under any foreign powers, shall be eligible as a member of the general assembly of this state, or hold or exercise any office of trust or profit under the same.

15. All laws that may be passed by the legislature of the state of Louisiana, and the judicial and legislative written proceedings of the same, shall be promulgated, preserved, and conducted, in the language in which the constitution of the United States is written.

16. The general assembly shall direct by law how persons who now are or may hereafter become securities for public officers, may be returned or discharged on account of such securityship.

17. No power of suspending the laws of this state shall be exercised, unless by the legislature or its authority.

18. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall have the right of being heard, by himself or counsel: of demanding the nature and cause of the accusation against him: of meeting the witnesses face to face: of having compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favour; and, in prosecutions by indictment, or information, a speedy public trial by an impartial jury of the vicinage; nor shall he be compelled to give evidence against himself.

19. All prisoners shall be bailable by sufficient securities, unless for capital offences, where the proof is evident or presumption great; and the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.

20. No ex post facto law, nor any law impairing the obligation of contracts, shall be passed.

21. Printing presses shall be free to every person who undertakes to examine the proceedings of the legislature, or any branch of the government and no law shall ever be made to restrain the right thereof. The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the invaluable rights of man, and every citizen may freely speak, write, and print on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty.

22. Emigration from the state shall not be prohibited.

23. The citizens of the town of New Orleans shall have the right of appointing the several public officers necessary for the administration and the police of the said city, pursuant to the mode of election which shall be prescribed by the legislature: Provided, that the mayor and recorder shall be ineligible to a seat in the general assembly.

24. The seat of government shall continue at New Orleans until removed by law.

25. All laws contrary to this constitution shall be null and void.

ARTICLE 7.

Mode of Revising the Constitution.

§ 1. When experience shall point out the necessity of amending this constitution, and a majority of all the members elected to each house of the general assembly shall, within the first twenty days of their stated annual session, concur in passing a law, specifying the alterations intended to be made, for taking the sense of the good people of this state, as to the necessity and expediency of calling a convention, it shall be the duty of the several returning officers, at the next general election

which shall be held for representatives after the passage of such law, to open a poll for, and make return to the secretary for the time being, of the names of all those entitled to vote for representatives, who have voted for calling a convention; and if thereupon it shall appear that a majority of all the citizens of this state, entitled to vote for representatives, have voted for a convention, the general assembly shall direct that a similar poll shall be opened and taken from the next year; and if thereupon it shall appear that a majority of all the citizens of this state entitled to vote for representatives have voted for a convention, the general assembly shall, at their next session, call a convention, to consist of as many members as there shall be in the general assembly, and no more ; to be chosen in the same manner and proportion, at the same places, and at the same time, that representatives are, by citizens entitled to vote for representatives; and to meet within three months after the said elec tion for the purpose of readopting, amending, or changing this constitution. But if it shall appear, by the vote of either year, as aforesaid, that a majority of all the citizens entitled to vote for representatives did not vote for a convention, a convention shall not be called.

SCHEDULE.

§ 1. That no inconveniences may arise from a change of a territorial o a permanent state government, it is declared by the convention, that all rights, suits, actions, prosecutions, claims, and contracts, both as it respects individuals and bodies corporate, shall continue as if no change had taken place in this government, in virtue of the laws now in force.

2. All fines, penalties, and forfeitures, due and owing to the territory of Orleans shall inure to the use of the state. All bonds executed to the governor, or any other officer in his official capacity in the territory, shall pass over to the governor, or to the officers of the state, and their successors in office, for the use of the state, by him or by them to be respectively assigned over to the use of those concerned, as the case may be.

3. The governor, secretary, and judges, and all other officers under the territorial government, shall continue in the exercise of the duties of their respective departments until the said officers are superseded under the authority of the constitution.

4. All laws now in force in this territory, not inconsistent with this constitution, shall continue and remain in full effect until repealed by the legislature.

5. The governor of this state shall make use of his private seal, until a state seal be procured.

6. The oaths of office herein directed to be taken may be administered by any justice of the peace, until the legislature shall otherwise direct.

7. At the expiration of the time after which this constitution is to go into operation, or immediately after official information shall have been received that congress have approved of the same, the president of the convention shall issue writs of election to the proper officers in the different counties, enjoining them to cause an election to be held for governor and members of the general assembly, in each of their respective districts. The election shall commence on the fourth Monday following the day of the president's proclamation, and shall take place on the same

day throughout the state. The mode and duration of the said election shall be determined by the laws now in force: Provided, however, that in case of absence or disability of the president of the convention to cause the said election to be carried into effect, the secretary of the convention shall discharge the duties hereby imposed on the president; and that in case of the absence of the secretary, a committee of Messrs. Blanque, Brown, and Urquhart, or a majority of them, shall discharge the duties herein imposed on the secretary of the convention; and the members of the general assembly thus elected, shall assemble on the fourth Monday thereafter, at the seat of government. The governor and members of the general assembly, for this time only, shall enter upon the duties of their respective offices immediately after their election, and shall continue in office in the same manner, and during the same period, they would have done had they been elected on the first Monday of July, 1812.

