sider as involving their right of consent, shall, upon their adducing well-founded reasons, be immediately rendered ineffectual. On stating grounds to the Grand Duke, they can solicit the proposal of a fa Law. They have a right to point out to the Government, abuses in the administration which come within their knowledge. They have the right of lodging formal complaints against Ministers and Members of the Superior Offices of State, for violations of the Constitution or of acknowledged Constitutional Privileges. A particular Law shall determine the nature of the complaints, the degrees of the punishment, the deciding authority, and the mode of proceeding.

Complaints of individual Citizens, concerning the violation of their Constitutional Privileges, cannot be received by the Chambers except in writing, and cannot then be accepted unless the Complainant shall prove that he has in vain appealed for redress, to the proper Local jurisdictions, and lastly, to the Minister of State.

No representation, complaint, or accusation, can be brought before the Grand Duke, without the consent of the majority of each of the 2 Chambers.

CHAPTER V.-Opening of the Sessions of the Diet.—Forms of Deliberation.

LXVIII. Each Diet must be opened and closed, in the presence of both Chambers, united for this purpose, by the Grand Duke in person, or by a Commissioner appointed by him.

LXIX. The Members, on their first admission to the Diet, shall take the following Oath :

"I swear fidelity to the Grand Duke, and obedience to the Laws; to observe and maintain the Constitution, and to regard only the general welfare and advantage of the whole Country, in the Diet, without respect to orders or classes, according to my sincere conviction. So help me God, and his sacred Gospel."

LXX. No Proposition of the Grand Duke can be discussed or submitted to a vote, until it has been referred to a Special Committee, and a Report thereupon has been made.

LXXI. The Commissioners of the Grand Duke meet the Committee of the Diet for the previous examination of Law Projects, on all occasions in which either Party shall judge such Conference necessary. No essential alteration can be made in the plan of any Law, unless it has been discussed with the Government Commissioners in such Conference.

LXXII. After a Project of Law has been reported, the Chambers may again refer it to the Committee.

LXXIII. A Project of Law or any other Proposition brought from one Chamber to the other, may, if it do not relate to financial objects, be, with amendments, previously considered according to Article LXXI in a Committee, sent back to the Chamber whence it came.

LXXIV. Every valid decision of either Chamber requires, where no exception is expressly established, an absolute majority of the votes of the Assembly. When there is an equal division, the President give

the casting vote. In financial questions, when the votes of both Chambers are counted together, the President of the 2nd Chamber has the decision in case of an equality of votes. The vote is given by pronouncing with an audible voice, the word "Content" or "Not-content."

Only in the election of Candidates for the Presidentship of the 2nd Chamber, and of the Members of the Representative Committee and of the Commissions, is the choice decided by a relative majority of votes, given by ballot.

In the First Chamber, 10 Members; in the Second, 35; including their Presidents; make complete Chambers for business. In both Chambers, to render valid the deliberations respecting any change in the Constitution, three-fourths of the Members must be present.

LXXV. The Chambers can, either by their whole Body, or through Commissions, hold conferences together. Their ordinary relations to each other are limited to the communication of their respective Decisions. They stand in immediate communication, on matters of business, only with the Ministry of State of the Grand Duke. They cannot make dispositions, or issue Proclamations, of any description whatever. Deputations can be delegated to the Grand Duke, only after permission expressly obtained from him upon every occasion.

LXXVI. The Ministers, and the Members of the Ministry of State, and the Grand Ducal Commissioners, have access to every public and private sitting of either Chamber, and must be heard on all discussions, if they desire it. If not Members of the Chamber, they retire only on a division, and the debate cannot be resumed in their absence.

LXXVII. No written speeches can be read except by the Government Commissioners, and the Members of the representative Commissions. All the other Members must make their observations only by word of mouth.

LXXVIII. The sittings of both Chambers are public. They become secret, at the request of the Government Commissioners, when they have communications to make which they are of opinion ought to be private; and at the desire of any 3 Members, with whom, after Strangers have withdrawn, at least one fourth of the Members must agree, as to the necessity of a secret deliberation.

