CONSTITUTION OF THE MOSQUITOS, OF CENTRAL AMERICA — DON GUZMAN Y PAMFILOS, BY THE GRACE OF GOD, CAZIQUE OF THE SAID NATION
The heroic people of this country, having from time immemorial preserved their independence by their courage and their patriotism, were peacefully enjoying the fruits of their devotion at a time when all the rest of America groaned beneath the yoke of Spain. At the great and ever memorable epoch of the emancipation of the New World, the nations of this vast territory had not been brought into subjection by any European power; Spain had not exercised any real authority in the land, and had been forced to confine herself to the chimerical pretensions against which the courage and constancy of the native inhabitants had successfully protested. The nation of the Mosquitos has preserved intact the primitive liberties which she holds directly from the Creator.
With a view to consolidating its existence, to defending its freedom — the chiefest of all the possessions of a nation — and to guiding its progress towards the happiness of the social state, this country has already chosen us to govern it and in the immortal strife for the freedom of America we have shown the people of the continent that we are not unworthy contribuants to the glorious task of securing the destinies of this noble half of the human race.
Absorbed as we are in the duties which Providence has imposed upon us, while calling us, by the voice of a free people, to the government of these fair lands, we thought it well to defer, so far, the inauguration of certain changes which would add greatly to the happiness of our subjects; especially did we consider it necessary first to study thoroughly the wants of the nation to which the new institutions were to apply.
The time has come at last. We are rejoiced at being able to perform this duty, just at the time when victory has crowned for ever the destiny of this continent and has put an end to the strife wherein, for fifteen years, we have been among the first to uphold the banner of independence and to seal with our blood the imprescriptible rights of American peoples. For these reasons we have decreed and ordered, and do hereby decree and order as follows:
In the name of God Almighty and All Merciful:
ART. 1
All the provinces of this country, by whatsoever designations they are known, shall in future be confederated into a single State, which shall for ever remain one and indivisible, under the name of the “State of Poyais.” The various titles, under which we have, up to this present time, carried on the functions of government, shall, for the future, be all merged and consolidated in that of the Cazique of Poyais.
ART. 2
All the present inhabitants of this country, and all those who in the future shall receive letters of naturalization shall form but one single nation and be known as the Poyaisians, without distinction as to origin, birth, or colour.
ART. 3
All Poyaisians are equal as to duties and rights.
ART. 4
The State of Poyais will be divided into twelve provinces.
Each province is divided into districts, each district into parishes. The boundaries of the provinces are fixed by law.
For each province there is a governor, nominated by the Cazique. The governor’s duty is to manage the internal affairs of the province; he will be aided by a council composed of magnates, chosen and Organized by law.
In each district there is a deputy governor, and in each parish a mayor.
The nominations of deputies and of mayors and their duties will be regulated by law.
THE CAZIQUE
The Cazique is the Commander-in-Chief of all the State Forces both by land and sea.
It is his duty to raise, arm, and organize the forces, in accordance with the numbers and expenditure placed at his disposal by law. He appoints all officers, both civil and military, except in those cases where the constitution provides for their election by the popular vote. He is the Administrator-General of all the State Revenues, and acts in accordance with the laws as to its source, assessment, collection and disbursement. He is especially charged with the duty of keeping order within the kingdom, and he also enters into treaties of peace, and has the power of declaring war. All treaties must be submitted for approval to the Senate. He sends and receives all ambassadors and all descriptions of diplomatic envoys.
He alone has the right of proposing laws to the Parliament and of approving or rejecting them after they have passed through Parliament. The laws do not become of legal force until after his sanction and promulgation.
He may make regulations for the enforcement of the laws.
All lands which do not belong to private owners are hereby declared the property of the Cazique.
Their revenue and the proceeds of their sale are assigned for the due maintenance of his Highness the Cazique, of his family and of his personal, civil and military, establishments. The Cazique has the power, in consequence of this law, of disposal of any portion of these domains.
On his accession, the Cazique swears to observe the constitution in presence of the Parliament assembled.
The Cazique grants letters of naturalization to aliens.
The Cazique has the right of pardoning offenders.
The person of the Cazique is inviolable; his ministers only are responsible.
In case of ill-health, or of absence for some sufficient reason, the Cazique shall have the power of nominating one or more regents to govern in his name.
Our eldest son, issue of our marriage with Dona Josepha-Antonia-Andrea de Xérès de Aristiquicta y Lobera, born at Caracas, in the Venezuelan Republic, is hereby declared heir apparent of the dignity of Cazique of Mosquitos. In the next session of Parliament, a law will be brought forward providing for the case of the minority of the Cazique.
PARLIAMENT
Parliament exercises legislative powers concurrently with the Cazique. No loan can be raised in future, no tax, direct or indirect, can be imposed, without a decree passing through Parliament.
At the beginning of each session, the members of the two Houses of Parliament swear fealty to the Cazique and to the Constitution.
Parliament settles the value, weight, pattern and standard of the currency, and determines all weights and measures.
Each House makes its own rules for the conduct of business and for the good order of its sessions.
Either House may petition the Cazique in favour of a project of law on such and such subjects.
Parliament is composed of two bodies; the Senate and the House of Representatives.
SENATE
The Senate consists of fifty senators.
Four years after the promulgation of the present constitution, this number may be increased by due process of law.
The fifty senators shall be nominated by the Cazique for the first time only.
The senators are nominated for life.
