Chapter IV: Of Provincial and Communal Institutions (1)

Article 108.
Provincial and communal institutions are regulated by the
laws. These laws sanction the application of the following
principles:

1. Direct election, with the exceptions which the law may
establish in regard to the chiefs of communal administration
and the government commissioners to the provincial councils;

2. The assigning to provincial and communal councils of all
which is of provincial and communal interest without prejudice
to the approval of their acts in the cases and according to
the proceedings which law determines;

3. The publicity of the sittings of the provincial and
communal councils within the limits established by law;

4. The publicity of budgets and accounts;

5. The intervention of the King' or of the legislative power
to prevent the provincial and communal councils from going
beyond their powers and injuring the general welfare.

Article 109.
The drawing up of certificates of birth, marriage and death,
and the keeping of the registers, are the exclusive
prerogatives of communal authorities.

Title IV. Of the Finances.

Article 110.
No tax for the profit of the State can be imposed otherwise
than by a law. No charge or provincial assessment can be
imposed without the consent of the provincial council. No
charge or communal assessment can be imposed, without the
consent of the communal council. The law must determine those
exceptions of which experience will show the necessity in the
matter of provincial and communal impositions.

Article 111.
Taxes for the profit of the State are voted annually. The laws
which impose them are valid for one year only, unless renewed.

Article 112.
There can be no creation of privilege in the matter of taxes.
No exemption from nor diminution of taxes can be established
otherwise than by a law.

Article 113.
Beyond the cases expressly excepted by law, no payment can be
exacted from citizens, otherwise than in taxes levied for the
profit of the State, of the province, or of the commune. No
innovation is made on the actually existing system of the
polders and the wateringen, which remain subject to the
ordinary legislation.

Article 114.
No pension, nor gratuity at the expense of the public treasury
can be granted without authority of law.

Article 115.
Each year, the Chambers determine the law of accounts and vote
the budget. All the receipts and expenditures of the State
must be entered in the budget and in the accounts.

Article 116.
The members of the court of accounts are appointed by the
Chamber of Representatives and for the term fixed by law. That
court is intrusted with the examination and the settlement of
the accounts of the general administration and of all the
accountants for the public treasury. It sees that no article
of the expenses of the budget has been exceeded and that no
transfer has taken place. It determines the accounts of the
different administrations of the State and is required for
that purpose to gather all information, and all documents that
may be necessary. The general account of the State is
submitted to the Chambers with the observations of the court
of accounts. This court is organized by law.

Article 117.
The salaries and pensions of the ministers of religion are
paid by the State; the sums required to meet these expenses
are entered annually in the budget.

Title V. Of the Army.

Article 118.
The mode of recruiting the army is determined by law. The law
also regulates promotions, and the rights and obligations of
the military.

Article 119.
The contingent of the army is voted annually. The law that
fixes it is of force for one year only, unless renewed.

Article 120.
The organization and the powers of the gendarmerie are the
subject of a law.

Article 121.
No foreign troops can be admitted to the service of the State,
nor to occupy or pass through its territory, except by
provision of law.

Article 122.
There is a civic guard; its organization is regulated by law.
The officers of all ranks, up to that of captain at least, are
appointed by the guards with exceptions judged necessary for
the accountants.

Article 123.
The mobilization of the civic guard can occur only by
direction of law.

{3732}

Article 124.
Military men can be deprived of their grades, honors, and
pensions only in the manner determined by law.

Title VI. General Provisions.

Article 125.
The Belgian nation adopts the colors red, yellow and black,
and for the arms of the kingdom the Belgic lion with the
motto: "L'Union fait la Force" ["Union is Strength"].

Article 126.
The city of Brussels is the capital of Belgium and the scat of
its government.

Article 127.
No oath can be imposed except by law. The law also determines
its formula.

Article 128.
Any foreigner who is within the territory of Belgium enjoys
the protection accorded to persons and goods, with the
exceptions defined by law.

Article 129.
No law, decree, or administrative regulation, general,
provincial, or communal, is obligatory until it has been
published in the form prescribed by law.

Article 130.
The Constitution cannot be suspended, either wholly or in
part.

Title VII. Of the Revision of the Constitution.

Article 131.
The legislative power has the right to declare that there is
occasion for revising such constitutional provision as it
designates. After such declaration, the two Chambers are
dissolved. Two new Chambers shall then be convoked, in
conformity with Article 71. These Chambers act, in concurrence
with the King, on the points submitted for revision. In such
case, the Chambers cannot deliberate unless two-thirds at
least of the members composing each one of them are present,
and no change which does not receive at least two-thirds of
the votes in its favor shall be adopted.

Title VIII.—Temporary Provisions.

Article 132.
For the first choice of the chief of the State, the first
stipulation of Article 80 may be departed from.

Article 133.
Foreigners who settled in Belgium before the 1st of January
1814, and who have continued to reside in the country, are
considered as Belgians by birth, on condition that they
declare their intention to enjoy the benefit of this
provision. The declaration must be made within six months,
dating from the day when the present Constitution becomes
obligatory, if they are of age, and in the year following
their majority if they are under age. The declaration must be
made before the provincial authority within whose jurisdiction
they reside. It must be made in person or through a
representative bearing a special and authentic power of
attorney.

