to causes in which the amount in controversy shall not exceed fifty dollars. And in all cases tried by a justice of the peace, right of appeal shall be secured, under such rules and regulations as shall be prescribed by law.

9. The judges of the several courts of this state shall hold their offices during good behaviour. And for wilful neglect of duty, or other reasonable cause, which shall not be sufficient ground for an impeachment, the governor shall remove any of them on the address of two-thirds of each house of the general assembly: Provided, however, that the cause or causes for which such removal shall be required, shall be stated at length in such address, and on the journals of each house; and provided further, that the judge so intended to be removed shall be notified, and admitted to a hearing in his own defence, before any vote for such address shall pass.

10. No person who shall have arrived at the age of sixty-five years shall be appointed to, or continue in, the office of judge in this state.

11. Each court shall appoint its own clerk, who shall hold his office during good behaviour, but shall be removable therefrom for neglect of duty, or misdemeanour in office, by the supreme court, which court shall determine both the law and the fact: Provided, that the clerk so appointed shall have been a resident of the county in which he is clerk, at least six months previous to his appointment.

12. The judges of the supreme and superior court shall, by virtue of their office, be conservators of the peace throughout the state.

13. The style of all process shall be "the State of Mississippi," and all prosecutions shall be carried on in the name and by the authority of "the state of Mississippi," and shall conclude "against the peace and dignity of the same."

14. There shall be an attorney-general for the state, and as many district attorneys as the general assembly may deem necessary, who shall hold their offices for the term of four years, and shall receive for their services a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.

Impeachments.

§ 1. The house of representatives shall have the sole power of impeaching.

2. All impeachments shall be tried by the senate; when sitting for that purpose, the senators shall be on oath or affirmation: No person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present.

3. The governor and all civil officers shall be liable to impeachment for any misdemeanour in office; but judgment, in such cases, shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold any office of honour, trust, or profit under the state; but the party convicted shall, nevertheless, be liable and subject to indictment, trial, and punishment, according to law, as in other cases.

ARTICLE 6.

General Provisions.

§ 1. Members of the general assembly and all officers, executive and judicial, before they enter on the execution of their respective

offices, shall take the following oath or affirmation, to wit: "I solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be) that I will support the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the state of Mississippi, so long as I continue a citizen thereof, and that I will faithfully discharge, to the best of my abilities, the duties of the office of according to

law. So help me God."

2. The general assembly shall have power to pass such penal laws to suppress the evil practice of duelling, extending to disqualification from office or the tenure thereof, as they may deem expedient.

3. Treason against the state shall consist only in levying war against it, or in adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or his own confession in open court.

4. Every person shall be disqualified from holding an office or place of honour, or profit, under the authority of this state, who shall be convicted of having given or offered any bribe to procure his election.

5. Laws shall be made to exclude from office, and from suffrage, those who shall thereafter be convicted of bribery, perjury, forgery, or other high crimes or misdemeanours. The privilege of free suffrage shall be supported by laws regulating elections, and prohibiting, under adequate penalties, all undue influence thereon, from power, bribery, tumult, or other improper conduct.

6. No person who denies the being of a God, or a future state of rewards and punishments, shall hold any office in the civil department of this state.

7. Ministers of the gospel, being by their profession dedicated to God, and the care of souls, ought not to be diverted from the great duties of their functions; therefore, no minister of the gospel, or priest of any denomination whatever, shall be eligible to the office of governor, lieutenant-governor, or to a seat in either branch of the general assembly.

8. No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of an appropriation made by law, nor shall any appropriation of money, for the support of an army, be made for a longer term than one year: and a regular statement and account of the receipts and expenditures of all public money shall be published annually.

9. No bank shall be incorporated by the legislature without the reservation of a right to subscribe for, in behalf of the state, at least onefourth part of the capital stock thereof, and the appointment of a proportion of the directors equal to the stock subscribed for.

10. The general assembly shall pass no law impairing the obligation of contracts, prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and twentyone, on account of the rate of interest, fairly agreed on in writing between the contracting parties, for a bona fide loan of money; but they shall have power to regulate the rate of interest where no special contract exists in relation thereto.

11. The general assembly shall direct by law in what manner, and in what courts, suits may be brought against the state.

12. All officers of the state, the term of whose appointment is not otherwise directed by this constitution, shall hold their offices during good behaviour.

13. Absence on business of this state or of the United States, or on

a visit, or necessary private business, shall not cause a forfeiture of a residence once obtained.

14. It shall be the duty of the general assembly to regulate by law the cases in which deductions shall be made from the salaries of public officers for the neglect of duty in their official capacity, and the amount of such deduction.

15. No member of congress, nor any person holding any office of profit, or trust, under the United States, or either of them, the office of postmaster excepted, or under any foreign power, shall hold or exercise any office of trust, or profit, under this state.

16. Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government, the preservation of liberty, and the happiness of mankind— schools, or the means of education, shall for ever be encouraged in this state.

17. Divorces from the bonds of matrimony shall not be granted, but in cases provided by law, by suit in chancery: Provided, that no decree for such divorce shall have effect until the same shall be sanctioned by two-thirds of both branches of the general assembly.

18. Returns of all elections by the people, shall be made to the secretary of the state.

19. No new county shall be established by the general assembly, which shall reduce the county or counties of either of them, from which it may be taken, to a less content than five hundred and seventysix square miles; nor shall any new county be laid off of less contents.

20. That the general assembly shall take measures to preserve from unnecessary waste or damage such lands as are or may hereafter be granted by the United States for the use of schools, within each township in this state, and apply the funds which may be raised from such lands, by rent or lease, in strict conformity to the object of such grant; but no lands granted for the use of such township schools shall ever be sold by any authority in this state.

Slaves.

