familiar forms, no written authority is, or can be quoted; no writer having supposed it necessary to repeat what all were presumed to know. The statement of these must rest on their notoriety.
I am aware that authorities can often be produced in opposition to the rules which I lay down as parliamentary. An attention to dates will generally remove their weight. The proceedings of Parliament in ancient times, and for along while, were crude, multiform, and embarrassing. They have been, however, constantly advancing towards uniformity and accuracy, and have now attained a degree of aptitude to their object beyond which little is to be desired or expected.
Yet I am far from the presumption of believing that I may not have mistaken the parliamentary practice in some cases, and especially in those minor forms, which, being practised daily, are supposed known to every body, and therefore have not been commuted to writing. Our resources, in this quarter of the globe, for obtaining information on that part of the subject, are not perfect, But I have begun a sketch, which those who come after me will successively correct and fill up, till a code of rules shall be formed for the use of the Senate, the effects of which may be accuracy in business, economy of time, order, uniformity, and impartiality.[1]
- ↑ Note. - The rules and practices peculiar to both the Senate and House of Representatives, inserted in the body of the Manual, are enclosed in brackets — thus [ ]
Those of Parliament are not enclosed.
