by a majority of all the votes polled at such election. The General Assembly shall never loan the credit of the State, or make appropriations from the Treasury thereof, in aid of railroads or canals; provided, that any surplus earnings of any canal may be appropriated for its enlargement or extension.

Louisiana.

The following amendments to the constitution of 1868 were ratified by popular vote November 7, 1870:

Art. 50. Abrogating and striking out article 50 of the constitution, which renders the Governor ineligible for the succeeding four years after the expiration of his term of office. For, 64,447; against, 40,928. Art. 59. No person shall hold any office, or shall be permitted to vote at any election, or to act as a juror, who, in due course of law, shall have been convicted of treason, perjury, forgery, bribery, or other crime punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary, or who shall be under interdiction. For, 103,848; against, 263. Art. —. No person who, at any time, may have been a collector of taxes, whether State, parish, or municipal, or who may have been otherwise intrusted with public money, shall be eligible to the General Assembly or to any office of profit or trust under the State government, until he shall have obtained a discharge for the amount of such collection and for all public moneys with which he may have been intrusted. For, 102,972; against, 748. Art. —. Prior to the 1st day of January, 1890, the debt of the State shall not be so increased as to exceed twenty-five millions of dollars. For, 100,170; against, 3,150.

Michigan. The following proposed amendments to the constitution of the State of Michigan were submitted to popular vote at fall election in 1870: Art. X. To stand as section nine, limiting county supervisors to $2,000 annual expenditures, unless otherwise authorized by majority of the county voters. Lost: 39,180 yeas; 61,904 nays. Art. IV. To stand as sections three and four; section one of article seven, and section one of article seventeen. Sec. 3. The House of Representatives to consist of not less than sixty-four nor more than one hundred members. Representatives to be chosen for two years, and by single districts. The balance of the section relates to equalizing representation, mode and manner of dividing the districts, &c.

Section four provides for a State census every ten years after 1854, and for the rearrangement of the Senate districts at the first session after each such census, and after every United States census, and apportion anew the representatives.

Article VIL Sec. 1. In all elections every male citizen, every male inhabitant residing in the State on the 24th day of June 1835; every male inhabitant residing in the State on the 1st day of January, 1850, who has declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States, pursuant to the laws thereof, six months preceding an election, or who has resided in this State two years and six months, and declared his intention as aforesaid, and every civilized male inhabitant of Indian descent, a native of the United States, and not a member of any tribe, shall be an elector and entitled to vote; but no citizen or inhabitant shall be an elector or entitled to vote at any election unless, he shall be above the age of tweny-one years, and has resided in this State three months, and in the township or ward in which he offers to vote, ten days next preceding such election; provided that in time of war, insurrection or rebellion, no qualified elector in the actual military service of the United States, or of this State, in the army or navy thereof, shall be deprived of his vote by reason ofhis absence from the township, ward, or State in which he resides; and the Legislature shall have the power, and shall provide the manner in which, and the time and place at which such absent electors may vote, and for the canvass and return of their votes to the township or ward election district in which they respectively reside, or otherwise.

Article IX.

Section one provides annual salaries: to the Governor $2,500; and $2,000 each to the judges of the circuit court, State treasurer, auditor general, superintendent of public instruction, secretary of State, commissioner of the land office, and attorney general, prohibiting any increase of same, and abolishing all fees and perquisites for the performance of their duties. [Rejected—yeas, 36,109; nays, 68,912.]

Article XVII.

Sec. 1. The militia shall be composed of all able-bodied male citizens between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, except such as are exempted by the laws of the United States, or of this State; but all such citizens of any religious denomination whatever, who, from scruples of conscience, may be averse to bearing arms, shall be excused therefrom, upon such conditions as shall be prescribed by law.

Which was agreed to—yeas, 54,105; nays, 50,598.

Article XIX—A. Railroads.

Sec. 1. The Legislature may from time to time pass laws establishing reasonable maximum rates of charges for the transportation of passengers and freight on different railroads in this State, and shall prohibit running contracts between such railroad companies whereby discrimination is made in favor of either of such companies as against other companies owning connecting or intersecting lines of railroads.

