VIII. The Government shall take care to promote, and provide for, the destination of skilful Naturalists, to the Islands of Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines, and to encourage therein the study of all the branches of Natural History, and especially Chemistry and Mineralogy. Madrid, 28th June, 1822. ALVARO GOMEZ, President. JOSEF MELCHOR PRATT, Deputy Secretary. ACT of the Ionian Parliament, respecting the Punishment of Ionian Subjects, for engaging in the War between Turkey and Greece.-2d April, 1822. (Translation.) In pursuance of the Act of Neutrality published by the Ionian Government, with respect to the calamities of War and Insurrection, existing in Epirus, the Peloponesus, and the neighbouring Countries, which has been graciously approved by His Majesty the August and exclusive Protector of these States; And it being expedient, as well as necessary, for especial and weighty reasons of State, that those Ionian Subjects, who, in abuse of the reiterated paternal indulgences of their Government, violate the National Laws, and compromise the highest duties of honour and the most important interests of their Country, should meet with the punishment due to their criminal delinquency; It is therefore ordered and directed, by these presents, under the authority of his Highness the President, and the Most Excellent Senate, with the approbation and concurrence of the Most Noble the Legislative Assembly of the United States of the Ionian Islands, in this Fifth Session of the First Parliament, and with the consent of his Excellency the Lord High Commissioner of the Sovereign Protector: I. That the Subjects of these States who, in respect of the calamities abovementioned, have taken, or do or shall take, an active belligerent part, in favour of, or against, any of the hostile Parties, in Epirus, the Peloponesus, or the Islands, Countries, or Seas adjacent, are for ever banished from the Territory of the Ionian Islands, and their Dependencies. II. That their moveable and immoveable property, and effects of every description, shall be confiscated agreeably to the Laws in force. III. That they shall also be punished personally, with the utmost rigour of the Law, whenever they fall into the power of the Go vernment. IV. That the term within which the foregoing enactments shall be enforced against Ionian Subjects in belligerent activity, shall be; in Epirus, 20 days, and in the Peloponesus, and the other Countries and Seas above set forth, 40 days, after the Proclamation of Neutrality of the 7th of June, 1821. V. The present Act shall be printed, and promulgated, and transmitted to the Authorities entrusted with its execution. Corfu, 2d April, 1822. DEMO. VALSAMACHI, Secretary to the Most Noble the Legislative Assembly. PROCLAMATION of the Regency of Urgel to the Spanish Nation, respecting the Government of Spain.—15th August, 1822. (Translation.) SPANIARDS!-Ever since the 9th of March, 1820, your King, Ferdinand VII., has been a Captive; deprived of the means of promoting the good of his People, or of governing them according to the ancient Laws, Constitution, privileges, and customs of the Peninsula, dictated by a wise, free, and impartial Cortes. This innovation is the outrage of certain Individuals, who, preferring their interest to Spanish honour, have consented to become Instruments for the subversion of the altar, the throne, and the order and peace of all Europe. What right have they, by such subversions, to make you the scandal of the Universe? No other than that of force, acquired by criminal Not satisfied with all the evils which they have inflicted upon you, they conduct you, by the dissolution of the social body, to the most frightful catastrophe. means. The Ordinances which they promulgate, in the name of the King, are issued against his wish, and without his consent. His August Person is exposed to insults and indignities, since, yielding to the revolt of a part of his Army, and menaced with greater evils, he saw himself constrained to swear to a Constitution, made during his previous captivity-a Constitution contrary to the wishes of Spain, which deprived it of its ancient organization, and despoiled the Princes who are to succeed to the Throne, of those rights of which His Majesty himself could not dispose; a Constitution, in fine, the source of the great evils which oppress this precious portion of Europe, and of which our Country must become the victim, which France, our Neighbour, became, by pursuing a similar course. You have already experienced how fatal is this desire of innovation in all things. Compare the promises with the actions of the Men thus engaged, and you will find them in perpetual contradiction. If the former dazzle you for an instant, the latter undeceive you. The religion of our Fathers, which they promised you to preserve untouched, is despoiled of its Temples; its Ministers are vilified, reduced to poverty, and deprived of all authority, and of all influence. Every where they have opened the road to demoralization and atheism. The Nation is exposed to anarchy, without the possibility of improving, and without the hope of reaping the fruits of its labour and industry. Your destruction is certain, if you do not arm yourselves, and make use of the Right of which no one can deprive you. Astounded by the attack made against order, and the customs, and interests of your Country, will you behold with apathy your King torn from His throne: while the Innovators despoil you of your property; occupy the Publick Stations; render justice arbitrary in its decisions, for the furtherance of their own purposes; fill the dungeons, and crowd the scaffolds with victims for endeavouring to restrain that violence of which, however they may assert to the contrary, they were the primary instigators,-by exciting tumult in the first instance, and then by making tools of those Persons who have been elected by bribery. and corruption;-who style themselves a Cortes, and most notoriously cause the Representation of the Kingdom to be a mere nullity? Your condition is that of Orphans, embroiled in faction, deprived of liberty, and plunged in a chaos. The contributions demanded of you, although beyond your means, are insufficient to carry on the expences of the State; the Loans which weigh heavily on you have only served to exalt the Projectors and Agents of your ruin; you are not secure in your homes, and peace has been driven from amongst you in order to despoil you of your fortunes. One of the losses which you have already incurred is the want of union between your Territories. America has declared itself independent, and the misfortunes of the Year 1812, in Cadiz, have caused, and will continue to cause, calamities of direful extent. The soil of your Country is threatened to become the theatre of