by the Chief Magistrate. He did not think, if such a course was pursued, that there would be any need of members of Congress.

The question was then taken on Mr. Hill's motion to strike out the date, and it was adopted.

Mr. GWIN moved to strike out all after the words "members of Congress," which amendment was agreed to, and the section, as amended, was adopted. Section 9 being under consideration, as follows:

SEC. 9. If this Constitution shall be ratified by the people of California, the Legislature shall assemble at the seat of Government on the fifteenth day of December next; and in order to complete the organization of that body, the Senate shall elect a President pro tempore until the Lieutenant Governor shall be installed into office.

On motion of Mr. HALLECK, the date was stricken out, and the section, as amended, was adopted.

Sections 10 and 11, were adopted without debate, as follows:

SEC. 10. On the organization of the Legislature, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to lay before each House a copy of the abstract made by the Board of Canvassers, and if called for, the original returns of election, in order that each House may judge of the correctness of the report of said Board of Canvassers.

SEC. 11. The Legislature at its first session shall elect such officers as may be ordered by this Constitution to be elected by that body, and within four days after its organization, proceed to elect two Senators to the Congress of the United States. But no law passed by this Legislature shall take effect until signed by the Governor after his installation into office.

Mr. BOTTS said he was requested to state, on the part of the Spanish gentlemen, that they could not understand what was going on, and would be obliged to leave the room without intending the slightest disrespect to the Convention, unless furnished with an interpreter. The official interpreter was absent on account of illness; and it was unjust to require these gentlemen to vote without affording them an opportunity of understanding what they were to vote upon.

Mr. HOPPE said that Dr. Ord understood the Spanish language better than any gentleman of his acquaintance, and he moved that he be requested to act as interpreter during the remainder of the session.

Mr. ORD stated that his brother (Dr. Ord) declined acting as interpreter.

Mr. Borrs knew of no other course than to let the gentlemen themselves select some interpreter, and trust to the courtesy of the House to reconsider any section passed in the meantime that might be objectionable to them.

Mr. GWIN did not see how the business of the Convention was to progress in that way. The only way was to rise and report progress, rescind the resolution to adjourn on Tuesday, and wait until an interpreter could be procured.

Mr. HALLECK moved the following as section 12:

12. The Senators and Representatives to the Congress of the United States elected by the Legislature and people of California, as herein directed, shall be furnished with certified copies of this Constitution when ratified, which they shall lay before the Congress of the United States, requesting, in the name of the people of California, the admission of the State of California into the Ame rican Union.

Mr. GWIN hoped this section would be rejected. It seemed to him that it would be trifling with the subject to send two certified copies in two different channels. There was only one proper course to pursue; either to transmit it through the President, or through the Representatives of the State. If the Convention was determined to transmit it through the President, then he could see no necessity for sending these certified copies through the Representatives.

Mr. BOTTS advocated the proposition.

Mr. HALLECK explained its object.

The question was then taken, and the additional section was adopted. The 12th section of the Committee's report was then taken up, as follows: SEC. 12. All officers of this State, other than members of the Legislature, shall be installed into office on or immediately after the first day of January next, as provided in this Constitution. On motion it was stricken out, and the section then adopted.

Section 13 coming up, as follows:

SEC. 13. Until the Legislature shall divide the State into counties and senatorial and assembly districts, as directed by this Constitution, the following shall be the apportionment of the two Houses of the Legislature, viz: The districts of San Diego and Los Angelos, shall jointly elect two Senators, the districts of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo, shall jointly elect one Senator, the district of Monterey one Senator, the district of San Jose one Senator, the district of San Francisco two Sen. ators, the district of Sonoma one Senator, the district of Sacramento four Senators, and the dis trict of San Joaquin four Senators; and the district of San Diego shall elect one member of assembly, the district of Los Angelos two members of the assembly, the district of Santa Barbara two members of assembly, the district of San Luis Obispo one member of assembly, the district of Monterey two members of assembly, the district of San Jose three members of assembly, the district of San Francisco five members of assembly, the district of Sonoma two members of assembly, the district of Sacramento nine members of assembly, and the district of San Joaquin nine members of assembly.

