this were so or not, he did not pretend to judge, but he thought it a proper time to make some inquiry on the subject. As there are some of them who reside in Harrisburg, and will, no doubt, be employed by the legislature, the question will arise, when we arrive at Philadelphin, whether we will proceed to a new election of new officers, and now was the proper time to inquire into the propriety of employing these new officers.

Again, he thought the expense of printing might be somewhat cur tailed. He had observed that these resolutions, of some two or three lines each, had been printed upon three separate half sheets of paper, which might all have been contained on one page, and these resol tions, too, had been printed without an order of the convention.No vote had been taken on the question, and he presumed they were merely printed upon the suggestion made by the gentleman from Alleghe gheny, (Mr. Forward.) He did not know what authority there might be for having such resolutions printed, but certainly they were printed without the order of the convention. He believed there was an order that amendments to the constitution were to be printed, but he knew of no order to print resolutions, without a motion to that effect. He had no doubt that this was an unintentional error, but the committee of accounts could inquire into it, and correct such errors in future.

But there was another matter he desired to notice. It had been repeat edly stated here, that every time the yeas and nays were called, it cost the state forty dollars. Now, he did not know how this was, but admitting it to be so, he conceived this money was much better spent, then much which we spent in other purposes. But he ventured to say that plan might be devised, by which the yeas and nays might be called in one-third the time which it now takes to call them. We have three secretaries, and suppose one should call over the names, while one of the others marked the yeas, and the third one marked the nays, on a separate list. By this process, the yeas and nays might be called, in one-third or one-quarter of the time it now takes, and thirty dollars would he saved to the commonwealth by it, every time the yeas and nays were called. If we have not secretaries enough to do this, we might employ additional assistance, and pay them double or treble the amount of money they now receive, and save fifty dollars a day by it.

He called the attention of the committee of accounts to this matter, and, as they were more familiar with the subject than any other persons in the committee, he had proposed to refer the matter to them, hoping they would give it that attention which it deserved.

Mr. HAYHURST moved to amend the resolution by striking out the words "committee of accounts," and inserting the words "a select com mittee of seven persons." His reasons for making this motion, were these. We are now within a few days of the close of our session, previ ous to removing to Philadelphia, and the committee of accounts are busily engaged in settling up the accounts of the members of the convention, postage accounts, printers and binders' accounts, and various other accounts connected with the convention, which engrossed their whole time and attention. This laborious duty was imposed now on the committee of accounts, and he thought it a rather ungenerous act to endeavor, at this late day, to force upon them a new duty of this kind.

Again, by this resolution, the committee of accounts would be required, not only to digest a plan for the reduction of the expenses of the convenion, but also for accelerating the completion of its business. Now, it must be recollected that the legitimate and only duty of the committee of accounts, was to deal in filthy lucre, to examine and adjust the accounts of those who perform a service to the body, and it was not to be expected of them that they could raise their ideas so high as to digest plans for making all men think alike and act alike. This was a duty which he knew of no one better qualified to perform, than the gentleman from the county of Philadelphia (Mr. Earle) himself, and with this view he had moved that the subject should be referred to a select committee, of which the gentleman would doubtless be chairman, so that he might have the opportunity of displaying his talents on this important matter.

The amendment of Mr. HAYHURST was then agreed to.

Mr. FORWARD rose to explain in relation to the three small resolutions, referred to by the gentleman from the county of Philadelphia, (Mr. Earle.)

It would be recollected that these amendments were submitted, in committee, late in the evening, and he had moved that the committee rise, and explained, at the time, that he did so with the view of having these amendments printed and laid on the table by the next morning. This was the object of the rising of the committee, as he had expressly stated, and he did not think it necessary in convention, to move their printing, as he thought they would be printed as a matter of course. After the convention had adjourned, he saw the secretary in relation to it, and he was told that there had been no order for printing them. He, however, requested that they might be printed, as the committee had rose for that purpose, and stated, at the time, that if the convention would not pay for the printing, he would do it out of his own pocket. This was the manner in which the resolutions were ordered to be printed.

