Constitution, reminded you of our national glory, inherited from the great and noble race to which we owe our origin. When I then made so strong a manifestation of my sentiments, I believed that I faithfully interpreted yours, and I did not deceive myself; my conduct has always been traced out, but yours has exceeded my hopes. Numerous and spontaneous popular manifestations have reached me, and if yesterday you invested me with extraordinary powers, to-day you yourselves are anxious that what your loyalty always desired should become a truth. Religion, language, customs are all preserved by us in their purity; not without there having been some who endeavoured to rob us of those precious gifts; and the nation which has given us so much is the one which now opens her arms to us, like a fond mother who recovers her son, lost in the wreck in which he sees his brothers perish. Dominicans! it was only the ambition and the revenge of one man that separated us from the mother country; for a length of time afterwards the Haytians ruled our territory; our valour drove them from it; the years which have passed since then have been very eloquent for all! Shall we allow the elements to be lost upon which we now reckon, which are so dear to us, but not sufficiently strong to ensure our future and that of our children? Before such a thing should occur; before we see ourselves, like those other unhappy Republics, involved constantly in civil wars, sacrificing in them valiant generals, statesmen, numerous families, large fortunes, and a multitude of unhappy citizens, without finding the means of constituting themselves in a solid and strong manner, before such a day should arrive, I, who have always watched for your security; I, who assisted by your valour, have defended inch by inch the ground on which we stand; I, who know how imperious are your wants,-see now what I offer you in the Spanish nation, see what she concedes to us. She gives us the civil liberty which her people enjoy, she guarantees natural liberty, and takes away for ever the possibility of losing it; she ensures our property, recognizing as valid all the acts of the Republic; she offers to recognize and reward merit, and will bear in mind the services rendered to the country; she, in fine, brings peace to this soil so harassed, and with peace its beneficent consequences. Yes, Dominicans! henceforward you will rest from the fatigues of war, and you will occupy yourselves with untiring energy in working out the future of your children. Spain protects us; her flag covers us; her arms will have an im posing effect upon foreigners; she recognizes our liberties, and together we shall defend them, forming one sole people, one sole family, as we always have been; together we will prostrate ourselves before those altars which that nation erected; before those altars which she will now find as she left them, intact, safe, and still crowned with the shield of her arms, her castles and lions, the first standard which, along with the cross, Columbus fastened in these unknown lands, in the name of Isabel I, the great, the noble, the Catholic; an august name which the present Sovereign of Castile has inherited, inheriting at the same time the love of the inhabitants of the Island of Hispaniola: let us hoist the banner of her monarchy and proclaim her as our Queen and Sovereign. Long live Isabel II. Liberty for ever. Religion for ever. The Dominican people for ever. The Spanish nation for ever. San Domingo, 18th March, 1861. SANTANA. LOI de la Grèce, sur les Mariages Mixtes.-Athènes, le Août, 1861. (Traduction.) ОTHON, par la grace de Dieu, Roi de Grèce, d'accord avec la Chambre des Députés et le Sénat nous avons décrêté et ordonnons : ART. I. Le mariage entre un individu appartenant à l'Eglise Orthodoxe Orientale et un autre d'un culte Chrétien différent, est valable s'il est célébré par un prêtre de l'Eglise Othodoxe Orientale, d'après toutes les formalités exigées par la loi Grecque, et sur promesse solennelle du conjoint de rite différent, devant le juge-depaix de l'endroit où a lieu le mariage, qu'il s'engage à baptiser et élever les enfans du mariage dans la religion orthodoxe Orientale. Cet engagement est constaté dans un procès-verbal dressé par le juge-de-paix, signé par lui, son greffier et le fiancé contractant. Dans le cas où celui-ci ne saurait ou ne pourrait écrire, il en est fait mention au procès verbal. La contravention à cet engagement est punie conformément à l'Article CCLXX du Code-pénal. Est envisagé comme annulation de la promesse contractée le délai de plus d'une année mis par le conjoint de rite différent au baptême de son enfant; en ce cas, toutefois la peine de l'annulation cesse aussitôt la réalisation du baptême de l'enfant selon l'engagement pris. La permission de contracter mariage n'est pas accordée sans la promesse ci-dessus. Si cet engagement n'a pas lieu, la nullité d'un tel mariage peut être demandée par toute personne interessée et par le Procureur du Roi. II. S'il s'agit de contracter un semblable mariage à l'étranger, l'engagement par promesse solennelle est pris en présence du Consul Gree compétent, qui en dresse procès-verbal; en ce cas l'engagement est censé contracté devant une autorité judiciaire. III. Les mariages mixtes conclus jusqu'à ce jour, et célébrés par un prêtre de l'Eglise Orthodoxe Orientale, même sans la permission d'un Archevêque, sont reconnus valables, comme ci-dessus, et les enfans qui en sont issus comme légitimes, sans préjudice toutefois des droits des tiers. La présente loi, votée par la Chambre des Députés et par le Sénat, et sanctionnée aujourd'hui par nous, sera publiée dans le bulletin des lois et sera mise en exécution comme loi de l'Etat. Athènes le 9 Août, 1861. M. POTLIS. Au nom du Roi, La Reine AMALIE. DECREE of the Provisional President of Columbia, declaring that Foreigners domiciled in the Republic are capable of acquiring Real property in the same manner as Natives.Bogotá, June 10, 1862. (Translation.) T. C. DE