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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1829.

The Convention met at two o'clock, agreeably to adjournment, and was opened with prayer by the Rev. Mr. Kerr, of the Baptist Church.

Mr. Anderson presented a memorial from the non-freeholders of Shenandoah, praying the extension of the right of suffrage; which, on Mr. Anderson's motion, was referred to the Legislative Committee.

Mr. M'Coy rose to observe, that having no disposition to sit there, or see others sit there, without having something to do, he moved that the Convention rise; which was agreed to without opposition.

And then the Convention adjourned until to-morrow, two o'clock.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1829.

The Convention assembled at two o'clock, and was opened with prayer by the Rev. Mr. Taylor, of the Baptist Church:

And (having no business before them) on Mr. Naylor's motion, the Convention adjourned till to-morrow, two o'clock.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1829.

The Rev. Mr. Kerr offered up a prayer; after which, the Convention was called to order.

No business being yet ready to be laid before the Convention, Mr. Doddridge moved that the Convention adjourn; he stated that some additional documents had been prepared by the Auditor of Public Accounts, which would be placed in the hands of the public printer under a previous resolution of that body.

The motion to adjourn prevailed without opposition; and the Convention accordingly adjourned till Monday, two o'clock.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1829.

The Convention met at two o'clock, and its sitting was opened with prayer by the Rev. Mr. Armstrong, of the Presbyterian Church.

Mr. Fitzhugh, from the Committee on Compensations, made the following farther report, in part:

The Committee appointed to enquire into the compensation proper to be allowed the officers of the Convention, have agreed to the following resolution:

Resolved. That the sum of sixteen dollars be allowed the Sergeant at Arms for notifying William K. Perrin of his election to the Convention.

The report was adopted.

Mr. Taylor of Chesterfield, from the Committee on the Bill of Rights, &c. made the following report:

The Committee to whom was referred the Bill or Declaration of Rights, and all such parts of the present Constitution as are not referred to the Committees on the Legislative, Executive and Judicial Departments of the Government, have had the subjects to them referred, under their consideration, and have in part performance of the duties devolved on them, agreed upon the following resolution:

"Resolved, That in the opinion of this Committee the Bill or Declaration of Rights, &c. requires no amendment."

The report was laid upon the table.

Mr. Harrison of Rockingham, presented a memorial from the non-freeholders of that county of a similar general import to those heretofore presented; and which was, on his motion, referred without reading to the Legislative Committee.

No farther business being before the Convention, on motion of Mr. Mercer, the House adjourned.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1829.

The Convention met at two o'clock, when its sitting was opened with prayer by the Rev. Mr. Hamner, of the Presbyterian Church.

Mr. Marshall, from the Committee on the Judiciary Department of Government, made the following report from the Committee:

1. Resolved, That the Judicial power shall be vested in a Court of Appeals, in such Inferior Courts, as the Legislature shall from time to time ordain and establish, and in the County Courts. The jurisdiction of these tribunals shall be regulated by law. The Judges of the Court of Appeals and of the Inferior Courts, shall hold their offces during good behaviour, or until removed in the manner prescribed in this Constitution; and shall, at the same time, hold no other office, appointment, or public trust: and the acceptance thereof, by either of them, shall vacate his judicial office. No modification or abolition of any Court, shall be construed to deprive any Judge thereof of his office; but such Judge shall perform any judicial duties which the Legislature shall assign him.

2. Resolved, That the present Judges of the Court of Appeals, Judges of the General Court, and Chancellors remain in office until the expiration of the first session of the Legislature, held under the new Constitution, and no longer. But the Legisla ture may cause to be paid to such of them, as shall not be re-appointed, such sum as, from their age, infirmities, and past services, shall be deemed reasonable.

3. Resolved, That Judges of the Court of Appeals and Inferior Courts, except Justices of the County Courts, and the Aldermen or other Magistrates of Corporation Courts, shall be elected by the concurrent vote of both Houses of the General Assembly, each House voting separately, and having a negative on the other; and the members thereof voting rira roce. The votes of the members shall be entered on the Journals of their respective Houses. Should the two Houses, in any case, fail to concur in the election of a Judge, during the session, the Governor shall decide the election, by appointing one of the two persons who first received a majority of votes in the Houses in which they were respectively voted for. But if any vacancy shall occur during the recess of the General Assembly, the Governor, or other person performing the duty of Governor, may appoint a person to fill such vacancy, who shall continue in office until the end of the next succeeding session of the General Assembly.

