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Convention for more than six days after the session commences, shall, on making his appearance therein, be held to render the reason of such neglect; and in case the reason assigned shall be deemed by the Convention sufficient, such member shall be entitled to receive pay for his travel, and not otherwise; and no member shall be absent more than two days, without leave of the Convention; and a vote of leave of absence shall be inoperative, unless the member obtaining it shall avail himself of it within five days.

29. When any member shall be guilty of a breach of either of the Rules and Orders of the Convention, he may be required by the Convention, on motion, to make satisfaction therefor, and shall not be allowed to vote, or speak, except by way of excuse, till he has done

so.

30. Every member, who shall be in the Convention when a question is put, shall give his vote, unless the Convention, for special reasons, shall excuse him. Any member desiring to be so excused on any question, shall make application to that effect before a division, or before the calling of the yeas and nays; and such application shall be accompanied by a brief statement of reasons, and shall be decided without debate.

31. Every motion shall be reduced to writing, if the President shall so direct.

32. Any member may call for the division of a question when the sense will admit of it. A motion to strike out and insert shall be deemed indivisible; but a motion to strike out being lost, shall neither preclude amendment, nor a motion to strike out and insert.

33. Motions and reports may be committed, or recommitted, at the pleasure of the Convention.

34. No motion or proposition of a subject different from that under consideration, shall be admitted under color of amendment.

35. The unfinished business in which the Convention was engaged at the time of the last adjournment, shall have the preference in the Orders of the Day.

36. No rule or order of the Convention shall be dispensed with, altered, or repealed, unless two-thirds of the members present shall consent thereto.

37. All questions relating to the priority of business to be acted upon, shall be decided without debate.

38. Every question of order shall be noted by the Secretary, with the decision thereon, and inscribed at large on the Journal.

39. It shall be the duty of each member who moves that any committee be instructed to inquire into the expediency of amending the existing Constitution, to point out the amendment which he deems expedient, in writing, to accompany his motion, or to furnish a written statement thereof to such committee. if by them required.

Of Monitors.

40. Two Monitors shall be appointed for each division, whose duty it shall be to see the due observance of the Rules and Orders of the

Convention, and on demand of the President, to return the number of votes and members in their respective divisions.

41. If any member shall transgress any of the Rules or Orders of the Convention, and persist therein after being notified thereof by any Monitor, it shall be the duty of such Monitor to give information thereof to the Convention.

Of Petitions, Memorials, &c.

42. All papers addressed to the Convention, except petitions, memorials and remonstrances, shall be presented by the President, or by a member in his place, and shall be read by the President, Secretary, or such other person as the President may request, and shall be taken up in the order in which they were presented, unless where the Convention shall otherwise direct.

43. Every member, presenting to the Convention a petition, memorial, or remonstrance, shall endorse his name thereon, with a brief statement of the nature and object of the instrument, and the reading of the same from the chair shall in all instances be dispensed with, unless specially ordered by the Convention.

44. All reports, petitions, memorials, remonstrances, and papers of a like nature, shall be presented during the first hour of each session, and at no other time, except by special leave of the Convention.

45. If any member of the Convention shall so request, any order, which shall be proposed for adoption, shall be passed over for that day without question; and the same shall be considered and disposed of, on the succeeding day, in the same manner as it would have been on the day on which it was offered, if no objection had been made.

Of Quorum.

46. Not less than one hundred members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.

Of Committees, Reports, and Resolutions.

47. No committee shall sit during the sessions of the Convention, without special leave.

48. In all elections, by ballot, of the Convention, a time shall be assigned for such election at least one day previous thereto.

49. In all elections of committees of the Convention, by ballot, the person having the highest number of votes shall act as chairman, and when the committee is nominated by the Chair, the member first named shall be chairman.

50. All papers, relative to any business before the Convention, shall be left with the Secretary, by any member, who may obtain leave of absence, and may have any such papers in his possession.

51. The rules of proceeding in the Convention shall be observed in a Committee of the Whole, so far as they may be applicable, except the rule limiting the times of speaking: but no member shall speak twice upon any question, until every member, who shall not have spoken, shall speak, if he desires it. A motion to rise, report progress,

and ask leave to sit again, shall be always first in order, and shall be decided without debate.

52. Every order or resolution which proposes an alteration in the Constitution, and all reports of committees appointed to consider the propriety and expediency of making any alteration therein, shall be considered in Committee of the Whole before they are debated and finally acted upon in Convention.

53. Every resolution proposing any alteration in the Constitution, shall be read on two several days before it is finally acted upon and adopted by the Convention.

On motion of Mr. LOTHROP, of Boston,

Ordered, That when the Convention adjourns, it adjourn to meet at the Music Hall, on Monday, at the hour agreed upon, and that the Messenger be directed to make the necessary arrangements for the meeting of the Convention.

