Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1848-03-08

| What territory, and how much shall coii-
stitute a county, so that the area be not
less than that required by the constitution.
depends on legislative will, and not on
constitutional amendment. But whatever
territory may be included within the limits
established for the county at my time, that
county, so formed, is an electon district.ais
Mr.. Phelps, Of Geauga county, q leading
fwiiig, and claimed by his party to be
sound lawyer, was also a member of the
House of Representatives at the time OF the
decision Of the Morgan county ense. n
speech on this subject, wriiten out by him.
self, and published in the o S. Journal, Of
Dec. 30, 1545, Mr. Phelps also bears tes,i-
mony to the soundnes of The views taken
by the democratic members, in opposition
to the division of counties. Mr. Phelps says:
sit may be well TO inquire what is a.
county 1t is public corporation or body
polite, constituting distinct organization
for courts ofjustice, for taxation, improve
nen's Of roads, and for divers other purpos.
es, in which they have common interest,
distinct from other counties. Is that alll
No, it is a distinct body eorporaie for the
purpose Of representation.
/ And again, he says:
81 maintain that representation is one Of
the especial things for which counties were
constituted. 1t will appear by reference 10
=, the constitution, Tint the trainers of it con-
':emplated a distinct Representations for all
the counties"
Again he says: -
"The Sd Sec, lst art. provides that rep.
resentatives should be chosen annually by
the citizens Of each county The 4lh sec !,
same article, that no person shall be chos-
en- representative unless he shnll have
resided one year within the county for whcl,
he is chosen These ali show that disiinc,
representatives were ;titemplated for each
county D" a
Iniho same speech. MrPhelps ngnin says:s
! 'But it is claimed for the counsel for
Mr. Belts, that the 3D. section, urricle 1, Of
the constitution, prohibits the votes of tho
two townships from boing cast or counted
lin Morgan county, because it would be-
/ breakingin in upon the representative dis
tricis- Representative distrcts--what are,
theya Wo will look in vain for lhem in
the constitution. They have no existence
there or elsewhere, bu, in thsa INA gipat on
OF gentlemen. By giving wrong names to
things,our reasonings become1aise There
are no constitutional represerfaiifs as ffcfss
HsTcept counIies. THIS sec. 81 the constilution t
provides, not rforefayihg of, the Stale into
representative districts, but for very 81 !.
.terent thing-to upportion the represe ma
tives among the several counties. I"
Mr. Cowen, Of Belmont, also leading
whig, and sound luwye er,then also mem
ber Of the House, made speech on the
same question. 1t is published in the o. IS.
Journal Of Jan. 3, 1916. During the dolit-
cry of the speech, Mr. Cowen was interrupts
ed by Mr. Reemelin; and the interruption
and the reply Of Mr. Cowen, as reported by
himself, making part Of the same speech,
is thus given in the same paper: t,ss ,ff9
"Mr Reemelin inquired if Mr. Cowen-
meant to be understood that, in apportior.
ing representation, the Legislature could
not divide county. 10 one representative
district, and part to another? MIR e. said
he did mean to be 80 understood; the rep
resentatives must be 'apportioned among
the several counties rs counties-entiry.,
and undtrided counties. A county could
not form part Of t'0o representahrs d.s.
tricts for Representatives, 1atess IN the case
Of a mev county," ,.z. ,,al. e..,x 10
Belts, let il be remembered had a ma,
jorny in Morgan county, as 'MoRG3N coUN-
TY WAS at the time Of forming the Legisla-, !.
tive Districts Chandler had majority in
Morgan county, by counting the votes Of
the two townships, which afterwards had
been added; and so we'll convinced were
the wings then by these arguments, that
counties, whole counties and not part of
county could form Legislative district,
that by q unanimous vote, ,they ousted Belts,
and gave Chandler the seat. =.
! But former whig arguments, the plain
declarations of the constitution, and our
earnest and solemn appeals for justice were
alike disregarded. ..,+....
We also pointed out and denounced the
| gross injustice Of the bill in all its features
and provisions. We showed that for polit-
ical effect. in this bill, they had utterly dis
regarded the broad principle of equal rep
resentation; the fundamental basis OF re-
publican government. One or two exam
pies will illustrate our meaning. Mont
gomery and Preble, with 1856 voters, has
one Senator and three Representatives,
whlie Colunbiana md Mahoning with
loo44 vosers, had only one Senator and
two Represen+a4iIas-Yhe is only Us
fotcIS uiHeTcuCcy WiNc u bdhOS -
to entitle to a Representative. Why tins
extraordinary despari,y' The political rea-
son is obvious. Columbiana and Mahoning
are strongly democratic, while Montgon'e-
ry and Preble, to which is given this Kep..
resentative for only 278 voters Is wing!
Again Lucas and Henry with 3726 voters
has one Representative, while Wood, San
dusky and Ottawa, with 5i26 voters has
only one Representative; rakinga differ
ence in these two Legislative DIST lets Of
1898 voters. We gh, to equalize these
two districts by giving one Representative
10 Henry, Lucas and Ottawa, with 3942
and one to Wood and Sandusky, with 42l2
voters; leaving even if an amendment had
prevailed, the Wood and Sandusky district,
with $40 more voters than the others. For
what political reason was this most equita, u
bic amendment refused? five equalized
the district by deducting Ottawa from the
Sandusky and Wood district, and, attached
y ID '-''.' f7t Hu. 1. 80 81 ~ '