cognizance, or the object for which it was required of him shall have been answered.

In all cases of banishment, where the banished person has no heir in the Colony, the land held by him shall revert to the Colony.

Resolved, That this declaration of the law of the Colony, shall not be construed to annul or impair any regulations which the Agent, under his constitutional authority, may have seen fit to establish subsequent to the above date of August 19, 1824.

Resolved, That the Resident Agent cause to be printed two thousand copies of the Constitution, government, and laws, of the Colony of Liberia, as established by this Board at Washington, 23d May, 1825.

JAMES LAURIE, Acting President.

R. R. GURLEY, Resident Agent.

CONSTITUTION

For the Government of the African Colony at Liberia.

ARTICLE I. All persons born within the limits of the Territory held by the American Colonization Society, in Liberia, in Africa, or removing there to reside, shall be free, and entitled to all such rights and privileges as are enjoyed by the citizens of the United States.

ARTICLE II. The Colonization Society shall, from time to time, make such rules as they may think fit for the government of the settlement, until they shall withdraw their Agents, and leave the settlers to the government of themselves.

ARTICLE III. The Society's Agents shall compose a Board, to determine all questions relative to the government of the settlement, shall decide all disputes between individuals, and shall exercise all judicial powers, except such as they shall delegate to Justices of the Peace.

ARTICLE IV. The Agents shall appoint all officers not appointed by the Managers, necessary for the good order and government of the settlement.

ARTICLE V. There shall be no slavery in the settlement.

ARTICLE VI. The common law, as in force and modified in

the United States, and applicable to the situation of the People, shall be in force in the settlement.

ARTICLE VII. Every settler coming to the age of twenty-one years, and those now of age, shall take an oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution.

ARTICLE VIII. In cases of necessity, where no rule has been made by the Board of Managers, the Agents are authorized to make the necessary rules and regulations, of which they shall by the first opportunity, inform the Board for their approbation; and they shall continue in force, until the Board shall send out their decision upon them.

ARTICLE IX. This constitution is not to interfere with the jurisdiction, rights, and claims, of the Agents of the United States, over the captured Africans and others, under their care and control, so long as they shall reside within the limits of the settlement.

ARTICLE X. No alteration shall be made in this Constitution, except by an unanimous consent of all present, at a regular meeting of the Board of Managers, or by a vote of two-thirds of the members present at two successive meetings of the Board of Managers.

The Board received from the Colonial Agent, Mr. Ashmun, early in last year, a plan of Government, exhibiting several deviations from the form sketched in 1824, but in its principles the same. These deviations Mr. Ashmun remarks, "have grown gradually out of the altered and improving state of the Colony, and are neither the offspring of a rash spirit of experiment, nor have they been made without evident necessity." At a meeting of the Board of Managers, October 22d, 1828, it was determined to consider the revised Constitution or form of Government, submitted by Mr. Ashmun, and after due deliberation, it was

Resolved, That the Constitution as modified by the Colonial Agent, Mr. Ashmun, and as now in operation, be hereby adopted. PLAN OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT FOR THE COLONY OF LIBERIA.

The necessity of a mild, just, and efficient civil Government, for the preservation of individual and political rights among any

people, and the advancement of true prosperity, induces the Board of Managers of the American Colonization Society to adopt, after mature consideration, the following system of Government, for the proper regulation of public affairs in the Colony of Liberia.

ARTICLE I. The Agent of the American Colonization Society, resident in the Colony, possesses within the same, sovereign power, subject only to the Constitution, the chartered rights of the citizens, and the decisions of the Board.

ARTICLE II. All male coloured people, who have subscribed the oath to support the Constitution, and drawn, and not forfeited lands in the Colony, shall be entitled to vote for, and be eligible to the civil offices of the Colony.

ARTICLE III. The Civil Officers of the Colony shall be appointed annually: and the polls for the general annual election of the Colony, shall be opened on the last Tuesday in August, and continue open not more than three, nor less than two successive days, in the different Settlements.-Elections shall be organized by the Sheriff, by the appointment in each Settlement, of a President, two Judges, and two Clerks.

ARTICLE IV. The Colonial Officers eligible by the annual suffrage of the freeholders, in which the Agent has the right to interpose his negative, assigning to the voters in time to renew the choice at the same election, his reasons for such interposition, are, for the Colony, a Vice-Agent, two Counsellors, a High Sheriff, a Register, and a Treasurer: and for each of the Settlements consisting of not less than sixty families, two Commissioners of Agriculture, two Commissioners to form a Board of Health, and two Censors.

