manner as the Legislature shall direct, to the completion of the Erie Canal Enlargement, and the Genesee Valley and Black River canals, until the said canals shall be completed.

If at any time after the period of eight years from the adoption of this Constitu. tion, the revenues of the State, unappropriated by this article, shall not be sufficient to defray the necessary expenses of the government, without continuing or laying a direct tax, the Legislature may, at its discretion, supply the deficiency, in whole or in part, from the surplus revenues of the canals, after complying with the provisions of the first two sections of this article, for paying the interest and extinguishing the principal of the Canal and General Fund debt; but the sum thus appropriated from the surplus revenues of the canals, shall not exceed annually three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, including the sum of two hundred thousand dollars, provided for by this section for the expenses of the government, until the General Fund debt shall be extinguished, or until the Erie Canal Enlargement and Genesee Valley and Black River Canals shall be completed, and after that debt shall be paid, or the said canal shall be completed, then the sum of six hundred and seventy-two thousand five hundred dollars, or so much thereof as shall be necessary, may be annually appropriated to defray the expenses of the government.

SEC. IV. The claims of the State against any incorporated company to pay the interest and redeem the principal of the stock of the State loaned or advanced to such company, shall be fairly enforced, and not released or compromised; and the moneys arising from such claims shall be set apart and applied as part of the sinking fund provided in the second section of this article. But the time limited for the fulfillment of any condition of any release or compromise heretofore made or provi ded for, may be extended by law.

SEC. V. If the sinking funds, or either of them, provided in this article, shall prove insufficient to enable the State, on the credit of such fund, to procure the means to satisfy the claims of the creditors of the State as they become payable, the Legislature shall, by equitable taxes, so increase the revenues of the said funds as to make them, respectively, sufficient perfectly to preserve the public faith. Every contribution or advance to the canals, or their debt, from any source, other than their direct revenues, shall, with quarterly interest, at the rates then current, be repaid into the Treasury, for the use of the State, out of the canal revenues, as soon as it can be done consistently with the just rights of the creditors holding the said canal debt.

SEC. VI. The Legislature shall not sell, lease or otherwise dispose of any of the canals of the State; but they shall remain the property of the State and under its management, forever.

SEC. VII. The Legislature shall never sell or dispose of the salt springs belonging to this State. The lands contiguous thereto, and which may be necessary and convenient for the use of the salt springs, may be sold by authority of law and under the direction of the commissioners of the land office, for the purpose of investing the moneys arising therefrom in other lands alike convenient; but by such sale and Purchase the aggregate quantity of these lands shall not be diminished.

SEC. VIII. No moneys shall ever be paid out of the Treasury of this State, or any of its funds, or any of the funds under its management, except in pursuance of an appropriation by law; nor unless such payment be made within two years next after the passage of such appropriation act; and every such law, making a new appropriation, or continuing or reviving an appropriation, shall distinctly specify the sum appropriated, and the object to which it is to be applied; and it shall not be sufficient for such law to refer to any other law to fix such sum.

SEC. IX. The credit of the State shall not, in any manner, be given or loaned to, or in aid of, any individual association or corporation.

SEC. X. The State may, to meet casual deficits or failures in revenues, or for expenses not provided for, contract debts, but such debts, direct and contingent, singly or in the aggregate, shall not at any time exceed one million of dollars; and the moneys arising from the loans creating such debts, shall be applied to the purpose for which they were obtained, or to repay the debt so contracted, and to no other purpose whatever.

SEC. XI. In addition to the above limited power to contract debts, the State may contract debts to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or defend the State in war; but the money arising from the contracting of such debts shall be applied to the purpose for which it was raised, or to repay such debts, and to no other purpose whatever.

SEC. XII. Except the debts specified in the tenth and eleventh sections of this article, no debt shall be hereafter contracted by or on behalf of this State, unless such debt shall be authorized by a law, for some single work or object, to be distinctly specified therein; and such law shall impose and provide for the collection of a direct annual tax to pay, and sufficient to pay, the interest on such debt as it falls due, and also to pay and discharge the principal of such debt within eighteen years from the time of the contracting thereof.

