382 
SOUTH AMERICA. 
sent to all the districts of the State, where books were opened 
to receive the assents and dissents of the whole population. 
It was generally well received. 
The rights of the citizens occupy the first seventeen 
articles ; and man, in a social state, takes up five more. The 
Roman Catholic religion is declared that of the State, and 
any other, contrary to the doctrines of Christianity, illegal. 
The next subject is the legislative power. It commences 
with stating, that the Chilians have the right to choose their 
own government, and to enact the laws by which they will 
be ruled, which can only be accomplished by deputies 
assembled in Congress; but such election being likely to 
occupy much time, and as the business was pressing, a 
Senate would make such provisional regulations as the 
urgency of the matters would require. It then provides, that 
five senators are to be named by the Director, one of whom 
in turn is to be President for the space of four months.. Five 
other senators are also named in like manner by the Director, 
who are to act in the place of the former, if from illness, or 
any other cause, they should be forced to absent themselves. 
The senators are to enjoy salaries of 2000 dollars each, and 
have the style of Excellency. They are to have the privi¬ 
lege of appointing the officers of their chamber; their per¬ 
sons to be inviolate ; and a Commission, named by them¬ 
selves, is to examine any cause of complaint which may be 
made against them. The duration of the sessions is to be 
regulated by the President. The qualifications of the sena¬ 
tors are to be, the attainment of thirty years of age, and a 
character distinguished for talents, patriotism, and integrity. 
The Proyecto next recapitulates the attributes of the 
Senate, It is specially to watch over the Constitution, and 
the notice of any infraction of it is to be laid before the 
Supreme Director, who is responsible for attending to it. In 
every city or town, there is to be a Censor appointed to see that 
the Constitution is properly attended to. Without the con¬ 
sent of the Senate, no great affairs can be undertaken; no 
imposts can be laid, loans contracted, or war declared; no 
treaties of peace, alliance, or commerce; no ministers, 
agents, or consuls, can be sent to foreign powers; no levies 
of troops can be ordered, or, when raised, permitted to leave 
the country; and no public works can be undertaken, or 
new authorities or employments created. 
The Senate is empowered to limit, add to, and amend the 
Couslitution, as circumstances shall appear to warrant. All 
new laws made by the Senate, all abolition of laws which 
may be found to militate against the independence of the 
country, all reforms in the various departments of state, and 
all additions or corrections of existing laws, must be sub¬ 
mitted, before their publication, to the Supreme Director, 
who, in the space of eight days, must assent or object to 
their promulgation ; and in case of dissent, he must state the 
reasons of his opposition. In case of his assent, the law is 
to be published under a certain form. Should he refuse his 
assent to the law, and it be brought a third time for his ap¬ 
proval, it will be published, and enforced, but in a different 
form. In any cases of laws badly understood, or in any 
case of doubt or flaw, the Director may, de proprio ?notu, 
explain them. The Senate has the privilege of calling toge¬ 
ther, at proper time, a National Congress, to be elected in 
such way as they shall direct. In case of the death, resigna- 
t.on, or crime of any of the senators, his successor is to be 
named by the Senate. 
The executive power exists in the Supreme Director, who 
is to continue to receive the salary he actually enjoys, but 
which the Senate may increase or diminish at their pleasure. 
He is to enjoy no other emoluments. His style is to be 
Excellency, and his military honour that of Captain-General 
of the army. The command and regulation of the armies, 
the fleet and militia, the public tranquillity, the collection, 
distribution, and management of the public funds, are under 
the charge of the Director. He is to have the nomination of 
the various ministers, consuls, or agents to foreign states, and 
tain the strictest alliance with the provinces of the Rio de la 
Plata, and to watch nver the increase of population, agricul¬ 
ture, industry, commerce, and the mines. The care of the 
roads and posts is also entrusted to him. It is his peculiar 
privilege to name the secretaries, of state ; and he is respon¬ 
sible for them, as they are for their respective employs. The 
Director is to take especial care to extinguish those intestine 
divisions which ruin states, and to endeavour to render the 
union as firm as possible. He is to uphold public credit, 
and, as far as it may be possible, pay off the existing debts 
of the state. He is to make a monthly report to the Senate 
of the state of the treasury. He has the power of confirming 
or annulling the proceedings of courts-martial, and may at 
his pleasure remit the punishment of capital crimes. And 
the Proyecto farther provides, that in case of resignation or 
death, the new Director is to be named by the Senate. 
The limitations to the executive power are as follow:—The 
Director cannot interfere in any civil or criminal process, 
nor in any way alter the system of the administration of 
justice. In case of the arrest of any one, he must be 
brought, within the space of twenty-four hours, before a 
magistrate. No high ecclesiastical offices are to be filled up 
by any persons who have not been rectors of parishes for 
six years. He is to employ no foreigners in any depart¬ 
ment of state. And lastly, he is to allow the correspondence 
of citizens to pass unopened. 
The three Ministers or Secretaries of State are to conduct 
their respective departments with that fidelity, intelligence, 
and prudence, wffiich the good of the state requires. They 
are to issue no orders, or make communications of any kind, 
without the express concurrence of the Director; and any 
orders or decrees made by them contrary to the Constitution, 
will subject them to responsibility. The appointments of 
these officers of state to rest entirely with the Director. 
With respect to the provincial governors and lieutenants, 
the Constitution provides, first, that Chile is divided into 
three provinces, the Capital, Conception, and Coquimbo ; 
secondly, that each governor-intendent is charged with the 
jurisdiction of the district, and is a judge in ordinary cases. 
All matters relating to the police and revenue are to be under 
their immediate care. The military governors of Valparaiso, 
Talcaguano, and Valdivia, are to be chosen by the Director., 
and continue in office for three years. 
Such are the heads of the Constitution. The Supreme 
Director, being well aware that the country was not suffi¬ 
ciently advanced in constitutional views, or enough en¬ 
lightened, to admit of a very popular form of government, 
when elections by ballot or otherwise should take place 
throughout the state, freed himself from iliis difficulty by 
naming a senate himself, of a few men devoted, as he 
thought, to his interests and those of the nation. 
The senate, on the other side, discovering their power, 
and finding that they could not be displaced without a trial 
before a tribunal of their own nomination, soon disagreed 
with the Director on measures which he brought forward for 
the interest of the country. Forming a junction with the 
secretaries of the departments, the senate bid defiance to the 
Director, and carried on their own contracted plan of govern¬ 
ment, without attending to the more enlightened views of 
O'Higgins. Heavy duties were laid on foreign merchandize, 
and the senators were alike regardless of the proper adminis¬ 
tration of justice, and of the various other complaints which 
the people were inclined to vent latterly on the publications 
of the day. Could the Director have quitted this govern¬ 
ment, his power would have remained with his popularity 
undiminished; for his patriotic feelings were never im¬ 
pugned. But thinking that he could not turn round on the 
constitution which he had sanctioned, or that, perhaps, by 
doing so, a civil war would be the result, he chose to remain 
to the last, and endeavour, as much as it was possible, to 
correct the badness of the system. 
The finances of the state were so much reduced that the 
may through them open discussions relating to treaties of troops left in the country, and those filling public employs, 
peace and preliminary negociations; but nothing can be were many months in arrear of pay. Under these circum- 
eoncluded without the consent of the Senate. He is to main- stances it became necessary to raise a loan in Europe, which 
was 
