He proceed to elect one officer at a time. thought the rules ought to apply, with special strictness, to everything connected with the organization of the Convention. The PRESIDENT said, he knew of no rule that would prohibit the election of more than one officer at a time. Mr. NAVE modified his amendment, proposing to insert instead of the word "two," the word "one." Mr. KILGORE suggested that such an amendment would be incongruous with the latter part of the resolution. Mr. NAVE said, that in order to perfect the original resolution more readily, he would withdraw his amendment, so as to give place to the amendment of the gentleman from Floyd, (Mr, Kent,) still expressing his preference, however. for a viva voce vote. Mr. FOSTER proposed to amend the amendment of the gentleman from Floyd, by adding the words "two Assistant Secretaries, one Doorkeeper, and one Sergeant-at-Arms by a viva voce vote, in the order in which they are named." The amendment to the amendment was rejected. Mr. READ, of Clark, moved that the Con- amendment by adding the words: "by a viva voce Mr. KILGORE proposed to amend the vention adjourn. Mr. KILGORE and Mr. KELSO demanded the yeas and nays upon the motion to adjourn. Mr. BORDEN desired to know to what hour the Convention would adjourn under this motion. The PRESIDENT: The rules adopted by the resolution of this afternoon, fix the hour at 9 o'clock to-morrow morning. The yeas and nays were then taken by the Secretary of State, who reported-yeas 37, nays 109; so the Convention again refused to adjourn. He Mr. RITCHIE rose and, stated that he had come up to the Convention to-day at a great sacrifice of feeling, on account of the indisposition of his son, and this would have to be his apology for returning home to-morrow. came up merely to assist in the organization; and he wished to see the Convention organized to-night if possible. He hoped they would proceed with the election of the officers of the Convention, either by adopting the mode proposed by the gentleman from Hendricks, (Mr. Nave,) or by ballot. He rather thought, from the votes of some gentlemen, that they desired to adjourn in order that some action or some understanding might be had upon this subject, out of the Hall. He was in the habit of subscribing to the doctrine of caucuses, and if the Democratic party thought proper to caucus, he should be pleased to vote to adjourn for that purpose; but if not, he should prefer to proceed to the proper business of the Convention. He saw the names of a number of gentlemen placed before the body as candidates for the different places to be filled, and he believed that almost any one of the candidates for the Secretaryship, would make a good Secretary. He was not acquainted with any of them, and he should neither regret or rejoice much at the defeat or success of any. He believed that in most cases an election might be made on the first ballot. Mr. KENT proposed to amend the original resolution by striking out all after the word "resolved," and inserting the following: "That the Convention proceed now to the election of a Principal Secretary.” vote;" which was also rejected. The question being taken on Mr. KENT'S amendment, it was agreed to, and the resolution, as amended, was adopted. Mr. KILGORE moved the adoption of the following: Resolved, That in the election of Secretary, and other officers of the Convention, the vote be taken viva voce. Mr. KELSO remarked that a proposition of that kind had been already voted down by the Convention. this to be exactly the same proposition. It Mr. KILGORE said, he did not understand contemplated the manner of the election of officers besides the Secretary. Mr. EDMONSTON moved to lay the resolution and amendments upon the table; but, before the motion was entertained by the Chair Mr. PETTIT interposed another motion for adjournment; and the yeas and nays being demanded upon this motion by Mr. KILGORE and Mr. ROBINSON, they were taken by the Secretary of State, who reported - yeas 53, nays 91. So the Convention again refused to adjourn. Mr. READ, of Clark, enquired: Whether, under the resolution just passed, the Convention was not compelled to go into the election of Principal Secretary immediately, unless that order was arrested by an adjournment. The PRESIDENT replied affirmatively; but he added: That he understood that it was still competent for the body to prescribe the manner