nstitute the
nation: what joy--what happiness for us all!_

"As CONSTITUTIONAL EMPEROR, and most especially as PERPETUAL DEFENDER of
this vast empire, I told the people on the 1st of December, the day when
I was crowned and anointed, '_That with my sword I would defend the
country, the nation, and the constitution, if it were worthy of Brazil
and of me_." I this day, in your presence, most solemnly ratify this
promise, and I trust you will assist me in fulfilling it, by framing a
wise, just, and practicable constitution, dictated by reason, not
caprice; and having solely in view the general happiness, which can
never be great if the constitution be not founded on solid grounds,
grounds which the wisdom of ages has shown to be just, in order to give
true liberty to the people, and sufficient strength to the executive
power. A constitution in which the limits of the three powers shall be
well defined, that they may never arrogate rights not their own; but
shall be so organised and harmonised, that it shall be impossible for
them, even in the lapse of time, to become inimical to each other, but
shall every day jointly contribute to the general happiness of the
state. In short, a constitution which shall oppose insuperable barriers
to despotism, whether royal, aristocratic, or democratic; defeat
anarchy; and plant that tree of liberty under whose shadow the honour,
tranquillity, and independence of this empire, which will become the
admiration of the Old and New World, must grow.

"All the constitutions which have modelled themselves upon those of 1791
and 1792, have been shown by experience to be entirely theoretical and
metaphysical, and therefore impracticable. Witness those of France,
Spain, and Portugal: they have not, as they ought, produced public
happiness; but after a licentious freedom, we see that in some countries
there has already taken place, and in others there is on the point of
doing so, a despotism of one, after that of many; and, by a necessary
consequence, the people are reduced to the wretched state of registering
and suffering all the horrors of anarchy.

"But far from us be such melancholy reflections: they darken the joy and
exultation of this happy day. You are not ignorant of them; and I am
sure, that firmness in those true constitutional views, which have been
sanctioned by experience, will characterise every one of the deputies
who compose this illustrious assembly. I trust, that the constituti