with certain specified information. In response to this request, we are all aware that fifty-four volumes of records were brought into this chamber and laid before the Convention, accompanied by a report in which we were told that all the information asked for was contained in these fifty-four volumes, and in as condensed a form as it is possible to get it. It is indeed unfortunate that the State of California should have a Secretary of State who is no more competent to fulfill the duties of that high office than the present incumbent, judging him by his own admission. Every member of this Convention ought to know that when the Secretary of State brought those books into this chamber, he was guilty of a gross insult to this body, and Mr. Terry, this morning, as the representative of Mr. Beck, tells us that these books were brought here as a sort of an "object lesson," to teach us, like so many children, what we should do. MR. TERRY. I beg to correct the gentleman. I am not the representative of Mr. Beck. I represent the people of San Joaquin. If MR. STEDMAN. He told us that these books were sent here as a sort of "object lesson," as we are regarded as children, not able to comprehend a report. Why did not the gentleman come to this Convention with a report couched in respectful language, as our resolution was? it was impossible for him to comply with the request, why did he not inform this Convention of that fact in a respectful manner? Now, sir, I believe that the Secretary of New York, or Missouri, or Pennsylvania, or any other great State, where there are perhaps as many or more corporations as in this State, I believe the Secretary of State in any of those States would have been able to furnish such information as that asked for by the resolution. The only difficulty is, in my opinion, that the Secretary of State of California has not adopted a proper system of keeping these records. Whether he knows how or not, I cannot say, but his system is certainly not the proper one or the information contained in these volumes would have been epitomized in such a manner as to be easily placed before this Convention in proper shape. I hope the resolution will be adopted, and that the amendments will be voted down. MR. O'DONNELL. I move to lay the whole matter on the table. MR. REDDY. second the motion. THE PRESIDENT. The question is upon laying the whole matter on the table. Harrison, Turner, Van Voorhies, Wilson, of 1st District. Reed, Reynolds, Rhodes, Ringgold, Schell, MR. O'DONNELL, when his name was called, refused to vote. MR. STEDMAN, when Mr. O'Donnell's name was called. I believe we have a rule which compels every member to vote. MR. O'DONNELL. I refuse to vote. THE PRESIDENT. The next question is on the amendment of the gentleman from Nevada, Mr. Wickes. The Secretary will read it. THE SECRETARY read the amendment, as follows: Resolved, That a committee be appointed to make such cursory examination of the books in question as will determine whether the demand was inconsiderately made, or whether such examination of said books by a committee detailed to procuro such information jointly, would be feasible and practicable, to report to this body at the earliest moment. First--Because "all just governments derive their powers from the consent of the governed.' Woman is governed by laws to which she gives no consent. Second-Because woman has the same inherent desire for and power of self-gov. ernment as man, and the same natural right to exercise that power. Third-Because the ignorant and intemperate are enfranchised and intrusted with the privilege of making laws to govern her, and of employing their vested powers in restraining her from exercising a citizen's highest peiogative, the right of ballot. Fourth--Because woman is taxed, and taxation without representation is as much tyranny in eighteen hundred and seventy-eight as in seventeen hundred and seventy-six. Fifth-Because it is a citizen's right to be tried by a jury of his peers, and woman is not so tried, in California. Sixth-Because the well-being of the State demands that thousands of hard working women, who add greatly to its wealth and its intellectual and moral worth, should not be crippled in their power of usefulness. Seventh-Because, with the ballot in the hands of all good citizens, the honor of our State would be asserted and the perpetuity of our government assured; for a nation's injustice is a prelude to a nation's decay. The right to vote we consider inherent. Webster defines inherent, as naturally pertaining to; innate; as the inherent right of men to life, liberty, and protection. "To secure these rights, governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." The right to form governments is then an inherent right. To do this in our country it is necessary to vote; therefore the right to vote is inherent in every American citizen. If not, from whom acquired? If the people acquire the right from themselves and delegate it to others, the right must be inherent in the first place or they have nothing to give, no powers to delegate. We earnestly entreat your honorable body, so to frame the new Constitution, that women may be empowered to exercise this inherent right, the right of suffrage. Yours respectfully, MARY A. ASHLEY, President Santa Barbara League. MARY F. HUNT, Secretary. Referred to the Committee on Right of Suffrage. PROPOSITIONS AND RESOLUTIONS RELATING TO THE CONSTITUTION. MR. EDGERTON introduced the following proposed amendment to the Constitution, in relation to the Bill of Rights: SEC. 4. