TITLE XXIII. OF THE USE OF THE PRESS. CCLXII. The Press shall be free, and be protected and encouraged, in so far as it may lead to the promotion of morality and good conduct, to the examination and discovery of useful objects within human reach, to the due exposition of the civic virtues and the faults of functionaries in employment, and the encouragement of proper and decorous amusements. CCLXIII. It shall be prohibited: 1. From attacking the conduct of any private citizen, or the private actions of publick functionaries. 2. From discussing the mysteries, dogmas, and religious and moral discipline, generally approved by the Catholick Church. CCLXIV. A Tribunal for the Liberty of the Press shall be formed, composed of 7 persons, from amongst 21, who may be rejected, or changed. Literary councillors shall also be appointed, and a judicial commission to decide upon the particular duties of those individuals who may be selected by the National Chamber; which shall frame a regulation detailing their respective attributes. CCLXV. Every writing intended for publication shall be submitted to the Council of good men, for the mere and only purpose of pointing out to the author any objectionable passages which it may contain. CCLXVI. Information thereof having been given to the author, he may either correct them, or vindicate them, without costs, in a publick proceeding before the Tribunal for the Liberty of the Press, which shall be limited to the mere inspection of the passages objected to, and he shall not afterwards be answerable for the publication. Should he not chuse to correct the same, or vindicate them before the Tribunal, he shall be at liberty to publish them, subject to the legal penalty attached to an abuse of the Press, if it prove so to be; but in such cases it shall not be printed, unless the author be a person of respectability, and enabled to give good security for personal responsibility. CCLXVII. A writing may be submitted anonymously for revision, and the Councillor shall keep it secret, if so required. CCLXVIII. No writing shall remain in the possession of the Councillor for a longer period than that prescribed by the regulation, after which it may be printed at the responsibility of the said Councillor. TITLE XXIV. OF INTERNAL TRANQUILLITY, PERMANENCY OF THE CONSTITUTION, AND OATH OF FUNCTIONARIES. CCLXIX. In the event of any serious civil discord, or of an insurrection in any Province, the Senate, the Government, the Supreme Court of Justice, or the Departmental Council of the Capital, (either Body in default of the other), shall declare the convocation of the National Chamber, for the sole object of electing the Commission of National Conciliation. CCLXX. This Commission shall be composed of 3 National Councillors elected by a majority. They may elect those who are not Councillors, should the exigency of the moment require it. CCLXXI. From the moment of their election, their persons shall be inviolable. They shall have the right to present themselves before the Armies, or assemblies of the State, to treat with the chiefs or persons they may think proper, and safe conduct shall be given to them to repair to any place or conference whatever. CCLXXII. Whoever shall plot against the life or liberty of the National Conciliators, or of the persons charged with their safe conduct, shall be declared an Out-law, and be subject to the penalty of death. Such crime shall never be pardoned, and the Chief within whose jurisdiction it be committed, shall not be employed by the State, unless he punish it. CCLXXIII. The National Conciliators shall not command any armed corps, or join with any party under pain of death. CCLXXIV. They shall treat with the Chiefs of Provinces, or discordant parties, and shall employ every means in their power to reestablish order, conciliation, and obedience to the Laws. CCLXXV. The present Code shall be the permanent Constitution of the State. Neither the Senate itself, nor jointly with the National Chamber, can annul its laws, or suspend its fulfilment. CCLXXVI. Should circumstances, or an extended and satisfactory investigation, prove that any Law be objectionable, and its execution impracticable, the Senate shall propose its repeal, and the proposition shall be discussed in 3 monthly Sessions of 3 days each. It shall then be remitted to the National Chamber, in which it shall be discussed in 2 monthly Sessions of 2 days each: and should its repeal be approved by the Chamber, it shall be transmitted for the confirmation of the periodical Electoral Assemblies, which shall decide the question, affirmatively or negatively, in their respective ballots. CCLXXVII. Functionaries of every class and description belonging to the State, shall take the following oath on entering office : "That they will obey and defend the Constitution and the Laws of the State, the suspensive veto of the Senate, the resolutions of the National Chamber, and the orders and decrees of the Directory. That they will obey and recognise as functionaries, those nominated by the People in the Electoral Assemblies; and, if possible, chastise with the punishment of death, those who may attack the inviolability of the National Conciliators, or of those charged with their safe conduct." The Supreme Director, the Senators and Ministers of State, the Procurado General, the Governors, Intendants and Delegates, the Departmenta lors, and the Ministers of the Courts of Justice and Appeal, shall also swear that they profess the Roman Catholick Religion. Given in the Hall of the Sessions of the Constituent Congress, signed with our hand, sealed with the Seal of State, and counter-signed by our Secretaries, the 28th of December, 1823.