SPEECH of the King, on the Closing of the Extraordinary GENTLEMEN, (Translation.) At the moment of closing your labours in this Legislature, I come, with you and the Nation, to render thanks to God for the success of the Legislative measures which you have adopted for the reformation of the social edifice. My attention is naturally fixed on the Political Constitution or Fundamental Law of the State, which I have sworn to, voluntarily and deliberately, and which receives this day the sacred promise of all the Citizens. Yes, Gentlemen, all Portuguese must feel a virtuous pride in be holding the Rights of Man, as a member of Society, established amongst them on principles as solid and durable as eternal morality. The Throne, built upon the Law, and the prosperity of our social institutions, supported by the sublime power of the divine Religion which we profess; the safety of Individuals and property, combined with the interest and security of the State; the agreement, and the harmony, between the rights of the Citizen and his duties; the civil liberty of the Individual, and the well-being of society, guaranteed by the responsi bility of the publick Functionaries, and by the just Liberty of the Press What a sum of happy results, Gentlemen, do the conditions of our social compact promise! Faithful Representatives of the Nation, you have embraced the whole extent of the wants of the People. Whilst research and meditation prepared the work of the Constitutional Code, your care provided a remedy for the evils that most urgently required it. Thus, the administration of Justice; the restoration of publick Credit, Commerce, Navigation, Agriculture, Manufactures, publick Instruction and philanthropy, have received the impulse of wisdom and patriotic zeal, which characterise and distinguish the Regenerators of a Nation in an enlightened age. To this spirit of justice and order, with which the plan of the po litical regeneration of the Monarchy was conceived we owe the rela tions of friendship and interest, which happily subsist with Foreign Powers; and most particularly with the Constitutional and Represen ative Governments of both Worlds; and I have particular satisfaction being able to announce to you, that the most positive declarations f the Governments of France and England, have fully secured us against the apprehension of any attack upon our Independence. To the same wisdom, and to the measures of conciliation, with which you have endeavoured to maintain the integrity of the United Kingdom, and to strengthen the fraternal ties which bind us to our Brethren of Brazil, the dissenting Provinces will owe, I trust, the return of their tranquillity, and of the blessings, which they can only expect, from their union with the Portuguese of Europe. This subject, Gentlemen, awakens recollections which deeply afflict my heart. I would not touch upon it, were it not so intimately connected with the progress of your labours, and with the claim which it gives you, to the acknowledgments of the Nation, and to my personal gratitude. The glory of Kings is inseparable from the happiness of their Subjects; and He who presides over a free Nation is as happy as He is miserable who rules over Slaves. This is the measure of the satisfaction which your illustrious and useful labours afford me. They open a boundless career of prosperity and glory to the noble Portuguese Nation, whose fate is essentially united with mine. You are going, Gentlemen, to receive from your Constituents, the congratulations and benedictions to which your services entitle you. Convey to them, at the same time, the assurance that my care and solicitude continue to be devoted to the welfare of the Nation. Acquaint them with the sincerity of my intentions and the consistency of my proceedings, of which you have been eye witnesses; and if it should be necessary, inspire them with a true love of their Country, which should induce them to sacrifice every thing for it; and teach them that a faithful adherence to the Constitutional System, essentially consists in obedience to the Laws, and in a love of order and justice, without which the best Institutions cannot prosper. In this manner, continuing to instruct and to edify, you will enjoy, in the publick gratitude, the just reward of your glorious labours; and the generous People to which you have consecrated them, by following the course which you have traced out for them, will become, by the perfection of their social Institutions, the model and the envy of other Nations. SPEECH of the King, on the Opening of the Cortes of Portugal.