human prudence: whoever attacks, in publick or private, its dogmas or principles, shall be severely punished, in proportion to the scandal which he may have occasioned.

II. All Persons who profess the Christian Religion, but dissent in some points from the Religion of the State, may obtain permission from the Government, with the advice of the Council of State, to exercise the creed which belongs to them, so long as their conduct be not injurious to publick order.

III. No Person can be a Publick Functionary unless he professes the Religion of the State.

SECTION II.

ART. I. The Supreme Directorial Power of the Free Departments of the State of Peru resides, at present, in the Protector; his powers emanate from the empire of necessity, from the force of reason, and from the exigency of the publick good.

II. The Protector of Peru is Generalissimo of the Forces by Sea and Land; and, it being his principal duty to liberate all the Towns which are an integral part of the Territory of the State, he will augment or diminish the Armed Force as he may judge convenient.

III. He will impose Contributions, establish Duties, and contract Loans, to meet the Publick Expenses, with the advice of his Council of State.

IV. He will form Regulations for the better employment and organization of the Naval and Land Forces, including the Militia, of the State.

V. He will regulate the Interior and Exterior Commerce, conformably to the liberal principles upon which the prosperity of the Country essentially depend.

VI. He will make the Reforms which he may judge necessary in all the Departments of the Publick Administration, abolishing the Employments which existed under the ancient System, or creating new

ones.

VII. He will establish the Provisional Coinage of the State, but the weight and quality which the Money of Peru has hitherto possessed shall not be altered.

VIII. He will appoint the Envoys and Consuls to Foreign States, and will promote the acknowledgment of the Independence of Peru, concluding such Diplomatick or Commercial Treaties as may be conducive to the interests of the Country, with the advice of his Council of State.

IX. He will have the Title of Excellency, the dignity of the Government requiring it; no other Individual or Corporation shall have any other Title than that which will be immediately appointed; all

those who formerly had the Title of Excellency will have for the future that of Most Illustrious Lord.

SECTION III.

ART. I. The Ministers of State are the immediate Heads of their respective Departments, and of all the Authorities who depend upon them, respectively.

II. They will expedite all the Orders, and direct all the Official Communications, in the name of the Protector, both within and without the Territory of the State, under their own responsibility and Signature, the consent thereto of the Protector being registered in the Office of each Ministry.

III. The Orders and Regulations which the Protector may give, for the reform of the Administration, will be signed by him, and by the Minister to whose Department it belongs.

IV. The Communications from Foreign Governments will be referred to the Minister to whose Department they belong, the same rule being observed in respect of those which may be transmitted to them.

V. Official Communications will be referred directly to the Ministers, according to the Classification of the Affairs over which they preside. VI. The title of the Ministers will be that of Most Illustrious Lord, with the address of Most Illustrious Señor.

SECTION IV.

Art. I. There shall be a Council of State, composed of 12 Individuals, viz. The 3 Ministers of State; the President of the High Court of Justice; the General-in-Chief of the United Army; the Chief of the Militia of Peru; the Lieutenant General Count Valle-Oselle; the Dean of the Holy Church; the Marescal del Campo; the Marquis of Torre Tagle; the Count de la Vega; and the Count Torre Velarde. Vacancies will be successively supplied.

II. Its Functions will be the following; to give its opinion to the Government in cases of difficult deliberation, to examine the great Plans of reform, which the Protector may have in contemplation, to make observations upon them, with a view to the publick good, and to propose Plans which may be conducive to the prosperity of the Country.

III. The Council of State will hold its Sittings in the Palace; the Protector assisting when necessary, in order to resolve, after consultation and discussion, upon difficult points.

IV. The Council of State will name a Secretary, who shall have no vote, and whose duty it will be to draw up its Acts, and to prepare the plans it may form, agreeably to Article II.

V. The Council will meet, whenever necessity or the urgency of publick affairs requires it, and it will extend or diminish its Sittings accordingly.

VI. The Members of the Council of State will have the Title of Excellency.

SECTION V.

Art. I. The Presidents of Departments are the immediate executors of the Orders of Government, in their respective Department.

II. Their especial duties are: to administer the interior government of the Department; to augment the Militia, in case of necessity, as far as they may judge it necessary, with the consent of the Inspector General of the Civicos; to promote the prosperity of the Revenue of the State, watching scrupulously the conduct of those employed in this important branch, and proposing to the Government the reforms or amendments of which it may be susceptible, according to the local circumstances of each Department; to take care that justice be administered impartially; and that all the Publick Functionaries subordinate to them, fulfil the duties with which they are entrusted, correcting those who violate them, and reporting them to the Government.

III. The Presidents are the Judges of Police in the Departments, and as such they will watch over the observance of the publick morals, the Establishments of elementary education and its progress, and above all whatever may tend to the improvement of the Towns and the health of their Inhabitants.

IV. Articles V. VI. and IX. of the Provisional Regulation of Huara, of the 12th of February last, relative to the powers of the Presidents of the Departments, are hereby confirmed.

