The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-31

any other offcer administering the of- flee of Governor 1t shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to Immediately notify the Speaker of the House, wno shall, within ten days after receipt or such notice. notify the members or the House by publication in some newspa- per published at the Capitol. to assem- ble at the Capital on a day to be nxeo by the Speaker, not later than fifteen days after the receipt of the notice from the Secretary of State. to con- slider the impeachment of the Cover nor. Lieutenant-Governo or other ofn- cer administering the office of Gover- nor. If the House of Representatives prefer Articles of Impeachment, the Speaker of the House shall immediate ly notify the Lieutenent-Governor un- less he be impeached. and in that event the officer next in succession to him, who shall, in like manner, notify the members of the Senate to assemble at the Capital. on a day to be fixed in said. notice, not later than ten days af- ter the receipt of the notice from the | Speaker; and the Senate, when thus or ganized shall hear and try such Arr ticles of Impeachment against the Gov | ernor, Lieutenant-Governor or other officer exercising the powers of the of- flee, as may be presented by the House Of Representatives.
 The President pro tem-The question | win be upon the amendment offered by | the gentleman from Montgomery. M:. Jones tMontsomery)-I do not suppose that there Is anything in the objects of the amendment which will be objectionable to the Committee on | 1mpeachments. will state that l was not here when that Article was dis cussed, or I would have offered 1t then. The amendment has been submitted to the Committee on order, Consist ency and Harmony, and while they do not feel at liberty to approve 1t, they do not disapprove 1t, and have no ob- 1ection to 1t. The purpose of the | amendment Is this: It has been irre- vocably fixed by this Convention that the Legislature will not ordinarily be | in session more than once in four years, and the object of the amendment Is to authorize the peoples representatives, | 1T some emergency should arise, to have some power to call the Governor, or | person exercising the office of Governor 1 to account. We all remember some years ago in North Carolina that Gov ernor Holden of that State called out the militia, declared martial law. de- | fled the Supreme Court, and acted as l a tyrant for nearly eighteen months. 
 the Legislature could constitutionnlly meet to impeach him. When the Leg islature met, it did impeaeh Governor Holden and removed him from off1ce. We hope that nothing of that sort will ever occur in our State, but we are framing a Constitution to meet con | tirgencies, and 1t seems wise, therefore, to have some such power resting some- where. I have provided, first, 70 have the call by majority of the members elected to the House of Representa- tives t.nd not to have the Senate called together in the first instance, because the Senate would have no necessity to meet unless Articles of Impeachment were preferred. and 1t was not the pur- pose to put the State to the expense of having the Senate meet If the House | failed to prefer Articles of Impeach- ment. It is all confined to the conting- Hncy of the misconduct of officers ex- ercising the powers of Governor. The reason for that is that if any other officer should commit an impeachable offense that was a great scandal, the Governor would have the power to call d.: extra session for that purpose. I d1 not desire to take up the time of the Convention in further discussing the amendment, but 1t seems to me l.iat :. wllI GO away with one objection that has been urged with great force against quadrennial sessions, and it will satisfy the people that they have some oversight of their Executive Officer during these four years if the occasion should arise for it to be exercised, and therefore hope it will be adopted.
 N''. Hocd-This is a very radical de- parture. No Committee has had an ,pYo- unity of looking into this matter. IL is sprung here in these last days of the Convention, and the Convention has not proper opportunity of looking into the wisdom of this amendment I
 therefore move to lay 1t on the table.
 The President pro tem-The gentle man from Etowah moves to lay the amendment on the table.
 MT. Jones CMontgomery)-On that I call for the ayes and noe&.
 MT. Coleman (Greene)-I call for the reading of the amendment
 The amendment was read again.
 The President pro tem-The gentle
 man from Montgomery calls for an aye and nay vote. Is the call sustained?
 The call was sustained.
 The call of the roll resulted as fol-
 lows:
 AYES