No such law shall take effect until it shall, at a general election, have been submitted to the people, and have received a majority of all the votes cast for and against it, at such election.

On the final passage of such bill in either house of the Legislature, the question shall be taken by ayes and noes, to be duly entered on the journals thereof, and shall be: “Shall this bill pass, and ought the same to receive the sanction of the people?" The Legislature may at any time, after the approval of such law by the people, if no debt shall have been contracted in pursuance thereof, repeal the same; and may at any time, by law, forbid the contracting of any further debt or liability under such law; but the tax imposed by such act, in proportion to the debt and liability which may have been contracted, in pursuance of such law, shall remain in force, and be irrepealable, and be annually collected, until the proceeds thereof shall have made the provision herein before specified to pay and discharge the interest and principal of such debt and liability.

The money arising from any loan or stock creating such debt or liability, shall be applied to the work or object specified in the act authorising such debt or liability, or for the re-payment of such debt or liability, and for no other purpose whatever.

No such law shall be submitted to be voted on, within three months after its passage, or at any general election, when any other law, or any bill, or any amendment to the Constitution, shall be submitted to be voted for or against.

SEC. XIII. Every law which imposes, continues or revives a tax, shall distinctly state the tax and the object to which it is to be applied; and it shall not be sufficient to refer to any other law to fix such tax or object.

SEC. XIV. On the final passage, in either house of the Legislature, 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, or releases, discharges, or commutes any claim or demand of the State, the question shall be taken by ayes and noes, which shall be duly entered on the journals, and three-fifths of all the members elected to either house, shall, in all such cases, be necessary to constitute a quorum therein.

ARTICLE VIII.

SECTION I. Corporations may be formed under general laws; but shall not be created by special act, except for municipal purposes, and in cases where in the judgment of the Legislature, the objects of the corporation cannot be attained under general laws. All general laws and special acts passed pursuant to this section, may be altered from time to time or repealed.

SEC. II. Dues from corporations shall be secured by such individual liability of the corporators and other means as may be prescribed by law.

And all corpo

SEC. III. The term corporations as used in this article, shall be construed to include all associations and joint-stock companies having any of the powers or privi leges of corporations not possessed by individuals or partnerships. rations shall have the right to sue and shall be subject to be sued like cases as natural persons.

in all courts in

SEC. IV. The Legislature shall have no power to pass any act granting any special charter for banking purposes; but corporations or associations may be formed for such purposes under general laws.

SEC. V. The Legislature shall have no power to pass any law sanctioning in any manner, directly or indirectly, the suspension of specie payments, by any person, association or corporation issuing bank notes of any description.

SEC. VI. The Legislature shall provide by law for the registry of all bills or notes, issued or put in circulation as money, and shall require ample security for the redemption of the same in specic.

SEC. VII. The stockholders in every corporation and joint-stock association for banking purposes, issuing bank notes or any kind of paper credits to circulate as money, after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and fifty, shall be individually responsible to the amount of their respective share or shares of stock in any such corporation or association, for all its debts and liabilities of every kind, contracted after the said first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and fifty.

SEC. VIII. In case of the insolvency of any bank or banking association, the bill

holders thereof shall be entitled to preference in payment, over all other creditors of such bank or association.

SEC. IX. It shall be the duty of the Legislature to provide for the organization of cities and incorporated villages, and to restrict their power of taxation, assessment, borrowing money, contracting debts, and loaning their credit, so as to prevent abuses in assessments, and in contracting debt by such municipal corporations.

ARTICLE IX.

SECTION I. The capital of the Common School Fund; the capital of the Literature Fund, and the capital of the United States Deposit Fund, shall be respectively preserved inviolate. The revenue of the said Common School Fund shall be applied to the support of common schools; the revenues of the said Literature Fund shall be applied to the support of academies; and the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars of the revenues of the United States Deposit Fund shall each year be appropriated to and made a part of the capital of the said Common School Fund.

