CXLVIII. The persons who hold any office of trust or honour in the Republic shall not accept any title, decoration, present, or emolument from any king, prince, or foreign nation, without the consent of Congress.

CXLIX. In no case can the execution of any part or of the whole of the Constitution be suspended. Its observance and strict fulfilment is confided to the zeal of the powers which it establishes, and to the valour and patriotism of all Dominicans.

CL. Two national holidays only shall be celebrated annually with the greatest solemnity throughout the Republic, these are the 27th of February, the anniversary of Independence, and the 7th of July, the anniversary of Liberty.

CLI. The national merchant flag is composed of blue and red in opposite angles, divided in the centre by a white cross of half the width of one of the other colours, which it touches at the four extremes. The war flag shall have besides, the arms of the Republic.

CLII. The arms of the Republic are a cross, at the foot of which is the book of the Evangelists open; both rising from a trophy of arms in which is seen the symbol of liberty, bound with a ribbon, on which is the motto "God, Our country, Liberty."

CLIII. In every case in which in conformity with this Constitution or the law candidates are to be presented for nomination as officers or public employés, it is understood that the name of each shall be placed on a separate sheet with a statement of his merits, services and fitness.

CLIV. No public, civil, political, ecclesiastical, or military functionary or employé shall enter upon the duties of his office without previously taking the oath to support and defend the Constitution, and to discharge well and exactly the duties of his office.

CLV. The President and Vice-President of the Republic shall take the oath in the manner prescribed in Article LXXXI, the Presidents of the Chambers of the Congress in presence of their respective Chambers, the members thereof before their President, the other functionaries and officers before the person in charge of the Executive Power, or the persons to whom he may delegate the duty of receiving oaths in the order above stated.

CHAPTER XI.-Of the Revision of the Constitution.

CLVI. The present Constitution cannot be revised except when the proposition shall be made by the Chamber of Representatives and admitted by two-thirds of its members in three consecutive annual sessions.

CLVII. The Congress may, in virtue of the proposition made by the Chamber of Representatives and admitted by two-thirds of its members, order the revision of the Constitution, designating and

publishing the Articles and provisions to be revised with the reasons of utility, necessity, or public convenience.

CLXVIII. In the ordinary and extraordinary legislative session, subsequent to that in which the decree of revision has been made, the Congress shall proceed with it, two-thirds of its members at least being present.

CLIX. The Congress shall designate in the decree of revision the time and place it may consider convenient for meeting.

CHAPTER XII.-Temporary Provisions.

CLX. The Sovereign Constituent Congress shall, for this time, elect the President and Vice-President of the Republic, shall receive their oaths, and shall instal them in their respective offices. The former shall continue in his functions until the 1st March, 1862, and the latter until the 1st March, 1860.

CLXI. All the laws, regulations, dispositions and decrees which are not contrary to the present Constitution, are declared in force and vigour. The Judges of the Supreme Court of Justice, of the Courts of First Instance and of the other courts, shall continue to exercise their functions and to try cases in the same manner and form, and with the same attributes as heretofore, until they are legally replaced, or that the tribunals are organized in the manner appointed in this Constitution.

CLXII. The Executive Power is authorised to appoint temporarily the governors of departments and the political chiefs of provinces until they are definitively selected from the candidates. which the Departmental Juntas shall present in conformity with this Constitution.

CLXIII. The corporations and all the public officers shall continue to discharge their duties until the fresh orgniazation, unless they are opposed to this Constitution.

CLXIV. The Sovereign Constituent Congress shall decree even after the promulgation of this Constitution, the laws it may consider most necessary for the establishment of the Constitution, and for the arrangement of any other important matters.

CLXV. During the first days of the first national Congress, each Chamber shall decide by lot the Senators and Representatives who have to go out in order that the half may be renewed, or that lesser number approximate to it, according to this Constitution.

CLXVI. The Provisional Government shall render an account of its acts and of the administration of the public funds, by the organ of the Executive Power, to the first national Congress, which alone can relieve it of its responsibility.

Given in the Sessions Hall of the Sovereign Constituent Congress, in the town of Moca, the 19th day of February, 1858, 14th of the country, and 1st of Liberty.

BENIGNO F. DE ROJAS, President.

TORIBIO L. VILLANUEVA, Vice-President. (Signed also by all the Members of the Congress.)

