The following gentlemen were thereupon nominated by the President to constiture this Committee, viz: Messrs. Macrae, Scott, Johnson, Mercer, Leigh of Chesterfield, Barbour of Orange, and Gordon.

On motion of Mr. Scott, a Committee of Privileges and Elections was appointed, and the following gentlemen were named by the President as its members, viz: Messrs. Scott, Doddridge, Nicholas, Taylor of Norfolk, Taliaferro, Pleasants and Baldwin.

On motion of Mr. M'Coy, the House then adjourned till to-morrow, 12 o'clock.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1829.

The Convention met pursuant to adjournment, and its sitting was opened with prayer by the Right Rev. R. C. Moore, of the Episcopal Church.

The following Committee of twenty-four members, one from each Senatorial District, was announced as having been appointed by the President, viz:

William B. Giles from the
William H. Brodnax

John Marshall

Peachy Harrison

Chapman Johnson

Andrew Beirne

On motion of Mr. Johnson, the resolutions introduced on the first day of the sitting of the Convention, by Mr. Doddridge, were referred to the above Committee; when the House adjourned to 12 o'clock to-morrow.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1829.

The Convention met a: 12 o'clock, which it is understood will be the stated hour of meeting. After prayers by Bishop Moore,

Mr. Madison from the Select Committee, consisting of one member from each of the 24 Senatorial Districts, to whom the duty had been referred of devising the best mode of arranging the business of the Convention, made the following Report:

The Committee of one from each Senatorial District, appointed to enquire into the most convenient mode of proceeding in bringing to the consideration of the Convention, such amendments as may be proposed to the present Constitution, have had the same under consideration, and are of opinion that the most convenient method is to adopt the following resolutions, viz:

1. Resolved, That a Committee be appointed to take into consideration the Bill or Declaration of Rights, and to report to this Convention whether in their opinion any, and if any, what amendments are necessary therein.

2. Resolved, That a Committee be appointed to take into consider tion the Legislative Department of Government, as established by the present Constitution, and to report to this Convention, either a substitute for the same, or such amendments

thereto, as in their opinion are necessary, or that no substitute or amendment is ne

cessary.

3. Resolved, That the Executive Department of Government as established by the present Constitution, be referred to a Committee, to enquire and report whether any, and if any, what amendments are necessary.

4. Resolved, That the Judicial Department of Government as established by the present Constitution, be referred to a Committee, to enquire and report whether any, and if any, what amendments are necessary therein.

5. Resolved, That all such parts of the present Constitution as are not referred by the foregoing resolutions, be referred to a Committee, to enquire and report whether any, and if any, what amendments are necessary therein.

6. Resolved, That no original resolution offered to the Convention proposing any amendment to the Constitution or Declaration of Rights, be discussed on its merits in the House, till it shall have been referred.

On motion of Mr. Doddridge, the report was laid on the table, and ordered to be printed.

Mr. Tazewell then said, that as he took it for granted that the object in laying the foregoing report on the table and printing it, was that the other members of the Convention who had not been members of the Committee, might have an opportunity of informing themselves of the contents of the report, he presumed it would be agreeable to them also, to be made acquainted with some other propositions which had been moved in the Committee, but rejected; under this persuasion, he would move that the following resolution, which he had himself proposed to the Committee, but which had not received its approbation, should be printed and laid on the table together with the report, viz:

Resolved, That the most expedient method of bringing before the Convention any amendments to the Constitution which may be proposed, will be, to take up the existing Constitution or form of Government of Virginia, with the Declaration of Rights, and regarding them for the purposes of examination and discussion, merely, as a plan proposed and reported by a Select Committee, to refer the same to a Committee of the whole House, there to be examined section after section, and to be dealt with in all other respects as a bill so referred by the House to that Committee usually is.

The motion was agreed to.

Mr. Mercer said, that under impressions similar to those which had just been expressed by the gentleman from Norfolk, (Mr. Tazewell) he would move the printing of the two following resolutions, which he had had the honour to propose in the Committee, and which it was his purpose to make the subject hereafter of a motion in the Convention.

Resolved, That so much of the Constitution as relates to the right of suffrage, be referred to a Committee to consider and report whether any, and if any, what amendments are necessary therein.

