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shall be taken out of the Publick Treasury, except for the objects and purposes designated by Law; and a Statement and regular Account shall be annually published of the Receipt and Expenditure of the Publick Revenue, for the information of the Nation.

CLXXXI. All Titles of Honour, granted by the Spanish Government, shall henceforward be abolished; and it shall not be lawful for Congress to grant any Titles of Nobility, or Honorary or Hereditary Distinctions, nor create any Situation or Office whatsoever, of which the pay or emoluments are intended to last longer than the good behaviour of those who hold them.

CLXXXII. No Person holding a Situation of trust or honour under the authority of Colombia, shall receive any present, title, or emolument, from any King, Prince, or Foreign State, without the consent of Congress.

CLXXXIII. All Foreigners, of whatsoever Nation they may be, shall be admitted into Colombia; in their persons and property they shall enjoy the same security as the Citizens thereof, so long as they respect the Laws of the Republick.

CLXXXIV. Those Persons, not born in Colombia, who, during the War of Independence, may have served one or more Campaigns with honour to themselves, or have rendered important services to the Republick, shall be placed on a level with the Natives of the Country, in respect of their eligibility to Employments which do not require them to be Citizens of Colombia by birth, provided they possess the necessary qualifications.

TITLE IX.

OF THE OATH OF PUBLICK FUNCTIONARIES.

CLXXXV. No Publick Functionary of the Republick shall be allowed to exercise his functions, without having previously taken an Oath to sustain and defend the Constitution, and faithfully and strictly to fulfil the duties of his Office.

CLXXXVI. The President and Vice-President of the Republick shall take this Oath in presence of the Congress, which shall be administered by the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate, of the Chamber of Representatives, and of the High Court of Justice, shall take the same in presence of their respective Bodies, and it shall be administered to the Members thereof, by the respective Presidents.

CLXXXVII. The Secretaries of State, the Ministers of the Superior Courts of Justice, the Intendants of Departments, the Governors of Provinces, the Generals of the Army, and the other principal Authorities, shall take the Oath before the President of the Republick, or in the

presence of the Person to whom he may confide the performance of this duty.

TITLE X.

OF THE OBSEervance of the ANCIENT LAWS, AND THE INTERPRETATION AND AMENDMENT OF THE PRESENT CONSTITUTION.

CLXXXVIII. The Laws hitherto prevailing are hereby declared to be in their full force and vigour, in all matters and cases not directly or indirectly opposed to the present Constitution, nor to those Decrees and Laws which the Congress may enact.

CLXXXIX. It shall be lawful for the Congress to resolve any doubt that may occur as to the meaning of any of the Articles of the present Constitution.

CXC. At any time, should two-thirds of both the Chambers deem it expedient to alter and amend any of the Articles of the present Constitution, it shall be lawful for the Congress to propose the same for consideration, provided that one half, at least, of the Members of the Chamber which proposes the Amendment shall have been renewed, and if the same be then ratified by two-thirds of each, agreeably to the formalities prescribed in Title IV, Section I, the same shall be valid and form part of the Constitution; but the bases established in Title I, Section I, as well as in Title II, Section II, can at no time be altered.

CXCI. When all, or the greatest part of that portion of the Territory of the Republick, which is now under the power of Spain, shall be so liberated as to be able to contribute, through the medium of its Representatives, to the perfection of the edifice of our social happiness, and when an experience of 10, or more Years shall have discovered all the inconveniences or advantages of the present Constitution, a grand Convention of Colombia shall be assembled by Congress, and authorized to examine and amend the same in all its parts.

Done in the first General Congress of Colombia, and signed by all the Deputies present, in the Town of Rosario de Cúcuta, this 30th day of August, in the Year of our Lord 1821, and 11th of Independence.

Dr. MIGUEL PENA, President of the Congress.
RAFAEL, Bishop of Merida de Maracaibo,
Vice-President of the Congress.

[Signatures of 56 Members of Congress.]
FRANCISCO SOTO, Deputy Secretary.

MIGUEL SANTAMARIA, Deputy Secretary.
ANTONIO JOSE CARO, Deputy Secretary.

Palace of the Government of Colombia, in Rosario de Cúcuta, this 6th day of October, 1821.-11th Year of Independence.

Let the same be kept, fulfilled, and circulated. Given, signed by

my hand, sealed with the Provisional Seal of the Republick, and coun. tersigned by the Ministers Secretaries of State.

(L.S.) SIMON BOLIVAR. PEDRO BRICENO MENDEZ, Minister of Marine and War. PEDRO GUAL, Minister of Finance and of Foreign Relations. DIEGO B. URBANEJA, Minister of the Interior and of Justice.

DECREE respecting the publication, &c. of the Constitution of Colombia.-20th September, 1821. (Translation.)

The General Congress of the Republick of Colombia,

DESIROUS that the Constitution by them decreed and sanctioned on the 30th of last August, should be published and received by all Subjects of the Republick, with that solemnity which the importance of the object requires ;

Have thought proper to decree and hereby do decree;

1. An Original Copy of the Constitution, signed by all the Members present, shall be presented to the Executive Power, by a Deputation, composed of the Vice-President of the Congress and 5 of its Members.

2. The Executive Power shall affix at the bottom of it their Decree for the observance of the same, and order it to be printed, published, and circulated throughout the whole Territory of the Republick.

