“You will perceive that the act of Assembly required the Board to make sale of the Disinal Swamp Canal without prescribing any conditions. The Board inade the sale, as far as I am advised, in accordance with the act of the General Assembly. I know of no conditions prescribed that were not complied with. The money derived from said sale was paid into the public treasury, and immediately applied to the payment of the public debt, as prescribed by the Constitution.

The State's interest in the canal was sold at public auction, after having been advertised for thirty days. The advertisement required the purchaser to give bond and security to keep the canal in order. Before the sale, it was représented to the Board that the condition requiring the purchaser to give the bond and security would prevent bidders. Other persons were desirous that it should be sold under the condition. The Board maturely considered the question; they were selling, perhaps, less than a third of the stock in the canal. The bond was not authorized by the Legislature. The canal was in debt some one hundred and fifty or two hundred thousand dollars. The engineer had reported that it would take from three hundred thousand to four hundred thousand dollars to put the canal in good condition. This Legislature had not required the bond. The Board considered that no prudent man, owning less than a majority of the stock, would give such a bond; and it is very doubtful whether such a bond could be enforced if it had been given. On examination of the law of the State, it will be found that where any work of internal improvement is abandonel, the improvement reverts to the State.

"I am, yours truly,

"F. H. PEIRPOINT.”

The committee would continue their report by saying they are in doubt as to the legality of the sale, a boud having been demanded in the advertisement of the Board of Public Works not required by the law authorizing the sale.

F. A. WINSTON, Chairman,
LUTHER LEE, JR.,
SAMUEL F. KELSO,
J. W. BROADUS,
M. F. ROBERTSON.

January 18, 1868.

REPORT

OF THE

STANDING COMMITTEE

ON THE

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT.

To the President of the Virginia State Constitutional Convention :

Your Standing Committee on the Executive Department of Government beg leave respectfully to present the following report, and recommend the adoption, by the Convention, of the several provisions therein contained, as a part of the constitution of this State. The committee would further respectfully report, that they have had under consideration the following resolution, to them referred, viz:

"Resolved, That the Executive Committee inquire into the expediency of incorporating into the constitution the following provision, to-wit: In the Executive Department of the State there shall be a bureau of agriculture, onc of statistics, one of manufactures and arts, one of trade and commerce, and one of civil engineering and surveys, the duties and operations of which shall be organized and regulated by law,"

and the following, viz :

"Whereas, it is reported by persons experienced in mineralogy that our State abounds in rich minerals of various kinds: therefore..

Resolved, That the Convention require to be appointed a State Geologist, whose duties shall be to discover and develope, as far as he can, the mineral wealth of the State,"

and have given the subject matter of both careful attention. The committee have thought proper to embody in their recommendations, in some form, the provisions to which the resolutions refer.

Respectfully submitted,

GASTON G. CURTISS, Chairman,
GEORGE TEAMOH,

WM. H. LYDICK,

FRED. H. POOR,

THOMAS BAYNE.

January 20th, 1868.

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT.

GOVERNOR.

1. The chief executive power of this Commonwealth shall be vested in a Governor. He shall hold the office for the term of four years, to commence on the first day of January next succeeding his election, and be ineligible to the same office for the term next succeeding that for which he was elected, and to any other office during his term of service.

2. The Governor shall be elected by the voters, at the times and places of choosing members of the General Assembly. Returns of elections shall be transmitted, under seal, by the proper officers, to the Secretary of the Commonwealth, who shall deliver them to the Speaker of the House of Delegates, on the first day of the next session of the General Assembly. The Speaker of the House of Delegates shall, within one week thereafter, in presence of a majority of the Senate and House of Delegates, open the said returns, and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the highest number of votes shall be declared elected; but if two or more shall have the highest and an equal number of votes, one of them shall be chosen Governor by the joint vote of the two Houses of the General Assembly. Contested elections for Governor shall be decided by a like vote, and the mode of proceeding in such cases shall be prescribed by law.

3. No person shall be eligible to the office of Governor unless he has attained the age of thirty years, has been a citizen of the United States twenty years, and has been a citizen of Virginia for two years next preceding his election.

