before and after for every twenty miles they must ne cessarily travel to, and from home, and in the mean time process in which they are parties shall be suspended, without abatement or discontinuance; if any person taken in execution, be delivered by privilege of either house of general assembly, so soon as such privilege ceaseth, he shall return himself a prisoner in execution or be liable to an escape.

XII. If a sufficient number of the members of geneConsequence if a sufficient ral assembly, or of either house thereof, to adjourn from number of day to day, shall not meet at any time when they ought, members, to the governor, by proclamation, with advice of the fail to meet. council, may prorogue the general assembly, or adjourn the deficient house, from day to day, until a suf

form a house,

leave.

ficient number shall convene, and their acts and proceedings afterwards shall be as valid as if there had Members ab. been no such interruption. But a delegate or senator sent, without shall lose all the wages he would otherwise have been entitled to, if he shall depart from the general assembly before it be adjourned, without licence from the speaker and other members of the house whereof he is a member, first entered on the journal; yet any member of either house taken so sick during his attendance in general assembly, or in bis journey thither, as that he shall be unable to come to or sit in the house, shall receive wages for every day of the session he shall be so disabled, in the same manner as if he had sat in the house. If on the day appointed for the meeeting of any general assembly, or at any time during the session, a sufficient number of the members thereof, to proceed to business, do not attend for that purpose, every absent delegate or senator, shall, besides losing his wages during absence, forfeit and pay to the use of this commonwealth ten pounds; such forfeiture to be recovered by prosecution to be instituted in the general court by order of such house, and on the trial of such prosecution, no excuse for non-attendance, other than those before-mentioned, shall be admitted by the jury; and if it be alledged that the defendant did attend such house, on any of the days during which they could not do business for want of members, the proof of such atAdjournment tendance shall rest on him. The general assembly may during a session, or at the end thereof adjourn to any other place than that where they shall then be sitting Every act of the general assembly hereafter to be made,

commence.

shall commence and be in force from the passing there- When acts to of, unless in the act itself another day for the commencement thereof be particularly mentioned, and in the former case the day of passing thereof shall be noted next after the title.

XII. This act shall commence and be in force from

Commence.

and after the first day of January, one thousand seven ment of this hundred and eighty seven.

act.

CHAP. LVI.

Bills of 1779,

An act empowering one of the privy- From Rev. council, to officiate in certain cases ch. II. as lieutenant-governor.

BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That if the When one of the privy governor and president of the privy council shall die, council, may or otherwise become unable to perform his duty, in the act as lieutenrecess of the general assembly, the privy councillor an governor. whose name stands next in the list of their apointments, shall officiate as lieutenant-governor, until the vacancy be supplied, or the disability cease. And in the absence of the governor, such intended absence having been previously notified to them by him, and entered on their journals, or in the like absence of the president, and upon the like notification, if any business to be transacted at the council board necessarily require dispatch before he can attend it, the council may proceed without him; and in either case the act shall be as valid as if he had been present. This act shall commence and be in force from and after the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven

CHAP. LVII.

From Rev. An act concerning the public trea

Bills of 1779,

ch. XII.

Treasurer,

how long to continue in office.

Bond and security.

Oath.

Vacancy,how supplied.

surer.

BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That the public treasurer may continue in office without re-election, until the end of the session of general assembly next after one year from the time of his appointment shall have expired. On his first election, before he shall have power to act, he shall give bond to the governor, with sureties to be approved by the council of state, in the penalty of four hundred thousand pounds, payable to the commonwealth, with condition that he will faithfully account for all monies and other things, which shall come to his hands in virtue of his office, and perform all other duties thereof; and shall take an oath to the same purpose, and give assurance of fidelity to the commonwealth, before some court of record, or before a judge or a justice thereof, the administration of which oaths, or the certificate thereof, shall be recorded in such court. When the office shall become vacant, during the recess of the general assembly, the governor with advice of the council of state, shall appoint a successor, to act until such time as he or another shall be legally elected. Upon a motion made to the general court, by a succeeding treasurer, on behalf of the commonwealth, whereof more than ten days notice in writing shall have been given to the obligors, judgment may be awarded for the penalty of the said bond, to be discharged by payment of so much as a jury, to be impannelled instantly, for trial of the issue, if an issue be joined, or to enquire of damages, if the defendants make default, shall find to be due by breach of Duty of trea- the condition aforesaid, with costs. The treasurer, in books, provided at public expence, shall state the accounts of money by him received for public taxes and impositions, and paid in pursuance of acts and votes of general assembly, in such a manner as that the nett produce of the whole revenue, as well as of every branch thereof, and the amount of disbursements in discharge of the several demands, may distinctly appear, and lay the said accounts from time to time, and all his other