3. As soon as the Constitution shall have been received in each Town, the Judge or principal Authority of the Place shall appoint the 2 days on which the Publication and solemn reception of the Constitution are to take place, and announce the same to the Publick, at the same time ordering the whole of the Inhabitants to attend on the days appointed.

4. On the first day, the solemn publication of the Constitution shall be performed in the presence of all the Authorities, and the Civil, Ecclesiastical, and Military Functionaries in the Place, and with all the decorum, formality, and pomp, which the circumstances of each Town will permit. The whole of it shall be read in a loud voice in the most publick place, and the promulgation thereof being finished, the bells shall ring, salutes from the Artillery be fired, where this can be be done, and the ceremony attended with other demonstrations of publick rejoicing.

5. On the following day, all the Inhabitants shall attend at the parochial or principal Church, where a solemn Mass shall be celebrated, as an act of thanksgiving; and the Curate, or some other Ecclesiastic, shall pronounce a short exhortation, suitable to the object. After the Mass is ended, at the invitation of the principal political Magistrate, the Persons present shall, with one voice, take an Oath to maintain

the Constitution, under the following form: "You swear by God and the Holy Evangelists, to obey, maintain, and support the Constitution of the Republick of Colombia, sanctioned by the first General Congress on the 30th day of August, 1821." To which the Persons present shall answer, this we swear; after which a Te Deum shall be performed.

6. The Heads of Departments, and Tribunals, of whatever class they may be, Governors, Justices, Municipalities, Very Reverend Archbishops and Bishops, Prelates, Ecclesiastical Chapters, Universities, Religious Communities, and all other Bodies, Publick Functionaries, and Officers, throughout the whole of the Republick, shall, at a proper time, take the Oath aforesaid, under the form above expressed, if they do not exercise jurisdiction or authority; and those who do exercise the same, under the following form: "You swear by God and the Holy Evangelists, to obey, keep, and maintain, and cause to be obeyed, kept, and maintained, the Constitution," &c. as in the preceding Article. In all the Cathedrals, Universities, Colleges, and Religious Communities, a Mass of thanksgiving shall be celebrated, together with a Te Deum, after the respective Bodies and Communities shall have taken the Oath before the Chiefs.

7. Wherever Military Divisions exist, the respective Chiefs shall appoint the days they may think proper, after the Constitution shall have been received, in order that, the Troops being drawn out in line, the same may be published in their presence: the whole shall then be read in a loud voice; and immediately afterwards the Commander, Officers, and Troops, shall take the Oath in front of the Banners of the Republick, in the form expressed in Article 5.

8. Of all the Publick Acts ordained by the present Law, a certified report shall be immediately transmitted to the Executive Power, which shall be authorized to demand those which may not have been forwarded to them in due time, and corresponding notice thereof shall also be given in the Gazettes.

9. The 2 days above specified shall be solemnized in all the Towns and Divisions of the Army, by festivals and publick rejoicings, in honour of the Fundamental Law and the Constitution, as is especially enjoined in the XIIth Article of the former.

The above shall be communicated to the Executive Power for publication, and in order to a due compliance therewith.

Done in the Palace of the General Congress of Colombia, in the Town of Rosario de Cúcuta, this 20th day of September, 1821.-11th Year of Independence.

VICENTE AZUERO, President of the Congress
MIGUEL SANTAMARIA, Deputy Secretary.

FRANCISCO SOTO, Deputy Secretary.

ANTONIO JOSE CARO, Deputy Secretary.

Palace of the Government of Colombia, in Rosario de Cúcuta, this 6th day of October, 1821. Let the same be executed, published, and circulated, together with the Constitution of the State, in order that the Authorities may carry into effect the publication thereof, conformably to the provisions of the present Decree.

By the Liberator-President.

SIMON BOLIVAR.

DIEGO B. URBANEJA, Minister of the Interior.

DECREE of the Prince Regent, for the Installation of the
Council of Representatives General of the Provinces of
Brazil.-1st June, 1822.
(Translation.)

THE Salvation of the State urgently requiring the immediate Installation of the Council of Representatives General of the Provinces of Brazil, which I ordered to be created by my Royal Decree of the 16th February of the present Year, I am pleased to order those already elected, and here resident, to be convoked for Tomorrow, notwithstanding that those of one of the Provinces are wanting for the literal execution of the said Decree.

Jozé Bonifacio de Andrada e Silva, of my Council of State, and Councillor of His Most Faithful Majesty, Don John the VIth, and my Minister and Secretary of State for the Affairs of the Kingdom of Brazil and for Foreign Affairs, will so understand it and cause it to be executed.

Palace, 1st of June, 1822.

[With the Initials of the Prince Regent.]

JOZE BONIFACIO DE ANDRADa e Silva.

SPEECH of the Prince Regent to the Representatives General of Brazil, assembled in Council.-2nd June, 1822.

(Translation.)

ILLUSTRIOUS AND WORTHY REPRESENTATIVES,

THE representations from San Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Geraes, in which I was requested to remain in Brazil, also solicited the creation of a Council of State. I resolved to establish one, in the Form directed in my Royal Decree of the 16th February last, which Form was required by the 3 Provinces legally represented.

I cannot describe the pleasure my soul felt, when those representations reached my Royal Presence, for then I knew that the wish of the People was not only useful, but necessary, to uphold the integrity of the Monarchy in general, but more especially of the Great Brazil, whose Son I am. My pleasure increased still more when I saw that

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