Whereas the commissioners appointed at the last session of the General Assembly, to re-locate the seat of justice of Clark county failed to make such location,2 and the citizens of said county having again petitioned the legislature in the premises: therefore,

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly,3 That on the third Saturday in May next, an election shall be held at the usual places of holding elections in said county, to be conducted in all respects as near as practicable as other elections; at which time the legal voters of said county, and all those persons over twenty-one years old, who shall not have been six months in the State, but who shall be owners of land and residents of the county at the time of such election, shall be eligible to vote, and the vote shall be for or against a removal of the seat of justice from Darwin, and if it shall appear from the returns of said election that a majority of all the votes shall be in favor of its remaining at Darwin, no further proceedings shall be had, and the said seat of justice shall remain at said place; and substantial, suitable public buildings shall be erected out of the donation given by the friends of Darwin, and the fund of the county.4

Sec. 2. If it shall appear that a clear majority of the votes given at said election shall be in favor of removing said seat of justice from Darwin, then and in that case a second election shall be holden as aforesaid on the first Monday in August next, at which election all persons as above stated, (and the judges shall be careful to exclude and reject all transient persons, not really entitled to vote) may vote for establishing the said seat of justice on the national road, placing the same either at Marshall or Auburn, the points named in said petitions, and the place getting a majority of the votes given at said second election, shall forever remain the permanent seat of justice of said county.5

Sec. 3. At least twenty days previous to either of said elections donations may be offered viz: The friends of Darwin shall file with the treasurer of said county, a good and sufficient bond to the acceptance of said officer, binding themselves to donate and pay the sum of two thousand dollars for the erection of a court house, to be erected on the land now owned by the county; and in case of a second election, the proprietor of Marshall, and those of Auburn, shall respectively file a bond specially drawn, with approved security, binding to make to the county the payments, and deed in fee simple with covenants of general

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warranty, for the lands proposed, and which shall be as follows, viz: A donation of at least two acres of land and four thousand dollars in money, or a donation of at least forty acres of land, well situated on both sides of the national road, and about an equal moiety on either side, and the deed to the county for the land named, to be made and delivered on or before the first Monday of September next, one third of the money shall be paid into the county treasury on the first day of January 1838, and the balance on completion of the court house by the county, which, if erected at Darwin, shall be a neat and suitable building, and if at either of the other points named shall be well constructed of good materials, worth at least five thousand five hundred dollars; and the land shall not only be described in the bond, but clearly designated and defined by metes and bounds, sufficient land marks, at the time of filing the bond, that any person wishing may view the same.

Sec. 4. It shall be the duty of the county commissioners court to cause special entries to be made of record, of the result of said elections, and file and preserve said returns or poll books for inspection, to lay off into lots and dispose of said donation to the best advantage for the interest of the county, and shall, without unnecessary delay, cause the court house and the jail to be erected.

Sec. 5. In case the seat of justice shall be removed, all the public officers of the county shall be removed to the place selected, by the first Monday of September next, and all the books, papers and records appertaining thereto; and the courts thereafter shall be holden there, and process returned accordingly.

Approved 1st March, 1837.