of voting, and, therefore, he had entertained the motion of the gentleman from Dela ware. Mr. KILGORE said, that in order to accomodate the views of gentlemen he would withdraw his proposition. The Convention then proceeded to the election of a Principal Secretary; Mr. BIDDLE and Mr. KENT acting as tellers. The votes taken, the Secretary of State reported the result of three ballotings as follows: Wm. H. English, 76 66 47 64 27 41 ་ 20 15* 14 9* 9 6 12 5* Benj. F. Myers, 4 John W. Spencer, Scattering, *The names of Jas. S. Buckles, And. J. Boone, and Geo. L. Sites, were severally withdrawn upon the determination of the 2d balloting. The whole number of votes cast upon each ballot was 145—73 ballots being necessary to -constitute an election, and it appearing, upon the determination of the third ballot that Wm. H. English, of the county of Scott, had received a majority of all the votes cast, he was declared to be duly elected to the office of Principal Secretary of the Convention, to serve in that capacity during the existence of the body. And, therefore, Mr. English being called, came forward and, being duly sworn by the Hon. ISAAC BLACKFORD, the Senior Judge of the Supreme Court of Indiana, proceeded to the discharge of the duties of his office. er. 1st Ballot. 2d Ballot. 3d Ballot. | the consideration of the subject and decide up- Mr. KILGORE moved to refer the election of the residue of the officers of the Convention to a select committee; pending which motion, at 40 minutes past 4 o'clock, on motion of Mr. WOLF, the Convention adjourned. TUESDAY MORNING, Oct. 8th., 1850. Mr. EDMUND D. TAYLOR, a delegate from the county of Laporte, appeared, produced his credentials and, being duly sworn by the Hon. ISAAC BLACKFORD, took his seat. Mr. BORDEN introduced the following resolution: Resolved, That Robert M. Evans, Herman G. Barkwell, and George L. Sites, be, and they are hereby appointed Assistant Secretaries to this Convention. Mr. ROBINSON moved the following as a substitute: Resolved, That in the opinion of this Convention one Principal and one Assistant Secretary will be amply sufficient to discharge all the duties growing out of the action of the Convention; and that the Convention now proceed to the election of one Assistant Secretary, and no more, who, together with the Principal Secretary elect, shall discharge the duties of Secretaries to this Convention. Mr. ROBINSON said, that he had offered his amendment because he believed it to be right and proper that such a provision should be adopted. He thought himself sufficiently experienced in legislation to be able to decide cor The question being upon the amendment of fered by the gentleman from Decatur, (Mr.rectly in regard to this matter. He affirmed Robinson,) Mr. BORDEN remarked, that as another proposition had been submitted upon this subject, he supposed the Convention could proceed to that there would not be one half the labor devolving upon the Secretaries of this body that was required to be performed by the clerks of any legislative body sitting the same length of Haddon, Holliday, Hamilton, Harbolt, Hardin, Helmer, Hendricks, Holman, Hovey, Howe, Huff, Johnson, Kelso, Kent, Kendall of Warren, Kindly, Lockhart, March, Mathers, May, McClelland, McFarland, McLean, Miller of Clinton, Miller of Gibson, Miller of Fulton, Milligan, Millroy, Mooney, Moore, Morrison of Marion, Mowrer, Murray, Nave, Newman, Niles, Nofsinger, Owen, Pepper of Ohio, Pettit, Rariden, Read of Clark, Read of Monroe, Ristine, Schoonover, Shannon, Sherrod, Shoup, Sims, Smiley, Snook, Smith of Ripley, Smith of Scott, Spann, Tague, Tannehill, Taylor, Trembly, Vanbenthusen, Wallace, Wheeler, Wiley, Wolf, Work, Wunderlich, Yocum, Zenor, and Mr. President—100. time. He thought the experience of the Chair would amply confirm and corroborate this assertion. Besides it was manifest that the duty of the Assistant Secretaries was nearly all included simply in copying the journal of the Convention. It might be that the journal of this body would be swelled to some considerable extent; but the final result of the labors of the Convention, when it should all come to be condensed, arranged and printed, would hardly compose so large a volume of matter, as one of our ordinary corporation bills. The clerical labor of the Convention would consist chiefly in preparing and copying the journal, and in reading; whilst every year, in