CORRESPONDENCE of Great Britain, relative to the Slave Trade, 1857, 1858; viz.:

CLASS A.-CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE BRITISH COMMIS

Page

Claim of Acting Spanish
Vice-Consul to sit as

Spanish Judge in the

Page

case of the Conchita.. 1077

21. The Earl of Clarendon to H.M.'s Dec. 21 Receipt of despatch reActing Judge.

specting claim of
Spanish Acting Vice-
Consul to sit as Spa-
nish Judge in the case

of the Conchita............ 1081

No.

LOANDA.

Date.
1857

89. H.M.'s Acting Commissioner to Apr. 25 Respecting removal of the Earl of Clarendon.

slaves by sea................ 1086

185. Rear-Admiral Sir F. Grey to the Oct. 28 Respecting Slave Trade Secretary to the Admiralty.

in Mozambique Chan-
nel, carried on in
dhows

1097

SIERRA LEONE.

No. 18.-Her Majesty's Acting Judge to the Earl of Clarendon. (Received November 12.)

MY LORD,

Sierra Leone, October 17, 1857. WITH reference to the despatch from Her Majesty's Acting Judge, dated the 2nd instant, reporting that the Spanish vessel Conchita had been brought before the British and Spanish Mixed Court of Justice, on a charge of being equipped for the Slave Trade, I have the honour to inclose to your Lordship herewith copies of a correspondence which has passed between the Governor of this Colony and M. Porchat, the Acting Spanish Vice-Consul in this place, respecting a claim which has been made by M. Porchat to the right of sitting as Spanish Judge in the absence of the Commissioners on the part of Spain.

M. Porchat conceives, as appears from the inclosed correspondence, that as Acting Spanish Vice-Consul, he is entitled to the right to sit as Judge, which is conferred upon the Spanish ViceConsul by the 4th section of Article IX of Annex B to the Treaty between Great Britain and Spain, of the 28th of June, 1835*, which stipulates that in the event of the absence of the Spanish Judge or Arbitrator in a Mixed Court, established in a British Colony, their places "shall be filled successively by the Spanish Consul and

* Vol. XXIII. Page 343.

Spanish Vice-Consul, if there be a Spanish Consul or Spanish ViceConsul appointed to and resident in such possession.”

The same section of Article IX of Annex B, then goes on to stipulate that in the absence of a Spanish Consul and Vice-Consul, Her Majesty's Commissioner and Arbitrator shall sit, and shall adjudicate the case of any Spanish vessel that may be brought before the Court.

It appears, therefore, to be clear that according to the terms of the Treaty, M. Porchat is not entitled to sit as Spanish Judge, as he is neither Spanish Consul nor Vice-Consul, but was merely allowed by the Governor of this Colony to take temporary charge of the Spanish Vice-Consulate at the request of the Spanish Vice-Consul, Señor Ogea, on his departure hence in April last.

The Governor, therefore, who took the same view of the case, in which the Chief Justice of this Colony, who had been sworn in as British Arbitrator, coincided, informed M. Porchat that he could not recognise his claim to sit as Spanish Judge.

On my return, on the 13th instant, to resume the duties of Her Majesty's Judge, the Governor conferred with me upon the subject and I entirely concurred with his Excellency in opinion that the Acting Spanish Vice-Consul could not assume the office of Spanish Judge, and that a Court so constituted would be illegal, and its proceedings null and void: the Court, consequently, before which the case of the Conchita is now under adjudication, is composed of Her Majesty's Acting Judge, and of his Excellency the Governor, acting as British Arbitrator; in the absence of any Spanish Commissioners in this Colony.

I trust that your Lordship will approve the decision which has been come to by the Governor and myself as to the right claimed by the Acting Spanish Vice-Consul to sit as Spanish Judge, and I beg respectfully to be honoured with instructions for the guidance of Her Majesty's Commissioners in the event of a similar case occurring hereafter. I have, &c.

The Earl of Clarendon.

G. SKELTON.

(Inclosure 1.)-M. Porchat to Governor Hill.

M. LE GOUVERNEUR, Sierra Leone, le 9 Octobre, 1857. J'APPRENDS qu'en conséquence de l'arrivée dans ce port du trois-mâts Espagnol Conchita, pris par le "Firefly," comme suspect de faire la Traite des Noirs, une Cour de la Commission Mixte s'est constituée en l'absence des Juges Anglais et Espagnols.

Votre Excellence ayant jugé à propos de s'abstenir à mon égard de toute communication officielle, je dois prendre l'initiative et faire observer à votre Excellence qu'en vertu du quatrième paragraphe de l'Article IX du Traité du 28 Juin, 1835, le Cousul d'Espagne, en