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed in this State; and no person shall be rendered incompetent to be a witness on account of his opinions on matters of religious belief; Smith, of San Francisco, but the liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be so construed as Schomp, Shafter, Soule, Biggs, Brown, Caples, Cowden, Eagon, Edgerton, Fawcett, Freud, Barbour, Barry, Harvey, Stedman, Steele, Stevenson, shall be assessed at its full cash value, to be ascertained in such manner as the Legislature may direct; and property in the sense of this article shall be understood to include all rights, privileges, or franchises that have been or may be granted by the State, or any subdivision thereof, to any individual, corporation, or association, and every other conceivable thing that possesses any commercial or exchange value; provided, that the property of the State, and the property of the counties, and other municipal corporations, may be exempted from taxation. SEC. 3. Land shall in all cases be assessed as an item separate and distinct from the improvements thereon, and in determining the value of land for the purposes of taxation, no discrimination shall ever be made between tracts of land possessing the same natural and other facilities, and of the same productive capacity, in consequence of any improvements that may have been made on one tract or piece of land more than on another. SEC. 4. Any property of any individual, association, or corporation may be seized and held for the amount of the taxes due from said individual, association, or corporation, but any party in possession of, and paying the taxes on property that is incumbered by mortgage, or other legal lien, shall recover, without legal process, from the holder of said mortgage, or lien, an amount, in settlement, equal to the sum of the taxes on the amount of said mortgage or lien. SEC. 5. Nothing in the foregoing shall be construed as depriving the Legislature of the right to levy a special tax on peddlers, auctioneers, brokers, hawkers, merchants, commission merchants, showmen, jugglers, inn keepers, grocery keepers, liquor dealers, toll bridges, toll roads, ferries, insurance, telegraph, and express interests or business, venders of patents, and persons, companies, or corporations owning or using franchises or privileges, in such manner as it may from time to time direct by general law, uniform in all cases as to the class upon which it operates. Referred to the Committee on Revenue and Taxation. REGARDING THE UNIVERSITY. I deem it proper to state that the last Legislature increased the appropriation for armory rents and other expenses of the National Guard for the thirtieth and thirtyfirst fiscal years, to ninety thousand five hundred and twenty-eight dollars ($90,528), against sixty thousand dollars, the amount appropriated for the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth fiscal years. I have the honor to remain, very respectfully, your obedient servant, P. F. WALSH, Adjutant-General. MR. TINNIN. I move that two hundred and forty copies be printed. The motion prevailed. REPORTS OF COMMITTEES. MR. WILSON, of San Francisco, from the Judiciary Committee, presented the following report of the Judiciary Committee, with reference to the eligibility of the Hon. Eugene Fawcett, of Santa Barbara: To the President of the Constitutional Convention: The majority of the Committee on Judiciary and Judicial Department, to which was referred the resolution introduced by the Honorable Clitus Barbour, of San Francisco, instructing the committee to inquire into the eligibility of the member from Santa Barbara, the Honorable Eugene Fawcett, and his right to a seat in this Convention, beg leave to report that the subject has been carefully considered by the committee, and that we are of opinion that the Honorable Eugene Fawcett was eligible, and is entitled to a seat in this Convention. As all the members of the committee do not concur in this view, we may be excused for stating some of the reasons which led the majority to this conclusion: pied his seat as a member of this Convention for nearly three weeks. No person Before the introduction of the resolution of Mr. Barbour, Judge Fawcett had occuhad, or has yet, appeared claiming his seat. His own county and judicial district have raised no question, made no protest, and presented no memorial on the subject, but, on the contrary, were desirous of his election, and are well satisfied with him as a member of this Convention, as we are informed and believe. He is a gentleman of high character, of learning and ability, of judicial experience, and in every way well. MR. VAN DYKE introduced the following proposed amendment to qualified to make a useful member. The objection to him comes from a point remote the Constitution, regarding the University of California : ARTICLE seat. a form of State government complete in itself. Under it the State was to be organ SECTION. Whereas, the University of California is not, either in its origin or endowments, exclusively a State institution, but derived its origin from the College of California, and has received large endowments from the Congress of the United States upon certain conditions connected therewith affecting its organization, and also valuable endowments from individuals, which were designed to preserve and develop it in its pres-in ent form, and in order to attain the full benefit and proper use of said endowments, and to give such stability to said University as will tend to acquire further endowments from private sources, it is expedient that it should continue to exist in perpetuity under its present organization and government, and incapable of change-it is declared that said University shall constitute a public trust, and that its organization and government shall be perpetually continued in their existing form, character, and condition, subject only to such legislative enactments as shall not be inconsistent therewith, and shall only pertain to its support and more complete development; and it is further declared that the Board of Regents, in their corporate capacity, and their successors in that capacity, their officers and servants, shall have, hold, use, exercise, and enjoy all the