Portland gazette and Maine advertiser., 1806-06-02

but with no better success.-ln tnls ui-
I lemma, it was moved that the Senior
| Senator should be appointed to preside
as Chairman until, President shall be
appointed. A debate ensued.-Ihs
appointment was opposed by Messrs'
Otis, Gore, Phillips, Brigham, and Bliss
as unprecedented, unconstitutional, and
tending to embarrass the proceedings OF
the Government. The melton was adj
vocated by Messrs. Hill, Dana, Howe,
and Smith, on the ground, that the
Constitution was silent on the subject
when the President should be chosen !;
that the two branches could meet to-
pether, fill the vacancies In the Senate,
and then elect their President. A mo-
ton to amend the motion, by making
the Sen or Senator the permanent Pre-
sident, was opposed by the democratic
side Of the board and negatived 90 to
l9. The original motion, That the
Senior Senator should preside asChair-
man of the Board, was put by the Hon.
Mr.. Bacon (who acted as Senior Mem
Der J when the Yeas were found to be
l9.-The .Nays l9.--He then declared
the motion carried in the afiirma-
tive.--A question then arose who
was the Senior Se1sato1--there being
two Senators (Messrs. Bacon and
Hastings) who were elected the same
year A committee was ri: et, consi:-
ting Of Messrs. hill, Dana, and OIs,
to report on tie subject; who rcPor-
ting in favor of Mir. Bacon, he took the
Chair.
A committee was then raised to ey-
anime the returns Of votes for, lEato.5;
and vote passed both branches, to gd-
iourn the Elections required by tie
Constitution to be commenced on tie
last Wednesday in May until tie next
day.
In the House Of Representatives,
WilIiah Smith, Esq. as Senior Mem
Der of the Boston seat, presided until
sufficient number of returns, 70 cOnsti-
tute quorum, were examined; and
Clerk chosen-The votes for Clerk
being taken, the committee reported
the whole number TO be 46O--of which
23l were necessary to make a choice
that Mr.. Charles PinoKnev Sumner
had PSI, and was chssen. fCP Mich
las Tillinghast, Esq. (the Clerk Of Gast
year had 200 and there 7Vere three
scattered vote8.
The votes for Speaker,were then ta-
ken, and the number stated to be 463
of which 232 were necessary TO make
choice, that Perez Morton, Esq. (of
Dorchester) had 257, and was cHoseR.
sD0The Hon. Timothy Bigelow had
9O4 vUtes ana e6e,e zpea.e 1Geo scatter
cd UOtes.
Mr.. Morton made his acknowledge
ments as follows.
CtHtieu'1 Of fbs Hogfs ef Repr.,sntatips,
- be Called, Dy tvs sutira6es of
the representatives of a free people, to
preside at their deliberations, consid-
er an honor Of high distinction the
fiatterins imp essions therefore, which
your choice, Just announced, have
made on my heart, you can more easily
conceive and appreciate, than am a.
bic to express.
l accept the trust to which you have
invited me I; and the best acknowledge
ment of gratitude in my power to make,
the most honorable to myself, and the
most acceptable to you, is to assure the
house that will, to the utmost Of my
abilities, discharge the duties Of it with
fidelity and impartiality.
Unpractised In the rotine of the bu-
siness of the chair, | feel that | may
frequently stand in need Of those indul-
gencies, which the candor Of the repre-
sentatives of Massachusetts are always
ready to bestow in extenuation cf any
errors OF the head, when untainted by
those of the heart for the latter am
responsible, for any of the former, tie
responsibility rests with those whose
partiality has elevated to Office a man,
who may be found incompetent to the
charge.
In deliberative assembly like ours,
numerous beyond any former period Of
our history, and nearly balanced be-
tween two great rival parties in political
sentiment, the official labor Of speak
er must at best be arduous from de-
sire to lessen the burthen Of those la
oors, permit me to indulge a single
hope: that in all our public discussions,
even in the moment Of political COLI
sion, we may study to exercise towards
each other that cDirit of bo,.,,,r,,,- -.