United States as a State of this Confederacy the sparsely peopled Territory of California or New Mexico, or should the Governor of this State receive at any time satisfactory evidence that any slave or slaves having escaped from this State to a non-slaveholding State, and that such slave or slaves is or are refused to be given up to the proper owner, by the authorities of the States in which such fugitive or fugitives may be found, then or in either of the foregoing events, it shall be and it is hereby made the duty of the Governor of this State, within sixty days thereafter, to issue his proclamation, ordering an election to be held in each and every county to a Convention of the people of this State, to convene at the Seat of Government within twenty days after said election.

SECTION 2. And be it further enacted, That the counties. now entitled to two representatives in the House of Representatives of the General Assembly of this State, shall each be entitled and shall elect four delegates to said Convention, and the counties which are entitled to one representative shall elect two delegates to said Convention.

SECTION 3. And be it further enacted, That said election for delegates shall be conducted and held in the same manner as elections for members of the Legislature are now held in this State, and that all returns of elections shall be forwarded to the Governor of this State, who shall upon application furnish each delegate elected with a certificate of election.

SECTION 4. And be it further enacted, That the sum of thirty thousand dollars be and the same is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury, for the purpose of defraying the expenses of said Convention, and that the members of said Convention shall by vote regulate their per diem pay and mileage.

SECTION 5. And be it further enacted, That said Convention shall elect all officers necessary to their organization. Approved, February 8, 1850.

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AN ACT to amend an act entitled an act concerning Coroners and Inquests, passed December the 22d, 1823.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Georgia in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That from and immediately after the passage of this act, it shall be lawful for the Coroners of the several counties of this State to summon the jury or any part thereof himself, if the > services of a Constable cannot be conveniently obtained.

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SECTION 2. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That when it shall so happen that a body lies in an inconvenient place, it shall be lawful for the Coroner to remove the body to a place more convenient to hold the inquest.

SECTION 3. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all laws and parts of laws militating against this act be, and the same are hereby repealed.

Approved, February 21, 1850.

AN ACT to lay out and organize a new county from the counties of Floyd and Cass, and to attach the same to a Senatorial District.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Georgia in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That from and after the passage of this act, a new county shall be laid out from the counties of Floyd and Cass, to be included within the following limits, to wit: Beginning at the southwest corner of lot of land number one hundred and forty-one, in the twenty-fourth district of the third section of now Floyd county, thence north along said land lines in the said district and in the twenty-fifth district of said section. until the line shall come opposite to the northwest corner of the county of Cass, adjoining the county of Murray, thence eastward along the line now dividing the counties of Cass and Murray to the northeast corner of the present counties of Cass and Murray, thence south along the line now dividing the counties of Gilmer and Cherokee from the county of Cass to the southwest corner of lot of land number one hundred and thirty-six in the twenty-third district of the second section, and thence along the dividing lines of lots, taking eight ranges, to the starting point.

SECTION 2. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the new county described in the first section of this act, shall be called and known by the name of Gordon, and shall be attached to the Cherokee Judicial Circuit, to the Fifth Congressional District, and to the forty-seventh Senatorial District, and to the first Brigade of the Twelfth Division Georgia Militia.

SECTION 3. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the persons included within said new county, entitled to vote for the same, shall, on the first Monday in February next, elect five Justices of the Inferior Court, a Clerk of the Superior and Inferior Court each, a Sheriff and Coroner, a Tax Collector and Receiver of Tax Returns, and County Surveyor, for said county, and that the election of

said county officers shall be held at the court-house of the seventh district of the third section, and shall be conducted and superintended in the manner prescribed by law; and the Governor, on the same being certified to him, shali commission the persons returned to him as elected at such election, to hold their offices respectively for the terms prescribed by law, and that the Justices of the Inferior Court, after they shall have been commissioned, shall proceed to lay off said county into militia districts, and to advertise for the election of the requisite number of Justices of the Peace in said districts; and the Governor, on being duly certified of the elections of such Justices of the Peace, shall commission them according to law.

SECTION 4. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the Justices of the Inferior Court of said county, after they shall have been commissioned, shall have full power and authority to select and locate a site for the public buildings in said county, and the said Justices, or a majority of them, are hereby invested with full power to purchase a tract of land for the location of the county site, to divide the same into lots, and sell each lot at public sale for the benefit of said county, or to make such other arrangements or contracts concerning the county site or location of the public buildings as they may think proper. SECTION 5. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the elections of the county generally, and the public business thereof, shall be held and transacted at the court-house in the seventh district of the third section, until the public site shall be located by the Inferior Court as aforesaid, and until the organization of the militia districts, after which, in each of said districts there shall be election precincts, and votes received at them accordingly,

SECTION 6. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all officers now in commission, who shall be included within the limits of said new county, shall hold their commissions and exercise the duties of their several offices within the said county, until their successors shall have been elected and commissioned.

