Page:The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787 Volume 2.djvu/285

 RECORDS OF THE FEDERAL CONVENTION 279 Monday MADISON zlugst r 3 taking from their immediate representatives, a right which has been so long appropriated to them.- The Executive will have more influence over the Senate, than over the I-I. of Reps -- Allow the Senate to originate in this case, & that influence will be sure to mix itself in their deliberations & plans. The Declaration of War he conceived ought not to be in the Senate composed of 26 men only, but rather in the other House. In the other House ought to be placed the origination of the means of war. As to Commercial regula- tions which may involve revenue, the difficulty may be avoided by restraining the definition to bills for the mere or .ole, pur- pose of raising revenue. The Senate will be more likely to be corrupt than the H. of Reps and should therefore have less to do with money matters. His principal object however was to prevent popular objections against the plan, and to secure its adoption. Mr. Rut!idge. The friends of this motion are not con- sistent in their reasoning. They tell us, that (we ought to be guided by> the long experience of G. B. & not our own experi- ence of II years: and yet they themselves propose to depart from it. The I1. of Common.* not only have the exclusive right of originating, but the Lords are not allowed to alter or amend a money bill. Will not the people say that this restriction is but a mere tub to the whale. They cannot but see that it is of no real consequence; and will be more likely to be displeased with it as an attempt to bubble them, than to impute it to a watchfulness over their rights. For his part, he would prefer giving the exclusive right to the Senate, if it was to be given (exclusively> at all. The Senate being more conversant in business, and having more leisure, will digest the bills much better, and as they are to have no effect, till examined & approved by the H. of Reps there can be no possible danger. These clauses in the Constitutions of the States had been put in through a blind adherence to the Brit- ish model. If the work was to be done over now, they would be omitted. The experiment in S. Carolina- where the Senate cannot originate or amend money bills, has shown that it an- swers no good purpose; and produces the ver 7 bad one of