Article 134.
Until otherwise provided for by a law, the Chamber of
Representatives shall have a discretionary power to accuse a
minister, and the Court of Cassation to judge him,
characterizing the offense and determining the penalty.
Nevertheless the penalty cannot exceed that of imprisonment,
without prejudice to the cases expressly provided for by penal
laws.

Article 135.
The staff of courts and tribunals is maintained as it actually
exists, until it shall have been provided for by law. Such law
shall be enacted during the first legislative session.

Article 136.
A law enacted in the same session shall determine the mode of
the first appointment of members of the Court of Cassation.

Article 137.
The fundamental law of the 24th of August 1815, is hereby
repealed, as well as the provincial and local statutes; but
the provincial and local authorities will exercise their
powers until the law shall have otherwise provided.

Article 138.
From the day on which this Constitution goes into effect, all
laws, decrees, decisions, regulations, and other acts that are
in conflict with it are abrogated.

Supplementary Provisions.

Article 139.
The National Congress declares that it is necessary to provide
by separate laws and with the least possible delay for the
following objects:
1. The Press;
2. The organization of the jury;
3. The finances;
4. Provincial and communal organization;
5. The responsibility of ministers and
other agents of authority;
6. The organization of the judiciary;
7. The revision of the pension list;
8. Proper measures for preventing the
abuse of plurality of offices;
9. Revision of the laws of bankruptcy and suspension;
10. The organization of the army, the rights of
promotion and retirement, and the military penal code;
11. Revision of the codes.
The executive power is charged with the execution of the
present decree.

----------CONSTITUTION OF BELGIUM: End--------

----------CONSTITUTION OF ITALY: Start--------

The kingdom of Italy is still governed under the constitution
which was granted in 1848, by Charles Albert, to his Sardinian
subjects. It remains unchanged in form, but in practice has
been modified by legislation. The following translation of the
instrument, made by S. M. Lindsay, Ph. D., and L. S. Howe, Ph.
D., University of Pennsylvania, is borrowed, under permission,
from the:

_"Annals of the American Academy
of Political and Social Science,"
November, 1894, Supplement._

In their historical introduction to the instrument, the
translators say: "The extension of this constitution to the
various parts of the present Kingdom of Italy was effected by
a series of Plebiscites:

Lombardy, December 7, 1859;
Emilia by decree of March 18, 1860, and law of April 15, 1860;
Neapolitan Provinces, December 17, 1860;
Tuscany, decree March 22, and law April 15, 1860;
Sicily, Marches and Umbria, December 17, 1860;
Province of Venice, decree July 28, 1866;
Roman Provinces, decree October 9 and law December 31, 1870.
… Although no provision is to be found in this constitution
for amendment, most Italian constitutional jurists have held
that Parliament, with the approval of the King, has the power
to make laws amending the constitution, for an immutable
constitution is sure in time to hamper the development of a
progressive people. It is hardly necessary to add that such an
instrument is contrary to the true conception of an organic
law.
{3733}
As a matter of fact several provisions have been either
abrogated or rendered null and void through change of
conditions. Thus the second clause of Article 28, requiring
the previous consent of the bishop for the printing of Bibles,
prayer books and catechisms, has been rendered of no effect
through subsequent laws regulating the relations of Church and
State. Article 76, which provides for the establishment of a
communal militia, has been abrogated by the military law of
June 14, 1874. The fact that no French-speaking provinces now
form part of the kingdom has made Article 62 a dead-letter. So
also Articles 53 and 55 are no longer strictly adhered to. At
all events their observance has been suspended for the time
being."

The translated text of the Constitution is as follows:

(Charles Albert, by the Grace of God, King of Sardinia, Cyprus
and Jerusalem, Duke of Savoy, Genoa, Monferrato, Aosta, of the
Chiablese, Genovese and of Piacenza; Prince of Piedmont and
Oneglia; Marquis of Italy, Saluzzo, Ivrea, Susa, Ceva, of the
Maro, of Oristano, of Cesana and Savona; Count of Moriana,
Geneva, Nice, Trenda, Romonte, Asti, Alexandria, Goceano,
Novara, Tortona, Vigevano and of Bobbio; Baron of Vaud and
Faucigny; Lord of Vercelli, Pinerolo, Tarantasia, of the
Lomellina and of the Valley of Sesia, etc., etc., etc.) With
the fidelity of a king and the affection of a father, we are
about to-day to fulfill all that we promised our most beloved
subjects in our proclamation of the eighth of last February,
whereby we desired to show, in the midst of the extraordinary
events then transpiring throughout the country, how much our
confidence in our subjects increased with the gravity of the
situation, and how, consulting only the impulse of our heart,
we had fully determined to make their condition conform to the
spirit of the times and to the interests and dignity of the
nation. We, believing that the broad and permanent
representative institutions established by this fundamental
statute are the surest means of cementing the bonds of
indissoluble affection that bind to our crown a people that
has so often given us ample proof of their faithfulness,
obedience and love, have determined to sanction and promulgate
this statute. We believe, further, that God will bless our
good intentions, and that this free, strong and happy nation
will ever show itself more deserving of its ancient fame and
thus merit a glorious future. Therefore, we, with our full
knowledge and royal authority and with the advice of our
Council, have ordained and do hereby ordain and declare in
force the fundamental perpetual and irrevocable statute and
law of the monarchy as follows:

Article 1.
The Catholic, Apostolic and Roman religion is the only
religion of the State.