4. The Governor shall reside at the seat of government; shall receive five thousand dollars for each year of his services, and while in office, shall receive no other emolument from this or any other government.

5. He shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed; communicate to the General Assembly at every session the condition of the Commonwealth; recommend to their consideration such measures as he may deem expedient ; and convene the General Assembly on application of a majority of the members of both Houses thereof, or when, in his opinion, the interest of the Commonwealth may require it. He shall be Commander-in-chief of the land and naval forces of the State; have power to embody the militia to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, and enforce the execution of the laws; conduct, either in person or in such other manner as shall be prescribed by law, all intercourse with other and foreign states; and, during the recess of the General Assembly, fill, pro tempore, all vacancies in those offices for which the Constitution and laws make no provision; but his appointments to such vacancies shall be by commissions, to expire at the end of thirty days after the commencement of the next session of the General Assembly. He shall have power to remit fines and penalties in such cases and under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by law; and, except when the prosecution has been carried on by the House of Delegates, or the law shall otherwise particularly direct, to grant reprieves and pardons after conviction, and to commute capital punishment; but he shall communicate to the General Assembly, at each session, the particulars of every case of fine or penalty remitted, of reprieve or pardon granted, and of punishment commuted, with his reasons for remitting, granting or commuting the same.

6. He may require information in writing from the officers in the Executive department upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices; and may also require the opinion, in writing, of the Attorney-General upon any question of law connected with his official duties.

7. Commissions and grants shall run in the name of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and be attested by the Governor, with the seal of the Commonwealth annexed.

8. Every bill which shall have passed the Senate and House of Delegates, and every resolution requiring the assent of both branches of the General Assembly, shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the Governor; if he approve he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it, with his objections, to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their Journal and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such consideration, two-thirds of the members present shall agree to pass the bill or joint resolution, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of all the members present it shall become a law, notwithstanding the objections of the Governor. But in all such cases the votes of both Houses shall be determined by ayes and noes, and the names of the members voting for and against the bill or joint resolution shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. It any bill or resolution shall not be returned by the Governor within five days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Legislature shall, by their adjournment, prevent its return; in which case it shall not be a law.

LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR.

9. A Lieutenant-Governor shall be elected at the same time, and for the same term as the Governor, and his qualification and the manner of his election in all respects shall be the same.

10. In case of the removal of the Governor from oflice, or of his death, failure to qualify, resignation, removal from the State, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the office, the said office, with its compensation, shall devolve upon the Lieutenant-Governor; and the General Assembly shall provide by law for the discharge of the executive functions in other necessary cases.

11. The Lieutenant-Governor shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote except in case of an equal division; and while acting as such, shall receive a compensation equal to that allowed to the Speaker of the House of Delegates.

SECRETARY OF THE COMMONWEALTH. TREASURER AND AUDITOR.

12. A Secretary of the Commonwealth, a Treasurer and an Auditor of Public Accounts shall be elected by the Senate, upon the nomination of the Governor, and continue in office for the term of two years, unless sooner removed. The salary of each shall be determined by law.

13. The Secretary shall keep a record of the official acts of the Governor, which shall be signed by the Governor and attested by the Secretary; and when required, he shall lay the same, and any papers, minutes and vouchers pertaining to his office, before either house of the General Assembly; and shall perform such other duties as may be prescribed by law. All fees received by the Secretary shall be paid into the treasury.

14. The powers and duties of the Treasurer and Auditor shall be such as now are, or may be hereafter, prescribed by law.

15. There shall be established in the office of the Secretary of State a bureau of statistics and a bureau of agricultural chemistry and geology, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law.

16. The General Assembly shall have power to establish a bureau of agriculture, a bureau of manufactures and arts, a bureau of trade and commerce, and a bureau of civil engineering and surveys, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law.

BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS.

17. There shall be a Board of Public Works, to consist of the Governor, Auditor and Treasurer of the Commonwealth, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law. The Secretary of the Commonwealth shall discharge the duties of clerk of the Board of Public Works.