may be abolished.-In case the mode of election and appointment of militia officers hereby directed shall not be found conducive to the improvement of the militia, the legislature may abolish the same, and provide by law for their appointment and removal, if two-thirds of the members present in each house shall concur therein.

ARTICLE XII.

SEC. 1. Oath of office prescribed.-Members of the legislature (and all officers, executive and judicial, except such inferior officers as shall be by law exempted) shall, before they enter on the duties of their respective offices, take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of New York, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of according to the best of my ability;" and all such officers who shall have been chosen at any election shall, before they enter on the duties of their respective offices, take and subscribe the oath or affirmation above prescribed, together with the following addition thereto as part thereof :

"And I do further solemnly swear (or affirm) that I have not directly or indirectly paid, offered, or promised to pay, contributed, or offered or promised to contribute, any money or other valuable thing as a consideration or reward for the giving or withholding a vote at the election at which I was elected to said office, and have not made any promise to influence the giving or withholding any such vote; and no other oath, declaration, or test shall be required as a qualification for any office of public

trust.

ARTICLE XIII.

SEC. 1. Amendments.—Any amend

ment or amendments to this constitution may be proposed in the senate and assembly; and if the same shall be agreed to by a majority of the members elected to each of the two houses, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be entered on their journals, with the yeas and nays taken thereon, and referred to the legislature to be chosen at the next general election of senators, and shall be published for three months previous to the time of making such choice, and if in the legislature so next chosen, as aforesaid, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be agreed to by a majority of all the members elected to each house, then it shall be the duty of the legislature to submit such proposed amendment or amendments to the people, in such manner and at such time as the legislature shall prescribe; and if the people shall approve and ratify such amendment or amendments, by a majority of the electors qualified to vote for members of the legislature voting thereon, such amendment or amendments shall become part of the constitution.

SEC. 2. Future conventions, how called. At the general election to be held in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-six, and in each twentieth year thereafter, and also at such time as the legislature may by law provide, the question, "Shall there be a convention to revise the constitution, and amend the same?" shall be decided by the electors qualified to vote for members of the legislature; and in case a majority of the electors so qualified, voting at such election, shall decide in favour of a convention for such purpose, the legislature at its next session shall provide by law for the election of delegates to such convention.

ARTICLE XIV.

SEC. 1. Election-term of office of

senators and members of assembly.The first election of senators and members of the assembly, pursuant to the provisions of this constitution, shall be held on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday of November, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven. The senators and members of assembly who may be in office on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, shall hold their offices until and including the thirty-first day of December following, and no longer.

SEC. 2. First election of governor and lieutenant-governor, when.-The first election of governor and lieutenant-governor under this constitution shall be held on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday of November, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight; and the governor and lieutenant - governor in office when this constitution shall take effect, shall hold their respective offices until and including the thirtyfirst day of December of that year.

SEC. 3. State officers, and others, to remain in office till December 31, 1847.

-The secretary of state, comptroller, treasurer, attorney-general, district attorneys, surveyor - general, canal commissioners, and inspectors of state prisons, in office when this constitution shall take effect, shall hold their respective offices until and including the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, and no longer.

SEC. 4. First election of judicial officers, when.-The first election of judges and clerk of the court of appeals, justices of the supreme court, and county judges, shall take place at such time between the first Tuesday of April and the second Tuesday of June, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, as may be prescribed by law. The said courts

shall respectively enter upon their duties on the first Monday of July next thereafter; but the term of office of said judges, clerk, and justices, as declared by this constitution, shall be deemed to commence on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.

SEC. 5. Jurisdiction of pending suits. On the first Monday of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, jurisdiction of all suits and proceedings then pending in the present supreme court and court of chancery, and all suits and proceedings originally commenced and then pending in any court of common pleas (except in the city and county of New York), shall become vested in the supreme court hereby established. Proceedings pending in courts of common pleas, and in suits originally commenced in justices' courts, shall be transferred to the county courts provided for in this constitution, in such manner and form and under such regulations as shall be provided by law. The courts of oyer and terminer hereby established shall in their respective counties have jurisdiction, on and after the day last mentioned, of all indictments and proceedings then pending in the present courts of oyer and terminer, and also of all indictments and proceedings then pending in the present courts of general sessions of the peace, except in the city of New York, and except in cases of which the courts of sessions hereby established may lawfully take cognisance; and of such indictments and proceedings the courts of sessions hereby established shall have jurisdiction on and after the day last mentioned.

