What I would urge farther in the same
direction is that, instead of demanding one person in addition to the
mover, as necessary in all cases, there should be a varying number
according to the number of the assembly. In a copartnery of three or
four, to demand a seconder to a motion would be absurd; in a body of six
or eight it is scarcely admissible. I have known bodies of ten and
twelve, where motions could be discussed without a seconder; but even
with these, there would be a manifest propriety in compelling a member
to convince at least one other person privately before putting the body
to the trouble of a discussion. If, however, we should begin the
practice of seconding with ten, is one seconder enough for twenty,
fifty, a hundred, or six hundred? Ought there not to be a scale of
steady increase in the numbers whose opinions have been gained
beforehand? Let us say three or four for an assembly of five-and-twenty,
six for fifty, ten or fifteen for a hundred, forty for six hundred. It
is permissible, no doubt, to bring before a public body resolutions that
there is no immediate chance of carrying; what is termed "ventilating"
an opinion is a recognized usage, and is not to be prohibited.
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