and to secure the liberty of all the inhabitants of the Argentine Soil. The thirteen Provinces, which composed at such time the Argentine State, are Cordova, Catamarca, Corrientes, Entre-Rios, Jujuy, Mendoza, Rioja, Salta, Santiago, San Juan, Santa Fé, San Luis, and Tucuman. Confedera gle State ised. $47. The Argentine Confederation has many fea- The Artures in common with the United States of North gentine America; but it has remarkable features of difference, tion a Sinwhich are attributable to the fact, that the starting decentralpoint of the Argentine Confederation was diametrically opposite to that of the United States of North America, the former Confederation resulting from the Decentralisation of a Single State 21, whilst the latter arose out of the Union of several States, which had been and might have continued to exist singly as Independent States. The Argentine Constitution, accordingly, in regard to the external relations of the Confederation, has only confirmed the original Unity of the Argentine State, at the same time that it has altogether decentralised its Internal Government, and has resolved it into a system of Confederate Provinces, which severally possess all the powers of Sovereignty which are not delegated by the Constitution to the Federal Government. 22 The National Unity, however, of the System, as regards Foreign Powers, is not thereby impaired, and the latter consequently can, under no pretext whatever, entertain direct International Relations with the Provinces without assail 21 We find accordingly that the Argentine Confederation is composed of Provinces and not of States, and that the object of the Confederation is declared to be, amongst other things, to provide for the common defence, and maintain the liberty of all persons who may be disposed to inhabit the Argentine soil, la liberté pour 22 Article 101. Les Provinces The Constitution of ing the Nationality of the Argentine State, and violating the Independence of the Argentine Nation 23. § 48. The Executive Power of the Argentine Nathe Argen- tion is vested in a President, who is entitled "The tine State. President of the Argentine Confederation," and the direction of the International Relations of the Confederation are vested in him conjointly with the Senate. He declares war and peace, nominates and recalls Ambassadors and Consuls, concludes and signs all treaties of peace, commerce, navigation, alliance, boundaries and neutrality, all Concordats and other Treaties which may be necessary to maintain friendly relations with Foreign Powers, whose Ministers he receives, and to whose Consuls he grants the Exequatur. The President exercises these latter functions subject to the approval of a Congress, which consists of two Chambers, one composed of " Deputies of the Nation," and the other of "Senators of the Provinces and of the Capital." The Chamber of Deputies consists of Representatives directly elected by the People of the Provinces and of the Capital, considered for this purpose as electoral districts of a single State, in the proportion of one deputy for every 20,000 inhabitants. Each deputy may sit for four years, and he is then reeligible, but half the members of the Chamber are renewed every two years. The Senate is composed of two Senators from each Province and two from the Capital; each Senator may sit for nine years, and is immediately reeligible, but a third of the Senate is renewed every three years. The approval of the Congress, which is required by the Constitution to give perfect validity to the acts of the President, is an 23 The Provinces may conclude mutual Conventions with one another upon matters of Police, Pub lic Works, and the Administration of Justice, subject to the sanction of the Federal Congress. arrangement of domestic policy, analogous to the arrangements under which the approval of the British Parliament is required by the Constitution to enable the Crown to give effect to treaties of commerce concluded with Foreign Powers. gentine $49. The Provinces which compose the Argentine The ArState are expressly prohibited by the Constitution Provinces. from exercising any of the powers which are delegated to the Confederation. They may not conclude any treaties of a political character, or pass any laws affecting commerce or navigation, or establish any Custom Houses, or levy any troops, or arm any ships of war, except on occasions of sudden invasion when delay is inadmissible, and in which case they must make an immediate report to the Federal Government; nor may they nominate abroad, or receive at home, Foreign Agents. The Provincial Institutions are cast in a Republican mould, and each Province elects its own Governor, but the Governors of the Provinces upon their election become not merely local Functionaries, but are the constituted Agents of the Federal Government in enforcing the Laws of the Confederation. No Province is allowed by the Constitution to declare or make war upon another Province, and a Supreme Court of Justice, modelled after that of the North American Union, has authority to hear and redress all matters and complaints between Province and Province. Confedera § 50. The Swiss Confederation, in the earliest form The Swiss in which its Independence was recognised by a Public tion of Act of the European Powers (anno 1648), consisted of 1648. thirteen Cantons, Glaris, Schwytz, Uri, Zug, Unterwald, and Appenzell, the political Constitutions of which were democratic, and Bâle, Fribourg, Berne, Lucerne, Zurich, Schaffhouse and Soleure, which had The Hel federation Constitutions more or less aristocratic. The Confederation underwent various vicissitudes during the wars of the French Revolution of 1789, and six other Cantons, some of them being districts which had separated from existing Cantons, were received into the Confederation, namely, St. Gall, Grisons, Argovie, Thurgovie, Tessin and Vaud. In 1803, Napoleon, then First Consul, imposed upon the Confederation, in the character of Mediator between the partisans of a Central State and those of a Federal State, a new Constitution, under the title of an "Act of Mediation," which intrusted the interests of the Confederation to a Federal Diet, which was to meet at Fribourg, Berne, Soleure, Bâle, Zurich or Lucerne, year by year, and in each year the Burgomaster of the directing Canton was to be the Landammann of Switzerland, charged with the Presidence of the Diet and with all communications with Foreign Powers. The Act of Mediation was superseded in 1814 by an alliance of a Federal Character between the nineteen Cantons 24, and in the following year three new Cantons, Neuchatel, Geneva, and Valais, were admitted into the Confederation, so that the new Act of Confederation, concluded 7th August, 1815, embraced twenty-two Cantons 25. It was this new Confederation, which acceded formally to the territorial arrangements of the Congress of Vienna on 12 August, 1815; and, in consideration of its accession, the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland and the inviolability of its soil was recognised and guaranteed by the Powers, which signed the Final Act of the Congress. $51. The Helvetic Confederation of 1815 was an vetic Con- Union of a closer kind than the early Federal Pact, which had preceded the Constitution under the Act 24 Martens, N. R. II. p. 68. 25 Martens, N. R. IV. p. 173. of 1815. ort or Di of Mediation. Its object was declared to be the preservation of the freedom, independence and security against foreign assault and of the domestic order and tranquillity of the twenty-two Cantons. The Cantons guaranteed reciprocally to one another their respective political Constitutions and their territorial Possessions. The Confederation had a common army, composed of contingents of men from each Canton, and a common military chest, supplied by duties levied on the importation of foreign merchandise, and collected by the frontier Cantons. The Diet consisted of one deputy from each Canton voting according to instructions, and it assembled at Berne, Zurich, or Lucerne alternately. The direction of the affairs of the Confederation, when the Diet was not in session, was confided to the Canton in which it ought to assemble, and the duties of Directing Canton (Vorort) accord- The Voringly devolved every alternate two years upon the recting Protestant Canton of Zurich and the Roman Ca- Canton. tholic Cantons of Berne and Lucerne. All the functions which had belonged to the Directing Authority of the Confederation before 1798, were, under the new Constitution, continued to the Directing Canton. The Diet had the prerogative of declaring war and concluding treaties of peace, alliance, and commerce with Foreign States. It provided for the internal and external security of the Confederation, directed the operations and appointed the Commanders of the Federal Army, and nominated the Ministers accredited to Foreign Powers. In case of internal or external danger, each Canton had the right of demanding the aid of the other Cantons, in which case notice was to be given immediately to the Directing Canton, in order that the Diet might be called together to provide the necessary measures of security. Under the Federal Compact prior to 1798, |