LXXIX. The order in which the Deputies of the Landed Proprietors, and of the Towns and Bailiwicks, go out, is determined by lot at the first meeting of the Diet, once for all, for each Electoral District. One half of the Deputies of the Landed Nobility vacate their seats in the year 1823, and one half every subsequent 4 years. In 1821, one fourth of the Deputies of the Towns or Bailiwicks are excluded, and, afterwards, one fourth every 2 years.

LXXX. In the first Elections, all contests respecting the validity of the Returns will be determined by the Government Central Commission, which is charged with the primary execution of the Constitutional Law. LXXXI. The opening of the first Diet will take place on the 1st of February, 1819.

LXXXII. At the opening of the Diet, when the Constitution is put in activity, the existing state of things in all the branches of Administration and Legislation will continue, till measures be taken on these subjects, in concert with the Diet. The first Budget in particular, will be provisionally executed, until it shall have been adopted by the Diet. LXXXIII. The present Constitution is placed under the guarantee of the Germanic Confederation.

Given under our hand, and sealed with the Great Seal of the State. Griesbach, August 22nd, 1818. By command of His Royal Highness,

WEISS.

(L.S.) CHARLES.

MESSAGE of the President, on the Opening of the Congress of The United States.-Washington, 2nd December, 1817. FELLOW CITIZENS OF THE SENATE, AND OF THE HOUSE Of RepreSENTATIVES:

AT no period of our political existence had we so much cause to felicitate ourselves at the prosperous and happy condition of our Country. The abundant fruits of the earth have filled it with plenty. An extensive and profitable commerce has greatly augmented our Revenue. The public credit has attained an extraordinary elevation. Our preparations for defeuce, in case of future Wars, from which, by the experience of all Nations, we ought not to expect to be exempted, are advancing, under a well digested system, with all the dispatch which so important a work will admit. Our free Goverument, founded on the interest and affections of the People, has gained, and is daily gaining strength. Local jealousies are rapidly yielding to more generous, enlarged and enlightened views of national policy. For advantages so numerous, and highly important, it is our duty to unite in grateful acknowledgments to that Omnipotent Being, from whom they are derived, and in unceasing prayer, that he will endow us with virtue and strength to maintain and hand them down, in their utmost purity, to our latest posterity.

I have the satisfaction to inform you, that an Arrangement, which had been commenced by my Predecessor, with the British Government, for the reduction of the Naval Force, by Great Britain and The United States, on the Lakes, has been concluded; by which it is provided, that neither Party shall keep in service on Lake Champlain more than one Vessel; on Lake Ontario, more than one; and on Lake Erie, and the Upper lakes, more than 2; to be armed, each with one cannon only; and that all the other armed Vessels, of both Parties, of which an exact List is interchanged, shall be dismantled. It is also agreed, that the Force retained shall be restricted, in its duty, to the internal purposes of each Party; and that the Arrangement shall remain in force until 6 months shall have expired, after notice given by one of the Parties to the other of its desire that it should

terminate. By this Arrangement, useless expence, on both sides, and, what is of still greater importance, the danger of collision, between armed Vessels, in those inland Waters, which was great, is prevented.

I have the satisfaction also to state, that the Commissioners, under the IVth Article of the Treaty of Ghent, to whom it was referred to decide, to which Party the several Islands in the Bay of Passamaquoddy belonged under the Treaty of 1783, have agreed in a Report by which all the Islands in the possession of each Party before the late War have been decreed to it. The Commissioners acting under the other Articles of the Treaty of Ghent, for the settlement of Boundaries, have also been engaged in the discharge of their respective duties, but have not yet completed them. The difference which arose between the 2 Governments under that Treaty, respecting the right of The United States to take and cure Fish on the Coast of the British Provinces, North of our Limits, which had been secured by the Treaty of 1783, is still in negotiation. The proposition made by this Government, to extend to the Colonies of Great Britain the principle of the Convention of London, by which the commerce between the Ports of The United States and British Ports in Europe had been placed on a footing of equality, has been declined by the British Government. This subject having been thus amicably discussed between the 2 Governments, and it appearing that the British Government is unwilling to depart from its present regulations, it remains for Congress to decide, whether they will make any other regulations, in consequence thereof, for the protection and improvement of our Navigation.

