and no Justice of the Peace shall be appointed in any township, borough or ward, as aforesaid, unless the number therein shall be less than is allowed by this amendment, or by law; or they shall be reduced below such number, by death, resignation, removal, or otherwise.

Amendment No. 20. To be in lieu of section I, article 6.

I. Sheriffs, Coroners, Prothonotaries of the Courts of Common Pleas, Registers of wills, Recorders of deeds, and Clerks of the Courts of Oyer and Terminer and Courts of Quarter Sessions, in each county and city, shall, at the times and places of election of Representatives, be chosen by the citizens of such county and city, and commissioned by the Governor, and shall hold their offices for three years, and until successors be duly elected and commissioned, if they shall so long behave themselves well; but shall be removed by the Governor, on the address of either branch of the Legistature. No person shall be twice chosen and commissioned Sheriff in any term of six years. Vacancies in either of the said offices shall be filled by the Governor, to continue until the next general election, and until a successor shall be chosen and qualified as aforesaid.

Amendment No. 21. To be in lieu of section V, article 6. V. The Auditor General, Secretary of the Land office, Surveyor General and State Treasurer shall be appointed annually by the joint vote of the members of both Houses. The Attorney General, Prothonotaries of the Supreme Court and District Courts, Clerks of Mayors' Courts, all officers in the treasury and land departments, attorneys at law, election officers, all officers relating to Common Schools, to taxes, to the poor and to highways, Constables and other township officers, shall be appointed in such manner as is or shall be directed by law.

Amendment No. 22. To be section I, article 10.

I. Any amendment or amendments to the Constitution of this State, may be proposed in the Senate or House of Representatives, and if the same shall be agreed to by a majority of all the members of each House, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be entered on their journals, with the yeas any nays taken thereon, and referred to the Legislature then next to be chosen, and shall be printed with the laws passed at the same session, and published for three months previous to the next general election, and if the Legislature next chosen as aforesaid, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be agreed to by a majority of all the members of each House, then it shall be the duty of the Legislature to submit such proposed amendment or amendments to the people, in such manner and at such time as the Legislature shall prescribe; and if the people shall approve and ratify such amendment or amendments by a majority of electors, qualified to vote for members of the Legislature voting thereon, such amendment or amendments shall become part of the Constitution, from and after the first day of January next, after

such vote.

Mr. BONHAM, of York, asked and obtained leave to submit the following resolution, which was ordered to be laid on the table, and printed.

Resolved, That the committee on corporations be instructed to enquire into the expediency of so amending the Constitution, as to prevent the Legislature from granting privileges to any incorporated company or companies, from entering on, or passing

through the lands of any citizen of this Commonwealth, without first paying, or giving security for the payment of all damages which may be done by such trespass. The Convention then adjourned.

MONDAY, MAY 15, 1837.

Mr. FARRELLY, of Crawford, presented a petition from certain citizens of Erie county, on the subject of a provision against banking corporations, which was read, and on motion of Mr. FARRELLY, refered to the special committee on the currency.

Mr. INGERSOLL, of Philadelphia, submitted certain amendments to the present first article of the Constitution, which he proposed to be made the second article of the Constitution, and an amendment to be entitled the first article, and a caption, as follows:

CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA, As matured in Convention, on the second day of September, one thousand seven hundred and ninety, amended in another Convention in one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven, and ratified by the people at large.

The people of the State of Pennsylvania ordain and establish this Constitution of Government :

ARTICLE I.-DISTRIBUTION OF POWER.

The respective powers of Government, Legislative, Executive and Judicial, are by this Constitution, severally distributed and established in three distinct branches, viz: A Legislature, a Governor, and a Judiciary, neither of which separate branches shall exercise the authority of either of the others, except where this Constitution so directs.

ARTICLE II.-LEGISLATURE.

Section 1. The legislative power of this Commonwealth shall be vested in two separate branches, viz: A House of Representatives and a Senate, who, together with a Governor, shall have all the power of making laws, not inconsistent with this Constitution, the sovereignty of the people, and the inherent limitations of annual trust delegated by that sovereignty.

SECT. 2. The Legislature shall meet every year on the first Thursday in January, unless convened at another time by the Governor, and shall adjourn on the first Thursday in April, unless continued longer in session by law for that purpose.

