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inasmuch as the Holy Father, deprived of a great part of his temporal dominions, was in absolute need of resources and was living on the generous oblations of the faithful. The wishes of the Government were attended to; the Concordat was concluded with the view of granting independence and liberty to the Church, and obtaining through their medium the ecclesiastical and moral reform which Equator stands in need of in order to be free and happy; and as the Convention authorized me to execute the same, which implied its publication, in the same manner as this required previous ratification and exchange of ratifications, I proceeded to put it in force after being ratified and published with due solemnity.

It is not to be wondered at that an act of so much importance and transcendency should have found adversaries and opponents. Party spirit, irreligious and demagogic tendencies, long-standing abuses, the resistance of routine and of the habits of scandalous life, must naturally cause the freedom of the Church and the purity of the clergy to be viewed with disgust. It was natural, then, that there should first be opposed to it the peculiar difficulties in the establishment of every reform, then the necessity of submitting it for your approbation in virtue of the very Decree in which I was authorized to conclude it, then the prohibition of the Constitution to the delegation of the powers of the Congress; but the accuracy of that maxim, according to which the easiest method of knowing the value of any action or person is to examine who are their enemies, has never been better proved.

If on carrying into effect the Concordat in all its parts difficulties should arise, even if they be not such as from malice and ignorance have been exaggerated, there is no doubt but that they will be successively overcome by the combined action of the Church and the Government, and that finally the Concordat itself can be modified by common consent, conformably with what is therein established.

The necessity of legislative approbation has reference simply to the responsibility of the Government, and not to the validity and obligatory force of an act ratified and published in virtue of competent authorization. If the conduct of the Government should not gain your approbation, the Government must be judged; but the Concordat remains firm and in force, inasmuch as its ratification was valid, and valid its publication, as in like manner the Decree was valid, authorizing me to execute it, and consequently to ratify and publish it, without which the execution was impossible.

The objection that as legislative powers cannot be delegated, therefore the authorization I obtained to place the Concordat in execution was unconstitutional and null, is more plausible; but at all times and throughout all the modern Republics of America, where delegation is prohibited, a distinction is made between autho

rization and delegation; the only object has been to prevent the Presidents from gradually investing themselves with legislative powers, and to avoid the concentration of power in the hands of one person, as was the case in the epoch of the first Roman Emperors. Thus in 1858 the President of New Granada was authorized to conclude and ratify a Treaty with The United States of North America, despite the prohibition of the delegation of legislative powers; the law of public education issued in 1838 in virtue of the authorization which the Congress of 1837 conferred on Señor Rocafuerte, still exists amongst us; to these examples might be added the various authorizations given by the last Convention, as also those which have frequently been conceded by other legislatures.

Finally, even if the said authorization were null, or still more, even if I had not been authorized at all, the Concordat would exist, as is the case with all public Treaties concluded by a legitimate Government. On that supposition my responsibility would be compromised-not the obligatory force of the Treaty once ratified and the ratifications exchanged-because the personality of the nation is represented only by the Government in its relations with other Powers, according to the common law of nations. This principle of international jurisprudence is confirmed by numerous historical examples, and in Equator itself has been respected in the observance of the Treaty which binds us to our ancient metropolis. This Treaty was concluded in 1840, and ratified in the space of one year, without having been examined and much less approved by the legislature of 1841, which was dissolved for want of a quorum. And, nevertheless, the Treaty with Spain is valid, it has been observed by the different Administrations, and would have been observed in spite of them if they had attempted to annul it.

The Concordat is therefore valid, because the Decree is so which authorized me to execute and therefore to ratify and publish it; and it is valid above all, because it has been made by the legitimate Government of the Republic. Any attack upon an inviolable Treaty would dishonour us; and neither you, nor I, will consent to our dishonour, nor yet consent that the Church should continue fettered, to the ruin of religion and morality, the perdition of the clergy, and the disgrace of the Republic.

If the conduct of the Government deserves your support; if you assist in saving the country from the embarrassments of the monetary crisis; if you devote yourselves to reform what the laws of elections, municipal system of order, public instruction and judicial organization have of inconsiderate and anarchical; if you give to Power the force which it requires in order to continue in the path of improvements, and repress the abettors of disorder and crime; I respond, placing my trust in God, that, upheld by the [1862-63. LIII.] 3 Z

loyalty of the army, and the sympathies of the nation, the Government will continue to raise Equator from the backwardness and prostration in which we found it; and I shall descend from my seat, after terminating the constitutional period, with the honour of having worked untiringly for the welfare of all.

But if the majority of the Houses should not support the Government, if the conduct of the Administration be thought worthy of censure, my duty will be to retire at once, offering up my fervent vows that Providence may bestow on the Republic a magistrate who may be more successful than I in ensuring its repose and welfare.

Palace at Quito, 10th of August, 1863.

G. GARCIA MORENO.

SPEECH of the King of Bavaria, on the Opening of the Legislative Chambers.-Munich, June 23, 1863.

(Translation.)