In future, when any places become vacant in the senate, the senators shall choose, to fill the vacancy, one of three names submitted to them by the Cazique.
To become a Senator, the qualifications are: Age, thirty-one years at least; domicile, three years at least in the country; property qualification, three thousand acres in fee simple.
The Chancellor is President of the Senate.
The Bishop, or Bishops, of Poyais are de jure members of the Senate.
The sessions of the Senate are public.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Lower House will be formed of sixty members (five representing each province) until such time as an Act shall be passed for increasing that number.
To become a deputy of the people of Poyais the age qualification is twenty-five years; the property qualification, a freehold of one thousand acres.
The House of Deputies shall verify the qualification of its own members.
Each province shall elect five deputies, to form the first House.
During the forthcoming meeting of Parliament, an Act shall be passed for the redistribution of these sixty seats among the different provinces, according to the population of each.
Further, during the same session, Parliament shall have the power of giving seats to the representatives of such towns of our State as shall be deemed, from their size, fit to be ranked as cities.
For the purposes of the election of members from districts, all the inhabitants, being born or naturalized citizens of this State, and who, being taxpayers and having attained the age of twenty-one years, and being neither servants, slaves, outlaws, bankrupts, nor habitual criminals, shall assemble at the chief town in the district, on the day to be notified by our letters patent, and shall elect their deputies from among those persons possessing the necessary qualifications.
Deputies are elected for the term of four years, and there will be a general election at the end of that period.
The Cazique names the President of the Lower House, from a list of three prepared by the said assembly.
The elections will be superintended by a president to be chosen from the electorate by the Cazique.
The laws for Customs duties, and for both direct and indirect taxation, must be submitted for the approval of the House of Representatives, and cannot be brought before the Senate without such approval.
The Cazique may dissolve the House, on condition of calling together another within three months.
The House of Representatives may impeach the Ministry at the bar of the Senate for rebellion, treason, malversation or usurpation of authority.
The proceedings in the House shall be open to the public.
RELIGION
The Catholic Apostolic Roman Religion is that of the State. The ministers thereof are endowed, and the territories over which they shall exercise spiritual jurisdiction fixed by law.
All religions are protected by the State, and no differences in religious belief shall be held to exclude from public office.
Bodies professing a faith other than that of the Catholic religion who may wish to establish places of worship, must notify their desire to the civil power, and further show that the ministers appointed to serve the places of worship are provided with sufficient incomes.
THE PUBLIC DEBT
... (The provisions on this head are those already given in the text, as having been drafted by Mr. Samuel.)
JUDICIAL POWERS
The judges are appointed by the Cazique, on the nomination of three candidates for the office by the Senate.
There will be six State Judges who will go on circuit through the provinces, holding assizes and administering both civil and criminal justice.
A law to be passed subsequently will introduce the system of trial by jury in criminal cases. In each district there will be a magistrate appointed to consider all cases, settling those within his powers, and to bring such cases to the Assizes as he may consider necessary to be tried. Appeals against the Courts of Assizes shall be heard by the Senate. Applications for redress of judgments of the Supreme Court must be laid before Parliament. No subject may be arrested save by the order of a Judge or Magistrate, and the warrant must specify the crime of which he is accused, the said crime being one defined as such by law. Gaolers are forbidden, under penalties attaching to false imprisonment, to receive or detain any person against whom a warrant as described above is not produced.
As soon as practicable the necessary steps will be taken to draw up codes of both Civil and Criminal Law uniformly applicable to the whole country.
The foregoing constitution shall be submitted for acceptation to the Parliament which is hereby convoked for the 1st September next.
Given in London the 20th day of March, in the year of our Lord 1837, and first of our reign.
[Signed) Don Guzman y Pamfilos Letter from M. Alphonse Karr
My Dear Alexandre, Allow me to press a request upon you. France contains thirty-two million inhabitants; if each one of them were to be the object of public attention for an equal space of time, that is to say, if fame and honour were evenly distributed, each would have one minute and one-third of this public renown in his life, the average duration of life being taken at eighty years.
It is for the sake of fame that we hang on to anything which creates a sensation in the world, and long to be a part of whatever attracts notice for the moment; so much so that many covet to a certain extent the situation of the criminal on the road to the guillotine, and find their only comfort in being able to say, “I knew him intimately,” or “I went through the same street the very day after the murder.”
I know of nothing more amusing than the books so full of humour and sly fun and good-natured sarcasm, which you sometimes publish when not engaged in the production of noble dramas and sparkling comedies. Well, here is one certain to win universal admiration for a fortnight in a city where a revolution only takes three days. Accordingly, following out the calculation I made just above, it will deprive nearly thirteen thousand persons of their chance of ever being talked about.
Now I have a right to be mentioned in your book, and I claim my right. James the Second belonged to me before he became the property of Tony Johannot. Our dear good Tony could tell how you, one day he showed me his monkey, the animal threw his arms round my neck, took my head in his hand, kissed me on both cheeks in the most touching manner possible. James the Second had lived with me a whole year, when one day he disappeared. Never a day passed afterwards but I feared I should meet him on the Boulevards, dressed as an opera-bouffe troubadour, taught and trained, and now plying the ignoble calling of a merry-andrew. I was overjoyed to find him again with Tony, who has far too much sense to want to teach any monkey tricks.
Thus, my dear Alexandre, “I beg and, if necessary, I demand,” as the newspapers say, that you will insert this claim to consideration among the documentary evidence printed in your appendix.
Yours ever,
[Signed) Alphonse Karr