Public Leger, Volume 1, Number 13, Richmond, Wayne County, 5 June 1824 — Page 1

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"friendly to the best pursuits of man, FRIENDLY TO THOUGHT, TO FREEDOM, AND TO PEACE." Caliper.

SUMBER 13.

RICHMOND, WAYNE COUNTY, INDIANA, SATURDAY, JUNE 5, 1824.

VOLUME .

Minted and published every Saturday by EDMUND S. BUXTON, Front street, opposite the Richmond Hotel.

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f (From the Philadelphia Gazette.) I BRAZIL. Evcrv wind that blows wafts us a new ronstitution. The last that has come to iand is that of Brazil, the receipt of which Was acknowledged yesterday. It fills a pamphlet of 4C 'paces, k. we have no doubt .lhat a statement of some of its principal provisions will be more acceptable than a publication at full length. t The Government is to be a constitution fal. representative, hereditary monarchy. The Roman Catholic Apostolic Religion tis to continue to be that of the state: but (professors of other sects are to be allowed to worship according to the dictatesof their 'own consciences, in their own households, and in private houses set apart for the purpose but having none of the exterior appearance of temple. The division of power is fourfold, Lepishtive, Moderative, Executive, and Judicial. The legislature is to consist of a chamber of deputies and a senate, whose ppwers are, in general, nmilar in character but the deputies are to be elected quadren"hold their seats during life. The number of Senators is to be one lialf that of the deputies. At the first election for deputies the people of each district are to nominate three times the number of Senators to which said district is entitled, from among whom the Emperor is to chose the Senators. A bill to which the Emperor refuses his sanction, becomes a law notwithstanding, provided it passes the legislatu re three timis in as manv successive years. The Moderative Power, which is declared to be " the key of the whole political organization, is delegated exclusively to the Emperor,4 in order that he may maintain the etiuilibrum of the other political powers.' By virtue of this, he convenes, prorogue, and dissolves the General Assembly at plm&urr, sanction laws, appoints and dismisses Ministers of Slate,pardons crimes, commutes punishments, and exercises other attributes of sovereignty. His Majesty's person is inviolable, and he is altogether irresponsible for his actions. Tiie Emperor is also head of the executive power, and exerts it through the agency of ministers of state, appointed and dismissed, as previously stated, by himself,but responsible to the General Assembly for misconduct. In the enumeration of the functions of the executive, we observe nothing deserv ing of particular notice, except the power to appoint Bishops, and bestow ecclesiastical benefices: also the power to grant or deny assent to decrees of councils, apostolic letters, and other ecclesiastic constitution. The Councilof State, the No. of whose members shall not exceed ten, and who are to hold their offices during life, is to be appointed by the Emperor. They are to nave no power but that of counselling) and to be held strictly responsible for the advice they give. 7 he judiciary is to be independent the trial by jury is It be established, and settlement of civil suits by arbitration to be encouraged In the metropolis there is to be a supreme court, with spec ial and appellate jurisdiction, and subordinate tribunals in the provmcos. 1 lie law is pronounced sovereign, and its operation is to be equal. For the better orderingof aiTnh justices olh e peace (we translate literally) are to be commissioned. Each province of the empire is to be governed by a President, appointed by the Emperor,and by a general council elected by the people. The councils in the larger provinces, are to consist of 21 members; in the smaller, of 13. The laws they

