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member may speak oftener than twice on the same subject, and that a call for the ayes and nays, or for the previous question, cannot be made. Amendments made in the committee of the whole shall be entered on a separate piece of paper and so reported to the convention by the chairman, standing in his place; which amendments shall not be read by the president unless required by one or more of the members.

"Sixth. The previous question shall always be in order in convention if seconded by a majority, and until it is decided all amendments and debates shall be precluded. The question shall be put in this form: 'Shall the main question be now put?' And prior to the main question being put, a call of the convention shall be in order. All incidental questions of order arising after a motion is made for the previous question and pending such motion shall be decided, whether on appeal or otherwise, without debate.

"Seventh. A motion to adjourn shall always be in order and shall be decided without debate.

"Eighth. No member shall speak more than twice to the same question without leave, nor more than once until every other member rising to speak shall have spoken.

"Ninth. When a motion or question has been once put and carried in the affirmative or negative, it shall be in order for any member who voted in the majority or when the convention is equally divided for a member who voted in the negative to move for a reconsideration thereof on the same or the succeeding day; and when the motion be [to] reconsider is not made on the same or succeeding day, at least two days' notice of intention to make such motion shall be given.

"Tenth. When a question is under debate no motion shall be received unless to adjourn, to lay on the table, for the previous question, to postpone to a day certain, to commit, to amend, or to postpone indefinitely; and these several motions shall have precedence in the order in which they stand arranged. A motion to postpone to a day certain, to commit, or to postpone indefinitely being decided, shall not be again allowed on the same day and at the same stage of the proposition.

"Eleventh. Whenever any member is called to order, he shall sit down until it is determined whether he is in order or not; and after such determination he shall be permitted to proceed in order.

"Twelfth. The ayes and noes may be called upon any question at the request of any eight members of the convention.

"Thirteenth. Fifteen or one-fifth of the members present may make a call of the convention and require absent members to be sent for, but a call of the convention cannot be made after the voting has commenced; and, the call of the convention being ordered and the absentees noted, the doors shall be closed and no member permitted to leave the room until the report of the sergeant at arms be received and acted upon or further proceedings in the call be suspended.

"Fourteenth. A member may call for a division of the convention upon any question, either before or after a decision by the president. "Fifteenth. The standing hour for the daily meeting of the con

vention shall be ten o'clock in the morning, until the convention otherwise direct.

"Sixteenth. The rules of parliamentary practice comprised in Jefferson's manual shall govern the convention in all cases to which they are applicable and in which they are not inconsistent with these rules and the orders of the convention.

"Seventeenth. No standing rules or order of the convention shall be changed or rescinded without one day's previous notice being given of the motion therefor. Nor shall they be altered, changed, rescinded, or suspended, unless upon the vote of two-thirds of the members present."

The report of the committee was accepted and the committee discharged from the further consideration of the subject. The question then recurred on the adoption of the report of the committee, when Moses M. Strong called for a division of the question. The President decided that the question was divisible and would be put on the adoption of the several rules separately.

And the question having been put separately on the adoption of the first, second, third, and fourth rules reported by the committee, it was decided in the affirmative.

And the question having been put on the adoption of the fifth rule reported by the said committee, it was decided in the negative.

Mr. Judd, chairman of the committee on rules and regulations, being in order, proceeded to report the result of the labors of the committee.

The rules and regulations contained in the report of the committee were principally composed of those of the Council, with a number of revisions and innovations which somewhat displeased that portion of the Democratic members comprising the Old Hunkers and gave rise to some considerable debate between that portion of the party and those significantly entitled the progressive branch of the Democracy or Barnburners.

The rule to abolish committees of the whole and consider all business transacted by the convention as in the convention called out Moses M. Strong, apparently the champion of the Old Hunker cause in the convention, and he gave his opinions against the practical utility of such a rule. All the experience he had had in legislative proceedings confirmed him in the belief that the abolishment of committees of the whole would tend directly to protract the session of the convention, and he should therefore move this rule be stricken out.

Mr. Judd spoke in support of the rule and said his legislative experience led him to believe that the adoption of the rule would tend directly to save time to the convention by preventing useless expenditure of time in discussing questions in committee of the whole, when they can, if voted down there, be again brought up before the body when in convention. He did not see how the member could be serious in offering his resolution of this morning to limit the session of the convention to three weeks, when his opposition to this rule showed an evident disposition to protract it far beyond that period. He hoped the rule would be adopted.

Marshall M. Strong spoke in opposition to the adoption of the rule. He was the only one in the committee who had opposed its insertion, and he did so because he was of opinion that its utility was very questionable. It was a novelty in legislative proceedings; his experience in such matters favored the adoption of committees of the whole.