Resolved, That so much of the Constitution as relates to the basis of representation, be referred to a Committee to consider and report whether any, and if any, what amendinents are necessary therein.

Mr. Brodnax of Dinwiddie, observed that as in any conceivable disposition of the matter to be submitted to the Convention, the existing Constitution of the State, together with the Declaration of Rights, must be the substratum of the whole, appeared proper that these also should be printed and should be in the hands of every member. The substance of them, it was true, was, he had no doubt, familiar to the minds of all the gentlemen, and the documents themselves might be consulted in the library, but as they would be a perpetual subject of reference in the approaching discussions, it was certainly convenient and proper that they should be printed, together with the report of the Select Committee. He therefore made a motion to that effect, which was agreed to.

Mr. Macrae, from the Committee appointed to revise the rules of the House of Delegates, made a report upon the subject.

After some conversation between Messrs. Green of Culpeper, Powell of Frederick, and Leigh of Chesterfield, it was agreed to take up this report and proceed to act upon it.

The rules reported were thereupon read successively at the Clerk's table, and after some verbal corrections in the 14th and 30th rules, and a modification of the 32d, which went to include members of both Houses of the State Legislature, among the persons privileged with admission to the floor of the Convention:

On motion of Mr. Leigh of Chesterfield, the 7th rule of the House of Delegates, which, as originally reported, forbids a member to vote on all questions in which he has a personal interest, was so amended as to confine this prohibition to questions "touching his own conduct in, and rights and privileges as, a member of this Convention.'

Mr. L. considered this alteration as necessary, both as better expressing the true spirit of the rule, and because in the discussions of this Convention, very many questions must of necessity arise, in which every member would have a personal interest of the deepest kind.

Mr. Alexander of Mecklenburg, was desirous farther to amend this rule in that part of it, which forbids a member to vote on any question, unless he was present when the question was put. Mr. A. considered this prohibition as involving a question of grave importance, and as abridging improperly the exercise of a most important right. A difference of opinion might exist and had actually been expressed, as to the construction of the phrase when the question was put." The understanding of its meaning in the House of Delegates was, that the question is put in the sense of this rule when it is stated from the Chair; but in the House of Representatives of the United States, a different construction prevailed: here the question was understood as being put to each member only, when that member was called upon to vote; then, the question was put to him. Mr. A. said, he would put a case to shew that the rule as it stood, might operate great injustice: he had indeed, himself, been subjected to its effects. When the yeas and nays were demanded, the roll is usually called from east to west. The question is put, and each member answers to his name. If a member residing in the west comes in while it is calling, he is precluded from voting, although his name has not yet been called, because the question has been put. So in the House of Representatives, when the yeas and nays are demanded, the names of the members are called in alphabetical order. If a gentleman enters the Hall, whose name happens to stand near the head of the list, he finds that the Clerk has already called it, and he is, of course, precluded from voting, while another gentleman entering at the same moment, but having the good fortune to stand lower on the list, is admitted to a privilege of which his colleague, though not more negligent than himself, and equally early in his attendance, is deprived. As almost every question likely to be presented to this Convention, would be of weighty consideration, Mr. A. considered it as highly important that every member should have a right to vote upon it, provided he should be present before the final decision was announced from the Chair.

Mr. M'Coy said that he did not see the hardships which his friend saw in this rule: the practice in the House of Representatives was, that members not in the House when the Speaker puts the question, are not admitted to vote; but when the yeas and nays are taken, the question is considered as put to each man when that man's name is called. When the members were called in alphabetical order, there was some hardship in the result: members whose names begin with A and B were sometimes taken by surprise, but that could not happen under the rule as interpreted in the House of Delegates; but even if some hardship did occur. Mr. M'Coy thought it best upon the whole to let the rule stand as tending to compel members to be present at their post. The more the rule was relaxed, the greater would be the negligence of the members.