4. Resolved, That the Judges of the Court of Appeals, and of the Inferior Courts, shall receive fixed and adequate salaries, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.

5. Resolved, That on the creation of any new county, Justices of the Peace shall be appointed, in the first instance, as may be prescribed by law. When vacancies shall occur in any county, or it shall, for any cause be deemed necessary to increase their number, appointments shall be made by the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, on the recommendation of their respective County Courts. 6. Resolved, That the Clerks of the several Courts shall be appointed by their respective Courts, and their tenure of office be prescribed by law.

7. Resolved, That the Judges of the Court of Appeals and of the Inferior Courts, offending against the State, either by mal-administration, corruption, or neglect of duty, or by any other high crime or misdemeanor, shall be impeachable by the House of Delegates, such impeachment to be prosecuted before the Senate. If found guilty by a majority of two-thirds of the whole Senate, such persons shall be removed from office. And any Judge so impeached shall be suspended from exercising the functions of his office until his acquittal, or until the impeachment shall be discontinued or withdrawn.

8. Resolved, That Judges may be removed from office by a vote of the General Assembly but two-thirds of the whole number of each House must concur in such vote, and the cause of removal shall be entered on the Journals of each. The Judge against whom the Legislature is about to proceed shall receive notice thereof, accompanied with a copy of the causes alleged for his removal, at least twenty days before the day on which either House of the General Assembly shall act thereupon. The report having been read, on motion of Mr. Marshall, it was laid upon the table.

Mr. Giles, from the Committee on the Executive Department of Government, made the following report, which was read, and on his motion, laid upon the table. The Committee appointed on the Executive branch of the Constitution, have, according to order, had under consideration the subjects referred to them, and have come to the following resolutions thereupon:

1. Resolved, That the chief Executive Office of this Commonwealth, ought to be vested in a Governor.

2. Resolved, That there ought to be appointed a Lieutenant-Governor of this Commonwealth.

3. Resolved, That the Executive Council, as at present organized, ought to be abol ished, and that it is inexpedient to provide any other Executive Council.

4. Resolved, That in case of the removal of the Governor from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the duties and powers of his office, the said powers and duties shall devolve on the Lieutenant-Governor; and the Legislature may provide for the case of removal, death, or similar inability of the Lieutenant-Governor. 5. Resolved, That the sheriffs in the different counties in the Commonwealth, shall, hereafter, be elected by the voters qualified to vote for the most numerous branch of the Legislature.

6. Resolved, That the commissioned officers of militia companies be nominated to the Executive by a majority of their respective companies.

7. Resolved, That the field officers of regiments be nominated to the Executive by a majority of the commissioned officers of their respective regiments.

8. Resolved, That no pardon shall be granted in any case, until after conviction or judgment.

Both reports were subsequently ordered to be printed.

Mr. Giles farther stated, that he was instructed by the Committee, to ask that they be discharged from the farther consideration of the subjects referred to them, and he made that motion accordingly, which was agreed to, and the Committee was thereupon discharged.

Mr. Powell of Frederick, said, that having belonged to the Committee which had last reported, and having in that Committee been in a large minority of its members, who were in favour of a very different organization of the Executive Department of Government, from that which the Committee had adopted, and just reported to the House, he asked permission to read, and to lay upon the table, certain resolutions which he held in his hand. Leave having been granted, Mr. Powell then offered the following, which were read, laid upon the table, and ordered to be printed, viz: Resolved, That the Executive Department of the existing form of Government ought to be amended as follows:

SEC. 1. The Executive power shall be vested in a Governor. He shall hold his of fice for years, and be ineligible for the term of years thereafter. And a Lieutenant-Governor shall be chosen at the same time, for the same term, and under the same restrictions.

SEC. 2. The Lieutenant-Governor shall act as President of the Senate, but he shall have no right to vote except the Senate be equally divided upon any question; in which case he shall have the casting vote.

SEC. 3. No person shall be eligible to the office of Governor or Lieutenant-Governor, except a citizen of the Commonwealth, nor any who shall not have attained the age of years, and who shall not have resided years next preceding his

election, in the State.