8. Until the first enumeration shall be made, as directed in the sixth section of the second article of this constitution, the county of New Orleans shall be entitled to six representatives, to be elected as follows: one by the first senatorial district within the said county, four by the second district, and one by the third district; the county of German Coast to two representatives; the county of Acadia to two representatives; the county of Iberville to two representatives; the county of Lafourche to two representatives, to be elected as follows: one by the parish of Assumption, and the other by the parish of the Interior; the county of Rapides to two representatives; the county of Natchitoches to one representative; the county of Concordia to one representative; the county of Ouachitta to one representative; the county of Oppelousas to two representatives; the county of Attakapas to three representatives, to be elected as follows: two by the parish of St. Martin, and the third by the parish of St. Mary; and the respective senatorial districts, created by this constitution, to one senator each.

Done in convention, at New Orleans, the 22d day of the month of January, in the year of our Lord 1812, and of the independence of the United States of America the 36th.

J. POYDRAS, President of the Convention.

J. D. Degoutin Bellesschase,

J. Blanque,

F. J. Le Breton D'Orgenoy,
Mgre. Guichard,

S. Henderson,

P. Dennis de la Ronde,

F. Livandais,
Bernard Marigny,
Thomas Urquhart,
J. Villere,
John Watkins,
Samuel Winters,

James Brown,

J. N. Destrehan,

Andre La Branche,

Bela Hubbard, jr.
St. Martin,
H. S. Thibodaux,
S. Hiriart,
Robert Hall,
T. F. Oliver,
Levi Wells,

P. Bossier Prud'liomme,
James Dunlap,

D. B. Morgan,

Henry Bry,
Allen B. Magruder,
D. J. Sutton,

John Thompson,

Louis De Blanc,

Michel Cantrelle,

G. Roussin,

Amant Hebert,

Wm. Wikoff, jr.

Wm. Goforth,

Henry Johnson,
W. C. Maquille,

Charles Oliver,
Alexander Porter, jr.

M. L. Reynaud.

Attest, ELIJIUS FROMENTIN, Secretary to the Convention.

AN ORDINANCE

Relating to the public lands of the United States, and the lands of non-resident proprietors, citizens of said states, within the territory of Orleans.

Be it ordained, by the representatives of the people of the territory of Orleans, in convention assembled, agreeably to an act of congress, entitled "An act to enable the people of the territory of Orleans to form a constitution and state government, and for the admission of such state into the Union, on an equal footing with the original states, and for other purposes," that the people inhabiting the said territory do agree and declare, that they do for ever disclaim all right or title to the waste or unappropriated lands lying within the said territory; and that the same shall be and remain at the sole and entire disposition of the United States.

And be it further ordained, by the authority aforesaid, that each and every tract of land sold by congress, shall be and remain exempt from any tax, laid by the order, or under the authority of the state of Louisiana, whether for state, county, township, parish, or any other purpose whatever, for the term of five years, from and after the respective days of the sales thereof; and that the lands belonging to the citizens of the United States, residing without the said state, shall never be taxed higher than the lands belonging to persons residing therein : and that no taxes shall be imposed on lands the property of the United States.

And be it further ordained, by the authority aforesaid, that this ordinance shall never be revoked, without the consent of the United States in congress assembled, being first obtained for that purpose.

By the unanimous order of the convention:

J. POYDRAS, President of the Convention. ELIJIUS FROMENTIN, Secretary to the Convention

Done in convention, at New Orleans, this 28th day of January, in the year of our Lord 1812, and of the independence of the United States the 36th.

CONSTITUTION OF MISSISSIPPI.

ARTICLE 1.

Declaration of Rights

THAT the general, great and essential principles of liberty and free government may be recognised and established, we declare :

§ 1. That all freemen, when they form a social compact, are equal in rights; and that no man, or set of men, are entitled to exclusive, sepa rate public emoluments or privileges from the community, but in consideration of public services.

2. That all political power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their authority and established for their benefit; and, therefore, they have at all times an unalienable and indefeasible right to alter or abolish their form of government, in such manner as they may think expedient.

3. The exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination, shall for ever be free to all persons in this state: Provided, that the right hereby declared and established shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness, or justify practices inconsistent with the peace and safety of the state.

4. No preference shall ever be given by law to any religious sect, or mode of worship.

5. That no person shall be molested for his opinions on any subject whatever, nor suffer any civil or political incapacity, or acquire any civil or political advantage, in consequence of such opinions, except in cases provided for in this constitution.

6. Every citizen may freely speak, write and publish his sentiments on all subjects; being responsible for the abuse of that liberty.

7. No law shall ever be passed to curtail or restrain the liberty of speech, or of the press.

8. In all prosecutions or indictments for libel, the truth may be given in evidence; and if it shall appear to the jury that the matter charged as libellous is true, and was published with good motives and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted; and the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the facts.

9. That the people shall be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and possessions from unreasonable seizures and searches; and that no warrant to search any place, or to seize any person or thing, shall issue without describing the place to be searched, and the person or thing to be seized, as nearly as may be, nor without probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation.

10. That in all criminal prosecutions the accused hath a right to be heard, by himself or counsel, or both; to demand the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted by the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favour; and in all prosecutions by indictment or information a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the county where the offence was committed ⚫