he may govern the state, and succeed him in the command. By this means the period of elections is avoided, which is productive of that great scourge to republics anarchy, the luxury of tyranny, and the most dreadful as well as most immediate danger, which threatens popular Governments. By this means also this dreadful crisis passes over in Republics the same as in legitimate monarchies.

- The Vice-President must be a man of consummate integrity; for if the first magistrate does not select an upright citizen, he must fear him as his most dangerous enemy, and be in constant suspicion of his ambitious designs. The Vice-President must endeavour to deserve by his services that confidence which is necessary to enable him to carry into effect the duties of his high office, and to hope to obtain his great reward from the nation-the supreme command. The Legislative Body and the people will exact capacity and talents from this magistrate; and will require his blind obedience to the laws of liberty.

Hereditary succession is what principally tends to perpetuate monarchical institutions, and makes them so general throughout the world; how much more adyantageous is the order of succession I have proposed for the Vice-President! If the heirs of princes were chosen for their merits, and not by chance; and instead of remaining in inactivity and ignorance, they were placed at the head of the administration; they would doubtless become more enlightened monarchs, and would be the delight of their subjects. Yes, legislators, those monarchical in

stitutions which govern the world, found their claims to approbation on the order of hereditary succession, which makes them stable, and on union, which makes them strong. For this it is, that although a sovereign prince is a spoiled child, shut up in his palace, educated by flattery, and a victim to his passions; this prince, whom I will venture to call the laughingstock of mankind, governs a portion of his fellow-creatures, because he preserves order in the state of things, and subordination among his subjects by the immutability of his power and the steadiness of his policy. Consider, legislators, that these great advantages are united in a President for life and an hereditary Vice-President.

The Judicial Power which I propose is most completely independent; no where is it so much so. The people present the candidates, and the Legislature chooses those who are to fill the seat of justice. Unless the judges derive their origin from the people, it is impossible to preserve in all its purity this safeguard to the rights of individuals. These rights it is, legislators, which constitute liberty, equality, security, all the guarantees of social life. The truly free constitution is written in the civil and criminal codes; and the tyranny most to be dreaded is that exercised by the tribunals in the name of the laws. Generally the Executive is but the depositary of the common weal; but the tribunals are the arbitrators of what is our own, of the property of individuals. The judicial power is the measure of the prosperity or misery of the people; and if there be liberty, if there be justice in the

Republic, it is distributed by it. The political organization, provided the civil be perfect, is sometimes of little consequence; let the laws be religiously fulfilled; let them be as inexorable as fate. According to the opinions of the day, we of course have prohibited the rack and extorted confessions; we have also cut off the prolongation of law-suits in the intricate labyrinth of appeals.

The territory of the Republic is by Prefects, Governors, Corregidores, Judges of the Peace, and Alcaldes. My limits have not allowed me to enter into a detail of their organization and of the extent to be given to the jurisdiction of each; it is, however, my duty to present to the Congress some regulations concerning the government of the departments and provinces. Bear in mind, legislators, that nations are composed of cities and cottages; and that on the welfare of these depends the felicity of the State. You can never pay too much attention to the good government of the departments. This point is of the utmost importance in the science of legislation; it is, notwithstanding, too much overlooked.

The armed force has been divided into four parts-the troops of the line; the navy; the national militia; and the military corps of Custom-house officers. The duty of the troops of the line is to defend the frontier. God forbid that they should turn their arms against their fellow-citizens! The national militia is sufficient to preserve internal tranquillity. Bolivia does not possess an extensive coast; a navy, therefore, would be useless; some day, notwith

standing, we may have both one and the other. A corps of Custom-house officers, under military discipline, is in every respect preferable to simple Custom-house officers; this service is more immoral than superfluous; it is, therefore, the interest of the Republic to guard its frontiers with troops of the line, and with troops of Custom-house officers against

the machinations of fraud.

I have proposed that the constitution of Bolivia should be reformed at certain periods, according to the movements of the intellectual world. The steps to be followed in the introduction of reforms have been laid down as I have thought most advisable.

The responsibility of persons in public situations is laid down in the constitution of Bolivia in the most explicit terms. Without responsibility, without restraint, the State becomes a chaos, I venture to urge strongly the members of the Legislature to pass the strictest and most definite laws upon this important subject. Every one talks about responsibility, and there it ends. There is no responsibility, legislators: magistrates, judges, and public officers abuse their authority, because the agents of the Government are not under rigorous restraint, and the people, in the mean time, are the victims. I would recommend the passing of a law which should direct every person employed under Govern ment to give annually an account of his conduct,