Mr. Stanard of Spottsylvania, observed that the interpretation of the phrase in the rule had been so definitively fixed by the practice of the House of Delegates, that no sort of difficulty could occur in understanding its meaning.. The construction referred to by the gentleman from Mecklenburg, was one which had never prevailed here. No additional chance of voting was enjoyed by any member of the House of Delegates from the fact of his name standing low upon the alphabet. The rules and the practice of that House, as was well known, had their origin in the Parliamentary law of England. By the established usage in the House of Delegates, no question was taken as definitively stated till the alternative had been propounded. If, therefore, a member entered the House after the affirmative votes had been collected, but before the members of the opposite opinion had been called upon to vote, his vote was re ceived. When the yeas and nays were called for, so soon as one member had answered to his name, the question before the House was considered as definitively propounded, and if a gentleman entered the Hall after that time, his vote could not be received. Very great inconvenience must unavoidably ensue, should the Convention depart from this well established rule. He, therefore, earnestly hoped that the amendinent would not prevail.

Mr. Alexander having so modified his amendment as to forbid voting only when a member had not been present before the final decision of the question:

The decision was taken on his amendment, and it was rejected by a large majority. The question was then put on the whole report as amended, and carried nem. con. The rules, as adopted, were as follows:

1. No member shall absent himself from the service of the House without leave, unless he be sick and unable to attend.

2. When any member is about to speak in debate, or deliver any matter to the House, he shall rise from his seat, and without advancing from thence, shall, with

due respect, address himself to the President, confining himself strictly to the point in debate, avoiding all indecent and disrespectful language.

3. No member shall speak more than twice in the same debate without leave.

4. A question being once determined, must stand as the judgment of the House, and cannot again be drawn into debate.

5. While the President is reporting, or putting any question, none shall entertain private discourse, read, stand up, walk into or out of the House.

6. No member shall vote on any question touching his own conduct in, or rights and privileges as, a member of this Convention, or in any other case, where he was not present when the question was put by the President or Chairman of any Com

mittee.

7. Every member who shall be in the House when any question is put, shall, on a division, be counted on the one side or the other.

Each day, before the House proceeds to any other business, the Secretary shall read the Orders of the Day.

99. The Secretary shall not suffer any records or papers to be taken from the table, or out of his custody, by any member or other person.

10. A majority of the members of the Convention shall be necessary to proceed to business, and every question shall be determined according to the vote of a majority of the members present. Any smaller number shall be sufficient to adjourn, and fifteen to call a House, and send for the absent, and make any order for their censure or chischarge.

11. When the House is to rise, every member shall keep his seat until the President passes him.

12. The Journals of the House shall be daily drawn up by the Secretary, and after being examined by the President, be printed, and one copy be delivered to the Secretary, and one to each member without delay.

13. A majority of any Committee shall be a sufficient number to proceed to bu

siness.

14. Any person shall be at liberty to sue out an original writ or subpœna in chancery, in order to prevent a bar by the statute of limitations, or to file any bill in equity, to examine witnesses thereupon, for the sole purpose of preserving their testimony against any member of this House, notwithstanding his privilege; provided that the clerk, after having made out and signed such original writ, shall not deliver the same to the party, or to any other, during the continuance of that privilege.

15. Any person suininoned to attend this House, or any Committee thereof, as a witness in any matter depending before them, shall be privileged from arrest, during his coming to, attending on, or going from the House or Committee; and no such witness shall be obliged to attend, until the party, at whose request he shall be summoned, do pay, or secure to him, for his attendance and travelling, the same allowance which is made to witnesses attending the General Court.

16. If any person shall tamper with any witness, in respect to his evidence to be given in this House, or any Committee thereof, or directly, or indirectly, endeavor to deter or hinder any person from appearing, or giving evidence, the same is declared to be a high crime, or misdemeanor; and this House will proceed, with the utmost severity, against such offender.

17. No person shall be taken into custody by the Sergeant at Arms, on any complaint of a breach of privilege, until the matter of such complaint shall be examined by the Committee of Privileges and Elections, and reported to the House.

18. The Sergeant's fees shall be as follows, to wit: for taking any person into custody, two dollars; for every day he shall be detained in custody, two dollars; for sending a messenger to take any person into custody by warrant from the President, eight cents per mile for going, and the same for returning, besides ferriages.

