Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1853-08-27
The Crosse Tete and Senatorial
Questions.

confer with those that may be nominated .
the Wings of this parish, to select q candidat
for the Senate, and no such nominations haV
ing been made here--,and no prospect of ther
being any meeting here for that purpose--th
question is left in considerable difficulty. Ihl
difficulty, as we have before stated, arises OF
of the claim of West Baton Rouge to tn
Crosse Tete territory, by authority of an o
act, which, it is said, includes the territoF al
luded to within the boundaries of the paflsl
of Ib~erville, until a "good and practic'''e foaa
was constructed between Crosse le'e anu
point on the Mississippi withip.nre m''es o
the courthouse in West Ban Rouge. lhl'
is the meaning of the act IS gene'a''y unoe'
stood by the public.
When the plapl Road was first started
leading from Gro,s Tete to the Mississippi i
,,,.. 10 aono,. impression that its location
wos doc;ded pom with reference to this act
Th,t .o.,nas not yet been completed--it i:
iii ~ 5 crude state. But from late proceed
;nns,I the Police Jury of the parish of Wes'
pson Rouge, we observe that that body has
determined to take the matter in hand, by ap
pointing a committee to examine and report il
there now exists a"good and practicable road
in the section of country indicated by the act
We understand that if the report of said com
mittee Isl favorable, an assessor for that parish
,rI1l h. sr,f-afoI {o rrnonnH fnrthyuIth fH
Crosse Tete and assess the property on that
bayou. The Police Jury know full we'll that
the people of Crosse Tete will disregard any
such presumed right. That is just the point
aimed to be obtained. Suit will then be insti'
tuted in court, and here the Police Jury and
the people of West Baton Rouge conceive
that they will, in vulgar p%arlance, share US"
From the information we have been enabled
to obtain, they will be wofuIly mistaken. This
information comes from very high legal autho-
rity, and if there is any interest in annexing
the assertion, we can say that it is likewise
Wing authority.
We contend that the Legislature, and no
other power, has the disposal of this subject.
Territorial jurisdiction given to a court of JUS
tice must be defined and recognized by law and
spread upon the statute books before any &C.
ton can be taken. But admitting that a court
to which the subject may be referred, consid-
ers the subject within its Jurisdiction, and it
proceeds to act, what then? Can it render a
decision which alters the boundaries of a pa
IRISH? The statutes state in what parish crimi-
nal and other cases shall be tried--in what pa
IRISH certain districts shall cast their votes, and
what parish shall assess the property of those
and collect the taxes for itself and for
the State? Can the decision, then, of any
court reverse the regular statutes of a State?
1t is simply absurd.
But admitting further that the court had ju-
risdiction to settle the Crosse Tete question,
in every case that would come into court in
a citizen of this section was interested,
this "good and practicable road" would have
TO be proven. Commissioners could not hold
an election on Crosse Tete for the parish of
West Baton Rouge until the existence of this
good and practicable road was first proved.
No taxes could be collected; no one sued, in
licted, arrested or tried, until said court which
lad acted in the matter, had first decided upon
each and every case that there was still a "good
md practicable road" and that West Baton
in consequence, had the right to ex-
end her Jurisdiction over said territory. And
suppose that the court had so decreed several
lines, but that at length the Plank Road had
allied being completed--and that the rains had
poured down upon it, the water in the swamp
lad risen, and the mud had become so deep
lpon the road that a mule could not pull a Pc
.lestrian through it-or that a crevasse had &C.
in Point Coupee and overlooked this
good and practicable road" which is not at all
lnlikely--and the defence in a suit of the class
lluded to were not only to doubt but to prove
he non-existence of this "good and practicable
Dad" what then would be the final result g.
We leave wiser heads than ours to determine.
Since the above was in type, a friend has
hown US the act alluded to, which has created
uch extraordinary feeling and movements in
Vest Baton Rouge. Here it is:
AN ACT relative to the limits of the parishes
of ibervIlle and West Baton Rouge, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Re-
'resentataues Of the Stale Of Louisiana, in gen.
raj assembly conuened, That Messrs. William
Joyce, Joseph Orillion and Dorsey P. Swindler,
'e and they are hereby appointed commission.
RS for the purpose of ascertaining the practi,
ability of opening a road leading from BAYOU
to the parish of West Baton Rouge.
It three miles distance from the court house Of
aid parish.
Sec. 2. Be 1t further enacted, That the afore.
commissioners shall be bound to make a
eport on that subject to the Legislature, at their
session, wherein they shall estimate the
rohable cost of the said road.
SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, That until the