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county court respectively, or in case of his absence or disability, the sheriff of such county, or in case of the absence or disability of both, the high bailiff of such county, on the tenth day after such election, shall publicly open, sort, and count said votes, and make a record of the same, in the office of the clerk of such county court, a copy of which he shall transmit to the Senate; and shall also, within ten days thereafter, transmit to the person or persons elected, a certificate of his or their election: Provided, however, that the General Assembly shall have power to regulate, by law, the mode of balloting for senators within the several counties, and to prescribe the means and the manner, by which the result of the balloting shall be ascertained, and through which the senators chosen shall be certified of their election, and for filling all vacancies in the Senate, which shall happen by death, resignation, or otherwise. But they shall not have power to apportion the senators to the several counties, otherwise than according to the population thereof, agreeably to the provisions herein before ordained.

6. The Senate shall have the like powers to decide on the election and qualifications of, and to expel any of its members, make its own rules, and appoint its own officers, as are incident to, or are possessed by, the House of Representatives. A majority shall constitute a quorum. The Lieutenant-Governor shall be President of the Senate, except when he shall exercise the office of Governor, or when his office shall be vacant, or in his absence, in which cases the Senate shall appoint one of its own members to be President of the Senate, pro tempore, and the President of the Senate shall have a casting vote, but no other.

7. The Senate shall have the sole power of trying and deciding upon all impeachments: when sitting for that purpose they shall be on oath or affirmation, and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present. Judgment, in cases of impeachment, shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold or enjoy any office of honor, or profit, or trust, under this State. But the party convicted shall, nevertheless, be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment, according to law.

8. The supreme executive power of the State shall be exercised by the Governor, or in case of his absence or disability, by the Lieutenant-Governor, who shall have all the powers and perform all the duties vested in and enjoined upon the Governor and Council by the eleventh and twenty-seventh sections of the second chapter [part the second,] of the Constitution as at present established, cxcepting that he shall not sit as a judge in case of impeachment, nor grant reprieve or pardon in any such case; nor shall he command the forces of the State in person, in time of war or insurrection, unless by the advice and consent of the Senate, and no longer than they shall approve thereof. The Governor may have a Secretary of civil and military affairs, to be by him appointed, during pleasure,

whose services he may at all times command; and for whose compensation provision shall be made by law.

9. The votes for Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and Treasurer of the State shall be sorted and counted, and the result declared by a Committee, appointed by the Senate and House of Representatives. If at any time there shall be no election by the freemen, of Governor or Lieutenant-Governor, or Treasurer of the State, the Senate and House of Representatives shall, by a joint ballot, elect to fill the office, not filled by the freemen as aforesaid, one of the three candidates for such office (if there be so many) for whom the greatest number of votes shall have been returned.

10. The Secretary of State, and all officers whose elections are not otherwise provided for, and who, under the existing provisions of the Constitution, are elected by the Council and House of Representatives, shall hereafter be elected by the Senate and House of Representatives, in joint Assembly, at which the presiding officer of the Senate shall preside, and such presiding officer in such joint Assembly, shall have a casting vote, and no other.

11. Every bill which shall have passed the Senate and House of Representatives, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the Governor; if he approve, he shall sign it; if not, he shall return it, with his objections in writing, to the house in which it shall have originated, which shall proceed to reconsider it. If, upon such reconsideration, a majority of the house shall pass the bill, it shall, together with the objections, be sent to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by a majority of that house, it shall become a law. But in all such cases the votes of both houses shall be taken by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for or against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the Governor, as aforesaid, within five days (Sundays excepted,) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall become a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the two houses, by their adjournment within three days after the presentment of such bill, shall prevent its return; in which case it shall not become a law.

12. The writ of habeas corpus shall in no case be suspended. It shall be a writ issuable of right; and the General Assembly shall make provision to render it a speedy and effectual remedy in all cases proper therefor.

13. Such parts and provisions, only, of the Constitution of this State, established by Convention on the 9th of July, 1793, as are altered or suspended by any of the foregoing amendments, or are repugnant thereto, shall hereafter cease to have effect.

14. The assistant judges of the county court shall be elected by the freemen of their respective counties.

15. Sheriffs and high bailiffs shall be elected by the freemen of their respective counties.

16. State's attorneys shall be elected by the freemen of their respective counties. 7

17. Judges of probate shall be elected by the freemen of their respective probate districts.

18. Justices of the peace shall be elected by the freemen of their respective towns; and towns having less than one thousand inhabitants may elect any number of justices of the peace not exceeding five; towns having one thousand, and less than two thousand inhabitants, may elect seven; towns having two thousand, and less than three thousand inhabitants, may elect ten; towns having three thousand, and less than five thousand inhabitants, may elect twelve ; and towns having five thousand, or more, inhabitants, may elect fifteen justices of the peace.