§ 1. The general assembly shall have no power to pass laws for the emancipation of slaves without the consent of their owners, unless where a slave shall have rendered to the state some distinguished service, in which case the owner shall be paid a full equivalent for the slave so emancipated. They shall have no power to prevent emigrants to this state from bringing with them such persons as are deemed slaves by the laws of any one of the United States, so long as any person of the same age or description shall be continued in slavery by the laws of this state: Provided, that such person or slave be the bona fide property of such emigrants and provided, also, laws may be passed to prohibit the introduction into the state of slaves who have committed high crimes in other states. They shall have power to pass laws to permit the owners of slaves to emancipate them, saving the rights of creditors, and preventing them from becoming a public charge. They shall have full power to prevent slaves from being brought into this state as merchandise, and also to oblige the owners of slaves to treat them with humanity, to provide for them necessary clothing and provisions, to abstain from all injuries to them extending to life or limb, and, in case of their neglect or

refusal to comply with the directions of such laws, to have such slave or slaves sold for the benefit of the owner or owners.

2. In the prosecution of slaves for crimes, no inquest by a grand jury shall be necessary, but the proceedings in such cases shall be regulated by law except that, in capital cases, the general assembly shall have no power to deprive them of an impartial trial by a petit jury.

Mode of Revising the Constitution.

That, whenever two-thirds of the general assembly shall deem it necessary to amend or change this constitution, they shall recommend to the electors, at the next election for members of the general assembly, to vote for or against a convention; and if it shall appear that a majority of the citizens of the state, voting for representatives, have voted for a convention, the general assembly shall, at their next session, call a convention, to consist of as many members as there may be in the general assembly, to be chosen by the qualified electors, in the manner, and at the times and places of choosing members of the general assembly, which convention shall meet within three months after the said election, for the purpose of revising, amending, or changing the constitution.

SCHEDULE.

§ 1. That no inconvenience may arise from a change of territorial to a permanent state government, it is declared that all rights, actions, prosecutions, claims, and contracts, as well of individuals as of bodies corporate, shall continue as if no such change had taken place.

2. All fines, penalties, forfeitures, and escheats, accruing to the Mississippi territory, within the limits of this state, shall inure to the use of the state.

3. The validity of all bonds and recognizances, executed to the governor of the Mississippi territory, shall not be impaired by the change of government, but may be sued for and recovered in the name of the governor of the state of Mississippi, and his successors in office; and all criminal or penal actions, arising or now depending within the limits of this state, shall be prosecuted to judgment and execution, in the name of the said state. All causes of action arising to individuals, and all suits at law, or in equity, now depending in the several courts within the limits of this state, and not already barred by law, may be commenced in, or transferred to, such court as may have jurisdiction thereof. Bonds, recognizances, and other papers and writings, properly belonging to the eastern section of the Mississippi territory, not comprised within the limits of this state, shall be transferred to the offices to which they severally belong.

4. All officers, civil and military, now holding commissions under the authority of the United States, or of the Mississippi territory, within this state, shall continue to hold and exercise their respective offices, under the authority of this state, until they shall be superseded under the authority of this constitution; and shall receive from the treasury of this state the same compensation which they heretofore received for their services, in proportion to the time they shall be so employed. The governor shall have power to fill vacancies by commissions, to expire so

soon as elections or appointments can be made to such office, by the authority of this constitution.

5. All laws and parts of laws, now in force in the Mississippi territory, and not repugnant to the provisions of this constitution, shall continue and remain in force as the laws of this state, until they expire by their own limitation, or shall be altered or repealed by the legislature thereof.

6. Every free white male person, above the age of twenty-one years, who shall be a citizen of the United States, and resident in this state at the time of the adoption of this constitution, shall be deemed a qualified elector, at the first election to be held in this state, any thing in the constitution to the contrary notwithstanding.

7. The president of this convention shall issue writs of election, directed to the sheriffs of the several counties, requiring them to cause an election to be held for a governor, lieutenant-governor, representative to the congress of the United States, members of the general assembly, and sheriffs of the respective counties, at the respective places of election, in said counties, except in the county of Warren, in which county the election shall be held at the court-house, instead of the place provided by law, on the first Monday and the day following in September next; which elections shall be conducted in the manner prescribed by the existing election laws of the Mississippi territory, and the said governor, lieutenant-governor, and members of the general assembly, then duly elected, shall continue to discharge the duties of their respective offices for the time prescribed by this constitution, and until their successors be duly qualified.

8. Until the first enumeration shall be made, as directed by this constitution, the county of Warren shall be entitled to one representative, the county of Claiborne to two representatives, the county of Jefferson to two representatives, the county of Adams to four representatives, the county of Franklin to one representative, the county of Wilkinson to three representatives, the county of Amite to three representatives, the county of Pike to two representatives, the county of Lawrence to one representative, the county of Marion to one representative, the county of Hancock to one representative, the county of Green to one representative, the county of Wayne to one representative, the county of Jackson to one representative. The counties of Warren and Claiborne shall be entitled to one senator, the county of Adams to one senator, the county of Jefferson to one senator, the county of Wilkinson to one senator, the county of Amite to one senator, the counties of Franklin and Pike to one senator, the counties of Lawrence, Marion, and Hancock, to one senator, the counties of Green, Wayne, and Jackson, to one

senator.

9. The governor may appoint and commission an additional judge, or one of the former judges of the superior court, whose commission shall expire so soon as appointments can be made under the constitution. It shall be the duty of the judge so appointed, or one of the former territoral judges, to hold superior courts in the counties of Jackson, Greene, Wayne, and Hancock, at the time heretofore prescribed by law : Provided, that, if either of the former territorial judges, in addition to his duty in the western counties, perform such duty, and no additional judge be appointed, he shall receive an extra compensation, proportioned