Mr. MORTON, of Fairhaven, offered an Order, which was amended upon motion of Mr. HUBBARD, of Boston, and adopted in the following form, viz. :

Ordered, That the Secretary cause the Act calling a Convention for revising the Constitution, to be printed and bound with the Rules and Orders of the Convention, and the Committees of the Convention; likewise the Constitution of this State as adopted in 1780, with the several amendments since adopted, specifying the dates thereof, in the form printed in the Revised Statutes; and the Constitution of the United States; also the names of the members of the Convention, with their boarding places or residences, substantially in the manner in which the Rules and Orders of the present House of Representatives are printed and bound.

On motion of Mr. THOMPSON, of Charlestown, the Secretary was directed to notify Benjamin Stevens, Esq., of his election to the office of Messenger.

On motion of Mr. MORTON, of Quincy, the Convention adjourned.

MONDAY, May 9, 1853.

Met according to adjournment, in the Music Hall. Prayer was offered by the Chaplain. The Journal of Saturday was read.

The PRESIDENT read a communication from BENJAMIN STEVENS, Esq., signifying his acceptance of the office of Messenger of the Convention.

The committee appointed to confer with any committee of the House of Representatives, upon an arrangement for alternate sessions of that body and of the Convention, reported, as the result of the conference, that the House of Representatives occupy their hall from nine o'clock in the forenoon to three o'clock in the afternoon, and that the Convention occupy the same from three o'clock in the afternoon on each day till further ordered.

The rules being suspended, on motion of Mr. THOMPSON, of Charlestown, the Report was considered.

Mr. KEYES, member for Abington, moved that the Report be laid upon the table; but the motion was rejected, by a vote of fifty-six in the affirmative to one hundred and eighty in the negative. The Report was then accepted.

Mr. ALLEN, of Worcester, from the Special Committee to which was referred the several Orders respecting the choice of a Delegate to the Convention from the town of Berlin, in the place of Hon. Henry Wilson, who was elected, but declines to act as such Delegate, and the Order of the same date concerning such vacancies as may exist in the delegations from other towns in the Commonwealth, in part performance of said duty, reported the following Order :

Ordered, That the Secretary of this Convention give notice to the town of Berlin, that the Hon. Henry Wilson, returned as the Delegate from said town, declines to act in that capacity.

Pending the question upon the acceptance of the Report, Mr. PARKER, of Cambridge, moved that its further consideration be postponed until to-morrow, at four o'clock in the afternoon; but the motion was rejected.

After some further discussion, Mr. LIVERMORE, of Cambridge, moved that the Report be laid upon the table; but the motion was rejected; and the Report, with the accompanying Order, was adopted.

On motion of Mr. LIVERMORE, of Cambridge,

Ordered, That on and after to-morrow, the Convention will meet daily at the State House, at three o'clock in the afternoon, until otherwise ordered.

The PRESIDENT appointed Mr. Hathaway, of Freetown, upon the committee to consider the subject of the vacancies in the Convention, in place of Mr. Sumner, member for Otis, who was absent.

Mr. BUTLER, of Lowell, offered the following Order, which was laid

over:

Ordered, That the Secretary of this Convention, be directed, in

notifying the town of Berlin, to use substantially the form herewith submitted:

HALL OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION,
Boston, May, 1853.

To the Selectmen of the Town of Berlin,—

GENTLEMEN: The Hon. Henry Wilson, late Delegate for Berlin in the Convention for revising the Constitution, having tendered his resignation as such Delegate, which has been accepted by the Convention, and his seat being thereby vacated, I am directed, by a vote of the Convention, to request you to convene the qualified electors of your town, as soon as may be with a due regard to notice, in order to their electing and deputing a Delegate to represent them in this Convention, in the manner prescribed by the second section of the Act calling the Convention, adopted by the people on the second Monday in November, A. D. 1852.

I am, very respectfully,

Your obedient servant,

Secretary.

The Order offered by Mr. Brown, of Dracut, on Saturday, for supplying the members of the Convention with A. S. Barnes & Co.'s edition of the Constitutions of the several States, was taken up and adopted.

Mr. HOOPER, of Fall River, offered the following Resolution, and moved that it be referred to a special committee.

Resolved, That it is expedient so to revise the Constitution that in all elections by the people under it, the person having the highest number of votes shall be deemed and declared to be elected.

On motion of Mr. BRIGGS, of Pittsfield, the Resolution was laid upon the table,

And then, on motion of Mr. THOMPSON, of Charlestown, the Convention adjourned.

TUESDAY, May 10, 1853.

Met according to adjournment. Prayer was offered by the Chaplain. The Journal of yesterday was read.

Mr. EARLE, of Worcester, presented the Credentials of George A. Vinton, Delegate from Southbridge.

Referred to the Committee on Elections.

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