powers, authorities, rights, liberties, privileges, immunities, and franchises, which they now have or are entitled to have, hold, use, exercise, and enjoy, and the same are hereby ratified and confirmed unto them and to their successors, and to their officers and servants, respectively, forever. It shall be entirely independent of all party influences, and kept free therefrom in the appointment of its Regents and the administration of its affairs. Referred to the Committee on Education. MR. HOWARD. I call for the regular order of business. MR. CAPLES. I ask leave to introduce this resolution, to be referred to the Judiciary Committee. THE PRESIDENT. The regular order of business is called for. COMMUNICATIONS FROM STATE OFFICERS. from his constituency, and without a suggestion of unfitness in any respect, is based upon a narrow literal and technical construction of section sixteen, of article six, of the State Constitution. This declares Judges of the District Courts to be "ineligible to any other office than a judicial office during the term for which they shall have been elected." As Mr. Fawcett is the Judge of the District Court of the First Judi cial District of the State, and was such at the time of his election as a member of this Convention, it is claimed that he was ineligible, and not entitled to retain his It is manifest to the undersigned that this is not a correct view of the subject. We are satisfied that a membership of this Convention is not an office in the sense which that term is used in the Constitution; that a broader and more extended view must be taken; and that to hang upon the letter here is emphatically to hang upon the bark; that to be literal is to be wrong. The Constitution, as it is, creates ized, officered, and launched into operation. It did not anticipate what should be done under a succeeding Constitution, but provided for its own practical working. Its great fundamental principle was the distribution of the powers of government each to its own sphere. There were to be a large number of offices, each of which at into three separate departments-the executive, legislative, and judicial-confining once took place in its separate department. As long as that Constitution should last those offices would last, and it was in view of that fact that section sixteen of article six was adopted, rendering Judges ineligible during their terms to any office in the executive or legislative department. This covered the usual ordinary and It kept the Judge from using his high judicial functions so as to advance him in the necessary workings and instrumentalities of the government under that Constitution. executive or legislative department, leaving him, however, free to seek advancement from a lower to a higher judicial position. But when we come to the question of a new Constitution, we have something effecting the most radical change possible. The old things are to pass away, and new ones take their place. A Constitutional the government, and of brief existence. It is not one of the three great departments Convention is, therefore, an unusual, rare, and merely occasional instrumentality of of government which are created for every-day operations, and is not to be thrust into the ranks and limits of one of these three divisions, and take its place either as executive, legislative, or judicial. The Constitutional Convention outranks them all; it is their creator, and fixes limits to their spheres of action, and boundaries to their powers. It is occasional, exceptional, brief, and peculiar. It represents the people in their primary capacity, and forms the organic, fundamental, and paramount law of the State. Its members are mere agents or delegates of the people, and they have no power to adopt or create, but, at most, can only propose and present to the people a draft of a Constitution for their adoption or rejection. To confound, therefore, the functions and duties of a member of this rare and exceptional body for the formation of a new organic law with those of an officer under the every-day working of an existing system, is in our minds to commit a manifest error. It is to The President presented the following communication from the Adju- confound the architects and builders of a grand edifice with the people who subse tant General: GENERAL HEADQUARTERS, STATE OF CALIFORNIA, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, SACRAMENTO, October 21st, 1878. J To the President and members of the Constitutional Convention: GENTLEMEN: In compliance with the resolution adopted by your honorable body, on the eighteenth instant, I have the honor to submit the following, embracing the expenditures out of the respective appropriations for military purposes for the twenty-eighth and twenty ninth fiscal years ending June thirtieth, eighteen dred and seventy-eight: quently occupy it; or the foundryman and machinist who build the engine with the engineers and firemen who subsequently manage it. When we examine the framework of the Constitution itself, we find it divided into articles, under which are systematically arranged the offices pertaining to each division, and their qualifications. Article four covers the legislative department; article five the executive, and article six the judicial. In none of these do we find any reference to members of a Constitutional Convention. Such Conventions are only referred to in article ten, a distinct and separate part of the Constitution, thus hun-isolating this subject from those portions appertaining to the ordinary and every-day operations of the government. This article ten is as broad as can be; no test of eligibility is given; no qualifications are prescribed. The only limit is, that "such Convention shall consist of a number of members not less than that of both branches of the Legislature." From this it would seem that the people were left free to select whom they pleased. The statute under which the Convention