158 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



Vermont for what reason of course I cannot 

 know bringing to our attention the question 

 not whether if we simply by silence allowed 

 these rules to drift they would be for all pur- 

 poses of convenience and for all purposes of 

 technical regularity an authority, and, if you 

 please, the rules of the Senate, but whether, if 

 we saw fit to abstain from adopting them or to 

 insist that they be changed as a condition to 

 adopting them, that power resides in the Sen- 

 ate." 



Mr. Bayard : " I submit as an amendment 

 to the resolution a substitute, and ask that it 

 be read." 



The Chief Clerk: "It is moved to strike 

 out all after the word 'that' in the first line 

 of the resolution, and insert : 



The Committee on Rules of the Senate and House 

 of Representatives be, and they are hereby, instruct- 

 ed to examine and, after conference, to report what 

 amendments, if any, should be made in the present 

 joint rules of the two Houses ; and also whether 

 any, and what, legislation is expedient in regard to 

 the matters considered in the present twenty-second 

 joint rule." 



Mr. Bayard : " As I understood the amend- 

 ment of the Senator from Indiana, it is to adopt 

 the joint rules of the two Houses, as they now 

 stand, excepting the twenty-second." 



Mr. Edmunds, of Vermont : " No, Mr. Pi-esi- 

 dent ; the precise proposition is not to adopt 

 the joint rules of the two Houses as they now 

 stand, but to adopt the joint rules of the last 

 session. Then the Senator from Indiana moves 

 to amend that resolution by an exception. Now 

 the Senator from Delaware offers a substitute 

 for the whole thing ; and as the Chair states 

 it is clear that in order we must perfect the 

 original resolution before we vote on the sub- 

 stitute, so that the question is on the amend- 

 ment of the Senator from Indiana." 



The President pro tempore: "The question 

 now is on the amendment proposed by the Sen- 

 ator from Indiana to except the twenty-second 

 joint rule." 



The amendment was agreed to. 



The President pro tempore : " If no further 

 amendment be offered to the text of the reso- 

 lution, the question is on the amendment of 

 . the Senator from Delaware as a substitute for 

 the resolution." 



Mr. Bayard: "Gentlemen have differed on 

 this floor in regard to the power of each House 

 over the joint rules. A very ingenious and 

 able presentation of the subject was made by 

 the Senator from Ohio who sits near me (Mr. 

 Thurman), claiming that the House of Repre- 

 sentatives was a continuing body, and that 

 there was needed no adoption at the incoming 

 of each new Congress of either the separate 

 or the joint rules governing the preceding 

 House. Having heard him and considered his 

 point. I entirely dissent from his view. I be- 

 lieve that the House of Representatives is not 

 a continuing body, and that, indeed, it is not 

 only separate but that each House has its op- 



erative legal existence and would be without 

 any rules until it has adopted the parliamen- 

 tary rules of the preceding House, as is usually 

 done. The proposition has been made litre 

 that, this being a joint rule, made by two con- 

 tracting parties, neither can at will retire from 

 the rule. That is a very grave subject. Gen- 

 tlemen on this floor have admitted such a view, 

 and declared that it required a joint consent to 

 the rescission of a rule as much as to its for- 

 mation ; but from that proposition I entirely 

 dissent. I cannot believe that, either under the 

 language of the Constitution or the very theory 

 of checks and balances which the two Houses 

 were designed to enforce one upon the other, 

 the independence of either House can be taken 

 from it, either by its own act or an act of the 

 other House. Therefore I hold, as these rules 

 are made, they arc made during the good pleas- 

 ure of each House, and that it is in the power 

 of either the Semite or House of Representa- 

 tives to retire from a joint rule at any time, 

 and simply give notice of that fact to the other 

 branch of Congress. 



" But still the question has been made, and'I 

 think it would be advisable to have it settled 

 by conference of the two Houses through their 

 respective Committees on Rules. I cannot 

 doubt that on examination they will come to 

 the conclusion to adopt the whole code, if I 

 may so call it, except this twenty-second joint 

 rule, which is highly exceptionable. Therefore 

 I do not think there is any necessity to appre- 

 hend embarrassment in treating this subject, 

 because I have referred the matter to the two 

 Houses. These points having been raised, I 

 think they should be disposed of gravely and 

 properly. I know no reason why there should 

 not be an entire assent between the two 

 branches on the subject; but, the question hav- 

 ing been raised, I think it is a good opportuni- 

 ty to have the subject considered." 



The President pro tempore : " The question 

 is on the amendment of the Senator from Dela- 

 ware (Mr. Bayard)." 



The amendment was rejected, there being 

 on a division yeas, 22 ; nays, 26. 



The resolution was agreed to. 



In the Senate, on December 8, 1875, Mr. 

 Morton, of Indiana, offered a bill to provide 

 for counting the electoral vote for President. 

 The bill was substantially the same as the one 

 offered at the previous session. (See ANNUAL 

 CYCLOPAEDIA, 1875, p. 199.) The bill was re- 

 ferred to the Committee on Privileges and 

 Elections, and reported back without amend- 

 ment on March 3, 1876. (This subject was 

 extensively discussed at previous sessions of 

 Congress ; see volume of AMERICAN CYCLOPAE- 

 DIA for 1875). 



The first section provides that the two 

 Houses of Congress shall assemble in the hall 

 of the House of Representatives, at the hour 

 of one o'clock, on the last Wednesday in Jan- 



