense before the smoke of certain burnt offerings.He was ruined in every way, but a man possessed ofpassion is not a bankrupt in life. Don Jose Avellanos desiredpassionately for his country: peace, prosperity, and (as theend of the preface to ‘Fifty Years of Misrule’ has it) ‘an honourableplace in the comity of civilized nations.’ In this lastphrase the Minister Plenipotentiary, cruelly humiliated bythe bad faith of his Government towards the foreign bondholders,stands disclosed in the patriot.The fatuous turmoil of greedy factions succeeding thetyranny of Guzman Bento seemed to bring his desire to thevery door of opportunity. He was too old to descend personallyinto the centre of the arena at Sta. Marta. But the menwho acted there sought his advice at every step. He himselfthought that he could be most useful at a distance, in Sulaco.His name, his connections, his former position, his experiencecommanded the respect of his class. The discoverythat this man, living in dignified poverty in the Corbelantown residence (opposite the Casa Gould), could dispose ofmaterial means towards the support of the cause increasedhis influence. It was his open letter of appeal that decidedthe candidature of Don Vincente Ribiera for the Presidency.Another of these informal State papers drawn up by DonJose (this time in the shape of an address from the Province)induced that scrupulous constitutionalist to accept the extraordinarypowers conferred upon him for five years by anoverwhelming vote of congress in Sta. Marta. It was a spe-