Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1816-06-12

] ally, fon the first da7of october1 and shall met
in General Assembly the I 5th day of Novembe
: following, and so from time TO me ON the
own adjournments, at any other time whe
summoned by The adm nis,rator sa,d shall con
tinue it i'g so long as they shan think the pub
lie service requires
Vacancies in the said house by death or die
qualification, shall ne flied by the Electors I'm
der warrant from the Speske vi the sad house
- Electors.
| All male persons of full age. aud sane mind
having a freehold estate in one fourth Of an acre
OF land n any town, or in tscn y five acres oil
land in the country, and all persons res dent IN
the state who slsell have paid scot and i9tto Co.
serhnent the iasttwo years, shall haye right TO
give their vote in the election of their represen-
tatives' and every person so qualified 10 elect
shall be capable of being elected, provided be
shall have given no bride either directly or ind.
rec,iy to any Elector, and shall take an oath of
ldeiity to the state and Of duty to his office, be-
fore he enters on the exercise thereof. During
his continuance in the said office, he shalt hold
noPubl,c pension, nor post of profit, either him.
SELF or by another for his use. s
The number of Representatives for each county
or borough, shalt be so proportioned to the num-
Der of qualified electors, that the whole number
OF Representatives shall not exceed 800 nor be
less han rs. For the present, there shall be
one Representative for every( oualifi-
ed electors IN each county or Borough But
whenever this or any other future proportion
shall be likely to exceed, fall short of the linn
ITS before mentioned, it shall be again adjusted
ny the House of Representatives.
The house of Representatives, when met shall
be free to act, according to their own Judgment
and conscience.
Senate
The Senate shall consist of not less than Is. nor
more than fifty memb ers-who shall be appoint
ed by the House of Representations. One third
OF them shall be removed by lot at the end of
every three years according to seniority. When
once removed, they shall be forever incapable of
beng reaPPonted to that house. Their qualifi.
cation shall be an oath of fidelity to The state and
duty to their Office, being 81 years of age at least
and they having given no bribe, directly or indi.
rectly to obtain their appointment While IN
The Senator'S al office, they shall be incapable of
aoldins any public pension or post of profit, Ell
ther themselves, or by others for their use.
The judge ofthe General Court and of the
High Court of Chancery, shall have session and
deiiberative voice, but not suffrage in the house
of Senator'S. -
C. The Sequel under this head relates 10 the
powers ef6oth hgrises. either joint or separate
Ina plan of Government drawn by Colonel
George Mason, andby him laid before Commit.
tee appointed by the convention [1776l for the
purpose of reporting on the subject, the articles
relating to the Legislative. stood as follows:
1. Let the Legislative be formed of two dis
t'nct branches, who together shall be acomplete
Legislature. They shall meet once or oftener
every year, and shall be called the General AS
sc blv of Virginia.
2. Let one of these be called the house of As.
sembly aud consist of two Delegates or Repre-
sentative', chosen for each county annually Of
such men as have resided n the same for one
year last past, are freeholde of the county. nos
sess an estate of inheritance oflands in Virginia
of at least one thousand pounds value, and are
upwards oftwenty four years OF age.
3. Let the other be called the Upper house of
Assembly, and consist of twenty four members.
let the different counties be divided into twenty
four districts, and each county of the respective
district, at the time OF the election ofits dele.
gates for the lower house, choose twelve depu.
! ties or sub electors, being freeholders residing
therein, and having an estate of inheritance OF
lands within the district of at least FIVE hundred
pounds value I; in case of dispute the qualfica.
tons to be determined by the ai,rity of the
said deputies. Let these deputies choose by
ballot one member of the Upper house of AS
sembly, who is freeholder of the district. has
been resident therein for one year last past.
possesses estate of inheritance of lands in yir
ginia, of at least two thousand pounds value,
and is upwards of twenty eight years of age
To keep up this assembly by rotation. let the
districts be equally divided into four classes and
numbered at the end of one year after the gene.
raj election. Let the six members elected by the
first division be displaced, rendered ineligible.
and the vacancies be. supplied in the manner a.
foresad Let this rotation be suppl ed to each
division, according to its number. and be contin.
ued in due order annually.
T. Let each house settle its own rules of pro-
ceedIng, d rect writs of election for supplying
intermediate vacancies And let the right Of
suffrage, both in the election of members for the
Lower house, and of deputies for the districts, be
extended 10 those having leases for land in which
there is an unexpifed term ofseven years, and to
every house-keeper who has resided for one year
last past in the county, and has been he father of
three children in this county.
5. Let all laws originate &c. &c.
or The alterations made by the Committee, OF,
by the convention, upon their REPORT in the a6oUe
articles Of Colonel Jhason's plan, are pointed ont BIZ
the eristing con 1tuti0n.
We have in our possession several other doeu.
mentS from the pen ofin1uental members of the
convention in l776. TheN all go to prove that
the parents ofthe constitution themselves were
far from looking on their offspring as free from
all mperfectIons. On the contrary, they seem
to have regarded it as plant of hasty growth
which, to cherish and bring to ma .urity, required
perlence end tune
SUNNI AIRY.
Want Of room preventing us from copyine the
whole Of the --latest foreign intelligence before us
we sketch the principal items of it,
The Pope cannot pay his troops-according
Austrian and British forces will o,,,a,.I ,3,.. ~