ecclesiastical employment without swearing to observe and maintain this Constitution.

CXLIII. Whatsoever person shall make any attempt, or aid in any attempt against the present Constitution, after it has been published, shall be adjudged guilty of treason, and punished accordingly.

CXLIV. The General Assembly alone can resolve the doubts which may occur as to the meaning of any of the Articles of this Constitution.

SECTION VIII.-General Declarations.

CXLV. All the inhabitants of the State have a right to be protected in the enjoyment of their life, character, liberty, security and property. No one can be deprived of the same except in conformity with the laws.

CXLVI. All the inhabitants of the State are equal in the eye of the law, which, whether penal, mandatory, permissive or protective, shall be the same for all.

CXLVII. Every one may publish his thoughts and opinions by means of the press, subject to the law thereupon provided.

CXLVIII. Every order for search, for the arrest of one or more suspected persons, or for the seizure of their property, must specify the persons or objects of such search or seizure. In the contrary case it cannot be executed.

CXLIX. The rights of peaceably assembling together and of petitioning, either individually or collectively, all their Authorities are secured to all the inhabitants of the State. The form of these proceedings shall be regulated by the law relative thereto.

CL. The right of imposing fines and mulcts is reserved to the Legislative Body, with the exception of a few inconsiderable ones, which, until the Penal Code is published, shall be determined by the Executive Power and the Superior Tribunal of Justice.

CLI. Every delinquent may, when taken in flagranti delicto, be arrested by any person whomsoever, and carried before the judge.

CLII. Except in the case of the preceding Article, no one car be detained, without at least one summary examination, at whic shall be produced half-proofs or indications of an act deserving corporal punishment, nor can any one be committed to pri without the previous production of a judge's warrant.

CLIII. From the above is excepted the case in which pa order or safety requires the arrest of one or more indivi without the observance of the aforesaid requisites; but thenso arrested must, within 48 hours, be brought before the co tribunal or judge, who shall proceed to examine him with all expedition.

me in

CLIV. Every arrested person must, within 3 days, have notified to him the cause of his arrest.

CLV. Excepting in cases deserving of corporal punishment no one shall be liable to imprisonment who can give sufficient bail to answer any damages or claims that may be brought against him. CLVI. No law shall have a retroactive effect.

CLVII. Every inhabitant of the State has the right to quit it whenever he pleases, taking with him all his property, provided he observes the police regulations, and does not compromise the rights of a third person.

CLVIII. Epistolary correspondence is inviolable. Whosoever violates it, renders himself guilty of an act against personal security. The law shall determine in what cases, and under what pleas, such correspondence may be seized.

CLIX. The following laws are ratified: those relating to the free pasture of breeding cattle, as well as those which prohibit the Slave Trade, the confiscation of property, the torture, cruel punishments, entails, and mortmain.

CLX. The house of a citizen is an inviolable asylum, and can only be forcibly entered by virtue of the written order of a judge or of some other competent authority.

CLXI. No inhabitant of the State can be punished for the commission of any crime, without previous trial and legal sentence.

CLXII. In like manner, he shall not be compelled to do that which the law does not enjoin, or prevented from doing what the latter does not prohibit.

CLXIII. The private actions of men, which in no way offend public order, or injure others, are reserved for God alone, and exempted from the authority of the magistrate.

CLXIV. The liberty of manual labour, trade, and commerce, is a right belonging to every inhabitant of the State, provided that it in no way offends or injures public morality.

CLXV. No arrested person shall be compelled to take an oath or to make a confession, when put upon his examination.

CLXVI. Never can the Executive Power in the State be invested with extraordinary powers.

CLXVII. Prisons are intended for the safe custody, not for the pain and annoyance of persons arrested; the authorities, therefore, shall be responsible for any unnecessary severity they may inflict.

CLXVIII. All property is inviolable, excepting the case of its being taken for purposes of public utility, in the form and under the regulations which the law upon that subject shall establish.

CLXIX. Education, at least that which is primary, shall be at the cost of the State.

CLXX. Municipal government shall be established throughout

the State. The form of the election of the members of municipalities, the attributes and duties of the latter, as well as all that relates to their revenues and imposts shall be fixed by a law to that effect.

CLXXI. The State of Buenos Ayres shall not form part of the General Congress, except upon the basis of the federal form, with the reservation, moreover, of freely revising and accepting the General Constitution which shall be offered.

CLXXII. The present Constitution shall be signed in the Sessions, by the President, Vice-Presidents, and the other members of the Chamber, and countersigned by its 2 Secretaries.

Additional Articles.

CLXXIII. The Executive Power shall be entrusted with promulgating the present Constitution, and shall fix the day on which it shall be sworn to.

CLXXIV. The Executive Power shall convoke the meetings necessary for electing Senators and Representatives, conformably to what has been provided in Article XVIII of the present Constitution; and the proceedings of the same shall, as up to the present time, be forwarded to the President of the Chamber, who shall send them to the Committee of Petitions, for ulterior objects.

