Mr. M'ALLISTER. Mr. President: I hope this amendment will not pass. I concur most heartily in the spirit of the resolution. It is beneath the dignity of this body assembled here to establish the organic law, to succumb to any man or party of men outside the Convention itself. I have read with surprise this morning, also, the distribution of the offices which we appointed a committee last evening to create. I do hope that we will take measures for the appointment of these officers within ourselves, and how can we do it better than by the appointment of a committee? The mode of appointing that committee is not indicated, but let it be appointed as committees are ordinarily appointed in this Convention. Who can complain of that? Surely it will be done in fairness; surely the offices will be distributed aright, and the committee should be appointed to inquire into the qualification of the persons. It is by merit they are to be distributed to those who can perform their duties best. Let the committee take that into consideration. Let nominations be made as many as you please, and let the committee select from those nominations. I hope this amend ment will not be adopted, and that the original resolution will be passed.

tion in this house. It was an intimation from the highest source that we are to have no political discussions, and no political factions, and no political tricks in this body. Well, now, sir, the manner in which this body was elected shows that the people of Pennsylvania intended that in everything done by this body the minority should be represented. There are three hundred and thirty-five thousand tax-payers in Pennsylvania who are called the minority, and they are represented by a body of men upon this floor. Is it in accordance with the spirit of these measures for a portion of this body to assemble in a tavern in secret caucus, and there decide that no representative of those three hundred and thirty-five thousand taxpayers shall be represented in the official action of this body? That no man shall be made secretary of this body, who may be the fittest man in the Commonwealth, and much fitter than any one-any caucus-may offer to us; that he is to be excluded even from an election because of a midnight caucus of violent partisans, and animated by that spirit that characterizes their narrow, nasty politics, they decide that nobody but their pets shall be admitted within the ring. Sir, is that the spirit in which we are to start out in the delibMr. WOODWARD. Mr. President: I rise erations of this body? erations of this body? I say it is a departto support the resolution of my friend from ure, a gross departure, from what has Philadelphia, and I concur in what has been already occurred in our midst, and which said in support of that resolution. Mr. Pres- augurs badly for the future, if this is to be ident, if I read aright the legislation that led tolerated. Now, the resolution offered by to the convening of this body, and the pub- my friend from Philadelphia (Mr. Gowen) lic opinion which called it into existence, it is catholic; it is comprehensive. It prowas that the fundamental law of Pennsyl- poses that you, sir, shall appoint a comvania should be revised without the slight-mittee of ten from this body, over whose est reference to the partisan politics of the clay. I believe that was the general desire of the people of Pennsylvania. They sent us here for that purpose. How a portion of this body has been impressed with that sentiment was shown by the fact that when the time came for the election of a presiding officer no other name was offered in competition with that of the distinguished gentleman who presides over our deliberations. By common consent he was accepted without a dissenting vote, and without the suggestion of any other name. Now, that seemed to me to be in to me to be in accordance with the spirit that I suppose had animated everybody concerned in calling this Convention into existence; but, sir, we had not deliberated long before I heard that presiding officer calling a member on this floor to order for alluding to an instance of partisan distinc

A

deliberations you shall preside, and to that committee the whole question of officering this Convention is to be submitted. It seems to me that it would be in accordance with the spirit which manifestly animated the people of Pennsylvania in calling this Convention into existence. Now, for our own sake, as well as for the sake of the people of Pennsylvania, I trust we are not to make a gross and arbitrary departure from that good spirit which seems thus far to have animated us. On the contrary, I should hope that by the common consent which elevated you appropriately to the chair you occupy, this resolution might be adopted; and to the committee presided over by yourself, I, for one, am willing to commit entirely and without question all these individual appointees. I pledge myself to vote for the report of that committee, whoever may be

the individuals named. For these reasons I support the resolution, and hope it may be adopted.

