The Constitution pro

inseparable from the works of human creation. claims, in the most solemn manner, the worship of your Fathers, and they would substitute for your piety the most abominable fanaticism. By the Constitution you are free and happy; with them you would sink again into desolation and misery. Behold the blood which is shed by the fury of those Banditti; contemplate your domestick circles, formerly the asylums of peace, but now the theatre of a fratricidal War. Fix your eyes upon that Throne of derision and ignominy, erected by imposture, at Urgel. Behold, in short, the precipice from which they seek to hurl you.

Enlightened Europe sees with horror so many excesses and machinations. Humanity demands vengeance for the many insults to which she has been exposed; the Law, for violations committed against it; the Country, for its soil and honour outraged. Should I continue to keep silence? Should I tranquilly behold the evils of the magnanimous Nation of which I am the Chief? Should I, in disgraceful silence, suffer that my name be profaned by the perjured Men who make it the shield of their crimes? No, Spaniards! My voice denounces them to the rigorous tribunal of the Law; I devote them to your indignation, and to the execration of the Universe. May that voice be as the rainbow which announces safety;-the voice of confidence which applies a salutary balm to the evils of the Country.

Valiant Soldiers, redouble your efforts to present your victorious banners in every Quarter. Civil Chiefs, executers of the Law, labour day and night to ingraft the love of Liberty upon the hearts of the People; and let your example, and the benefits which they receive from the Constitution, be their principal support. Ministers of Religion, you who announce the word of the living God, and preach His morality and meekness, tear off the mask with which the perjured conceal themselves; declare that the faith of Jesus Christ is not to be defended by crime, and that it rejects from the number of its Ministers, those who take up fratricidal arms; deal forth anathemas against those criminal Sons, and crush them, from the altar's height, with those thunder-bolts which the Church has deposited in your hands; be worthy Priests as well as worthy Citizens.

And you, publick Writers, who direct publick opinion, the Queen of Nations! You who often make amends for the insufficiency of the Law and the errors of Governments, employ your hands for the National Cause with more ardour than ever; expose the machinations of the Enemies of Liberty; infuse the love of it into the hearts of all Spaniards; appeal to their reason; dissipate by degrees the darkness of their understandings; heal the wounds of the Country, and guard against their bleeding afresh; inculcate union, which is the basis of power; excite the noble passions which lead to good, and deprecate those which wither the soul and produce fatal errors.

We have much to do, Spaniards, in order entirely to heal all the wounds which our dear Country has received: several of them still continue open. But, in the midst of such great confusion, and so many contentions, it would be unjust not to notice the progress that we have made. The Cortes of Spain have already reformed various flagrant abuses, although many still remain. Their deliberations have given the sanction of experience to what was demanded by the intelligence of the age, and has proved the advantage of a Representative Government.

None can be better acquainted with the necessities of the People, none can represent them with greater warmth and interest, than the Deputies who are charged to represent the wishes of the Nation. Ifanticipate all that can be expected from their labours. I rely upon you; upon your intimate and sincere union; upon the active co-operation of the Political Chiefs, and other administrative and popular Authorities; upon the firmness of the Standing Army and the National Militia; to complete the grand work of your political regeneration, and to raise the Country to that degree of elevation to which virtuous Nations are destined, who feel all the esteem for Liberty which it merits. My power, my authority, my efforts, shall all be directed towards that object. FERDINAND.

Palace, 16th September, 1822.

SPEECH of the Lord High Commissioner of the United States of the Ionian Islands, on the Closing of the Legisla tive Assembly, 30th May, 1822.

MR. PRESIDENt and Gentlemen,

It is not my intention, in the temporary absence of the Lord High Commissioner, to take up your time by entering into a minute review of the present Session; but I should imperfectly fulfil the instructions of His Excellency, and ill discharge my duty to the Sovereign, were I to omit acknowledging the satisfaction of the Executive Government, at finding the measures adopted by it, under circumstances of no common difficulty, have not only received the confirmation and support, but met the warmest approbation, of the Representatives of the People.

The candid exposure of the principles on which those measures were grounded, in the comprehensive Address of His Excellency, at the Opening of the Session, renders it superfluous now further to advert to them; but I cannot help congratulating the Assembly on the fortunate result of those measures, which, admirably calculated for the circumstances, emanated from the wisdom of the Senate, were recommended by its authority and firmness to the loyalty of the People,

and have maintained the whole of the Ionian Islands in a state of perfect peace and tranquillity, notwithstanding the scene of horror and confusion which unhappily still continues to desolate the neighbouring Countries.

Under these circumstances, the Assembly has been enabled to pass the Bill for annulling Martial Law in all the Islands without exception; to which the assent and approval of the Senate and the Lord High Commissioner were immediately given.

In regard to that Bill, it will be in the recollection of the Assembly, that it was His Excellency's intention to have brought it forward immediately after the meeting of the Parliament; but, with the consent of the Assembly, this was laid aside for a short time, owing to the descent from some Vessels of the Greek Fleet (composed of 34 in company) on the Island of Santa Maura, and the ravage committed by them on the property of the Inhabitants.

