On motion of Mr. H. Smith, Resolved, That James Tanner be, and he is hereby, declared duly elected second assistant doorkeeper of this House for the current year. On motion of Mr. Younglove, Resolved, That the Clerk be requested to invite the several clergymen of the city to open the daily sessions of this House with prayer. Mr. Wilber offered for the consideration of the House a preamble and resolution, in the words following, to wit: Whereas, at the session of the 39th Congress, it was resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress Assembled (two-thirds of both houses concurring), that the following article be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified by three-fourths of said Legislatures, shall be valid to all intents and purposes as a part of the said Constitution, viz: "Article 14. "SECTION 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. "§ 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of Electors for President and VicePresident of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature. thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State. "§ 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or Elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State Legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each house, remove such disability. "§ 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void. "§ 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article." Therefore, Resolved (if the Senate concur), That the said proposed amendment [ASSEMBLY JOURNAL ] 2 to the Constitution be, and the same is hereby, ratified by the Legislature of the State of New York. Ordered, That said resolution be laid on the table. On motion of Mr. Juliand, Resolved, That a committee of two be appointed to inform His Excellency the Governor that the Assembly is organized and ready to proceed to business. Mr. Speaker appointed as such committee Messrs. Juliand and Weed. The constitutional oath of office was administered by the Speaker to the Clerk, Sergeant-at-arms, doorkeeper and first assistant doorkeeper. On motion of Mr. Havens, Resolved, That a committee of two be appointed to inform the Senate that the House is organized and ready to proceed to business. Mr. Speaker appointed as such committee Messrs. Havens and Williams. On motion of Mr. Littlejohn, Rosolved, That upon the adjournment the members of the Assembly call in a body upon the Governor of the State, in his Executive chamber, to tender to him the compliments of the New Year Day. Mr. Ballard offered for the consideration of the House a resolution, in the words following, to wit: Resolved, That when this House adjourns, it do so to meet at four o'clock, and that when convened the members proceed to draw for seats in the Assembly chamber, in the usual manner; that, previous to such drawing, the chamber be cleared of all persons except members and officers, and that the members retire to the lobby and the cloak room, and remain there until their names are drawn and called. Mr. Oakey moved to amend said resolution by inserting after the word "adjourns," the word “to-morrow." Mr. Speaker put the question whether the House would agree to said amendment, and it was determined in the negative. Mr. Speaker then put the question whether the House would agree to said resolution, and it was determined in the affirmative. On motion of Mr. Bigelow, Resolved, That the daily sessions of this House shall commence at eleven o'clock A. M., until otherwise ordered. On motion of Mr. Covell, Resolved, That the postmaster of the last Assembly be requested to take charge of the Assembly post office until the Speaker shall be prepared to appoint such officer. Messrs. Havens and Weed, a committee on the part of the Assembly, to inform His Excellency the Governor, that the Assembly was organized and ready for business, reported that they had discharged that duty, and were instructed to inform the Assembly that he would communicate with them in writing to-morrow. On motion of Mr. Siegerson, Resolved, That the Clerk be authorized to make the usual contract with the Postmaster of the city of Albany for the transmission of papers and documents, the postage of which shall not exceed thirty cents each. Mr. Oakey presented the petition of Ira Buckman, Jr., for the seat of the Hon. Henry M. Dixon from the 7th Assembly district of the county of Kings, which was read and referred to the committee on privileges and elections. On motion of Mr. Creamer, at 12 o'clock and 47 minutes the House took a recess until 4 o'clock. FOUR O'CLOCK P. M. The House again met. Mr. James Tanner, second assistant doorkeeper elect, presented himself, and the constitutional oath of office was administered to him by the Speaker. Mr. Speaker appointed Messrs. Robertson and Phillips as tellers to examine the ballots to be used in the drawing of seats, and compare them with the list of members. On motion of Mr. Rice, Resolved, That the Clerk direct the librarian of the last Assembly to take charge of the Assembly library till a successor is appointed. Mr. Blakeslee offered for the consideration of the House a resolution, in the words following, to wit: Resolved, That Mr. Lockwood of Cayuga, Mr. Fiske of Oneida, and Mr. Conger of Albany, owing to defective hearing, and Mr. Juliand of Chenango, on account of impaired vision, be permitted to select seats previous to the drawing therefor, provided their selections are made from the front row of seats. Mr. Speaker put the question whether the House would agree to said resolution, and it was determined in the negative. Mr. Littlejohn moved to reconsider the vote just taken. Debate ensued, when Mr. Speaker put the question whether the House would agree to said motion to reconsider, and it was determined in the affirmative. Mr. Develin then moved that the seats so selected be confined between the north and