The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1857-07-25

by more than az hour. But perhaps sue
questions could be iairly and fully dlscusse
by common consent. As general thing, h
was in favor Of sfor speeches, an oppose
too long speeches, upon every question tn;
might arise involving zeal necessity for u
more THAI a word or two. He thought
well to have a rule agaitss long speeches, all
was rather il favor of 10 minutes.
MIR. GALBRAITT. On al questions {
Importance, 10 douh5 the Convention woul
resolve Into Committee ee Of the Whole, wher
there would be the utIl ,st lati.ud. Of debate
In the Convention roper, he thought
would be well to have as short speec es a
posS;ble--punsent and to the point. 1t woul
make us all consider what we want, and pu
it into a form MT to tire anybody. Their
would be numerous irrit;lnts practiced upo
the Convention from ice sources, and t..
object was to restrain me mbers from takin
anynotice ofthem. Weshon!d Al ply o,,rselve
diligently TO business, and all would b. wei
Every member Of the Convention voul,' ur
'er. tand well enough every occasion t ha
might arise for long speech, which he hop q
wonld not be very frequent.
Mr.. WILSON was opposed to the whole
matter amendment and all.
MIR. COGGSWELL concurred with Mr.
Wilson. The Constitution of the United
States gave to HIM the right of the freedom
of speech, and he would be unwilling to come
under any rule depriving him Of that right.
Mr.. BILLINGS. He too was in favor o
freedom of speech; but he also believed in
equality of rights. We meet here as equals
ito act without dict tion-to work, OF to
talk. He believed that any man could con-
dense more thonght and argumen in q
speech OF lO minutes, than most men. left
withouta rnle would give in an hour. He
did not consider the length of time so essen
tial as the other part of the rule, that no mem
Der shal s. eak more than once, until all WHO
may desire to speak shatl have been heard
lie WAS in favor Of Is minntes
Mr. MANTOR was opposed to tie whole
thing. Ii WIS true that there might be. as.
probably, there had been unnecessary discus
si''ns of frivolous questions indulged. But
there were questions of grave and vital impor-
tance to come before this Convention, upon
which he was unwilling to close the pouths
of members. Like lis friend from Steele
county (Mr. Cocgswell) he was in favor of
freedom of speech. lie commended the man
! who might, in 10 minutes, express himself
fully upon any subject but then if, on the
| other hand, there were men of experience
and craftsmanship requiring longer time.
he for one would be willing to sit out the 60
minutes to hear him, and the GO times 60, if
necessary. 1t was important that we should
have all the information we can get. It was
true, the rule could be suspended but the
difficulty was in the embarrassment of man
after having spoken his 10 minutes, looking
round at the clock, and tn upon the Con
ventiOn, as if he would say. are you wlliny
to hear me longer? For his own part. he
would submit willingly tn a rule, +" say moth
ing but vote; but there were % hers he would
like to hear. Upon the whole, if the Con-
vcntion gould not be content with the rule
as It had been fixed, and as he preferred it,
he thouoht they had better say nothing.
Mr.. NORTH supposed it was the right OF
every man to make inst as long speech as
he pleased, provided he did not infringe on
the rights of Others. 1t might lie, if e were
to infct long speech, some of the members
Of the Convention might feel restive under it
and anxious to proceed to business With
out such a rule of restriction, he might say to
them, you must hear me talk-lt's nv right
i an not go ne to bc curtailcd of NV right
of speech in a Republican Convention. 1t
was PLAIN that other members Of the body
had right as well as speech makers. Tev
al! had equal rights, and if all were to speak
! round in this way, there would be rather a
protracted session This Territory wants a
Constitution, and he believed, that untlcr a
rule for short speeches, the duty of members
wonld be better discharged than if speech
were nnreStrained
Mr. MCCLURE. Some gentleman ha 4 r.
garded it as a reflection upon public officer
10 ask him whether he was going to do his
duty He thought this proposit on was OBJ i.
JectlOnable n the same score. He did not
see how any cOnld come to the conclusion
that single individual here would be willing
to inflict long speech. When the difficulty
should discover itself, it would he time enough
to guard against it. He did not slpposc
there was bore amongst us, nor that aly
gentleman here would often speak Ion. or
than fifteen minutes.
MIR. HAYDEN quoted the adace-"1t's
better to lock the stable before the hnrse Is
stolen and thought it better to have tie
rule brought down to reasonable time. He
would prefer twenty minutes, but was willing
to 90 with the friends for fifteen.
The PRESIDENT would remark, that
heretofore whilst it was an object of the
Conven ion to kill time, the Chair had per-
mhtted gentlemen to speak three "r lour
times upon one motion, directly contrary t.
the ru adopted; but that hereafter the
Chair would endeavOr to enforce the 7th rule
That no member shall speak more than
once, &c.
Ihe question was now taken on the lG min
utes amendment, and it was rejected d-aGirm
atve 10, negative l6.
And then the original Ii minutes amend
'nent OF the rule was adopted.
Here the Convention took a recess till 2
o'clock, P. NJ
AFTERNOON SESSION.
REGISTRY CLAUSE.
Mr.. KING submitted the following reso-
luton, which lies over one day.
ResotUed, That the Committee on Elec-
tons be instructed to insert registry clause
requiring all legal voters to have their names
registered in the county records of the coun
ty In which they live, and receive a certifi-'
cate OF registry, stating date, book ard pa.t.
containing said registry; and without " lch
no vote will be received when challenged
said clerk to be paid by State Revenue.
ASSESSORS LISTS.
Mr.. PERKINS submitted the following
| resolution which lies over one day.
Resoired, That committee of three be
appointed to ascertain whether the general
assessors in this Terri tory have filed with the
Secretary If the ssme, lists of the inhabit-
ants of their respective Districts according
to section 10 article 9, chapter 8, of the Re
vised Statutes, and if so. 70 procure certifi
ed c. ries of such lists for the use of this
Convention.
Mr.. COLBURN submitted the follow
ing which also lies over Que day:
Ortered, That tbs Convention hold but
one session per day, and that the hour of
meeting be 10 O'Clock A. NJ, until otherwis,
ordered.
Personal EXPLANATION
Mr.. COGSWELL. If there is no other
business before the Convention at this time,
! ask unanimous consent to make a brief
statement of facts. connected with myself
as nlaEber Of this Convention, and the Con.
vention, itself as body. (Cries of "leave"
leave."
1 received letter this morning from one
Of my constituents residing in Steele County.
stating that report had been circulated in
that section OF the country, that the Republi
can members Of this Convention had made an
agreement with the Democratic members,
not to- attempt to organize until l2 o'clock,
NJ on tho 12th instant that rho Ronuhl;.