The question was then taken on agreeing to the resolution, when it was adopted.

Mr. MARTIN moved that the convention proceed to the second reading and consideration of the following resolution, submitted by himself, on the 20th of last month:

Resolved, That the freemen of the city of Philadelphia, and the freemen of the county of Philadelphia, shall each elect one sheriff and one coroner.

Which motion was disagreed to.

Mr. SHELLITO asked, and obtained, leave of absence for the afternoon of this day.

Mr. MEREDITH then asked leave to make a motion to dispense with the recess.

Mr. MANN called for the yeas and nays.

Mr. MEREDITH said if we were going to spend forty dollars in taking the yeas and nays, he would withdraw the motion.

Mr. MARTIN moved that the convention do now adjourn.

Lost.

SEVENTH ARTICLE.

The convention then resolved itself into committee of the whole, Mr. REIGART in the chair, and proceeded to the consideration of the report of the committee on the second section, as follows:

"SECTION 2. The arts and sciences shall be promoted in such institu tions of learning as may be alike open to all the children of the commonwealth."

Mr. FRY then moved to strike out all after the word "learning," in the second line, and insert "as the legislature may from time to time deem necessary.'

Mr. FRY, of Lehigh county, said that there were a number of amend ments now before the committee, none of which seemed to be exactly the thing that was wanted. He believed that all that the convention could do, would be to leave the subject to the legislature, to act upon it, from time to time, in such manner as they might think proper. At the same time, he was of opinion that the language of the provision of 1790, "that the arts and sciences shall be promoted in one or more seminaries There was no necessity of learning" was not sufficiently expressive. for saying how many colleges should be established, or to enter into details of any description. All that could be required was, that authority should be given to the legislature to act.

And the question on the amendment was then taken, and decided in the negative; yeas 31-nays not counted.

So the amendment was rejected.

The question then recurred, "will the committee of the whole agree to the second section of the report of the committee?"

On which question the yeas and nays were required by Mr. HIESTER and nineteen others, and are as follows, viz:

YEAS-Messrs. Banks, Chandler, of Philadelphia, Cline, Grenell, Hastings, Ingersoll, Keim, Martin, M'Cahen, Pollock, Reigart, Russell, Sellers-13.

NAYS-Messrs. Agnew, Ayres, Baldwin, Barclay, Barndollar, Barnitz, Bigelow, Bonham, Brown, of Northampton, Brown, of Philadelphia, Butler, Carey, Chambers, Chandler, of Chester, Chauncey, Clapp, Clarke, of Beaver, Clark. of Dauphin, Clarke, of Indiana, Cleavinger, Cochran, Cope, Cox, Craig, Crawford, Crum, Cummin Cunningham, Curll, Darrah, Denny, Dickerson, Dillinger, Donagan, Donnell, Dorat Dunlop, Earle, Farrelly, Fleming, Forward, Foulkrod, Fry, Fuller, Gambie, Gilmore, Harris, Hayhurst, Hays, Helffenstein, Henderson, of Allegheny, Henderson, of Darphin, Hiester, High, Hopkinson, Houpt, Hyde. Jenks, Kennedy, Kerr, Konigmacher, Krebs, Long, Lyons, Maclay, Magee, Mann, M'Call, M'Dowell, M'Sherry, Meredith Merrill, Merkel, Miller, Montgomery. Overfield, Pennypacker, Porter, of Lancaster, Purviance, Read, Ritter, Saeger, Scheetz, Scott, Seltzer, Serrill, Shellito, Smyth, Snively, Sterigere, Stickel, Taggart, Thomas, Weidman, White, Woodward, Sergeant, Predent-98.

So the second section of the report of the committee was not agreed to. The question then recurring on the second section of the constitution, in the words following, viz:

"The arts and sciences shall be promoted in one or more seminaries of learning."

