colonization, or for making material improvements, shall be governed by a special law.

§. As soon as a territory contains a civilized population amounting to 3,000 inhabitants, it shall send a commissioner to the Chamber of Representatives, who shall have vote and voice in the discussion of all laws relating to the territories, and voice but no vote in the laws of general interest. When the number of civilized inhabitants reaches 20,000, the territory shall send, in lieu of the commissioner, a Deputy with voice and vote in all discussions; and for more than 50,000 inhabitants, it shall send the number of Deputies to which it may be entitled agreeably to Article XXXVIII of this Constitution.

LXXIX. The period of office of the President of the United States, and of the Senators and Representatives, shall be two years.

LXXX. The period of office of the Judges of the Supreme Federal Court shall be four years; and that of the AttorneyGeneral two years.

LXXXI. The President of the Union, his Secretaries of State, the Attorney-General and the Judges of the Supreme Federal Court, can none of them be elected Senators or Representatives.

LXXXII. The persons in the public service who are removable by the President of the Union lose their situations by accepting the office of Senator or Representative.

LXXXIII. The persons in the public service who are removable by the President of the Union likewise vacate their places two months after the elected takes possession of office, agreeably to this Constitution.

LXXXIV. No tax, contribution, or national impost shall be levied which is not expressly included in the estimates which Congress is to issue annually.

LXXXV. No disbursement shall be made out of the National Treasury of any sum not expressly voted by Congress, nor to a larger amount than that specified.

LXXXVI. The salary of the President of the Union, of the Senators and Representatives, of the Attorney-General of the Nation, and of the Judges of the Supreme Federal Court, cannot be augmented or diminished during the period for which the persons may have been elected who fill those offices at the time when any augmentation or diminution may be made.

LXXXVII. The Judges of the Supreme Federal Court, and the Judges of the other national tribunals and courts cannot be suspended except by virtue of an accusation legally made and admitted, nor deprived except in consequence of a judicial sentence given according to the laws.

LXXXVIII. All Columbians are prohibited from accepting any office, insignia, title, or salary from foreign Governments without the permission of Congress. Whoever contravenes the tenor of this Article shall forfeit the character of Columbian citizen.

LXXXIX. All public functionaries and corporations are prohibited from exercising any function or authority not expressly conferred upon them.

XC. The Executive Government will initiate negotiations with the Governments of Venezuela and Equator for the voluntary union of the 3 sections of ancient Columbia in a common nationality, under the republican, democratic, and federal form, analogous to that established by the present Constitution, and to be specified in due time by a general constituent Assembly.

XCI. The law of nations forms part of the national legislation. Its provisions shall especially rule in cases of civil war; consequently, such wars may be terminated by means of Treaties between the belligerents, who must observe the humane practices of Christian and civilized nations.

CHAP. XII.-Reform.

XCII. The present Constitution may be totally or partially reformed with the following formalities:

1st. That the reform be solicited by a majority of the State Legislatures.

2nd. That the reform be discussed and approved in both Chambers, in accordance with the rules established for the enactment of laws; and,

3rd. That the reform be ratified by the unanimous vote of the Senate of Plenipotentiaries, each State having a vote.

It may likewise be reformed by a Convention convoked by Congress for that purpose, at the request of all the State Legislatures, and composed of an equal number of Deputies for each State.

CHAP. XIII.-Rule.

XCIII. The present Constitution shall come into force from the date of its official publication, if it obtains the unanimous ratification of the Deputies of the States assembled in this Convention, as representatives of the sovereignty of the States. Should the deputation from any State refuse to ratify it, the Constitution shall not be binding upon the State that it represents; and that State shall definitively make known its will through its Legislative Assembly.

§. Should the said Assembly come to no resolution on the subject during its next session, or should it not meet within 3 months [1862-63. LIII.]

X

after the present Constitution shall have been received in the capital of the State, it shall be considered as accepted in the same manner as it has been by the other States.

Given at Rio Negro, this 8th day of May, 1863.

The President, Deputy for the Sovereign State of

Panama, JUSTO AROSEMENA. The Vice-President, Deputy for the Sovereign State of Cauca, JULIAN TRUJILLO.

[Here follow the signatures of Deputies from 62 States and Districts.]

TRANSITORY CONSTITUTIONAL ACT.-Rio Negro, May 8, 1863. (Translation.)

THE NATIONAL CONVENTION,

IN the name and by the authority of the people and of the United States of Columbia which it represents, has agreed to decree the following Transitory Constitutional Act.

ART. I. The popular elections for President, Senators, and Representatives, shall take place in the present year, in order that the first Constitutional Congress may be installed on the 1st of February, 1864, before which Congress the new President shall assume office on the 1st of April.

II. The General Government shall continue its relations with friendly nations by means of those diplomatic agents who present new credentials, and it shall furnish the same to the agents of the Republic abroad, after the sanctioning of the Constitution, and with the consent of the Convention.