was called is likewise free from any limitation or restriction in this regard. $1,563 00 10,800 00 $71,038 05 In addition to the foregoing, a special appropriation of five thousand two hundred and two dollars ($5,202) was made at the last session of the Legislature, for payment for guard and other military duty, performed in San Francisco, in November, eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, and January, eighteen hundred and seventyeight, and expended as follows: The common practice of the people of the United States is in accordance with the views here presented. Mr. John Howard Hinton, in the second volume of his History and Topography of the United States (pages 324 to 327), treats of Constitutional Conventions, and, among other things, says: "The constituency who choose the delegates for a Convention is almost always the same constituency who choose the menibers of the State Legislature; but it seems to be open to discretion to make this occasional constituency even more extensive. A great peculiarity, however, of the character of Conventions is, that the delegates may be individuals from any class, including the ministers of religion, the Governor, and other public functionaries, and the Judges. In this point the reader will be struck with the resemblance it bears to the English county meetings, where peers and commoners, and clergy and all other men assemble to deliberate on any public concerns. Both institutions, indeed, are traceable to a common Saxon stock." In Virginia the Governor of the State sat side by side with John Marshall, both delegates in the Constitutional Convention of that State, whilst the latter was hold ing the exalted position of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Other distinguished officers were likewise delegates to the same Convention. In the Illinois Convention of eighteen hundred and sixty-two, Judge O'Melveny was a delegate and had been Judge of one of the Circuit Courts within one year prior to his election as delegate. The Constitution of that State provided that the Judges of the Supreme and Circuit Courts should not be eligible "to any other office or public trust of profit" in that State or the United States during the term for which they were elected, nor for one year thereafter, and that all votes for them for such "other office or public trust of profit" should be void. Mr. O'Melveny's competitor contested his seat on that ground; but the Convention, acting upon the principle that a delegate to the Convention was not an officer within the sense and meaning of the Constitution, retained Judge O'Melveny in his seat. That Convention consisted of the prominent men of Ilinois, and numbered among its members jurists of national renown. That case affords an exact parallel to this, and is a precedent directly in point, whilst we have been unable to discover a single instance to the contrary. Beside all this we cannot assume for a moment that the Convention which framed the present Constitution intended to trammel the succeeding generation in any such manner in the formation of a new or revised organic law. It would have been contrary to the accepted theories of our government, that they should claim a right to define who should constitute the representatives of the people in their great work of defining the fundamental law of the future. Such action would have been contrary to principle and to the common practice of the people in like cases. We are, therefore, happy to vindicate the able and distinguished men who framed the present Constitution, from any such aspersion on their fame, and are entirely satisfied that their intention and meaning was merely to prohibit the Judges from discharging the duties of an office belonging to either of the other departments under that Constitution. Clearly the inhibition was intended to apply only to the government and the departments thereof created by that Constitution, and not to the rare and exceptional occasion of a Convention, in which the people, resuming their original sovereignty, undertake to change the whole government and select its own agents for that purpose. So far we have attempted to maintain our conclusion upon reason and the common usages and practice of Constitutional Conventions. But we are not without the authority of some of the highest Courts of the country in our favor. The Supreme Court of this State directly maintains the principles on which we rely. That Court has construed the various sections of the Constitution referred to, and held that the Chief Justice of this State may lawfully hold the office of Trustee of the State Library, and that the Police Judge of San Francisco may act as Police Commissioner See People vs. Provines, 34 Cal., 532 et seq., and People vs. Bush, 40 Cal., 340. In the Provines case the Supreme Court held that the Legislative Department referred to in Article III of the Constitution, means the Senate and Assembly and nothing else. It is very clear then that a Constitutional Convention is not a legislative body in the sense of the Constitution. Article III of our Constitution is borrowed from the Constitution of Iowa, and the Supreme Court of that State has held that under that Article one man may exercise the duties of Mayor of a city and Justice of the Peace, as the office of Mayor is not a State office. Santo vs. The State of Iowa, 2 Iowa, 220. nine, article one, of the Constitution: SECTION -. Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his RELATING TO THE UNIVERSITY. MR. WEBSTER introduced the following proposed additional section to article nine of the present Constitution, relating to the University: SECTION The University of this State shall be under the control of a Board of Regents, composed of fifteen members, two of which shall be elected from each Congressional District, by the qualified electors thereof, in such manner and for such time as the Legislature may, by law, provide. The remaining seven shall be ex officio members, and tion, Speaker of the Assembly, President of the State Board of Agriculthe Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Superintendent of Public Instructure, President of the Mechanics' Institute, and Superintendent of Public Instruction for the City of San Francisco shall, by virtue of their Referred to the Committee on State Institutions and Public Buildings. The Constitution of Indiana provided that, "No person holding a lucrative office We therefore respectfully submit that the Honorable Eugene Fawcett was eligible at the time of his election, and is entitled to retain his seat in this Convention. October 21st, 1878. S. M. WILSON, Chairman. W. J. GRAVES. D. S. TERRY. ALEX. CAMPBELL. T. H. LAINE. S. G. HILBORN. GEO. VENABLESMITH. I. S. BELCHER. V. E. HOWARD. P. DUNLAP. P. B. TULLY. GEO. STEELE. MR. WILSON, of San Francisco. I move that it be printed out of order, and made the special order for Thursday next, immediately after the reading of the Journal. The motion prevailed, and the matter was made the special order for Thursday, October twenty-fourth, immediately after reading the Journal. MR. BLACKMER, from the Committee on Future Amendments, made the following report: MR. PRESIDENT: Your Committee on Future Amendments beg leave to return document number one hundred and nine, relating to female suffrage, and to suggest that the same be referred to the Committee on Right of Suffrage. Yours respectfully, E. T. BLACKMER, Chairman. The document was so referred. MR. LARKIN, from the Committee on Privileges and Elections, made the following report: 'MR. PRESIDENT: Your Committee on Privileges and Elections have had the following propositions under consideration, and report as follows: That proposition number forty-four, introduced by Mr. Turner, be indefinitely postponed; also, proposition number twenty, and recommend that it be referred to the Committee on Suffrage; proposition number one hundred and ninety eight, introduced by Mr. Freeman, recommend that it be referred to the Committee on Apportionment and Representation; proposition number three hundred and ninety-six, by Mr. Lavigne, and recommend that it be referred to the Committee on Legislative Department; proposition number one hundred and forty-five, and recommend that it be referred to the Committee on Suffrage. LARKIN, Chairman. ON REVENUE AND TAXATION. MR. STUART introduced the following proposed amendment to the Constitution, in reference to revenue and taxation: The following provisions shall be included in the Constitution: First-The State tax on property, exclusive of tax necessary to pay any debt of the State now existing, shall not exceed forty cents on the hundred dollars on the valuation. Second-No county, city and county, city, or municipal corporation, shall impose any tax exceeding thirty cents on the hundred dollars, exclusive of the tax necessary to pay, any debt now existing in said county, city and county, city, or municipal corporation. Referred to Committee on Revenue and Taxation. IN RELATION TO EMBEZZLEMENT. MR. THOMPSON introduced the following proposed amendment to the Constitution, in relation to embezzlement: SECTION 1. Every person holding office in this State, be it township, municipal, county, or State, shall be held amenable for all money or property that may come into his hands or under his control, and in case of his appropriating or converting to his own use any amount under one hundred dollars, shall be guilty of misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof he shall be fined in the full amount so appropriated, and imprisoned in the county jail for the term of six months. And for any sum exceeding one hundred dollars and under one thousand dollars, he shall be deemed guilty of felony, and upon conviction thereof he shall be imprisoned in the State Prison not less than three nor more than five years, and in addition thereto pay a fine in the full sum so appropriated. And in all cases where the sum so appropriated shall exceed one thousand dollars in value, the penalty shall be imprisonment in the State Prison not less than ten nor more than thirty years, and in addition thereto he shall be fined the full amount so embezzled or appropriated; and he shall forever be disfranchised and ineligible to hold any office of profit or trust in this State in each and every case above enumerated. SEC. 2. Any person in the employ of any incorporation or individual in this State who shall control or receive any money or other valuables into his custody and shall appropriate any sum not exceeding one hun THE PRESIDENT. The first report will go to the Committee of the dred dollars, shall be deemed guilty of misdemeanor, and upon convicWhole Convention, and the others be referred as recommended. RESOLUTIONS. MR. CAMPBELL offered the following: tion thereof he shall be imprisoned in the county jail not less than one month nor more than three months, and he shall pay a fine in addition thereto of the full amount so taken. And for any amount exceeding one hundred dollars and less than one thousand dollars, he shall be deemed Resolved, That the President of the Convention be requested to appoint two Cory-guilty of felony, and upon conviction thereof he shall be imprisoned in ing Clerks, whose duty it shall be to keep such papers and documents as may be required to be kept by the committees of the Convention which are not auth rized to employ clerks, and that such Copying Clerks receive as compensation the sum of five dollars each per diem while so employed, to be paid out of the appropriation for the expenses of this Convention. MR. CAMPBELL. I move that the resolution be referred to the Committee on Mileage and Contingent Expenses. The motion prevailed, and the resolution was so referred. the State Prison not less than one nor more than three years, and fined in the full amount so