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covered his error, he did not know that he had only to go back to the forks of the road, and take the right track? What were the rules? They were made by ourselves, and might be changed? We are all here, and all subject to change our opinions. If the rules do not work well, we can alter them. We may as well decide this thing at once. He did not like to take the error on himself.

Mr. PORTER, of Northampton, said he had a broad back, and was ready to bear all which could be laid on it. He did not know if he was the first to commit the error. He was sure he should not be the last, nor (said Mr. P.) will you. In matters of order, Governor SNYDER said, take common sense as your guide, and you may be sure you will decide right. When an amendment was moved to the report of the committee, I decided that the amendment could be amended, and that we could go no further till that question was disposed of. The report of the committee is received as a bill is received from the committee. As gentlemen moved to amend, another moved to amend the amendment, and then a motion was made by the gentleman from Montgomery further to amend. The Chair decided the last motion to be out of order, and the gentleman appealed from the decision. But an explanation; he said, he did not know there was an amendment pending to the amendment, and withdrew the appeal? If there was any thing wrong in this, he did not know it. He saw no difficulty in the course to be pursued. He believed the Chair was right in his decision. SOLOMON said, there is a time for all things. The appeal should have been taken before there was any action or decision in the question. The opportunity for appeal had now gone by.

Mr. DUNLOP explained.

The CHAIR (being filled by Mr. CHAMBERS,) said it was important, in all deliberative bodies, that there should be rules for facilitating and despatching business, and it would be a relief to him as Chairman, if there was a rule upon him on this occasion, equal to every difficulty; yet, from the question of order which has been, and which may be hereafter raised, he has no reason to believe that such a rule can be furnished by the committee. The question now presented, is, whether the decision of the Chair was not in order in rejecting the motion of the gentleman from Franklin, (Mr. DUNLOP) with respect to the amendment of the gentleman from Adams, (Mr. STEVENS.) The opinion of the CHAIR was, that it was not then in order to raise the question, for the reason, that the amendment of the gentleman from Adams had been submited to the committee some time before, and had been the subject of debate for some considerable time, without any question of order being raised in relation to it at the time it was presented. There is no rule with respect to the time at which an appeal shall be taken, yet the Chairman did suppose there must be some limit as to time, and it was his opinion that the appeal should have been taken immediately before the committee proceeded to the consideration of the subject; and if it was not done then it must be considered as acquiesced in, not only by the gentleman himself, but by the whole committee. This reason for the decision seemed to impress itself on the mind of the Chairman with some force and propriety, for without it the time of the House might be occupied for a considerable time in the discussion of a subject which would immediately be decided by the House, if the decision of the Chair was not sustained; and when that decision should be

reversed the House would immediately proceed to other business. It is, therefore, necessary that there should be some limit, and it is always for the committee to impose this limit. It was now for the committee to decide, whether or not this question of order was raised in time. With respect to the other question which had been raised, in deciding it he decided it as he conceived in conformity with what has been the parliamentary usages, and what has been the practice in the Legislature of l'ennsylvania, and what has been the repeated decision of the Chair in this Convention, sustained from time to time by the body. In order to prevent perplexity and confusion in doing business, there is a limit upon the number of amendments to be submited, and this limit, according to parliamentary usage, has been not to allow more than an amendment to an amendment to be submited, thus preventing the body from having its time and attention occupied upon a number of different propositions at the same time. This was the rule of all parliamentary bodies, is the rule of the Legislature of the State, is the rule of this Convention, and has been acted upon in this committee. If the Chairman in this decision is in error, he is in error in common with the Chairman who preceded him, and the committee itself was not exempt from error in having encouraged it in their different Chairmen. The Chairman, in this matter, has no pride of opinion to support, because he was only carrying out the opinion of other Chairmen, and of the committee itself. The question then will be, will the commitiee sustain the appeal from the decision of the Chair.

The question being then taken, the appeal was not sustained, and the decision of the Chairman was affirmed.

