sistant surgeons of regiments, by the respective colonels, with the approval of the surgeon general: Provided, however, That the General Assembly shall, for the year 1843, elect the major general and the brigadier generals, who shall hold their commissions until the first Tuesday of May, 1844, and until their successors are qualified to act: And provided further, That the commander-in-chief shall issue commissions, agreeably to the provisions of this act, to all the officers of such chartered companies now existing, who may accept the provisions of this act as aforesaid."

SEC. 18. Any person elected major general shall be forthwith notified of his election by the secretary of state, and shall, within twenty days after such notice, signify to the secretary his acceptance of said office, or shall be considered as having declined.

SEC. 19. Whenever any regimental company is filled up by draughts, or otherwise, to a regiment, it shall consist of eight companies of sixty men each, and the commander in chief shall have power to appoint a sufficient number of commissioned officers therefor from such regimental companies; and, in case of such filling up of regimental companies, the captains of the respective companies therein shall have power to appoint a sufficient number of non-commissioned officers for their respective companies.

SEC. 20. No officer, non-commissioned officer, or private shall be arrested. on any civil process while going to, or returning from, or remaining at, any place at which he shall have been ordered to attend, for the election of any military officer, or the performance of any military duty.

Of commissions.

SEC. 21. All commissions for officers shall be signed by the commanderin-chief, and countersigned by the secretary of state, and shall be for the term of five years, except in case of regimental companies already chartered, who shall be governed as to the returns of their officers elected, and terms of the commissions of their officers, by their charters; warrants for regimental, staff, and non commissioned officers, shall be signed and issued by the colonels of the regimental companies or the regiments respectively; and of non-commissioned officers of companies, by the commander thereof.

SEC. 22. All commissioned officers of the same grade shall take rank according to the respective dates of their commissions; and when two or more of the same grade bear an equal date, their rank shall be determined by lot, to be drawn by them before the commanding officer of the division, brigade, regimental company or regiment, company or detachment, or the president of a court martial, as the case may be. The day of election or appointment of any officer shall be the date of his commission; and whenever he shall be transferred to another corps or station of the same grade, the date of his original commission or appointment shall be the date of his commission: Provided, however, That the first commissions issued under this act to officers of companies who shall, within sixty days from and after the rising of this General Assembly, voluntarily accept the provisions of the same, shall, for the purpose of rank and command, bear date on the same day.

SEC. 23. Whenever any officer shall lose his commission, he shall be entitled to a duplicate commission of the same grade and date, on his affidavit made before a justice of any court in this State, on application to the commander in chief.

SEC. 24. All commissions shall be delivered to the adjutant general, andby him to the persons for whom they are intended.

SEC. 25. All brigade or field officers to whom commissions shall be sent or delivered by the adjutant general, shall signify to him their acceptance or refusal of such office, within thirty days after the receipt of the commissions. In case the person elected shall refuse his commission, or neglect to return any answer, that office shall be deemed vacant, and a new election may take place.

No. 238.

STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS,

In General Assembly, January session, 1843.

AN ACT to regulate the election of civil officers, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly, as follows:

SECTION 1. The town councils of the several towns in this State, and the mayor and aldermen of the city of Providence, shall be boards of canvassers of voters in their respective towns and in said city, as hereinafter provided; and the town clerks of the several towns, and the city clerk of said city, shall act as clerks of said boards in their respective towns and said city.

SEC. 2. If any person claims a right to vote on account of having done military duty in the militia, or in any chartered or legally authorized vo!unteer company, the proof thereof shall be a certificate from the colonel of the regiment, or the captain or commanding officer of the chartered or legally authorized volunteer company, that he has, within the year next preceding his claim, and on or before the 31st day of December of said year, been enrolled, and in what company, and that he has done duty therein for at least one day, and been equipped according to law: Provided, however, That for voting in the year 1843, the certificate must be, that in the year 1842 such person has been enrolled, equipped, and done military duty according to law; and that proof of the right to vote upon military service may be made by certificate of the commissioners on military claims, as provided in article 2d, section 2d, of the constitution; and every colonel of a regiment, or captain or commanding officer of a chartered or legally authorized volunteer company, who shall wilfully refuse to grant such certificate to any person properly demanding and entitled to the same, or shall knowingly grant any such certificate to one not entitled thereto, shall, for each and every such offence, forfeit the sum of one hundred dollars. All certificates of military service performed in the year 1842, except certificates issued by the commissioners on military claims, shall, to be cffectual as proof of such service, bear date and be issued after the passage of this act: and all such certificates heretofore issued, except those issued by the commissioners on military claims, are hereby declared to be void and of no effect as proof of such service, for voting in any future election. Every colonel or commandant of a regiment, and every captain or commanding officer of a chartered or legally authorized volunteer company, shall, on or before the first Monday of March in the year 1843, and in every year

