Mr. Speaker: The Committee on Enrollment have this day examined Assembly bill No. 114, an Act to amend an Act entitled an Act to establish the Salaries of the Judges of the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth Judicial Districts, and to define the time of holding Courts in said Districts, approved April 28, 1855, and find the same correctly enrolled. L. S. WELCH, Mr. Speaker: The Committee, to whom was referred Assembly bill No. 237, entitled an Act to prohibit the erection of Weirs or other obstructions to the run of Salmon, have had the same under consideration, and beg leave to report the same back to the House, and recommend its passage. A. R. MELONEY, Chairman. Mr. Speaker: The Engrossing Committee have examined and found correctly engrossed bill No. 214, for an Act to Incorporate the Town of Eureka. LANSING STOUT, Chairman. Mr. Speaker: The Committee on Vice and Immorality, to whom was referred Assembly bill No. 192, an Act to Prohibit Raffles, and other Gambling Modes of Disposing of Property, beg leave to report the same back, and recommend its passage, with the amendments, herewith reported. Respectfully submitted, V. G. BELL, Chairman, pro tem. Mr. Hawes, from San Francisco Delegation, reported back Assembly bill No. 252, and recommended its passage, without amendment. Mr. Oxley, from a portion of the Select Committee appointed to ascertain the facts in regard to the publication of the proposed amendments to the Constitution of the State of California in the Spanish language, made the following report: Mr. Speaker: The undersigned, a portion of the Select Committee, to whom was referred Assembly resolution in regard to the publication, in Spanish, of the several amendments to the Constitution of the State of California, proposed by the last Legislature of this State, and now pending their second action by the present session of the Legislature, would most respectfully report: That they have had the matter under careful consideration; have addressed the Secretary of State, Controller of State, and, also, Ex-Governor Bigler, in regard to the matter, but have been unable to obtain any information from either of those officials: which would go to show that the said proposed amendments to the Constitution were published in Spanish, previous to the last general election. We find that they were published extensively in most of the papers throughout this State, in the English language, and also that they were published in one German paper, which has an extensive circulation, and also in the French paper, known as "El Echo del Pacifique," which is published in an Francisco. The only evidence of the publication in Spanish of the said proposed amendments to the Constitution which your committee have been able to obtain, is found in the Statutes of 1855, which were published in Spanish, according to law, but were not distributed until about the time of the commencement of the present session of the Legislature; having been, from some cause best known to the State Printer, delayed an unusual, and your committee believe an unwarrantable length of time, as by reference to section 7th of an Act entitled an Act to create the office of State Printer, and define the duties and compensation thereof, and to provide for the time and manner of election, passed May 1st, 1854, it will be seen, that the Laws and Journals are required to be ready for distribution within seventy days from the time the Legislature adjourns. Section 1st, Article 10th, of the Constitution, requires that when amendments are proposed to the Constitution by one Legislature, they shall be published for three months next preceding the next election for members of the Legislature, &c., and Section 21st, Article 11th, requires that all Laws, Decrees, Regulations and Provisions, which, from their nature, require publication, shall be published in English and Spanish. Your Committee regret that the plain provisions of the Constitution, so far as relates to the publication of the proposed amendments to the Constitution in the Spanish language, have been neglected or disregarded. Yet we are clearly of the opinion that such neglect or disregard of the requirements of the Constitution by a public officer, should not deprive the people of their right to vote on a subject of such vital importance as the one in question. They are now groaning under the weight of a tax for the support of the goverment of this State, which is almost, if not quite, without a parallel in the history of any State in the Union. They have called loudly for measures of retrenchment and reform, and have but too often been answered with ruinous and unheard of appropriations, and a general waste of their money by those who should have exercised a fostering care over a sacred trust, but instead thereof have, like the vulture, covered and devoured their prey. They demanded, two years ago, biennial sessions of the Legislature, hoping in that way, not only to save from $300,000 to $500,000 per annum, as expenses incident upon every session of the Legislature; but an equal amount in the gigantic schemes which have been concocted at almost every session of the Legislature in this State. This cherished object of their wishes they now have, as it were, in their very clutches, and it would appear hard indeed were it to be snatched from them, and two, three and perhaps five years elapse before they can obtain that which they confidently and anxiously hoped would be accomplished by the members of the present Legislature; and that, too, as a result of negligence or oversight in one whom they had elevated to a high and reponsible position, and whose duty it was to guard with an unremitting vigilance, their rights, and to comply, as far as was in his power, with their wishes as expressed by their representatives. Your committee, notwithstanding the fact, that the "Proposed Amendments to the Constitution" were not published in the Spanish language prior to the last general election, cannot see the impropriety of legislative sanction to them, under all the circumstances; neither do we propose to expound the