e of motions
has that end in view; although, perhaps, this is more commonly regarded
simply as a protection to absentees. Advantage is necessarily taken of
the foreknowledge of the business to prepare for the debates. It is a
farther help, that the subject has been already discussed somewhere or
other by a committee of the body, or by the agency of the public press.
Very often an assembly is merely called upon to decide upon the adoption
of a proposal that has been long canvassed out of doors. The task of the
speakers is then easy--we might almost say no speaking should be
required: but this is to anticipate.

In legislation by Parliament, the forms allow repetition of the debates
at least three times in both Houses. This is rather a cumbrous and
costly remedy for the disadvantage, in debate, of having to reply to a
speaker who has just sat down. In principle, no one ought to be called
to answer an argumentative speech on the spur of the moment. The
generality of speakers are utterly unfit for the task, and accordingly
do it ill. A few men, by long training, acquire the power of casting
their thoughts into speaking train, so as to make a good appearance in
extempore reply; yet even these would do still better if they had a
little time. The adjournment of a debate, and the reopening of a
question at successive stages, furnish the real opportunities for
effective reply. In a debate begun and ended at one sitting, the
speaking takes very little of the form of an exhaustive review, by each
speaker, of the speeches that went before.

It is always reckoned a thing of course to take the vote as soon as the
debate is closed. There are some historical occasions when a speech on
one side has been so extraordinarily impressive that an adjournment has
been moved to let the fervour subside; but it is usually not thought
desirable to let a day elapse between the final reply and the division.
This is a matter of necessity in the case of the smaller corporations,
which have to dispose of all current business at one sitting; but when a
body meets for a succession of days, it would seem to be in accordance
with sound principle not to take the vote on the same day as the debate.

* * * * *

[ASSUMPTIONS AT THE BASIS OF ORAL DEBATE.]

These few remarks upon one important element of procedure are meant to
clear the way for a somewhat searching examination of the principles
that govern the, entire system o