ARTICLE X.

SECTION I. Sheriffs, Clerks of counties, including the Register and Clerk of the city and county of New-York, Coroners, and District Attorneys, shall be chosen by the electors of the respective counties, once in every three years, and as often as vacancies shall happen. Sheriffs shall hold no other office, and be ineligible for the next three years after the termination of their offices. They may be required by law, to renew their security, from time to time; and in default of giving such new security, their offices shall be deemed vacant. But the county shall never be made responsible for the acts of the Sheriff.

The Governor may remove any officer in this section mentioned, within the term for which he shall have been elected; giving to such officer a copy of the charges against him, and an opportunity of being heard in his defense.

SEC. II. All county officers whose election or appointment is not provided for by this Constitution, shall be elected by the electors of the respective counties, or appointed by the Boards of Supervisors, or other county authorities, as the Legisla ture shall direct. All city, town, and village officers, whose election or appointment is not provided for by this Constitution, shall be elected by the electors of such cities, towns, and villages, or of some division thereof, or appointed by such authorities, thereof, as the Legislature shall designate for that purpose. All other officers whose election or appointment is not provided for by this Constitution, and all officers whose offices may hereafter be created by law, shall be elected by the people, or appointed, as the Legislature may direct.

SEC. III. When the duration of any office is not provided by this Constitution, it may be declared by law; and if not so declared, such office shall be held during the pleasure of the authority making the appointment.

SEC. IV. The time of electing all officers named in this article shall be prescribed by law.

SEC. V. The Legislature shall provide for filling vacancies in office, and in case

of elective officers, no person appointed to fill a vacancy shall hold his office, by vir tue of such appointment, longer than the commencement of the political year next succeeding the first annual election after the happening of the vacancy.

SEC. VI. The political year and Legislative term, shall begin on the first day of January; and the Legislature shall every year assemble on the first Tuesday in January, unless a different day shall be appointed by law.

SEC. VII. Provisions shall be made by law for the removal for misconduct or malversation in office of all officers (except judicial) whose powers and duties are not local or Legislative, and who shall be elected at general elections, and also for supplying vacancies created by such removal.

SEC. VIII. The Legislature may declare the cases in which any office shall be deemed vacant, where no provision is made for that purpose in this Constitution.

ARTICLE XI.

SECTION I. The militia of this State shall at all times hereafter, be armed and disciplined, and in readiness for service; but all such inhabitants of this State of any religious denomination whatever, as from scruples of conscience may be averse to bearing arms, shall be excused therefrom, upon such conditions as shall be prescribed by law.

SEC. II. Militia officers shall be chosen, or appointed, as follows: captains, subalterns, and non-commissioned officers, shall be chosen by the written votes of the members of their respective companies. Field officers of regiments and separate battalions, by the written votes of the commissioned officers of the respective regiments and separate battalions; brigadier-generals and brigade inspectors, by the field officers of their respective brigades; major-generals, brigadier-generals, and commanding officers of regiments or separate battalions, shall appoint the staff officers to their respective divisions, brigades, regiments, or separate battalions.

SEC. III. The Governor shall nominate, and with the consent of the Senate, appoint all major generals, and the commissary general. The adjutant general, and other chiefs of staff departments, and the aids-de-camp of the commander-in-chief shall be appointed by the Governor, and their commissions shall expire with the time for which the Governor shall have been elected. The commissary general shall hold his office for two years. He shall give security for the faithful execution of the duties of his office, in such manner and amount as shall be prescribed by law. SEC. IV. The Legislature shall, by law, direct the time and manner of electing militia officers, and of certifying their elections to the Governor.

SEC. V. The commissioned officers of the militia shall be commissioned by the Governor; and no commissioned officer shall be removed from office, unless by the Senate, on the recommendation of the Governor, stating the grounds on which such removal is recommended, or by the decision of a court martial, pursuant to law. The present officers of the militia shall hold their commissions subject to removal, as before provided.

SEC. VI. In case the mode of election and appointment of militia officers hereby