days appointed by law for the holding of the County or Corporation Courts, respectively, and at the places where such Courts are accustomed to be held, and shall be conducted by the Sheriffs of the respective Counties, and Mayors of the City of Williamsburgh and Borough of Norfolk; or in case any Sheriff shall neglect or refuse to act, or there be no Sheriff or Mayor, then the Clerk of the Committee for such County or Corporation, in the same manner as is directed by law in the election of Burgesses in this Colony. And the Sheriff or Mayor, or Clerk of the Committee, shall have the same privilege of preferring and returning any Delegate, regularly elected, as by law is given to the Sheriff in the election of Burgesses, in case any two candidates may happen to have an equal number of votes.

4. Provided, always, That the election of Delegates for the Town of James City, and the College of William and Mary, shall be on the same day and place appointed for the County of James City, and shall be conducted by the Sheriff or Clerk of the Committee for such County, in manner hereinbefore directed; and after the election shall be made, in manner as is hereinbefore directed, the Sheriff or Mayor, or Clerk of the Committee, as aforesaid, shall deliver to each of the Delegates elected a certificate, under his hand and seal, that such Delegate was duly elected for his County or Corporation, to serve in General Convention for one year then next following. And, further, the said Sheriff or Mayor, or Clerk of the Committee, shall deliver to any candidate requiring the same, as soon as may be, a fair attested copy of the poll taken by him.

5. And it is hereby further declared and ordained, That, in case of the death or incapacity of any Member of the General Convention, the President of the said Convention, for the time being, shall have full power and authority to issue his order, under his hand and seal, for the election of a Delegate to fill up such vacancy, to be directed to the Sheriff, Mayor, or Clerk of the Committee of that County or Corporation where such vacancy has happened; and thereupon such Sheriff, Mayor, or Clerk, shall appoint some day, not exceeding twenty, nor under ten days, after the receipt of such order, for the election of a Delegate accordingly, and shall publish notice, and proceed to the election of a Delegate, in the same manner as is by law directed in the case of an election of a Burgess, to be made during the sitting of any General Assembly.

6. And be it farther declared and ordained, That the Delegates so elected shall meet annually in General Convention on the first Monday in May, and shall have power to adjourn from time to time; and if, during their recess, it shall appear to the President, or, in case of his death or absence, to Robert Carter Nicholas, Esq., or to the Committee, of Safety, that a meeting of the Convention is necessary sooner than the time to which they stand adjourned, he or they shall have full power and authority, by advertisement published in the Virginia Gazette, or, in case of exigency, by expresses despatched to the Delegates of the respective Counties and Corporations within this Colony, to summon the said Delegates to meet and sit in Convention, at such time as he shall appoint; the place of each meeting to be appointed by the Convention, at their session next preceding. And every Delegate attending in Convention, if the same shall be appointed and held at Williamsburgh, shall be paid for his attendance in the same manner as by law the Burgesses are allowed for attending the General Assembly; and where the Convention shall be at any other place than Williamsburgh, then the said Delegates shall be allowed respectively for their attendance in the same manner, and for travelling, at the rate of four Pence per mile for coming, and the same for returning, and all ferriages by them actually advanced, which allowances to the said Delegates shall be paid as by law the payment of the Burgesses wages is directed.

7. And whereas the critical and dangerous state of this Country made it expedient to hold two former Conventions, to wit: the one in the City of Williamsburgh, on the first day of August, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, and the other in the Town of Richmond, on the twentieth day of March last, and it is reasonable and just that the Members who attended the said Conventions should be allowed for the same: Be it hereby ordained, That the Delegates respectively shall have the same allowances for attending the two Conventions aforesaid, and also this present Convention, that are herein provided for and allowed to the Delegates who may attend any future Convention.

8. And it is hereby declared and ordained, That any person who now is, or hereafter may be appointed Sheriff or Mayor of any County or Corporation in this Colony, or Clerk of any County or Corporation Committee, or Collector of any taxes, duties, or levies, that may be imposed by the General Convention, or any person that is already appointed to, or shall accept of any military post of profit, except in any Regiment or Battalion of Minute-Men which may be hereafter established, shall not be capable of sitting or voting as a Member of the General Convention; and in all such cases there shall be a new election of a Member, to fill up the vacancy, in the same manner as if such person was naturally dead.

9. And it is hereby further declared and ordained, That all Clergymen of the Church of England, and all dissenting ministers or teachers, shall be incapable of being elected as a Delegate, or sitting and voting in Convention. And any person who shall hereafter accept any office of profit, or pecuniary appointment, under the Crown, or shall have procured himself to be elected by bribery, in giving money, or any publick entertainment of meat or drink, or made any promise to do so to the electors, or by any other corrupt practices, shall be disqualified from sitting or voting in the General Convention, the General Congress, Council of Safety, or County or Corporation Committees; and in all such cases the same proceedings shall be had as if the person so accepting was naturally dead.

10. And whereas the mode hitherto pursued in electing Committee-Men in the several Counties and Corporations in this Colony, under the Continental Association, has not been uniformly the same, and many inconveniences have arisen by the supernumerary Committee-Men elected in some Counties; and whereas, also, no limitation has been fixed for their continuing to discharge that duty, and they may assume to themselves a power of acting under their present appointments at all times in future, which is incompatible with the principles of representation, and the just control that the electors ought to have over them: For the removing the present inconveniences, and better regulating the elections of Committee-Men hereafter, It is hereby declared and ordained, That the Freeholders of every County and Corporation within this Colony, and others who are by law qualified to vote at an election of Burgesses, and the Landholders in the District of West-Augusta, as hereafter described, shall have the liberty and privilege of electing annually twenty-one of the most discreet, fit, and able men of theirCounty or Corporation, being Freeholders, to act as a Committee for carrying into execution the Association, and such other measures as the Continental Congress, or General Convention of this Colony, have, or hereafter may, from time to time, direct and ordain, and forwarding all publick expresses of importance, the expense of which shall be paid by the publick. And the said Committees shall have power to appoint, out of their Members, a Committee of Correspondence, and such other Sub-Committees as may be found necessary, to superintend the different Districts of their respective Counties or Corporations, with an appeal, where any person shall think himself aggrieved, to the County or Corporation Committee at large, and accountable to them for all their proceedings.

11. And for the more regular electing such Committee, It is hereby declared and ordained, That the following rules and methods shall be observed, that is to say: The elections of Committee-Men in the several Counties and Corporations within this Colony shall be in the month of November annually, on the several days appointed by law for the holding of the County or Corporation Courts respectively, and at the places where such Courts are accustomed to be held; at which elections the Freeholders, and others qualified as aforesaid, shall appear and deliver in to the Chairman, or, in case of his absence, to the Clerk of the Committee, a list of such persons as may be judged the most discreet, fit, and able, to serve as Committee-Men as aforesaid, which several lists shall be fairly counted by the Chairman or Clerk of the Committee, in the presence of so many of the Committee as may choose to attend the same, and publication shall be made of the several persons

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