13 APRIL 1844, Page 6

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GREECE.—Letters from Athens, of March the 20th, mentioned the final settlement of the Greek Constitution ; the Charter having been definitively voted by the National Assembly, and adopted by King Otho. There was, however, some difficulty before the ultimate adjust- ment. When the National Assembly submitted the Charter to the King, he returned it with so many alterations as to require the recon- sideration of the whole. in doing so, he is said to have gone againlit the advice of his own Cabinet, and of the French and English Minis- ters. Some of his suggested alterations were made without any consul- tation at all; and one of those was, that political offences should not be tried by jury. It is added, that he did follow the advice of the Prussian Minister, who is described as acting for Russia as well as for his own Court. The Assembly did their best to prevent the rupture which seemed imminent; and it was determined that, as debates were likely to arise in which very open mention would be made of the King and his proceedings, it would be proper to have the sittings secret while such discussions continued. Accordingly, for three days, the Assembly deliberated with closed doors ; at the end of which period it was an- nounced that ten of the King's alterations were accepted, and sixteen or seventeen rejected ; the Assembly being unanimous on all points: the most material alterations were among the number of those rejected. The Constitution was again submitted to the King ; and within an hour after receiving the final decision of the Assembly, he sent down a message to say that he adopted the Charter as it now stood. The message was received by the Assembly with loud acclamations. The people went under the windows of the palace to cheer ; and the King appeared in the balcony, bowing his acknowledgments. On the 16th, the Ministers issued an address to the people, announcing the comple- tion of the change, promising brighter days for the people henceforth to be represented in the Government, and calling upon them to stand by the King and Constitution.

The Constitutional Charter fulfils the outline which was given of it some time back ; but we may briefly recapitulate some of the principal points. It comprises 107 articles. The Greek Church is declared the established religion ; free worship, but not proselytism, being allowed to every other faith. All Greeks are equal in the eye of the law. No person can be arrested unless takenflagrante ddicto, or under a judicial warrant. Property is inviolable, and only to be seized under regular process of law. The seals of all letters are inviolable. Every slave, of whatever nation, is free as soon as he sets his foot on the soil of Greece.

The press is free, without censirship. Public and parochial initruction are to be at the expense of the state. The executive power is vested in the King : and is exercised by responsible Ministers by him appointed and dismissed. No act of the King can have any legal force, or be carried into execution, unless it be countersigned by a com- petent Minister, who becomes responsible by the mere act of affixing his signa- ture. The Judges are appointed by the King; but their judgments must be according to the law. The right of pardon is reserved to the King ; but his Ministers are excepted from its operation. His powers over the Parliament are very strictly defined. " He has the right of dissolving the Chamber of Deputies, but the ordinance for their disso- lution must simultaneously convoke the electoral colleges, which must assemble within the space of two months. The Chamber must meet within the space of three months. The King can prorogue or suspend the annual session of the Chambers ; but the prorogation or suspension cannot remain in force longer than forty days, nor be renewed twice in the legislative annual session, without the consent of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate."

The principal points of the succession are thus settled. "The Crown of Greece, and the constitutional rights of the Throne, are hereditary, and to he

