the present standing rules of the House for
its government; and it will be observed that they were only
conditionally adopted; and the right was expressly reserved to the
House to order them set aside. Paragraph 1 of Rule xxviii provides
that.--

'No standing rule of the House shall be rescinded or changed without
one day's notice of the motion therefor.'

"This clause of the rule, if applicable at all, may fairly be
construed to make it in order under the standing rules of the House
to consider any motion to rescind or change the rules after one
day's notice.

"But the question for the Chair to decide is this: Are the rules
of this House to be so construed as to give to the minority of the
House the absolute right to prevent the majority or a quorum of
the House from making any new rules for its government; or in the
absence of anything in the rules providing for any mode of proceeding
in the matter of consideration, when the question of changing the
rules is before the House, shall the rules be so construed as to
virtually prevent their change should one-fifth of the House oppose
it? It may be well to keep in mind that paragraph 2 of section 5
of article 1 of the Constitution says that--

'Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings.'

"The same section of the Constitution provides that--

'A majority of each House shall constitute a quorum to do business.'

"The right given to the House to determine the rules of its
proceedings is never exhausted, but is at all times a continuing
right, and in the opinion of the Chair gives a right to make or
alter rules independent of any rules it may adopt. Dilatory motions
to prevent the consideration of business are comparatively recent
expedients, and should not be favored in any case save where
absolutely required by some clear rule of established practice.

"In any case it is a severe strain upon common sense to construe
the rules so as to prevent a quorum of the House from taking any
proceedings at all required by the Constitution; and it is still
more difficult to find any justification for holding that the
special resolutions of this House adopted December 19th last, or
the standing rules even of the House, were intended to prevent the
House, if a majority so desired, from altering or abrogating the
present rules of the House.

"There seems to be abundant precedent for the view the Chair takes.
The Clerk will read from the _Record_ of the Forty-thi