On this subject, a British Man-of-war was immediately sent to the Island of Idra, to which it appeared the Vessels belonged, who had made this aggression on the Ionian Territory, and violated the general Sanità Regulations, respected by all Governments; and I am happy to say, that, whilst on the one hand, the leading Men at Idra did not attempt either to palliate or deny the outrage, that on the other, they expressed the deepest regret for the occurrence, and evinced the most perfect disposition to make every apology, and offer every satisfaction in their power. And subsequently, too, a Person was sent here from the Greek Chiefs at Corinth, with declarations to the same effect.

The Lord High Commissioner found himself precluded from entering into any thing like a formal discussion or agreement with a nominal Government, of which he had no official knowledge, and not recognized by the Protecting Sovereign; but it was highly satisfactory to him to learn, that the territorial aggression had proceeded from the anomalous nature of the Greek Force, and from the impossibility (as the Chiefs themselves confessed) of keeping the Crews of the Greek Vessels under due restraint; but all intention of premeditated insult to the Ionian Government was distinctly disclaimed.

Under this explanation, the matter was no further pushed. On the contrary, the Ionian Government immediately relaxed the measures, to which it had unwillingly resolved to have had recourse, to prevent a recurrence of the same scene, and returned to that system of extreme forbearance, which it has shewn from the first, in the mode in which it has acted under the Neutrality observed to both the Contending Parties; immediately bringing forward before the Assembly the Bill I allude to, for annulling the Martial Law in all the Islands.

We are now, Mr. President and Gentlemen, on the eve of the

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natural dissolution of the Parliament, it having completed its constitutional period of 5 Years.

On the Procès Verbal of the Assembly, particularly during the present Session, the sentiments of the Members have been fully expressed, both in regard to the state of these Islands under other Governments, and in former times, and to their present state under the Constitutional Government of 1817, and the exclusive protection of the King, my gracious Master.

It has been shewn by many of the Members, and all have asserted the fact, that, during this first Parliament, held under the Constitution, changes the most salutary and beneficial have been effected. They have acknowledged that the Finances have been rescued from the gripe of those, who seemed to consider the greatest portion of the income of these States as their own private patrimony; and that a prudent management, now practised in the mode of collecting the Revenues, and an equitable economy in dispensing them, have rendered them fully adequate to the whole expenditure of the Government, without the slightest increase of taxation, since the establishment of the Constitutional Government; that the Government Buildings have been restored, from the state of complete dilapidation into which they had fallen, and other Edifices erected for the Publick Service; that the Publick Functionaries are adequately remunerated, and a stop put to that most grievous of all taxation, the levying on the People, in an indirect manner, an arbitrary sum, by means of fees to the Publick Servants of the Government, for the discharge of their official duties.

It has also been repeatedly remarked by this Assembly, that party heats and dissensions, which formerly prevailed in these Islands to such an extraordinary degree, have almost entirely ceased; whilst the discord arising from a rivalship between Island and Island, one of the most serious impediments to the general prosperity of the Ionian States, no longer exists. And lastly, that the administration of Justice has been most essentially ameliorated in all its branches; that the operation of the Laws is equally extended to every class of the Population, whilst the liberty of the Subject, and the security of his person and property, stand on a most improved basis.

Such are the declarations of this Assembly, which appear on its Procès Verbal on several occasions during the present Session of Parliament; and whilst I acknowledge the great pleasure I have derived from this authentick record on a subject of such deep interest, I have to express my perfect conviction, that nothing has been exaggerated; that the opinion entertained on the subject by the Representatives of the People is fully participated by the People themselves, and must be acknowledged by every Individual informed upon the

subject, who is not led away by a factious spirit, by wild speculation, or blinded by prejudice.

Mr. President and Gentlemen, the last act of this Assembly has been to make an Address to His Majesty the Protecting Sovereign, in terms the most appropriate.

This Document, which I consider both becoming and well timed, shall be immediately transmitted to the Lord High Commissioner, in order that, through His Excellency, it may reach the King, to whom the loyal expressions contained in it, of duty and affection to his Person, and of confidence in his benevolent intentions, cannot fail to be acceptable, and highly gratifying to those feelings of deep solicitude constantly demonstrated by His Majesty for the interests of the Ionian People.

The sentiments of His Excellency, in respect to the spirit which has universally actuated this Assembly, have been often expressed in the strongest language of praise. Any attempt on my part to enhance the value of the testimony of so competent a judge may appear presumptuous; yet must I declare that, in my humble opinion, you return to your Constituents after the most useful, zealous, and conscientious discharge of your important duties; that the wisdom and moderation which have characterized your proceedings have essentially tended to promote the great object in view, the consolidation of the mutual interests of the protecting and the protected State, and that the remembrance of the first Parliament, under the Charter of 1817, will long be cherished by your patriotick Countrymen with every sentiment of profound gratitude and respect.

By Command of His Excellency,

FRED. HANKEY,

Secretary of the Lord High Commissioner.

DECREE of the Emperor of Brazil, containing Regulations relative to the Equipment, &c. of Privateers against Portugal.-30th December, 1822. (Translation.)

I, THE Constitutional Emperor and Perpetual Defender of the Empire of Brazil, make known to those who shall see this Decree of Regulation, that, having taken into consideration how just and necessary it is, to repel by every possible means the attacks which the Government of Portugal, instigated by its demagogue Congress, seems resolved, in the most manifest and perfidious manner, to direct against the publick and private property of this Empire; I have resolved, after having heard my Council of State on a matter of such great importance, to grant to all my Subjects, and to Foreigners, the power to equip