the Legislature, there were prepared and carried through all the forms of reading, engrossment, and enrollment, NAYS-Allen, Badger, Ballingall, Barbour, some twenty-five or thirty of those large cor- Beard, Biddle, Blythe, Brookbank, Bryant, Butporation bills; and this was the reason why soler, Clarke of Hamilton, Clark of Tippecanoe, many Assistants were required to be appointed. Coats, Cole, Colfax, Crawford, Davis of MadiHe considered this a correct view of the case, son, Dunn of Jefferson, Farrow, Fisher, Frisbie, for he spoke more from experience than any- Gregg, Hawkins, Helm, Hitt, Hogan, Logan, thing else. Every State in which a Conven-Maguire, Mather, Morgan, Morrison of Washtion had been held, save the State of Newington, Pepper of Crawford, Prather, RobinYork, had taken precisely this course. A ju- son, Steele, Stevenson, Terry, Thomas, Thorndicious economy could be practised here as wellton, Todd, Walpole, and Watts-42. as in any other place. en. { So the amendments were laid upon the table. Mr. STEVENSON then moved to amend the resolution by substituting the following: Resolved, That the Convention now proceed to elect two assistant Secretaries. The original resolution, he said, contempla Mr. BORDEN observed that if in the State Conventions which had been held in other States but two Secretaries had been elected, he would confess that he had been very much misinformed. But he was inclined to think that the gentleman from Decatur was mistak-ted a different mode from that practiced by deThe New York Convention elected two liberative bodies generally in the appointment Secretaries and in a few days authorized the ap- of their officers. It contemplated the appointpointment of one more. The Ohio Conventionment of three at one time. If it proposed apelected Mr. GILL principal Secretary, and Mr. pointing only one individual, a proper selection CARROLTON his assistant; and, in one or two might probably be made, but when it proposed days afterwards, authorized the Principal Sec- to appoint three at one time, it would be but retary to appoint another assistant, and then natural that men would be influenced in giving another.. their votes in favor of one or more of the par{ties, by a desire to secure the election of their particular favorite and thus be lead to vote, perhaps, for the others without regard to the quali{fication or fitness for office of such others. Mr. STEELE moved to amend the amendment by adding the words "the additionl Secretaries if required." Mr. MILLER, of Gibson, moved to lay both the amendments on the table. Mr. PETTIT said, that he supposed if this motion prevailed, it would carry the original resolution also to the table. The PRESIDENT stated that such would not be the case under the rules of the Indiana Legislature. { Thus it was that in legislative bodies sometimes an obnoxious measure was attached to a good one, in order to secure the passage of the former, which would not have passed if it had been left to depend upon its own merits. principle was decidedly wrong. It was altogether a new one, and one which, he considered, it would be dangerous to adopt. The The yeas and nays were demanded upon this question by Messrs. PRATHER and ROBIN- The business of the Convention differed maSON, and being taken, the Clerk reported—terially from that of a State Legislature; there yeas 100, nays 42, as follows: would be no memorials, petitions, or remonstranYEAS--Messrs. Alexander, Anthony, Bascom, ces, to be acted upon. They were called toBeach, Beeson, Berry, Bicknell, Borden, Bourne, gether for the purpose of forming a ConstituBowers, Bracken, Bright, Carr of Jackson, Car- tion, an instrument occupying some ten or fifter, Chandler, Chapman, Chenowith, Cookerly, teen pages of the Statute Book. There could Davis of Parke, Davis of Parke and Vermil-not then, he thought, be anything like the lion, Dick, Dobson, Dunn of Perry, &c., Duzan, same amount of business to be done by the SecEdmonston, Foley, Foster, Garvin, Gibson, Goo-retary of the Convention, as by the Clerk tee, Graham of Miami, Graham of Warrick, of the General Assembly. One hundred and fifty members would perform no more business than forty members would perform. One resolution only could be acted upon at a time, no matter what the number of members might be. In regard to the consideration of economy, he had only to say that he was not for going to extremes