18. The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Judges, and all others offending against the State, by mal-administration, corruption, neglect of duty, or other high crime or misdemeanor, shall be impeachable by the House of Delegates, and be prosecuted before the Senate, which shall have the sole power to try impeachments. When sitting for that purpose, they shall be on oath or affirmation; and no person shall be convicted, without the concurrence of twothirds of the members present. Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the Commonwealth; but the party convicted shall nevertheless be subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment, according to law. The Senate may sit during the recess of the General Assembly for the trial of impeachments.

SLAVES AND FREE NEGROES.

19. Slaves hereafter emancipated shall forfeit their freedom by remaining in the Commonwealth more than twelve months after they become actually free, and shall be reduced to slavery, under such regulations as may be prescribed by law.

20. The General Assembly may impose such restrictions and conditions as they shall deem proper on the power of slave owners to emancipate their slaves; and may pass laws for the relief of the Commonwealth from the free negro population by removal or other

wise.

21. The General Assembly shall not emancipate any slave, or the descendant of any slave, either before or after the birth of such descendant.

ΤΑΧΑΤΙΟΝ AND FINANCE.

22. Taxation shall be equal and uniform throughout the Commonwealth, and all property, other than slaves, shall be taxed in proportion to its value, which shall be ascertained in such manner as may be prescribed by law.

23. Every slave who has attained the age of twelve years shall be assessed with a tax equal to and not exceeding that assessed on land of the value of three hundred dollars. Slaves under that age shall not be subject to taxation; and other taxable property may be exempted from taxation, by the vote of a majority of the whole number of members elected to each house of the General Assembly.

24. A capitation tax, equal to the tax assessed on land of the value of two hundred dollars, shall be levied on every white male inhabitant who has attained the age of twenty-one years; and one equal moiety of the capitation tax upon white persons, shall be applied to the purposes of education in primary and free schools; but nothing herein contained shall prevent exemptions of taxable polls in cases of bodily infirmity.

25. The General Assembly may levy a tax on incomes, salaries

and licenses; but no tax shall be levied on property from which any income so taxed is derived, or on the capital invested in the trade or business in respect to which the license so taxed is issued.

26. No money shall be drawn from the treasury but in pursuance of appropriations made by law; and a statement of the receipts, disbursements, appropriations and loans shall be published after the adjournment of each session of the General Assembly, with the acts and resolutions thereof.

27. On the passage of every act which imposes, continues, or revives a tax, or creates a debt or charge, or makes, continues or revives any appropriation of public or trust money or property, releases, discharges, or commutes any claim or demand of the State, the vote shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the same shall be entered on the journals of the respective houses, and a majority of all the members elected to each house shall be necessary to give it the force of a law.

28. The liability to the State of any incorporated company or institution, to redeem the principal and pay the interest of any loan heretofore made, or which may hereafter be made, by the State, to such company or institution, shall not be released; and the General Assembly shall not pledge the faith of the State, or bind it in any form, for the debts or obligations of any company or corporation.

29. There shall be set apart annually, from the accruing revenue, a sum equal to seven per cent. of the State debt existing on the first day of January in the year one thousand eight hundred and fiftytwo. The fund thus set apart shall be called the Sinking Fund, and shall be applied to the payment of the interest of the State debt, and the principal of such part as may be redeemable. If no part be redeemable, then the residue of the Sinking Fund, after the payment of such interest, shall be invested in the bonds or certificates of debt of this Commonwealth, or of the United States, or of some of the States of this Union, and applied to the payment of the State debt, as it shall become redeemable. Whenever, after the said first day of January, a debt shall be contracted by the Commonwealth, there shall be set apart in like manner, annually, for thirty-four years, a sum exceeding by one per cent. the aggregate annual interest agreed to be paid thereon, at the time contracted, which sum shall be part of the Sinking Fund, and shall be applied in the manner before directed. The General Assembly shall not otherwise appropriate any part of the Sinking Fund or its accruing interest, except in time of war, insurrection or invasion.

30. The General Assembly may, at any time, direct a sale of the stocks held by the Commonwealth in internal improvement and other companies; but the proceeds of such sale, if made before the payment of the public debt, shall constitute a part of the Sinking Fund and be applied in like manner.

31. The General Assembly shall not contract loans or cause to be

issued certificates of debt or bonds of the State, irredeemable for a period greater than thirty-four years.

GENERAL PROVISIONS.

32. The General Assembly shall not grant a charter of incorporation to any church or religious denomination, but may secure the title to church property to an extent to be limited by law.

33. No lottery shall hereafter be authorized by law, and the buying, selling or transferring of tickets or chances in any lottery not now authorized by a law of this State, shall be prohibited.

34. No new county shall be formed with an area less than six hundred square miles; nor shall the county or counties from which it is formed be reduced below that area; nor shall any county, having a white population less than five thousand, be deprived of more than one-fifth of such population; nor shall a county having a larger white population be reduced below four thousand. But any county, the length of which is three times its mean breadth, or which exceeds fifty miles in length, may be divided at the discretion of the General Assembly. In all general elections the voters in any county, not entitled to separate representation, shall vote in the same election district.

