Litchfield enquirer., 1858-07-22

E3 The proposition to amend the constitution {, this State to reduce the number of represent
 tlyes in the General Assembly to one from town. 1 is commented upon at some length by the N. V. Evening Post, the writer closing his observations with the remark that whether the proposition pre- yas or is defeated the present rotten borough sys tenn seems destined to be perpetual in Connecticut Tha Post gives review of the past representation i
 this State which may not be familiar to all our reads
 CTS i'd
 " By the first colonial constitution of 1889. tbs three original towns of the colony-Hatiord, Weth- ersticld and Windsor-were each entitled to f,,ir representatives or deputies and it was provided that such towns should thereafter be admitted
 into the little confedcracy should send such nunbrr of deputies as the General Court might order. The royal charter of 1862 gave each town two repre- sentatives and this number has been continued to i'll the old towns until the present time In the fre- qucnt subdivisions which have taken place during the last seventy-fve years, many of the nsp towns have been allowed but one representative but, not wihstaildng this precaution. the aggregate ndinber of members has been gradually increasing Thus at the date of the adoption of the Federal COilstituton
 (l7oS) the state contained ninety eight towns which sent to the General Assembly one hundred and sevI entysiX members at the present time there are in the state one hundred and tiftyseven towns which send two hundred thirty three representatives. fH There can be question but that the representa- tion is new quite too large as well as notoriousy un | equal Ii.ere is no good reason why the town of Union with 700 inhabitants, should be entitled t6 i two numbers of the House, and Bridgeport, with population of 10000, to but one. But the adoption of the proposed constitutional amendment while it would materially reduce the representation would in fact do but little towards eqnalizing it. By it New Haven with her 90, 0,Go0 inhabitants. would te placed on an equality with Ardover, which, at the last census, contained population of 5O0f Stran- gers naturally wonder why such inequalities of rep it..uh Inv iufel i ligent constituency, especially why an attempt should thus be made-to ptrpetuate them. Those however, who are familiar with the history nf Con- nccticut and with her people, will not bc at l,ss to account for all this It should be borne in mind in regard to all the early towns of the colony that each regarded in peculiar sense an indepen- dent sovercigny- -anfenabe only to the legislature l in the choice of which all had equal voice. For nearly two hundred years these towns have either semi annually or annually, elected two representa- tves each to tend to their interests in the Assem- ply. During this period, some towns have largely increased in population, while others remain in this respect much as they were Frequent propositions
 during the last twenty five years, to eQualize the representation at tEe expense of the small farming
 towns have had the effect to place the rural dsticts
 in attitude of hostility to the cities and mapufac
 turing towns on this question, that there is scarcely possibility that the proposed amendment to the constitution can be carried" s{ We think the time has come when these " small farming towns are willing to forego their privilege of sending tOo representatives and for the general good unite in reducing the representation through the State to one from town. There is seeming inequality in allowing the towns of Union and Ando- yer representation equal to Hartford and New Haven; but after al practically, there is no town in the State which is not just we'll cared for by one representative as two. In the Senate popula- tion is the basis of representation, but have been too long in the habit of considering our towns enti- tied to an equal voice in the ether branch of the General Assembly to be induced to alter the present system except in the way proposed even by the cry of rotten boroughism.