appropriated. And for any sum exceeding one thousand dollars, he shall be imprisoned upon conviction thereof in the State Prison for not less than three nor more than ten years, and fined in the full sum so appropriated. SEC. 3. There shall be appropriate legislation to enforce the above provisions. IN REGARD TO JURIES. MR. CAPLES introduced the following proposed amendment to the Constitution, in regard to juries: ARTICLE · GRADUATED TAXATION. MR. O'SULLIVAN introduced the following proposed amendment to the Constitution, in relation to graduated progressive taxation: ARTICLE SECTION. Grand juries shall be composed of seven jurors, and the of Equalization shall classify all the lands of the State each second year SECTION Taxation shall be equal and uniform. The State Board concurrence of five jurors shall be sufficient for the finding of a present-into as many classes as by law shall be directed, each class to have its ment. SEC. Trial juries, in all cases, whether civil or criminal, except in cases where, upon conviction, the penalty would be death, shall be composed of five jurors, and the concurrence of three jurors shall be sufficient for the finding of a verdict. SEC. Trial juries, in cases where, upon conviction, the penalty would be death, the jury shall be composed of seven jurors, and a concurrence of the whole number shall be necessary to the finding of a verdict. Referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Judicial Department. RELATIVE TO THE LEGISLATURE. MR. WELLER introduced the following proposed amendment to the Constitution, in relation to the Legislature: That all bills should be presented and printed within fifty days after the organization of the Legislature, to the end that their provisions may be known in the localities and among the interests to be affected by them, and an opportunity allowed by petition, remonstrance, and argument for presenting reasons for or against their enactment. That the legalization of the acts of local officers, changes of names of persons and corporations, should be left to judicial inquiry in Courts of record, with power to apply the relief suited to each case, according to its merits. That the regulation of strictly local affairs of counties should be intrusted within fixed limits to Boards of Supervisors, County Commissioners, or the County Courts, according as they are severally charged with county business. That the internal and local affairs of towns, and cities, and villages, under like restrictions, should be left to the officers or Boards elected for their government, subject to the approval of the people, by an election upon questions involving taxation and expenditures. specific valuation per acre, and the said valuation to be the basis of the assessment; provided, that: the name of any other person or corporation, own over one thousand First-Whenever any one person shall, either in his own name, or in (1,000) acres, fifty per cent. shall be added to the valuation of his land Second-That where such ownership shall exceed two thousand (2,000) acres, seventy-five per cent. shall be added to the valuation for taxes; Third-That where such ownership shall exceed three thousand (3,000) acres, one hundred per cent. shall be added to the valuation for taxes; for taxes; Resolved, That it is the sense of this Convention that, under the Federal Constitution, the judicial power of the United States extends to all cases affecting the validity of treaties with foreign nations. sary to obtain from the United States a decision in respect to the validity of the Resolved, That the Attorney-General be requested to institute proceedings necesfifth, sixth, and seventh articles of the Burlingame treaty, or so much of said articles recognizes or concedes the eligibility of Chinese subjects to American citizenship. Referred to the Committee on Chinese. MR. BARBOUR offered the following: That all Judges of Courts of record, inferior to the Supreme Court, shall annually report, in writing, to the Judges of the Supreme Court such defects and omissions in the laws, as their experience may sug-as gest; and that the Judges of the Supreme Court shall, on or before the first day of each regular session, report, in writing, to the Governor such defects and omissions as they may find to exist, together with appropriate forms of bills to cure such defects and omissions in the laws. These the Governor is required to lay before the Legislature, that general and local laws should not conflict. Referred to the Committee on Legislative Department. SECTION Any elector who shall receive any gift or reward for his vote, in meat, drink, money, or otherwise, shall suffer such punishment as the law may direct, and any person who shall directly or indirectly give, promise, or bestow any such reward to be elected, shall thereby be rendered ineligible for any office within the gift of the people of this State for the term of (6) six years, and be subject to such further punishment as the Legislature shall direct, SEC. The Legislature may authorize the employment of a Chaplain for the State Prisons, but no money shall be appropriated for the payment of any religious services in either house of the Legislature. Referred to the Committee on Legislative Department. RELATING TO THE CHINESE. MR. JOYCE introduced the following proposed amendment to the Constitution, relating to the Chinese subject: Resolved, That the following be inserted in the new Constitution: SECTION All rents for use or occupation of any real estate or premises whatsoever in this State, leased to or occupied by any alien who is ineligible to become a citizen of the United States, under the laws thereof, shall escheat to and be collected by this State. PRIVILEGES AND ELECTIONS. Dudley, of San Joaquin, Howard, MR. TUTTLE introduced the following proposed amendment to the Dudley, of Solano, Constitution, in relation to privileges and elections: