DIVISION. X.

On the observance of the Constitution and the mode of proceeding to make alterations therein.

ART. 372. The Cortes at their first sittings will take into their con- . sideration any violations of the constitution which may have been communicated to them, take measures accordingly, and render effective the responsibility of those who may have committed them.

ART. 373. Every Spaniard has a right of memorial to the Cortes, or the King, to claim the benefits of the observance of the constitution.

ART. 374. All persons whatever in public employment, civil, military, or ecclesiastic, shall take an oath on taking possession of their offices, to defend the constitution, be faithful to the king, and duly serve the trust committed to their charge.

ART. 375. Until eight years elapse after the constitution has been carried into practice, in all its particulars, no alteration, addition, or correction, whatever, can be proposed in any of its details.

ART. 376. To make any alteration, addition, or correction of the constitution, it shall be necessary that the deputies who may have to decree definitively thereon, shall be provided with special powers accordingly.

ART. 377. All proposals for change in any article of the constitution must be made in writing, and be supported and signed by at least twenty deputies.

ART. 378. The proposal of alteration shall be read three times with intervals of six days from one to the other reading, and after the third it shall be discussed whether there is ground for proceeding to debate thereon.

ART. 379. If it is admitted to a debate, it shall be proceeded in under the same formalities and regulations that are prescribed for the formation of the laws, after which it shall be put to the vote whether there is ground for considering it again, in the following general deputation, and for this effect, two thirds of the members present must agree.

APT. 389. The following general deputation, observing all the same formalities, shall declare in either of the two years of its sittings, two thirds of the votes agreeing therein, that there is ground for special powers to make the proposed alterations.

ART. 381. This being declared, it shall be communicated publicly to all the provinces; and according to the time in which this has been done. The Cortes shall determine if the next deputation, or the one immediately succeeding it shall come qualified with the special powers.

ART. 382. These shall proceed from the elective provincial meetings, adding to the usual powers the following clause.

"They also grant special power and authority to make such alteration in the constitution as mentioned in the decree of the Cortes, in the following tenor (here a copy of the decree) the whole to be regulated by the same constitution. And they become bound to acknowledge and regard as constitutional what they may in consequence establish."

ART. 383. The proposed alteration shall be again discussed, and if approved by two thirds of the members, it shall become a law of the constitution, and be published as such in the Cortes.

ART. 884. A Committee shall present the decree of alteration to the king, in order that he may command the publication and circulation of the same, among all the public authorities and inhabitants of the monarchy.

Cadiz, 18th of March, 1812.

Signed by the Deputies.

I have found nothing in these last chapters that required individual notice or explanation, In fact the whole frame of the constitution is so simple, that he who runs might read it. I have neglected to notice one circumstance in its proper place, namely, that any individual who fills an office by the appointment of the king cannot sit as a member of the Cortes. This is an important provision if no Lord Grenville should be found in Spain to propose its repeal. The same provision was made in this country soon after the revolution, but it was soon found an obstacle to the working of corruption, and the above mentioned Lord proposed and carried a law which repealed it, by enabling persons who accepted an office, to be re-elected as members of the House of Commons. The representation of Spain is placed on a self-renovating basis, any little circumstance, that might be found injurious or impracticable. will speedily be remedied.

The system of public education is of

the greatest importance, but the uniformity of opinion can hever be accomplished.

The day, we trust is not far distant, when every society of men, who lay claim to civilization, shall consider the education of every human being among them as an essential duty to the welfare of the whole. Some of our English Legislators must blush for themselves, when they read the Spanish Constitution. We mean those who have argued the necessity of keeping the peasantry in a state of ignorance for the defence of the country. An ignorant peasantry might best answer the purpose of a corrupt government, but true courage in a militia will arise from a love of country and a true sense of the benefits and protection it derives from the law. The militia of the country should embrace every man capable of bearing arms, and instead of supporting a standing army by taxation, and taxation by a standing army, let the militia perform the necessary military duties in their several counties. Thus we should always be ready to repel any invasion or aggression on our rights and properties, without the expence of an idle standing army. As for foreign territory, we are of opinion that we should do better without it than with it. It is a burthen only on the mother country. Let every community of men govern themselves. This measure would greatly tend to put an end to war and all its destructive miseries. Trade and commerce would flourish, and what we lost through one channel, we, should double in gain in another. It is high time for societies of men to return to something like a natural and rational state, otherwise, we shall find that those islands and colonies over which the king's of Europe have dominion, will in their turn become our masters. There is no era in history that we can look back to for example, societies are beginning to form themselves of a new race of beings intelligent and rational, and the old systems and customs will no longer suffice to control them. Should Spain in her present state, so far forget herself, as to attempt to controul her former provinces of South America, she will destroy the fairest fruits of her revolution. The inhabitants of South America have shewn themselves worthy to govern themselves, and it is to be hoped that they will soon be governed by their own representatives. The Brazilian monarchy will soon become obscure or extinguished by the splendour of the Republics that will surround it. Hasten the day when the whole earth shall live in concord as one vast republic.