Here followed a short but somewhat exciting debate upon the question, Moses M. Strong, Wm. R. Smith, Judd, Chase, and Ryan taking part in the discussion, most of them reciting their experience in legislative proceedings, and Mr. Ryan prefacing his remarks with the consolation that he was without legislative experience and was somewhat disposed to appeal to the risible instead of the deliberative faculties of the members. He occupied the time of the convention but a few minutes, for which I think he should have received their thanks.

The amendment offered by Moses M. Strong to strike out a portion of the rule was withdrawn, and upon the question of the adoption of the rule as it stood it was ordered to be stricken out. A decided victory for the Ancient Democracy!-Express, Oct. 12, 1846.

The question was then put on the adoption of the sixth and seventh rules reported as above and was decided in the affirmative. William R. Smith moved to fill the blank in the eighth rule by inserting the words "one hour." Mr. Judd moved to fill the blank with the words "forty-five minutes." Mr. Baker moved to fill the blank with the words "thirty minutes." Moses M. Strong moved to fill the blank with the words "two hours. Mr. Crawford moved to fill the blank with the words "six hours." The President stated that the question would first be put on the longest time. And having been put on filling

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the blank with "six hours," it was decided in the negative. And a division having been called for, there were 26 in the affirmative and 42 in the negative.

Moses M. Strong moved to amend the eighth rule by striking out all after the word "spoken" in the third line, which was decided in the affirmative. Said rule, as amended, was then adopted.

The eighth rule, being read, was as follows: "No member shall speak more than twice on the same question without leave nor more than once until every other member rising to speak shall have spoken. Nor shall any member speak longer than upon the same question at any one time."

Mr. Moses M. Strong moved to fill the blank with two hours, and said he was opposed to having any limit to the time members should be allowed to speak; and as he could not believe that any man would occupy the time he had named, he considered it equivalent to having no limit at all.

Mr. Crawford moved to fill the blank with six hours, which certainly would give all the time that could be asked to make speeches in. The motion was lost, ayes 26 noes 42.

Mr. Gray was opposed to the principal of gagging members and therefore would move to strike out the clause.

Mr. Judd was in favor of the rule. Such a rule had been adopted by the Congress of the United States, and had been found to work well, and had received the approbation of both political parties. With such a rule there can be no harm done, in his opinion, as one hour would give ample time to any member to express his sentiments on whatever questions may arise. The necessity of the rule may be discovered when it cannot be adopted without a reflection on the conduct of some member, and then it will be too late. The better course would, in his opinion, be to adopt it now, when it would reflect on no man.

Mr. Ryan denied that the length of time a man was speaking was the cause of weariness to members, but on the contrary weariness depended entirely on what a man had to say. An audience could just as well listen to one man for any given time as to forty men, and they would be just as likely to be bored with the forty as with the one. It all depended on the matter. He denied that the rule had been adopted by Congress. The Sen

ate have never had a gag rule. Such a rule he would concede had been adopted in the bear garden, or House of Representatives of Congress, but nowhere else. And even there it had not worked well, either for the speakers, the hearers, or the public. Frequently, in reading the reports of speeches made in that body, he cursed the hammer of the speaker which cut off an argument in its very midst, while it not unfrequently happened that a speech of five minutes, made against time, where the speaker had nothing to say was a perfect bore to the reader. He would suggest that the rule had better read so as to order a member to stop when he has nothing more to say.

Mr. Moses M. Strong denied that members would speak so long as to weary the patience of members, and he much doubted whether anyone would exceed the time of one hour, but he wanted no limit.

The motion to strike out prevailed.-Argus, Oct. 13, 1846.

The question was then put, separately, on the adoption of the ninth, tenth, and eleventh rules, as reported above, and was decided in the affirmative.

Moses M. Strong moved to amend the twelfth rule by striking out the word "eight" in the second line, which was decided in the affirmative. And a division having been called for, there were 41 in the affirmative and 37 in the negative.

Moses M. Strong moved to fill the blank with the word "twenty." Mr. Gray moved to fill the blank with the word "seven." Mr. Judd moved to fill the blank with the word "ten." Mr. Ryan moved to fill the blank with the word "fifteen."

And the question having been put on filling the blank with the word "twenty," it was decided in the negative.

The question then recurred on the motion to fill the blank with the word "fifteen." And having been put, it was decided in the affirmative. And a division having been called for, there were in the affirmative 46 and 35 in the negative. The rule, as amended, was then adopted.

The fifth rule, being read, was as follows: "All propositions shall be considered in the convention and not in committee of the whole."

Mr. Strong was opposed to this rule as an innovation upon all rules of legislation. No legislative body had to his knowledge dispensed with a committee of the whole.

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