See Law of the Papal Guarantees,
under PAPACY: A. D. 1870 (page 2478)].

Other cults now existing are tolerated conformably to the law.

Article 2.
The State is governed by a representative monarchical
government, and the throne is hereditary according to the
Salic law.

Article 3.
The legislative power shall be exercised collectively by the
King and the two Chambers, the Senate and the Chamber of
Deputies.

Article 4.
The person of the King is sacred and inviolable.

Article 5.
To the King alone belongs the executive power. He is the
supreme head of the State; commands all land and naval forces;
declares war; makes treaties of peace, alliance, commerce and
other treaties, communicating them to the Chambers as soon as
the interest and security of the State permits, accompanying
such notice with opportune explanations; provided that
treaties involving financial obligations or change of State
territory shall not take effect until they have received the
consent of the Chambers.

Article 6.
The King appoints to all the offices of the State and makes
the necessary decrees and regulations for the execution of the
laws, provided that such decrees do not suspend or modify
their observance.

Article 7.
The King alone sanctions and promulgates the laws.

Article 8.
The King may grant pardons and commute sentences.

Article 9.
The King convokes the two Chambers each year. He may prorogue
their sessions and dissolve the Chamber of Deputies, in which
case he shall convoke a new Chamber within a period of four
months.

Article 10.
The initiative in legislation belongs both to the King and the
two Houses. All bills, however, imposing taxes or relating to
the budget shall first be presented to the Chamber of
Deputies.

Article 11.
The King shall attain his majority upon completion of his
eighteenth year.

Article 12.
During the King's minority, the Prince who is his nearest
relative in the order of succession to the throne, shall be
regent of the realm, provided he be twenty-one years of age.

Article 13.
Should the Prince upon whom the regency devolves be still in
his minority and this duty pass to a more distant relative,
the regent who actually takes office shall continue in the
same until the King becomes of age.

Article 14.
In the absence of male relatives, the regency devolves upon
the Queen-Mother.

Article 15.
In the event of the prior decease of the Queen-Mother, the
regent shall be elected by the legislative Chambers, convoked
within ten days by the Ministers of the Crown.

Article 16.
The preceding provisions in reference to the regency are also
applicable in case the King has attained his majority, but is
physically incapable of reigning. Under such circumstances, if
the heir presumptive to the throne be eighteen years of age,
be shall be regent of full right.

Article 17.
The Queen-Mother has charge of the education of the King until
he has completed his seventh year; from this time on his
guardianship passes into the hands of the regent.

Article 18.
All rights pertaining to the civil power in matters of
ecclesiastical benefices and in the execution of all
regulations whatsoever coming from foreign countries shall be
exercised by the King.

Article 19.
The civil list of the Crown shall remain, during the present
reign, at an amount equal to the average of the same for the
past ten years. The King shall continue to have the use of the
royal palaces, villas, gardens and their appurtenances, and
also of all chattels intended for the use of the Crown, of
which a speedy inventory shall be made by a responsible
ministerial department. In the future the prescribed dotation
of the Crown shall be fixed for the duration of each reign by
the first Legislature subsequent to the King s accession to
the throne.

{3734}

Article 20.
The property that the King possesses in his own right, shall
form his private patrimony, together with that to which he may
acquire title either for a consideration or gratuitously in
the course of his reign. The King may dispose of his private
patrimony either by deed or will exempt from the provisions of
the civil law as to the amount thus disposable. In all other
cases, the King's patrimony is subject to the laws that govern
other property.

Article 21.
The law shall provide an annual civil list for the heir
apparent to the throne when he has attained his majority, and
also earlier on occasion of his marriage; for the allowances
of the Princes of the royal family and royal blood within the
specified conditions; for the dowries of the Princesses and
for the dowries of the Queens.

Article 22.
Upon ascending the throne, the King shall take an oath in the
presence of the two Chambers to observe faithfully the present
constitution.

Article 23.
The regent, before entering on the duties of that office,
shall swear fidelity to the King and faithful observance of
this constitution and of the laws of the State.

Article 24.
All the inhabitants of the Kingdom, whatever their rank or
title, shall enjoy equality before the law. All shall equally
enjoy civil and political rights and be eligible to civil and
military office, except as otherwise provided by law.

Article 25.
All shall contribute without discrimination to the burdens of
the State, in proportion to their possessions.

Article 26.
Individual liberty is guaranteed. No one shall be arrested or
brought to trial except in cases provided for and according to
the forms prescribed by law.

Article 27.
The domicile shall be inviolable. No house search shall take
place except in the enforcement of law and in the manner
prescribed by law.

Article 28.
The press shall be free, but the law may suppress abuses of
this freedom. Nevertheless, Bibles, catechisms, liturgical and
prayer books shall not be printed without the previous consent
of the bishop.

Article 29.
Property of all kinds whatsoever shall be inviolable. In all
cases, however, where the public welfare, legally ascertained,
demands it, property may be condemned and transferred in whole
or in part after a just indemnity has been paid according to
law.

Article 30.
No tax shall be levied or collected without the consent of the
Chambers and the sanction of the King.