The most complete guarantees have been established; civil liberty is the only true liberty; the rest are merely nominal, or have

but little influence on the condition of the people. Personal security, which is the object of man's entering into society, and from which the others emanate, has been guaranteed. With respect to that of property, it will depend upon the civil code, to the composition of which you ought immediately to dedicate your talents, for the benefit of your fellow citizens. I have preserved intact the law of laws, equality; without it, all our guarantees, all our rights are null. To it we must sacrifice every thing. At its shrine I have immolated the infamous laws of slavery. Legislators! Slavery is an infraction of every law. The law which recognized it would be most sacrilegious. What right can be alleged for its continuance? Look upon this crime in every point of view, and I am satisfied there is not one inhabitant of Bolivia so depraved as to pretend to justify this most scandalous violation of

the dignity of man. One man to be owned by another! A man to become property! God's image put to the yoke like a beast! Tell me, where is to be found a defence of these usurpers of man? Guinea cannot furnish it, for Africa, laid waste by fratricide, only presents a field of crime. The remains of those African tribes having been transplanted here, what power can sanction the right of property over these victims! To transmit, to prolong, to eternalize this crime, mingled with torments, is an outrage revolting to our nature. To found a right to possession upon the most savage delinquency, could never be imagined without without overturning every element of justice, without

Simon Bolivar, Liberator of Colombia and Peru-Considering:

I. That it is my duty to return to Colombia when she recalls me;

II. And that I am authorized, by the decree of the Sovereign Congress of Peru, of the 10th February, 1825, to invest whomsoever I would, with the supreme command, in my absence;

I hereby order and proclaim:

I. That the Grand Marshal Don Andres Santa-Cruz and the Secretaries of State, succeed me for the time, in the full and supreme magistracies of the Republic;

II. That the Vice Presidency of the Executive Council, when it becomes necessary, shall be held by one of the members of the Council, chosen by lot;

III. That the President of the Council shall appoint Secretaries at War and of the Navy.

IV. That the Executive Council shall convoke the Legislature, to meet in the month of September of the next year;

V. And that the Secretary Ge

neral shall make these orders and this proclamation known, to whom it may concern.

Head Quarters, Lima, Sept. 1st, 1826. SIMON BOLIVAR. For His Excellency, the Liberator, JOES GABRIEL PEREZ. Secretary General.

Peruvians!

Colombia calls, and I obey. I now feel how much I love you; for I cannot tear myself away, without the deepest sorrow.

I had conceived the bold design of being your benefactor :-but it is I that am loaded with the honourable burthen of your munificence, my public services vanish, before the monuments they have earned from the generosity of Peru; and even the recollection of them will be lost in your unbounded gratitude.-You have surpassed me.

I do not all depart; for I leave you my love, in the President and executive council, fit depositories of the Supreme authority; I leave you my confidence, in the magistrates that govern you; I leave you my political opinions, in the constitutions which I have offered; and I leave you your independence, in the heroes of Ayacucho. The legislature will, next year, render permanent, by the wisdom of their acts, all the blessings of liberty. There is but one danger which you have to fear: and I provide the remedy.-Continue

DECREE OF THE EXECUTIVE
POWER.

Simon Bolivar, Liberator President of Colombia,

Taking into consideration, 1st. The state of agitation in which the Republic now finds itself, in consequence of the transactions in Venezuela, and that it is divided in opinion with regard to the political administration; and alarmed at the prospect of a civil war, and an invasion from abroad by the common enemy. 2d. That there are well founded reasons for apprehending that the Spanish Government intends to renew hostilities with the forces which it is assembling in the island of Cuba. 3d. That the majority of the Departments have declared it as their opinion that the President of the Republic should be invested with such extraordinary powers as may be indispensibly necessary to reestablish that national integrity, and preserve Colombia from civil and foreign war; and, 4th. That the Executive Power has already declared itself to be within the case of article 128 of the Constitution, and has therefore opportunely convoked the Congress; and desiring on the one hand to correspond to the confidence of the people, and on the other to preserve the present Constitution until the

nation, by legitimate and competent means, may effect a reform of it, I have concluded, upon consultation with the Council of Government, to decree, and do decree, the following:

Article 1. From this day forward I am a President of the Republic, within the case of article 128 of the Constitution, and in the exercise of all the extraordinary powers emanating from it, both for the purpose of re-establishing internal tranquillity and for securing the Republic against anarchy and external war.

Art. 2. In my absence from this capital, the Vice-President of the Republic, being charged with the executive power, will exercise

Most worthy Representatives of

the Brazilian Nation, I open the Constitutional Assembly with the enthusiasm which has always attended this act, but not with the same satisfaction, as my heart is penetrated with grief consequent upon the death of my most beloved consort the Empress, who died on the 11th December last, leaving this world for the habitation of the just-the place appointed by the Most High for those who, like her, have led a life of virtue and religion. This bereavement, so unfortunate for us all, took place while I was in the Province of Rio Grande, endeavouring, by all the means which the love of country could suggest, to terminate the war between

Brazil and Buenos Ayres, by rousing up the energies of the brave inhabitants of that Province. This war continues, and will cortinue, until the Banda Oriental which is ours, shall be freed from its invaders, and Buenos Ayres shall recognize the independence of Brazil, and of that Province which has freely and with one accord, declared themselves part of our Empire. I am confident that this assembly will co-operate and promote the objects proposed at their last session, in conformity to the answer to the speech from the throne, presented to me by a deputation from this body.

The organization of a system of finance will claim your first attention, for the existing one (as