enact, must receive the sanction of the General Assembly and of the Emperor. The municipal affairs of all the cities and towns in the empire, are to be managed by chambers of aldermen. The election of senators, deputies, and members of the provincial councils, is not to be directed, but through the medium of electors, chosen by the people in their parochial assemblies. A man less than 40 years of age cannot be a Senator, nor one less than 25, a deputy to the General Assembly, or a member of a provincial council. Neither can a man who is not 25 years of age vote in a parochial assembly: a remarkable exception, however, (we do not say an improper one,) is made, in the latter case, in favor of married men, passed the age of twenty-one years. Menial servants are not to exercise the right of suffiage. A voter must have a clear annual income of 100 millreas, an elector of 100, and a senator of 800. A singular distinction is drawn in the constitution, between the legitimate, and i7legitimatc sons of Brazilian mothers, born in foreign countries. The latter, on taking up their abode in Brazil, are to be immediately admitted to all the rights ofcilizenship. No such favor is granted to the former. The last division of the constitution is a kind of bill of rights, imperfect indeed, but containing some good principles. No citizen is to be compelled to do, or abstain from, any thing, but by laze. No laws, but such as the public good requires, are to be enacted. No law is to have a retroactive effect. Liberty of speech and of the press is to be allowed. The rights of property and of personal liberty are to be inviolate. Every ma?vs house is his castle. No man is to be arrested except in the way provided by law. Bail, except in extreme cases, is to be taken from accused persons. The torture, branding, and all other cruel punihmoi.s are. to he. abolished. Xn ii.Mtnrl is to work corruption of blood, or confiscation of .goods. Authors of useful inventions art! to have a property in their discoveries. The constitution guarantees to all the citizen, primary and gratuitous instruction. It is an -;t- thirty, in e d)?, to draft a ronstitution, a diilic'ilt tlun." t e-tat on?, dry work to tr.itil.i(e urn-, and tedious vorkevn to read nrie-. tillfor a public journtlit to !e lve his readers ignorant t the form of z t rn i.n at ndoptedby a lifw cm; in, is to reelect his humr.s. !t nrtt r not that the covt rnini lit it liki i to be b;it temporary. It i of ill-nil nt to ku w tht-mture of th1 intitutiom which fail, a wei! t h 1 1 f tho which heroine firmly established: ami en. h particular of this kind add to the general itot k of human r xj r:etu . f rom the ik U h ov n on Saturday, our readers can judge of the nw polity of Hrazil. They, no doubt, discovered many wheletorr.r provision in thr rotHtituti i), hut if we n.it:ike. net, wten the renVt t that, under pretenrc of ' preserving thr equilibrium and harmony of the other power,'' the Kinperor clairub to control the whole, thr j will not thiiik the government quite so mbkrai. bs it proli nes to b. Bv virtue of his 41 tnjderative power" he appoints and t!i-mi"e nil executive officers at pleasure. One branch of the 1 sri'l Uur-,thc Senate, is appointed by him if as to the other, the ChamlKT of Deputies, if he funis it r factory, I f can disolve it, and call another better disponed to serve his purposes. In certain cases, he can upend the operation of any particular article of thf constitution, oreven the whole constitution. The instrument does, indeed, wisely and truly declare, 44 that the diviion und harmony of political powers are the chief preservers of the rights of the citiz n, and the best means of making cllVctive the pi irantees offered by the constitution,1' but, under pretext of 44 maintaining the equilibrium, " the MontriATivi: Power swallows up all the ethers. All the attributes of sovereignty centre in an irrestonsi um: Emperor. An hereditary nobility might cheek the encroachments of the crown: but h re we have a nobility owing their existence to the w ill of their sovereign. The new government of lir.izil, is, then fore as nearly as may he, m il'ke mo.saiu hy, differing, indeed, in its apparatus from that of Turkey or that of Persia, but the same in character, and -uppoin it to be firmly established, it dependi on the will ot the ruling monarch whether the wholesome provisions the constitution contains, be earned into operation. There is, indeed, one feature in the constitution which might promise better things. It is to be found in that article which declares that the Judiciary shall be independent. Let but this he the case, in any country and the people are secure in their richtsr for then they live unih.r a povernment, not of MEN, but of laws. Let but the judges be responsible only for liberty, corruption, and other faults, and let them be preserved independent of all undue, legislative, executive, ami popular influence, and the citizens are sale alike from the aggressions of men in power, and of the little tyrants the mob ahounds with. As part of the apparatus with which his imperial majesty intends to govern his people, is a code of laws, and as he, though an absolute mon. arch, could have no interest tn enacting lawn w hose general character ei.ouht be that ot justice, we might hope that, by the aid of an independent judiciary there would be some security fr persons and property in Brazil: but how can an independent judic iary exist in connexion with despotism? The power which takes upon itself to moderate the executive and the legislature, will al?o, beyond doubt, moderate the judiciary: and as is the central govt rnment, so will be the provincial. The Justice of the Peace ot each little village, will Le little tyrants tu their