A motion was made by Mr. BROWN, of Philadelphia, to amend the section by striking therefrom all after the word "in," in the first line, and

inserting in lieu thereof the following: "such institutions of learning as may be established by the legislature for the purpose of giving a higher education to those who shall qualify themselves for such in the common schools, and shall be open to no other."

Mr. BROWN said, that he did not intend to press his amendment on the attention of the committee at this time; he had drawn it up hastily on the spur of the moment. He would state, however, that he had drawn it up in conformity with the views which he entertained on the subject of education, and which were that if it was to be the duty of the legislature to encourage the arts and sciences, they should do it in connexion with the common school system, and that persons should first become qualified there for the higher branches of education before they were allowed to enter these institutions. This was the light in which he viewed the

matter.

On a former occasion, said Mr. B., in the course of some remarks, I took occasion to say that this section in the constitution of 1790, had been made the foundation of abuse; and I felt desirous to make such amendments to it as would effectually prevent the recurrence of similar abuses for the time to come. Some considerable sums of money have been appropriated by the legislature under this section, to very little purpose. I do not intend to say that no good has resulted from these appropriations; but I say that but little good has been derived from them compared with what we might expect to have seen under another system. I shall not, however, enter into particulars now, especially as the intention has been announced by one or two to offer amendments. I merely throw out these hints for the consideration of the committee; and for the purpose of making known to them the course which I intend to pursue in future.

I have a record of immense sums of money which have been paid to some of these institutions, the doors of which have been closed for the whole period of a year, and which, even when their doors were open, have not answered the purposes for which they were intended. The Franklin Institute of Pennsylvania, which had earned for itself so great a name not only in this state-but throughout the whole Union-and which had done so much towards encouraging the arts and sciences-had never received any aid from the state, while other institutions towards whom its aid had been liberally extended, had done little or nothing in return.

Mr. MARTIN, of Philadelphia county, said that he should regret to see a vote taken on this amendment, without proper reflection. It appeared to him that the amendment was worthy of consideration-that there was a good deal in it. The committee had just decided against the amendment reported by the committee on the 7th article, and which left these institutions alike open to all classes. The amendment of the gentleman from the county of Philadelphia, (Mr. Brown) took a different view of the subject; and if fairly considered, he (Mr. M.) was not sure that it might not be proper to adopt it. He certainly thought that it was well entitled to a respectful consideration. He was not prepared, however, to vote upon it at this time, and as the hour was late, he would move that the committee rise.

And, the question being taken, the motion that the committee now rise, was rejected.

And, the question was then taken on the amendment, and was decided in the negative without a division.

So the amendment was rejected.

Mr. JENKS, of Bucks county, rose and said that there really seemed be something in the amendment of the gentleman from the county Philadelphia, (Mr. Brown) which, at first view, seemed to commend to the attention of the committee.

The CHAIR said, he would remind the gentleman from Bucks county. that the amendment of the gentleman from the county of Philadelphia h just been rejected, and that it was not now, therefore, under the notice the committee.

Mr. JENKS said, he was aware that such was the fact, and his obser tions would go to the point of the committee's rising. Although tà question had been decided on the amendment-and he did not feel h self at liberty to make any observations upon it—yet it occurred to that it would be desirable to incorporate into the constitution a provs. advising the legislature to devise some means by which the greate monwealth of Pennsylvania should have a supply of competent teach He thought that this course would be necessary in furtherance of system which had been adopted by this body. He was of opi however, that this was a point which should not be lightly passed It required reflection, and, with that view, he would move that the mittee now rise.

Which motion having been agreed to, the committee rose, repara progress, and obtained leave to sit again.

A motion was then made by Mr. MARTIN,

That the convention do now adjourn.
Which was disagreed to.

On leave given,

A motion was made by Mr. Kerr,

That the convention take a recess until three o'clock this afternoo Which was agreed to.

The Convention then took a recess until three o'clock, P. M.