-6th of Independence. FERNANDO ERRAZURIS, President. JOSE IGNACIO EYZAGUIRRE, Vice-President. (and 47 other Deputies.) DR. GABRIEL OCAMPO, Secretary. MIGUEL RIESCO Y PUENTE, Pro-Secretary. Wherefore I command all Chilians, subjects of the Government, of whatever class or condition, to keep and observe the said Constitution, as a fundamental Law of the State. And I also command all Tribunals, Justices, Chiefs, Governors, and other authorities, as well Civil and Military, as Ecclesiastic, of all classes and dignities, to observe and cause to be observed and executed, the said Constitution, in all its parts; causing it to be printed, published, and circulated. Given in the Directorial Palace of Santiago, 29th December, 1823. MARIANO DE EGANA. ACT of the British Parliament, relative to the Civil List Revenues; the Pensions of Ministers who have served the Crown at Foreign Courts, &c. (referred to in Page 568.) (Extract.) (22 Geo. 3. cap. 82.) XVII. And for the better Regulation of the granting of Pensions, and the prevention of Abuse or Excess therein, be it enacted, That from and after the 5th day of April, 1783, no Pension exceeding the sum of £300 a Year shall be granted to or for the use of any one Person; and that the whole amount of the Pensions granted in any one Year shall not exceed £600; a list of which, together with the Names of the Persons to whom the same are granted, shall be laid before Parliament in 20 days after the beginning of each Session, until the whole Pension List shall be reduced to £90,000; which Sum it shall not be lawful to exceed by more than £5,000 in the whole of all the Grants; nor shall any Pension be granted after the said reduction, to or for the use of any one Person, exceed the sum of £1,200 yearly, except to His Majesty's Royal Family, or on an Address of either House of Parliament. XVIII. And whereas it hath been usual that Persons who have served the Crown in Foreign Courts have, after the expiration of their Service, at His Majesty's Pleasure, received such proportion of their tion in spointments as to His Majesty hath seemed expedient; be it Justice enacted, That nothing in this Act contained relative to Pensions shall be construed to extend to such allowance either in present or in future; provided the said Persons do not severally enjoy some place or other profit from the Crown, to the amount of the Pension usually allowed in such cases; provided that the List of the said Pensions shall be laid, in the manner before mentioned, before Parliament. XX. Provided, That nothing herein contained shall restrain or be construed to restrain the High Treasurer or First Commissioner of the Treasury for the time being, by His Majesty's Consent, from taking away, or causing to be taken away, from the Private List or Lists of Pensions, the Names and Pensions of any Person or Persons which at present are entered on the said private List or Lists, or any of them. XXXIII. And be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That from and after the 5th day of April, 1783, if any Salary, Fee, or Pension, or any part thereof, shall remain in arrear at the usual time of payment, at the end of a period of 2 Years, from want of cash belonging to the Civil List Revenue to pay and discharge the same, the said arrear of Salary, Fee, or Pension shall not be carried as a Debt to the Account of the Year following, but shall be wholly lapsed and extinguished, as if the same had not been payable. DECREE of the King of the Netherlands, prohibiting the fitting out of Privateers under the French or Spanish Flag, and the admission of Belligerent Privateers and their Prizes.-21st April, 1823. (Translation.) WE, William, by the Grace of God, King of The Netherlands, Prince of Orange Nassau, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, &c. &c. On the Report, &c. Have decreed, and do decree: ART. I. It shall not be lawful in any of the Ports of this Kingdom, or of its Colonies, to fit out Privateers, under the French or Spanish flags. II. No Privateers commissioned by the Powers at War, nor any prizes captured by them, shall be admitted into the said Ports. III. Should any of the Vessels above mentioned enter the harbours of our Dominions in distress, they shall be required, as speedily as possible, to put to sea again. Copies of the present Decree shall be transmitted to all our Ministers, &c. Given at Brussels, April 21st, 1823, in the 10th Year of our Reign. LIAM. CONVENTION between Austria and Sicily, for the mutual arrest and surrender of Deserters.-Signed at Naples, 14th October, 1822. And Additional Article of 10th May, 1823. (Translation.) In order to conclude a Cartel for the mutual consignment of Deserters from the Austrian Army stationed in the Neapolitan Dominions on this and on the other side of the Faro, as also those from the Austrian Marine attached to the before-mentioned Army, on the one hand, and Deserters from the Neapolitan Army, and also those from the Neapolitan Marine on the other, We, the Undersigned, Prince of Scaletta, Lieutenant General in the Service of His Imperial Majesty, His Secretary of State, Minister of War, and Marine, &c. &c. &c., and Baron Frimont, Prince of Artrodocco, General of Cavalry in the Service of His Imperial Royal Apostolick Majesty, commanding his Army and Marine in lower Italy, &c. &c. &c., in virtue of the power and authority vested in us, have agreed upon the following Articles: ART. I. Every Military individual, without any exception, belonging to the Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery, Waggon Train, or any other Military Branch, as also the Soldiers attached to the Service of the Officers of the before-mentioned Austrian and Neapolitan Armies, as well as every individual belonging to the before-mentioned Navies, who shall have fled from the Service, though they shall not have been claimed, shall immediately be arrested wherever they are found, and consigned to the nearest Military Commandant of the Army to which they shall belong, and the consignment shall take place, with the arms, horses, military accoutrements, clothes, &c., and with every thing that shall be found upon them, or that shall have been left in custody elsewhere. II. From this consignment are excepted the Deserters, subjects of that Power into whose Service they have returned, notwithstanding Desertion, as they re-enter the Service of their natural Sovereign. III. Every Gendarme, Peasant, or other individual, who shall have arrested and deliver up an Austrian Deserter, shall receive from the Austrian Military chest a reward of 8 Neapolitan ducats. The expences for the maintenance of Deserters, which shall be fixed according to the Regulations of the respective Departments, shall be paid and restricted to the number of days absolutely necessary, for the transport of the Deserter from the place of his Arrest to the spot where the consignment shall take place. IV. If a Deserter, whether Austrian or Neapolitan, shall have committed a crime, or have been an accomplice in one, during his desertion, he shall, notwithstanding, be delivered up, together with the Procès Verbal of the offences he has committed, to the Military Corps he may belong to, which shall bring him to justice and punish him according to the Lpointment in a tice, |