I have said that it is calculated to arrest attention. This is because to most persons it is a novelty, although old in itself. On inquiry, I do not learn that it is continued in any of our States except Massachusetts. In the new States of the West it has never been known. The question which I now submit is, Whether it is wise for Congress to continue this embarrassing form, already discontinued, or never adopted, by the State Legislatures? * * * * * Among the Joint Rules of the two Houses is the following, entitled “Enrolled Bills.” “After _a bill_ shall have passed both Houses, it shall be duly _enrolled_ on parchment by the Clerk of the House of Representatives, or the Secretary of the Senate, as the bill may have _originated_ in the one or the other House, before it shall be presented to the President of the United States.” This was adopted as early as 6th August, 1789. Shortly before this date, at the recommendation of Senators Morris, Carroll, Langdon, Read, and Lee, a joint resolution was passed, requiring the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House, within ten days after the passing of every Act of Congress, to authenticate printed copies thereof, and lodge them with the President.[316] In September, 1789, a statute was passed to provide for the safe keeping of the acts, records, and seal of the United States, by the first section of which the Department of Foreign Affairs was changed to the Department of State. The Secretary of the Department thus remodelled was made custodian of all bills, orders, resolutions, or votes of Congress approved by the President, or having become laws or taken effect without his approval, with directions to publish the same in the newspapers, to cause one printed copy to be delivered to each Senator and Representative, and two printed copies, duly authenticated, to be sent to the Governor of each State, and to “carefully preserve the originals.”[317] This latter service has been executed by binding the enrolled copies of the acts of each session in separate volumes, without rolling or folding the skins of parchment, and depositing them in a fire-proof vault, under the immediate charge of an officer of the State Department, known as Clerk of the Rolls. The enrolment of bills requires special care, and sometimes even delays legislation. From the haste with which the transcription is often made and the amendments are embodied, errors naturally occur. Perhaps these cannot be entirely avoided by copies on paper. Indeed, nothing can supersede the necessity of great vigilance, whether paper or parchment be employed. * * * * *