He appeared on the 6th of March before the standing committee of the two Houses to explain his conduct, when he stated that he had come over because he saw danger to the Protestant religion in the king's service, and expressed his willingness to take the Covenant.
The permanent standing committee of the Society is known as the " Meeting for Sufferings " (established in 1675), which took its rise in the days when the persecution of many Friends demanded the Christian care and material help of those who were able to give it.
The Landsgemeinde is the supreme legislative authority, and elects both the executive (in Inner Rhoden composed of nine members and called Stdndeskommission, and in Ausser Rhoden of seven members and called Regierungsrath) and the president or Landammann; in each half-canton there is also a sort of standing committee (composed of the members of the executive and representatives from the communes - in Inner Rhoden one member per 250 or fraction over 125 of the population, and in Ausser Rhoden one member per 1000 of the inhabitants) which prepares business for the Landsgemeinde and decides minor matters; in Inner Rhoden it is named the Grossrath and in Ausser Rhoden the Kantonsrath.
Any bill may originate in either house, but a bill of special, private or local interest must be referred to a standing committee of five members appointed by the Senate and seven members appointed by the House of Delegates, before it is referred to the committee of the house in which it originated.
He was active in debates and committee work, and for some time held the chairmanship of the important standing committee for the superintendence of the treasury, in which capacity he exercised a predominating influence on congressional expenditures.