either way, either in extravagance or parsimoniousness. no objection; but he thought the best way was to make the appointments by resolution. Mr. NAVE was in favor of the Convention electing at once a sufficient number of officers, without making it necessary, hereafter, for the Secretaries themselves to appoint assistants;{which was known to be the case in our State Legislature. He was of the opinion that two Secretaries Mr. CLARK of T. said he rose to apologize to were quite sufficient. He was not disposed to the gentleman from Allen, (Mr. Borden) for mainterfere, however, with any arrangement that king the motion to reduce the number of Secrehad been made out of doors; and he was inclined taries. He was willing to concur in the edict to go for democratic appointees. He was will- of those who had decided on three Secretaries ing that they should all be democrats; but he out of this body; but not having heard the arguwas opposed to adopting a new principle in refer-ments that had been advanced, he had to disence to their elections. He trusted that the mandment would be adopted. Mr. DOBSON said, that in his opinion the amendment did not go far enough. He moved an amendment to the effect that these officers should be elected and not appointed. Mr. BASCOM moved to lay the amendment on the table. Mr. KELSO hoped this matter might be compromised in such a way that the amendment by the gentleman from Owen might be adopted.He was willing to vote for that. He hoped his friend would withdraw the motion to lay on the table. Mr. STEVENSON said, he would accept the amendment leaving the number blank. Mr. BASCOM withdrew the motion to on the table. charge a duty to his constituents by fixing on a number he thought sufficient. He thought a vote should be taken here on the officers, although the final decision might have been made elsewhere. Mr. EDMONSTON favored the election of three Secretaries, as the number best calculated to advance the business of the Convention. Mr. MILLER of Gibson, moved the previous question; which was not sustained. The question was then taken on the motion to fill the blank with three, and it was agreed to. The question being on the adoption of the resolution. Mr. WATTS moved the following amendlayment, "that Samuel J. Johnson of Dearborn County be declared Door-keeper of this Con Mr. KELSO then moved to fill the blank with vention." "three." Mr. CLARK of Tippecance, moved to fill the blank with "two." The PRESIDENT. The question will be first on the largest number. The question being taken the amendment was not agreed to. Mr. COCKERLY moved to amend the resolution by inserting the words "by viva voce vote." The amendment was adopted. The question was then taken on the amendment, as amended, and it was decided in the affirmative: The question on the original resolution was then taken and decided in the affirmative. The resolution as amended was adopted;whereupon The roll was called and the following gentlemen voted Mr. FOSTER said he would remark to his Democratic friends that this would not be quite in accordance with the pledges they had given to their constituents. A great many pledges of economy had been given during the canvass.He thought they ought to manifest their faith by their practice. He for one felt a disposition to manifest his faith by his works. But that was not all. He believed that two Secretaries were amply sufficient. He had had some experience in matters of this kind, and he believed that the clerical duties of the Convention would not be near as onerous as those of the Legislature. There was only the keeping of the jour-Ballingall, Barbour, Bascom, Beach, Beard, Beenal to be done; there was no enrolling of bills, and he would venture to say that if they performed their work properly, the Constitution would not be equal in length to some of the enrolled bills of the Legislature. He should vote for the amendment. FOR ROBERT M. EVANS: Messrs. Alexander, Allen, Anthony, Badger, son, Berry, Bicknell, Biddle, Blythe, Borden, Bourne, Bowers, Bracken, Bright, Brookbank, Bryant, Butler, Carr of Jackson, Carter, Chandler, Chapman, Chenowith, Clark of Tippecanoe, Coats, Cole, Colfax, Cookerly, Crawford, Davis of Madison, Davis of Parke, Davis of Mr. BORDEN opposed the amendment. He Parke and Vermillion, Dick, Dobson, Dunn of could see no necessity for going into the elec- of Perry, Dunn of Jefferson, Duzan, Edmontion by