SECTION 7. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all mesne process, executions, and other final process, in the hands of the Sheriffs, Coroners and Constables of the counties of which the new county may be formed, and which properly belongs to said new county, and which may have been levied or in part executed, and such proceedings therein not finally disposed of at the time of passing this act, shall be delivered over to the corresponding officers of said new county, and such officers are hereby authorized and required to proceed with the same, and in the same manner as if such processes had been originally in their hands: Provided, That in all cases publication of the

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time and places of sale, and proceeding of the like character in the new county, shall be made for the time now prescribed by law; and all such process which properly belongs to the counties out of which said new county may be formed, which may be in the hands of the officers of said new county, shall in like manner be delivered over to the officers of said counties, to be executed by them in the manner herein prescribed:

SECTION S. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the Superior Courts for said county shall be held on the second Monday in May and November, and the Inferior Courts on the third Monday in January and July.

SECTION 9. And be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all laws and parts of laws militating against this act be and the same are hereby repealed.

Approved, February 13, 1850.

AN ACT to lay out and form a new county from the counties of Ware and Lowndes, and to provide for the organ- . ization of the same.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Georgia in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That there shall be a new county laid out and formed from the counties of Ware and Lowndes, to be bounded as follows: Commencing at the mouth of Cane Creek, where it empties into the Okefenokee Swamp, thence along said Creek to the ford at Daniel Lane's, thence a direct line to the mouth of Reedy Creek where it empties into the Saltillo river near John B. Walls, then the river to be the line up to the county line, thence the county line to the Allapaha river, thence the river to be the line to the Florida line, to the Okefenokee Swamp; the territory thus included shall form a new county, to be called the county of Clinch.

SECTION 2. And be it further enacted, That Elijah Mattox, Simon W. Nichol, Timothy Kirkland, Benjamin Sumon, and John J. Johnson, be and they are hereby appointed Commissioners, with authority, at the expense of the new county hereby laid out, to employ a suitable person to run and distinctly mark the lines thereof, that are not designated in this act, and they shall be further authorized and empowered to fix upon a public site for the public buildings, which shall be as near the center of said county as is convenient or practicable; and shall also contract for the building of a court-house in said county; and until there is a court-house built the Superior and Inferior Courts and Courts of Ordinary shall be held at the house of Jonathan Knight.

SECTION 3. And be it further enacted, That the Commis-· sioners herein before named, shall have power and authority to purchase and receive titles to a suitable tract or parcel of land for the site of the public buildings, to lay out a town, which shall be called Polk, and to sell and dispose of such number of lots upon such terms as they may think proper for county purposes: Provided, nevertheless, The Inferior Court of said county shall have power and be authorized to do and perform all and every duty hereby required of the Commissioners, which may not have been performed previous to the time that said Court are commissioned and qualified.

SECTION 4. And be it further enacted, That all officers, both civil and military, which may be included within the limits of said new county, shall continue to hold their offices respectively as if commissioned as officers hereof; and said county shall form a part of the first Congressional District, and a part of the fifth Senatorial District, and shall be attached to the Southern Circuit, and to the second Brigade of the Sixth Division G. M.

SECTION 5. And be it further enacted, That an election shall be held on the first Monday in April next at the house of Jonathan Knight, and at the different election precincts that are established by law which may be included within the limits of the said new county, for five Justices of the Inferior Court, Clerk of the Superior and Inferior Court, a Tax Receiver and Collector, Coroner and Sheriff, and a County Surveyor.

SECTION 6. And be it further enacted, That the Justices of the Inferior Court, as soon as convenient after they shall have been elected and qualified, shall meet at the house of said Jonathan Knight, and from the best information they may be able to procure, make a selection of grand and petit jurors, and proceed to the drawing thereof as pointed out by law, for the ensuing Superior and Inferior Courts.

SECTION 7. And be it further enacted, That all actions now pending in either of the counties from which said new county is taken, wherein the defendant or defendants may now be included in said county, shall be transferred, with all papers relating thereto, and trial in said new county where the defendant resides.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all laws and parts of laws militating against this act, be and the same are hereby repealed.

Approved, February 14, 1850.

AN ACT to alter and change the line between the counties of Appling and Telfair, so as to include the residence of