Province of Entre-Rios 2; for the Province of Jujui, 2; for the Province of Mendoza, 3; for the Province of Rioja, 2; for the Province of Salta, 3; for the Province of Santiago, 4; for the Province of San Juán, 2; for the Province of Santa Fé, 2; for the Province of San Luis, 2; for the Province of Tucumán, 3.

ARTICLE XXXIX.

A general census shall be taken before the Second Congress, and the election of Deputies shall then be made according to its return. The census shall be taken every ten years, and no oftener.

ARTICLE XL.

No person can be elected a Deputy who is not over 25 years of age and a citizen for four years, and either a native or a resident for the two preceding years of the Province electing him.

ARTICLE XLI.

The measures to secure the election of Deputies by direct vote of the people of the Province shall be taken this time by the provincial legislatures. In the future, the whole matter shall be regulated by Federal law, enacted by Congress.

ARTICLE XLII.

The Deputies shall be elected to serve for four years, and are reëligible. The Chamber, however, shall be renewed by halves every two years, and for this purpose, the Deputies elected to the First Congress shall draw lots as soon as they meet, and determine in this way those who shall leave at the end of the first period.

ARTICLE XLIII.

In case of vacancy, the governor of the Province, or of the Capital, shall order a new election.

ARTICLE XLIV.

The initiative of all laws touching the levying of taxes and the recruiting of troops belongs exclusively to the Chamber of Deputies.

ARTICLE XLV.

The Chamber of Deputies alone has the right to present before the Senate articles of impeachment against the President, the Vice-President, the members

of the Cabinet, the Justices of the Supreme Court and the judges of other national tribunals for malfeasance in the exercise of their functions, or for crimes and misdemeanors of any kind; said presentation to be made upon resolutions passed by two-thirds of the Deputies present, after full discussion of the subject.

CHAPTER II.- The Senate.

ARTICLE XLVI.

The Senate shall consist of two Senators for each Province, elected by a plurality of votes by the respective legislatures. There shall be also two Senators for the Capital or Federal district who shall be elected in the same way as the President of the Nation. Each Senator shall have one vote.

ARTICLE XLVII.

No person shall be elected Senator who does not fulfill the following requisites: Shall be 30 years old; shall have been a citizen of the Nation for six years; shall have an annual income of $2,000, and shall be either a native of the Province which elects him, or have resided in it the two next preceding years.

ARTICLE XLVIII.

Senators shall serve for nine years, and are reëligible indefinitely. But the Senate shall be renewed by thirds every three years. To this effect, the Senators themselves shall decide by lot those who shall leave at the expiration of the first and second period of three years.

ARTICLE XLIX.

The Vice-President of the Nation shall be President of the Senate; but shall have no vote unless the Chamber be equally divided.

ARTICLE L.

The Senate shall elect a President pro tempore to replace the Vice-President in case of absence, or when the latter is called to act as President of the Republic.

ARTICLE LI.

The Senate shall have the sole power to try in public the officials impeached by the Chamber of Deputies, and Senators, when sitting for that purpose, shall be sworn. When the impeached official is President of the Nation, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall preside in the Senate. No person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present.

ARTICLE LII.

Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, or disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the Nation; but the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, and punishment according to law, in and by the ordinary courts.

ARTICLE LIII.

It is also incumbent upon the Senate to authorize the President of the Nation to declare a state of siege at one or more points in the national territory, in case of foreign aggression.

ARTICLE LIV.

When a vacancy happens, on account of the death or resignation of a Senator, or for any other reason, the Executive authority shall order immediately the election of a new member.

CHAPTER III.—Provisions Governing Both Chambers.

ARTICLE LV.

Both Chambers of Congress shall meet in ordinary session, on the 1st day of May of each year, and shall continue their sessions until the 30th of September. They may also be convened in extraordinary session, or adjourned, by the President of the Nation.

ARTICLE LVI.

Each House shall be the judge of the elections, rights, and titles, of its own members, in so far as the question of their validity is concerned. Neither House shall meet to do business without a quorum consisting of the absolute majority of its members; but a smaller number shall have the power to compel the attendance of absent members, by such means and under such penalties as each House may provide.

ARTICLE LVII.

Both Chambers shall sit simultaneously. Neither shall have the power, during the session of Congress, to adjourn, without the consent of the other, for more than three days.

ARTICLE LVIII.

A Chamber may determine the rules of its proceedings, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds of its members, punish any one of the same for disorderly behavior in the discharge of his functions, remove him for physical or moral inability subsequent to his admission, or expel him from the body. An absolute majority shall be sufficient to act upon the resignation of a member voluntarily made.

ARTICLE LIX.

Senators and Deputies, on taking their seats, shall be sworn to perform their duties in the proper way and to act in all things in accordance with the present Constitution.

ARTICLE LX.

No member of Congress shall be indicted, judicially questioned, or molested for opinions or speeches delivered by him while fulfilling his duty as a legislator.

ARTICLE LXI.

No Senator or Deputy, from the day of his election to the day on which he ceases to be such, can be arrested for crimes or offenses, unless when caught in the act, and the crime or offense is of the kind punished by death, or any other penalty entailing bodily suffering or disgrace, in which case the proper report shall be made to the Chamber to which the member belongs, accompanied by a summary statement of all the facts.

ARTICLE LXII.

Should any charge be made in writing, before the ordinary tribunals, against a Senator or Deputy, the Chamber to which he belongs may, by a two-thirds vote, and upon examination in public of the merits of the case, suspend him from his legislative functions and surrender him for trial to the proper court.

ARTICLE LXIII.

Each Chamber may summon to its presence the members of the Cabinet, in order to hear from them such explanation or reports as it may be deemed advisable to ask from them.

ARTICLE LXIV.

No members of Congress shall receive from the Executive any appointment for any office of honor, trust, or profit without first obtaining the consent of the Chamber to which he belongs. This article is not applicable to cases in which the appointment is merely a promotion.

ARTICLE LXV.

Ecclesiastics of the regular orders can not be elected members of any chamber. Provincial governors are also disqualified to serve in representation of the Province where they exercise their functions.

ARTICLE LXVI.

The remuneration of the services of both Senators and Deputies shall be fixed by law and paid out of the funds of the National Treasury.

CHAPTER IV.-Powers of Congress.

ARTICLE LXVII.

The National Congress shall have power:

(1) To legislate in regard to custom-houses for foreign commerce and establish import duties, which, as well as the appraisements on which they must be based, shall be uniform in the whole Nation, it being understood, however, that both these duties and all other taxes of national character may be paid in the currency of the respective Provinces in their just equivalent value. The power to establish export duties also belongs to Congress; but these duties shall cease to be levied as a national tax on and after 1866. They shall not be levied either as a provincial tax.*

(2) To raise funds, through direct taxation, for a fixed period of time and in a manner proportionately equal in all the territory of the Nation, whenever the defense of the country, the common safety, or the public good may require it. (3) To contract loans, pledging to their payment the Nation's credit. (4) To provide for the use, sale, and disposition of the national lands. (5) To establish at the capital a national bank, with the power to establish branch offices in the Provinces, to issue paper currency, and make rules for the transaction of its business.

(6) To make arrangements for the payment of the national debt, both foreign and domestic.

(7) To make annually the necessary appropriations to meet the expenses of the National Government, and to approve or disapprove the accounts of their disbursement.

(8) To grant subsidies, to be paid out of the National Treasury to those Provinces whose revenues, according to their own estimates, prove to be insufficient to meet their ordinary expenses.

*The words printed in italics were ordered to be stricken out by the National Convention of Santa Fé, September 12, 1866.