Sec. 2. No railroad corporation shall con

solidate its stock, property, or franchises with any other railroad corporation owning a parallel or competing line; and in no case shall any consolidation take place except upon public notice given of at least sixty days to all stockholders, in such manner as shall be provided by law.

Sec. 3. The Legislature may provide bylaw for the payment by the counties, townships, and municipalities of this State of all bonds or other obligations heretofore issued or incurred in pursuance of acts of the Legislature, by such counties, townships, and municipalities severally, for and in aid of any railroad company. Such bonds or obligations shall be paid by the county, township, or municipality issuing or incurring the same; and in no event shall the State pay or become liable for any portion of such bonds or^ obligations. The Legislature shall submit to the electors of each of said several counties, townships, and municipalities for their decision the question of payment, together with the mode and manner of the same.

Which was voted on separately.

For section 1, the vote was—yeas, 78,602 j nays, 51,397.

For section 2, the vote was—yeas, 76,912; nays, 51,194.

For section 3, the vote was—yeas, 50,078 j nays, 78,543.

Missouri.

The following amendments to the constitution of Missouri were submitted to popular vote in November, 1870, and adopted: Article VIII.

Sec. 6. Dues from private corporations shall be secured by such means as may be prescribed by law, but in no case shall any stockholder be individually liable in any amount over or above the amount of stock owned by him or her.

Article IX.

Sec. 10. Neither the General Assembly nor any county, city, town, township, school district, or other municipal corporation, shall ever make any appropriation or pay from any public fund whatever anything in aid of any creed, church, or sectarian purpose, or to help support or sustain any school, academy, seminary, college, university, or other institution of learning controlled by any creed, church or sectarian denomination whatever, nor shall any grant or donation of personal property or real estate ever be made by State, county, city, town, or such public corporation for any creed, church, or sectarian purpose whatever. Article II. Section eleven, requiring jurors to take the oath of loyalty prescribed in the sixth section of this article, is hereby stricken out and forever rescinded.

Article —.

Sec. 1. Every male citizen of the United States and every person of foreign birth, who may have declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States, accord

ing to law, not less than one year nor more than five years before he offers to vote, who is over the age of twenty-one years, who has resided in this State one year next preceding his registration as a voter, and during the last sixty days of that period shall have resided in the county, city, or town where he seeks" registration as a voter, who is not convicted of bribery, perjury, or other infamous crime, nor directly or indirectly interested in any bet or wager depending upon the result of the election for which said registration is made, nor serving at the time of such registration in the regular Army or Navy of the United States, shall be entitled to vote at such election, for all officers, State, county, or municipal, made elective by the people, or any other election held in pursuance of the laws of this State, but he shall not vote elsewhere than in the election district where his name is registered, except as provided in the twenty-first section of the second article of the constitution. Any person who shall, after the adoption of this amendment, engage in any rebellion against this State, or the United States, shall forever be disqualified from voting at any election.

Sec. 2. Hereafter it shall not be required of any person, before he is registered as a voter or offers to vote, to take the oath of loyalty prescribed in the sixth section of the second article of the constitution; but every person, before he is registered as a qualified voter, shall take an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and of the State of Missouri.

Sec. 3. Sections five, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen of the second article of the constitution, and all provisions thereof, and all laws of this State not consistent with this amendment, shall, upon its adoption, be forever rescinded and of no effect.

Article —. Sec. 1. No person shall hereafter be disqualified from holding in this State any office of honor, trust, or profit under its authority, or of being an officer, councilman, director, trustee, or other manager of any corporation, public or private, now existing or hereafter established by its authority, or of acting as a professor or a teacher in any educational institution, or in any common or other school, or of holding any real estate or other property in trust for the use of any church, religious society or congregation, on account of race,or color, or previous condition of servitude, noron account of any of the provisions of the third section of the second article of the constitution; nor shall hereafter any such person, before he enters upon the discharge of his said duties, be required to take the oath of loyalty prescribed in the sixth section of said article, but every person who may be elected or appointed to any office shall, before entering upon its duties, take and subscribe an oath or affirmation that he will support the Constitution of the United States and of the State of Missouri, and to the best of his skill and ability diligently and faithfully, without partiality or prejudice, dia

Article V".