ballot unless the object was to defeatston, Farrow, Fisher, Foley, Foster, Frisbie, those gentlemen who had been nominated. If Garvin, Gibson, Gootee, Graham of Miami, Grathe election were to be by a viva voce vote he had ham of Warrick, Haddon, Holliday, Hamilton, Harbolt, Hardin, Hawkins, Helm, Helmer, Hendricks, Hogin Holman, Hovey, Howe, Huff, Johnson, Kelso, Kent, Kendall of Miami, Kendall of Warren &c., Kindley, Lockhart, Logan, Maguire, March, Mather, Mathis, May McClelland, McFarland, McLean, Miller of Clinton, Miller of Gibson, Miller of Fulton, Milligan, Milroy, Mooney, Moore, Morrison of Marion, Morrison of Washington, Mowrer, 'Murray, Nave, Newman, Niles, Nofsinger, Owen, Pepper of Ohio, Pepper of Crawford, Pettit, Prather, Rariden, Read of Clark, Read of Monroe, Ristine, Schoonover, Shannon, Sherrod, Shoup, Sims, Smiley, Snook, Smith of Scott, Spann, Stevenson, Tague, Tannehill, Taylor, Terry, Thomas, Thornton, Trembly, Vanbenthusen, Wallace, Walpole, Watts, Wheeler, Wiley, Wolfe, Work, Wunderlich, Yocum, Zenor, and Mr. President.-(137.) The following gentlemen voted for JAMES B. RAY: Thornton, Trembly, Vanbenthusen, Wallace, Wheeler, Watts, Wiley, Wolfe, Work, Wunderlich, Yocum, Zenor, and Mr. President.} (124.) The following gentleman voted FOR MR. STALLARD. Messrs. Balingall, Davis of Madison, Hogan, Morgan, Rariden, Robinson, Steel, Walpole. -(8.) Mr. Crawford voted for Mr. Lafferty. The following gentlemen voted blank, towit: Messrs. Brookbank, Clark of Hamilton, Colfax and Mather.—(4.) HARMON G. BARKWELL, of the County ELL, of Perry, having received a majority of the whole number of votes given was declared duly elected one of the Assistent Secretaries of this Convention, and being sworn by the Hon. ISAAC BLACKFORD, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Indiana, proceeded to the dis Messrs. Hitt, Morgan, Robinson and Steel. charge of the duties of his office. -(4.) The roll being again called, the following gentlemen voted Those gentlemen who voted blank were Messrs. Clark, Gregg and Todd.—(3.) FOR GEORGE L. SITES: ROBERT M. EVANS, of the County of Messrs. Alexander, Allen, Anthony, Barbour, Fountain, having received a majority of the Bascom, Beach, Beeson, Berry, Bicknell, Bidwhole number of votes given, was declared duly dle, Blythe, Borden, Bourne, Bowers, Bracken, elected one of the Assistant Secretaries to this Bright, Brookbank, Bryant, Butler, Carr of JackConvention, and being duly sworn by the Hon. son, Carter, Chandler, Chapman, Chenowith, ISAAC BLACKFORD one of the Judges of the Su-Clark of Tippecanoe, Coats, Cole, Colfax, Cookpreme Court of Indiana, proceeded to the dis-erly, Davis of Parke, &c., Dick, Dobson, Dunn charge of the duties of his office. The roll being again called the following gentlemen voted for HARMON G. BARKWELL: of Perry, Duzan, Edmonston, Farrow, Fisher, Messrs. Alexander, Allen, Anthony, Badger, Barbour, Bascom, Beach, Beard, Beeson, Berry, Biddle, Borden, Bourne, Bowers, Bracken, Bright, Bryant, Butler, Carr of Jackson, Carter, Chandler, Chapman, Chenowith, Clark of Tippecanoe, Cole, Cookerly, Davis of Parke, Davis of Parke and Vermillion, Dick, Dobson, Dunn of Perry, Spencer and Warrick, Duzan, Edmonston, Farrow, Fisher, Foley, Foster, Frisbie, Garvin, Gibson, Gootee, Graham of Miami, Graham of Warrick, Haddon, Holliday, Hamilton, Harbolt, Hardin, Hawkins, Helm, Helmer, Hendricks, Hitt, Holman, Hovey, Howe, Huff, Johnson, Kelso, Kent, Kendall of Miami, Kendall of Warren, Kindly, Lockhart, Maguire, March, Mathis, May, McCleland, McFarland, McLean, Miller of Clinton, Miller of Gibson, Miller of Fulton, Milligan, Milroy, Mooney, Moore, Morgan, Morrison of Marion, Morrison { of Washington, Mowrer, Murray, Nave, Newman, Niles, Nofsinger, Owen, Pepper of Ohio, GEORGE L. SITES, of the County of AlPepper of Crawford, Pettit, Prather, Read of len, having received a majority of the whole Clark, Read of Monroe, Ristine, Schoonover, number of votes given, was declared duly elecShannon, Sherrod, Shoup, Sims, Smiley, Snook, ted one of the Assistant Secretaries to this Smith of Ripley, Smith of Scott, Spann, Ste-Convention, and being sworn by the Hon. phenson, Tague, Tannehill, Taylor, Terry, ISAAC BLACKFORD, one of the Judges of the The following gentlemen voted blank-towit: Messrs. Balingall, Beard, Clark of Hamilton, Crawford, Davis of Madison, Hitt, Logan, Ste{venson, Thomas, Watts-10. |