The New York herald., 1871-12-16

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with, 1t is to be hoped that the accused will
now have q fair trial, and that justice will be
permitted to take It's course. Let the cases
be tried without prejudice and without favor,
and t he people will be satisfied.
| The New AppOrtionment Of tho National
House Of Representatives.
| The House Of Representatives, as now con-
stituted, when all the members due from tho
thirty -seven States are present, consists of 24S
members rs-Territorial delegates not counted.
This number, upon the national census of 1860,
is fixed upon the ratio of 127, 900 population
to each member. In the bill which has Just
passed the House, for new apportionment,
upon the census of 1870, tbe ratio of 1877, 800
population has been adopted, which gives us
House Of 283 members, or an increase of forty.
This apportionment was adopted to save the
old Eastern States from actual loss; but
the proportionate gains to the Western
States are all the same as If larger ratio had
been adopted, cutting down the Representatives
from the old States.
Uuder this new apporti0nment Vermont and
New Hampshire each lose q member, while
Massachusetts, gains one, making loss of one
for the New England States. New York gains
one member, New Jersey two and Pennsylva-
mia two, while Illinois gains five, Missouri
four, and so on. In the political divisions Of
the Union the New England States lose one
member, the central Northern States gain Ave,
the Southern border and slave States south
of Missouri gain thirteen and the Western
States gain twenty-three. The gains to the
late slave States are due TO the new amend
ments to the constitution, under which all the
black population are enumerated. Under the
old constitution the enumeration of the people
| for representation In Congress was made ''by
adding to the whole number of free persons,
including those bound to service for term of
years, and excluding Indians not taxed,
three-ffths Of all other persons" or, In plain
English, only three-ffths Of the negro slaves
Of the country were allowed to be counted
for representation under the old constitution.
Those dear s'old fathers" of our country were
ashamed Of the institution of African slavery,
and by whipping the devil around the
stump" while supporting negro bondage, they
avoided In the constitution all such obnoxious
words In Q republican system as slave,
slavery and stakeholder. The first appear
ance of the word slavery In our constitution
was in the thirteenth amendment, abolishing
the nuisance. In short, the ''old fathers" did
not wish to parade their dirty linen before the
world; but it had to come at last and We
have had to wash it in deluge Of blood.
The Western States gain their twenty
three members from the wonderful increase in
their population, largely due to their enor-
nous accessons In immigrants from the East
ern States and from Europe. The balance Of
power In Congress-, under this new apportion-
ment, Is transferred from the East to the West;
but in the fixed representation of the Senate
the old States of the Atlantic slope and Gulf
coast have still q check upon the great West
We suppose, too, that in order to retain this
check as long as possible, this new apportion-
ment bill provides that no new State shall be
admitted shors of the full ratio Of 800 of
population. Under this new rule, If concurred
In by the Senate, the Territories Of Colorado.
New Mexico, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, &9,
will have to wait some years longer before
their boards are grown.
Under this new apportionment. Of the thirty
seven States which now are represented in the
Electoral Colleges the electoral vote for the
Presidency will be s57, Of which the majority
will be l79. But, according to usage, we
suppose the existing Congressional apportion-
ment will be applied to the Presidential
election Of l872-that Is to say, the whole
electoral vote will be 3l7, of which the ma
jority required to elect President is I59.
Upon the whole, we think there can be no
serious objection to continuing enlargement
OF the House Of Representatives with the
growth OF our population, until We have a
House like the British House of Com
mons, Of over six hundred members. 'In q
multitude of councillors there is wisdom and
the more numerous we make the represen ta-
ton In the House of Representatives the
greater will be the necessity to every Congress
sional district of sending one Of Its best men,
90 that its members may not be utterly lost In
the crowd Above all, the larger you make
the popular branch Of the national Legislature