the midst of the most imminent danger, they have sometimes destroyed the very superior forces of their enemy, and sometimes even entirely annihilated them; and that though destitute of the resources necessary for this great enterprise, they have at length succeeded in sealing their rights at the expense of the most precious blood of the nation, and in convincing the civilized world what can be effected by a people truly resolved to re-conquer its independence:

Considering that the very results of this unequal struggle have only confirmed, in the mind of the nation, the resolution which it has irrevocably adopted to establish its political existence :

Considering that the agents of some of the continental powers, in spite even of the principles of Christianity which they profess, have not observed a conduct conformable to the rules laid down and established by themselves, and that this illegal conduct has given rise to a variety of political disputes divergent in their nature and character:

Considering that some of these agents endeavour, by the intrigues of emissaries, whom they send into the interior of Greece, to excite among the Greeks sentiments contrary to the spirit and the forms of government-sentiments which suit only the intentions and interests of these agents:

Considering that the commanders of the naval forces of some governments oppose a number of unjust persecutions and obstacles to the regular proceedings of the Greek marine, and to its movements, though conformable to the rules of the laws of nations, all in violation of the neutrality declared

by the sovereigns at the congresses of Laybach and Verona;

Considering with lively grief that the Christians themselves arm against the disciples of the Gospel, to succour the followers of the Koran, and that a multitude of European officers, contrary to all the principles of policy and all sound morality, hasten from distant countries to instruct the latter, and lead in person the armies of the barbarians who come to lay waste with fire and sword the land which covers the mangled bones of a Cimon and a Samado, of Leonidas and Bozzari, of Philopoemen and Nicelas :

Considering that the government of Great Britain, happy in guiding a free people, is the only one which observes a strict neutrality without deigning to follow the manifest violations, and of those distinctions so contrary to reason, which others have practised in Greece, at Constantinople, and in Egypt:

Considering that the indifference of the British Government is not sufficient to counterbalance the persecutions which others exercise against the Greeks, and to which they daily give a greater extension:

Considering that if Greece has not hitherto been able to prevent the enterprises of its enemies, or to take offensive measures, it is not in consequence of a diminution of its strength, or of a relaxation of its first resolution, but arises from the reasons above-mentioned, and because the government has not yet been able entirely to prevail over and to subdue all private passions:

Considering that in this extraordinary contest the Greeks must either prove victorious or bury themselves under the ruins of their

country on account of the deplorable consequences which the nature of the contest has brought with it, and its long duration-two causes which have rendered this alternative inevitable:

Considering, lastly, that since a special favour of Providence has placed the forces of Great Britain so near us, Greece ought to take advantage of it in time, founding its hopes on the justice and humanity which animate that great power:

For these reasons, and in the intention of placing in safety the sacred rights of the liberty of the state and of our political existence, which is sufficiently consolidated, the Greek nation prescribes, resolves, decrees, and approves, as follows:

Art. I.-By virtue of the present act, it voluntarily places the sacred deposit of its liberty, its national independence, and its political existence, under the absolute defence of Great Britain.

Art. II. This fundamental act of the Greek nation shall be accompanied by an explanatory memorial, addressed in duplicate to the government of his Britannic majesty.

Protest of Messrs. Roche and Washington to the Members of the Provisional Government of Greece.

The undersigned Philhellenic deputies of France and America have learned that individuals, in their mere quality of Greek citizens, have thought fit to place themselves at the head of a faction against the constitution of their country; and have signed and circulated a declaration extremely injurious to the character of their

nation and government, which have always shown the most lively interest in the prosperity and independence of Greece.

The undersigned know that the senate and the executive power, in their sitting of the 22nd of July, have resolved to ask succour of the government of the Ionian Islands for the preservation of their political liberty, menaced by the invasion of Ibrahim Pacha.

Though it has been very painful for the undersigned to see the little confidence which the Greek senate in these important circumstances has placed in the French and American nations, they would nevertheless respect this determination, and every other which should have been adopted in a legal manner, and according to the constitution of the state.

But they see with grief that the senate, instead of executing its preceding decrees, does not employ the means of security which are in its power to bring back to order the individual Greeks who dare to place themselves above the laws, and endeavour to disturb the political existence established in Greece. In consequence, they think it their duty to inform (prevenir) the Greek government of this illegal attempt, which offends the character of two nations that have taken the most lively interest in the independence of the Greeks, and which may even in the sequel prove detrimental to its in

terests.

The Greek government should know the danger it incurs by allowing itself deliberations of this nature, which are dictated by a spirit of anarchy, and against which we formally protest.

