the commerce of more than one State, or which flow on to the territory of a neighbouring nation.

9th. To designate the capital of the Columbian Union.

10th. To make in the joint assembly of the Chambers the scrutiny of the votes for President of The United States and Magis trates of the Supreme Federal Court, to declare and communicate the election.

11th. To name, annually, by an absolute majority of votes, and in the joint assembly of the Chambers, 3 Designates to exercise the Executive Power of the Union, and 5 supplementary magistrates of the Supreme Court, determining the order in which they are to replace the principals in case of absolute or temporary vacancy.

12th. To decide upon such public Treaties and Conventions as the President of the Union may conclude with other nations, and upon the contracts he may make with the States or private individuals, whether natives or foreigners, and which it is his duty to submit to its consideration.

13th. To create such offices as may be required for the public service, and to establish the regulations for their appointment, salary, and duties.

14th. To demand of the Executive Power an account of all his operations, and such verbal or written reports as may be required for the better despatch of the congressional business.

15th. To designate from among the Generals of the Republic as many as eight who may be disposable, and from among them the Executive Power shall appoint the Commander-in-chief of the Army, agreeably to law; and he may be removed by the Chamber of Representatives whenever it may deem it expedient; and

16th. To legislate upon all matters within the competence of the General Government.

L. Neither the Congress nor either of the Legislative Chambers can delegate any of their attributions.

Sect. 3.-Senate.

LI. The attributions of the Senate are:

1st. To approve the appointment of Secretaries of State, made by the Executive Power; of the superior officers in the different administrative departments; of all diplomatic agents and military field officers.

2nd. To approve the instructions given by the Executive Power to diplomatic agents relating to public Treaties.

3rd. To decree the suspension of the President of The United States, and of the Secretaries of State, and to place them at the disposal of the Supreme Federal Court, in virtue of an accusation made by the Chamber of Representatives, or the Attorney-General, if there

should be grounds for proceeding against those functionaries for ordinary offences.

4th. To take cognizance in actions of responsibility against the President of The United States, the Secretaries of State, the Magistrates of the Supreme Federal Court, and the Attorney-General of the nation, on the accusation of the Chamber of Representatives, for offences committed in the discharge of their functions; and

5th. To decide definitively upon the nullity or validity of the legislative acts of the State Assemblies, which may be denounced as contrary to the Constitution of the Republic.

LII. During the recess of the Senate, and when the good of the service may require it, the Executive Power is allowed to appoint Secretaries of State, diplomatic agents, and superior officers of the administrative departments, under the obligation of submitting such appointments to the approval of the Senate at its next meeting.

Sect. 4.-Chamber of Representatives.

LIII. The attributions of the Chamber of Representatives are: 1st. To examine and definitively close the general account of the National Treasury.

2nd. To accuse before the Senate the President of The United States, the Secretaries of State, the Magistrates of the Supreme Federal Court, and the Attorney-General of the nation, in the cases and for the purposes of the 3rd and 4th clauses of Article LI.

3rd. To take care that all public functionaries and officers in the service of The United States, do perfectly fulfil their duties, and to require the proper officer of the Public Ministry to institute the necessary accusation against all who may incur responsibility; and

4th. To appoint annually, and by an absolute majority of votes, the Attorney-General and two substitutes.

Sect. 5.-Enactment of the Laws.

LIV. In the Chamber of the Senate and in that of Representatives, all projects of law proposed by members of the same, or by committees of the said Chambers, may be brought forward and discussed, excepting such as may impose contributions or organize the Public Ministry, which must always originate in the Chamber of Representatives.

LV. No project shall become law until it shall have gone through 3 readings in each Chamber, on 3 distinct days, nor without having been approved by an absolute majority of the members present at the respective sittings.

LVI. Every legislative project, besides the approbation of the Chambers, requires the sanction of the President of the Union,

who has the right to return the project to the Chamber in which it originated, in order to its being reconsidered, accompanying it with the observations which induce him to return it.

LVII. Should the project of law be returned as unconstitutional or inexpedient altogether, and one of the Chambers declares the observations made by the President to be well founded, then the project shall be thrown out, and shall not be taken into consideration again during the same session.

§. Should both Chambers declare the observations to be unfounded, the project of law shall be returned to the President of the Union, who in such case cannot withhold his sanction.

LVIII. If the President of the Union confines his observations to only one or more of the provisions of the project of law, and both Chambers declare them to be well-founded wholly or partly, then it shall be re-considered, and the necessary modifications of the portion or portions to which the remarks refer shall be made.

§ 1. Should the modifications adopted be in accordance with the proposal made by the President of the Union, he cannot refuse his sanction to the project of law; but if they are not so, or any new provisions are introduced, or any are suppressed which were not objected to, the President may make fresh observations on the project.

