On the 11th of December, 1855, Mr. Brodhead, of Pennsylvania, introduced a resolution directing the Committee on Finance to consider the expediency of reporting the appropriation bills for the support of the Government. The resolution was allowed to lie on the table till January 7, 1856, when it was called up for consideration, and adopted. On the 4th of February, Mr. Hunter, of Virginia, Chairman of the Committee on Finance, reported to the Senate the following resolution:-- “_Resolved_, That the Committee on Finance be instructed to prepare and report such of the general appropriation bills as they may deem expedient.” The resolution was adopted by the Senate, February 7, but this was all. Nothing was done under it. This attempt was prompted by the protracted contest in the organization of the House of Representatives, when, after one hundred and thirty-three ballotings, Mr. Banks was chosen Speaker, February 2, and the Slave Power received its first check. In the course of the debate, February 7, Mr. Sumner spoke as follows. MR. PRESIDENT,--Whatever the Senator from New York [Mr. SEWARD] touches he handles with a completeness to render anything superfluous from one who follows on the same side; but the opposition which his views have encountered from the Senator from Virginia [Mr. HUNTER], and also from the Senator from Georgia [Mr. TOOMBS], as well as the intrinsic importance of the question, may justify the attempt to state the argument anew. We are carried first to the words of the Constitution, which are as follows:-- “All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments, as on other bills.” Under this provision, the annual appropriation bills for the Army, Navy, Post-Office, and civil and diplomatic service, from the beginning of the Government, have originated in the House of Representatives; and this has always been so, I believe, without question. It is now proposed to reverse the standing policy, and to originate such bills in the Senate; and this proposition has the sanction of the Committee on Finance. The proposition is a clear departure from usage, and on this account must be regarded with suspicion. A slight examination will demonstrate that it tends to subvert well-established landmarks. By looking at the debates in the Convention which framed the National Constitution, it will be found that this clause was not hastily or carelessly adopted,--that it was the subject of much discussion, and was viewed as essentially important in establishing the system of checks and balances peculiar to our Republic. It was, indeed, part of the compromise between the small States and the large States.