-1st December, 1822. GENTLEMEN, (Translation.) Your assembling in this August Hall, on a day celebrated by the Liberty and Independence of the Nation, offers an additional motive for me to congratulate you on the confidence with which your Fellowcitizens have distinguished you, at the same time that I recommend to your consideration the subjects of great importance with which you will have to be occupied. The Constituent Cortes, by settling the conditions of the social Compact, have fixed the rights of Citizenship and the limits of civil freedom. In framing the Constitution to which we have sworn, they planned and commenced a magnificent work, the completion of which is by the Law and the choice of the Nation intrusted to your hands. So much the more difficult, therefore, must it be for, you to fulfil the [1821-22.] 3 K duties which you have taken upon yourselves, if your labours are to correspond with the confidence of your Fellow-citizens. Yes, Gentlemen! great intelligence and much firmness are wanting for the completion of the details of those regulatory Laws, on the wisdom of which depends the triumph of the Constitution over the rebellion of a constantly refractory egotism. Fortunately, the Portuguese People in general approve of the Constitution, because they are sensible of the necessity of reform. Pacifick, and submissive to reason and the Law, this heroick People are daily acquiring new titles to the distinguished place which it becomes them to occupy among civilized Nations. The due administration of Justice engaged the attention of the Constituent Cortes, because that is the most sacred object of the Laws, and the most important for Mankind. This subject also de mands your wise deliberation. It is necessary that the great work which has been begun should be completed, in order that the Govern ment may make known the effects of the salutary reform which the Country desires. The management of the Revenue, and the establishment of Publick Credit, claim your special attention. The most effectual means of attaining these objects would be the producing an equilibrium between the Publick Income and Expenditure, by a diminution of the latter agreeably to the rules of a rigid economy. The reduction of expense, and a reform in the mode of collection and distribution of the Income, will depend on the wisdom of your deliberations. The paternal love which I bear towards the Portuguese has directed my solicitude and particular attention to the important objects of the publick health, and the advancement of education. The numerica force of the People, being in exact proportion to the means of subsist ence and the preservation of publick safety, constitutes the bases of the power and greatness of a Nation; and the firmness and stability of the social edifice depend essentially on the encouragement of those habits which derive their origin from a religious respect for the Laws. The well-directed liberty of the Press, and the distinctions whic the Constitution confers on virtue and talents, doubtless proportion the hope of the moral and political regeneration of the Portuguese People, with the progress of civilization. But the efforts of the Government for the encouragement of the arts and sciences will be insufficient, with out the support of Leigislative Authority; a support which your knowledge and patriotism assure me will not be wanting, as you must be convinced that a Nation cannot be free without being virtuous and civilized. The regulatory Laws of the Municipal and Administrative Bodies, on which, in a great measure, depend the fulfilment of the Constitution, and the vivifying principles of regeneration, are above all necessary, for preventing those doubts which frequently arise, in consequence of the powers which belong to each of the constituted Authorities not being precisely defined. It was indispensably necessary to reform the ancient Institutions, but the necessity for those which are to be judiciously substituted for them, is still more urgent. I am convinced of the wisdom and the zeal of the Legislative Body for the improvement of the different branches of the Public Administration. My co-operative efforts will always be devoted to the welfare of the Nation, because I cannot consider my existence as happy unless it be accompanied by that prosperity, dignity, virtue, and felicity, which ought to constitute the habitual and permanent condition of the Portuguese People. n The 酒匯⁑ CONVENTION entre la Prusse et la Russie, relativement aux prétentions des Sujets du Royaume de Pologne, du chef d'anciennes Créances Silésiennes.