The Charlotte journal. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1835-1851, 1841-07-29
ApPoRTIoNMENT OF CONGRESS

APPQRTIONMENT OF CONGRESS.
This subject begins to arrest tue public
aIteDtion. A calculation has been made,
that under ratio Of 10000 Federal popu.
lation to each Congressional District, the
/ House would CONSIST Of 20l members, an
Increase Of over the present House. A
ratio of 10000 would give GA members.
100000 weuld give ls6; and 10000, 1874.
/ Upon this calculation the following remarks
are made:
We believe that if the subject is seriously
reflected upon in all its bearings, by the
people, the ratio square would be put up 10
10000, which would give compact, pro.
porilonate, and in every respect convenient
body Of | GA members. There would be no
Inconvenience 10 dividing Congressional
districts, and wa think 1--WE may possibly be
wrong IN our conclusioDs) that by reducing
the number o! representatives in Congress,
We enhance the value and Importance Of
the office, and afiotd hotter prospect Of
securing the return of the most able men
from the several States. Certainly, q large
unwleldly body 10 not required for public
purposes, and is both expensive and incon.
Yenlent. While the numbers in each Of
our local legislatures are properly regulated
aud The right Of the States duly guarded, it
does not strike US as necessary that Con.
gress should be an immense body, which
must he the result if the present appor,ion.
! men, is continued. We should like to bear
the subject discussed fully and broadly, and
without any reference TO pariy.-New York
Star.
The question here mooied, is certainly
grave one, and fraught With important con.
sequences 70 the American people. We
have not reflected closely upon the subject
and considered its effects in all its bearings.
But as at present advised, we incline TO die.
sent from the conclusions of the Star--that
IS, we prefer the smallest ratio ard the lar.
gest representation. The chief objection
10 large House, is that it may be unwleldy
and disorderly. But this. by the increase,
will cure itself, as 10 the British House of
Commons. lfthere we're 500 or 600 mem.
bers, the business and the talking would
necessarily fall into the hands Of few of
the ablesi men on both sides, and such
boreS as Messrs. Charles Brown, Ingersoll,
&c. would be coughed down, in spite of all
thelr defiances. But conceding that the
body might be unvieldly and slow in its
motions, aud at times dlsorderly, this dIsad.
vantage may be more than couuterbalanced
by the benefits attending it. A numerous
representation has long been regarded by
the most enlightened liberalists in England
IS conducive to the preservation of the pub.
lie liberty. Five hundred men cannot be
so easily seduced by the patronage Of the
Executive as one hundred. This is con.
slderatloD which, 10 the settlement of great
question, ought not TO be overlooked,
Again, by large representation, smaller
fractions Of the people are mlsrepresented,
you come more nearly to the true sentiment
of the whole people, and make wholesome
approximation of the Representative to the
Democratic system. One individual repre-.
sentng hundred thousand could no, be ex.
pected 10 know their wishes, and be able TO
advance their particular interests SO well,
as would three or four persons representing
the same constituency.
We throw out these suggestions 10 pass.
log. We took pen to adyer, TO an import.
ant fact disclosed BY the above table--the
direction in which the star of empire is
moving. Whichever basis IS adopted. the
relative representation of the various sec.
lions will be the same. Ii by 10000, Ohio
has but Is, Virginia has only II and the
same proportion will be observed, whatever
the basis De. Whilst the South has reesd.
ed, and the North been barely able to
maintain its own, the Great West has gone
ahead with hundred horse power. 10 hsr
hands are the future destinies of the Be.
public. In the next Congress she will
have greater representation than either
the North or the South, singly and by the
next Census, in 1850, she will exceed them
both combined.
10 contemplating this early transferencs
Of power from our own to other hands, there
is comfort in the reflection that IT will fall
into the keeping of those who are worthy
of the high trust. The people of the West
are noble, hardy, and independent race.
They love liberty for its own sake, and for
the blessings it diffases, They are withal
sagacious, common sense people, and will
exert the power with which they may be
invested. = the production of salu,ary and
practical results. Their habits of life and
modes of thinking, disqualify them for ap.
/ preciating the refined distractions Of the
South. They look upon an abstraction as
/ something worse than mullen. This