Confiscation of goods, infamy, whipping, branding with a hot iron, torture, and all other cruel and degrading punishments, are abolished. XIII. All Citizens may be admitted to public employments, with no other distinction than that of their talents and virtues. XIV. Every Citizen may present, in writing, to the Cortes, and to the Executive Power, demands, complaints, or petitions, and the same shall be examined. XV. The secrecy of letters shall be inviolable. The Administration of the Post shall be rigorously responsible for any infraction of this Article. SECTION II. Of the PortugUESE NATION; ITS RELIGION, GovernMENT, AND DYNASTY. XVI. The Portuguese Nation is the union of all the Portuguese, of both Hemispheres. XVII. Its Religion is the Catholic-Apostolic-Roman. XVIII. Its Government is a Constitutional Hereditary Monarchy, with fundamental Laws which shall regulate the exercise of the Three Political Powers. XIX. Its reigning Dynasty is that of the Most Serene House of Braganza. Our actual King is the Lord Dom. John VI., who shall be succeeded on the Throne by his legitimate Descendants, according to the regular order of primogeniture. XX. The Sovereignty resides essentially in the Nation. The Nation is free and independent, and cannot be the patrimony of any one. XXI. To the Nation alone belongs the right of forming its Constitution, or Fundamental Law, through the medium of its Representatives lawfully elected. This Constitution, or Fundamental Law, shall, for the present, be obligatory only on those Portuguese who are resident in the Kingdoms of Portugal and Algarve, and who alone are lawfully represented in the present Cortes. It shall be extended to those who reside in the other parts of the World, so soon as, through their lawful Representatives, they shall declare such to be their will. XXII. This Constitution, or Fundamental Law, when passed by the present Extraordinary Cortes, shall admit of no modification or alteration, in any one or more of its Articles, until the expiration of 4 years from the date of its publication. Two-thirds of the Deputies present must concur in the necessity of any proposed alteration, which shall be effected only by the Legislature subsequent to the said 4 years, and the Deputies shall be provided with special powers for that purpose. XXIII. An accurate division shall be formed of the 3 Powers, Legislative, Executive, and Judicial, and shall be observed in the Constitution. The Legislative Power belongs to the Cortes, with dependence on the sanction of the King, who shall never possess an absolute, but only a suspensive, veto, in the manner which the Constitution shall determine. This dependence does not, however, apply to the Laws made in the present Cortes, which shall be subject to no veto. The Executive Power belongs to the King and his Ministers, who exercise the same under his authority. The Judicial Power belongs to the Tribunals. Each of these Powers, respectively, shall be so regulated, as that neither of them shall be able to arrogate to itself the attributes of either of the others. XXIV. The Law is the will of the Citizens, declared through their Representatives assembled in Cortes. All Citizens shall concur in the formation of the Law, by electing those Representatives, in the manner prescribed by the Constitution; which shall also determine what Persons are to be excluded from the Elections. The Laws shall be decided upon by a majority or plurality of Votes, after public discussion. XXV. The initiative of the Laws belongs to the Representatives of the Nation, assembled in Cortes. XXVI. The King cannot assist at the deliberations of the Cortes. He shall open and close every Session. XXVII. The Cortes shall, once in every year, assemble in the Capital of the Kingdom of Portugal, on a day previously determined upon by the Constitution; and they shall continue assembled for the space of 3 months, with power to prolong their Session 1 month, with the concurrence of two-thirds of the Deputies. The King can neither prorogue nor dissolve the Cortes. XXVIII. The Deputies of the Cortes are inviolable in their persons, and cannot be made responsible for their opinions. XXIX. It belongs to the Cortes: to appoint a Regency, when necessary;-prescribe the manner in which the sanction of the Laws shall then be given; and determine the attributes of such Regency;-to approve of Treaties of Alliance, offensive and defensive; of Subsidies, and of Commerce ;-to grant or refuse the admission of Foreign Troops within the Kingdom;-to determine the value, weight, denomination, and impress, of the coin;-and to exercise the other attributes which the Constitution shall designate. XXX. A Junta, composed of 7 Individuals chosen by the Cortes from among their own Members, shall continue in the Capital, where they shall assemble, in order to cause the Extraordinary Cortes to be convoked, in the cases to be provided for in the Constitution; and they shall exercise the other attributes which the Constitution shall assign to them. XXXI. The King is inviolable in his person. His Ministers are responsible for their non-observance of the Laws, particularly for any · attempt against the liberty, security, and property of Citizens, and for any dissipation or misuse of the public money. XXXII. The Cortes shall assign to the King and to the Royal Family, at the commencement of each reign, a suitable provision, which shall be annually paid to the Administrator whom His Majesty shall appoint to receive the same. XXXIII. There shall be a Council of State, composed of Members proposed by the Cortes, in the form which the Constitution shall de termine. XXXIV. The imposition of Taxes, and the manner of their collection, shall be settled, exclusively, by the Cortes. The levy of the direct Taxes shall be proportioned to the means of the Contributors, and no Person or body of Persons shall be exempted from the payment of them. XXXV. The Constitution shall recognize the Public Debt; and the Cortes shall establish the requisite means for extinguishing the same, in proportion to the progress of its liquidation. XXXVI. There shall be a permanent Military and Naval Force, to be determined by the Cortes. Its object shall be to maintain the internal and external security of the Kingdom, with submission to the Government, to which alone the employment of the same shall belong, and in the manner which it shall deem necessary. XXXVII. The Cortes shall form and endow Establishments of Charity and Public Instruction. [Signatures of the Members of the Cortes.] The The present Decree shall be published and registered, and preserved in the National Archives; a Duplicate of the same shall be deposited with the Archives of the Cortes; and printed Copies shall be distributed to all the Ministers, in order to the immediate execution thereof. Bases which it contains, shall serve, provisionally, as a Constitution, with the exception of the restrictions mentioned in the Vth Article, which shall, for the present, be assimilated to those of the existing Legislation. The execution of Articles VIII, IX, X, and XI, shall be suspended, until the enactment of new Laws, which shall be immediately prepared. The Regency of the Kingdom shall swear to the said Bases, and shall despatch the necessary Instructions, in order that they may, on the day appointed, likewise be sworn to, by all the Ecclesiastical, Civil, and Military Authorities. Given in the Palace of the Cortes, the 9th March, 1821. [Signature of the President, and of the Secretary to the Cortes.] |