Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-01-25
THE CLOSUREDE
MESsRs. STEWART AND MORGAN
AGAINST GAG RULE.
Dir. Sanders for the Radical Proposition
Tho Democratic Plan Of Defence
in tho House.
nv teleeraph 70 tI,e Dlspa.ch.I

Thursday's session. There was no prayer,
no journal, and no morning hour. but
there was call of the roll, which showed |
forty-fve oenators in fundamentally
a quorum.
Mr.. Stewart took the floor to address the
Senate on the closure resolution, but
yielded TO o motion by Mr.. Frye for an
executive session, on the assurance that it
would not occupy more than five or ten
minutes.
Mr.. STEWART oFTTRs HIS AMENDMENT.
The legislative session was resumed ut
11:25, when Mr.. Stewart took the floor and
offered the amendment of which he had
given notice Thursday last. II contains
three propositions. the first being 70 strike
| out of the proposed rule the words ana
| the question shall be put upon the amend
ment. if any be then pending. and upon
the measure in its successive stages ac-
cording to the rules of the Senate, but
without debate" and to substitute the
| words and debate on the pending amend
ment, and such amendments as may be
| offered while the measure is under conslde-
ration shall be limited as provided under
| Rule g." Second, to insert IN the sentence
providing that no motion shall be in order
| but motion 10 adjourn or take recess
| the words =" to recommit, with or without
| instructions; to lay on the table," ETC..
and the third being clause that pending
proceedings under the proposed rule
"Rule II shall DO suspended" Rule 8,
| referred TO in the first proposition, pro-
vides an "order of business after the
morning hour, and Rule II Is that when
an amendment proposed to any pending
| measure is laid on the table it shall not
| carry with il or prejudice such measure"
Mr.. Faulkner demanded the yeas and
| NAYS on the amendment and they were or
| dered.
sTEwAET AGAINST CLOSURE AND BAToNETs.
| Mr.. Stewart commenced his argument
| against the proposed rule and against the
| elections bill The first question that pre-
| sented itself, he said, was why was the
business of the session suspended for the
| purpose of considering the proposed rule
| IL was certainly not for the purpose OF
providing permanent and efficient rules
| for the government of the Senate, because
the first clause disclosed the fact that 1t
was but q Temporary expedlent. Inc Inc
| of this session." What had occurred, he
asked. or what was pending TO render
| necessary such departure from ordinary
| proceedings, such an interruption OF the
| business Of the Senate during the final
| session of the Fifty-Flrst Congress, when
no appropriation bills were passed. when
numerous important measures we're pend
| ing and when, If the remainder OF the ses-
sion were devoted exclusively to the regu-
| lar business of the Senate and If the Sen
! ate were TO work day and night, it would
| be impossible to find any extra time IN
completing what had necessarily TO be
done by the Fifty-frst Congress?
AN UNAMERcAN AND NOVEL PROPOSITION.
Why was all the important business of
| Congress stopped and proposition intro
| duced which was un-American and contrary
| to the genius of American institutions, and
| which mad never been before found neces-
| sary in the hundred years Of the existence
of the Senator Through all the contests
that had taken place such q resort had
| never been found necessary before. 1t was
! a propOsition which had never been con-
| sidercd in the British Parliament during
all the ages that the English people were
| struggling for their liberties, and had only
| come under consideration when liberty was
| to be suppressed. He might withhold his
opposition if what Mr.. Hoar said on
| Thursday last we're true-that the opposl-
| ton was as much a conspiracy against
national authority as had been the rebel
| Congress that sat IN Richmond.
| MORE HARMFUL THAN Succession.
If that we're true there might be iustif-
cation for the proposed rule and for the
| elections bib, but was it true! On the
contrary was not the reverse true? III he
understood the elections bill correctly Its
! principle. if carried into effect, would be
! more prejudicial to human liberty than
| secession itself, because secession would
| have still retained local government. But
with Federal officers 10 superintend local
| elections in every State in the Union
| there would be no more home-rule, tor
America, and that removed all was lost.
| He repeated that the proposition lying at
| the foundation of the elections bill was
| more harmful than secession.
In conclusion, Mr.. Stewart Appealed 70
| Republican senators TO stop in their mad
| career before they stepped over the preci-
| pee and destroyed their party.
ALpRIcH FOR A VOTE TOMORROW.
At the close of Mr.. Stewards speech,
| Mr.. Sanders took the floor but yielded TO
| Mr.. Aldrich, who asked unanimous
| consent-frst, to limit debate to half an
| hour; then TO limit the length Of speeches
| TO one hour each, and then to have vote
| taken on Monday next, but to each OF
| these requests, as made, objection was
| made on the Democratic side. Then Mir.
| Aldrich asked whether the Senator from
! Nevada and senators on the other side
were prepared to fix any time for taking
| the vote. He was told by Mr.. Faulkner
| that several senators desired TO speak, and
| that it would be impossible until they had
| all spoken to fix any time for taking the
vote.
| SANDERS FOR CLOSURE AND THE FORCE BILL.
Mr.. Sanders proceeded with his speech
| in favor of the proposed rule and OF the
| elections bill.
MORGAN AGAINST GAG-RULE.
! Mr.. Morgan next addressed the Senate.
! The question before it was, he said, IN It's
| of Wlpf tQn
Senate would change the rules under which
it had operated for century for the pur-
pose of enabling majority OF tho
Senate (Which did not represent o
majority of the people of the United
States) to pass a bill that did not, 1t
appeared, deserve the approval of any
political party in the United States. He
referred in highly complimentary manner
| 10 Mr.. Eyarts and TO the speech made Dy
him on the bill, in which he said that the
debate had not been protracted:
Mr., Morgan SAID that it had not been
| protracted beyond the interest which the
| country felt in 1t. He knew that the de-
! bate had been long, but he had never heard
a debate in which there had been so much
attention paid to history, to lay, to pn,ol;ic
policy, TO right, and to justice, aud IN
which there had been so little departure
| from the real, true line of debate.
| HOW THE FORCE BILL PASSED THE HOOsE.
He commented upon the mode in which
the elections bill had been passed in the
| House, through the expulsion of over a
dozen Democratic members and the seat
ing of Republicans in their places, so as to
get majority for the bill; and also COM
| mented on the fact that no effort was made
to pass it in the Senate last session, but
that it had been allowed to lie on the table
until lot OF new States were al,
mitted and the recruits thus obtained
made 10 furnish o majority in favor OF
the bill. In doing so the Senator
from Massachusetts,. he said, had
enabled the Senator from Rhode Island 10
| maneuvre his tariff bill through the Sen
ate: and now the Senator from Rhode
Island was repaying that debt by trying TO
force through the Senate his resolution OF
cloture-that foreign word of bad reputa-
| ton. a.
Without concluding his speech, Mr..
Morgan yielded the floor, and then, on mo-
ton of Mr.. Aldrich. at 5:l5 the Senate took
q recess until Monday at noon.
House OF Representatives