Mr. MACVEAGH. Mr. President: It is certainly not desirable that the position of any gentlemen, who will support General Lilly's amendment, should be misunder

stood, and their position would certainly be wholly misunderstood if it was assumed that that position was correctly stated by the gentleman from Philadelphia, who offered the resolution, or the distinguished gentleman who has just supported it. We are as anxious, at least I am as anxious, and I am very sure that General Lilly and the gentlemen who will support his amendment are as anxious as any gentleman here, to proceed to the graver labors of this Convention absolutely free from any spirit of partisanship, confining ourselves, in the most liberal and catholic interpretation of our du ties, to those duties in their fullest scope; but, whether rightly or wrongly, there are some of us who believe that upon those gentlemen who were elected by the majority of the voters of this Commonwealth, devolves the simple and unimportant duty of selecting officers who are to do the work of this Convention as its employees. We are capable of that process known as detachment; we can look at this branch of our duty as a duty de volving upon us, a responsibility upon us, and when that is discharged we can go forward to the remaining duties of this Convention, and propose to do so precisely in the spirit the gentleman has indicated; and even now, for my part, I decline Judge Woodward's challenge; I shall not call the party with which he is associated a "ring" I shall not insinuate that the majority of the

voters of this State are not an honest majority of its voters; Iscorn the imputation for that party with which I am known to be associated; I do not propose to attempt to assign it to gentlemen who differ from me; I have no words of unkindness or feelings of bitterness towards anybody; I propose to know no lines of distinction in the work of this Convention; but, the very act which calls us together contemplates that certain gentlemen of this Convention are elected by one class of voters, and certain other members of this Convention are elected by another class of voters; I would have been very glad, if that was the only consideration, to have had this duty shifted to the minority from the majority, if the voters had so decided,

but the voters have decided otherwise then, I think, it is a shrinking from duty and avoidance of proper responsibility, office who are equally qualified, equally when candidates are presented for an fitted, for they are presumedly so, that I should vote alternately; first, for a gengentleman who voted against me, but tleman who voted for me, and then for a the employees of this Convention, through that, in this small matter of appointing the various grades of limited salary which have been reported and adopted here this morning, other things being equal, I' the class of voters who sent me to this should vote for a person who belongs to Convention; that is all, as I understand, that there is in it; therefore, I shall support General Lilly's amendment.

On agreeing to the amendment offered by Mr. Lilly, the yeas and nays were required by Mr. Hanna and Mr. Lamberton, and were as follow, viz:

YEAS..

Messrs. Armstrong, Ainey, Andrews, Addicks, Bartholomew, Baily, (Perry,) Baker, Bannan, Bardsley, Beebe, Bowman, Broomall, Carey, Carter, Cochran, Collins, Corson, Craig, Curry, Davis, Dimmick, Darlington, Edwards, Ewing, Fell, Finney, Fulton, Funck, Hanna, Hazzard, Horton, Howard, Knight, Lawrence, Lilly, Lear, Littleton, MacConnell, M'Culloch, MacVeagh, Mann, Mantor, Minor, Newlin, Niles, Palmer, H. W., Parsons, Patterson, (Lancaster,) Porter, Pughe, Purviance, (Allegheny,)Purviance, (Butler,) Reynolds, James L., Rooke, Runk, Russell, Simpson, Stanton, Stewart, Struthers, Turrell, Van Reed, Walker, White, (Indiana,) White, David N., Wetherill, (Philadelphia) and White, J. W. F.——67.

NAYS.

Messrs. Alricks, Achenbach, Baer, Black, (York,) Bailey, (Huntingdon,) Black, (Greene,) Boyd, Brodhead, Brown, Barclay, Curtin, Campbell, Corbett, Cassidy, Church, Clark, Cronmiller, Cuyler, Dodd, Dallas, DeFrance, Dunning, Ellis, Elliott, Freeze, Gowen, Gibson, Gilpin, Guthrie, Hall, Harvey, Hay, Hemphill, Heverin, Hopkins, Hunsicker, Kaine, Lamberton, Landis, Long, M'Allister, M'Camant, M'Clean, M'Murray, Metzger, Mott, Purman, Palmer, G. W., Patterson, (Allegheny,) Patton, Reynolds, S. H., Read, (Philadelphia,) Reed, (Mifflin,) Rhone, Ross, Smith, (Allegheny,) Sharpe, Smith, (Berks,) Smith, (Lancaster,) Temple,

:

(Schuylkill,) Wherry, Worrell and Meredith, President-66. So the question was determined in the ning, Ellis, Elliott, Freeze, Gowen, Gibaffirmative.