Mr. Borrs said he was requested by one of the gentleman on the other side, (a member of the native California delegation,) to state that that portion of the House would be extremely sorry to throw any obstacle in the way of the proceed. ings of this Convention. They generally had very little objection to any of the provisions adopted by the Convention, but as this section was one in which they felt interested, and as they could not understand it without having it translated, and the arguments explained to them through an interpreter, they hoped at least that they would be allowed the privilege of a reconsideration, if it was deemed ne cessary.

Mr. GWIN moved that the section be passed over for the present.

Mr. SHERWOOD was opposed to passing over the section. If any amendments should be deemed necessary they could be presented when the subject came up for consideration in the House.

Mr. HALLECK read a proposition which he desired to offer here in regard to the boundaries of some of the southern districts. They were found to be very indistinctly laid down in the old archives, and it was necessary that they should be clearly determined. After some conversation, he agreed that the consideration of his proposition should be postponed until this section came up for final action. The 14th section being consideration, as follows:

SEC. 14. Until the Legislature shall otherwise directs in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution, the following shall be the salaries and pay of the several officers and members of the Legislature of this State, viz: The Governor, eight thousand dollars per annum; the Lieutenant Governor, double the pay of a State Senator; Secretary of State, four thousand dollars per annum, the Treasuer, four thousand dollars per annum; the Attorney General, three thousand dollars per annum ; the Surveyor General, thousand dollars per annum; Justice of the Supreme Court, five thousand dollars per annum ; District Judges, five thousand dollars per annum ; and the members of the Legislature, dollars per diem while in attendance, and dollars for every twenty miles by the usual route from their residences to the place of holding the session of the Legislature, and in returning therefrom.

Mr. STEUART. I find that in the article entitled Executive Department, which provides for the appointment of Secretary of State, very onerous duties are imposed upon that officer-more than upon the Secretary of State of any other State in the Union. These are his duties:

SEC. 19. The Secretary of State shall be appointed by the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. He shall keep a fair record of the official acts of the legislative and executive departments of the government, and shall, when required, lay the same and all matters relative thereto, before either branch of the Legislature, and shall perform such other duties as shall be assigned himn by law.

Now, sir, I consider that these are very onerous duties. I move, therefore, in consideration of this fact, an amendment. which shall make the compensation of the Secretary of State $5,000 per annum.

Mr. GWIN. I think my colleague is entirely mistaken in regard to the duties imposed upon that officer. He is required to keep these records, but they are prepared for him. He is only resposible for them. I look upon it as a very light duty. I think it is our true policy in the organization of this State to make the

salaries of the officers as low as possible. I now move that the salary of the Governor shall be $6,000 instead of $8,000,

Mr. PRICE. I move the question be divided, and that the vote be taken upon each of these questions separately.

The CHAIR was of opinion that the Committee could act upon any of the salaries separately.

Mr. PRICE moved to amend Mr. Gwin's motion by inserting $10,000.

Mr. SHANNON. If the gentleman from San Francisco (Mr. Price) had not made that motion, I certainly should have done it. I think the report of the Committee is rather a singular one. Certain blanks here are filled; the pay of the officers of State is fixed; everything beyond that is left blank. I see no rea son why the Committee should have reported any particular sum for these officers, and left other portions of the report so lame and impotent as this. I shall certainly sustain the motion of the gentleman from San Francisco, (Mr. Price,) because it increases the amount. I think you cannot obtain the talents requisite to fill these offices as they should be filled without paying a liberal price. Every body knows that in the present condition of California, not even six or eight thousand is sufficient to pay any man for the expenditure of his time in serving the public; nor will that amount clothe or feed his family, and sustain him in the position which he occupies,

Mr. McCARVER. I would suggest, if gentlemen are determined to pay very high salaries in California-and I admit that nothing but high salaries would command the requisite talent-that the Legislature, which comes directly from the people, have power to determine this matter.

