Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1837-01-25

rouse, on the report OF the committee:
and, IN either case, a committee to pre-.
pare the same shall be appointed. In
cases OF a general nature, n davis
notice, at least, shall be given of the
motion to bring IN a bill; and every
such motion may be committed"
There were two modes, (said Mr..
b. under this rule, of getting a bill
before the House, and, in either case.
IT must be done by order of the House.
and even bills reported in the morning
were received under the order of the
House. The same law, the same rea-
son, the same rule, almost literally, 90
verned both cases. Both bills were
embraced under the same rule, and the
Conference was the same. Upon what
principle wos it that the Chair had de.
clded that a motion for leave TO bring
IN a bill should not be assigned the
same hour as other reports By what
means could a distinction be made in
the two casesl The decision not on.
ly postponed the time for a day, but
might be postponed till the end of the
session. He appealed TO the magma
nlmity ard sense OF Justice of the House
and If that wasnot sufficient, he nppea-
led TO the right Of delibcration in this
House. He hoped that his character
there was loo well known TO admit of
the s%upposition that he would bring for
ward n frivolous measure, or n the
object of which vas only to give him
I'M opportunity of making a h~aranpue
for cphemeral effect, here or elsewhere.
The SPEAKER stated tho grounds Of
his decision. The case was a novel
one from the organization of the Co.
vernment, (i789) down TO the present
period, so far as the precedents which
he had been able to discover would 90,
there had been only two or three cases
of bills introduced on leave, and those,
SO far as appeared, had been brought
In without debate and SUB silento. Be-
You'd thistle chair had looked in vain for
precedents and he had therefore been
thrown back TO the construction of the
rules, and had adopted as his guide the
very salutary principle that you are to
fix upon each portion of the statute
that construction which would give eff.
feet to the whole of it.
The s7th rule required that "one
days notice at least shall be given on
leave to bring in a BILL" The nth
rule provided that reports should be
Tor "hrst from the standing, and then
from the select committees" The
Speaker was calling for reports they
had beer made in part, and a member
rose to make u motion Of which he had
gwen previous notice. The question
arose, could he, by the rule, make the
motion at that time? The 18th rule
provided that these reports should be
made at no other purt Of the day ex-
cept that laid down in the rule, except
by permission of the House. It was
said, that, technically, the S7th rule
applied TO resolutions, and not to mo.
tons to bring in a bill. If tho mo-
ton were now in order, what must
the inevitable consequence be? If
the motion was admitted, the mover
would have n right to discuss the mer.
It's ofthe bill and so, also, every 9TH
or member would have. A member
would only have to rise and proceed 10
debate the motion during that and the
succeeding days, and thus change tho
whole order OF business in the House,
and utterly subvert the established
course of its proceedings. The Speak
er referred to the proceedings Of the
othor branch of the Legislature, / n
whose proceedings, he said he could
find no analogy to the present case,
there were in that body no allotments
of time for particular business.
The CHAIR finally decided that the
motion for leave TO bring in a bill could
not now be received.
AT the suggestion Of Mr.. Mercer,
Mr.. Bell, withdrew his motion till the
committees should have made their re-
ports.