SECT. 3. At the first meeting of the Legislature under this Constitution, and every fifth year thereafter, the inhabitants of this State shall be enumerated by law, and together with such quinquennial enumeration, there shall be taken by law a valuation of all the property and a complete statistical account of all the political elements of the commonwealth, to be ascertained, preserved and published, as the Legislature may direct.

SECT. 4. Each House may, during its session, punish by fine, not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisonment not exceeding the duration of that session, any person misbehaving in presence of such House and obstructing its proceedings, or abusing or threatening any member or members for any thing said or done as such.

SECT. 5. Neither House without permission, by law, shall have power to appoint any committee to sit when the Legislature is not in session, nor then elsewhere than at the seat of Government, and no member shall be paid but for service rendered while in actual session at the seat of Go

vernment.

SECT. 6. No bill for private, local or incorporating purpose, shall be come a law, unless read throughout three times, on three distinct weeks during public sessions of both Houses, and shall after its first reading, by direction of the presiding officer of the House in which such bill originates, be published by printed advertisements before it receives a second reading, daily if there be a daily newspaper, if not, as often as possible, during at least one week in the city, town, county, and as near as may be in the immediate neighborhood where it is to have effect.

SECT. 7. No law shall be enacted granting any perpetuity or monopoly for private purpose, or any lottery. No money shall be drawn from the Treasury but by distinct and specific appropriation by law. No bill appropriating public money to private purpose shall become a law, without a vote of two thirds of the members present in both Houses, and such vote taken by ayes and noes entered in the journal. No bill creating, continuing, renewing, or supplying any body politic or corporate, (except religious, charitable and literary bodies,) shall become a law but by a vote of two thirds of the members of two successive Legislatures, and the succeeding Legislature shall not have power in any respect to change such law, as passed by the first Legislature. On the final passage of such bill in both Houses, it shall be the duty of the presiding officer of each, to direct the ayes and noes of the members present to be called and entered upon the journals as they vote; and no such bill, if returned with objections by the Governor, shall become a law during that session of the Legislature, nor afterwards, without the concurrent votes of five sixths of the members present, taken aloud and entered on the journals.

SECT. 8. The Legislature shall provide by law for the prompt and universal promulgation of all laws as enacted, taking care that printed copies of them shall be published as soon as they are laws, in all parts of the State, by means of the periodical press, immediately, and in books as soon as convenient, and once in ten years a complete digest of all the laws of the State shall be prepared and published pursuant to law, collating with them all legislative, executive and judicial constructions of the laws.

SECT. 9. It shall be the duty of every judge and court of justice, adjudicating any principle of the common or unwritten law, for the first time that such principle is adjudicated in this State, to report the same to the Legislature at the next session, by whom a law shall then be enacted declaratory of such principle of the common or unwritten law, otherwise it shall not be a law thereafter, and the Legislature shall prescribe adequate penalties to ensure judicial compliance with the provision, so that no law may be first made by judicial construction alone without sanction of the Legislature.

SECT. 10. All by-laws and enactments of municipal corporations, shall be reported to the Legislature on the first day of their session, in order that such proceedings may thereupon take place as the Legislature may deem proper, if any, confirming, repealing, or altering the same, and no

such by-laws or enactments shall be valid for more than one year, if repealed by the Legislature.

SECT. 11. The title of every law shall distinctly announce its enactments, and no bill after it has passed one House shall be amended in the other by incorporating therewith distinct or dissimilar subjects, nor shall any private corporation or other than public objects, be at any time made part of a bill for public objects. And it shall be the duty of the Governor to return to the Legislature, with his objections, all bills in his opinion contravening this provision.

Mr. INGERSOLL moved that the resolution be laid on the table, and printed.

The PRESIDENT stated that, under a rule adopted by the Convention, several parts of this resolution would at once he refered.

Such parts as come within the operation of the rule were then refered, and the residue of the resolution was laid on the table.

Mr. MANN, of Montgomery, presented the following resolutions, which were laid on the table, and ordered to be printed :

Resolved, That the committee on the ninth article of the Constitution be instructed to consider the expediency of so amending the sixth section, so that in all cases of trial by jury (except capital punishment,) it shall be competent for two thirds or three fourths to give a verdict.

