sented as may be provided by law, until the next succeeding apportionment. The counties of Tishomingo, Alcorn, Prentiss, Lee, Itawamba, Tippah, Union, Benton, Marshall, Lafayette, Pontotoc, Monroe, Chickasaw, Calhoun, Yalobusha, Grenada, Carroll, Montgomery, Choctaw, Webster, Clay, Lowndes and Oktibbeha, or the territory now composing them, shall together never have less than forty-four Representatives. The counties of Attala, Winston, Noxubee, Kemper, Leake, Neshoba, Lauderdale, Newton, Scott, Rankin, Clarke, Jasper, Smith, Simpson, Copiah, Franklin, Lincoln, Lawrence, Covington, Jones, Wayne, Greene, Perry, Marion, Pike, Pearl River, Hancock, Harrison and Jackson, or the territory now composing them, shall together never have less than forty-four Representatives; nor shall the remaining counties of the State, or the territory now composing them, ever have less than forty-four Representatives. A reduction in the number of Senators and Representatives may be made by the Legislature if the same be uniform in each of the three said divisions; but the number of Representatives shall not be less than one hundred, nor more than one hundred and thirty-three; nor the num ber of Senators less than thirty, nor more than forty-five.

ARTICLE XIV.

General Provisions.

Sec. 257. The political year of the State of Mississippi shall commence on the first Monday of January in each year.

Sec. 258. The credit of the State shall not be pledged or loaned in aid of any person, association or corporation; and the State shall not become a stockholder in any corporation or association, nor assume, redeem, secure or pay any indebtedness or pretended indebtedness alleged to be due by the State of Missis sippi, to any person, association or corporation whatsoever, claiming the same as owners, holders or assignees of any bond or bonds, now generally known as "Union Bank" bonds and "Planters' Bank" bonds.

Sec. 259. No county seat shall be removed unless such removal be authorized by two-thirds of the electors of the county voting therefor; but when the proposed removal shall be towards the center of the county, it may be made when a majority of the elec tors participating in the election shall vote therefor.

Sec. 260. No new county shall be formed unless a majority of the qualified electors voting in each part of the county or coun

ties proposed to be dismembered and embraced in the new county shall separately vote therefor; nor shall the boundary of any judicial district in a county be changed unless at an election held for that purpose, two-thirds of those voting assent thereto. The elections provided for in this and the section next preceding shall not be held in any county oftener than once in four years. No new county shall contain less than four hundred square miles; nor shall any existing county be reduced below that size.

Sec. 261. The expenses of criminal prosecutions, except those before justices of the peace, shall be borne by the county in which such prosecutions shall be begun; and all net fines and forfeitures shall be paid into the treasury of such county. Defend ants in cases of conviction may be taxed with the costs.

Sec. 262. The board of supervisors shall have power to provide homes or farms as asylums for those persons, who, by reason of age, infirmity or misfortune, may have claims upon the sympathy and aid of society; and the Legislature shall enact suitable laws to prevent abuses by those having the care of such persons.

Sec. 263. The marriage of a white person with a negro or mulatto, or person who shall have one-eighth or more of negro blood, shall be unlawful and void.

Sec. 264. No person shall be a grand or petit juror unless a qualified elector and able to read and write; but the want of any such qualification in any juror shall not vitiate any indictment or verdict. The Legislature shall provide by law for procuring a list of persons so qualified, and the drawing therefrom of grand and petit jurors for each term of the Circuit Court.

Sec. 265. No person who denies the existence of a Supreme Being shall hold any office in this State.

Sec. 266. No person holding or exercising the rights or powers of any office of honor or profit, either in his own right, or as a deputy, or while otherwise acting for or in the name, or by the authority of another, under any foreign government, or under the government of the United States, shall hold or exercise in any way the rights and powers of any office of honor or profit under the laws or authority of this State, except notaries, commissioners of deeds, and United States commissioners.

Sec. 267. No person elected or appointed to any office or employment of profit under the laws of this State, or by virtue

of any ordinance of any municipality of this State, shall hold such office or employment without personally devoting his time to the performance of the duties thereof.

Sec. 268. All officers elected or appointed to any office in this State, except judges and members of the Legislature, shall, before entering upon the discharge of the duties thereof, take and subscribe the following oath:

"I, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitu tion of the State of Mississippi, and obey the laws thereof; that I am not disqualified from holding the office of — will faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter. So help me God."