Mr. BOTTS. I want to present a single view to your consideration. These salaries are all too low. When you were voting upon the pay of the members of this House, you voted each member at the rate of $5,840 a year, and you said it was nothing like what a man got in the exercise of his profession, and you fixed it at that rate as a mere nominal pay. It was stated by the Committee on Finance that they did not deem it by any means an appropriate remuneration for the expense sustained in coming here, and the sacrifices made. Now I undertake to say that these officers of the State will receive less than a nominal pay if you fix it at the proposed rate. Your Attorney General will receive about one half of what was the nominal pay of a member of this House. I think they are all much too low; but I do pretend to be a judge of what ought to be the salary of the last mentioned officer, the Attorney General. Your Attorney General, if you remember, should be of the best talent in the land; he is necessarily excluded from the entire practice in your criminal courts; where the State prosecutes he cannot appear, because that very case may come up before the Appellate Court, where he is bound to appear for the State. You give him $3,000 to buy him off from all the criminals in the land, when it is well known that one criminal in Califor nia will pay that much for his defence. Now, sir, who do you calculate to get to exclude himself from the whole criminal practice in California for the petty sum of $3,000? For the other officers you must get the talent and ability of ten thousand dollars for five. If you want a good article, sir, you must pay a good price. Not only are the salaries of the other officers too low, but the salary of this officer is too low in proportion to them.

Mr. GWIN. I do not intend to argue this question, because the blanks will have to be filled up in the House. I am clearly of opinion, however, that if we do not establish low rates of salaries, the expenses of the government will be so enormous that it will be very difficult to keep it operation without oppressing the community. I have never know an office of honor in the United States where the incumbent makes anything out of it, or even sustains himself upon the salary. There are no money-making offices under the Government of the United States. I find the judges of the Supreme Court there are very willing to accept four thou sand dollars a year. As to the Attorney General, he is not obliged to attend to

the State business alone; he attends to civil practice in addition to that. This is merely a temporary provision; and if the future condition of the country should render it desirable, the Legislature, which is more directly responsible to the people than we are, can, if we fix the salaries at too low a rate, raise them. I think there are many gentlemen who would be willing to take these offices-gentlemen fully capable of filling them-at these rates.

Mr. BOTTS. I know the idea is rather prevalent that this thing of low salaries "would be a very popular thing to electioneer with. Now, sir, I proclaim publicly and openly that I am a candidate for the office of Governor, Senator of the United "States, member of Congress, and Attorney General. I am ready to go out upon the stump and meet those gentlemen there with low salaries. I will tell them this: that there are honorable places which are kept for the rich of the land, and that a poor man cannot afford to accept them; that it requires a man of other means to accept an office which will not of itself sustain him; that the Governor could not sustain himself on $6,000 a year, but if he is worth millions there is no difficulty about it; he can then hold the highest office of state in the gift of the people.

Mr. GWIN. If the gentleman should be equally as successful in attacking all of those candidates who run for offices on this principle of low salaries, as he is in most of the measures which he advocates here, he will be very apt to accomplish the object I have in view. As to putting the salaries of officers so low that none other than rich men can hold them, I have this to state: that in starting all "new governments it is exceedingly difficult for the revenue of the country to be equal to the expenditures. In Texas the President of that Republic lived in a log "cabin, and slept on the floor. His house was not secure from the weather even, and he lived in a style almost too bad for this country. Sir, I want this distinctly "understood, that I have no wish to put these salaries so low that none but rich men can hold office; but I do desire to fix them at such a reasonable and moderate standard that we can pay the expenses of the government without imposing burdensome taxes on the people; and inasmuch as this is merely temporary, and many competent men are ready and able to fill these offices, I think we might venture to put them at a rate lower than would meet the wishes of the country. If they are deemed too low they can very easily be made higher. I do not desire to fix the salaries below what is proper, nor have I any wish to make a political hobby in connexion with this matter.

The question was then taken on Mr. Price's amendment to make the salary of the Governor $10,000, and it was adopted.