Resolved, That the committee on the fifth article of the Constitution be instructed to enquire into the expediency of so amending the Constitution that in all counties of this Commonwealth, where there is a considerable number of the population German, no person shall be eligible to the office of Prothonotary, Register, Recorder, Clerk of the Sessions or Orphans' Court, unless such person speaks both the English and German language, and that at least one of the Associate Judges possess the same qualification.

Mr. STEVENS, of Adams, said he had a resolution in his hand, not quite so long as that presented by the gentleman from Philadelphia, (Mr. INGERSOLL) but which would go quite as far to protect the people against the encroachments of the aristocracy. He then submitted the following resolution, which was ordered to be laid on the table, and printed.

Resolved, That the fourth section of the second article of the Constitution shall be so amended that no city or county shall ever have more than six Representatives, nor more than two Senators.

Mr. FLEMING, of Lycoming, submitted the following resolution, which was ordered to be laid on the table, and printed:

nor.

Resolved, That the committee on the second article of the Constitution be instructed to enquire into the expediency of providing for the election of a Lieutenant Governor of this Commonwelath, to be elected at the same time, and for the same term as the GoverIn case of the impeachment, removal from office, death, resignation, &c., of the Governor, the duties of the office to devolve upon the Lieutenant Governor, to be President of the Senate, and to have a casting vote therein. And further to provide, that if during the vacancy of the office of Governor, the Lieutenant Governor shall be impeached, die or resign, that the President of the Senate shall act as Governor until the vacancy shall be filled.

Mr. KEIM, of Berks, submitted the following resolution, which was ordered to be laid on the table, and printed:

Resolved, That the committee on the ninth article of the Constitution be instructed to consider the expediency of so amending the Constitution, as to allow for ever, in this State, the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, to all mankind; but that the liberty of conscience hereby secured, shall not be so construed, as to

V

excuse acts of licentiousness, or justify practices inconsistent with the peace or safety of this State.

Mr. CURLL, of Armstrong, submitted the following resolution, which was ordered to be laid on the table, and printed:

Resolved, That the legislative power, relative to the incorporation of banking companies, shall be so restricted that no charter shall be granted for a longer time than ten years, nor any note of a less denomination than twenty dollars issued; and that the books, papers and vouchers of every banking institution, shall be subject to the inspection and supervision of the Legislature, who, if they discover that any bank has departed from the business for which it was created, shall forthwith declare the charter null and void, and the real and personal estates of the stockholders, both in their corporate and individual capacity, shall be liable for the payment of the notes in circulation, or in the hands of the people.

Mr. HASTINGS, of Jefferson, presented the following resolution, which was ordered to be laid on the table, and printed.

Resolved, That the committee on the sixth article of the Constitution be instructed to report the following amendment to that article, to be inserted after the first section, and numbered "2".

2. The Canal Commissioners shall be elected by the citizens of this Commonwealth, at the same time and place where they shall respectively vote for Representatives. At the first general election, after the adoption of this Constitution, one shall be elected to serve for the term of one year; one shall be elected to serve for the term of two years; and one shall be elected to serve for the term of three years; and annually thereafter, one shall be elected to serve for the term of three years: Provided, That no person shall be eligible to that office for a longer period than three years in any term of six years.

3. The Canal Commissioners shall be vested with the same powers, and receive the same pay, they are now entitled to receive by law.

Mr. DENNY, from the committee to whom was refered the first article of the Constitution, made the following report, which was ordered to be laid on the table, and printed.

That it is expedient to amend the second section of said article, as follows:

"SECT. II. The Representatives shall be chosen annually, by the citizens of the city of Philadelphia, and of each county, respectively, on the fourth Tuesday of October".

Mr. PURVIANCE, of Butler, moved that the Convention proceed to consider, as in committee of the whole, the report made on Friday, on the first article of the Constitution, but withdrew the motion at the request of Mr. EARLE.

On motion of Mr. EARLE, the Convention took up for consideration the resolution offered by Mr. FULLER, of Fayette, appointing nine o'clock hereafter to be the daily hour of meeting. The resolution was read a second time, and agreed to.

Mr. BROWN, of Northampton, submitted a motion to reconsider the vote of Thursday last, adopting the resolution to authorize the purchase of 2,700 copies of the Daily Chronicle.

Mr. JENKS trusted the Convention would not agree to this motion. He took it, it was too late to reconsider this subject, and annul the contract, without doing great injustice to the individual who published this paper-as he understood the expense which that gentleman had incurred