SECTION VI.

Art. I. The Municipalities will continue in the same form as hitherto, and will be presided over by the Presidents of the Departments.

II. The elections of the Members of the Municipal Body after the next Year will be popular, agreeably to the Regulation which will be separately given.

III. The title of the Members of the Municipality of the Capital will be Most Illustrious Lord, and that of those of all the other Municipalities of the State, Illustrious Señor.

SECTION VII.

Art. 1. The Judicial Power will be administered by the High Court of Justice, and the other Tribunals which now exist or which may hereafter be established.

II. The High Court of Justice will possess the attributes which have hitherto belonged to the Audiencias, and will also take cognizance of the Civil and Criminal Causes, relating to Envoys and Consuls, and to the Publick Functionaries who fail in the exercise of their authority; its jurisdiction is likewise extended to the Prizes made by the Ships of War of the State, and by those which obtain

Letters of Marque, according to the Law of Nations; the functions of the Tribunal of Mines will also be included in those of the High Court.

III. The High Court will name a Commission, composed of Individuals of its own Body, and of other Civilians distinguished for their probity and talents, to draw up immediately a Regulation for the administration of Justice; which may simplify that of all the inferior Tribunals; have for its basis the equality before the Law which all Citizens enjoy; and the abolition of the Fees which the Judges receive, which are from this moment decidedly forbidden; the same Commission will present a Regulation for the adjudication of Prizes.

IV. The Members of the High Court will continue in Office during their good conduct; their title will be Illustrious Señor.

SECTION VIII.

Art. I. Every Citizen has an equal right to preserve and defend his honour, his liberty, his security, his property and his existence, and cannot be deprived of any of those rights, except by a Sentence of the competent Authority, given according to the Laws; he who is deprived of them unjustly may demand redress of the Government for the infraction, and publish freely, by means of the Press, the transaction which occasioned his complaint.

II. The house of a Citizen is a sanctuary which nobody can violate, unless in virtue of an express Order of the Government, accompanied by a statement of the cause; when that condition fails, resistance is a right which legalizes the acts which may result from it: in the other Departments, it will belong only to the Presidents to authorize a forcible entry; and in the Cases only of Treason or the subversion of order, can Governors, or Lieutenant Governors, give such an Order.

III. By Treason is meant every machination in favour of the Enemies of the Independence of Peru; the crime of Sedition consists in assembling an armed force, of whatever number it may consist, to resist the orders of Government, in disturbing a Town or part of it with the same view, and in forming Secret Associations against the Legitimate Authorities. No one will be judged as seditious for his opinions on political matters, unless in connexion with some of the circumstances above mentioned.

IV. The Liberty of the Press is sanctioned, under the Regulations which will be separately prescribed.

SECTION IX.

Art. I. All Persons who have been born or may be born in any of the States of America, which shall have sworn to their Independence of Spain, are Citizens of Peru.

II. Other Persons, Foreigners, may be naturalized in the Country, but cannot obtain Letters of Citizenship, except in the cases pre

scribed in the Declaration published on the 4th instant, which is now sanctioned.

LAST SECTION.

Art. I. All the Laws which prevailed under the old Government remain in force, provided they be not in opposition to the Independence of the Country, to the forms adopted by this Statute, or to the Decrees and Declarations which may be hereafter published by the Government.

II. The present Statute shall have effect until Independence be declared throughout the whole Territory of Peru, when a General Congress will be immediately convoked, in order to establish the permanent Constitution, and form of Government, which is to prevail in the State.

ADDITIONAL ARTICLES.

Art. I. The Government, animated with a sentiment of justice and equity, recognizes all the Debts of the Spanish Government, which may not have been contracted for the purpose of maintaining the Slavery of Peru, or of making War against the other Independent States of America.

II. The present Statute will be sworn to by the Protector as the fundamental basis of his duties, and as a guarantee to the free People of Peru, of the uprightness of his views; and all the constituted Authorities and Citizens of the State, will afterwards swear, on their part, to obey the Government, and to fulfil this Provisional Statute of Peru; in the other Departments the Presidents will swear before the Municipalities, and, before the former, all Persons holding Employments, and the other Citizens, will take the Oath. The forms of the Oaths which are to be taken, are as follow:

Oath of the Protector.

I swear to God and the Country, and I pledge my honour, that I will faithfully fulfil the Provisional Statute published by me, for the better government and direction of the free Departments of Peru, until the permanent Constitution shall be established; that I will defend the Independence and Liberty of the State, and promote its felicity, by all the means in my power.

Oath of the Ministers of State.

I swear to fulfil, and cause to be fulfilled, the Provisional Statute of Peru, and to execute, with all the zeal and rectitude which the publick service requires, the duties imposed upon me by the Office with which I am entrusted.

Oath of the Publick Functionaries and other Citizens.

I swear to God and the Country, to acknowledge and obey in every thing the Protectorial Government, to fulfil and cause to be fulfilled, as far as concerns me, the Provisional Statute of the free Departments