SEC. 4. The Governor and Lieutenant-Governor shall be elected at the times and places of choosing members of the most numerous branch of the Legislature, by the voters qualified to vote for members of the General Assembly; provided that the election shall take place throughout the Commonwealth on the same day. The persons respectively having the highest number of votes for Governor and LieutenantGovernor, shall be elected. In case two or more persons shall have an equal number of votes for Governor or for Lieutenant-Governor, the Legislature shall immediately by joint ballot of both Houses, choose of the persons having an equal number of votes for Governor or Lieutenant-Governor, the Governor or Lieutenant-Governor, as the case may be.

SEC. 5. The Governor shall be commander-in-chief of the militia. He shall have power to convene the Legislature on extraordinary occasions. He shall, from time to time, give information to the Legislature of the condition of the Commonwealth, and recommend to their consideration, such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient. He shall expedite all such measures as may be resolved upon by the Legislature, and shall take care that the laws are faithfully executed.

SEC. 6. The Governor and Lieutenant-Governor, shall, at stated times, receive for their services, a compensation which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the term for which they shall have been elected.

SEC. 7. The Governor shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons after conviction, for all offences, except treasons and in cases of impeachment. Upon conviction for treason, he shall have power to suspend the execution of the sentence, until the case shall be reported to the Legislature at its next session, when the Legislature may pardon, or direct the execution of the criminal, or grant a farther reprieve.

SEC. 8. In case of the removal of the Governor from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the duties of his office, his powers and duties shall devolve on the Lieutenant-Governor; and in case of the removal, death, or resigna

tion, or like inability of the Lieutenant-Governor, the Legislature may provide by law upon whom the duties of Governor shall devolve, until such disabilities shall be removed, or a Governor shall be elected.

SEC. 9. The Governor shall have power to nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint Judges of the Supreme Court, or Court of Final Jurisdiction, and Judges of such Inferior Courts as my from time to time be established by law; all militia officers from the rank of Colonel inclusive; the Treasurer, Auditor of Public Accounts, Register of the Land-Office, and Attorney-General. The Legislature may by law vest the appointment of all other officers of the Commonwealth, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, in the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, or in the Courts of Law.

SEC. 10. The Governor shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions, which shall expire at the end of the next session of that body.

SEC. 11. The Governor shall have power to require in writing, the opinions of the Lieutenant-Governor, and of the Attorney-General, upon all matters appertaining to the duties of his office.

SEC. 12. No person, whose tenure of office depends on the pleasure of the Governor, shall be removed from office without the advice and consent of the Senate to such removal. But the Governor shall have power, at any time, to suspend such officer, and appoint another to discharge the duties of his office, until the next session of the Senate, and until their advice and consent to such removal shall be ascertained and expressed.

Mr. Gordon of Albemarle, presented a petition from citizens of that county, on the subject of freedom of religion.

The petition was received, and without reading, referred to the Committee on the Legislative Department.

Mr. Morgan said he was a member of the Committee which had been so unfortunate as not to agree upon all the propositions, properly referred to them, under the Executive Department of the Government, and like the gentleman from Frederick (Mr. Powell) he would ask leave to submit for the consideration of the Convention, several resolutions on the subject of that Department, which he wished read and laid on the table.

Permission having been granted, Mr. Morgan thereupon offered the following, which were read, laid upon the table, and ordered to be printed:

The Executive power shall be vested in a Governor and Lieutenant-Governor, to assist in the administration of the affairs of Government, when required by the Governor; and who shall act as Governor in case of the death, resignation, or removal of the Governor from office, until another be appointed; and in case of impeachment, temporary incapacity of any kind, or absence of the Governor from the seat of Government, until his restoration or return. And if at any time there should be no acting Governor, and the Lieutenant-Governor shall be impeached, or from any other cause not acting, the Executive authority shall devolve on, and be exercised by, some person appointed by law for that purpose.

The Governor and Lieutenant-Governor shall be annually appointed by joint ballot of the Senate and House of Delegates, and their terms of office shall end on the last day of December of every year; but no person shall be eligible to the office of Governor for more than three years at any one time, nor again, until after he shall have been out of that office four years; and in like manner after the end of every three years of service.

