（原文）
Nanking， March 15th， 1912.
My Dear Mr.Soo：
Will you kindly pardon me if I take the liberty to call your attention to what appears to be a slight defect either in the interpretation or the construction of one of the articles of your constitution of the New Chinese Republic， if it is in the construction it might result in a very serious complication which might occur at a very critical moment.
It occurs in article Twenty-four (24）Chapter three (3）as published in the China Press of March 13th 1912 which reads as follows：
“The speaker of the National Assembly will be elected by open ballot of the members and if the ballot be one half of the total votes he is declared elected”.The apparent result being (if only two candidates being presented）that both could be absolutely legally elected to the one office.A far seeing parliamentarian would use this by getting the nominations closed after two nominations were made， having already arranged to be able to do this in the adopting of rules governing elections before the body.I can very readily see that this one half of the total votes was put in very wisely to prevent a plurality from electing thus getting a speaker who was high in his standing with the larger portion of the Assembly.
There are several complications which would result for instance， the one just named in which the nominations are closed after the two candidates are in the field， also in case there are several candidates put forward you might have a deadlock on your hands in which case only the prearrangement of your rules governing elections as follows could break namely， after a stipulated number of ballots being cast each time resulting in a deadlock， the party receiving the lowest number of votes caste should be dropped， this would then bring you again to a point where two men could be legally elected to the same position， of course， with this end in view， your expect parliamentarians would manipulate the rules Governing Elections.
To prevent this it would be necessary to stipulate in this article that the party receiving fifty one per cent or more of the votes cast should be declared elected， which I think was the original draft or intention of the party drawing up the clause.I hope that you will not think that I am presuming in inviting your attention to this matter and that you will understand it is only my interest in your grand effort to liberate your people and establish a Great Republic that is as dear to you as ours， is to us.
Wishing you every success.
I remain，Yours respectfully，
A.G.Sharpley
Mr.Ma Soo，Secretary to the Hon.Sun Yat Sen，President of the China Republic.
（译文）
南京，1912年3月15日
尊敬的马素先生：
请原谅我冒昧地提请您注意，在解释或起草新的中华民国宪法某一条款时，似乎有一个轻微的缺陷，如果施行可能导致在生死存亡的关头发生非常严重的弊端。
问题出在第3章第24条。1912 年3月13日《大陆报》文章的内容如下：
“国会议长将通过议员公开投票选出，如果投票是总票数的一半，他被宣布当选”。显而易见的后果（如果提名只有两个候选人）是，两个人都可能绝对合法当选同一职位。一个老谋深算的国会议员可能利用这一条，在有两位提名者后结束提名，提前安排在正式选举前利用规则操纵选举。我可以很容易地看到，其中一半的选票被很聪明地用来防止出现相对多数从而获得一位议会多数派支持的议长。
这会导致几种弊端。例如，提名两位候选人后结束提名，而属意的人未列入其中。或者也许有多于两位候选人被提名，您这方可能就碰上一个僵局。在这种情况下，只有预先安排如下选举规则才可打破僵局，即每次选举中投出规定数量的选票造成僵局时，得到最低票数的政党应该退出，这样，两位候选人再次可以被合法地选举到同一职位，当然，以此为目的，你期望的议员们就可以操纵选举规则。
为了防止这一问题，有必要在这条款中规定，政党获得51%或更多的选票时才宣布当选，我认为这是原草案或政党起草条款的本意。希望您不会认为我请您关注这个问题很冒昧，您会懂得，对我们而言，我只关心你们为解放民众和建立一个我们和你们一样珍视的伟大共和国所做出的巨大努力。
谨祝诸事顺遂。
沙普利 谨上
致中华民国总统孙逸仙阁下秘书马素先生。