GENTLEMEN, SENATORS, AND DEPUTIES,

Ir is with pleasure that I offer my Royal salutation to the Legis lative Chambers, the representatives of my beloved people, again assembled around me.

I dissolved the former Chamber of Deputies, that had worthily served the country, in order to preserve the progress of the civil law reform promised to the land from all danger of interruption, and also to provide in due time what may be needful in the event of the discussions on a general law of German procedure not having attained the desired results within a defined period. I have thus given fresh proof how much I have at heart the speediest and most complete accomplishment possible of the promised law reform.

The new composition of the Chamber of Deputies is the result of elections, the freedom of which has been in no way interfered with by my Government, and which were made under the fresh impression of the lively debates upon the deeply-felt questions which then occupied all Germany; thereby a sufficient guarantee is afforded me that through the organ of this Landtag, I shall hear the genuine expression of public opinion on these questions. It will afford me great satisfaction to be in this way strengthened in my conviction that my policy is in unison with the wishes and sympathies of my faithful people.

In unt with several German Governments, I have had a pro position laid bet the Confederation, through which I hoped to

promote the work of a common legislation, and at the same time pave the way for a reform of the Federal Constitution. This attempt has failed, but I shall nevertheless not allow myself to be deterred from co-operating energetically and readily towards any development of the Federal Constitution that shall accord with the real requirements of Germany, together with a firm maintenance of the independence of Bavaria.

Solicitude for the material interests of the country, and the maintenance of its independence, together with considerations founded on commercial relations with a neighbouring Confederate State, have decided me not to join in the Commercial Treaty concluded by the Prussian Government, in the name of the Zollverein, with France, in its present form.

I am not disposed to consider as well-grounded the apprehensions for the continuance of the Zollverein derived therefrom. I am much more inclined to hope that the endeavours of my Government, which are directed not merely to the maintenance but to the extension of the Zollverein, will be attended with happy results.

The situation of European affairs is unfortunately not such as to show the advisability of diminishing the Bavarian means of defence. The patriotism of the Chambers will not recoil from the exertions that the honour and independence of Bavaria demand. Favourable circumstances will permit the needful to be provided for without increased taxation.

The separation of the judicial and administrative departments, and the partial transfer of the business of free legal resort (freiwilligen Gerichtsbarkeit) to independent notaries, have come into force at the same time as the new penal and police legislation, and fulfil-so far as can be judged as yet-the expectations entertained of them.

The increase that I have lately directed to be made of notarial appointments in connection with the revision of the regulation relative to notarial fees, with at the same time an endowment permanent in every respect of the respective official departments, will essentially contribute to bring into full operation the beneficial effects hoped for in these reforms.

I have given directions that in accordance with Chap. VII, §§ 10 and 16 of the Constitution, the accounts for the years 1859-60 and 1860-61, also some projects of law, among them especially the regulated procedure in civic (Bürgerlichen) law-suits, with numerous modifications necessarily called for by the new commercial code and a law of introduction* (Einführungsgesetze), as well as a Bill upon the construction of future railways, shall be laid before you.

Bill upon the initiative right of presenting projects of law to the Chambers.

I have not failed to observe that the legislation of the country requires reform in manifold respects in the Department of the Home Administration. The Trade Guilds question is in a stage of transition which requires a legal settlement. The task in this will be to arrange, in the most considerate way possible, the claims for freedom of action with existing rights and interests. A really successful regulation of this matter depends, however, upon simultaneous extensive reforms of the laws relating to the administration of communities (Gemeinde), and of the parochial settlement and poor laws. Imbued with the deep importance of these reforms, my Government is now solicitously engaged in furthering them.

But however difficult this collective task may appear, honest zeal joined to patriotic self-sacrifice, will succeed in finding the way to its successful performance; and the plain proof of this is that every difficulty can be overcome when the Crown and the Representatives of the nation meet with mutual confidence.

SPEECH of the Archduke Charles Louis, on the Opening of the Reichsrath.-Vienna, June 18, 1863.

(Translation.)

HONOURABLE MEMBERS OF THE REICHSRATH,

His Majesty the Emperor has commissioned me to open, in his Imperial name, the second session of the Reichsrath, and to welcome its members.

I fulfil with pleasure the honourable duty entrusted to me, and I grect you, Archdukes, Princes of the Imperial family, and you, Honourable Members of both Houses of the Reichsrath.

But a short period has elapsed since the Provincial Diets closed their labours, which were chiefly devoted to the fulfilment of the wishes and necessities of the individual kingdoms and countries.

It is in order to connect with their labours the completion of those more important measures which spring from the solicitude for the welfare and prosperity of the whole Empire that you, Honourable Members of the Reichsrath, are a second time assembled in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.

We can look with satisfaction on this uninterrupted and selfcompleting activity of the Provincial Diets and the Representatives of the Empire.

It presents to us visibly the innate idea of our fundamental laws: the greatest amount of free and independent movement of its parts is preserved in the necessary union of the whole.

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