13th. The regulation of official weights and measures.

14th. The legislation and judicial procedure in cases of prizes, recapture, piracy, or other crimes, and, in general, of all occurrences upon the high seas, the jurisdiction whereof appertains to the nation in conformity with international law.

15th. Judicial and penal legislation in cases of violation of international law; and

16th. The power of issuing laws, decrees and resolutions, civil and penal, respecting the affairs or matters which, according to this and the following Article, are within the competency of the General Government.

XVIII. The following matters are within the competency of the General Government, although not exclusively so:

1st. The promotion of public instruction.

2nd. The postal service.

3rd. Statistics and the geographical or topographical maps or charts of the towns and territories of The United States; and 4th. The civilization of the aborigines.

Sect. 4.-General Conditions.

XIX. The Government of The United States cannot declare or make war upon the States without the express authority of the Congress, and without having previously exhausted all the means of conciliation required by the national welfare and the public interest.

XX. With the exception of the National Congress, the Supreme. Federal Court, and the Executive Power of the nation, there shall not be in any State any federal officers with ordinary jurisdiction or authority in time of peace.

§ 1. The Agents of the Government of the Union in fiscal affairs. or in military or other matters shall ordinarily exercise their functions under the inspection of the proper authorities of the States, according to their rank.

§ 2. The said authorities are likewise federal authorities in all matters requiring command or jurisdiction, and they must, therefore, fulfil, under strict responsibility, to be exacted of them by the High Federal Powers, according to this Constitution and the laws, the duties imposed on them by the said authorities according to their powers.

XXI. The judicial power of the States is independent. All suits initiated within them, according to their special legislation and in matters of their exclusive jurisdiction, shall be decided in the States, without subjection to the examination of any other authority.) § The indemnifications which the Union may grant for acts

committed by the functionaries of the States in violation of the civil rights guaranteed by Article XV, shall be charged to the respective State, which shall be responsible to the Federal Treasury for the pecuniary amount of the indemnity granted.

XXII. The members of the State Legislatures shall enjoy immunity during the period that their respective Constitutions may determine, and they shall at no time be responsible for the votes or opinions they may give in the exercise of their functions.

XXIII. In order to maintain the national sovereignty and preserve the public peace and security, the National Government and the Governments of the States, as the case may be, shall exercise the right of supreme inspection over religious worship in the manner prescribed by law.

For the maintenance of the forms of worship established, or which may be hereafter established, in The United States, no contributions shall be imposed. Every form of worship shall be maintained by the voluntary contributions of its members.

XXIV. No legislative enactment either of the General Government or of the States shall have a retroactive effect, excepting in penal matters when an ex post facto law imposes a minor penalty.

XXV. Any act of the National Congress or of the Executive Power of The United States violating the civil rights guaranteed by Article XV, or attacking the sovereignty of the States, may be annulled by the vote of the States expressed by the majority of their respective legislatures.

XXVI. The public force of The United States is divided into naval and land forces, at the charge of the Union, and it shall likewise be composed of the national militia, which the States may organize according to their own laws.

§ 1. The forces of the Union shall consist of volunteers, or of a contingent to be proportionately given by each State, calling out those citizens liable to serve according to the laws of the State.

§ 2. In case of war the contingent may be augmented by bodies of the national militia up to the number of men necessary for completing the force required by the General Government.

XXVII. The General Government cannot change the commanders of the corps furnished by the States, excepting in the cases and with the formalities established by law.

CHAP. III.-Property and Obligations of the Union.

XXVIII. The United States of Columbia acknowledge the domestic and foreign debts recognized by the Governments of the late Granadian Confederation and of the United States of New Granada, in the proportion corresponding to the population and wealth of the States which unite by the present constitution or that

may bereafter join. The States solemnly pledge their public faith for the amortization of the said debts and the payment of the interest thereon.

XXIX. The United States of Columbia also acknowledge the credits arising from loans, supplies, salaries, pensions, and indemnities in the interior, and the expenses which the maintenance of this Constitution may require. The public faith of the States is pledged for the discharge of those credits.

XXX. The property, rights, and shares, the revenue and contributions which belonged, under whatever title, to the Government of the late Granadian Confederation, and afterwards to the United States of New Granada, belong to the Government of the United States of Columbia, with the alterations made, or which may here. after be made by special legislative enactments.

§. The waste lands of the Union hypothecated for the payment of the public debt, cannot be applied to any other purpose, but they may be granted to new settlers, or given as compensation or aid to undertakings for opening new means of communication.

CHAP. IV.-Columbians and Foreigners.