19. On a call of the House, the doors shall not be shut against any member, until his name is once enrolled.

20. When any member shall keep his seat two days, after having obtained leave of absence, such leave shall be void.

21. No business shall be introduced, taken up, or considered, after 12 o'clock, until the Orders of the Day shall be disposed of.

22. Any member, on his motion made for that purpose, on being seconded, provided seven of the members present be in favor of the motion, shall have a right to have the ayes and noes taken upon the determination of any question, provided he shall give notice of his intention to call the ayes and noes, before the question be put, and in such case the House shall not divide, or be counted on the question, but the names of the members shall be called over by the Secretary, and the ayes and noes shall be respectively entered on the Journal, and the question shall be decided as a majority of votes shall thereupon appear: provided that after the ayes and noes shall be separately taken, and before they are counted, or entered on the Journal, the Secretary shall read over the names of those who voted in the affirmative, and of those who voted in

the negative; and any member shall have liberty at such reading to correct any mistake which may have been committed in listing his name, either in the affirmative or negative.

23. The petitioner who contests the election of a member returned to serve in this Convention is entitled to receive his wages only from the day on which such petitioner is declared duly elected.

24. Select Committees shall be composed of some number not less than five nor more than thirteen.

25. It shall be the rule of the House, in all cases of balloting, to fill one vacancy only at a time.

26. The Committee of Privileges and Elections shall report to the House in all cases of privilege or contested election, to them referred, the principles and reasons upon which their resolutions shall be founded.

27. In all cases of balloting for the election of any officer by this Convention, if on the first ballot no person shall have a majority of the whole number, on the second ballot the person who had the smallest number of votes shall not be balloted for; and so on each succeeding ballot till some person shall have a majority of the whole.

. In all cases wherein a division of the House on any question propounded from the Chair, is rendered necessary, in the opinion of the President, by the equality of sound, or required by the motion of any member, the members voting on the question which occasions such division, shall be required to rise in their places; and if on a general view of the House, a doubt still remain in the President, or any member thereof, on what side the majority is, the members shall be counted standing in their places, either by the President, or by two members of opposite opinions on the question, to be deputed for that purpose by the President.

29. The Committee appointed to examine the ballot-boxes shall count no blanks therein.

30. The documents ordered to be printed by the House shall be printed on paper of the same size of the Journal of this Convention, and a copy shall be bound with each Journal, to be furnished to the members at the end of the session; and it shall be the duty of the printer of the House to print one hundred additional copies of each document ordered to be printed for the above purpose.

31. It shall be the duty of the Committee of Privileges and Elections to examine the certificates of election furnished by the sheriffs, in order to ascertain the members of this Convention duly elected, and to report thereupon.

32. Seats within this House, such as the President shall direct, shall be set apart for the use of the members of the General Assembly and of the Executive, of the Judges of the Superior Courts of this State, and of the United States, and of such other persons as the President may think proper to invite within the bar.

33. It shall be a standing rule of the House that the President be authorised to call any member of the House to occupy the Chair, and exercise the functions of President, until he may resume the Chair; with this proviso, that the power given by this rule shall not be construed to confer on the President a right to place any member in the Chair of the President for a longer period than one day.

On motion of Mr. Doddridge the Journal and other papers before referred to were ordered to be printed in the octavo form.

On motion of Mr. Mercer, it was ordered, that the act of the State Legislature which authorised the organization of this Convention, be added to the papers to be printed, and then the House adjourned.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1829.

The Convention met at 12 o'clock, and its sitting was opened with prayer by the Rev. Bishop Moore.

Mr. Scott from the Committee on Privileges and Elections, made the following report:

The Committee of Privileges and Elections have performed the duty assigned them by the rules of the House, and beg leave to report, that they have examined the returns of the sheriffs, and find that the following persons have been duly elected members of this Convention, to wit:

From the District composed of the counties of Amelia, Chesterfield, Cumberland, Nottorway, Porchatan, and the town of Petersburg-John W. Jones, Benjamin W. Leigh, Samuel Taylor and William B. Ġiles.

From the District composed of the counties of Brunswick, Dinwiddie, Lunenburg and Mecklenburg-William H. Brodnax, George Č. Dromgoole, Mark Alexander and William O. Goode.