-Signée à Berlin, le 20 Fevrier, 1822. Au nom de la Très Sainte et Indivisible Trinité ! SA Majesté le Roi de Prusse, Grand Duc de Posen, et Sa Majesté l'Empereur de toutes les Russies, Roi de Pologne, considérant, que les prétentions qui se fondent sur des obligations contractées par l'Ancienne Bankalitats-Cameral-Casse à Breslau, ou par l'Ancien SteuerAmt de Silésie, ou bien qui en général dérivent de prêts assignés sur les domaines, ou sur les fonds et revenus de Silésie, ont fait l'objet de Traités conclus entre la Prusse et l'Autriche; que la ci-devant Bankalitats-Cameral-Casse à Breslau n'a rien de commun ni avec la Banque de Berlin, ni avec le Comptoir de Banque à Breslau, lequel ne forme qu'un établissement sécondaire de cette dernière; que par la Convention de Berlin, du Mai, 1819, les capitaux, que la Banque et la Caisse Générale des Invalides à Berlin possédent en Pologne, ont été déclarés propriété particulière, et ne sauroient, par conséquent, être attaqués à titre d'aucune créance ou prétention à la charge du Gouvernement Prussien; désirant d'ailleurs écarter les doutes, qui ont été élevés sur l'application des Stipulations contenues dans les Articles XIII et XIV de la susdite Convention du 23 Mai, 1819, et prévenir par rapport à ces Stipulations, des interprétations. que, si elles étoient jugées nécessaires, il n'appartiendroit qu'aux Gouvernemens seuls de faire; ont nommé à cet effet leurs Plénipotentiaires: savoir; Sa Majesté le Roi de Prusse, le Sieur Chrétien Gonthier, Comte de Bernstorff, son Ministre d'Etat, du Cabinet et des Affaires Etrangères, Chevalier des Ordres de l'Aigle Noire et de l'Aigle Rouge de la Pre mière Classe de Prusse; de ceux de St. André, de St. Alexandre-Newsky, et de Ste. Anne'de la Première Classe de Russie; Grand' Croix de l'Ordre Royal de St. Etienne de Hongrie; Chevalier de l'Ordre de l'Eléphant, et Grand' Croix de celui de Danebrog de Danemarc; Grand Cordon de la Légion d'Honneur de France; Grand' Croix de l'Ordre Royal de St. Ferdinand et du Mérite de Sicile; Grand' Croix de l'Ordre du Lion d'Or de la Hesse Electorale, et de celui du Mérite de la Hesse Grande-ducale; Chevalier des Ordres de la Fidélité et du Lion de Zahringen de Bade; Et Sa Majesté l'Empereur de toutes les Russies, le Sieur David, Comte d'Alopeus, Son Conseiller Privé, Chambellan Actuel, Envoyé Extraordinaire et Ministre Plénipotentiaire à la Cour de Berlin; Chevalier des Ordres de St. Alexandre-Newsky, et de Ste. Anne, de la Première Classe; Grand' Croix de la Seconde Classe de celui de St. Wladimir; Chevalier de l'Aigle Blanche de Pologne, et Grand Cordon de la Légion d'Honneur; lesquels, après avoir échangé leurs Pleins Pouvoirs, trouvés en bonne et due forme, sont convenus des Articles suivans: ART. I. Les réclamations fondées sur des prétentions provenant d'obligations contractées par l'Ancienne Bankalitats-Cameral-Casse à Breslau, ou par l'Ancien Steuer-Amt de Silésie, ou dérivant de prêts assignés sur les domaines ou sur les fonds et revenues de la Silésie, et qui seroient élevées, soit contre la Banque et la Caisse des Invalides à Berlin, soit contre toute autre institution ou Caisse Publique Prussienne qui possèderoit des capitaux ou des biens en Pologne, ne peuvent être soumises à la connoissance et à la décision des Tribunaux de ce Royaume. Ces Tribunaux ne pourront par conséquent non plus faire arrêt de ce chef sur les propriétés, que les susdits établissemens possèdent ou acquerroient en Pologne, et un pareil arrêt, fut-il déjà fait, sera incessamment levé. II. Les Sujets Polonois qui posséderoient des titres propres à fonder des prétentions de la nature de celles, dont il est question dans l'acte précédent, les remettront à leur Gouvernement, qui les adressera au Ministre de Sa Majesté Impériale et Royale près Sa Majesté le Roi de Prusse, afin que le Ministre les présente directement au Cabinet de Berlin. III. Le Gouvernement Prussien fera droit à ces réclamations, des qu'elles auront été reconnues légitimes et fondées, et en tant qu'elles portent sur des obligations, qui retomberont à sa charge en vertu des arrangemens qu'il va prendre avec le Gouvernement Autrichien pour l'exécution définitive du Traité de Berlin de 1742. Les Sujets Polonois qui possédent des Créances de ce genre, soit en première, soit en seconde main, ou moyennant des ventes ultérieures, seront traités sous ce rapport, tout comme les Sujets Prussiens, dont les prétentions appartiennent à la même classe. |