Article 31.
The public debt is guaranteed. All obligations between the
State and its creditors shall be inviolable.

Article 32.
The right to peaceful assembly, without arms, is recognized,
subject, however, to the laws that may regulate the exercise
of this privilege in the interest of the public welfare. This
privilege is not applicable, however, to meetings in public
places or places open to the public, which shall remain
entirely subject to police law and regulation.

Article 33.
The Senate shall be composed of members, having attained the
age of forty years, appointed for life by the King, without
limit of numbers. They shall be selected from the following
categories of citizens:
1. Archbishops and Bishops of the State.
2. The President of the Chamber of Deputies.
3. Deputies after having served in three Legislatures, or
after six years of membership in the Chamber of Deputies.
4. Ministers of State.
5. Secretaries to Ministers of State.
6. Ambassadors.
7. Envoys Extraordinary after three years of such service.
8. The First Presidents of the Courts
of Cassation and of the Chamber of Accounts.
9. The First Presidents of the Courts of Appeal.
10. The Attorney-General of the Courts of Cassation
and the Prosecutor-General, after five years of service.
11. The Presidents of the Chambers of the Courts of Appeal
after three years of service.
12. The Councillors of the Courts of Cassation and of the
Chamber of Accounts after five years of service.
13. The Advocates-General and Fiscals-General of the Courts
of Appeal after five years of service.
14. All military officers of the land and naval forces with
title of general. Major-generals and rear-admirals after five
years of active service in this capacity.
15. The Councillors of State after live years of service.
16. The members of the Councils of Division after three
elections to their presidency.
17. The Provincial Governors (Intendenti generali) after seven years of service.
18. Members of the Royal Academy of Science
of seven years standing.
19. Ordinary members of the Superior Council of Public
Instruction after seven years of service.
20. Those who by their services or eminent merit have done
honor to their country.
21. Persons who, for at least three years, have paid direct
property or occupation taxes to the amount of 3,000 lire.

Article 34.
The Princes of the Royal Family shall be members of the
Senate. They shall take rank immediately after the President.
They shall enter the Senate at the age of twenty-one and have
a vote at twenty-five.

Article 35.
The President and Vice-Presidents of the Senate shall be
appointed by the King, but the Senate chooses from among its
own members its secretaries.

Article 36.
The Senate may be constituted a High Court of Justice by
decree of the King for judging crimes of high treason and
attempts upon the safety of the State, also for trying
Ministers placed in accusation by the Chamber of Deputies.
When acting in this capacity, the Senate is not a political
body. It shall not then occupy itself with any other judicial
matters than those for which it was convened; any other action
is null and void.

Article 37.
No Senator shall be arrested except by virtue of an order of
the Senate, unless in cases of flagrant commission of crime.
The Senate shall be the sole judge of the imputed misdemeanors
of its members.

Article 38.
Legal documents as to births, marriages and deaths in the
Royal Family shall be presented to the Senate and deposited by
that body among its archives.

Article 39.
The elective Chamber is composed of deputies chosen by the
electoral colleges as provided by law.

{3735}

["The election law long in force was that of December 17,
1860, which was subsequently modified in July, 1875, and in
May, 1877. In January, 1882, a comprehensive electoral
reform was inaugurated by which the electoral age
qualification was reduced from twenty-five to twenty-one
years, and the tax qualification to an annual payment of
nineteen lire eighty centesimi as a minimum of direct
taxes. This law introduced a new provision requiring of
electors a knowledge of reading and writing. It is an
elaborate law of 107 articles. The provisions relating to
the elections by general ticket were further revised by law
of May and decree of June, 1882, and the text of the whole
law was co-ordinated with the preceding laws by Royal
Decree of September 24, 1882. It was again modified May
5th, 1891, by the abolition of elections on general tickets
and the creation of a Commission for the territorial
division of the country into electoral colleges. The number
of electoral colleges is at present fixed at 508, each
electing one Deputy. Twelve articles of this law of 1882,
as thus amended, have been again amended by a law dated
June 28, 1892, prescribing further reforms in the control
and supervision of elections, and by law of July 11, 1894,
on the revision of electoral and registration
lists."—Foot-note.]

Article 40.
No person shall be a member of the Chamber who is not a
subject of the King, thirty years of age, possessing all civil
and political rights and the other qualifications required by
law.

Article 41.
Deputies shall represent the nation at large and not the
several Provinces from which they are chosen. No binding
instructions may therefore be given by the electors.

Article 42.
Deputies shall be elected for a term of five years; their
power ceases ipso jure at the expiration of this period.

Article 43.
The President, Vice-presidents and Secretaries of the Chamber
of Deputies shall be chosen from among its own members at the
beginning of each session for the entire session.

Article 44.
If a Deputy ceases for any reason whatsoever to perform his
duties, the electoral college that chose him shall be convened
at once to proceed with a new election.

Article 45.
Deputies shall be privileged from arrest during the sessions,
except in cases of flagrant commission of crime; but no Deputy
may be brought to trial in criminal matters without the
previous consent of the Chamber.

Article 46.
No warrant of arrest for debts may be executed against a
Deputy during the sessions of the Chamber, nor within a period
of three weeks preceding or following the same.

["This article has been practically abolished by
the Mancini law of December 6, 1877, doing
away with personal arrest for debts."—Footnote.]

