from serving on a committee or voting, in reference to the entire subject of banks and banking, would seem to justify a similar proscription in all these cases.

But the Speaker said he would no longer trespass on the indulgence of the House. He was aware that gentlemen might at first sight be disposed to construe the rule as the gentleman from Northfield had seemed to construe it, in appealing from his decision. And therefore, believing it to be a rule of doubtful constitutional justice, in derogation of the rights of the members, adverse to the equality of the representative system, and which, unless carefully limited, was capable of being wrested to the worst of purposes, he had felt bound to give to the House his honest views of its character and tendency, and to explain to them fully the grounds of his decision.

His own disposition would be never in any case to apply the rule to a case of corporate interest. Corporations had been so multiplied of late years, and their interests had become so closely interwoven with those of the whole people of the Commonwealth, that it was difficult to imagine cases in which they were entirely distinct. The interests of individual corporations even, partook largely of the character of public interests. To how large a number of persons must an interest be common, to be entitled to the designation of a public interest? The Western Railroad Corporation had some thousands of stockholders. Was the interest which a member held in common with thousands of others, to be regarded as a private interest? What, then, should be the numerical limit at which an interest should cease to be private, and be acknowledged as public? The members whose votes were in question in the present case, were interested in common with at least a hundred stockholders, and there were frequently more than three hundred operatives employed in the establishment. The Speaker said that if, in any case, he was to be compelled to regard interests like these as grounds of exclusion under the rule, it would only be where the authority for so doing was plain, precise, and unavoidable. He would follow in the steps which had been already taken in this line of construction, as it was his duty to do; but he should adventure on no new tracks in a direction so contrary to his opinions of

policy and justice. And, if he must err at all, he should always endeavor to err on that side, which should insure the greatest freedom of voice and vote to those who held their seats in the House by the same title with himself, and who had all the constitutional qualifications for a full, equal, and unrestrained exercise of the privileges of membership.

The decision of the Speaker was sustained, 259 to 189.

REPLY TO A VOTE OF THANKS.

AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF A VOTE OF THANKS TO THE SPEAKER, PASSED OF MASSACHUSETTS, MARCH

BY THE HOUSE OF 21, 1840.

REPRESENTATIVES

GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

I NEED not assure you of the sincere pleasure with which I rise to respond to the Resolution you have just adopted. I thank the gentleman from Westport for proposing it. I thank each member of the House for uniting in its passage. Called, as I was, at the commencement of the session, by so mere a majority of the members present, to preside over a body so nearly balanced in reference to the all-absorbing subject of party politics, I entered on the duties assigned me with little hope of giving satisfaction, either to myself or others. I looked forward to labors, of which other years had afforded me no experience. I anticipated trials, for which previous sessions had furnished me with no adequate preparation. And, certainly, I ventured to promise myself, at the end, nothing more, at the best, than the indulgent consideration of that bare majority by whose unmerited favor I had been placed here.

It could not fail to give me the highest gratification, Gentlemen, to find, as the session advanced, so many of my apprehensions disappointed; to find the elements of strife and discord, which manifestly abounded in the original composition of this body, so rarely set in motion; to find the public business so little interrupted by acrimonious controversy and angry dispute; and, more especially, to find my own official services, so seldom made the subject of party division, or even of personal exception. Gentlemen, I have not sat here during three successive winters

without learning, that it is always in the power of parties, or even of individuals, to perplex and embarrass a presiding officer in the performance of his duties, if they have the disposition to do so. Let him be ever so able, by frequent appeals from his decisions they may cast a doubt upon his competency. Let him be ever so scrupulous, by repeated insinuations and imputations upon his motives, they may raise a suspicion as to his integrity. Let him be ever so prompt, so patient, so untiring, by constantly cavilling at his course, they may render his posi tion painful to himself, and involve his administration in more or less of popular odium. No length of experience, no degree of diligence, no measure of fidelity, I am persuaded, can arm a Speaker effectually against the persevering assaults of personal malice or partisan malignity. While, on the contrary, in order to render his exertions, in any considerable degree, successful or satisfactory, he must have the confidence of those over whom he presides, and requires a constant exercise of their indulgence, forbearance, and generosity.

It is to such an exercise of generosity, indulgence, and forbearance on your part, Gentlemen, and to the confidence in my official fidelity you have habitually manifested, that I feel myself indebted for whatever success may have attended my efforts during the present winter. Those efforts, I may be pardoned for saying, have been honest, have been arduous, have been unremitted. But I am sensible they must have utterly failed of their object, had they not been seconded and sustained by your confidence and your coöperation. For these, then, even more than for the complimentary tribute you have just been pleased to pay me, I desire to express to you my warmest acknowledg ments, and to tender you the assurances of my heartfelt gratitude.

And now, Gentlemen, I cannot resume my seat without congratulating you on the comparatively early period at which we have succeeded in bringing our labors to a close. The session of 1838, the first in which I had the honor to occupy the Chair of the House, did not reach its termination, as some of you may remember, until the 25th day of April. It was, of course, considered a matter for general felicitation last year, that

an adjournment was effected as early as the 10th day of the same month. But we have now the satisfaction of having accomplished a far greater reduction in the length of the legis lative term, and of having despatched the business of the Commonwealth in a shorter time than any of our predecessors since the June session was abolished. Sitting here as we do, at an expense of not less than twelve or thirteen hundred dollars a day, all the departments of government included, it is no insignificant affair, in an economical point of view, if in no other, to cut off thirty or forty days from the duration of the session. And should the example which has thus been given, be imitated and improved upon for a few years to come, as I firmly believe it easily may be without any detriment to the public interests, the treasury of the Commonwealth will soon be relieved of a large part of the burden which has borne on it most oppressively for many years past.

Nor is it only to an abbreviation of the session that we may look for the accomplishment of this most desirable result. If the amendment to the Constitution, which was proposed by the last Legislature and ratified by the present by such large majorities in both branches, should be adopted by the people on the first Monday of April next, as I heartily hope it will be, the number of members in this branch of the Legislature, as you are all aware, will be diminished by more than one hundred and fifty, and the daily expenses of the sessions be proportionably reduced. But, Gentlemen, I will not trespass further on your attention. with any dry economical calculations, nor will I detain you with any detailed review of the measures in which we have been engaged. Perhaps the most striking characteristic of the session which is now about to terminate, has been the almost entire omission of any thing like long speeches, and I will not now deviate from a policy which has proved so propitious to an early completion of our duties. Let me only say, in conclusion, that if, in the exercise of authority and the enforcement of order, I have infringed on a single privilege or injured a single feeling, I sincerely regret it, and that every member of the House will carry with him, when we part, my best wishes for his personal health and happiness. May that God who has guarded you all