Constitution, or argue the constitutionality of such legislative sauction, any further, than to most respectfully submit for your consideration, the facts in the case, and our humble views of what we conceive to be the spirit and intent of the Constitution. Under the circumstances, and in relation to the matter now before your committee, after we have done our duty to the best of cur ability, then an appeal can be had to a higher tribunal, whose peculiar prerogative is to settle differences of opinion on such points, and one where more calm deliberation can be had upon such subjects, than in a legislative hall. If any action we might take in the premises, in again passing the "Proposed Amendments to the Constitu tion," should be unconstitutional, on account of a dereliction of duty, or an oversight on the part of a public officer, then such infractions of the fundamental law would soon become an every day occurrence, whenever it might suit the caprices or whims of public officers hereafter, in like manner, to outrage the sov ereign will and dignity of a confiding and tax-ridden constituency. As above stated, your committee find, on examination in the proper office, that the proposed amendments in question have been very extensively published in all parts of the State, in English, and also in French and German papers having a very large circulation, for which the State is expected to pay the handsome sum of between $25,000 and $30,000, and all this is to be a dead loss to the State, through the inattention of one individual to the letter of the Constitution, and the people's will again disregarded, and that by a technical quibble, unless the Legislature resolve to make the blame rest, where it properly belongs, and not upon the people, who are in no way the culpable parties in the matter. Sacramento, March 19, 1856. THOMAS J. OXLEY, J. W. HUNTER, Mr. Brent, from a portion of same committee, made the following report: Mr. Speaker: The undersigned, members of your Select Committee, to which was referred the question of investigating the fact, whether the proposed constitutional amendments were published in English and Spanish, together with instructious to report their opinion upon the necessity of publication in Spanish, having had the said matters under consideration, beg leave to submit the following report: Article X of our State Constitution prescribes the mode of its being amended. The first two steps required by this Article, are the consent of a majority of the members elected to each of the two Houses, and then the publication of the proposed amendments "for three months next preceding the elections of the members of the Legislature." The undersigned are of opinion that the publication for the three months designated, is as necessary a pre-requisite, as the obtaining the consent of a majority of the members of the Senate and Assembly; hence they believe, that if the publication has not been made as provided for by the Constitution itself, the proper method for amending the Constitution has not been pursued. Section 21 of Article XI prescribes, that when it is necessary to make publication of "laws, decrees, regulations, and provisions," the said publication shall be made in English and Spanish, and hence the undersigned believe that it is as necessary to publish in Spanish as in English. The Committee have correspond. ed with the Secretary of State and Controller, concerning the publication of the constitutional amendments in Spanish, and here with submit the answers received by them. The undersigned submit, as the result of their investigation, that the proposed constitutional amendmen's were not published in Spanish and English for three months next preceding the last election; that said publication was absolutely necessary, and was a condition precedent to our ability to agree to the proposed constitutional amendments. J. LANCASTER BRENT, Of Committee. OFFICE OF SECRETARY OF STATE, } SIR: Your communication of this day's date, relative to the publication of the amendments to the Constitution, has been received. In reply, I have to state, that the amendments proposed to the Constitution were not ordered to be published in Spanish, so far as the records of this office show. If they were so published, it was done by the secret order of the Governor, without the fact being made known to this office. I am under the impression, however, that they were copied and printed in that language by the Spanish papers of this State. Yours of yesterday is received. You desire to know, on what my impression that the proposed amendments to the Constitution were published in Spanish, is founded. The impression was probably derived from the fact, that they were translated by the State Translator, and published in the Volume of Spanish Laws of the last session; and from the further fact, that it has been customary when important matters of that kind have been published by authority, for them to be copied into the French and Spanish papers. I do not now recollect to have seen them published in any Spanish papers, but they are published in the Volume of Spanish Laws. You desire to know at what time the Spanish Laws were delivered to the State; they were delivered in the month of January last. Hoping that this will be satisfactory, P. S. The records of this office do not show that these amendments were printed in Spanish, because we do not keep a record of the simple direction of the Governor, as to what papers any particular advertisement is to be published in. Information of this kind will be better furnished by the late Governor. OFFICE OF CONTROLLER OF STATE, SIR In answer to your communication requesting information regarding the publi cation in Spanish of the proposed amendments to the Constitution, I would state, that there are no accounts on file in my office from any Spanish newspaper, for the publication of the above. The only journal claiming compensation, other than American, is the German and French paper, known as "Echo de Pacifique." Your note of March 16, 1856, reached me last evening. following inquiries-to wit: In it you make the |