Article 47.
The Chamber of Deputies shall have power to impeach Ministers
of the Crown and to bring them to trial before the High Court
of Justice.

Article 48:
The sessions of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies shall begin
and end at the same time, and every meeting of one Chamber, at
a time when the other, is not in session, is illegal and its
acts wholly null and void.

Article 49.
Senators and Deputies before entering upon the duties of their
office shall take an oath of fidelity to the King and swear to
observe faithfully the Constitution and laws of the State and
to perform their duties with the joint welfare of King and
country as the sole end in view.

Article 50.
The office of Senator or Deputy does not entitle to any
compensation or remuneration.

Article 51.
Senators and Deputies shall not be held responsible in any
other place for opinions expressed or votes given in the
Chambers.

Article 52.
The sessions of the Chambers shall be public. Upon the written
request of ten members secret sessions may be held.

Article 53.
No session or vote of either Chamber shall be legal or valid
unless an absolute majority of its members is present.

[This article is not observed in actual parliamentary
practice.—Foot-note.]

Article 54.
The action of either Chamber on any question shall be
determined by a majority of the votes cast.

Article 55.
All bills shall be submitted to committees elected by each
House for preliminary examination. Any proposition discussed
and approved by one Chamber shall be transmitted to the other
for its consideration and approval; after passing both
Chambers it shall be presented to the King for his sanction.
Bills shall be discussed article by article.

Article 56.
Any bill rejected by one of the three legislative powers
cannot again be introduced during the same session.

Article 57.
Every person who shall have attained his majority has the
right to send petitions to the Chambers, which in turn must
order them to be examined by a committee; on report of the
committee each House shall decide whether they are to be taken
into consideration, and if voted in the affirmative, they
shall be referred to the competent Minister or shall be
deposited with a Government Department for proper action.

Article 58.
No petition may be presented in person to either Chamber. No
persons except the constituted authorities shall have the
right to submit petitions in their collective capacity.

Article 59.
The Chambers shall not receive any deputation, nor give
hearing to other than their own members and the Ministers and
Commissioners of the Government.

Article 60.
Each Chamber shall be sole judge of the qualifications and
elections of its own members.

Article 61.
The Senate as well as the Chamber of Deputies shall make its
own rules and regulations respecting its methods of procedure
in the performance of its respective duties.

Article 62.
Italian shall be the official language of the Chambers. The
use of French shall, however, be permitted to those members
coming from French-speaking districts and to other members in
replying to the same.

Article 63.
Votes shall be taken by rising, by division, and by secret
ballot. The latter method, however, shall always be employed
for the final vote on a law and in all cases of a personal
nature.

Article 64.
No one shall hold the office of Senator and Deputy at the same
time.

Article 65.
The King appoints and dismisses his ministers.

Article 66.
The Ministers shall have no vote in either Chamber unless they
are members thereof. They shall have entrance to both Chambers
and must be heard upon request.

Article 67.
The Ministers shall be responsible. Laws and decrees of the
government shall not take effect until they shall have
received the signature of a Minister.

{3736}

Article 68.
Justice emanates from the King and shall be administered in
his name by the judges he appoints.

Article 69.
Judges appointed by the King, except Cantonal or District
judges (di mandamento), shall not be removed after three years
of service.

Article 70.
Courts, tribunals and judges are retained as at present
existing. No modification shall be introduced except by law.

Article 71.
No one shall be taken from his ordinary legal jurisdiction. It
is therefore not lawful to create extraordinary tribunals or
commissions.

Article 72.
The proceedings of tribunals in civil cases and the hearings
in criminal cases shall be public as provided by law.

Article 73.
The interpretation of the laws, in the form obligatory upon
all citizens, belongs exclusively to the legislative power.

Article 74.
Communal and provincial institutions and the boundaries of the
communes and provinces shall be regulated by law.

Article 75.
The military conscriptions shall be regulated by law.

Article 76.
A communal militia shall be established on a basis fixed by
law.

Article 77.
The State retains its flag, and the blue cockade is the only
national one.

Article 78.
The knightly orders now in existence shall be maintained with
their endowments, which shall not be used for other purposes
than those specified in the acts by which they were
established. The King may create other orders and prescribe
their constitutions.

Article 79.
Titles of the nobility are guaranteed to those who have a
right to them. The King may confer new titles.

Article 80.
No one may receive orders, titles or pensions from a foreign
power without the King's consent.

Article 81.
All laws contrary to the provisions of the present
constitution are hereby abrogated.

Given at Turin on the fourth day of March, in the year of Our
Lord, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, and of Our
Reign the eighteenth.

Transitory Provisions.

Article 82.
This statue shall go into effect on the day of the first
meeting of the Chambers, which shall take place immediately
after the elections. Until that time urgent public service
shall be provided for by royal ordinances according to the
mode and form now in vogue, excepting, however, the
ratifications and registrations in the courts which are from
now on abolished.

Article 83.
In the execution of this statute the King reserves to himself
the right to make the laws for the press, elections, communal
militia and organization of the Council of State. Until the
publication of the laws for the press, the regulations now in
force on this subject remain valid.

Article 84.
The Ministers are entrusted with, and are responsible for the
execution and full observance of these transitory provisions.

----------CONSTITUTION OF ITALY: End--------

CONSTITUTION OF NEW YORK STATE, and its Revisions.