thereafter, make return, by him certified and sworn to before some judge or justice of the peace, of all persons, arranging their names alphabetically, in his regiment or company, as the case may be, qualified to vote by military service as aforesaid, to the town councils of the several towns in which such persons reside; or if they reside in the city of Providence, to the mayor and aldermen of said city; and every colonel or commandant of a regiment, or captain or commanding officer of a chartered or legally authorized vol unteer company, who shall neglect or refuse t omake such return, or shall knowingly make a false or imperfect return, shall forfeit not less than twenty five, nor more than five hundred dollars.

SEC. 3. The colonels or commandants of the several regiments shall have full power, and it shall be their duty, to require from the captains and other officers and privates under their command, all such returns and evidence, under oath or affirmation, as may be necessary to enable them to comply with the provisions of the constitution and of this act; and every cap. tain, or other officer or private, refusing to make such returns, or to give such evidence when thereunto duly required, or making false returns, or giving false evidence, shall forfeit not less than twenty five, nor more than three hundred dollars.

SEC. 4. All registry and other taxes shall be paid to the collector of taxes only: Provided, however, 'That in case of a highway tax, where by law the same may be paid in labor or money to a surveyor of highways, the receipt of such surveyor of such payment shall be sufficient evidence thereof on settlement with the collectors. After the year 1843, no person who claims a right to vote upon the payment of a tax or taxes assessed for any other officer than mayor, aldermeu, or common councilmen of the city of Providence, or upon any other proposition than one to impose a tax, or for the expenditure of money in any town or city, shall by the boards of canvassers be admitted to vote, unless upon the production of a certificate or cer tificates from the collector or collectors of taxes of some town or city in this State, that on or before the last day of December in the year next preceding he has paid such tax or taxes assessed for and within such year, at least to the amount of one dollar: Provided, however, That if he claims a right to vote upon the payment of a registry tax, such payment shall be certified as aforesaid by the collector of taxes of the town or city in which he resides and claims to vote: And provided also, That if his name has been registered for more than one year, two registry taxes for the two years next preceding the canvass having been assessed against him, and he claims the right to vote upon the payment of his registry tax, the certificate of the collector of such town or city must be produced before the canvassers, that on or before the last day of December next preceding the canvass he has paid such registry tax for each of the two years next preceding the time of voting, or that the same has been remitted by the town council or mayer and aldermen of the town or city in which he resides, in pursuance of the third section of the second article of the constitution. No person who, at any time after the passage of this act, claims a right to vote upon the payment of a property tax, in the election of the said city council of the city of Providence, or of any member of the same, or upon any proposition to impose a tax, or for the expenditure of money in any town or city, shall in such case be admitted by the canvassers to vote, unless upon a certificate from the collector of taxes of such town or city that he has, on or before the last day of December in the year next preceding, paid a tax assessed for and