; that I

Sec. 269. Every devise or bequest of lands, tenements or hereditaments, or any interest therein, of freehold, or less than freehold, either present or future, vested or contingent, or of any money directed to be raised by the sale thereof, contained in any last will and testament, or codicil, or other testamentary writing, in favor of any religious or ecclesiastical corporation, sole or aggregate, or any religious or ecclesiastical society, or to any religious denomination, or association of persons, or to any person or body politic, in trust, either expressed or implied, secret or resulting, either for the use and benefit of such religious cor poration, society, denomination or association, or for the purpose of being given or appropriated to charitable uses or purposes, shall be null and void, and the heir-at-law shall take the same property so devised or bequeathed, as though no testamentary disposition had been made.

Sec. 270. Every legacy, gift or bequest, of money or personal property, or of any interest, benefit or use therein, either direct, implied or otherwise, contained in any last will and testament or codocil, in favor of any religious or ecclesiastical corporation, sole or aggregate, or any religious or ecclesiastical society, or to any religious denomination or association, either for its own use or benefit, or for the purpose of being given or appropriated to chari table uses, shall be null and void, and the distributees shall take the same as though no such testamentary disposition had been made.

Sec. 271. The Legislature may provide for the consolidation of existing counties, if a majority of the qualified electors of

such counties voting at an election held for that purpose, shall vote therefor.

Sec. 272. The Legislature shall provide by law, pensions for indigent soldiers and sailors who enlisted and honorably served in the Confederate army or navy in the late civil war, who are now resident in this State, and are not able to earn a support by their own labor. Pensions shall also be allowed to the indigent widows of such soldiers or sailors now dead, when from age or disease, they cannot earn a support. Pensions shall also be allowed to the wives of such soldiers or sailors upon the death of the husband, if disabled and indigent as aforesaid. Pensions granted to widows shall cease upon their subsequent marriage.

ARTICLE XV.

Amendment to the Constitution.

Sec. 273. Whenever two-thirds of each house of the Legislature shall deem any change, alteration or amendment necessary to this Constitution, such proposed change, alteration or amendment shall be read and passed by a two-thirds vote of each house respectively, on each day, for three several days; public notice shall then be given by the Secretary of State, at least three months preceding an election, at which the qualified electors shall vote directly for or against such change, alteration or amendment; and if more than one amendment shall be submitted at one time, they shall be submitted in such manner and form that the people may vote for or against each amendment separately; and if it shall appear that a majority of the qualified electors voting, shall have voted for the proposed change, alteration or amendment, then it shall be inserted by the next succeeding Legislature as a part of this Constitution, and not otherwise.

SCHEDULE.

That no inconvenience may arise from the changes in the Constitution of this State, and in order to carry the new Constitution into complete operation, it is hereby declared that

Sec. 274. The laws of this State now in force, not repugnant to this Constitution, shall remain in force until amended or repealed by the Legislature or until they expire by limitation. All statute laws of this State repugnant to the provisions of this

Constitution, except as provided in the next three sections, shall continue and remain in force until the first day of April, A. D. 1892, unless sooner repealed by the Legislature.

Sec. 275. All laws of this State which are repugnant to the following portions of this Constitution, shall be repealed by the adoption of this Constitution, to wit: Laws repugnant to:

(a) All the ordinances of this convention.

(b) The provisions of section 183, prohibiting counties, cities and towns from voting subscriptions to railroad and other corporations or associations.

(c) The provisions of sections 223 to 226, inclusive, of article 10, prohibiting the leasing of penitentiary convicts.

Sec. 276. All laws of the State which are repugnant to the provisions of sections 240 to 253, inclusive, of article 12, on the subject of franchise and elections, shall be and remain in force until the first day of January, A. D. 1891, and no longer.

Sec. 277. All laws of this State which are repugnant to the provisions of article 13, sections 254 to 256, inclusive, on the subject of the apportionment of Representatives and Senators in the Legislature, shall be and remain in force until the first day of October, A. D. 1891, but no longer.

Sec. 278. The Governor shall, as soon as practicable, appoint three suitable persons learned in the law, as commissioners whose duty it shall be to prepare and draft such general laws as are contemplated in this Constitution and such other laws as shall be necessary and proper to put into operation the provisions thereof, and as may be appropriate to conform the general stat utes of the State to the Constitution. Said commissioners shall present the same when prepared to the Legislature at its next regular session. And the Legislature shall provide reasonable compensation therefor.

Sec. 279. All writs, actions, causes of action, proceedings, prosecutions and rights of individuals and bodies corporate and of the State, and charters of incorporation, shall continue; and all indictments which shall have been found or which shall hereafter be found, and all prosecutions begun, or that may be begun, for any crime or offense committed before the adoption of this Constitution may be proceeded with and upon as if no change had taken place.

Sec. 280. For the trial and determination of all suits, civil and criminal, begun before the adoption of this Constitution, the sev