places. The monarchical character must impart itself to every branch of the government. It must be recollected that we are only shewing how different this constitution is from what it professes to be. The co stitutional government of Spain,professed to be a limited monarchy; hut it was a democracy with the phantom of a king at its head. The new government of Brazil, professes to be limited and liberal: but, by the aid of its moderative power, it resolves itself into an absolute monarchy . For ausht we know, however, Don Pedro the First may bj us competent to govern the people of Brazil, as they are to govern thcmaelvcs. Certain it is that this sanu' people have never shewn any violent love fur eithi r the forms or the principles of republican-i.-ni, in which they have been a remarkable exception to the other inhabitants of South America. Some iiu.e ago, indeed, numbers of. American editors d; I circulate report that Brazilians were anx. iou to have a repunlic in eovernment: but at that very time we had 1 in by us a file of papers, containing numerous addresses, all so fulsome to royalty and so vituerative as respects democracy, that they would i.ot have disgraced Le Drapeau Blanc of Paris or the Royal Gazette of Madrid. Tl e truth i?, tht what the Brazilians have desired, has not been ('V rty, but simply independence, independence of Perineal, the niother country. This they have obtained, nor should the Holy Alliance sek to deprive them of it, on account of the form of govern cient they have adopted. Every thin has been done in accordance with the principles those mighty protentates are endeavouring to inculcate. It is not ih' people y hut the prince that has established this

new coverniftei.t: and surely there ia no jut cause for war in his calling the charter a constitution and the nobility a senate, or in his abolishing the use of the torture and establishing the trial by jury! Grants from a prince to his people, are, we believe, strictly legitimate, in the opinion of their Majesties, and who can blame a legitimate prince for using a few republican phra?es to support the holy caue which their serene highnesses have so near at heart ? So fir from being displeased, the Imperial Mynheer I Vinc.es of Austria, ought, wethjjik, cheerfully to ti nder the right of fellowship to his son-in-law, the Impi rial Don Pedro of Brazil. He has preserved the spirit and the form of royalty throughout the charter. When the Chamber of Deputies does not approve the project of a law submitted to it by the executive, it is directed to return it, 44 testify mg its gratitude to the emperor for the zeal he shews in watching over the interests of the empire, anil respectfully beseeching hirn to deign to take the said project into his further consideration." When the Hmporor refuses his sanction to a bill, he graciously declare, 44 he will consider it, and resolve u his own time," to which the Chamber of Deputies humbly replie, 44 that it praises his Imperial Majesty for the interest he takes in the nation." No less than five or ix chapters of the Constitution, are devoted to the i c nc rns of the royal famil . His Majesty1 44 i ir " wife, and "august" children, claim his i .ii .iCIi.ft .....V.i - . Irz every contingency, birth, marriage, orphanage, widowhood, death, their schooling, their travel. ling ex; enes, every thing is provided for. Now, we dare be atTirmed, that, in all this, his Imperial Maie-ty is most sincere: he will take special good care if hi 44augut" wife, his 44 aurust " children, and hi- 44 august " self. Ifhe will only be equally careful to secure to the people the rights guaranteed to them by the c harter onstitution.) we shall pardon all his respect for legitimacy. 44 If kings," says the ftuthorof the Spirit of Despotism, 4,were only repuhlicnn. in the tme sense of the term; republicans would be royalists."

(Trcm thr Genia of Universal Kmancipation. ) AFRICAN EMANCIPATION. Extracts from a late Pamphlet, written by the eel cbrated Thomas Clarkson. In examining a period comprehending the last 40 years, I find no less than six or eeven instances of the emancipation of African slaves in bodies. The first of these cases occurred at the close of the first Amerienn war. A number of slaves had run away from their North American masters and joined the British army. When peace came, the British Government did not know what to do with them. Their services were no longer wanted. To leave them behind to fall again into tltn power of their masters would have been cruelty as well as injustice; and as to taking them to Kngland, what could hav; beegjone with them there? It was at ULr1 'Jv?l' )

to give them their liberty, & to disband them in Nova Scotia.and to settle them thereupon errant of land as British subjects and as

