3. In case the duties upon mineral productions should be reduced, the benefit will be extended to the present contractors.

4. The direction of the mines belongs to the contractors, subject to the mining laws of Pasco, and which are necessary for the preservation of the mines. The contractors are bound to keep the mines in repair, or to forfeit all their constructions, machinery, &c.

5. The government grants the free working of mines of coal for the machinery.

6. The government permits the free introduction of machinery, instruments, and quicksilver, for the use of the mines, through the legal ports.

7. The contractors are not bound to use any of the machinery now in the mines, or to pay any pension to the machine company for their use unless they should require them.

8. If at the expiration of twenty-five years the government should object to renew the lease, it engages to pay the contractors for all their machinery, buildings, &c. by a fair appraisement.

9. If the government should determine to sell the mines, the present contractors are to have the preference as purchasers.

0. If the expense of working the mines should be found to exceed the produce, the contractors shall be permitted to close the contract; but in that case they are to leave all their constructions for the use of the state, carrying with them only what, in the strict sense, can be considered moveable.

11. The government will extend its protection to the contractors, wherever doing so may not be contrary to the laws of the

state.

12. In the event of any contraband practices, the contract shall be declared void, and without compensation on the part of the contractors.

13. This contract shall be in force from the day of the delivery of possession of the mines.

14. Relates to a private claim upon the mines of 25,000 dollars

which the contractors are to pay, and to deduct from the sums which they are bound by the contract to pay to the state.

PROCLAMATION OF THE SUPREME DIRECTOR OF THE STATE TO THE PEOPLE.

Circumstances the most imperious and urgent oblige me to convene the general congress to which I had invited the nation in my former decrees; circumstances which are of such high importance, that they do not admit of the preliminary steps then announced being previously taken, and which, perhaps, would have been desirable for the provinces in less eventful moments. Europe hastens to decide on the fate of America, and England has recognized the independence of Mexico, Colombia, and Buenos Ayres, hoping for the arrival of that period when a legal organization of Chili will justify that recognition, to which she is entitled by her valour, her moderation, and her virtues. The new governments invite us to assist and prepare to form a South American assembly, in which may be organized the grand pact of union and the public law of the New World. Already they have sent their plenipotentiaries to Panama. The government of Chili has felt itself embarrassed by these official invitations, being unable to refer to the national representation, and could only

reply that it was about immediately to instal the national congress, whose first sitting would be directed exclusively to that sublime object. Great negotiations, connected with the national industry destined to promote the prosperity of Chili, seem paralysed, because the undertakers of them delay the completion of the speculations, waiting for the legal and consistent establishment of our system. More than twenty-three millions of dollars, it has been announced by our plenipotentiary, have been raised in London to encourage our industry and agriculture. The government, vacillating, and without a recognized code to direct its administration, can scarcely act, feeble and cramped as it is in all its operations, and without authority to establish principles or a policy adapted to our institutions. Oppressed by so many

urgent circumstances, I hope to see the nation assembled on the 5th of September. In order to secure the greater freedom and dispatch in the elections, I have in the subjoined proclamation, taken the most efficacious means to secure impartiality and good order.

Inhabitants of Chili! This nation knows sufficiently well that I have no other interest at heart but that of the country; no love for any other dignity than that of increasing its glory. Without hesitation I protest to you anew, by that which is most sacred, that I shall behold with the greatest horror (and will take care that the judicial authorities shall discharge their functions by exemplarily chastising), any one who may directly or indirectly seek to make it believed that the government takes any interest in the persons or the opinions of those chosen your representatives, From motives of delicacy I have resolved to withdraw during the period of the elections of all the governors dependant on the directorial nominations, in order that the slightest influence on the part of the government shall not be exercised.

It is for you now to pursue, with the greatest purity, the national interest. You have to decide on the fate of your country. Look well to the important charge, and consider the awful respon

sibility you incur, and tremble for the inexorable judgment of

posterity.

Santiago de Chili, July 12, 1825.

FREIRE.

JUAN DE DIOS VIAL DEL RIO.

CONVOCATORIA.

Desiring to consult the universal wishes of the people of Chili, so ardently manifested for a general meeting in Congress, and adopting the Convocatoria issued in the year 1823, with the additions made to it in 1824, so far as the same are adapted to circumstances, 1 decree

1. The nation shall meet in a general constituent Congress which shall be installed at Santiago on the 5th of September of the present year.

2. The congress shall be composed of public deputies freely elected by each district, and with reference to the population of each.

3. The election will be conducted on the basis that one deputy shall be returned for each fifteen thousand souls. In those parts where that number may be exceeded by nine thousand, an additional deputy shall be returned.

[The convocatoria then proceeds to specify the numbers to be returned for the several provinces or districts which it enumerates, the qualifications of persons eligible to be returned as deputies, and the forms to be observed in electing them, and in examining the returns.[

This document is dated July 6th, 1825.

(Signed)

RAMON FREIRE.

JUAN DE DIOS VIAL DEL RIO.

BUENOS AYRES.

NOTE OF THE BUENOS AYRES GOVERNMENT TO THE GENERAL CONSTITUENT CONGRESS.

The copies of the notes sent herewith will inform the representatives of the formal invitation given to the national executive authority by the supreme government of the republic of Peru, acting in consert with that of Colombia, to send, on the part of the united provinces of the Rio de La Plata, two ministers Plenipotentiary to the congress of all the states of the American continent, convened at the Isthmus of Panama. The communications of the government of Colombia indicate some of the objects of that assembly, and by the context of that from Peru, it may be perceived that an idea is entertained of establishing an authority which should preside over the confederation of the American States, guide their foreign policy, and accommodate the differences which might arise among the confederates themselves. A similar plan was once before proposed to the government of the province of Buenos Ayres, then charged with the administration of the foreign affairs of the nation. The reasons which then induced us to refuse our consent to the proposal have not been weakened by subsequent events.

The major part of the republics have decided in favour of the assembly of the above-named congress, and it appears that they intend to instal it in its functions within the present year, more particularly as they consider it as the most efficacious means of assuring the internal tranquility of each state, the harmony of the relations with each other, and the security of all against the common enemy.

The national executive authority, however, are not of that opinion; but they are, nevertheless, of opinion that it would not, under existing circumstances, be adviseable to appear in a state of positive dissension with the other republics. On the other