Born in the midst of the internal commotions that had torn the country apart; formed by men without ideas or principles, for the most part; led by a soldier [Agustín Gamarra], to whom a triumph had subdued all men and all things, whose administrative science was reduced only to intrigue and the sordid handling of conspiracies and who, placed again, by fortune in the first place of the nation, he wanted to endow it with institutions that would redound to the exclusive benefit of himself and his relatives; What could result but a monstrous birth in which justice and the interests of the generality were sacrificed, to serve as a pedestal for the domination of an exclusive, despotic and privileged oligarchy?
Agustín Gamarra:Military Caudillo However, the work seemed perfect to its authors, and, in love with it, they surrounded it with a thousand obstacles that opposed the reform, not only in its entirety, but also in the most insignificant of its provisions; as if they had wanted to mold the entire country to a formless and extravagant measure, or as if the people were for the institutions and not the institutions for the people. Lycurgus himself, who invented a strange and surprising code, took into account the character of his fellow citizens, to subject them to an iron yoke and impose on them a quasi-monastic existence. His legislation lasted for some time; but in the end it perished, despite the solemn oath that Sparta made to preserve it, due to the transformations that had taken place in the customs and habits of the people. Our legislators in the year 39 believed they were wiser and more powerful than all the legislators in the world; much more than the same God who gave the code of laws that should govern the people of Israel. The Hebrew legislation presents, indeed, an admirable circumstance. It was given only once and was never subjected to any modification; but from its beginning, it contained the fundamental bases of the different systems of government that were to succeed in the Jewish nation. according to the formulas established by them, its reform would be impossible. Proof of this are the vain recommendations of the executive power itself and the unsuccessful attempts of some members of the chambers. Fortunately, the entire country has declared itself in favor of the reform; The periodical press has supported this impulse with fruitful and luminous productions and, for our part, we also want to contribute something to such a great company.
Written by the distinguished jurist Toribio Pacheco y Rivero (1828-1868) in Constitutional Issues.