Mr. STEVENS said, believing that it would be right enough to leave the clerks of the Mayor's Court in the hands of the people, he would modify his amendment by striking out the words "or Mayors", and insert after the word "county" the words "or the districts over which the jurisdiction of said courts extends", so as to make the proposition read as follows:

"Prothonotaries and clerks of the several courts, (except the clerks of the Supreme courts, who shall be appointed by the respective courts for the term of three years,) Recorders of Deeds and Registers of Wills shall at the time and places of election of Representatives, be elected by the citizens of each county, or the districts over which the jurisdiction of said courts extends, and shall be commissioned by the Governor. They shall hold their offices for three years, if they shall so long behave themselves well, and until their successors shall be duly qualified. The Legislature shall provide by law for the number of persons in each county who shall hold said offices, and how many, and which, of said offices, shall be held by one person. Vacancies in any of the said offices shall be filled by an appointment, to be made by the Governor, to continue until the next general election, and until a successor shall be elected, and qualified, as aforesaid".

The committee then rose, reported progress, and obtained leave to sit again to-morrow, and

The Convention adjourned,

THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 1837.

The PRESIDENT laid before the Convention a communication from the Secretary of the Commonwealth, accompanied with a statement of the whole number of institutions for banking and other purposes, incorporated by the Legislature of Pennsylvania, since 1776, as follows, viz:

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SIR-In compliance with a resolution of the Convention, I have the honor to transmit a detailed statement of the whole number of institutions for banking and other purposes, incorporated by the Legislature of the State, since 1776; together with the date of incorporation, the amount of capital authorized to be employed, the quantity of land owned, the amount of annual income, and the place of transacting the business of each company respectively, so far as could be ascertained.

A more strict compliance with the term of the resolution, would be a matter of great difficulty, if at all practicable. This department is not in possession of information showing the amount of capital actually employed, or of the number of companies that have forfeited their charters by misuse or disuse. Neither has it been deemed necessary to attempt its collection, as it was understood that a continuation, down to the present time, of the report of the subject made by the Secretary of the Commonwealth to the Legislature in 1828, was all that was required. That document therefore forms a part of this report, and with the continuation of like statements to the close of the last session of the Legislature, will presenta full view of the whole matter of legislative incorporation.

It was not supposed to be the desire of the Convention to be furnished with a similar list of all the literary, charitable and religous societies, chartered under the act of 1791. The resolution requires "the dates of the several acts of incorporation" of the companies to which it relates.— These words seem to limit it to corporations created by special acts of the Legislature. Charters obtained under general law are therefore omited. They will, however, be furnished if desired, as speedily as the other duties of the department will admit.

Annexed will be found a re-capitulatory statement of the whole number of each kind of legislative corporations, with the aggregate of capital, land and income, of each class. Also an abstract from the returns of all the banks of the State in operation in November, 1836, and laid before the Legislature at its late session, by the Auditor General. This document, it is believed, contains in a condensed form, all the information possessed by any of the departments on the subject.

I am, sir, very respectfully,

Your obedient servant,

THO. H. BURROWES, Secretary of the Commonwealth.

Hon, JOHN SERGEANT,

President of Convention.

List of all the Acts of Incorporation passed by the Legislature since 1776, showing the amount of capital, quantity of land, or extent of income which the corporations are respectively authorized to hold, &c.

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Act confirming and amending the charter of the German Lutheran congregation, in and near the city of Philadelphia,

Act re-establishing the charter of the second Presbyterian church in the city of Philadelphia.

Act incorporating the society formed for the relief of poor, aged and infirm masters of ships, their widows and children,

Act incorporating the American Philosophieal society, held at Philadelphia, for promoing useful knowledge,

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LIST-CONTINUED.

Act to incorporate the Episcopal congre-
gation, belonging to St. Peter's church, in
the Great Valley, in the township of Tredif-
fin, and county of Chester,
Act for incorporating the German Re-br
formed congregation in the borough of Read-
ing, in the county of Berks,
Act to incorporate the Presbyterian con-

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