Mr. STEUART. The next is the salary of the Lieutenant Governor, who has here double the pay of State Senator. Now, acting in the capacity of President of the Senate, I can readily see why his pay should be double that of a member of the Senate; but what is to be the salary of the Lieutenant Governor, acting as Governor, in the absence of the Governor.

Mr. GWIN referred the gentleman to the case of the Vice President of the United States, who holds the same position in regard to the President, as the Lieutenant Governor holds to the Governor.

Further discussion on the same grounds took place, when

On motion, the Committee rose and reported progress.

On motion, the House adjourned till 10 o'clock on Monday morning.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1849.

Met pursuant to adjournment. Prayer by Rev. Mr. Willey. Journal of Satur. day read and approved.

On motion of Mr. GwIN, the article on "Miscellaneous Provisions" of the Con. stitution was taken up.

The question being on the motion of Mr. Lippitt to reconsider the vote by which the additional section submitted by Mr. Ord as the last section of the article was adopted,

Mr. ELLIS moved the previous question, which was sustained; and the motion to reconsider, prevailed.

The question then recurring on the adoption of the section, it was, by yeas and nays, decided in the negative, as follows:

YEAS.-Messrs. Carrillo, Dominguez, Ellis, Gwin, Hobson, Moore, Ord, Pico, Reid, Sherwood, Stearns, Steuart, Vallejo, Wozencraft-16.

NAYS.-Messrs. Aram, Botts, Brown, Dent, Dimmick, Foster, Gilbert, Hanks, Hill, Halleck, Hastings, Larkin, Lippincott, McCarver, McDougal, Pedrorena, Price, Sutter, Snyder, Shannon, Vallejo, Vermeule, Walker, President-24.

On motion of Mr. GWIN, the article, as amended, was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading.

The House then, on motion of Mr. GWIN, resolved itself into Committee of the Whole, Mr. Gilbert in the chair, on the Schedule.

Section 14 being under consideration

Mr. Borrs asked who, by the previous provisions of this Constitution, were to be elected by the Legislature at the first session. He had never seen any reason why all these officers that were to be elected by the people, should not be elected at the first election.

Mr. JONES offered a resolution providing that the Legislature shall fix the salaries of all officers other than those elected by the people at their first election. Mr. BOTTS argued in favor of having all officers that were to be elected by the people, so elected at the first election.

Mr. SHERWOOD contended that where so large a majority of the population were strangers to each other, and unacquainted with the best men to fill these offices, that it was absolutely necessary that they should be appointed in the beginning by the Legislature.

Mr. McCARVER was in favor of these officers being elected at all times by the people. He thought the people were the proper judges of their own officers. With them rested the responsibility of choosing proper and efficient officers. It was not for this Convention or the Legislature to take the choice of these officers out of their hands. He was opposed to all log-rolling in a legislative body, which would inevitably be the case, if this matter was left to the Legislature, He had seen too much political corruption of that kind. It would be much easier to corrupt the Legislature than to corrupt the whole community.

The question was then taken on the resolution, and it was adopted.
The question being on filling the blanks in the 14th section-

Mr. HOPPE moved to insert $3,000 as the salary of the Lieutenant Governor. The duties were nothing more than to act as President of the Senate, which would occupy probably about fifty days in the year. This would make sixty dollars a day, which he thought was amply sufficient to compensate that officer for his services. At $6,000, it would be $120 a day. It was necessary to pay these officers a good price, but he was opposed to paying $120 a day. If the office of Governor should be vacated, and the Lieutenant Governor should take his place, he considered it perfectly proper that he should receive the pay of Governor.

The motion to insert $6,000, was then withdrawn; and the question recurring on the original section so far as relates to the pay of Lieutenant Governor, it was adopted.

Mr. HALLECK moved to strike out the remaining portion of the section.

Mr. Borrs said that the salary of the Governor was fixed; but the salary of the Lieutenant Governor was first fixed and then unfixed. By this motion it would be left altogether depending upon a contingency. It was not to be provided what the pay of Senators should be. His pay was to be double that of Senators, but their pay was to be left undetermined. He would like to know what reason there was for adopting a course of this kind.