join at any time in the debates. He has great control over the management of a discussion, by being able to call upon speakers of his own party rather than upon the opposition, but this advantage is not always allowed to be exercised. An able speaker, sure of commanding the attention of the House, cannot be suppressed by these rough devices. In restoring order the Speaker knocks on his desk with a hammer, and occasionally has to knock loud and often before his appeals are heeded. This is also the custom in the Senate, and the method of conducting business is almost identical in both Chambers. When a division is demanded, there are three ways of taking the votes. First, the members stand up and are counted by the Speaker; but if any member is not satisfied, he may demand tellers, whereupon two members are named by the Speaker, and the House passes between them. Or a member may demand the "yeas and nays," and if one-fifth of the House sustains the demand (which the Speaker can tell by his eye, the assenting members holding up their hands) the names are called over, and by the rules each member is compelled to vote, unless he is excused by the House-but this is not adhered to. A member may let his name be called and make no answer, and yet have his vote recorded when the roll is finished, by rising in his place-having, perhaps, been anxious to see first how his colleagues, or the members of his own way of thinking, intended to vote. In the House, members appear to be allowed CHAP. VIII. CONGRESSIONAL DEBATES. 147 to speak as often as they please to the same Bill, but the Senate has a rule that "no member shall speak more than twice in any one debate on the same day, without leave of the Senate." Unless upon the specific demand of a member, the rules are seldom rigorously enforced. In the House, a member is not allowed to speak longer than an hour at one time, unless special permission be given. A member may only desire to speak for five minutes, but, having obtained possession of the floor, he has a right to hold it for a full hour, and he may divide the surplus of his time among his friends. Thus it is very common to hear a member say, "I yield the floor for ten minutes to the member from Maine," "Now I yield it for five minutes to the member from Pennsylvania," and so on, till he has accommodated all his friends, or his hour is expired. The Speaker, of course, decides when each member's allotted portion of the hour is gone. The patience with which even the dreariest of speakers is tolerated, both in the Senate and the House, is one of the most striking features of Congress. A member pulls out an immense roll of manuscript, and endeavours to arouse himself into animation over the sentences which he has laboriously prepared. The House cannot be said to listen to what he says, but it is perfectly quiet, and never interrupts. These essays are all printed in extenso in the 'Congressional Globe,' and thus an insignificant member is often reported through fifteen or twenty columns of this paper, at the expense of the Government, it need scarcely be said. Sometimes a member asks permission of the House to take his speech as read, and it is then printed in the 'Globe' as if it had been actually delivered. It will be obvious at once how much this arrangement encourages laxity of debate, and how hopeless would be the attempt to confine members to the subject before the House. The Government pays the proprietors of the Globe' a stated price for every printed column, and it takes in addition five-andtwenty copies of each day's issue for every member. All through the Session of Congress, there are certain days set apart in the House of Representatives for the convenience of members who wish to make known their views on public affairs. They are called "speech days," and at the beginning of the Session every member who intends to address the House has his name entered upon a list which is afterwards kept by the Speaker. This list is constantly lengthening, for one day will only get rid of perhaps half-adozen names, while in the course of a week twenty new ones will be added, so that at the close of a Session there is hardly any hope for the members who stand last on the roll. The names are called by the Speaker in the order in which they are entered, and it often happens that a gentleman is required to deliver an essay which he prepared four months before, and which has little or no bearing upon any question of the hour. On these occasions the House has a deserted and sombre appearance; oftentimes there CHAP. VIII. THE LICENCE ALLOWED TO SPEAKERS. 149 are not more than forty members present, who are lost in that large chamber, and they amuse themselves by reading the newspapers or writing letters. The Speaker writes his letters also, merely pausing to look at what time a speaker begins, and to knock with his hammer when the prescribed hour is expired. The members understand thoroughly that they are not to look for the attention of the House, but to have their speeches printed in the Globe,' so that they can send them to their constituents, and with that arrangement they are perfectly satisfied. The tone of these effusions may be judged of from a few quotations. 6 "The traitor's voice is hushed, and must be silent for ever; the green grass which grows upon the patriot's grave, the flowers which bloom around their resting-places, shall wave in the triumph of freedom, and the whirlwind and the thunder-cloud as they sweep past their tombs re-echo with tones. that will shake the world." 4 "What_name but anarchy, rampant and flagrant anarchy, over which the fallen spirits and incarnate devils might hold a jubilee, would you give to such a state of affairs as this? A little hell in the family all the time! Oh, what a glorious Government that would be! Freedom's soil beneath our feet! and freedom's banner streaming o'er us! The home of the free and the hope of the brave!" 5 4 Speech of Mr. McKee, of Kentucky. "The Constitution of our country was formed upon the model which the great Architect of the universe established when He formed this planetary system of ours."6 If these "occasional" days seem often to justify the traditional impressions of Congress—namely, that it is a scene of confusion, in which wild declamation and nonsense are all that can be heard,— it ought to be remembered that the other five days of the week are far more calculated to show that these impressions are erroneous. They are formed upon exceptional incidents, such as some of those which have been described. As a general rule, there is no want of dignity or ability in the manner in which public business is conducted in the Capitol. The man of common sense is always sure of finding an appreciative audience, and there are many men in both Chambers, whose powers as public speakers, and whose great natural talents, would elevate them to a distinguished position wherever they might be placed. Congress has its ludicrous side, like all other large assemblies, and those who wish to form a fair estimate of it should keep away from it on the days when inferior members, or exceptional circumstances, present it in a partial and unfair light. But there is no redeeming circumstance in the measures which are taken by the dominant party to suppress discussion. They give 6 Mr. Hogan. |