mation they contain judiciously combined. Hermann's excellent Manual of Political Antiquities, and Thirlwall's learned and impartial History of Greece, have been constantly used. We approve the plan of this edition, and think the execution of it faithful and able. The work is a valuable addition to the series of classical books published in the United States. We do not always agree with the editor's explanations, because, probably, there are many things in the oration on which no two scholars will think perfectly alike; but in all cases, he makes us feel, that he has brought a strong mind, an acute analysis, and various knowledge to bear upon the difficult questions he discusses. The appearance of this book is another gratifying proof of the increasing attention paid to classical studies in the United States. 3. - Proceedings and Debates in the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, during the Four Days previous to the Election of a Speaker, in January, 1843; compiled from the several Reports of the same, revised, corrected, and enlarged, and preceded by an Introduction, by LUTHER S. CUSHING, Clerk of the House of Representatives. Boston: Dutton and Wentworth. 8vo. pp. 84. THIS valuable pamphlet relates to an unprecedented and curious passage of parliamentary history. On the 4th day of January, 1843, the House of Representatives of Massachusetts came together, consisting of three hundred and fifty members, or thereabouts. No Governor had been chosen by the people, and only twenty-four members of a Senate which constitutionally must consist of forty. The House was, in due time, to go into convention with the members already elected to the Senate, and by joint ballot to fill the vacancies in that body, thereby determining its political character. This done, the House was to select two out of four names of candidates having the highest number of votes for Governor, and send them up to the Senate for its determination between the two. All this, however, was to wait for the organization of the House by the election of a Speaker, which, accordingly, became a matter of the strongest interest, both as affording a test of the strength of parties, and as giving to the successful side an advantage in respect to further proceedings. The oldest member on the Boston seat having, agreeably to usage, called the Representatives elect to order, and the Governor having come in with the Council and qualified them by administering the oaths, the House proceeded to the choice of a Clerk, and, by 176 ballots against 173, elected Mr. Cushing, who had served in that office with universal approbation for several years. What would the 173 members of that minority have had? What satisfactory or peaceable result could they have promised themselves from elevating to the place of temporary presiding officer over an assembly, which, in its transition state, had no Rules and Orders for its government, a person utterly incompetent, in point of experience, for such a formidable responsibility, to the exclusion of one of the very few men who with any reason could have been relied upon as being equal to the occasion ? On the first balloting for Speaker, 173 votes were cast for the candidate of each of the two great parties, and 3 for a candidate of the third (or Liberty) party. No choice being effected, a second balloting was ordered, which was attended with no better success; 175 votes being given to one candidate, 174 to another, and 2 to the third. On the third balloting, 350 votes were equally divided between the two leading names, and a fourth trial was ordered. It was understood, that an individual had been voting, who had taken his place without being provided with the prima facie evidence of election, namely, a certificate from the magistrates of his town. If his vote were disallowed, a Speaker had been chosen at the last trial. Accordingly, an order was now moved, "That Thomas Nash, junior, claiming a seat in this House as a representative from the town of Whately, be requested to state whether he voted at the election of Speaker at the last ballot." But Thomas Nash, junior, was disposed to state no such thing, nor his party to allow him to do so. Accordingly, the motion was contested with a skilful and vehement display of parliamentary tactics on both sides. On the one part, it was urged, that the motion was out of order, unless the House should first reconsider its vote to proceed forthwith to another balloting; on the other, it was argued, that the question was one of privilege, which must of course take precedence of all other business. A motion " to lay the whole subject on the table," being debatable, like any other, in the present posture of the House, led to a discursive debate on the merits of the case, which occupied the rest of the day, and the House adjourned at half past five o'clock, without taking the question. In the course of the discussion, was produced a copy of the record of the town meeting at Whately, under which, in default of better evidence, the seat was claimed. From this record it appeared, that the present claimant had received 118 votes, another person 117, and two others, one vote each. Whether these two were legal votes, appeared to be the question on which would ultimately be determined the legality of the election. But the House could not investigate a question respecting a claim to a seat, till it should have a Committee on Elections; and no Committee on Elections could it have, until it had a Speaker. The question now demanding its decision was, whether a gentleman of leisure, not possessed of the legal prima facie evidence of election to a seat, might step into the House, and assist it with his vote in organizing itself and the government. The next day, the motion "to lay the whole subject on the table " being still under consideration, the debate was protracted into the afternoon, the leading topics being still the necessity of insisting on the legal primâ facie evidence of membership, in order to an organization of the House, and the circumstances of the particular case now in hand. The question being put, the monitor of the division in which Mr. Nash had taken his seat, gave in a double return, according as it would stand including or omitting the vote of that gentleman; and the clerk announced, that, "According to the return of the House, there were 173 votes in the affirmative, if the vote of the gentleman from Whately were counted, 172, if it were not counted, and 172 votes in the negative. Before the vote could be declared, therefore, it would be necessary for the House to decide, whether the gentleman from Whately should be counted or not." A motion was made to disallow