Provided, nevertheless, that no person shall be capable of being elected senator who is not of the Protestant religion, and seized of a freehold estate in his own right of the value of two hundred pounds, lying within this State, who is not of the age of thirty years, and who shall not have been an inhabitant of this State for seven years immediately preceding his election; and at the time thereof he shall be an inhabitant of the district for which he shall be chosen.

The Senate shall have power to adjourn themselves, provided such adjournment do not exceed two days at a time.

The Senate shall appoint their own officers, and determine their own rules of proceedings; and not less than seven members of the Senate shall make a quorum for doing business; and when less than eight senators shall be present, the assent of five at least shall be necessary to render their acts and proceedings valid.

The Senate shall be a court with full power and authority to hear and determine all impeachments made by the House of Representatives, against any officer or officers of the State, for misconduct or maladministration in their offices; but previous to the trial of any such impeachment, the members of the Senate shall respectively be sworn truly and impartially to try and determine the charge in question according to evidence.

Their judgment, however, shall not extend farther than removal from office, disqualification to hold or enjoy any place of honor, trust, or profit under this State; but the party so convicted shall nevertheless be liable to indictment, trial, judgment, and punishment, according to laws of the land.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

There shall be in the Legislature of this State a representation of the people annually elected and founded upon principles of equality; and in order that such rep

resentation may be as equal as circumstances will admit, every town, parish, or place entitled to town privileges, having one hundred and fifty ratable male polls of twenty-one years of age and upwards, may elect one representative; if four hundred and fifty ratable polls, may elect two representatives; and so proceeding in that proportion, making three hundred such ratable polls the mean increasing number for every additional representative.

Such towns, parishes, or places as have less than one hundred and fifty ratable polls shall be classed by the General Assembly for the purpose of choosing a representative and seasonably notified thereof.

And in every class formed for the above-mentioned purpose, the first annual meeting shall be held in the town, parish, or place wherein most of the ratable polls reside, and afterwards in that which has the next highest number, and so on annually, by rotation, through the several towns, parishes, or places forming the district.

Whenever any town, parish, or place entitled to town privileges, as aforesaid, shall not have one hundred and fifty ratable polls, and be so situated as to render the classing thereof with any other town, parish, or place very inconvenient, the General Assembly may, upon application of a majority of the voters in such town, parish, or place, issue a writ for their electing and sending a representative to the General Court.

The members of the House of Representatives shall be chosen annually in the month of March, and shall be the second branch of the Legislature.

All persons qualified to vote in the election of senators shall be entitled to vote within the town, district, parish, or place where they dwell in the choice of representatives. Every member of the House of Representatives shall be chosen by ballot; and for two years, at least, next preceding his election, shall have been an inhabitant of this State, shall have an estate within the

town, parish, or place which he may be chosen to represent of the value of one hundred pounds, one half of which to be a freehold, whereof he is seized in his own right; shall be at the time of his election an inhabitant of the town, parish, or place he may be chosen to represent; shall be of the Protestant religion, and shall cease to represent such town, parish, or place immediately on his ceasing to be qualified as aforesaid.

The travel of each representative to the General Assembly and returning home once in every session, and no more, shall be at the expense of the State, and the wages for his attendance at the expense of the town, parish, or places he represents; such members attending seasonably, and not departing without license. All intermediate vacancies in the House of Representatives may be filled up from time to time in the same manner as annual elections are made.

The House of Representatives shall be the grand inquest of the State, and all impeachments made by them shall be heard and tried by the Senate.

All money bills shall originate in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other bills.

The House of Representatives shall have power to adjourn themselves, but no longer than two days at a time.

A majority of the members of the House of Representatives shall be a quorum for doing business; but when less than two thirds of the representatives elected shall be present, the assent of two thirds of those members shall be necessary to render their acts and proceedings valid.

No member of the House of Representatives or Senate shall be arrested or held to bail on mesne process during his going to, returning from, or attendance upon the court.

The House of Representatives shall choose their own speaker, appoint their own officers, and settle the rules of proceedings in their own house. They shall have the authority to punish, by imprisonment, every person who shall be guilty of disrespect to the house in its presence, by any disorderly and contemptuous behavior, or by threatening or ill-treating any of its members, or by obstructing its deliberations; every person guilty of a breach of its privileges in making arrests for debt, or by assaulting any member during his attendance at any session, in assaulting or disturbing any one of its officers in the execution of any order or procedure of the house, in assaulting any witness or other person ordered to attend by and during his attendance of the house, or in rescuing any person arrested by order of the house, knowing them to be such. The Senate, president, and council shall have the same powers in like cases, provided that no imprisonment by either for any offense exceed ten days.

The journals of the proceedings of both houses of the General Court shall be printed and published immediately after every adjournment or prorogation; and upon motion made by any one member, the yeas and nays u pon any question shall be taken and entered in the ournals.

There shall be a supreme executive magistrate who shall be styled The President of the State of New Hampshire, and whose title shall be His Excellency.

The president shall be chosen annually; and no person shall be eligible to this office unless at the time of his election he shall have been an inhabitant of this State for seven years next preceding; and unless he shall be of the age of thirty years; and unless he shall, at the same time, have an estate of the value of five hundred pounds, one half of which shall consist of a

freehold in his own right, within the State; and unless he shall be of the Protestant religion.

Those persons qualified to vote for senators and representatives shall, within the several towns, parishes, or places where they dwell, at a meeting to be called for that purpose, some day in the month of March annually, give in their votes for a president to the selectmen who shall preside at such meeting, and the clerk, in the presence and with the assistance of the selectmen, shall in open meeting sort and count the votes, and form a list of the persons voted for, with the number of votes for each person against his name, and shall make a fair record of the same in the town books, and a public declaration thereof in the said meeting; and shall, in the presence of said inhabitants, seal up a copy of said list, attested by him and the selectmen, and transmit the same to the sheriff of the county thirty days, at least, before the first Wednesday of June, or shall cause returns of the same to be made to the office of the secretary of the State seventeen days, at least, before said day, who shall lay the same before the Senate and House of Representatives on the first Wednesday of June, to be by them examined; and in case of an election by a majority of votes through the State, the choice shall be by them declared and published, but if no person shall have a majority of votes, the House of Representatives shall by ballot elect two out of the four persons who had the highest number of votes, if so many shall have been voted for, but if otherwise, out of the number voted for, and make return to the Senate of the two persons so elected, on which the Senate shall proceed by ballot to elect one of them, who shall be declared president.

The president of the State shall preside in the Senate, shall have a vote equal with any other member, and shall also have a casting vote in case of a tie.