Port Tobacco Times, And Charles County Advertiser

MR. MERRICK'S PROPOSITION.

The following is the order, (and the accompanying tables,) submitted by Mr. MERRICK in Convention, on the 10th inst., a brief synopsis of which is given in our report of the proceedings in another column. We give it in full so that the views of our talented representative with regard to the important subject of Representation in the Legislature may be fairly understood by his constituents.

Ordered, That the Committee on Representation inquire into the expediency of adopting the following articles:

Article 1st. The Legislature shall be formed of two distinct branches, a Senate and a House of Delegates, which together shall be a complete Legislature, shall be styled, the General Assembly of Maryland.

Article 2nd. The House of Delegates, shall consist of members to be chosen annually on the first Wednesday of the month of October, by the voters of the several counties of the State, and of the city of Baltimore, according to the number of population of each of said counties and of the city of Baltimore, and in conformity with the following rule: That is to say, each of said counties and the city aforesaid, shall elect one Delegate for every four thousand souls it may contain up to twenty thousand, and for any excess in the number of population in any of said counties or in the city of Baltimore above twenty thousand, and of not less than eight thousand, there shall be allowed to each county or city having such excess, one additional Delegate; and for any excess of population in any of the counties or city aforesaid, above twenty-eight thousand and of not less than sixteen thousand, one other additional Delegate shall be allowed to each of the counties or to the city having such excess; and so on, duplicating the number of souls required to be in excess above the last number upon which an additional delegate was allowed, for the allowance of each further additional Delegate, to which by such duplicating ratio, any of the counties or the city of Baltimore, may be entitled for the whole number of its population.

Article 3rd. The Senate shall consist of twenty-two Senators, to be elected every fourth year, at the time, places and in the manner prescribed for the election of members of the House of Delegates; one Senator to be chosen by the voters of each county in the State, and two by the voters of the city of Baltimore; but for this purpose the said city of Baltimore shall be divided or laid off as nearly as may be, into two equal senatorial districts, each of which districts shall separately elect one Senator; and the said city of Baltimore shall also be laid off into nine equal electoral districts, for the purpose of electing members of the House of Delegates, and each of said electoral districts shall separately elect one Delegate—and it shall be competent for the Legislature at their first session after the authoritative promulgation of each decennial census of the people of the United States, or whenever the said city shall by the further increase of her population become entitled according to the basis of representation now fixed, to one or more additional Delegates, to provide for re-arranging or creating other electoral districts for the purpose of such election; but it shall not be competent for the Legislature to alter or disturb the arrangement of said districts for any other purpose, nor upon any other occasion, nor to make the number of said districts less than the number of delegates to be elected from said city; but the Legislature shall have power at the same decennial periods to alter for the purpose of equalization, the senatorial districts, but at no other time.

MEMORANDUM FOR ILLUSTRATION:

The ratio of representation here proposed by allowing one delegate for every 4,000 souls up to 20,000, and duplicating said ratio of 4,000 for every additional delegate above 4, would, it is believed, operate to the following effect—but this can only be certainly ascertained by the returns of the census for 1850, to which we have not yet access.

It would give to 96 3 17

Present House of Delegates is composed of 82 members.

Increase 14.

Table of Ratio and Duplications.

	No. of Delegates.	Loss.	Gain
Caroline county	2	1	0
Calvert	2	1	0
Kent	2	1	0
Talbot	3	0	0
Queen Anne's	3	0	0
St. Mary's	3	0	0
Harford	4	0	0
Charles	4	0	1
Montgomery	4	0	0
Carroll	5	0	1
Dorchester	5	0	1
Worcester	5	0	1
Cecil	5	0	1
Somerset	5	0	1
Prince George's	5	0	1
Allegany	6	0	2
Anne Arundel	6	0	1
Frederick	6	0	1
Washington	6	0	1
Baltimore	6	0	1
Baltimore city	9	0	4

The relative strength of the small and large counties, or more properly speaking the slave-holding and non-slave-holding counties will stand thus:

Slave-Holding Non-Slave-Holding

	Delegates.	Delegates.
Caroline county,	2	0
Calvert,	2	0
Kent,	2	0
Talbot,	3	0
Queen Anne's,	3	0
S. Mary's,	3	0
Harford,	0	4
Charles,	4	0
Montgomery,	4	0
Carroll,	0	5
Dorchester,	5	0
Worcester,	5	0
Cecil,	0	5
Somerset,	6	0
Prince George's,	5	0
Allegany,	0	6
Anne Arundel,	6	0
Frederick,	0	6
Washington,	0	6
Baltimore,	0	6
Baltimore city,	0	9