Sec. 1 so amended as to empower the "county authorities established and authorized by law," instead of the county "commissioners," to exempt from capitation tax in special cases.

Sec. 4. Strike out this section, as follows:

"The General Assembly shall, by appropriate legislation and by adequate taxation, provide for the prompt and regular payment of the interest on the public debt; and after the year 1880 it shall lay a specific annual tax upon the real and personal property of the State, and the sum thus realized shall be set apart as a sinking fund, to be devoted to the payment of the public debt."

Sec. 6 so amended that the General Assembly may exempt from taxation any personal property not exceeding $300 in value.

Article VII.

Sec. 1. That portion providing for the biennial election in each county of "five commissioners" stricken out, and this added: "The General Assembly shall provide for a system of county government for the several counties of the State."

Sec. 2 substitutes "county authorities, &c, established, &c, by law," for "commissioners," in prescribing certain duties, and strikes out that portion under which the register of deeds is ex officio clerk, &e.

Sec. 3 strikes out this section, relating to the division of each county by the commissioners into districts, and prescribes that the above-named "county authorities" shall make such subdivisions of the county, which are to be known as "precincts" instead of " townships," and have the same boundaries until altered. "They shall have no corporate powers." The township governments are also abolished.

Sections four, five, six, ten, and eleven, relating to this abolished township system, are stricken out, as also are such parts of sections eight and nine as refer to such townships.

Article IX. Section three, which provides that "each county of the State shall be divided into a convenient number of districts, in which one or more public schools shall be maintained at least four months in every year; and if the commissioners of any county shall fail to comply with the aforesaid requirements of this section, they shall be liable to indictment," is stricken out, as also are sections thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen, which relate to the mode of election, powers, duties, organization, privileges, &c, of the Board of Trusteesof the University of North Carolina, and insert as section three that the General Assembly shall have the power to provide for the election of trustees of the university, in whom shall be vested all the privileges, rights, franchises, and endowments heretofore conferred upon the board of trustees of said university; and the General Assembly may make such regulations as may be expedient, for the management of said university.

Article XI. Section ten is amended so that all the deaf mutes, the blind, and the insane of the State shall be cared for by the State, but only such of them as have less property than the homestead and personal property exemption would cover, to be a charge to the State.

Article XIV.

Section seven strikes out that "no person shall hold more than one lucrative office under the State at one time," &c, and provides that no person holding a Federal or a State office (with certain petty exceptions) shall be eligible to a seat in either house of the Legislature.

Add a section (section 8) providing that occupants of abolished or changed offices shall exercise their functions until the necessary legislation is had.

Rhode Island.

The following amendments were submitted to popular vote in 1871, and rejected, a threefifths affirmative vote being required: Article.

Sec. 1. Instead of sections one and two of Article II of the Constitution, the following is adopted, viz:

Every male citizen of the United States, of the age of twenty-one years, who has had his residence and home in this State two years, and in the town or city in which he may offer to vote six months, next preceding the time of voting, who shall give evidence of his ability to read the constitution, and whose name shall be registered in the town where he resides, on or before the last day of December in the year next preceding, and for at least seven days before he shall offer to vote, (except persons enumerated in section four of said Article II of said constitution,) shall have the right to vote in all questions in all legally organized town or ward meetings; provided that no person shall, at any time, be allowed to vote upon any proposition to impose a tax or for the expenditure of money, in any town or city, or upon the election of the city council for the city of Providence, unless he shall have paid a tax, within a year preceding upon his property, within the town or city where he shall offer to vote, valued at least at $134.*

The ayes were 3,236; nays, 6,960.

Article.

Instead of section three, of Article II, of the constitution, the following is adopted, viz:

No registry tax shall hereafter be assessed, nor shall the payment of such tax be required as a qualification of an elector.

The ayes were 3,787; nays 6,100.

Article. No sectarian or denominational school or institution shall receive any aid or support from the revenues of the State, nor shall any tax be

*The effect of this amendmentwouldhavejbeento abolish the real estate qualification as to naturalized citizens.

imposed upon the people or property of the State in aid of any such school or institution. The ayes were 5,177; nays 4,574.