Remedy against.

surer.

And if he Penalty for misapplying

transactions, before the general assembly. divert or misapply any of the public treasure, being public mo convicted thereof, upon such prosecution as is before nies. prescribed, he shall not only be adjudged to pay double the money so found to have been diverted or misapplied, to the use of the commonwealth, but shall thereby be rendered incapable of any office of public Commence. trust. This act shall commence and be in force from ment of this and after the first day of January, one thousand seven act: bandred and eighty-seven,

CHAP. LVIII.

An act for the appointment of clerks From Rev. to the governor and council.

Bills of 1779, ch. XIV.

BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That the What clerks governor and council shall have power to appoint, may be appointed by from time to time as they shall be wanting, a drawing governor and clerk, a copying clerk, and a clerk of foreign corres- council. pondence, who shall each of them take an oath, to be administered by any member of the board, to keep secret all such matters as they shall direct them to keep secret; which clerks shall be removable at their will. This act shall commence and be in force from and after the first day of January, one thousand seven hun. dred and eighty-seven.

CHAP. LIX.

An act concerning Seamen.

From Rev. Bills of 1779,

Seamen to be

1. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That ch. XVII every seamen, whose habitation is within this common- registered. wealth, not less than eighteen nor more than fifty years

Promotion in the navy.

Pensions.

old, capable of sea service, and willing to serve in the ships or vessels of the commonwealth, may give in a ticket, containing his christian-name, sur-name, and proper addition, with his age, and the place of his habitation, and the time when the ticket shall be delivered to any naval-officer, who shall transmit it to the executive, to be by them entered in a register. Promotion to commission and warrant officers in the navy becoming vacant, shall be made and adjusted according to the order following: Seamen registered and actually serving, shall be preferred to all others, and of the former, those who shall have served a longer to such as shall have served a shorter time; and if the times of service shall have been equal, they whose tickets shall be of prior to those whose tickets shall be of posterior dates; and if the merits of the competitors shall be equal, in those respects the preference shall be decided by lot. Every registered seaman, actually serving in the navy, disabled by age or wounds, so as that he can be no longer useful there, and not being in a condition to maintain himself comfortably, nor having been promoted to any commission or warrant office, or to the office of master, mate, boatswain, gunner, carpenter, purser, or surgeon, obtaining a certificate thereof from the captain, master, and surgeon of the ship or vessel, on board of which he had served, under their hands and seals, shall receive from the treasurer the sum of fifteen pounds every year during his life; and the widow of every registered seaman, serving on board of a ship or vessel of war, slain or drowned in the service, if he was not in such a condition, and had not been promoted to such office as aforesaid, obtaining the like certificate thereof, shall receive from the treasurer the sum of eight pounds every year during her life. But a registered seaman, withdrawing himself from the service of the commonwealth, in the time of actual war, and not repairing on board one of the ships or vessels thereof, within thirty days after he shall have been required so to do, by any officer of the navy, unless detained by sickness, to be proved by the oaths of Fund for pen- two witnesses, shall have no benefit by this act. sions, raised out of the wages due, or becoming due, to every seaby monthly contributions man serving on board a ship or vessel belonging to the

of seamen.

And

commonwealth, or any citizen thereof, and used in sea voyages, six pence per month shall be paid by the com