MANUAL OF PARLIAMENTARY PRACTICE.


  NOTE.-The rules and practices peculiar to the SENATE are printed between
  brackets, [ ]. Those of PARLIaLKNT are not so distinguished.

                 I.M11PORTAN CE OF RULES.

                            SECTION I.
                 IT'OnTANCZ Or ADE'.INinG TO RULtES.
  Yr. O.NSLOW, the ablest among "he Speakers of the House of Commons,
  used to say: " It was a maxim he had often heard when he was a young
man,
  from old and experienced Members, that nothing tended more to throw power
  into the hands of the administration, and those who acted with the majority
  of the House of Commons, than a neglect of or departure from, the rules
of
proceeding; that these forms, as instituted by our ancestors, operated as
a
check and control on the actions of the majority, and that they were in many
instances, a shelter and protection to the minority, against the attempts
of
power." So far the maxim is certainly true, and it is founded in good
sense,
that as it is always in the power of the majority, by their numbers, to stop
any improper measures proposed on the part of their opponents, the only
weapons by which the minority can defend themselves against similar at-
tempts from those in power, are the forms and rules of proceeding which
have been adopted as they were found necessary, from time to time, and are
become the law of the House; by a strict adherence to which, the weaker
party can only be protected from those irregularities and abuses which these
forms were intended to check, and which the wantonness of power is but too
often apt to suggest to large and successful majorities. 2 Hats., 171, 172.
  And whether these forms be in all cases the most rational or not, is really
not of so great importance. It is much more material that there should be
a rule to go by, than what that rule is; that there may be a uniformity of
pro.
ceeding in business, not subject to the caprice of the Speaker, or captious-
ness of the Members. It is very material that order, decency and regularity
be preserved in a dignified public body. 2 Hats., 149.

                            SECTION II.
                            LEGISLATIVE.
  [All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested In a Congress of
the
United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Rtepresenta.
tivess.-Constitution of the United States, Art. 1, See. 1.]