The undersigned request the executive government to give them

the most clear and precise explanation on so important a subject.

They expect, with the greatest impatience, a prompt answer, to

communicate to their respective committees, in order to regulate their conduct on this occasion. (Signed)

In compliance with an usage coeval with the existence of our federal constitution, and sanctioned by the example of my predecessors in the career upon which I am about to enter, I appear, my fellow-citizens, in your presence, and in that of Heaven, to bind myself by the solemnities of religious obligation to the faithful performance of the duties allotted to me in the station to which I have been called.

In unfolding to my countrymen the principles by which I shall be governed in the fulfilment of those duties, my first resort will be, to that constitution, which I shall swear, to the best of my ability, to preserve, protect, and defend. That revered instrument enumerates the powers, and prescribes the duties, of the executive magistrate; and, in its first words, declares the purposes to which these, and the whole action of the government instituted by it, should be invariably and sacredly devoted :-to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to the people of this union, in their successive generations. Since the adoption of this social compact, one of these generations has passed

tributed to its formation, through a most eventful period in the annals of the world, and through all the vicissitudes of peace and war, incidental to the condition of associated men, it has not disappointed the hopes and aspirations of those illustrious benefactors of their age and nation. It has promoted the lasting welfare of that country so dear to us all; it has, to an extent far beyond the ordinary lot of humanity, secured the freedom and happiness of this people. We now receive it as a precious inheritance from those to whom we are indebted for its establishment, doubly bound by the examples which they have left us, and by the blessings which we have enjoyed, as the fruits of their labours, to transmit the same unimpaired to the succeeding generation.

In the compass of thirty-six years since this great national covenant was instituted, a body of laws, enacted under its authority, and in conformity with its provisions, has unfolded its powers, and carried into practical operation its effective energies. Subordinate departments have distributed the executive functions in their various relations to foreign affairs, to the revenue and expenditures, and to the military force of the union, by land and sea. A co-ordinate department of the judiciary has expounded the constitution and the laws; settling, in harmonious coincidence

with the legislative will, numerous weighty questions of construction, which the imperfection of human language had rendered unavoidable. The year of jubilee, since the first formation of our union, is just elapsed, that of the declaration of our independence is at hand. The consummation of both was effected by this constitution.

Since that period, a population of four millions has multiplied to twelve; a territory bounded by the Mississippi has been extended from sea to sea; new states have been admitted to the union, in numbers nearly equal to those of the first confederation; treaties of peace, amity, and commerce, have been concluded with the principal dominions of the earth; the people of other nations, inhabitants of regions acquired, not by conquest, but by compact, have been united with us in the participation of rights and duties, of our burthens and blessings; the forest has fallen by the axe of our woodsmen; the soil has been made to teem by the tillage of our farmers; our commerce has whitened every ocean; the dominion of man over physical nature has been extended by the invention of our artists: liberty and law have marched hand in hand; all the purposes of human association have been accomplished as effectively as under any other government on the globe; and at a cost little exceeding, in a whole generation, the expenditure of other nations in a single year.

Such is the unexaggerated picture of our condition, under a constitution founded upon the republican principle of equal rights. To admit that this picture has its shades, is but to say that it is still the condition of men upon earth. From evil, physical, moral, and po

litical, it is not our claim to be exempt. We have suffered, sometimes by the visitation of heaven, through disease; often by the wrongs and injustice of other nations, even to the extremities of war; and lastly, by dissensions among ourselves dissensions, perhaps, inseparable from the enjoyment of freedom, but which have, more than once, appeared to threaten the dissolution of the union, and, with it, the overthrow of all the enjoyments of our present lot, and all our earthly hopes of the future. The causes of these dissensions have been various : founded upon differences of speculation in the theory of republican governments-upon conflicting views of policy in our relations with foreign nations-upon jealousies of partial and sectional interests, aggravated by prejudices and prepossessions which strangers to each other are ever apt to entertain.

It is a source of gratification and of encouragement to me, to observe that the great result of this experiment upon the theory of human rights has, at the close of that generation by which it was formed, been crowned with success equal to the most sanguine expectations of its founders. Union, justice, tranquillity, the common defence, the general welfare, and the blessings of liberty-all have been promoted by the government under which we have lived. Standing at this point of time, looking back to that generation which has gone by, and forward to that which is advancing, we may, at once, indulge in grateful exultation, and in cheering hope. From the experience of the past, we derive instructive lessons for the future. Of the two great political parties which have divided the opinions