West Virginia.

The constitution was amended in 1871 by the adoption of what is commonly known as the "Flick amendment," the effect of which was to enfranchise those citizens of the State who had been disfranchised by reason of their participation in the rebellion, and also by striking out the word "white," enfranchised colored citizens otherwise qualified.

A new constitution has been prepared by a convention elected for the purpose, and is to be voted on on the fourth Thursday in August, 1872. Its leading provisions are:Article IV.

Section one entitles "the male citizensof the State" to vote.

Section four declares that "no person, except citizens entitled to vote, shall be elected or appointed to any State, county, or municipal office."

Article VI.

Sec. 42. Bills making appropriations for the pay of members and officers of the Legislature, and for salaries for the officers of the government, shall contain no provision on any other subject.

Section forty-five declares it to be the duty of the Legislature, at its first session after the adoption of this constitution, to provide by law for the punishment, by imprisonment in the penitentiary, of any person who shall bribe or attempt to bribe any executive or judicial officer or member of the Legislature, and similar punishment for any such officials or member who shall demand or receive bribes; compelling the briber to testify, and exempting him in that case from punishment; and forever disqualifying any person convicted from holding office.

Sec. 47. No charter of incorporation shall be granted to any church or religious denomination. Provision may be made by general laws for securing title to church property, &c.

Sec. 48. Any husband or parent, or the infant children of deceased parents, may hold a homestead of the value of $1,000, and personal property to the value of $200, exempt from forced/sale.

Sec. 49. The Legislature shall pass such laws as may be necessary to protect the property of married women from the debts, liabilities, and control of their husbands. Article VII.

Section four declares the Governor ineligible for the same office for the four years next succeeding the term for which he was elected. Article VIII.

Sec. 35. No citizen of this State who aided or participated in the late war between the Government of the United States and a part of the people thereof, on either side, shall be liable in any proceeding, civil or criminal; nor shall his property be seized or sold under final process, issued upon judgments or decrees hereto

fore rendered, or otherwise, because of any act done according to the usages of civilized warfare in the prosecution of said war, by either of the parties thereto. The Legislature shall provide by general law for giving full force and effect to this section, by due process of law,

Article X.

Section six prohibits the State from granting its credit, assuming debts, or becoming an owner or stock holder in any corporation.

Section seven prohibits the assessment of more than ninety-three cents county taxes per annum on each $100, except in certain cases.

Section eight limits county, city, school-district, and municipal corporation debts to five per cent, on the value of taxable property, and provides for the payment of interest and principal.

Article XI.

Sec. 2. The stockholders of all corporations and joint stock companies, except banks and banking institutions, created by the laws of this State, shall be liable for the indebtedness of such corporations to the amount of their stock subscribed and unpaid, and no more.

Section four provides that every share of stock in an incorporated company entitles the holder to a vote in person or by proxy in the election of directors, and for cumulative voting thereat.

Section six provides for the creation of banks of issue or circulation, and the personal liability of the stockholders of all banks in the amount of their shares, and an additional amount equal thereto.

Article XII.

Section five provides for the support of free schools.

Sec. 8. White and colored persons shall not be taught in the same school.

With the Constitution will be submitted a separate proposition, which, if adopted will take the place of section four, Article IV, of the constitution, and which is as follows:

"Any white citizen entitled to vote, and no other, may be elected or appointed to any office; but the Governor and judges must have attained the age of thirty, and the Attorney General and Senators the age of twentyfive years at the beginning of their respective terms of service, and must have been citizens of the State for five years next preceding their election or appointment, or citizens at the time this constitution goes into operation."

Wisconsin.

The eighth section of the first article, being the declaration of rights, of the constitution of Wisconsin was as follows:

Sec. 8. No person shall be held to answer for a criminal offense, [unless on the presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases of impeachment, or in casescognizable by justices of the peace, or arising in the Army or Navy, or in the militia when in actual service in time of war or public danger;] and no person for the same offense shall be put twice in jeopardy of punishment, nor shall be com