MOSQUERA, Provisional President of The United States of Columbia and Supreme Director of the War, &c. Having referred to Articles VIII and IX of the Compact of Union of the States of Columbia, And to the Law of the 2nd of June, 1847, relative to the immigration of Foreigners; Considering that a foreign immigrant comes to the country not only to find a better material position, but also to enjoy the rights inherent to man and a country where those rights may be guaranteed to him; Considering that the provisions of Article IX of the Compact of Union refer to foreigners in transitu who may claim to enter into the condition of persons domiciled in the country; Considering that, according to positive international legislation, domiciliated foreigners are subject to the laws of the country where they settle, as regards property and essential rights, in the same manner as natives; Considering that it is an universally recognized principle of justice that obedience and protection are correlative, so that if a domiciliated foreigner becomes a member of the political society in which he lives, he ought also to enjoy to their full extent the civil and political rights which belong to natives; I DECREE: ART. I. Immigrants from the time of their arrival in the country shall be naturalized, and they shall acquire all the rights, and contract all the obligations of other Columbian citizens. For the term of 20 years, reckoned from the date of their arrival in the country, they shall be exempt from military service, except in case of foreign war, from all direct or extraordinary contributions and from all public employment, except in their own municipality. II. Foreigners married in the country or domiciliated by reason of permanent business or of property acquired, are capable of acquiring real property, without the necessity of complying with the conditions mentioned in Article IX of the Compact of Union, signed by the Plenipotentiaries of the States, on the 20th of September, 1861, as well as of voting and being elected for all public posts. III. In selling national property, no difference whatever shall be made between natives and domiciliated foreigners as regards the terms granted for the payment of the value of the said property, and the money or documents of public credit which may be receivable in payment of the stipulated price. IV. The fact that property, whether real or personal, has been acquired by a domiciliated foreigner, does not alter either the nature or the extent of the obligations and rights of the national Government or of the proprietor as regards such property, according to the laws. Given in Bogotá, the 10th of June, 1862. T. C. DE MOSQUERA. M. ANCIZAR, Secretary of State and for Foreign Affairs. AGREEMENT between Rome and Spain, for the Sale of Church Property in Spain.-Rome, August 25, 1859. [Ratifications exchanged at Rome, November 25, 1859.] (Translation.) IN the name of the Most Holy and Indivisible Trinity. The Sovereign Pontiff, Pius IX, and Her Catholic Majesty Doña Isabella II, Queen of Spain, wishing to provide, by mutual agreement, for the definitive settlement of the endowment of public worship and of the clergy in Her Majesty's dominions, in conformity with the solemn Concordat of the 16th March, 1851, have respectively appointed, as their Plenipotentiaries-His Holiness, the most eminent and right Reverend Cardinal Santiago Antonelli, his Secretary of State; and Her Majesty, his Excellency Don Antonio de los Rios y Rosas, her Ambassador Extraordinary to the Holy See; who, having interchanged their full powers, have agreed as follows: ART. I. The Government of Her Catholic Majesty having taken into consideration the lamentable vicissitudes through which ecclesiastical property has passed at various periods, and being desirous of assuring to the church in perpetuity the peaceful possession of her property and rights, and of providing against any cause for the violation of the solemn Concordat concluded on the 16th March, 1851, promises the Holy See, that no sale, commutation, or other kind of alienation of the said property, shall take place without the necessary authority from the said Holy See. II. Wishing to carry definitively into effect and in a sure, lasting, and independent manner, the plan for the endowment of public worship and the clergy prescribed in the said Concordat, the Holy See and Her Catholic Majesty's Government agree on the following points: III. Firstly, the Government of Her Majesty again formally recognizes the full and free right of the church to acquire, retain and enjoy the usufruct of every kind of property and valuables in fee and without limitation or reserve; any regulation to the contrary being therefore abrogated by this Convention, and especially, and so far as it is opposed hereto, the law of May the 1st, 1855. The property which the church may hereafter acquire and possess in virtue of this right, shall not be calculated in the endowment assigned to her by the Concordat. IV. In virtue of the same right Her Majesty's Government recognizes the church as proprietor of all and every part of the property which was restored to her by the Concordat. But, taking into consideration the state of deterioration of the greater part of such property as has not yet been alienated, the difficulty of administering it, and the various contradictory and inexact compu tations which have been made of the value of its rental; all which circumstances have hitherto rendered the endowment of the clergy uncertain and even incongruous, the Government of Her Majesty has proposed a commutation to the Holy See, power being given to the bishops to determine, in concurrence with their chapters, the value of the church property situated in their respective dioceses, and the Government offering in exchange for the whole of such property, and in consideration of its being ceded to the State, so many intransferable inscriptions in the 3 per cent. stock of the public * Vol. XLI, Page 141. |