Dunlap, Hughey, All State officers shall be elected for a term of four years. Eagon, Hunter, All elections for legislative, executive, and judicial officers to be held Edgerton, Inman, Nason, Nelson, Neunaber, on the same day as that of Presidential Electors. Estee, Johnson, Referred to the Committee on Privileges and Elections. Noel, Q'Donnell, SEC. An alien who has not declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States, under the laws thereof, shall not engage in any business in this State without having been first licensed so to do, in such manner and on such terms as the Legislature shall prescribe. Referred to the Committee on Chinese. McCallum, McComas, McConnell, McFarland, McNutt, Moffat, Moreland, Morse, happy to facilitate the deliberations of that honorable body with any official information desirable from this office, or any official courtesy or personal service within my power to bestow. Until otherwise informed or convinced, I most respectfully but firmly maintain the adequacy of the response made by me, and as respectfully and firmly disclaim any intention of disrespect to the Convention. As to the charge that my action was an indignity to the people of California, I have only to say that I am of opinion when an officer does his duty to the best of his ability and preserves his own dignity, the people of California will find but little fault with him. Hoping that this will receive at your hands that consideration which by reason of its candor it is entitled to, I have the honor to remain, Your obedient servant, Accompanying the above was the following: THOMAS BECK, Secretary of State. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of another resolution upon the same subject as the former, passed by the Convention on yesterday, to which I shall be most happy to reply at as early a moment as possible. THE PRESIDENT. The communication will lie on the table. MR. HALE. I desire to say one word in connection with the communication from the Secretary of State which has just been read; not to deal with its subject-matter, because the Secretary of State says, as I understand the reading of it, that he proposes to make a further report in answer to the resolution of this Convention adopted yesterday. But he says, as I understand the reading, that the author of the resolution, evidently alluding to me, imputed to him motives of disrespect to this and I have this morning looked over the report of the remarks made by myself and other gentlemen, and I fail to find any record of any such statement made by myself. I disclaim any such motive or feeling. My motive in offering the resolution was to bring before this Convention the information sought to be obtained, and to ascertain whether it was the sense of the Convention that the Secretary of State had properly complied with the request contained in the original resolution, all of which is duly expressed in the resolution adopted yesterday. Indefinite leave of absence was granted Messrs. Crouch and Berry; Convention. I beg to say that I made no such statement consciously, and leave for five days was granted Mr. Strong. Journal of yesterday read and approved. LOCAL OPTION. MR. SCHELL presented the following petition, signed by numerous citizens of Stanislaus County: We, the undersigned, citizens of this place and vicinity, believing it to be in accordance, and in harmony with the democratic principles of our Government, would earnestly petition the Constitutional Convention, now soon to be in session, for the insertion in the new organic Act or Constitution, the following: SECTION The Legislature shall, at its first session, enact a law whereby the qualified voters of any county, voting precinct, town, or city, by a majority vote, from time to time, may determine whether the sale of intoxicating liquors shall be prohibited within the prescribed limits. OBSERVANCE OF SUNDAY. MR. BLACKMER. I presume that the communication from the Secretary of State includes me as one of the two to whom he refers, besides the author of the resolution, as imputing to him motives that the communication from him could not warrant. I have simply to refer to the remarks that I made, and I call the attention of the Convention to this, that the only remark I made about the Secretary of State was to say that either he had mistaken the purport of the resolution, or he had mistaken the temper of this Convention, and I see no reason, sir, to recall that statement, because I believe it is a true one. He made one mistake or remarks that I had to make. MR. HAGER presented the following petition, signed by many citizens the other. I referred to the Secretary of State in no other part of the of California: Superintendent of State Printing. The communication was laid on the table. MR. PRESIDENT: The undersigned, a minority of the Committee of the Judiciary, to whom was referred the subject of the eligibility of the Hon. Eugene Fawcett to a seat in this Convention, finding themselves unable to agree with the majority of such committee, make this minority report: It is admitted, that the sitting member whose seat is contested was at the time of his election, and is now, Judge of the District Court of the First Judicial District of California. We think this fact renders him ineligible to a seat in this Convention; and we further think that this result is distinctly required by the present Constitution and the reasons which underlie it. The right of the sitting member has been put: 1st, upon the general ground that conventions are revolutionary bodies, and, that in their creation the people are emancipated from existing laws by which they are controlled in all other affairs, and that the Convention itself is possessed of power to disregard all rules but its own will; 2d, that the Constitution now existing, allowing it to furnish the rule of judgment, sustains his claim. As to the first ground, the language of the claimant