CONGRESS. (THE RULES.) 



185 



All reports of committees, together with the views 

 of the minority, shall be delivered to the clerk for 

 printing and reference to the proper calendar, under 

 the direction of the Speaker, in accordance with the 

 foregoing clause. 



" It is believed by the committee that this 

 clause will save much valuable time daily, here- 

 tofore consumed in receiving reports' from com- 

 mittees and referring them to the calender, as 

 the clerk, when the reports are handed to him, 

 under the direction of the Speaker, can make the 

 references without consuming the time of the 

 House. 



" In clause 50 of Rule XI we add ' the Com- 

 mittee on Territories; bills for the admission of 

 new States,' and 'the Committee on Invalid 

 Pensions, general pension bills.' The effect of 

 tliis amendment is to include these two commit- 

 tees among those having the privilege of report- 

 ing at any time upon the matter designated." 



Mr. Mills, of Texas, in opposition to the new 

 code said : " Majorities within their limits as 

 denned by the Constitution are supreme. That 

 ought to be satisfactory. But there are some 

 powers that our fathers thought it dangerous 

 for majorities to have, and they said that ma- 



1 jorities should not have them. They put ma- 

 jorities under the ban of suspicion. They sur- 

 rounded them with limitations. They directed 

 the vigilant and watchful eye of the citizen on 

 all their movements. A majority can raise and 

 support an army, but it can not raise and sup- 



I port a church. It can create a court, but it can 



I not create an establishment of religion. In that 

 the minority is superior to the majority. One 



! man can establish his own religion, build "his own 

 church, and contribute what he pleases to its 

 support, and 60,000,000 people are utterly power- 

 less to prevent him from doing so as long as the 

 Constitution of the United States remains the 

 supreme law of the land. 



" Here, sir, is one place where the minority is 

 superior to the majority. A majority can create 



i a navy, but it can not create a military commis- 

 sion to try any citizen in time of peace. A ma- 

 jority can close our ports, but it can not close 

 our mouths. Free speech is one of the rights 

 which is safely secured within the bolts and bars 

 of the Constitution ; it is far beyond the reach of 

 the strong arm of the majority. A majority 

 may suppress an insurrection, but it can not 

 suppress the freedom of the press. The press, 

 though it be in a small minority, is still more 

 powerful than the majority. A majority may 

 prevent the assembling of a hostile army, but it 

 can not prevent the peaceable assembly of the 

 people to petition the Government for a redress 

 of their grievances. A majority may make a 

 rule or a law, but it can not suspend the habeas 

 corpus unless in time of war, when the public 

 safety is endangered. 



" A majority can levy taxes on imports, but it 

 can not levy taxes on exports. A minority of 

 1,000 or of 10,000 can send out of the country 

 and all over the world what they please, and a 

 majority of 60,000,000 can not prevent it. A 

 majority can not pass bills of attainder or ex 

 post facto laws. Why is this? Among the 

 people from whom we came majorities did all 

 these things. In England the Parliament is 

 the seat of supreme power. It can do what it 



wills, and no minority can obstruct or prevent 

 it. It can crown and uncrown the King at 

 pleasure. It can make and unmake the British 

 Constitution. It has not only passed bills of at- 

 tainder and ex post facto laws, but it has de- 

 clared what is orthodoxy and prescribed the re- 

 ligious belief of the people. It has butchered 

 the people, broken them on wheels, burned them 

 at stakes, and dyed the land with English blood 

 to compel the minority to think, speak, feel, and 

 act as the majority wishes them to do. 



" Unfortunately for England and for human- 

 ity she had no written constitution as our 

 fathers gave to us to protect us. Yes, to "se- 

 cure" us in the enjoyment of the inalienable 

 rights with which we were endowed by the Cre- 

 ator. To avoid these great crimes for which un- 

 restricted majorities in the English Parliament 

 are responsible, our fathers established this Gov- 

 ernment to secure remember the word " secure " 

 to themselves and their posterity the rights 

 with which Nature and Nature's God endowed 

 them. They said in many things majorities 

 should be supreme, and in many others that mi- 

 norities should be supreme. In all matters of 

 religion the minority is absolutely supreme over 

 themselves and absolutely beyond the reach of 

 political government as long as they do no injury 

 to others. 



" We see again in the Constitution an in- 

 terdiction against the power of the majority 

 over the personal right of the citizen. It is pro- 

 hibited from making any law to try him for an 

 infamous crime except on the indictment of a 

 grand jury. It can not deprive him of trial by 

 jury. It can not deny him the compulsory 

 power of the Government to bring his witnesses 

 to testify in his behalf. It can not deny him 

 the right to be confronted with his accusers face 

 to face. In all these cases the power of the ma- 

 jority is declared by the Constitution to be dan- 

 gerous to the liberty of the citizen. Here the 

 citizen, though the humblest in the land, can sit 

 within the fortress of the Constitution, and, shel- 

 tered by its power, bid defiance to the will of leg- 

 islative majorities. 



" But, Mr. Speaker, it is not only in our na-. 

 tional Constitution we see these limitations 

 thrown around majorities. It is so in every 

 State Constitution in the Union. What is it 

 for ? It is to protect the minority ; that is what 

 it is for. It is a check to the madness of the 

 majority or its caprice, or its wantonness, to use 

 the word employed by Mr. Jefferson. It is to 

 take away from it that power which all history 

 shows it has so grossly abused. 



" The Constitution of the United States pre- 

 scribes the rules for the government of the great 

 body of the people of the United States. The 

 Constitution of each State prescribes the rules 

 for the government of the people of each State. 

 The Constitution of the United States confers the 

 power on this House to prescribe the rules for 

 its government. 



" The rules prescribed under the power con- 

 ferred by the Constitution of the United States 

 are for the protection of the minority, and they 

 have done it from the foundation of the Govern- 

 ment. That is one of the objects of making 

 rules. It is not alone to facilitate business. Of 

 course rules are intended to secure the orderly 