§ 2. Should one of the Chambers declare the observations to be unfounded, and the other the contrary, the project shall be thrown out.

§ 3. In all cases in which both Chambers declare the observations to be unfounded, it is the duty of the President to sanction the project of law.

§ 4. When, on considering the observations made by the President, new provisions are introduced, they need only go through two readings, on different days, in each Chamber.

LIX. The President of the Union is allowed the period of 6 days for returning any project with his observations, when the project does not consist of more than 50 articles; if beyond that number, the period shall be 10 days.

§. Every project not returned within the period specified must be sanctioned; but if the Congress should go into recess during the period allowed the President for returning the project, he must either sanction or object thereto within the 10 days immediately following that on which the Congress went into recess, and moreover he must publish the result through the medium of the

press.

LX. Every legislative project which, on the Chambers going into recess, remains pending, shall be considered as a new project when discussed in the following session.

LXI. In the laws and legislative decrees the following formula shall be used:

The Congress of the United States of Columbia Decrees:

Sect. 6.-Arrangements common to both Chambers.

LXII. Each Chamber has the exclusive power of appointing its own officers and of making the regulations it may think fit for the direction and performance of its functions and for the internal police of the building in which its sittings are held. In these regulations correctional penalties may be established for any transgressions committed by members, and for offences by other individuals against the Chamber, or against the immunity of its members.

LXIII. Each Chamber is competent to decide upon the questions which arise relative to the qualification of its members, when for any State a greater number of Senators or Representatives present themselves than that State is entitled to, and all are provided with credentials in due form.

CHAP. VII.-Executive Power.

LXIV. The Executive Power of the Union shall be exercised by a magistrate to be denominated President of the United States of Columbia, who shall begin to exercise his functions on the 1st of April immediately following his election.

LXV. In case of the absolute or temporary inability of the President of the Union, that title shall be assumed and the Executive Power shall be exercised by one of the three Designates, who are elected annually by absolute majority of the Congress, and whose order of substitution is then determined.

§ 1. But if from any cause the Congress should not have elected the Designates, or if none of them should be in the capital of the Union, or should not from any other cause be able to take charge of the Executive Power, then the Attorney-General shall temporarily assume the office, and in his default one of the Presidents, Governors or superior officers of the States, popularly elected, and in the order of substitution determined each year by the Congress. § 2. The law shall determine when a new election for President is to take place in cases of absolute vacancy.

§ 3. The period of duration for the exercise of the Executive Power by the Designates shall be one year, reckoned from the 1st of April following their election.

§ 4. If the meeting of Congress cannot take place at the time appointed, or should the election of the Designates have been omitted, their period of duration shall continue until the meeting may take place, and a new designation be made.

LXVI. The attributions of the President of the Union are:

1st. To adopt the necessary measures for the complete execution of the laws.

2nd. To watch over the punctual and faithful collection of the national revenues.

3rd. To negotiate and conclude Treaties and Conventions, to ratify and exchange the same after their approval by Congress, and to see to their punctual observance.

4th. To enter into all kinds of agreements or contracts relating to the matters within the competence of the Government of the Union, submitting them to the approval of the Congress in order that they may be carried into effect, excepting when the stipulatious they contain have been previously sanctioned by law.

5th. To declare war when the Congress shall have decreed it, and to conduct the defence of the country in case of foreign invasion, with power to call the militia of the States into active service, if necessary.

6th. To conduct the operations of the war as Commander-inchief of the army and navy of the Union.

7th. To appoint to the public offices of the Union such persons as are to fill them, when the Constitution or the laws do not give the appointment to another authority.

8th. To remove from their offices all persons whose appointment belongs to him.

9th. To present to the Chamber of Representatives on the first day of its annual session, the estimates of the revenue and expenses of the Union, and the general account of the estimates and of the treasury.

10th. To cause justice to be duly and speedily administered, instituting through the medium of the Public Ministry the trial of all delinquents, and the dispatch of civil suits in the tribunals and courts of the Republic.

11th. To prevent any armed aggression of one State of the Union upon another, or upon a foreign nation.

12th. To see that the Congress meets on the day appointed by the Constitution, taking timely measures in order that the Senators and Representatives receive the aids appointed by law for their journey.

13th. To grant patents guaranteeing for a fixed period the property of literary works, and of useful inventions applicable to new industrial operations, or to the perfection of existing ones.

14th. To appoint, with the approbation of the Senate, the Secretaries of State, the superior officers of the different administrative departments, the diplomatic agents, and the military officers whose appointment belongs to him.

15th. To grant letters of naturalization agreeably to law.