transmitted, in the direct line, to the legitimate descendants of King Otho, according to the order of primogeniture. Failing any direct and legitimate heir to King Otho, the Crown of Greece, and the constitutional rights of the Throne, shall descend to his next brother and his legitimate heirs in the direct line, according to the order of primogeniture. In the event of the death of this brother without direct and legitimate heirs, the Crown of Greece and the constitutional rights of the Throne shall be transmitted to the King's third brother, and his direct and legitimate heirs, according to the order of primo- geniture. Failing all heirs to the Throne, the King, in conformity with the enactments of the preceding articles, shall name his successor with the con- sent of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, convoked for the purpose, in presence of two-thirds, at least, of each of the two bodies, and under the sanc- tion of a majority of two-thirds of the members present. Every successor to the Throne of Greece must, of necessity, profess the religion of the Eastern orthodox Church of Christ. The Crowns of Greece and Bavaria can never be worn simultaneously by the same individual. The majority of the King is fixed at the completion of his eighteenth year." The rights of Parliament are very closely guarded. " The Chamber of De- puties and the Senate shall assemble, by right, every year on the 1st November, unless the King shall have convoked them for an earlier period, or do not pro- rogue them in conformity with Articles 29 and 30 of the present consti- tution. The duration of each session shall not be less than two months. The sittings of the Chamber of Deputies, and of the Senate, shall be public. They may, nevertheless, be held with closed doors, upon the demand of ten members for the Chambers and five members for the Senate. The majority shall afterwards decide whether the discussion may be resumed in a public sitting. The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate cannot debate nor vote, unless the half, save one, of the members be present. In case of the votes being equal, the motion Under discussion shall be considered as rejected. No impost can be established or enforced unless it have previously been agreed to by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, and sanctioned by the King. Each year the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate shall vote the budget, and the law of accounts for the preceding session. All the receipts and expenses of the State shall be included in the budget. No pension and no reward bestowed out of the public treasury, without the sanction of a law. No Deputy nor Senator shall be prosecuted for any opinion or vote expressed or given by him in the exercise of his functions. No Member of the Chamber of Deputies, nor of the Senate, can, during the session, be prosecuted, arrested, or imprisoned, without the permission of the legislative body to which he may belong, except in the case of his being detected flagrante deticto. The Depu- ties are elected for three years. The following are the qualifications for a Deputy : it is necessary to be a Greek citizen, to be established in Greece, to be in the enjoyment of all civil and political rights, to be thirty years of age, and moreover, to possess all the other qualifications which are specified in the law of election. Every Deputy who is appointed by the Government to an employment through which he receives a salary, ceases to be a Deputy from the moment of his accepting such an office, and a fresh election must take place before he can resume his seat in the Chamber. At the opening of every session, the Chamber appoints a President, Vice-Presidents, and Secretaries, who must be selected from their own ranks. The Chamber of Deputies veri- fies the return of the Deputies, and decides upon all questions to which the discussion on those subjects may give rise. The Deputies who attend during the session receive from the public treasury a monthly indemnification of 250 drachms, which is to continue as long as they are occupied with the legislative duties. The Senators are appointed for life by the King. The ordinances for their nomination are countersigned by the President of the Council of Minis- ters. The minimum of the number of Senators is fixed at twenty-seven; but should any necessity arise, the King may increase the number of Senators to one-half the number of Deputies in the Chamber of Deputies. The consent of the Chamber of Deputies is indispensable to enable the King to increase the number of Senators beyond that which has been fixed by the preceding article. The necessary qualifications for a Senator are as follow-1. To be a citizen of Greece ; 2. To be established in Greece ; 3. To be forty y.ears of age; 4. To be in the enjoyment of all civil and political rights. [.eeveral other qualifications are required, principally signal public services, civil, military, or political.] The princes of the blood royal and the heir pre- sumptive to the Throne are Senators by right, as soon as they attain their eighteenth year. But they can have no deliberative vote until they are twenty- five years of age. The sessions of the Senate commence and close simul- taneously with those of the Chamber of Deputies. The Ministers have no de- liberative vote, either in the Senate or the Chamber of Deputies, unless they be members of one of those bodies. They have, however, the right of entry into both Chambers, and have a right to demand a bearing there, should they think fit to address those legislative bodies. The Senate and the Chamber of De- puties may demand the presence of the Ministers during their deliberations. The Chamber of Deputies has the right of accusing the Ministers, and im- peaching them before the Senate, when they will be tried during a public pieties."

Judges are appointed for life. Every sentence meet be delivered in a public audience. The institution of the jury is preserved. Political offences are to be tried by jury ; as also all offences committed by editors of newspapers, unless each offences refer merely to actions of private life.

The first Legislative Assembly is to be open within three months after the promulgation of the present Charter. Special laws are announced to carry out the working of the new Constitution. The last article declares that "The m- eant Constitution iaidaced under the eafeguerd of the patriotism of the Greeks."

TURKEY.—Intelligence from Constantinople of the 20th March con- firms the statement, that the Porte had undertaken not to punish rene- gades of the Mussulman faith with death.

