550 



NEW YOKE. 



Mr. Carey ], 986 ; and that the latter should be 

 confirmed in his right to the seat. Their re- 

 port was adopted by a vote of 62 to 61. 



The great mass of the legislation of the ses- 

 sion was of a general character, and attracted 

 no particular attention. Several propositions 

 to amend the constitution of the State were 

 introduced near the beginning of the session, 

 but none of them were adopted. The question 

 of repealing the act classifying the directors 

 of the Erie Railway Company was brought up, 

 and two reports were made on the subject. 

 The majority of the committee opposed the 

 repeal,and supported their position by elaborate 

 arguments. Their report was finally adopted, 

 the vote in the Assembly being 60 to 57. 



On the 6th of April an incident occurred in 

 the Lower House which caused considerable 

 excitement, and had an effect on the passage 

 of some of the most important acts of the 

 session. In the heat of debate, Mr. James Ir- 

 ving, the member from the sixteenth district of 

 New York City, made an assault upon Mr. 

 Weed, a member from Clinton County. This 

 act was severely censured by all parties, and 

 Mr. Irving was forced to resign. The result 

 was, an equal division between the Democrats 

 and Republicans of the House, while the meas- 

 ures to which a political importance was at- 

 tached were still pending. The Republican 

 members agreed in caucus to combine for the 

 purpose of preventing an election to fill the 

 vacancy, and to defeat the favorite measures 

 of the Democrats. One Republican, however, 

 Mr. Orange S. Winans, of Dunkirk, was in- 

 duced to recede from the party agreement, and 

 aid in carrying through the pending legisla- 

 tion. The entire transaction caused much 

 political excitement and discussion both within 

 and without the halls of the Legislature. 



The compact entered into by the Republicans 

 was as follows : 



Resolved, That we regard the following bills now 

 pending before the Legislature as party measures, 

 viz. : 



The bill known as the registry law for New York 

 City. 



The bill to amend the election law. 



The bill to amend the charter of the city of New 

 York. 



The bill commonly known as the two per cent, 

 tax bill. 



Buffalo police bill, and the bill amending the 

 charter of Buffalo. 



And that no ^Republican can, consistently with his 

 party obligation, support either. 



Resolved, That in case any member of the party 

 shall desert it in acting upon the measures mentioned 

 in the foregoing resolutions, we will regard it as our 

 duty to denounce such deserter as a traitor to the 

 party, in a writing to be signed by us and published 

 in the Eepublican papers of the State. 



We, the^ undersigned, do hereby agree to abide by 

 the foregoing resolutions, and do hereby pledge our- 

 selves solemnly as members of the Republican party 

 to support the same. 



The bills mentioned in the first resolution 

 were regarded as Democratic measures, and 

 were politically the most important of the 



session. For several days after the resignation 

 of Mr. Irving, the action of the House ap- 

 peared to be completely blocked. A bill was 

 introduced providing for a new election to fill 

 the vacant seat, and on this the first stand 

 was taken, and on the question of its passage 

 came the defection of Mr. Winans, which broke 

 up the combination, and threw the power of 

 the majority again into the hands of the Demo- 

 cratic members. 



The principal changes made in the registry 

 law for the city of New York were as follows : 



SECTION 9. In addition to the existing provisions 

 of law governing the action of inspectors of elections 

 in the city of New York when acting as registrars, 

 the said inspectors shall hold meetings as registrars 

 on the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday preceding 

 the day of election, and shall sit from nine o'clock 

 in the forenoon until ten o'clock in the evening on 

 each of said days, and shall enroll such applicants 

 for registration as shall then or on the day of election 

 be qualified voters. On the day of any election, in 

 case any elector presents himself who "is not regis- 

 tered, the inspectors shall require such elector to make 

 oath, as to the cause of his failure to register, and, if 

 the excuse be deemed sufficient by a majority of the 

 inspectors, such elector shall be permitted to vote 

 the same as if his name was registered. The right 

 of such elector to vote, however, shall be subject to 

 the usual challenge, but the same as if he had been 

 registered. The oath of any such non-registered 

 elector, as to his excusej may be taken before any 

 officer competent to administer oaths in the city or 

 county of New York, and by either of the inspectors 

 or poll-clerks at the poll where said elector shall 

 offer his vote, and any such officer applied to to ad- 

 minister .said oath shall do so and subscribe the same 

 without charge therefor, and all such oaths shall be 

 filed with the poll-book filed with the County Clerk. 



SEC. 12. The Mayor of the city of New York shall, 

 at least ten days p_rior to any election, appoint for 

 each election district two poll-clerks, one of whom 

 shall be from the party in general political opposition 

 on State issues to the party electing the two success- 

 ful candidates for inspectors of election in the elec- 

 tion district. Such appointees shall take the oath, 

 subject to the same restrictions provided in section 

 eight of this act, for inspectors of election. 



SEC. 19. It shall be the duty of the Common Coun- 

 cil of the city of New York, on or before the 1st day 

 of September, in the year eighteen hundred and sev- 

 enty, and in each year thereafter, to redistrict the 

 city so that each election district shall contain not 

 more than four hundred electors, taking the vote of 

 the preceding election as a basis. If the Common 

 Council shall in any year neglect to so redistrict the 

 city, the mayor shall, on or before the 10th day of 

 September, by proclamation, establish the boundaries 

 of the election districts as above prescribed. 



The only important change in the election 

 law was one which provided for taking the 

 ballot for members of Congress separately. 



The most important amendment to the char- 

 ter of the city of New York was contained in 

 the following sections added to the existing 

 provisions regarding ths Department of Public 

 Instruction : 



SECTION 3. All provisions of the law providing for 

 the election of trustees of the common schools are 

 hereby repealed. Every said trustee who shall be 

 now in office and under election shall, however, servo 

 out the full term for which he shall have been elected. 

 Within twenty days before the expiration of the term 

 of office of any such trustees who shall have any 

 office by election, or upon the occurrence of any va- 