The Negotiation with Spain, for spoliations on our commerce, and the settlement of Boundaries, remains essentially, in the state it held, in the Communications that were made to Congress by my Predecessor. It has been evidently the policy of the Spanish Government to keep the Negotiation suspended, and in this The United States have acquiesced, from an amicable disposition towards Spain, and in the expectation that her Government would, from a sense of justice, finally accede to such an arrangement as would be equal between the Parties. A disposition has been lately shewn by the Spanish Government to move in the Negotiation, which has been met by this Government, and, should the conciliatory and friendly policy, which has invariably guided our Councils, be reciprocated, a just and satisfactory arrangement may be expected. It is proper, however, to remark, that no proposition has yet been made from which such a result can be presumed.

It was anticipated, at an early stage, that the contest between Spain and the Colonies would become highly interesting to The United States. It was natural that our Citizens should sympathise in events which affected their Neighbors. It seemed probable, also, that the prosecution of the Conflict, along our Coast, and in contiguous Countries, would occasionally interrupt our commerce, and otherwise affect the persons and property of our Citizens. These anticipations have been realized. Such injuries have been received, from Persons

acting under the authority of both the Parties, and for which redress has, in most instances, been withheld. Through every stage of the Conflict, The United States have maintained an impartial Neutrality, giving aid to neither of the Parties in Men, Money, Ships, or Munitions of War. They have regarded the Contest, not in the light of an ordinary Insurrection or Rebellion, but as a Civil War between Parties nearly equal, having, as to Neutral Powers, equal rights. Our Ports have been open to both, and every article, the fruit of our soil, or of the industry of our Citizens, which either was permitted to take, has been equally free to the other. Should the Colonies establish their Independence, it is proper now to state, that this Government neither seeks, nor would accept, from them any advantage, in commerce or otherwise, which will not be equally open to all other Nations. The Colonies will, in that event, become Independent States, free from any obligation to, or connection with, us, which it may not then be their interest to form, on the basis of a fair reciprocity.

In the summer of the present year, an Expedition was set on foot against East Florida, by Persons claiming to act under the authority of some of the Colonies, who took possession of Amelia Island, at the mouth of the St. Mary's River, near the Boundary of the State of Georgia. As this Province lies Eastward of the Mississippi, and is bounded by The United States and the Ocean on every side, and has been a subject of Negotiation with the Government of Spain, as an indemnity for losses by spoliation, or in exchange for Territory, of equal value, Westward of the Mississippi, a fact well known to the World, it excited surprize, that any countenance should be given to this measure by any of the Colonies. As it would be difficult to reconcile it with the friendly relations existing between The United States and the Colonies, a doubt was entertained, whether it had been authorized by them, or any of them. This doubt has gained strength, by the circumstances which have unfolded themselves in the prosecution of the enterprise, which have marked it as a mere private, unauthorized Adventure. Projected and commenced with an incompetent force, reliance seems to have been placed on what might be drawn, in defiance of our Laws, from within our limits; and of late, as their resources have failed, it has assumed a more marked character of unfriendliness to us; the Island being made a channel for the illicit introduction of Slaves from Africa into The United States, an asylum for Fugitive Slaves from the neighboring States, and a Port for smuggling of every kind.

A similar Establishment was made, at an earlier period, by Persons of the same description, in the Gulph of Mexico, at a place called Galvezton, within the limits of The United States, as we contend, under the Cession of Louisiana. This enterprise has been marked, in a more signal manner, by all the objectionable circumstances which characterized the other, and more particularly by the equipment of Privateers which have annoyed our commerce, and by smuggling. These Establishments, if ever sanctioned by any Authority whatever,