SPAIN.—Madrid papers, of the 4th instant, represent every thing as tranquil. The Corresponsal announces that the King of the French had conferred on S. Gonzalez Bravo the Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honour. A. similar favour had been granted to three other per- sonages, whose names the Madrid journal refrains from publishing. A. new project of law was, however, about to be brought forward for re- stricting still further the liberty of the press, which had met with the unanimous approval of the Cabinet, and would be promulgated forth- with. General Roncali was making preparations at Valencia to reduce some Carlist insurgents in the Maestrazzo, who had been reinforced by fugitives from Carthagena.

PORTUGAL.—Ad vices from Lisbon of the 3d instant do not announce the reduction of the rebel force under Count Bomfim, at Almeida; though the besiegers had opened a fire on the fort. There had been a mutiny at Coimbra; some soldiers attempting to desert to Ahneida. The Cones had refused to sanction the suspension of the Habeas Corpus; and other popular rights ; but Government had continued the suspen- sion on their own responsibility.

FRANCE.—A panic was created in Paris, on Friday, by a report that an attempt had that day been made to assassinate the Dutchess of Orleans; which was a gross exaggeration of the facts. While the Dutchess was engaged in her devotions in the Protestant chapel of the Rue Chauchat, a man about fifty years of age entered the opposite gallery to that in which she was seated. He had been pointed out to the police as a violent maniac. On seeing him enter the church, an officer rushed forward to stop him; when a struggle ensued, in the course of which the maniac drew from his breast a poignard and stabbed his adversary in the hand. There does not appear to have been the slightest ground for the rumour that he had either attempted or in- tended to attempt the life of the Dtechess.

Despatches from Algeria have reached Paris, announcing several triumphs over the followers of Abdel Kader, by the Dukes d'Aumale and Montpeasier. The account of an action at which the Duke de Montpensier assisted, states that after firing from the battery of which he had the direction, throwing from his position thirty-two shells, by this powerful bombardment, and "stretching many of the Arabs" on the ground, he followed the Duke d'Aumale, when " a ball tore his upper left eyelid ; but although the pain was severe, and the blood which flowed alarming," his Royal Highness continued to advance against the Arabs. It is added, that the wound will not leave a scar. The final arrangement of the Tahiti affair is announced : the French Government superseded the Consul of France at Tahiti, M. Moernhaut ; who was to quit the island immediately after the departure of Mr. Pritchard.

UNITED STATES.—The packet-ship Hottingner brings intelligence from New York to the 25th March. The chief point is the state of the Oregon question. The Whig Legislature of Kentucky had passed a resolution deprecating any positive steps at present ; the Locofoco Legislature of Illinois had passed a resolution in favour of occupying the territory ; whence it is inferred that the question is to be made one of party, and to be mixed up with the Presidential election. The sub- ject had been debated in both Houses of Congress ; and on the 21st. the Senate rejected a resolution advising the President to give notice of the termination of the joint occupancy of the Oregon territory, by a majority of 28 to 18. The annexation of Texas was still discussed, with increasing warmth. Mr. Calhoun had accepted the post of Secretary of State; a favourable sign in respect to improvement of the tariff. A true bill had been found against Julian May, for the murder of young Mr. Cochrane in the recent duel, the details of which we gave recently. The seconds, Pooler and Ashe, were also indicted. The New Orleans Picayune, of the 3d, reports another duel at Vicks- burgh, Mississippi, between Mr. Hammer, editor of the Vicksburgh Whig, (and brother of a member of Congress from Mississippi,) and Mr. Ryan, editor of the Sentinel. They fought with pistols, and at the usual distance. At the fourth fire Mr. Ryan fell mortally wounded, being shot directly through the lungs : he died within ten minutes. In two of the previous fires Mr. Hanarnet had been wounded ; but the affair was allowed to proceed—probably, in conformity with the original terms of the meeting ; and the same parties had before met and at- changed shots with rifles, but the difficulty was then arranged upon the ground. Mr. Ryan was the successor in the editorship of a Mr. Hagan, who was also killed during last year. The Aurora says—" The young man sentenced to death for aiding in the escape of a Quadroon slave, has been pardoned by the Governor of South Carolina. He is, however, to be publicly whipped."