titled "An act to incorporate the Pennsylvania Infirmary for diseases of the eye and car." At the time this bill is presented to the Speaker, by the chairman of the committec, he states that the committee for that purpose appointed report bill No. 1." (repeating the title.) The reading of the title is the first reading of the bill. This is so well settled a practice in the Pennsylvania Legislature, that if a member should require the clerk to read the body of the bill at the time it was reported, he would be considered as uselessly wasting the time of the House. The bill being handed to the clerk, he immediately numbers and sends it to be printed.— As soon as printed it is returned to the House,, and without delay placed upon the file of bills. Having thus disposed of all the preceding matters, and bill No. 1. being now in order, the Speaker, opening his file of bills, says, "The next business in order is the consideration of bill No. I. entitled," &c. reading the title. Having gone through the title, he says, "As many as are in favour of proceeding to the consideration of the bill, will say aye," and reversing the question, he says "as many as are opposed to it will say no." If the ayes have it,

he will say "the ayes have it. It is agreed to." He then calls one of the members to the chair, by saying, "Mr. will please to take the chair." Mr. immediately leaves his seat, carrying with him his file of bills, and walks up to the Speaker's desk, and as Mr. is ascending the steps on one side of the chair, Mr. Speaker is descending the steps on the other side; and having politely bowed to each other, the chairman takes the vacant chair, and the Speaker retires to the seat of the member called to officiate as chairman, or any other vacant seat. The chairman, being thus possessed of the Speaker's station before he takes his seat, reports as follows: "The committee of the whole have referred to them bill No. 1, entitled," reading the title through out, he then says "the first section will be read." The clerk then stands up in front of the Speaker's desk, now occupied by the chairman, and reads the first section.

As soon as he has finished reading, the chairman says, "The first section is before the committee." This he does sitting. Indeed all questions are usually stated by the presiding officer sitting. If there are no objections urged against the section, he asks, “is the

committee ready for the question?" and being answered in the affirmative, rises and says, "As many as are in favour of the section will say Aye." "The contrary opinion No." If the ayes have it, he will say, "the section is agreed to." He then says, "The second section will be read." The clerk reads it in the same manner as the first: and when done, the chairman says, "The second section is before the committee." If he has discovered that there are no objections to the bill, instead of putting the affirmative and negative, he merely asks, "Will the committee agree to the second section?" If the bill has but two sections, as soon as the second section has been read and considered, the chairman states: "The bill is gone through." But if the bill should have a preamble attached to it; in that case, the preamble must be read, and the question taken on it before the committee rises. The preamble being disposed of, the chairman says, "the committee will rise." The preamble is always read after the sections have been passed. The Speaker then proceeds towards the desk, and as he is ascending on one side, the chairman retires on the other, and again they bow to each other.

N

The Speaker having now resumed his place, but not having taken his seat, and the chairman having retired to his own desk, standing in front of it, makes the following report: "Mr. Speaker, the committee of the whole have had under consideration bill No. 1, upon the files of the House of Representatives, entitled 'An act,' (repeating the title,) and have instructed their chairman to report the bill without amendment."

Suppose the bill in question had but one section, and the committee had disagreed to the section; then the report would have been as follows: "Mr. Speaker, the committee of the whole have had under consideration bill No. 1, &c. (repeating as in the other case,) and have instructed their chairman to report the first and only section negatived."

Suppose there were more than one section, but that all the other sections were dependant upon the passage of the first, and that section was negatived: the committee would rise, without going any further than the first section, and the chairman would report the first section negatived.

But suppose, instead of agreeing to the 1st and 2d sections of the bill, both sections had

been amended in committee. In that case, the chairman says, he was "instructed to report it with amendments." When I became a member of the Legislature in 1814, the practice was to ask if the amendment should be read over, on the bill being reported to the House. The question was always asked, but the reading of the amendments was never agreed to. To get rid of this practice, I offered a resolution, which is now embodied in the rules of the House, and is as follows:

Rule 25. Amendments made in committee of the whole, shall not be read by the Speaker on his resuming the chair, unless required by one or more of the members.

On the first report being made, that the bill has been agreed to by the committee of the whole without amendments, the Speaker says: "The chairman of the committee of the whole reports without amendments bill No. 1, on the files of the House of Representatives, entitled" &c. or "with amendments." If the section is negatived, he says: "The chairman reports, that the committee have instructed him to report the first section negatived."

It not unfrequently occurs, that after a long debate, the committee is not able to get