Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 04 (of 20)Sumner, Charles
History
Charles Sumner: his complete works, volume 04 (of 20)
Sumner, Charles
Slavery -- United States; Speeches, addresses, etc., American
"When a member desires to bring in a bill on any subject, _he
states to the House, in general terms, the causes for doing it_,
and concludes by moving for leave to bring in a bill entitled, &c.
Leave being given, on the question, a committee is appointed to
prepare and bring in the bill."
Now I would simply observe, that my purpose was merely to make a
statement----
MR. BENJAMIN. I call to order.
THE PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator had presented his bill,
and was debating it afterwards. The question is on the motion of the
Senator from Louisiana to lay the appeal on the table, and on that the
yeas and nays have been ordered.
The question, being taken by yeas and nays, resulted,--yeas 35, nays
10, as follows:--
YEAS,--Messrs. Adams, Atchison, Bell, Benjamin, Brodhead, Brown,
Butler, Cass, Clay, Cooper, Dawson, Dodge, of Iowa, Evans,
Fitzpatrick, Geyer, Gwin, Johnson, Jones, of Iowa, Jones, of
Tennessee, Mallory, Mason, Morton, Norris, Pearce, Pettit, Pratt,
Rusk, Sebastian, Slidell, Stuart, Thompson, of Kentucky, Thomson,
of New Jersey, Toombs, Toucey, and Weller,--35.
NAYS,--Messrs. Chase, Fessenden, Fish, Foot, Gillette, Rockwell,
Seward, Sumner, Wade, and Walker,--10.
So the appeal was ordered to lie on the table.
THE PRESIDING OFFICER. The question now is on granting leave
to introduce the bill.
MR. SUMNER. On that question I ask for the yeas and nays.
MR. STUART. I rise to a question of order; and I think, if
the Chair will consider it for the moment, he will, or at least I
hope he will, agree with me. The parliamentary law is the law under
which the Senate act. Whenever there is a motion made to lay on the
table a subject connected with the main subject, and it prevails, it
carries the whole question with it. It is different entirely from the
rules in the House of Representatives. The rules in the House vary the
parliamentary law, and you may there move to lay a matter on the table,
because that is the final vote, and is equivalent to rejecting it,
and a motion to take it up from the table is not in order. But now the
Presiding Officer will see, that, if this course be pursued, the Senate
may grant leave to introduce this bill, they may go on and pass it, and
yet next week it will be in order for the Senator from Massachusetts
to move to take up the appeal which the Senate has just laid on the
table; whereas the whole subject on which his appeal rested might have
been passed and sent to the other House. That surely cannot be so. The
ruling of the Chair in this respect, therefore, I suggest is wrong, and
the motion to lay on the table carries the whole subject with it. It
is important to have the matter settled for the future practice of the
Senate.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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