The yeas and nays were required by Mr. Hopkins and Mr. MacVeagh, and were as follow, viz:

YEAS.

move that the gentleman have leave to state his reasons for his vote.

The PRESIDENT ruled that no debate was in order during the call of the yeas and nays, except that a member might ask to be excused from voting.

called) asked to be excused from voting. The PRESIDENT announced the vote, and declared D. L. Imbrie elected as Chief Clerk of the Convention.

Mr. SIMPSON offered the following resolution, which was twice read:

Messrs. Armstrong, Ainey, Andrews, Addicks, Bartholomew, Baily, (Perry,)⠀⠀ Mr. M'CLEAN (when his name was Baker, Bannan, Bardsley, Beebe, Bowman, Broomall, Carey, Carter, Cochran, Collins, Corson, Craig, Curry, Davis, Dimmick, Darlington, De France, Edwards, Ewing, Fell, Finney, Fulton, Funck, Hanna, Hazzard, Horton, Howard, Knight, Lawrence, Lilly, Lear, Littleton, M'Allister, MacConnell, M'Culloch, M'Murray, MacVeagh, Mann, Mantor, Minor, Newlin, Niles, Palmer, H. W., Parsons, Patterson, (Lancaster,) Porter, Pughe, Purviance, (Allegheny,) Purviance, (Butler,) Reynolds, James L., Rooke, Runk, Russell, Simpson, Stanton, Stewart, Struthers, Turrell, Van Reed, Walker, White, (Indiana,) White, David N., Whetherill, (Philadelphia,) White, J. W. F. and Meredith, President-71.

NAYS.

Resolved, That the Convention will now proceed to the nomination and election of the remaining officers designated in the report of the Committee, in the order named in said report.

Mr. GowEN. Mr. President: I understand that one serious objection to the resolution I offered before was, that the committee to be appointed was to be an even number, and therefore, according to parliamentary usage, did not give the majority of the committee to the majority of the House. I did not have any intention of doing so at the time, and therefore, in order to relieve us of this voting, which will occupy the whole day, I offer the following as an amendment to the resolution just offered: Strike out all after the word "resolved" and insert as follows: "That the President appoint a committee of nine, of which he shall be one, and be the chairman, to report the names of suitable persons to fill the remaining offices of the The PRESIDENT. It is not in order Convention."

Messrs. Black, (York,) Ellis, Freeze, M'Camant, Purman and Rhone.-6

Mr. BAER (when his name was called) said: Mr. President: I have not occupied the time of this Convention hitherto

The PRESIDENT. Debate is not in order.

Mr. BAER. I wish to explain the reason for the vote I shall give.

now.

Mr. WHITE (Indiana.) Mr. President: Mr. BAER. I therefore, sir, decline to I have but one remark to make in connecvote.

Mr. HOPKINS (when his name was called) said: I desire to ask of the Chair a question. [Cries of "order, order."]

Mr. HOPKINS. Is it not in order to ask the Chair a question?

tion with the amendment of the gentleman from Philadelphia (Mr. Gowen.) It occurs to me that it will result in a procrastination of our proceedings, and delay us from entering upon the performance of that legitimate duty for which the people

The PRESIDENT. Certainly, the gen- have elected us. tleman is in order.

Mr. HOPKINS. The question I desire to ask is this: Whether, under parliamentary law, a member has not a right to give the reasons for his vote when he is called upon to vote? I ask that question of the

Chair.

Something has been said about politics here. It occurs to me that the sooner we perform the function of electing, or selecting, if you please, the officers that have been designated by the resolution which this Convention passed this morning, the sooner we will be relieved from a subject which must necessarily annoy everybody in a body of this kind at the threshold of its organization. I am, therefore, opposed to the amendment of the gentleman from Philadelphia, (Mr. Gowen,) and I trust, inasmuch as we have just elected a Chief Clerk without any party vote in this A delegate inquired if it was in order to Convention, that we will proceed to com

The PRESIDENT. The Chair is of opinion that on the call of the ayes and noes no member can make any answer but "aye" or "no." If the Chair is mistaken in that opinion, we will submit the question to the House, if the gentlemen desire it.

Mr. GowEN so modified his amend- istence of party politics in the action of ment.