19. All the officers named in the preceding articles of amendment (articles 14 to 18) shall be annually elected by ballot, and shall hold their offices for one year, said year commencing on the first day of December next after their election.

20. The election of the several officers mentioned in the preceding articles (articles 14 to 18), excepting town representatives, shall be made at the times and in the manner now directed in the constitution for the choice of senators. And the presiding officer of each freemen's meeting, after the votes shall have been taken, sorted and counted, shall, in open meeting, make a certificate of the names of each person voted for, with the number of votes given for each, annexed to his name and designating the office for which the votes were given, a record of which shall be made in the town clerk's office, and he shall seal up said certificate, and shall write thereon the name of the town and the words, Certificate of votes for and add thereto, in writing, the title of the office voted for, as the case may be, and shall deliver such certificate to some representative chosen as a member of the general assembly, whose duty it shall be to cause such certificate of votes to be delivered to the committee of the general assembly appointed to canvass the same. And at the sitting of the general assembly, next after such balloting for the officers aforesaid, there shall be a committee appointed of and by the general assembly, who shall be sworn to the faithful discharge of their duty, and whose duty it shall be to examine such certificates and ascertain the number of votes given for each candidate, and the persons receiving the largest number of votes for the respective offices, shall be declared duly elected, and by such committee be reported to the general assembly, and the officers so elected shall be commissioned by the governor. And if two or more persons designated for any one of said offices shall have received an equal number of votes, the general assembly shall elect one of such persons to such office.

21. The term of office of the governor, lieutenant governor, and treasurer of the state, respectively, shall commence when they shall be chosen and qualified, and shall continue for the term of one year, or until their successors shall be chosen and qualified, or to the adjournment of the session of the legislature, at which, by the con

stitution and laws, their successors are required to be chosen, and not after such adjournment. And the legislature shall provide, by general law, declaring what officer shall act as governor whenever there shall be a vacancy in both the offices of governor and lieutenant governor, occasioned by a failure to elect, or by the removal from office, or by the death, resignation, or inability of both governor and lieutenant governor, to exercise the powers and discharge the duties of the office of governor; and such officer, so designated, shall exercise the powers and discharge the duties appertaining to the office of governor accordingly, until the disability shall be removed, or a governor shall be elected. And in case there shall be a vacancy in the office of treasurer, by reason of any of the causes enumerated, the governor shall appoint a treasurer for the time being, who shalĺ act as treasurer until the disability shall be removed, or a new election shall be made.

22. The treasurer of the state shall, before entering upon the duties of his office, give sufficient security to the secretary of state, in behalf of the state of Vermont, before the governor of the state, or one of the judges of the supreme court. And sheriffs and high bailiffs, before entering upon the duties of their respective offices, shall give sufficient security to the treasurer of their respective counties, before one of the judges of the supreme court, or the two assistant judges of the county court of their respective counties, in such manner and in such sums as shall be directed by the legislature.

23. The senate shall be composed of thirty senators, to be of the freemen of the county for which they are elected, respectively, who shall have attained the age of thirty years, and they shall be elected annually by the freemen of each county respectively.

The senators shall be apportioned to the several counties, according to the population, as ascertained by the census taken under the authority of Congress in the year 1840, regard being always had, in such apportionment, to the counties having the largest fraction, and giving to each county at least one senator.

The legislature shall make a new apportionment of the senators to the several counties, after the taking of each census of the United States, or after a census taken for the purpose of such apportionment, under the authority of this state, always regarding the above provisions of this article.

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THIS ancient Commonwealth was first permanently settled by Europeans, who landed at Plymouth, Dec. 22, 1620. The history of this State is full of interest. Its name was probably derived from two Indian word: Mos and Wetuset-the former signifying an Indian's arrow-head, and the latter a hill. The territory of Massachusetts, for many years, comprised two separate colonies-the Plymouth colony and the colony of Massachusetts Bay. In 1692, these colonies were united under one charter, and received the name of Massachusetts. The American Revolution was begun in this State, and here the first American blood was spilled in achieving its noble conquests. Massachusetts furnished more men and more money than any other of the colonies, in carrying forward the war of the Revolution. It is the most thickly settled State in the union, having about 100 inhabitants to the square mile. The Constitution was framed in 1780. It has been several times amended. Her House of Representatives is one of the largest legislative bodies in the world.-Area, 7,800 sq. m. Population, in 1850, 994,499.

Boston, the capital, is the largest city in New England, with a population, in 1845, of 120,000, and is the second commercial city in the union. JOHN HANCOCK, President of the first American Congress, and first to set his bold hand to the Declaration of Independence, was a citizen of Boston. It was, also, the birth place of Benjamin Franklin, one of the five appointed to trame that interesting document.

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