Page:Messages of the President of the United States on the Relations of the United States to Spain (1898).djvu/104

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By the advice and consent of my council of ministers. In the name of my august son, King Alfonso XIII, and as Queen Regent of the Kingdom, I decree as follows:

The islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico shall hereafter be governed and administered in accordance with the following provisions:

To facilitate the understanding of this decree and to prevent confusion as regards the legal value of the terms therein used the following definitions must be remembered:

Executive central power: The King with his council of ministers.

Spanish Parliament: The Cortes with the King.

Spanish Chambers: The Congress and the Senate.

Central Government: The council of ministers of the Kingdom.

Colonial parliament: The two chambers with the Governor-General.

Colonial chambers: The council of administration and the chamber of representatives.

Colonial legislative assemblies: The council of administration and the chamber of representatives.

Governor-General in council: The Governor-General, with his secretaries.

Instructions of the Governor-General: Those which he received when he was appointed to his post.

Statute: Colonial provision of a legislative character.

Colonial statutes: The colonial legislation.

Legislation or general laws: The legislation or laws of the Kingdom.

The government of each one of the islands shall be composed of an insular parliament, divided into two chambers, and of a governor-general representing the mother-country, who, in the name of the latter, shall exercise supreme authority.

The insular chambers, together with the governor-general, shall have power to legislate concerning colonial affairs in the manner and on the terms provided by law.

The islands shall be represented by two bodies, whose power shall be equal, viz: The chamber of representatives and the council of administration.

The council shall be composed of 35 members, of whom 18 shall be elected in the manner prescribed in the electoral law, and the remaining 17 shall be designated by the King, and in his name by the governor-general, from among those possessing the requirements enumerated in the following articles:

To be entitled to a seat in the council of administration it shall be necessary to be a Spaniard; to have attained the age of 35 years; to have been born in the island, or to have resided there uninterruptedly for four years; not to be under criminal prosecution; to be in the full enjoyment of one's political rights; not to have one's property embargoed; to have had for two or more years an income of one's own amounting to $4,000, and to have no part in contracts with the central government or with that of the island.

Stockholders in joint-stock companies shall not be considered as having a contract with the government, although the society to which they belong may have one.

Those who, in addition to the requirements mentioned in the foregoing article, possess any one of the following, may be elected or designated as members of the council of administration:

(1) Being or having been a senator of the Kingdom, or having the requirements specified in Title III of the constitution for the discharge of the duty of that office.

(2) Having discharged for two years the duties of one of the offices mentioned below:

That of presiding judge of the superior court of Havana, or of the Government attorney attached to that court; that of rector of the University of Havana; that of a member of the old council of administration; president of the chamber of commerce of the capital; president of the Economic Society of Friends of the Country, of Havana; president of the Club of Landholders; president of the Tobasco Manufacturers' Union; president of the League of Merchants, Manufacturers, and Agriculturists of Cuba; dean of the Illustrious College of Lawyers, of the capital; alcalde of Havana; president of its provincial deputation for two terms of two years each, or president of a provincial deputation for three such terms; dean of any of the cathedral cabildos.