XXXI. The following are Columbians:

1st. All persons born in the territory of the United States of Columbia, although the parents may be foreigners temporarily in the country, provided they afterwards settle therein.

2nd. The children of a Columbian father or mother, whether born within the territories of the United States of Columbia or not, provided, in the latter case, they settle in the country.

3rd. Foreigners who may have obtained letters of naturalization.

4th. All persons born in any of the Spanish American Republics, provided they have established their residence in the territory of the Union, and declared before the competent authority their desire to become Columbians.

XXXII. Persons who establish themselves and become naturalized in a foreign country lose their character of Columbians.

XXXIII. All male Columbians having attained the age of 21 years, or who are, or have been married, excepting the ministers of any religion, are eligible for the public offices of the General Government of The United States.

XXXIV. It is the duty of all Columbians to serve the nation in the manner prescribed by law, sacrificing life itself, if necessary, in defence of the national independence. In the territory of whatever State they may be, they shall be subject to the same duties, and enjoy the same rights as those who are domiciled there.

XXXV. A special law shall define the condition of domicil

foreigners, and determine the rights and duties attached to that condition.

CHAP. V.-General Government.

XXXVI. The General Government of the United States of Columbia shall, in accordance with the nature of its constitutive principles, be republican, federal, elective, alternative, and responsible, and be divided for its exercise into Legislative Power, Executive Power, and Judicial Power.

CHAP. VI.-Legislative Power.

Sect. 1.-General Enactments.

XXXVII. The Legislative Power shall be vested in two chambers denominated, the one" Chamber of Representatives," the other "Senate of Plenipotentiaries."

XXXVIII. The Chamber of Representatives shall represent the Columbian people, and shall be composed of the representatives corresponding to each State, in the proportion of one for every 50,000 souls, and one more for a residue of not less than 20,000.

XXXIX. The Senate of Plenipotentiaries shall represent the States as political entities of the Union, and shall be composed of 3 Senators for each State.

XL. The States shall determine the manner of appointing their Senators and Representatives.

XLI. The Congress shall meet for its ordinary session, without the necessity of any convocation, on the 1st day of February of every year, in the capital of the Union.

§ 1. It may likewise meet at any other place, or hold its sessions temporarily elsewhere, and prorogue the same, when the Congress may so decide for some grave reason.

§ 2. The mutual consent of both Chambers is required to transfer their sessions temporarily to another place, or to suspend the session for more than two days.

§ 3. The ordinary sessions shall last 90 days.

XLII. The Congress shall meet extraordinarily by agreement of both Chambers, or when convoked by the Executive Power.

XLIII. In order that Congress may open and continue its sessions, it is necessary that in each Chamber there shall be an absolute majority of the members belonging to it. One of the Chambers cannot open its sessions on a different day from the other, nor continue the same whilst the other is in recess.

XLIV. The Senators and Representatives enjoy immunity for

persons and property from the day on which the session com

mences, or ought to commence, during the session, and during their journey from and return home.

§. For the purposes of this Article, the law shall fix the time supposed to be necessary for such journeys.

XLV. The Senators and Representatives are not responsible for the votes and opinions they may give.

§. No authority can at any time bring them to account for those votes and opinions, under any pretext whatsoever.

XLVI. The Senators and Representatives cannot accept any office in the free appointment of the President of the Columbian Union, excepting those of Secretaries of State, Diplomatic Agents, and Military Chiefs in time of war.

§. The acceptance of such offices vacates the post in the respective Chamber.

XLVII. The Senators and Representatives, whilst they retain their character as such, cannot make in their own name, or indirectly through another person, any kind of contract with the General Government.

§. Neither can they accept from any Government, Company, or person, power to act in matters having any relation to the Government of the Columbian Union.

Sect. 2.-Congress.

XLVIII. The Chamber of Representatives and the Senate of Plenipotentiaries shall bear collectively the name of "Congress of the United States of Columbia."

XLIX. The following are exclusive attributions of the Congress:

1st. To appropriate annually the sums to be taken out of the treasury of the Union for the national expenses.

2nd. To decree the sale of the property of the Union, and its application to public uses.

3rd. To fix annually the strength of the naval and land forces for the service of the Union.

4th. To allow the transit of foreign troops through the territory

of the Union.

5th. To authorize the President of the Union to declare war against another nation.

6th. To authorize the Executive Government to allow foreign vessels of war to be stationed in the ports of the Republic.

7th. To grant amnesties and general or individual pardons for any grave reason of national expediency,

8th. To grant privileges and assistance for the navigation by steam of such rivers or other waters as may serve as a channel fo