EDITOR

CONTINUATION OF REPLY TO THE REV. THOS. HARTWELL HORNE'S PAMPHLET, ENTITLED, “DEISM REFUTED;" &c.-From p. 180.

I have now done with the book of Genesis, which is also called the first book of Moses, but I think the reader must have met with enough to convince him, that even if such a person as Moses existed (of which I doubt) he could not have been the author of Genesis. The circumstances which support my assertion are briefly these. The Jews do not at present, nor have not at any time, on record, used the names of the antideluvians, although, from Abraham downwards, thé námes mentioned in Genesis are very common amongst them: this is an argument of Paine's against the antiquity of the Book of Genesis, and that its contents were not known to them until after the Babylonish captivity. The mention of the names of two cities Dan and Hebron, in Genesis, when we have the origin of both those cities by this name in the Book of Judges, and the mention of the kings of Israel, when Moses established a system of government quite different to monarchy, are all so many proofs that Genesis was not written by Moses. The reason that the Jew and Christian stickle to Moses is, to support the inspiration of the writing. Take away Moses, as the author, and the fraud is discovered at once. It then stands in the position in which I have placed it, namely, that it is a bad compilation of traditionary tales, which some imposter has put together to complete a history of what has happened on the earth from its first formation. We have seen that the tales of Abraham and Joseph were by no means confined to the Jews, neither will I believe, that they were among the ancestors of the Jews. From all authentic history (I mean such history as is supported by different known authors) the Jews appear to have been very contemptible both in numbers and in extent of territory. When Alexander, the Macedonian, went into Persia, he passed them by as a people too contemptible for his notice, although we are told, that he was diverted from molesting them by super-natural means. The account of the creation, which Genesis, as a matter of course, commences with, is quite exploded by the known laws of Astronomy. The account of the general deluge has been shown to be a VOL. III. No, 6,

physical impossibility. The tower of Babel, and the creation of the sudden diversity of languages, is ridiculous. Lot's wife becoming a pillar of salt is also a ridiculous fable. Jacob's ladder might have answered very well when there was a chrystal sky for it to rest against, and on the same ground, the windows of heaven for letting down the rain. All the apparitions, all the dreams and visions, and all the supposed promises and prophecies, I hold to be equally ridiculous and fabulous; and lastly, what should have come first, the surgical operation on Adam, or making of Eve out of one of his ribs, are altogether sufficient to shew, that the book is truly ridiculous, and that it cannot be gravely commented upon. The ridiculous must be met with ridicule, and the obsceneties with shame and reproach.

I now begin with the Book of Exodus, which is also called the second Book of Moses; that it was not written by Moses, I doubt not but we shall find as good a proof, as we found in Genesis. I should notice that the titles of those books have no particular meaning, further than being expressive of the chief object contained in them: thus Genesis signifies generation or creation, and Exodus signifies a going or coming out, indicative of the Israelites coming out of Egypt. Commentators on the Bible have asserted, that the Scriptures originally did not bear those titles, but that on the first compilation of those fabulous tales, they were amalgamated without any divisions, or distinctions, by books, chapters, or verses. I proceed with the first chapter of Exodus.

"Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt: every man and his household came with Jacob. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, Dan, Napthali, Gad, and Asher. And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls; for Joseph was in Egypt already. And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them. Now there arose np a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. Therefore they did set over them task-masters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharoah treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. And the

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