free men. The Nova Scotians on learning

their destination were alarmed. lney could not hear the thought of having such a number of black persons among them,and particularly as these understood the use of arms. The Government, however, persevering in its original intention, they were conveyed to Halifax, and distributed from thence into the country. Their number, comprehending mon, women and children, were two thousand and upwards. To gain their livelihood, sonic, of them worked upon little portions of land of their own; others worked as carpenters; others became fishermen; and others worked for hire in other ways. In process of time they raised places of worship of their own,from their own body. They led a harmless life, and gained the character of an industrious and honest people from their white neighbours. A few years afterwards the land in Nova Scotia being found too poor to answer, and the climate too cold for their constitutions; a No. of them, to the amount of between 13 and 14 hundred, volunteered to form a new colony, which was then first thought of, at Sierra Leone. According

ly, having been conveyed there, they realized the object in view4, and they are to be found there, they or their descendents, most of them in independent, and some of " them in affluent circumstances, at the preC"nt day. A second case may be taken from what occurred at the close of the second, or last American war. It may be remembered that a large British na"l force, having on board a powerful land Jrce, sailed in the year 1814, to make a descent on the coast of the southern States of America. The

British army, when landed, marched to Washington, and burnt most of its public buildings. It was engaged also at different times with the American army in the field. During these expeditions, some hundreds of slaves in these parts joined tho British standard by invitation. When the campaign was over, the same difficulty occurred about disposing of these as in the former case. It was determined at length to ship them to Trinidad as free labourers But here, that is, at Trinidad, an objection was started against receiving them, but on a different ground from that which had been started in the similar case in N. Scotia. The planters of Trinidad were sure that no free negroes would ever work, ai d therefore that the slaves in question would, if made free and settled among them, support themselves by plunder. Sir R. Woodford, however, the governor of the Island resisted the outcry of these prejudices. He received them into the Island, and settled them where he supposed the experiment would be most safely made. The result bus shown his discernment. These very men, formerly slaves in the Southern States of America, and afterwards emancipated in a body at Ti inidad,are now earning their own livelihood, with so much industry and good conduct that the calumnies originally spread against them have entirely died away. A third case may comprehend those ne roc3, who lately formed what we call our West Ifdia black regiments. Some of these had been originally purchased in Africa, not as slaves, but recruit, and otl.oio in Jamaica and elsewhere. They bad all served as soldiers in the West Indies. At length certain of these regiments were transported to Sierra Leone and disbanded there, and the individuals composing them received their discharge as free mci.This happened in the spring of 1819. .-Winy hundreds of them were set at liberty at once upon this occasion. Some of these were afterwards marched into the interior,whcre they founded Waterloo, Hastings, and other villages. Others were shipped to Isles de Los, where they made settlements in like manner. Many, in both cases, took with them their wives, which they had brought from the West Indies, and others selected wives from the natives on the spot. They were all settled upon grants cjven them by the Government. It appears from accounts received from Sir C M'Carthy, the governor of Sierra Leone, that they have conducted themselves to his satisfaction, and that they will prove a valuable addition to that colony. A fourth case may comprehend what we call the captured Negroes in the colony i ow mentioned. These are totally disti.-ct from those either in the first or in the hist of the cases which have been mentioned. It is well known that these were taken out of slave ships captured at different times frm tli rnmmenreme nt of the abolition

of the slave trade to the present moment, and that on being landed they ivere. made free. After having been recruited in their health they were marched in bodies into the interior, where they were taught to form villages &, to cultivate land for themselves. They were made free as they were landed from the vessels, from ffly to tiro or three hundred at a time. They occupy at

present 12 towns, in which they have both ! their churches and their schools. Regents j Town having been one of the first estab- ; lished, containing about 1300 souls, stands foremost in improvement, and lias become

a pattern for industry and good example. The people there have now fallen entirely into the habits of English society. They are decently and respectably dressed. They attend divine worship regularly. They exhibit an orderly and moral conduct. In their town little shops arc now beginning to make their appearance; and their lands show the marks of extraordinary cultivation. Many of them, after having supplied their own wants for the year, have a surplus produce in hand lor tne purchase of superfluities or comiorts.

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