the vote, and it was ordered, after some opposition from the claimant's friends, that the question on this motion, when taken, should be taken by yeas and nays, from a list to be furnished by the Secretary of the Commonwealth, of persons who had subscribed the oaths; and, in order to give time for the preparation of such a list, the House adjourned at half past five o'clock. On Friday, the motion to disallow the vote of Mr. Nash was voted upon by yeas and nays, and was found to be carried by 177 votes against 175, that gentleman voting in the negative. This point settled, the vote of the previous day, upon the motion to lay on the table, was declared by the clerk to stand 172 against 172. Accordingly, that motion had not prevailed, and the question recurred on the point of order respecting the competency of the House, without first reconsidering its vote to proceed to a fourth trial, to entertain the motion for an inquiry of Mr. Nash, whether he had voted in the third balloting for Speaker. The mover of the Order for that inquiry hereupon withdrew his motion, at the request of one of his friends, who moved in its place the adoption of a Preamble and Resolve, declaring that, the vote of Mr. Nash having been determined to be illegal, the candidate for the Speaker's chair, against whom his vote had been thrown at the third balloting, had been duly elected. The same point of order as before was raised upon this motion, which, after some conversation, was withdrawn. Next followed a motion for a Preamble and Order prohibiting both claimants of the seat for Whately from exercising any rights of a member of the House, till their respective claims should have been investigated by a committee. The debate upon this, and upon the point of order respecting its reception, occupied the remainder of another day. The point of order being overruled by a majority of six, and the motion being subsequently adopted by a majority of three, in a vote taken by yeas and nays, the House, after strong opposition to an adjournment, on the part of the hitherto successful party, at length, at half past five o'clock, voted, by a majority of three votes, to adjourn. On Saturday morning, the House proceded forthwith to a fourth balloting, in which the two leading candidates of the previous days received respectively 175 and 172 votes, while a new candidate, of the same school in politics as the latter, had three votes, understood to be given by members of the third party. Hereupon, the gentleman who had received the second largest number of votes announced his wish to retire from the contest; and the rival candidate, declining to follow the example, was abandoned by his friends, who at the next balloting threw all their votes but three for another candidate of their own, understood to be acceptable to the Liberty party. Against 175 votes, divided in this manner, Mr. Daniel P. King, formerly President of the Senate, the gentleman whose name had first appeared on the fourth balloting, was elected Speaker by a majority of one. The House of Representatives of Massachusetts is not apt to be composed of disorderly or of timid men; but we doubt whether there was one of them, who did not draw a longer breath and feel an uncomfortable tension of his nerves relax, when he saw the Speaker conducted to the chair, and a functionary armed with the power of the constitution and the laws, installed in authority over those agitated elements. The House proceeded to attend public worship; but first, on motion of the leader of the opposition, passed unanimously an order, " that the thanks of the House be presented to Luther S. Cushing, Esquire, its clerk, for the able and impartial manner in which he has discharged the arduous duties which have devolved upon him, during its organization, as its acting presiding officer." Never was such an unusual tribute better deserved. Mr. Cushing's perfect familiarity with the rules and principles of proceeding inspired in all parties a perfect confidence, while his calmness and self-possession, his decision and promptness, his mildness, dignity, and quick sense of what was due to all parties, diffused a conciliating influence through the whole circle of the conflict. As presiding officer, his deportment would have been admirable. It was much more so, in the more critical situation which he filled, moderating in an excited assembly of which he was but the servant, himself clothed with none of the high powers to end a strife which belong to the Speaker's office, and the House free even from the restraints of a system of Rules and Orders. It was a merciful Providence, that frustrated the folly which would have put a helpless beginner in that place. The reign of Chaos and old Night would have been but too likely to come back again. Yet, while so much praise is due to the accomplished acting moderator for the satisfactory result, we are equally bound to congratulate the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on the generally calm and dignified deportment of her Representatives throughout this critical transaction. No one who witnessed the scene, and understood the exciting character of the questions at issue, could doubt, that, in some legislatures of the day, disorder and violence would have had their perfect work before the termination of the controversy. The possession of the government of the Commonwealth till the period of another election was the immediate prize at stake, while the more considerate were still more concerned about the tremendous future consequences of permitting an unlicensed entrance into the legislative halls. There was that warmth in the debates which might have been expected from the occasion, and from the distinguished talent and energy of several of the speakers; heavy personal imputations were made to rest on some of the leaders of one of the parties; yet such was the tone of gravity, dignity, and self-respect that pervaded the body, that any symptom of ungovernable petulance was made to pass off harmless, and the spirit of ruffianism was held in check, as with an iron compression. "The gentleman from Seekonk," said the leader of the opposition, in the innocent fulness of his heart, "had alluded to the proceedings of Congress in a similar case. For his part, he did not wish to have that body referred to for a precedent. Here we settled our difficulties in a sober and decorous manner, and God forbid that this House should ever copy the doings at Washington." God forbid, indeed! And Massachusetts will have to level her schools and her churches first. In the present publication, Mr. Cushing, has faithfully and fully told the whole story of this movement, except that part of it |