ARTICLE V. The Vice-Agent shall be admitted to the council of the Agent in all important matters; and shall express an opinion on all questions submitted to his consideration. He shall aid the Agent in the discharge of his various duties, and in the support and execution of the laws; and in the event of the Agent's absence, or sickness, the Vice-Agent shall become the General Superintendent of Public Affairs.

ARTICLE VI. The Vice-Agent with two Counsellors, shall constitute a Council; who shall meet when requested by the Agent, to deliberate on the interests of the Colony, and the measures to be taken for their security and advancement.

The Vice-Agent shall also advise with the other members of the Council, on any subjects connected with the general welfare, as often as he shall think it proper; and report the result to the Agent if proper, or act upon the same, in case of his absence.

ARTICLE VII. The duty of the Counsellors shall be, to aid the Agent, or Vice-Agent, with their advice and counsel, on subjects relating to the general welfare of the Colony, whenever thereto requested by either.

ARTICLE VIII. The High Sheriff shall, either by himself or his deputies, aid in the organization of elections; act as Marshal for the Government of the Colony; execute all processes, judgments, and commands of the Court of Sessions, and perform, generally, the services required of the same Officer, by the common laws of England and the United States.

ARTICLE IX. The Secretary of the Colony shall take charge of, and carefully keep all the papers, records, and archives of the Colony, generally; shall attend and exactly record the doings of the Agent in Council; shall publish all the ordinances, and legal enactments of the Government; publish Government notices; issue the Agent's orders, civil, military, and judicial, to the proper functionaries; deliver a fair copy of Government papers necessary to be recorded to the Register of the Colony; and manage its internal correspondence on the part, and under the directions of the Agent.

ARTICLE X. The Register shall record all documents and instruments relating to the security, and title of public or individual property; Government grants; patents; licences; contracts and commissions; and all other papers which are properly a matter of record, and to which the Government of the Colony shall be a party.

Every volume of records when completed, shall be delivered by the Register, to the Secretary of the Colony, for preservation, among the archives of the Colony.

ARTICLE XI. The Treasurer of the Colony shall receive and safely keep all the monies, and public securities required by law, or the judgment of courts to be deposited in the public Treasury, and shall deliver up, and pay over the same, only by a requisition signed by the Agent, or Vice-Agent of the Colony; to whom he shall render a statement of the public finances on the Monday preceding the annual Election of the Colony.

ARTICLE XII. The Commissioners of Agriculture shall report, and serve as the organ of the Government, on all subjects relating to the Agriculture of the Colony.

The Commissioners composing the Board of Health, shall report, and serve as the organ of the Government, on all subjects relating to the health of the Colony; shall ascertain the proper objects of medical attention; report nuisances prejudicial to the public health, direct their removal; and make themselves generally active in diminishing the sufferings and dangers of the settlers caused by sickness.

Each of these Committees shall record, for the future use of the Colony, all important observations and facts relating to the subjects of their charge.

ARTICLE XIII. The two Censors shall act as conservators of the public morals, and promoters of the public industry; and be obliged to all the duties, and invested with all the legal powers, on whatever relates to the public morals and industry, which are lawfully required of, and possessed by grand jurors, in such parts of the United States as recognize such auxiliaries to their magistracy.

It shall be the special duty of these officers to ascertain in what way every person, in their proper districts, acquires a livelihood; to report or present idlers; detect vicious or suspected practices; and present for legal investigation and cure, every actual, or probable evil, growing out of the immoralities, either of a portion of the community, or of individuals.

ARTICLE XIV. The Judiciary of the Colony shall consist of the Agent and a competent number of Justices of the peace, created by his appointment. The Justices shall have cognizance of all cases affecting the peace, and of criminal cases within the definition of petit larceny, and all actions of debt not exceeding twenty dollars. In the court of monthly Sessions, whether acting as a court of law, or a court of equity, the Agent or Vice-Agent shall preside, and the Justices be his associates.

The court of Monthly Sessions shall have original Jurisdiction in all actions of debt, in which the amount in litigation shall exceed twenty dollars; and in criminal causes above the degree of petit larceny; and shall have appellate jurisdiction in all civil causes whatsoever.