CLXXV. The present Legislature shall continue until the proceedings of the said elections be approved by it.

CLXXVI, The Constitution being signed, the Legislature shall declare itself prorogued, and during the recess, it shall re-assemble only when required so to do in consequence of some important event, or of some urgent necessity requiring it, as well as for the purpose of examining the proceedings above mentioned.

CLXXVII. The said proceedings being approved, notice shall be sent to the Executive Power, in order that the latter may proceed to invite the elected members to assemble in preparatory sessions; and the present Legislature shall then declare itself dissolved.

CLXXVIII. The Constitutional Assembly shall be solemnly installed on the 24th of May.

Given in the Hall of Sessions in Buenos Ayres, on the 11th April, 1854.

PHILIP LLAVALLOL, President.

DOMINGO OLIVERA,

FRANCISCO DE LAS CARRERAS,} Vice-Presidents.

[Here follow the signatures of 39 Members.]

MANUEL PEREZ DEL CERRO, Secretaries.

ADOLFO ALSINA,

The present Constitution having been received, let the same be fulfilled and observed in all its parts; for which purpose, besides its

publication by the press, let it be solemnly proclaimed in the Plaza de la Victoria, on Tuesday, the 18th instant, at mid-day, to which effect the necessary orders shall be issued; let it also be circulated throughout all the civil, military, and ecclesiastical establishments of the State.

PENA.

ESCALADA.

JOSE M. LA FUENTE, Official Mayor.

CORRESPONDENCE respecting the Bombardment and Destruction of San Juan del Norte, or Greytown, by The United States' ship Cyane.-May-July, 1854.

No. 1.-The United States' Commercial Agent at San Juan del Norte to The United States Secretary of State.

SIR,

San Juan del Norte, Nicaragua, May 15, 1854.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of flag and arms of The United States for this Agency, per steam ship Star of the West, on the 2nd March last.

I have also to acknowledge receipt of your despatch, dated March 21, granting me leave of absence for 6 weeks, agreeably to my request, and it is my present intention to leave per steam ship Northern Light, on or about the 1st proximo.

Since my last despatch of 3rd March, there have been some matters of difference between the people of this town and the Accessory Transit Company of Nicaragua. Mr. Joseph L. White, agent of the company, left here on the 17th of March, without having effected any settlement of existing difficulties between the company and the town. Before leaving, he gave instructions to the captains and pursers of the steam ships to pay no more port charges at San Juan del Norte, and take no letters or other packages or freight for, and have no communication of any nature whatever with, the people of said town. This proceeding, on the part of the company, exasperated much the people of the town.

The ground taken by the company in this matter was, that the territory which they occupied, known as Point Arenas, was held by them by virtue of their charter from Nicaragua, and was a portion of that State; that their steam ships did not come within the jurisdiction of the municipal authorities of San Juan del Norte, and were consequently not to be held liable for any port charges levied. by the authorities of that town.

On the 15th of April an election of town officers was held, which resulted in the choice of an administation supposed to be friendly to the Transit Company, and prepared to settle all differences with the said company upon the terms set forth by Mr. White while

here.

But on the evening of the 5th instant a disturbance took place upon the shores of the harbour, the details of which are fully, and as I believe correctly, set forth in the accompanying document, and on the evening of the 6th instant, another and more serious difficulty occurred, which is correctly described in Inclosure 2. The facts set forth in these two protests of Mr. Scott, general agent of the Accessory Transit Company of Nicaragua, are substantiated by depositions taken before me of several of the employés of the company. The point of contention between the parties is, as will be seen, the right of jurisdiction on the part of the municipal authorities of San Juan del Norte over Point Arenas.

Since the occurrences described in the above-named documents, affairs have gone on quietly. On the 12th, Mr. Scott appeared in court that his bail might not be forfeited, but declined contesting the case, having already protested. After a brief examination of the person presenting the complaint, he Mr. Scott, was discharged. The trial of Sloman will take place on the 20th instant, when, as he acknowleges the offence with which he is charged, he will probably be condemned to pay a few dollars fine and cost of court.

I have brought this matter to your notice, because I believe that, until affairs are arranged between the Nicaragua Transit Company and the town of San Juan del Norte, or until the question of sovereignty over this town and the territory of Point Arenas is settled, there can be no permanent tranquillity or well-being on either side. I do not apprehend that any serious disturbances will arise for the present; but I am, nevertheless, of opinion that the frequent visits to our harbour of vessels of war of The United States will exercise a beneficial influence upon the interests of all concerned. I am, &c.

The Hon. W. L. Marcy.

JOSEPH W. FABENS,

(Inclosure 1.)-Protest of the Agent of the Accessory Transit Company of Nicaragua.-May 12, 1854.

San Juan del Norte, Nicaragua. By this public instrument of protest be it known unto all men, THAT on this 12th day of May, A.D. 1854, personally appeared Joseph N. Scott, agent of the Accessory Transit Company of Nicaragua, who, being duly sworn, did solemnly depose and say:

That on the evening of Friday, 5th instant, at or about the hour of 11 P.M., William Creighton, mate of the steamer H. L. Bulwer,