south-aisles. Mr. Dixon moved to strike out all after the word "confined" and insert · the words "to the front seats." Mr. Speaker put the question whether the House would agree to said motion of Mr. Dixon, and it was determined in the negative. Mr. Speaker then put the question whether the House would agree to said motion of Mr. Develin, and it was determined in the negative. Mr. Williams moved to amend said resolution, by adding thereto the name of Mr. Hinson, of Erie, on account of impaired vision. Mr. Speaker put the question whether the House would agree to said amendment, and it was determined in the affirmative. Mr. Speaker then put the question whether the House would agree to said resolution, as amended, and it was determined in the affirmative. Mr. Littlejohn moved that the colleagues of Mr. Raber, of Kings, and Mr. McKinney, of Oswego, be allowed to select seats for them in their absence, and that a person be appointed to select a seat for Mr. Wyeth, of Richmond, during his absence. Mr. Speaker put the question whether the House would agree to said motion, and it was determined in the affirmative. Mr. D. P. Wood moved that he be allowed to select a seat for Mr. J. L. Parker, of Cayuga, when his name is drawn, on account of his being confined to his room by sickness. Mr. Speaker put the question whether the House would agree to said. motion, and it was determined in the affirmative. Messrs. Robertson and Phillips, appointed to examine and compare the ballots, reported that they had found them correct. The drawing was then proceeded with, and resulted as follows: On motion of Mr. Millspaugh, at 6 o'clock and 27 minutes, the House WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2, 1867. The House met pursuant to adjournment. The minutes of yesterday were read and approved. The annual message of Ilis Excellency the Governor was received, through his private secretary, in the words following, to wit: To the Legislature: I welcome the members of the two branches of the Legislature to the the settlement of our National difficulties, on the sure foundation of justice. The people look with undoubting confidence to you, as their representatives, to give expression to their ascertained will; and they rely on your wisdom and fidelity for such salutary and wholesome laws. as shall advance our general welfare. The year that has just closed has been charged with great events, and has been rich in its blessings of peace, and in its rewards to industry. We have occasion for mutual congratulation on the progress of almost every interest of the people, and the promise of yet greater achievements in the future, to be wrought out through a firm adherence to our traditional policy, and to those fundamental truths upon which our system of government depends. We emerged from the stormy night of war, to enter upon a hardly less trying period of political conflict; and in passing through each of these ordeals, there has been developed, ou the part of the people, a steadfastness of purpose, a depth of patriotism, and an enlightened appreciation of the principles of civil liberty, which not only attest the beneficent influence and strength of our form of government, but also give assurance of its rising greatness and perpetuity. Through the very process of our national trials, in both field and forum, the American Union has been subjected to a test more severe than any to which it can hereafter be exposed; and experience has demonstrated that its cohesion and strength depend, not on the pleasure or caprice of individual States or of geographical sections, but on the collective will of the people. That will has been declared in the forms prescribed by the Constitution. It has been maintained in war. It has been reasserted by the representatives of the People and of the State. It has prescribed its own guarantees for the future, and confirmed those guarantees by the reaffirmance at the polls of the popular will. There is no loyal man, who has not a clear and abiding confidence in the perpetuity of a government thus sustained, in peace as in war, by the sovereign power of the People. There is no foreign nation which does not recognize these as the achieved results of the conflict, and unite in respect for a people so true to the traditions of their early history, and to the liberties committed to them by the fathers; and who, having proved faithful and heroic amid carnage and battle, which filled the land with anguish; in victory seck only, yet firmly, the security of the Republic, and the supremacy of well-ordered and equal freedom. It will be your high privilege, in the name of the people of this State, to ratify the proposed constitutional amendment, which I have the honor to transmit upon this opening day of your session. I cannot too earnestly recommend your prompt action, in order that the judgment of New York on a proposition so moderate and so just, may be submitted at the earliest day to the unreconstructed States, and that, on our part, there may be no delay in anchoring those fraternal guarantees in the Federal Constitution. I need not discuss the features of this amendment; they have undergone the ordeal of public consideration since the adjournment of Congress in July last, and they are understood, appreciated and approved. Never before in the history of the Government, upon any great question affecting our national interests, has there been such unanimity in the expression of the popular will. The proposed amendment seems to contain just the conditions of safety and justice indispensable to a permanent settlement. It spans the chasm which the rebellion opened between the loyal and the insurgent States; and if it shall be accepted in good faith, as frankly as it is tendered, the way is already opened for reconciliation and lasting peace. There is no other plan before the people, and the verdict of the ballot |