Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1848-03-08

strong and emphatic language: "The Clerk
is to let nc journals, records, accounts, or
papers, be taken fs'oa tie table, out Of his
CUSTODY
In Parliament, So bill being missing, the
House resolved that protestation should
be made and subscribed by the members
"BEFoRE ALMIGHTY GOD AND THE HONOR
ABLE HOUSE, THAT NEITHER MYSELF NOR
ANY OTHER TO MY KNOWLEDGE HAVE TAX
EN- AWAY, OR DO AT THIS PRESENT CON-
cEAL BILL ENTITLED, &C." So jealous
were even the subjects of crown, to guard
the law making power, from Legislative
fraud, that when only suspicion might rest
upon them, they enforced this solemn ap-
peal and attestation. Yet in this Republi.
can Government, this bill was by the
Speaker Of the Senate purloined from the
Clerks table, and signed and deposited
with the Secretary Of the State, without
having been passed consIitutonally and
legally by the Senate; and while the jour-
nal of the Senate will show that there was
an undecided question pending upon said
bill.
Again, Jefferson says, "messages be.
tween the two Houses are to be sent only
while both Houses are sitting" The con-
stitution of Ohio, in Art. l, Sec. 8, says:
"11co thirds ofeaeh House shall constitute
q quorum 10 do business, but q smaller
number may adjourn from day to day and
compel the attendance ofabsent memberA"
What, we would enquire, is the receiving
of message, but the transaction of busi-
ness? The fact then that the House had
receded from its disagreement, although
done in violation Of the constitution and ali
parliamentary usage, had to be communi-
Gated to the Senate by a message. Under
the constitution no such message could be
received, or read, or entered upon the
journal without quorum.
The constitution also requires all bills to
be signed by the Speaker. This being al
so considered the transaction Of business,
requires quorum present. No such quo
rum was present. Our joint standing rules
require each bill to be examined by two
members Of the standing committee on
Enrolment Of each House. This bill
was never so examined. Our standing
rules require the cammittee on Enrolment
to report the bills as correctly enrolled in
each House before being signed by the
Speaker. There being no quorum in the
Senate, the committee could not make such
a report. All parliamentary law requires
a message TO be sent from the House to
the Senate, announcing that the speaker
Of the House has signed such an enrolled
bill, and requesting the signature Of the
Speaker of the Senate to the same
There being no quorum in the Senate, no
such message could be received. All par.
liamentary practice requires the bill to be
signed by the Speaker in open session Of
the Senate. In Congress, they require the
Speaker to announce that he is about to
sign such bill, naming it by its title; and
to call upon the members 10 make it known,
if there be any reason why the bill should
not be signed No Speaker in Ohio ever
before dared to sign 4 bill, unless in open
session, even when it had been constitu.
tionally passed. Such even had, this win
ter, been the decision and practice of the
Speaker of our Senate. He declared that
the Senate could not adjourn until he had
signed the bill, raising the per diem com.
pensation of the members Of the General
Assembly, without laying the bill upon the
table. And, as this bill only took effect
from the date of its passage, and the stand
ing rules required it to be dated at the time
when signed, the Senate was kept in session
beyond the usual time, in order to permit
the Speaker 10 sign the bill.
One of the charges made by the whig
organ Of this city against the fifteen demo-
cratic Senators who withdrew from the
Senate chamber, was, that by their with
drawal, the bill fixing the times Of holding
the Supreme Court, although passed long
before, could not now become a law, be-
cause it could not be signed by the Speaker
OF the Senate without q quorum. Yet the
bill to apportion the members Of the Leg
islature, after having been purloined from
the Senate, by the Speaker, was placed in
the hands Of only one member Of the en-
rolling committee; and by only this one
member Of thai committee reported to the
Senate. That Senate being without quo.
rum, and by the constitution expressly pro.
hibited from the transaction Of any busi-
ness. The fact Of the bill having been
enrolled, was announced by messages be-
tween the two Houees without quorum.
The bill signed by the Speaker Of the
House, and that fact announced by mes.
sage in the Senate, and requesting the
Speaker Of the Senate to sign the bill, and
the bill actually signed by the Speaker of
the Senate, oil without a quorum. All Of
which is made TO appear by false entries
upon the Journal.
Such is the history, and such are the
facts connected with the attempt to palm
this bill upon the people of OHIO, as a law.
The people may we'll inquire who has
made it law? Did the House of Repre-
,entatives2 Certainly not. They had no
CONTROL over it, while not in their possess
ion; so expressly declared by parliamen.
tary law. Did the Senate make it law!
They had no quorum for the transaction of
any business except to adjourn from .day
to day, and compel the attendance OF the
ahsentses.~fhere was question pending
upon said bill in the Senate. which never
was, and now never can be decided If
this bill be law, it has been made so, by
the Speaker of the Senate; who purloined
it from the Clerks table, and signed it, in
violation of the constitution, Je!terson's g
manual and all Parmentary law.
Such is tho history of this bill. BY fraud