within such year, upon his property therein, valued at least at one hundred and thirty four dollars. Any collector of taxes who shall wilfully refuse to grant such certificate to any person demanding the same, and legally entitled thereto, or shall grant such certificate to one not entitled thereto, shall forfeit the sum of one hundred dollars for each and every such offence. SEC. 5. Every town and city clerk of this State shall provide a suitable book for the registry of the names of all persons who, in order to vote, are required by the constitution to be registered; which book shall be kept in the office of the town or city clerk, for the purpose of such registry only, and shall always be open to the inspection of any elector of such town or city; and every town or city clerk in this State is hereby required to regis. ter in said book the name of every male inhabitant of the town or city, who shall demand such registry, and who shall declare that he is qualified by birth, and is or will be within a year qualified by age and residence to vote in such town or city, together with the date of the registry; and shall also register therein the name of every such inhabitant demanded to be registered by any elector of such town or city, who shall declare that such inhabitant is qualified by birth, and is or will be within a year qualified by age and residence to vote therein; in which case, besides the date of the registry, he shall also register, opposite the name of such inhabitant, the name of the elector demanding the same. Every town or city clerk who shall neglect to provide and keep such book, or who shall refuse, at all suitable times, to permit such inspection of the same, or who shall refuse or neglect to register the name of any person upon demand and declaration as aforesaid, or shall register a name without a date, or with a false date, shall forfeit the sum of one hundred dollars for each and every such offence. SEC. 6. On or before the twentieth day of February in the year 1843, the clerks of every town and city of this State shall deliver to the assessors of taxes of their respective towns and cities a certified copy from the registry, alphabetically arranged, of the names of all persons registered, to vote in such town or city on or before the 30th day of December, 1842. On or before the 20th day of January in the year 1844, and in each year thereafter, said clerks shall deliver to said assessors a like copy from their regis try of the names of all persons registered in the town or city on or before the last day of December in the year next preceding: and such assessors of taxes shall, on or before the first Monday in September in the year 1843, and in each year thereafter, assess upon every person whose name shall have been registered as aforesaid, his property tax; or, if he have no taxable property, or his taxes thereon do not amount to a dollar, then, as the case may be, a tax of one dollar, or such sum as with his other taxes shall amount to one dollar. On or before the first Monday in October in the year 1843, and in each year thereafter, said assessors shall return to the clerk's office of the town or city said copy of the registry by them duly certified, with the tax or taxes assessed against each person placed against his name thereon, distinguishing whether said tax is a property or registry tax; and if a property tax, whether said tax was assessed upon his property therein valued at least at 134 dollars; which copy so returned, it shall be the duty of the town or city clerk to record and file.

The copy of the registry thus made out and returned shall contain the names of all the registered voters for the calendar year next succeed. ing. Every town or city clerk neglecting or refusing to deliver such cer tified copy to the assessors as aforesaid, or wilfully delivering a false or

imperfect copy, shall forfeit the sum of three hundred dollars; and if any assessors of taxes shall wholly neglect or refuse to make such assessments, each and every such assessor so neglecting or refusing shall forfeit the sum of one thousand dollars, and be liable to imprisonment for one year; and if any assessors shall wilfully neglect or refuse to assess as aforesaid any person registered as aforesaid, each and every assessor so neglecting or refusing shall forfeit the sum of one hundred dollars for each and every person whom he shall so neglect or refuse to asssess as aforesaid.

SEC. 7. Every town or ward clerk, upon payment or tender of his legal fees, (which shall be the same for the ward clerks as for the town and city clerks,) shall furnisht o any person demanding the same a certified copy of any list of votes given in at any election. Every town or city clerk shall, upon like payment or tender, furnish to any person demanding the same a certified copy of any registration of voters, with the names of those who have paid taxes to him, and the amount of such taxes, and whether the same were paid on or before the last day of December next preceding; and shall also, upon the request of any person and tender of legal fees, and without unreasonable delay, examine the records and certify to the estate of any person or persons, and shall furnish copies of any instrument or writing which may be on record or on the files of his office. Every collector of taxes, or town or city treasurer, shall, upon like request and payment or tender, and without unreasonable delay, furnish to any elector a certified list of those who have paid to him State, town, and registry taxes, and the amounts and times of such payments; and shall grant certificates setting forth whether a certain person or persons have or have not paid to him such taxes, and, if paid, to what amount, and at what time; and every town, city, or ward clerk, collector of taxes, town or city treasurer, who shall refuse or unreasonably delay to furnish such lists or certificates, upon payment or tender as aforesaid, shall, for every such offence, forfeit not less than twenty-five, nor more than two hundred dollars.

SEC. 8. On or before the 25th day of February in the year 1843, every town and city treasurer and collector of taxes, and on or before the first Monday of February in every year thereafter, every town and city collector of taxes in this State, shall furnish to the town clerks of their respective towns and cities, duly certified alphabetical lists of all persons registered on or before the 30th day of December in the year 1842; and on or before the last day of December next preceding in every year thereafter, in their respective towns and cities, who shall on or before that time in the year 1842 have paid to such town or city treasurer their registry tax; or in each year thereafter, to such collector of taxes, their taxes assessed for and within said year preceding, together with the amount of the payment by each, specifying whether the tax was a registry tax, or a tax on property, and, if a property tax, whether assessed on property valued at least at one hundred and thirty-four dollars. On or before the first Monday of March in the year 1843, and every year thereafter, every town clerk in this State shall furnish to the town councils of their respective towns, and the city clerk of the city of Providence shall furnish to the mayor and alder. men of said city, a duly certified alphabetical list of all persons registered on or before the 30th day of December in the year 1842, and on or before the last day of December next preceding in every year thereafter, for the purpose of voting in such town or city; placing opposite the name of every