See NEW YORK: A. D. 1777, 1821, 1846, 1867-1882,
and 1894 (page 2339, and after).

CONSTITUTION OF RHODE ISLAND.

See RHODE ISLAND: A. D. 1888 (page 2646).

CONTRACT TABLETS, BABYLONIAN.

See MONEY AND BANKING (page 2199).

COOKE AND WHEATSTONE, Telegraphic Inventions of.

See ELECTRICAL DISCOVERY AND INVENTION:
A. D. 1825-1874 (page 773).

CO-OPERATION.

See SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: A. D). 1816-1886, 1840-1848,
1848-1883 (pages 2938, 2942, 2946).

COPYRIGHT.

See LAW, COMMON: A. D. 1499;
and EQUITY: A. D. 1875 (pages 1965 and 1994).

COREA.
The war between Japan and China.

"The peninsula which projects between the Japanese and Yellow
Seas southwards in the direction of the southern islands of
Nippon is completely limited landwards. Like Italy, with which
it may be compared in extent, and even to some degree in its
orographic configuration, it is separated from the mainland by
the Alpine Taipeishan or 'Great White Mountains,' of
Manchuria. It has also its Apennines stretching north and
south, and forming the backbone of the peninsula. … Like most
regions of the extreme East, Korea is known to foreigners by a
name which has little currency in the country itself. This
term, belonging formerly to the petty state of Korié, has been
extended by the Chinese and Japanese to the whole peninsula,
under the forms of Kaokiuli, Korai, Kaoli. When all the
principalities were fused in one monarchy, towards the close
of the 14th century, the country, at that time subject to
China, took the official title of Chaosien (Tsiosen)—that is,
'Serenity of the Morning'—in allusion to its geographical
position east of the empire. Thus it is now designated by a
poetical expression which exactly indicates its position
between China and Japan. While for the people of the continent
Japan is the land of the Rising Sun, Korea is the 'Serene'
land, illumined by the morning rays. Although washed by two
much-frequented seas, and yearly sighted by thousands of
seafarers, Korea is one of the least known Asiatic regions. …
From its very position between China and Japan, Korea could
not fail to have been a subject of contention for its powerful
neighbours. Before its fusion in one state it comprised
several distinct principalities, whose limits were subject to
frequent changes. These were, in the north, Kaokiuli (Kaoli),
or Korea proper; in the centre, Chaosien and the 78 so-called
'kingdoms' of Chinese foundation, usually known as the San Kan
(San Han), or 'Three Han'; in the south, Petsi, or Hiaksaï
(Kudara), the Sinlo of the Chinese, or Siragi of the Japanese;
beside the petty state of Kara, Zinna, or Mimana, in the
south-east, round about the Bay of Tsiosan. The northern
regions naturally gravitated towards China, whose rulers
repeatedly interfered in the internal affairs of the country.
But the inhabitants of the south, known in history by the
Japanese name of Kmaso, or 'Herd of Bears,' were long subject
to Japan, while at other times they made frequent incursions
into Kiu-siu and Hondo, and even formed settlements on those
islands. The first conquest of the country was made by the
forces of the Queen Regent Zingu in the 3d century.
{3737}
Towards the end of the 16th the celebrated Japanese dictator
and usurper Taïkosama, having conceived the project of
conquering China, began with that of Korea, under the pretext
of old Japanese rights over the country of the Kmaso. After
wasting the land he compelled the King to become his
tributary, and left a permanent garrison in the peninsula. A
fresh expedition, although interrupted by the death of
Taïkosama, was equally successful. Tsu-sima remained in the
hands of the Japanese, and from that time till the middle of
the present century Korea continued in a state of vassalage,
sending every year presents and tribute to Nippon. … Thanks to
the aid sent by the Ming dynasty to Korea, in its victorious
struggle with the other petty states of the peninsula, and in
its resistance to Japan, its relations with China continued to
be of the most friendly character. Admirers of Chinese
culture, the native rulers felt honoured by the investiture
granted them by the 'Son of Heaven.' But after the Manchu
conquest of the Middle Kingdom, Korea remaining faithful to
the cause of the Mings, the new masters of the empire invaded
the peninsula, and in 1637 dictated a treaty, imposing on the
Koreans a yearly tribute. … But although since that time the
native ruler takes the title of 'Subject,' China exercises no
real sovereign rights in Korea."

