OBSTRUCTIONS AND DELAYS.
ONE of the great evils of the present system arises from the ob- structions and delays which measures meet with during their progress through the House. A measure, the merits of which, both in principle and detail, could be easily canvassed were the House to bestow upon it sustained attention, and to carry it through its different stages in close succession, very often is spread over a whole session ; and, every time it comes on, most of the members have hacl the impression of the former discussion obli- terated by time and the quantity of intermediate matter. The debaters, consequently, are obliged to go over the whole question de novo—to assert and deny the same facts, and to reiterate the same arguments. A mode of discussion becomes necessary at the end of a month or two, which would have been ridiculous at the end of a few days. These delays are one cause of the monstrous quantity of needless speaking in the House ; and this quantity of speaking, by a reaction, augments the quantity of needless delay. Owing to the present modes of proceeding, there is no certainty that any question, set down for a particular night, will then come on. When the mover has toiled to make himself master of the subject, arranged his materials, and prepared himself for an imme- diate discussion,—when all the active members of the House have done the same,—when many persons perhaps have come from a dist- ance, who are deeply interested in the subject, and probably capable of furnishing the members concerned in the question with important facts bearing on the discussion,—it is found all at once impossible to take the matter up; and it is deferred, sometimes for a definite period, and sometimes sine die. It gains little by the postpone- ment being definite ; for that leads only to the aggravated incon- venience to the mover and all concerned, of a second, a third, or a fourth postponement. The consequences of this may be ea0y imagined. The mover gets sick of the annoyance of repeated and useless preparation ; and the members are satisfied with having once paid some attention to the subject. What has been deferred already, is deferred with less difficulty another time. The parties concerned have given up expecting the discussion; and when it does come on, every body is taken unawares and unprepared. This is a cause of the slight and superficial way in which the most im- portant questions are treated, even on nights set down for their regular discussion.
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