35. The General Assembly shall confer on the courts the power to grant divorces, change the names of persons, and direct the sale of estates belonging to infants and other persons under legal disabilities, but shall not, by special legislation, grant relief in such cases, or in any other case of which the courts or other tribunals may have jurisdiction.

36. The General Assembly shall provide for the periodical registration in the several counties, cities and towns, of the voters therein, and for the annual registration of the births, marriages and deaths. in the white population, and of the births and deaths in the colored population of the same, distinguishing between the numbers of free colored persons and slaves.

37. The General Assembly, at intervals of five years from the dates of the returns of the census of the United States, shall cause to be taken a census and such statistics of this State as may be prescribed by law; which census and statistics shall be returned to the Secretary of the Commonwealth, who shall compare and correct the returns and report the same to the General Assembly.

38. The manner of conducting and making returns of elections, of determining contested elections, and of filling vacancies in office, in cases not specially provided for by this Constitution, shall be prescribed by law; but special elections to fill vacancies in the office of Judge of any court shall be for a full term. And the General Assembly may declare the cases in which any office shall be deemed vacant, when no provision is made for that purpose in this Constitution.

ARTICLE V.-Executive Department.

GOVERNOR.

1. The Chief Executive power of this Commonwealth shall be vested in a Governor. He shall hold the office for the term of four years, to commence on the day of next succeeding his election, and be ineligible to the same office for the term next succeeding that for which he was elected, and to any other office during his term of service.

2. The Governor shall be elected by the voters, at the times and places of choosing members of the General Assembly. Returns of the election shall be transmitted, under seal, by the proper officers to the Secretary of the Commonwealth, who shall deliver them to the Speaker of the House of Delegates, on the first day of the next session of the General Assembly. The Speaker of the House of Delegates shall within one week thereafter, in the presence of a majority of the Senate and House of Delegates, open the said returns, and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the highest number of votes shall be declared elected; but if two or more shall have the highest and an equal number of votes, one of them shall be chosen Governor by the joint vote of the two houses of the General Assembly. Contested elections for Governor shall be decided by a like vote, and the mode of proceeding in such cases shall be prescribed by law.

3. No person shall be eligible to the office of Governor unless he has attained the age of thirty years, is a native citizen of the United States, and has been a citizen of Virginia for five years next preceding his election.

4. The Governor shall reside at the seat of Government; shall receive five thousand dollars for each year of his service, and, while in office, shall receive no other emolument from this or any other government.

5. He shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed; communicate to the General Assembly at every session the condition of the Commonwealth; recommend to their consideration such measures as he may deem expedient; and convene the General Assembly on application of a majority of the members of both houses thereof, or when in his opinion the interest of the Commonwealth may require it. He shall be commander in chief of the land and naval forces of the State; have power to embody the militia to repel invasion, suppress insurrection and enforce the execution of the laws; conduct, either in person or in such other manner as shall be prescribed by law, all intercourse with other and foreign States; and, during the recess of the General Assembly, fill pro tempore all vacancies in those offices for which the Constitution and laws make no provision: but his appointments to such vacancies shall be by commissions to expire at the end of thirty days after the commencement of the next session of the General Assembly. He shall have

power to remit fines and penalties, in such cases and under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by law; and, except when the prosecution has been carried on by the House of Delegates, or the law shall otherwise particularly direct, to grant reprieves and pardons after conviction, and to commute capital punishment. But he shall communicate to the General Assembly at each session, the particulars of every case of fine or penalty remitted, of reprieve or pardon granted and of punishment commuted, with his reasons for remitting, granting or commuting the

same.

6. He may require information in writing from the officers in the Executive department upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices; and may also require the opinion in writing of the Attorney General upon any question of law connected with his official duties.

7. Commissions and grants shall run in the name of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and be attested by the Governor with the seal of the Commonwealth annexed.

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR.

8. A Lieutenant Governor shall be elected at the same time, and for the same term, as the Governor: and his qualification and the manner of his election in all respects shall be the same.

9. In case of the removal of the Governor from office, or of his death, failure to qualify, resignation, removal from the State, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the office, the said office, with its compensation, shall devolve upon the Lieutenant Governor; and the General Assembly shall provide by law for the discharge of the Executive functions in other necessary cases.

10. The Lieutenant Governor shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote; and while acting as such, shall receive a compensation equal to that allowed to the Speaker of the House of Delegates.

SECRETARY OF THE COMMONWEALTH, TREASURER AND AUDITOR.

11. A Secretary of the Commonwealth, Treasurer and an Auditor of Public Accounts shall be elected by the joint vote of the two houses of the General Assembly, and continue in office for the term of two years, unless sooner removed.

12. The Secretary shall keep a record of the official acts of the Governor, which shall be signed by the Governor and attested by the Secretary; and when required, he shall lay the same, and any papers, minutes and vouchers pertaining to his office, before either house of the General Assembly; and shall perform such other duties as may be prescribed by law.

13. The powers and duties of the Treasurer and Auditor shall be such as now are, or may be hereafter prescribed by law.