The Governor shall exercise the Executive power of the Government, according to the laws of the Commonwealth, and see that they shall be faithfully executed. He may, at his own discretion, and shall, on application of a majority of the Senate or House of Delegates, convene the General Assembly: And he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons, except where the prosecution shall have been carried on by the House of Delegates, or the law shall otherwise particularly direct; in which cases, the House of Delegates shall alone have and exercise the power of granting them; but no pardon shall be granted in any case, until after judgment or conviction.

And then the Convention adjourned, till to-morrow, two o'clock.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1829.

The Convention met at two o'clock, and its sitting was opened with prayer by the Rev. Mr. Armstrong.

Mr. Marshall, from the Committee on the Judicial Department of Government, then rose and said, that although it was not probable the Convention would take up any one of the reports of the Select Committees which had been appointed, until the reports of all those Committees should have been received, yet, with a view to put the reports which had been rendered in a way to be acted upon by the Convention, if such should be its pleasure, he moved that the report made by the Committee on the Judicial Department, be referred to a Committee of the Whole Convention, and be made the Order of the Day for to-morrow.

Mr. Upshur of Accomack, said, that he had understood a wish to be entertained by some members of the House, that a smaller Committee than a Committee of the Whole, should be raised for the purpose of receiving and digesting the reports of the Select Committees, and laying the whole before the Convention to receive its action thereon. Should such a course be adopted after the report of the Judicial Committee had gone to a Committee of the Whole, it would have again to be withdrawn from their hands and put with the rest under the care of the Sub-Committee. He would, therefore, very respectfully suggest to the member from Richmond, whether it would not be expedient to withdraw for the present the motion which he had made. Mr. U. said that he was the rather induced to this course, by observing that the Chairman of the Committee on the Executive (Mr. Giles) was not in his place, and he knew that it was not the wish of that Committee, that their resolution should take the course now proposed.

Mr. Marshall said, that he was by no means solicitous that the motion he had made should be adopted: his only object had been to put business in such a train, that it might be taken up and acted upon whenever the House should wish to consider it. The reference of the report to a Committee of the Whole, implied no sort of necessity that the report should be immediately acted upon. As to the suggestion of the gentleman from Accomack, (Mr. Upshur) if the House should agree to refer all the reports to a Select Committee before the Committee of the Whole should have perfected its action on the particular report which was the subject of his motion; all that would have to be done, would be to discharge the Committee of the Whole from the further consideration of it: the motion he had made, would not be at all in the way of such a course. It seemed to him very possible, and extremely probable, that the House would not refer the respective reports to a Select Committee, until they should have received some report from the Committee of the Whole: nevertheless, he was entirely willing to withdraw his motion, if the gentleman insisted upon it.

Mr. Doddridge of Brooke, observed that if the suggestion of the gentleman from Accomack, (Mr. Upshur) had been occasioned by any thing that had fallen from him, (Mr. D.) the gentleman had certainly misunderstood him. The course he had desired to see pursued, was that each report should be referred to a separate Committee of this House, and after all the reports should then have been considered and fully discussed in Committee of the Whole, they be finally referred to one general Committee, which might properly be called a Copying Committee, who should transcribe and report the whole to the Convention.

Mr. Upshur, after a few words of explanation, withdrew the suggestion he had made, and the question having been taken on the motion of Mr. Marshall, it was decided in the affirmative, and the report of the Judicial Committee was accordingly referred to a Committee of the Whole Convention, and made the Order of the Day for to-mor

row.

Mr. Leigh of Chesterfield, now moved the following resolution:

Resolved, That it be a standing order of the Convention, that the Convention shall every day resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole Convention, to consider the existing Constitution of the Commonwealth, and such propositions for amendment or alteration thereof, as shall be referred to or made in the said Committee.

Mr. Doddridge moved to lay the resolution upon the table, suggesting, as a reason, that its adoption would involve the Convention in difficulty. One of the rules they had adopted for the'r proceeding, required that the Order of the Day should be called at twelve o'clock. If the resolution of the gentleman from Chesterfield should take effect, the Convention would have to meet to-morrow at twelve o'clock, and take up the report of the Judiciary Committee at once: but he did not suppose it to be the wish of any gentleman to take up that, or any other of the reports, until the Legislative Committee should have reported. The course proposed would cut short the sittings of that Committee, which he was happy to say had now drawn so far toward a close, that some glimpses of the morning light could be perceived, and a hope was

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