CONSTITUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC EMPIRE.

ARTICLE XX.

POWER OF THE CITIZEN.

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49. When governed by natural law alone, every man has the inherent authority to defend the most insignificant right. In civil society this authority is suspended, because other remedies are provided, and in general he can not take the law into his own hands. But there are natural rights which the individual never surrenders to society. In a state of nature, when an attempt is made to murder a person, or to murder his or her husband or wife, parent or child, master, mistress, or servant, or there is reasonable grounds to apprehend a design to commit a felony upon or to do some great bodily injury to either, and there is eminent danger of its being accomplished, and it becomes necessary to kill the assailant to preserve one's own life, or the life of the family, or to prevent some great bodily injury to either, such killing is justifiable. The case is not altered when he enters into civil society, because the law of society can not interpose to protect him. In all other cases each individual has surrendered the right of self-defense to the society of which he is a member.

§ 50. If a State stands by itself, unconnected with other States, and there is no legal remedy for the protection of rights and the redress of wrongs except by an appeal to arms, that right of self-protection exists in the State. But when that State enters into the society of States it surrenders all the rights of war to the society of States, except in cases of sudden insurrection or invasion, in which the law of the society of States can not immediately interpose to protect the State.

§ 51. So if several Republics enter into a society of Republics, whether called the "Democratic Empire," or distinguished by any other name, it surrenders all the rights of protection by offensive or defensive war to the government of the empire, except in cases of insurrection or invasion, when imminent danger exists, and the power of the Empire can not be immediately interposed.

§ 52. There is in the state of nature a remedy or a penalty for every wrong. He who violates the laws of nature which God has prescribed for the common safety, becomes the enemy of all mankind. The right of government to redress injuries

and punish crimes is only the right which every individual originally possessed to execute the laws of nature, and to take care of his own safety.

§ 53. The authority to defend the society of Republics by the power of an army and navy should be exclusively confided to the Imperial Government. War, by this means, will cease forever between State and State, or Republic and Republic, within the Empire. By confining each grade of government to the rights and duties peculiar to that grade, all conflict of jurisdiction will be avoided, and the foundation laid for a government which may become universal.

$ 54. Concessions and compromises on the part of all must be the foundation of this compact. The regulation of the domestic institutions of every State must be left to the State, without external interference or reproof or advice. PERFECT protection of PERSON and PROPERTY and CHARACTER must be guaranteed to all. Slanderous words, coming from whatever source they may come, must be suppressed and punished. All unkind language, by which the feelings of a fellow-citizen may be injured, should be carefully avoided. Discussions in our legislative halls should be conducted in a spirit of fraternal candor. Each citizen should treat the other with due delicacy and respect. The two belligerent parties should no longer treat each other as enemies. Forgetting the past, harmony and peace should at once be restored. This will be another proof that the manifest destiny of humanity is towards the union of all men in one indissoluble bond of fraternity. The sword will then be changed for the plowshare, and the spear for the pruning-hook, and the nations learn war no more.

ARTICLE XXI.

ADMISSION OF OTHER REPUBLICS TO THE DEMOCRATIC EMPIRE.

§ 55. If at any time hereafter, by the consent of Great Britain, the British Provinces in North-America shall be formed into States, and the States united into the Republic of Canada, and such Republic shall, by her constituted authorities, express a wish to become a part of this Democratic Empire, she shall be admitted into the Empire, and be entitled to all the rights and privileges of other Nations of the Empire.

CONSTITUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC EMPIRE.

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§ 56. If at any time hereafter the Republic of Mexico shall be reörganized by the formation of States, and the union of States into a Republic, after the model of the other States and Republics, and shall, by her constituted authorities, express a wish to become a part of this Democratic Empire, she shall be admitted into the Empire, and be entitled to all the rights and privileges of the other Nations of the Empire.

$ 57. If at any time hereafter the States of Central America and the West-India Islands shall be formed into States, and the States into a Republic, such Republic may be admitted into the Empire, and entitled to all the rights and privileges of the other Nations of the Empire.

§ 58. If South-America shall be organized into States, and the States united into a Republic, such Republic may also be admitted.

By this means the Monroe Doctrine, that the Continent of America should be exclusively under the control of Americans, will be triumphantly vindicated.

ARTICLE XXII.

PUBLIC PROPERTY AND REVENUE.

§ 59. The navies, arsenals, fortifications, navy-yards, customhouses, mints, ordnance, and all other public property used for the public defense, or for the purposes of collecting the revenue or coining money, shall be under the care and control of the Imperial Government.

§ 60. The Imperial Government shall assume all the national debts of the several Republics when they enter into the Democratic Empire. The Imperial Government shall have the care and control of all the revenue arising from duties levied upon commerce with foreign nations. The revenue thus collected shall be applied, under the direction of the Imperial Government, first, to the expenses of supporting the Imperial Government, with the army and navy, and the balance shall be applied to the extinguishment of the Imperial debt. When such debt shall have been liquidated, the surplus revenue shall be annually distributed to the National Governments in proportion to the amount of taxable property in each Nation. Such surplus shall first be applied to the payment of the ex

penses of such National Government, and the surplus divided among the several States of the Republic in proportion to the taxable property in each State, to be used for purposes of education or liquidating other expenses of the State.

§ 61. The State Government shall be supported by direct taxation and the internal revenue of the State. The National Government shall be supported by the surplus of the Imperial revenue and the internal revenue of the Nation, arising from the sale of its public lands and other sources, and by direct taxation if other sources shall be insufficient.

62. There shall be free trade throughout the Empire between State and State and between Nation and Nation comprising the Empire.

§ 63. The Emperor shall be Commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the Empire, and of the militia when called into the service of the Empire; but he shall have no power to command in person.

§ 64. The Parliament House and Imperial Palace shall be located on Washington Heights, in the City of New-York.

Done at the City of New-York, in Convention of the American States, by their delegates duly appointed, on Friday, the first day of February, 1861. In witness whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names.

A- B

President and Delegate from

This Constitution, with such alterations and amendments as may be suggested by the accumulated wisdom of the nation in convention assembled, would again place this nation in the sure path of peace, industry, morality, piety, wealth, happiness, glory, dominion, and power.

CONCLUDING REMARKS.

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In conclusion, I would ask if we can not find something in history or prophecy to admonish us in this dark hour, as a beacon to warn, or as a star to guide. Read the first eight verses of the sixth chapter of the Revelations.

"And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts, say, 'Come and see.' And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering and to conquer.

"And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, 'Come and see.' And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and THAT THEY SHOULD KILL ONE ANOTHER. And there was given unto him a great sword.

"And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, 'Come and see.' And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice from the midst of the four beasts say, "A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.'

"And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, 'Come and see.' And I looked, and behold, a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth."

It is believed that this prophecy had its first fulfillment in the rise, progress, decay, and destruction of the Roman Republic. The horse was the national emblem of Rome. The colors of the horses indicate the successive stages of conquest, prosperity, adversity, and destruction. The riders represent the agents employed to bring about these conditions of the Republic.

The color of the first horse, which was white, indicates the state of prosperity, victory, and expansion of power, which Rome enjoyed for eighty-three years. White was the symbol of prosperity, and in triumphal processions the horse was covered with white. During this period Rome was governed by