_E. Reclus,
The Earth and its Inhabitants: Asia,
volume 2, chapter 6._

"Since the conclusion of that treaty [of 1637], Corea has been
at peace with both her neighbours and able, till within the
last twenty years, to maintain the seclusion she so much
desired. Until the beginning of the present century—when the
doctrine preached by Roman missionaries in China began to
filter across the frontier, and to provoke a fitful and
uncertain intercourse between them and the few Coreans who had
been attracted by the new religion—the only fresh glimpse we
obtain of the interior of the country and its inhabitants is
afforded by the well-known story of Henry Hamel, who was
wrecked off the Corean coast in 1653, and detained there
twelve years as a prisoner at large. … We come now to events
nearer our own time, in which the propaganda of Rome and the
proceedings of its emissaries begin to play a prominent and
interesting part. In the year 1784, a young Corean named Le,
who had come to Peking in the suite of the tribute-bearing
embassy, applied to the Roman Catholic Mission for books and
instruction in the science of mathematics, of which he was
naturally fond. The missionaries profited by the occasion to
lend him books on religion, which awakened his interest and
led to his eventual conversion. As usual in such cases, the
neophyte set himself, directly on his return, to propagate the
new creed he had learned, among his relations and friends; and
with so much success that, in less than five years, he had,
according to Mgr. Govéa, gained 4,000 adherents. As may be
imagined, however, the doctrine acquired from a convert who
had had only a few months' instruction, and disseminated again
at second-hand by men who had caught the crude idea from his
conversation, was of a somewhat obscure description. … Neither
letter nor news was received from the Corean Christians for
more than two years; but two converts made their way to
Peking, at the close of 1793, with news of a severe
persecution which had occurred in the interval. … No sooner
had the persecution … subsided, than a priest was successfully
introduced across the frontier, to instruct and impart new
life to the converts. Nor, it is affirmed, has the flock ever
since been left unguarded. Persecution has followed
persecution; but from Jacques Velloz, the first missionary to
cross the frontier, who suffered martyrdom in 1800, to Mgr.
Ridel, who has returned to Europe with health shattered by the
anxieties and hardships undergone during the latest outbreak,
there have always been some priests alternately tolerated or
hiding in the country, and the spark lighted by the young
Corean attache has never been quite extinguished. … On July
7th, 1866, a Roman Catholic missionary arrived in a Corean
boat at Chefoo, with a tale of dire persecution. Two bishops,
nine priests, and a number of Christians of both sexes had
been massacred, many of them after judicial tortures of
atrocious cruelty. Three members of the mission only survived,
and M. Ridel had been chosen to carry the news to China, and
endeavour to procure assistance. It was to the French
authorities, naturally, that he addressed himself; and both
Admiral Roze, the Commandant of the French fleet in Chinese
waters, and M. de Bellonet, then charge-d'affaires at Peking,
lent a sympathetic ear to his protest. … An expedition was
accordingly resolved on. … Admiral Roze started from Chefoo
with the expeditionary force on October 11th, arrived off
Kang-hwa on the 14th, and occupied it, after a merely nominal
resistance, two days later. The Coreans were apparently taken
by surprise, having perhaps thought that the danger had
passed. … The forts along the banks of the river were found
ungarrisoned, and Kang-hwa itself, a considerable fortress
containing large stores of munitions of war, was practically
undefended. A letter was received, a few days later, inviting
Admiral Roze to come or send delegates to Söul, to talk over
matters in a friendly spirit; but he replied that, if the
Corean authorities wished to treat, they had better come to
Kang-hwa. This attitude was meant, no doubt, to be impressive,
but the event proved it to be slightly premature. So far all
had gone well; but the expedition was about to collapse with a
suddenness contrasting remarkably with the expectations raised
by M. de Bellonet's denunciations and Admiral Roze's hauteur.
… The disastrous termination of … two movements appears to
have persuaded Admiral Roze that the force at his disposal was
insufficient to prosecute the enterprise to a successful
issue, in face of Corean hostility. It was no longer a
question whether he should go to Söul or the Coreans come to
him: the expedition was at a deadlock. He had rejected the
first overtures, and was not strong enough to impose terms. A
retreat was accordingly decided on. The city of Kang-hwa was
burned, with its public offices and royal palace."

_R. S. Gundry,
China and her Neighbours,
chapter 9._

In 1866, when the French threatened Corea, the latter sought
help from Japan and received none. Two years later, after the
Japanese revolution which restored the Mikado to his full
sovereignty, the Coreans declined to acknowledge his
suzerainty, and bitterly hostile feelings grew up between the
two peoples. The Japanese were restrained from war with
difficulty by their more conservative statesmen.
{3738}
Without war, they obtained from Corea, in 1876, an important
treaty, which contained in the first article "the remarkable
statement that 'Chosen, being an independent State, enjoys the
same sovereign rights as does Japan'—an admission which was
foolishly winked at by China from the mistaken notion that, by
disavowing her connection with Korea, she should escape the
unpleasantness of being called to account for the
delinquencies of her vassal. This preliminary advantage was
more than doubled in value to Japan when, after the revolution
in Söul in 1884, by which her diplomatic representative was
compelled to flee for the second time from the Korean capital,
she sent troops to avenge the insult and declined to remove
them until China had made a similar concession with regard to
the Chinese garrison, which had been maintained since the
previous outbreak in 1882 in that city. By the Convention of
Tientsin, which was negotiated in 1885 by Count Ito with the
Viceroy Li Hung Chang, both parties agreed to withdraw their
troops and not to send an armed force to Korea at any future
date to suppress rebellion or disturbance without giving
previous intimation to the other. This document was a second
diplomatic triumph for Japan. … It is, in my judgment, greatly
to be regretted that in the present summer [1894] her
Government, anxious to escape from domestic tangles by a
spirited foreign policy, has abandoned this statesmanlike
attitude, and has embarked upon a headlong course of
aggression in Korea, for which there appears to have been no
sufficient provocation, and the ulterior consequences of which
it is impossible to forecast. … Taking advantage of recent
disturbances in the peninsula, which demonstrated with renewed
clearness the impotence of the native Government to provide
either a decent administration for its own subjects, or
adequate protection to the interests of foreigners, and
ingeniously profiting by the loophole left for future
interference in the Tientsin Agreement of 1885, Japan … (in
July 1894) landed a large military force, estimated at 10,000
men, in Korea, and is in armed occupation of the capital. Li
Hung Chang … responded by the despatch of the Chinese fleet
and of an expeditionary force, marching overland into the
northern provinces."