SEC. 6. Chancellor and supreme court -masters in chancery. The chancellor and the present supreme court shall, respectively, have power to hear and determine any of such

suits and proceedings ready on the first Monday of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, for hearing or decision, and shall, for their services therein, be entitled to their present rates of compensation until the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and fortyeight, or until all such suits and proceedings shall be sooner heard and determined. Masters in chancery may continue to exercise the functions of their office in the court of chancery, so long as the chancellor shall continue to exercise the functions of his office under the provisions of this constitution. And the supreme court hereby established shall also have power to hear and determine such of said suits and proceedings as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 7. Vacancy in office of chancellor, or justice of supreme court, how filled. In case any vacancy shall occur in the office of chancellor or justice of the present supreme court, previously to the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, the governor may nominate, and, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, appoint a proper person to fill such vacancy. Any judge of the court of appeals or justice of the supreme court, elected under this constitution, may receive and hold such appointment.

SEC. 8. Offices abolished. The offices of chancellor, justice of the existing supreme court, circuit judge, vice-chancellor, assistant vice-chancellor, judge of the existing county courts of each county, supreme court commissioner, master in chancery, examiner in chancery, and surrogate (except as herein otherwise provided), are abolished, from and after the first Monday of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven. (1847.)

SEC. 9. Chancellor and justices of present supreme court, eligible.-The

chancellor, the justices of the present supreme court, and the circuit judges, are hereby declared to be severally eligible to any office at the first election under this constitution.

SEC. 10. Officers to hold until expiration of term.-Sheriffs, clerks of counties (including the register and clerk of the city and county of New York), and justices of the peace, and coroners, in office when this constitution shall take effect, shall hold their respective offices until the expiration of the term for which they were respectively elected.

SEC. 11. Judicial officers may receive fees. Judicial officers in office when this constitution shall take effect may continue to receive such fees and perquisites of office as are now authorised by law, until the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, notwithstanding the provisions of the twentieth section of the sixth article of this constitution.

SEC. 12. Local courts to remain, &c. All local courts established in any city or village, including the superior court, common pleas, sessions, and surrogates' courts of the city and county of New York, shall remain, until otherwise directed by the legislature, with their present powers and jurisdictions; and the judges of such courts and any clerks thereof in office on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, shall continue in office until the expiration of their terms of office, or until the legislature shall otherwise direct.

SEC. 13. When constitution goes into operation.-This constitution shall be in force from and including the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, except as is herein otherwise provided.

ARTICLE XV.

SEC. 1. Bribery and official corrup

tion. Any person holding office under the laws of this state, who, except in payment of his legal salary, fees, or perquisites, shall receive, or consent to receive, directly or indirectly, any thing of value or of personal advantage, or the promise thereof, for performing, or omitting to perform, any official act, or with the express or implied understanding that his official action, or omission to act, is to be in any degree influenced thereby, shall be deemed guilty of a felony. This section shall not affect the validity of any existing statute in relation to the offence of bribery.

SEC. 2. The same subject. Any person who shall offer or promise a bribe to an officer, if it shall be received, shall be deemed guilty of a felony and liable to punishment, except as herein provided. No person offering a bribe shall, upon any prosecution of the officer for receiving such bribe, be privileged from testifying in relation thereto, and he shall not be liable to civil or criminal prosecution therefor, if he shall testify to the giving or offering of such bribe. Any person who shall offer or promise a bribe, if it be rejected by the officer to whom it is tendered, shall be deemed guilty of an attempt to bribe, which is hereby declared to be a felony.

SEC. 3. Person offering or receiving bribe may be witness.-Any person charged with receiving a bribe, or with offering or promising a bribe, shall be permitted to testify in his own behalf in any civil or criminal prosecution therefor.

SEC. 4. District attorney may be removed for failure to prosecute violations ・expenses of prosecution, how chargeable. Any district attorney who shall fail faithfully to prosecute a person charged with the violation in his county of any provision of this article which may come to his knowledge, shall be removed from office

It is now proper to consider more particularly the machinery of one of the states, and as no state of the Union is more widely or deservedly known, or has exercised greater influence on other states, or whose constitution has been more closely copied as a model, the State of New York is perhaps the one best suited to illustrate state government. As already stated, everything not delegated by the state to the Federal Government by the Constitution of the United States, and amendments thereto, was retained, and is now inherent in the independent state.

That the state government shall not be inconsistent with the constitutional government of the United States was agreed to by the original thirteen states at the time of accepting the Constitution of the United States; and, as shown in the case of the State of Colorado, those states admitted subsequently into the Union expressly undertook that their respective state governments should likewise be subordinate to the Federal Government, as set forth in the Constitution of the United States, amendments thereto, and Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776.