, 1863-01-23

for m hour yesterday morning, and was then
suffering severely from neuralgia, and paid
but little attention to business. He was too,
sick to be present in the afternoon. lie
asked that tho journal be read for Informn-
tion.
The Democratic majority voted down the
request.
Then, said Mr.. Eastman, desire to raise
question on this journal. It appears from
the official report In thc papers this morning
that rule Of this House was declared pcrma-
ncnt1y dispensed with by tho Speaker, when
only minority voted In the affirmative. I
move tint tho record Of tllat proceeding, aud
al TINT part Of the journal that follows 1t he
ms|on NJ na5i nj ~ tnftsr'ng fs,s moved to 1ay tic
Mr.. Eastman-1 have not yielded The floor,
md, Of course, tic Chair cannot entertain the
gcntlrman's motion. Twill rcad rule sixty
thrcc,, which has been adopted by this House.
II is this: ,
Kuic C3. Tic th1rty.nrst, tllfrty.nint!,, mud
forty-drst rules shall not In any case be dis
pc1,Ecd with; nor shall a,tV other rub b. DIS.
oe,.std aeith, nnlexs 1v the concurrence Of three
Jon'thx 4f the numbers rrescat.
Am to undcrstnnd that this rule llaa been
decided dispensed with, permanently abolish.
voted in the Affirmative:
The Spcaker-It is the understanding Of the
Chnir, TINT while 1t requires three .fourthH
vote to suspend rule. i minority eau abolish
ru1e.
Mr.. Eastman-1f that is Just decision
there IL no reliable protection to the minority
1t will cmbarrasB and impede them. The
motion will not be to suspend n givenr rule,
for that requires a thrcc.fourths vote. It will
bc 10 abolish, for, If the Chair il to be sus-
rns.3.1rify3 ,1pie II, flint
desire an explicit declaration from the Chair
upon this point.
The Speaker The Chair is still of the opin.
ion TINT majority may amend or abolish
rule Of this House.
bfr. Eastman Members are probably able
| to perceive what am driving at. If they are
| not, it may DC well for me to inform them.
II is my deliberate purpose, and i am well
supported on this side Of the House, to asccr
tail, definitely whcthcri 1t was intended by
this Illegal abolishmcnt Of an essential rule,
to crush out the minority am willing for
Tic present to hold the opinion that the House
was taken By surprise, aud that The Chair de-
eided the point Inadvertently. There is no
maxim Of parliamentary law that is more uni
versally received, than that parliamentary
minority. I desire the majority to be warned
that this minority understands its rights, and
that no Intelligent or spirited minority will
ever consent to be robbed Of its rights. I
| throw out these remarks rs food for reelection
on the other side Of the House.
Mr.. Church Of Winnebago, followed lie
thought yesterday that the majority had out
rngcd the minority by abolishing n rule Of tho
House by Il majority vote. He could see the
object Of it. It was to reduce the minority to
the position Of mere appcndngc to the ma
jority. His side Of the House was no longer
Of any account. II Republicans continue to
occupy their seats it must be simply as side
show to tue main exhibition. No man Of
sense, in their sober moments, would attempt
to pcrpetratc IN act so scandalons and not 4
man Of the minority who has any self respect,
would consent to SIT here under circumstan-
cc5 go humiliating. Mr.. Chnrch's remarks
we're very finely and imprcssiyely delivered,
and coming from one Of the oldest men in the
House had Il very good effect.
Mr. Burr attempted to make q plausible
he seemed to know it. But hc said that the
repeal Of the rule lid not signify much. 1t
was Of no great account to either side.
MIR. Eastman inquired if the military bill
and the Cook county court bill were moi
taken off the table under the operation Of the
majority rule.
5fr. Burr admitted that they were takeE
from the table, but commended that It was thcil
right to take them up any way. He went OF
to argue that nothing had been done that nce6
alarm the minority; nothing very irrcgu1a:
had been done.
Mr.. Eastman asked If the gentleman from
Scott knew Of any precedent in the annals o
the Legislature Of this State for the act com
air: BUR- could not say That there was. III
did not know.
MI. Newport Of Grundy, said that the ma
jority in abolishing the rule had perpetrate'
an outrage upon the minority, which he 70
one was determined not to submit to. Thcr
was no OCCASION for 1t at the time it was done
; | There was not an argument to support 1t
The people would put their sea! Of co1ldcmns
! tion upon 1t. ..
Mr.. 1Iaines spoke at length and very fore
bly,. lie came 10 the conclusion that the rul
. had been wrongfully abolished, md that til
motion made by tie gentleman from Coo
was mostly correct, although he could hav
, wished it had taken different shape.
> Mr.. Burr moved to lay on the table the mt
ton Of the gentleman from Cook. The MT
tion was accordingly laid on the table By
nearly party vote, only one Democrat yotin
!, with the Republicans.
Tie other busincs Of the Houae was gene
ally Of a local character.
bill introduced by Mr.. Brcntauo abolish
ing the Office Of custodian in Cook count
was passed to third reading by aunan
:. nous vote.
: 4 bill was introduced taxing all voters on
dollar each for county purposes.
4 discussion was Lad on nprlntlnE the Adj
: tant Generals report, or rather, on reconsii
cring the vote previously passed to print.
was Il childish affilir.
A bill will be introduced tomorrow abo
ishing the Common Council Of Chicago Boal
,of Claims Commission, which will no donl
l. 1lrS6