GOVEENMENT.
281
The Chamber
birth and thirty years of age.
formed by each State choosing one Deputy
of Deputies is
for every twenty-
thousand inhabitants, and a second Deputy for any
five
number
in excess
beyond twelve thousand.
The High Federal Couil examines Ministers of State, Diplomatic
officers,
causes against the
and the high func-
tionaries of the different States, declares
wliich is to j)revail, It consists of five
where laws clash
and discharges other important
duties.
members, who are chosen by the majority
of the States.
The
States,
which form the Union, reciprocally acknow-
ledge the rights of one another to self-government, declare
themselves equal as pohtical miits, and retain in theu* plenitude
all
sovereign rights not express^ delegated by the
In one particular the English Government
Constitution.
might, perhaps, borrow an idea from the Constitution of
Venezuela.
The Venezuelan Mmisters have
the right to
speak in either Chamber of the Legislatui'e, and are obliged to attend
when
The scheme
called uj)on to give information.
of the Venezuelan Republic, further parti-
culars of which will be found in
Appendix C, looks well on
paper, but mifortunatelj^ does not work well. are governed in the
The
States
same way as the Union, and form an
They attend but
impei'ium in imperio.
little
to the orders
of the general government, and have appropriated its revenue to
their
own pm'poses.
popular President
the}'
might be reduced to obedience, but
at present they are quite
These remai'ks lead
Under a very determined and beyond control. to
the consideration
revenue of the general government the Constitution
is
by no means
is,
of what
the
a subject on which
explicit.
The
principal