mortification, as well as surprise, at the opposi-
tion to the proposed change or addition to the
rule. He had supposed if any proposition could
be offered, which would receive universal con-
sent, it was this. It seemed to him to be dicta-
ted by the plainest principles, not of generosity
only, but of common fairness and propriety.
What was it ? Why nothing more nor less than
this, that after a majority had deliberately adop-
ted a measure, it should not be defeated and annuled
by a minority. He thought the fairly ex-
pressed will of the majority ought to prevail. If
this republican doctrine was sound any where, it
certainly was here in this body. He must be
permitted to say, that he could not perceive the
accuracy of the conclusions to which the argu-
ment of the gentleman from Cecil, had conduc-
ted him. With the gentleman's argument, he
found no necessity to battle, but his, (Mr. C.'s,)
perceptions must be strangely oblique, if they
justified the result at which that gentleman had
arrived. The argument was that in a body like
this, there should be a full and perfect opportu-
nity to reconsider every measure which might
have been adopted. No one has gainsaid this.
We have a rule granting leave to reconsider,
more liberal and of broader extent than ever pre-
vailed, as far as he knew and believed, in any
Convention or legislative body, in any State in
this Union. It allows a reconsideration to be
moved, at any period of the session, however re-
mote from the day of the original vote, by any
individual, whether in the majority or minority.
The gentleman had found a debate, in the proceedings
of the Massachusetts Convention of
1820, on this subject of reconsideration, and sup-
posed he also found there a proposition like this,
and that it was rebuked by Mr. Webster. Sir,
said Mr. C., there is not more difference between
light and darkness, than there is between that
case ana this. In that case, as it is read by the
gentleman, for he had not seen it, the rule pro-
posed for reconsideration was, that the motion
must be made on the same or the next day after
the vote taken. Here it may be reconsidered at
any period of the session. The rule there re-
quired as many members of the Convention to be
present, at the time of the reconsideration, as at
the time when the original vote passes. In our
rule no such requirement is found.
The object of Mr. Webster seemed to be, as
far as he could collect it from the gentleman's
reading, to have the rule conform to the rule
which obtains in Congress. Where the motion
to reconsider was confined to the same or the
next day, there could not well be surprise, and
that was what he wished to avoid. The same
members would be apt to be present; at all
events they would know that a reconsideration
might be moved within that period, and after
remaining to the close of the succeeding day,
would be secure against surprise. But how is
it here ". We have one hundred and three mem-
bers. They may all be present, and on a con-
tested question, in a full house a proposition is
carried, and an article of the Constitution adop-
ted, by a vote of seventy-six to twenty-seven. |
The yeas and nays are recorded, showing this
to be the sentiment of the house. At the expi-
ration of three months after this vote, there are
fifty-five members attending; acase not impossi-
ble, because it has actually and repeatedly oc-
curred. One of the twenty-seven moves, after
a day's notice, for a reconsideration, and it is
voted for by twenty-seven members, then being
a majority, and the vote of the seventy-six is
overuled by the vote of twenty-seven; it may
be the same twenty-seven, who, when the house
was full, constituted barely a fourth of the
whole number of votes given. Was this proper?
Was it consistent with fair dealing? Was there
anything in the Massachusetts Convention, or
any other Convention like it? He thought not.
But, says the gentleman, we may expect a full
Convention when a final vote on a proposition
is to be taken. What security have we for this?
Nay, what reasonable expectation have we? We
have taken final votes, and most important votes;
we have waited and postponed from time to
time, but have we had a full house? The jour-
nal would sadly contradict any such statement.
We all knew that members were continually
absent, attending to their professional and do-
mestic concerns, and the prolonged session of
the body would further increase the motives to
be absent. He had no motives, personal or po-
litical, to gratify. He was in his chair all day,
every day. His particular views were as little
likely to be injuriously affected by the existing
state of the rule, as those of any other individ-
ual, His sole object was to secure the Conven-
tion against the effects of excited feeling, which
might lead an accidental majority, to yield to
other influences than such as prudence and sound
discretion would suggest, and do what was
wrong in itself.
His amendment only applied to votes taken by
yeas and nays, [always the index of a fixed pur-
pose,] and simply protected such a vote from a
reversal by a smaller number of votes, at any
subsequent time.
Mr. C. here read from the proceedings of the
Massachussetts Convention, [which had been
handed to him from Mr. McLane,] and insisted
that Mr. Webster had not said one word in op-
position to the views which he, [Mr, C.,] had ad-
vocated. The state of the rule there, does not
make it a case of resemblance or comparison in
the particular to which his amendment applied.
Mr. Webster's rule was, on the contrary, deci-
dedly more stringent than ours would be after the
amendment should be added to it.
He alluded to the various instances of motions
for reconsideration—and the extended discussions
which have been had since the presentation of
the first report—the report from the committee
on the elective franchise—and to the small num-
ber of attending members, to show the danger of
reconsidering with a thin House.
He was a thorough-bred republican, at least
in one respect. He thought a decision of the
majority, fairly expressed, ought to prevail and
not be subject to reversal by a subsequent vote |
