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vote of the house had been taken, whereby the bill was ordered to be read a third time, but that the clerk, upon examination of his minutes, did not find an entry of the fact. Under these circumstances, the speaker wished the house to decide whether the bill should be considered passed or not; and thereupon

A motion was made by Mr. John Quincy Adams, that the house do reconsider the vote on the passage of said bill; which motion to reconsider being agreed to, the question was put, Shall the bill be read a third time? and passed in the affirmative.

The said bill was then again read the third time; and on the question, "Shall it pass?" It passed in the affirmative.

June 28, 1834.

A motion was made by Mr. Speight, that the house do come to the following resolution, viz.

Resolved, That the thanks of this house be presented to the honourable Andrew Stevenson, late speaker, for the firmness, dignity, skill and impartiality with which he filled the office of speaker during the present session.

The resolution being read, an inquiry was made of the chair, whether it could be received and entertained at this state of the business of the day, without a suspension of the rules prescribing the order of business. The speaker (Mr. Bell,) decided that, in an analogous case which occurred on the 3d of March, 1829, the house had decided that a resolution of similar import did not come

within the rules prescribing the order of business, and that in accordance with the decision then made, the present resolution would be received and entertained.

January 9, 1837.

Mr. John Quincy Adams offered to present a petition of Eliza T. Loud and 228 women of South Weymouth, in Massachusetts, which he stated prayed Congress immediately to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, and to declare every human being free who sets foot upon its soil, and was proceeding to read the petition to the house, and was reading the same, when Mr. Chambers of Kentucky rose to a question of order, and stated the same as follows: that under the 45th rule of the house, which prescribes"That petitions, memorials, and other papers addressed to the house, shall be presented by the speaker, or by a member in his place; a brief statement of the contents thereof shall verbally be made by the introducer, &c." the member from Massachusetts, (Mr. Adams,) had no right to read the petition at length which he offered to present, but is required by the rule, and has the right only "to make a brief statement of the contents thereof."

The speaker decided that it was not in order for a member to read the whole petition, but must confine himself to "a brief statement of the contents thereof."

From this decision Mr. Adams appealed to the house; and after debate, Mr. Adams withdrew

the appeal, and the decision of the chair was acquiesced in by the house.

January 10, 1837.

Before reports from committees were concluded, Mr. Bell rose and offered to submit a motion for leave to bring in a bill to secure the freedom of elections, in pursuance of notice given by him on the 7th instant.

The speaker decided that at this stage of proceeding, it was not in order to make or entertain said motion; but that it would be in order to submit the said motion at the time when under the rules regulating the proceedings of the house, and the "order of business of the day," it would be in order for the member offering to make the same to submit resolutions or motions to the house.

From this decision Mr. Bell took an appeal to the house.

And the question was stated, Shall the decision of the speaker stand as the judgment of the house? And after debate, Mr. Bell withdrew his said motion for leave.

January 11, 1837.

A motion was made by Mr. Mann of New York, that the house do proceed to the orders of the day; when Mr. Bell rose to a question of order, which he stated to be, that a motion to proceed to the orders of the day having been once made and decided in the negative, could not be again made the same day and at the same stage of proceeding. The speaker decided that the house having on

motion once refused to proceed to the orders of the day, did not, after further debate, and at a different period of the day, preclude another motion from being made to proceed to the orders of the day.

From this decision Mr. Bell took an appeal to the house. And the question was stated, Shall the decision of the chair stand as the judgment of the house? And after debate, Mr. Bell withdrew his appeal.

A bill, (No. 829,) reported from the committee of ways and means to reduce the revenue of the United States to the wants of the government, being under consideration,

Mr. Mann of New York rose to a question of order, which he stated to be, that under the 103d rule of the house, which declares" that no motion or proposition for a tax or charge upon the people shall be discussed the day in which it is offered, and every such proposition shall receive its first discussion in a committee of the whole house," the said bill must be committed to a committee of the whole house.

The speaker decided that as the bill did not on its face contain any "proposition for a tax or charge upon the people," but was a bill to reduce duties on imported articles, by the rule it was not necessarily required to be committed.

From this decision Mr. Mann of New York appealed to the house; and after debate, Mr. Mann withdrew his appeal.

January 23, 1337.

The consideration of the memorial of merchants of Newburyport, in the State of Massachusetts, praying the interference of the government in relation to the rigorous and unnecessary quarantine imposed upon American shipping by the Danish government at Elsineur, presented by Mr. Cushing on the 16th instant, was announced; when, Mr. John Quincy Adams inquired of the chair whether the consideration of the petition of Ralph Sanger and 40 other inhabitants of the town of Dover in the county of Norfolk, in the state of Massachusetts, upon the subject of slavery in the District of Columbia, which he (Mr. Adams,) of fered to present on the 19th of January instant, (the receiving of which was objected to by Mr. Lawler, and the question of reception was put on that day,) did not take precedence in the business of this day.

The speaker stated and so decided, that the said petition was embraced by the subsequent order adopted by the house on the 18th instant, which provides "that all petitions, memorials, resolutions, propositions, or papers, relating in any way or to any extent whatever to the subject of slavery or the abolition of slavery, shall without being printed or referred be laid upon the table, and that no further action be had thereon," and that under the operation of said order, the gentleman from Massachusetts would have a right to present the said petitions, and if sent to the clerk's desk, it would lie on the table without further question.

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