III. The first constitutional President of the United States of Columbia shall be elected by the Convention, and hold office until the 1st of April, 1864, when the President to be elected in conformity with Article LXXV of the Constitution, is to take office.

IV. The Supreme Federal Court, composed of the 3 judges now in office, and also the Attorney-General, shall continue in the exercise of their functions until the 1st of April next, when the new functionaries to be elected according to the Constitution take office.

V. The Convention shall exercise during the present session all the functions which, by the Constitution, appertain to the Congress and to each of the Chambers thereof.

VI. The Legislatures of the States shall vote in the present year, at their first meeting, for Judges of the Supreme Federal Court, so that the next Congress may enter into the scrutiny and declare the election. The citizens elected shall take office on the 1st of April, 1864.

VII. The territory which has hitherto served as federal district shall be governed in the manner its municipality may determine, until the Assembly of the Sovereign State of Cundinamarca shall legally incorporate it into that State. The Supreme Court shall take cognizance of all appeals which may have been granted by the judges of the federal district, until such incorporation takes place. VIII. The compact of union of the 20th of September, 1861, hereby abrogated.

Given at Rio Negro, this 8th day of May, 1863.

The President, Deputy for the Sovereign State of

is

Panama, JUSTO AROSEMENA.

The Vice-President, Deputy for the Sovereign State
of Cauca, JULIAN TRUJILLO.

[Here follow the signatures of the Deputies from the various States and Districts; and Acts of Ratification.]

TREATY of Recognition, Peace, and Friendship between the Argentine Republic and Spain.-Signed at Madrid, September 21, 1863.

(Translation)

His Excellency the President of the Argentine Republic, on the one part, and Her Majesty the Queen of Spain, on the other, animated by the desire of removing the difficulties which have arisen in the execution of Article VII of the Treaty of Recognition, Peace, and Friendship, concluded at Madrid on the 9th of July, 1859,* and taking into account that the re-establishment of Argentine unity, happily effected by virtue of the reincorporation of the province of Buenos Ayres, renders necessary the modification of the same Article, have named as their Plenipotentiaries, to wit: His Excellency the President of the Argentine Republic, Don Mariano Balcarce, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Courts of Paris, London, and Turin, appointed in the same character to that of Madrid, &c., and Her Catholic Majesty, Don Manuel Pando Fernandez de Pinedo, Alava y Dávila, Marquis of Miraflores, &c., Grandee of Spain of the first class, Knight of the distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece, Grand Cross of the Royal and distinguished Order of Charles III, Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honour of France, and of that of Leopold of Belgium, Grand Cross of the Order of Pius IX of the Pontifical States, of that of Christ of Portugal, Senator of the Kingdom, formerly Her Ambassador, President of Her Council of Ministers, and Her Principal Secretary of State, and for affairs, &c., who, after having communi*Vol. L. Page 1160.

cated to each other their respective full powers, and having found them to be in due and proper form, have agreed that the said Treaty shall be modified, and it is modified in the following manner:

ART. I. Her Catholic Majesty recognizes the Argentine Republic, or Confederation, composed of all the provinces mentioned in its present federal Constitution, and the other territories which legitimately belong, or in the future may belong to it, as a free, sovereign, and independent nation; and exercising the powers which she possesses in accordance with the Decree of the General Cortes of the Kingdom, of the 4th of December, 1836, renounces in every form, and for ever, for herself and her successors, the sovereignty, rights, and actions which belonged to her over the territory of the said Republic.

II. By the high interposition of Her Catholic Majesty, and as a natural consequence of the present Treaty, there shall be complete oblivion of the past and full amnesty for all subjects of Her Majesty and citizens of the Argentine Republic, whatever party they may have belonged to during the dissensions happily terminated by the present stipulation.

III. The Argentine Republic and Her Catholic Majesty agree that the citizens and subjects of the respective nations shall preserve intact and free their rights to claim and obtain justice and full satisfaction for the bona fide debts contracted between them, as also that there shall be no obstacle raised by the public authorities to the rights which they may advance on account of marriage, inheritance by will, or ab intestato, or any other title of acquisition recognized by the laws of the country in which the claim may be made.

IV. The Argentine Confederation, considering that in thus acquiring the rights and privileges of the Crown of Spain, it likewise contracts all the duties and obligations thereof, solemnly recognizes, as consolidated debt of the Republic, as much privileged as any, according to what is spontaneously established in its laws, all debts of whatever kind they may be, contracted by the Spanish Government and its authorities in the ancient provinces of Spain, which now form, or may in future constitute, the territory of the Argentine Republic, evacuated by Spain on the 25th of May, 1810.

The entries in the books of accounts of the offices of the ancient Vice-Royalty of Buenos Ayres, or of the special ones of those provinces which may constitute or form in future the Argentine Republic, as well as original agreements, and certificates, or legally authorized copies, and all documents, of whatever date, which appear trustworthy according to the principles of justice universally admitted, provided that they be signed by Spanish authorities resident in the territory, shall be considered as proofs of the debts.