Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1852-05-08

4
the power nSidensally involved ia the Legislation
necessary D. carry into sases trcaies with foreign
naioas With thess sKccpsicas tAscoaduetc d the IN
sercourss Of ne rnilei States With foreign nations
i placcl il The hanis a tbs Prcsideni;he Senate
having coordinate POWER IN the appointment Of
Minister. and consals. and In the ratification q
Trcaties Othcrwl.s than a. above excepted, Con-
gress has M arsdioa IN matters a foreign inter.
course aud the whole a the debate In the House 81
Representatives "a the questions connected with N.
KossrrH aud has demands has been saFsEsrcgaiCry,
though not % IN the senate A safe check on the
action u the President In regard % making TREATIES,
appointing Foreign Ministers, A., has been wisely
established BY the Constitution In the concurrent
power given 10 the Senate IN the exercise ~ those
high functions A participation By the House q
Representatives In that Authority was designedly
,risAAsid from the poPalur branch q cangrw., be-
cause 10 the language a the trainers ~ the consti
tuition, accurate and comprehensive knowledge Of
foreign politics; steady and systematic adherence
20 the same views nire and uniform seusibiliiy 10
national eharacter DECISION secrecy, and dispatch,
are incompatible with the genius Il body - sari-
able and 70 numerous.
OF the remaining three questions, the one which
has occupied the most time Cha, 81 the Printing!
has never, Al any Congess preceding the last, ceu
pied more than day OF So and Cor period a more
than twenty years from 1919 10 isil1 no, even a
single day in either House. That question ought,
we repeat TO be dcanitiycy put 70 rest - 20 en-
clude ii from debate for ffy years 10 come, II
only to prevent the recurrence of the spectacle now
presented by the House Of Representatives II having
been in session almost half year, and no, having
yet before il, in readable FORM any a the Official
papers transmitted 70 II at the opening of the
sion, and not yet having made the hrss step, y
order, in the proper business d the session For il
is literally true, stated BY the Courier and En-
gurer that for the reference IL the several topics 81
the Presidents Message, ordinarily days business
only in the first or second week Of each session, the
House Of Representatives has not yet been able 70
find moments time. The Rules Of Order for the
Of the last House, adopted by the pre-
sent, are so curiously contrived 70 prevent the
origination of business by any individual, and to
defeat the consideration Of any BY mere majority
Of the House Motions to the House can be made only
in the order in which the States called upon for
them; and that call Is made only once fortnight
according to the Rule and practically has not been
gone through so far, more than once during the
whole session. AT any other time than during the
call Of the States il is not in order to make mo-
ton without suspension Of all the Rules and Or
ders, which suspension requires two-thirds vote and
there is only one day in the week which il Is in
order to make such a motion, las TO suspend the
Rules There are indeed occasions on which, on
the plea of prigilege motion may be allowed or
speech edged in. But in general the Rules intend
ed to regulate business could not have been more
cunningly devised had their object been to make il
difficult, and even in,possiJle, to get at it. For
conscientious man, DESTROYS Of discharging his
duties in manner to be Of some use to his con-
stituents seat in the House of Representatives is
under such circumstances, but an odious thraldom
The reader may, perhaps, with little further eluc
dalton, understand why it is that the House. having
been in session SO long, has not yet taken the FIRST
step in the proper business Of the Session. A ma
orty refuses to 20 into Committee Of the Whole on
the Presidents Message, because they do not favor
him, and of course not his Message. A majority
then agrees to 90 into Committee Of the Whole on
some bill introduced, on leave perhaps, by lucky
member BILL for instance, makinga gratutous dis
position Of the Public Iands-which bill they arr
in favor Of and forthwith members fall TO debating
the relative merits Of the numerous candidates for
the Presidency; and so on, for weeks together.
The " Deficiency Bilr'--that is, the bill sppro-
priating such necessary money to carry on the Gov
ernmentas the last Congress had refused omitted TO
appropriate-which was really entitled to the earliest
attention Of the House after its organization, i the
only that has, with any sembance Of propricty In
the order Of proceeding occupied any large portion Of
the attention Of the House; and even upon that
question the debate unnecessarily prolonged and
distracted by speeches on the Presidential topic,
having no relation to the subject Of the bill
| 1t would take much longer time and space than
we can devote to it, to describe more infinitely tho
circumstances which have brought about the actual
state Of things in Congress, 80 far as the popular
branch of the Legislature is concerned. For our
present purpose it is sufficient to state as fact not
controvertible, what our readers ought to under
stand, that the Annual Message Of the President TO
Congress, accompanied by the Reports on the state
of the several Departments, transmitted to Congress
the second day Of the session, lies untouched and
unregarded on the table Of the House
| Let US now turn to the source and character Of
the Presidents Annual Message to Congress, which
the House has not found itself able to treat with
even official courtesy