new Wars, although it has not as yet recovered the ravages of those that have past. All these evils are the consequence of your having cast aside the monarchical Government; which promoted the tranquillity of your Forefathers, and to which, as being the best invented by Man, all Countries have returned, when they have awakened from their delusions. The deceptions now held out to you are the same as those which have ever produced the overthrow of States. Your Laws were the fruit of the wisdom and experience of Ages, and you have a right to demand the observance of them: the reforms which time may render necessary should be very carefully considered, and not adopted until after mature reflection: those Laws provided for your security, they promoted your riches and felicity, and under them you enjoyed all the happiness possible to society, together with the freedom of expressing your thoughts.. The repeated Conspiracies since the Year 1814, and the conduct of the Advocates for the new order of things, have prevented the execution of the happy Measures which the King had proposed to himself to adopt;-a ferment, hostile to the ancient Spanish Cortes, has plunged every thing into confusion; and the moment of their convocation was embraced, in order to produce the explosion which took place in the Year 1820, when His Majesty, who had caused them to assemble, was obliged to swear to the Constitution of Cadiz, which established the popular Sovereignty. Aid us, therefore, with your fidelity and energy, so that in Juntas, freely and legally assembled, your wishes may be examined, and the measures calculated to promote your welfare in every particular, fully and wisely discussed, by which you will possess a sure guarantee of your repose, in conformity with your ancient Constitution, rights, and privileges. Every Spaniard should assist, in order to stem such a torrent of evils-union is indispensable-and it is better to die, with honour, than to succumb to a Martyrdom, which will ultimately lead you to the same catastrophe; with this difference, that you will be covered with ignominy. The Nation still possesses faithful Soldiers, who, without having forgotten their first Oaths, will assist us, in replacing the King on his Throne, in restoring peace to Families, in leading them back to the path pointed out to them by their Ancestors, and abolishing all the innovations which are the chimeras of ambition in short, a firm resolution will withdraw us from opprobrium : the Church demands it, the State requires it for the King, the national honour dictates it, and the interest of the Country calls on you to defend it. This truth being evident, various Provinces, and the Inhabitants in general of the whole Peninsula, have reiterated to us their entreaties, that, until the Lord Don Ferdinand VIIth shall be at perfect liberty, We should, in His Royal Name, put ourselves at the head of the Defenders of a cause so dear to us, giving to the Government that career of action which the happiness of the Nation renders necessary, in order to put an end to the evils of anarchy in which it is plunged; and We, being convinced of the propriety of those entreaties, and desirous of fulfilling the wishes of all Spaniards, who love the Altar, the Throne, and the Country, have accepted this duty, relying for success upon the aid of Almighty Providence, and resolved to employ all the means within our reach, to save the Nation which solicits our aid, in a crisis, the most momentous perhaps that has ever befallen it, since the first foundation of its Monarchy. In virtue whereof,-constituting ourselves into a Supreme Government of this Kingdom, in the name of His Majesty, the Lord Don Ferdinand VIIth, (during his captivity) and in that of his August Dynasty (in their relative situation) for the sole purpose of preserving their legitimate rights, as well as those of the Spanish Nation; of pro curing for it that felicity and welfare of which it is now deprived; and of removing all the pretexts which have been employed to seduce it ;We hereby command: I. That the installation of the present Government be made known to all the Inhabitants of Spain, so that all Orders emanating from it may be obeyed; notifying to them that for every disobedience shewn against those Orders they shall be accounted Enemies to the Legitimate King, and to their Country. In virtue whereof, affairs shall at present be regulated by the observance of the Military Ordinances and Laws which were in force before the said 9th day of March, 1820. II. That it be declared that, since the day on which, by force and threats, the Lord Don Ferdinand VIIth was compelled to take the Oath to the Constitution, which, in his absence and without his consent, was proclaimed in Cadiz in the Year 1812, His Majesty has been in a state of rigorous captivity. In consequence whereof, the Orders communicated in his Royal Name shall be accounted of no value or efficacy, and shall not be complied with until His Majesty, restored to perfect liberty, can ratify or issue them anew. III. That those who have conspired against the liberty of His Majesty, and those who continue publickly to detain him in the said captivity, by force, or by means of his co-operative assistance, shall be tried according to the Laws, and suffer the penalties by them attached to so flagrant a crime. IV. That it be declared that many Members of the Cortes, which promulgated the said Constitution in Cadiz, were not chosen by the People, and that some of them were not at liberty to express and maintain their opinions. That the subsequent Cortes, composed in a great measure of Individuals elected by subornation and threats, whose powers were assigned to them during a state of violence and anarchy, were as little the Representatives of the Nation, and could not in a valid manner enact any measure that should be obligatory on the Inhabitants of this Peninsula, and of America belonging to it. V. That, persuaded of the fidelity of a great part of the Army, which served under the banners of Religion, of the King, and of the Country, on the said 9th day of March; that they have been compelled to succumb to force, and that some have deemed it needless to manifest their sentiments, whilst others were not aware of the violence which compelled His Majesty to take the Oath aforesaid, or of the want of his authority and consent to the Orders issued in His Royal Name; and convinced that they are desirous of preventing (that which will otherwise be necessary) the arrival of Foreign Troops in the Peninsula, to stem the tide of evils, which must inevitably increase, unless His Majesty be restored to his Throne; we call upon all the Military, who are attached and faithful to the objects above stated, to perform their duty, and to unite under those banners which we shall |