himself, although somewhat guarded, may be accepted meaning of the Constitution. That even if it was, the people had a right to say who should represent them in the Convention to frame an organic law. That if the people of one generation had a right to dictate to the people of the next, they had a right to say how and what they should do; and we would virtually have no power to alter or amend the organic law. THE PRESIDENT presented the following communication from the as a fair statement of it. He claimed that this was in no sense an office within the Secretary of State: STATE OF CALIFORNIA, DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SACRAMENTO, October 22d, 1878. To Hon. J. P. Hoge, President of the Constitutional Convention: DEAR SIR: Recently the honorable Convention over which you have the honor to preside passed a resolution asking for information as follows, to wit: First-The number and classification of corporations other than municipal now existing in the State of California and formed under the laws of this State. Second-The aggregate amount of the capital stock of all said corporations, and the aggregate amount of the capital stock of each class thereof. Third-A detailed statement of the principal places of business and location of offices of all said corporations. Fourth-A detailed statement of the amount of capital stock actually paid up by all said corporations. I most respectfully call your attention to the obvious fact that the foregoing resolution calls for all the information contained in the record, and also for information not in the records of this office. In response to the resolution, and not intending any disrespect to the Convention, or any evasion of its demands, I had the honor to forward, as the only adequate compliance, the full record of the information asked for. I most respectfully represent that this action was the only course left me, since the clerical force at my disposal was not adequate to the task of making a complete transcript of the record in time to be of any service to the Convention, even if by so doing the information sought could be obtained In view of this fact the original record was courteously placed at the disposal of the Convention. It is a matter of most sincere regret that this action has been misconstrued by the honorable gentleman who offered the resolution of inquiry, and that he and two others have seen fit to charge me before the Convention-when I had no opportunity to reply-with an intentional disrespect to that honorable body. I beg leave to assure you that no such disrespect was intended; nor can I see, in the action had, any justification for the charge. The Convention asked for all the information in a certain record; the original of that record was promptly and courteously forwarded. I fail to see how the transmission of any record in this office can be tortured into an intentional insult to the Convention; and since this action is the full extent of my offending, I most respect fully protest against this gross misconstruction of my motives. If the response made by me was not sufficient, or if through any misapprehension of the request of the Convention I erred in forwarding the original record, I should most gladly have received any information of my error, and then, as now, would have been most In the cursory examination of the majority report, the same proposition is in equivalent terms. To a doctrine so unfounded and so dangerous, the undersigned express their unqualified dissent. The people of this Republic, with all their jural relation, constitute the State. The Government is that agency both of power and officers by which the business of the State is effectuated. That the people can assemble in any place, or in any manner which caprice or convenience may direct, for consultation, and to concert action for petition or other methods of procedure for change of their legal relation to the State, or to each other, disturbing in no manner the public peace, may be safely conceded. That they may follow this up by conventions to the same end, is equally true. These conventions, like hundreds of others of purely private character, are intended to collect and give expression to public opinion. Unlike other conventions, they propose to operate upon the law, through the law-making power. Directly of themselves, they claim no power over the law but that of petition and remonstrance. There is another class of conventions which, sweeping aside constitutions, laws, institutions, and officers, at once resolves society into its individual elements, and taking a new departure from present chaos, endeavors therefrom to create order and institutions. This is simple revolution. While it is not asserted that this Convention is exactly one of this character, yet it is intimated that if the people have, in Judge Fawcett's case, elected a gentleman ineligible under the present Constitution, they have the right to do so, and this Convention is bound to effectuate their choice. That is to say, every provision of the present Constitution, regulating the calling and purpose of this Convention, may be ignored at will, because it has been so ignored by a detached portion of the people. This doctrine is dangerous to all alike. When this Convention is disposed to treat the constitutional inhibition as of no value, it is not perceived why it may not expel, as well as admit members, in execution of its mere personal preference. That this Convention is not a revolutionary body, and that it sits here only under the sanction of law, it requires but a glance to perceive. The people operating in accepted modes, induced the Legislature to exercise a specific power given them by the Constitution, by passing a law submitting the question of general revision of the existing Constitution to the people. Upon the returus of such election, it was ascertained by the officers of the law, that a revision |