_G. N. Curzon,
Problems of the Far East,
chapter 7._

"The ostensible starting-point of the trouble that resulted in
hostilities was a local insurrection which broke out in May in
one of the southern provinces of Corea. The cause of the
insurrection was primarily the misrule of the authorities,
with possibly some influence by the quarreling court factions
at the capital. The Corean king applied at once to China as
his suzerain for assistance in subduing the insurgents, and a
Chinese force was sent. Japan, thereupon, claiming that Corea
was an independent state and that China had no exclusive right
to interfere, promptly began to pour large forces into Corea,
to protect Japanese interests. By the middle of June a whole
Japanese army corps was at Seoul, the Corean capital, and the
Japanese minister soon formulated a radical scheme of
administrative reforms which he demanded as indispensable to
the permanent maintenance of order in the country. This scheme
was rejected by the conservative faction which was in power at
court, whereupon, on July 23, the Japanese forces attacked the
palace, captured the king and held him as hostage for the
carrying out of the reforms. The Chinese were meanwhile
putting forth great efforts to make up for the advantage that
their rivals had gained in the race for control of Corea, and
to strengthen their forces in that kingdom. On the 25th a
Chinese fleet carrying troops to Corea became engaged in
hostilities with some Japanese war vessels, and one of the
transports was sunk. On August 1 the Emperor of Japan made a
formal declaration of war on China, basing his action on the
false claim of the latter to suzerainty over Corea, and on the
course of China in opposing and thwarting the plan of reforms
which were necessary to the progress of Corea and to the
security of Japanese interests there. The counter-proclamation
of the Chinese Emperor denounced the Japanese as wanton
invaders of China's tributary state, and as aiming at the
enslaving of Corea. On August 26 a treaty of offensive and
defensive alliance against China was made between Japan and
Corea. … A severe engagement at Ping-Yang, September 16,
resulted in the rout of the Chinese and the loss of their last
stronghold in Corea. A few days later the hostile fleets had a
pitched battle off the mouth of the Yalu River, with the
result that the Japanese were left in full control of the
adjacent waters. On the 26th of October the Japanese land
forces brushed aside with slight resistance the Chinese on the
Yalu, which is the boundary between Corea and China, and began
their advance through the Chinese province of Manchuria,
apparently aiming at Pekin."

_Political Science Quarterly,
December, 1894._

On the 3d of November, Port Arthur being then invested by the
Japanese land and naval forces, while Marshal Yamagata, the
Japanese commander, continued his victorious advance through
Manchuria, Prince Kung made a formal appeal to the
representatives of all the Powers for their intervention,
acknowledging the inability of China to cope with the
Japanese. On the 21st of November, Port Arthur, called the
strongest fortress in China, was taken, after hard fighting
from noon of the previous day. In retaliation for the murder
and mutilation of some prisoners by the Chinese, the Japanese
gave no quarter, and are accused of great atrocities. To the
advance of the Japanese armies in the field, the Chinese
opposed comparatively slight resistance, in several
engagements of a minor character, until the 19th of December,
when a battle of decided obstinacy was fought at Kungwasai,
near Hai-tcheng. The Japanese were again the victors.
Overtures for peace made by the Chinese government proved
unavailing; the Japanese authorities declined to receive the
envoys sent, for the reason that they were not commissioned
with adequate powers. Nothing came of an earlier proffer of
the good offices of the Government of the United States.
Obstinate fighting occurred at Kai-phing, which was captured
by the Japanese on the 10th of January, 1895. On the 26th of
January the Japanese began, both by land and sea, an attack on
the stronghold of Wei-hai-wei, which was surrendered, with the
Chinese fleet in its harbor on the 12th of February. Shortly
afterwards, China made another effort to obtain peace,
commissioning her able Statesman, Li-Hung-Chang, as a special
envoy to Japan, with full power to negotiate terms. At the
time of this writing, the result has not appeared.

{3739}

CORNELL UNIVERSITY, The founding of.

See EDUCATION, MODERN (page 735).

CORONER AND CORONER'S JURY.

See LAW, CRIMINAL LAW: A. D. 1215, and 1276 (page 1982).

CORRUPT AND ILLEGAL PRACTICES AT ELECTIONS,
The English Act to prevent.

See England: A. D. 1883 (page 972).

CORTEREALS, Voyages of the.

See (in this Supplement) AMERICA.

COTTON-GIN, Whitney's, and its effect.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1793 (page 3306).

COURTS, Origin of the English Criminal.

See LAW, CRIMINAL: A. D. 1066-1272 (page 1981).

COURTS OF OYER AND TERMINER.

See LAW, CRIMINAL: A. D. 1285 (page 1982).

COXEY MOVEMENT, The.

See SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: A. D. 1894 (page 2956).

CRIMINAL LAW.

See LAW, CRIMINAL (page 1981).

CRUSADES:
The initial movements.