New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1857-10-19
nEMocRAr1c ExrRAYAaANcEs.
MONEY PAID OUT OF THE TREASURY IN VIOLA.
TON OF THE CONSTITUTION. 80

DEMOCRATIC ExTRAvAGANGEs.
MONEY PAID OUT OF THE TREASURY IN VIOLA
TON OF THE CONSTITUTION. r-s
In my former articles under this head, have said
that money had been paid from the Treasury without
the sanction Of law. Article % Of the Constitution
Of 1915, and article "a Of the Constitution Of 1852,
declare that no money shall be drawn from the
Treasury but in pursuance of specific appropriations
made by law, nor shall any appropriation of money
be made for a longer term than two years. =
2 The Auditor Of Public Accounts, in his report Of
January, 1856, says. page 1871: "Under authority
Of act 220, approved March Is, 1S4S, 7 have been
paying the orders of the Register of the Public Land
Office for the repayment of lands enormously sold
by the State These payments amount to some ten
thousand dollars for the past year in swamp lands
alone. have so construed the law as to make the
amount received for the land the fund to draw upon
for reimbursement II, in the opinion of the Legis-
lature this is not correct one would respectfully
ask a specific appropriation from the Swamp Land
Fund to meet these claims" fEs1
The act of March, 1s4s, No. 220, is entitled /" An
act authorizing repayment for lands enormously
sold by the State of louisiana" and could only be
intended to apply to land then belonging to the State,
which had been, or might be, enormously Sold The
act made no specific appropriation, as is required by
the aboverecited article of the Constitution and Of
course, had no force or effect If it had made spe-
ciic appropriation, this appropriation would have
expired by constitutional limitation in two
say on the 10th of March, 1850.
That this act Of 1s48 was inoperative-a mere null
lity-is evident from the act of the Both of April,
1858 entitled, An act making an appropriation for
the purpose of carrying into effect An act authorz-
ing repayment for lands enormously sold by the State
of Louisiana approved March sixteenth, eighteen
hundred and forty-eight." The LIST section of the
act approprates the sum Of s3OOO to be paid out of
the fund into which the money was received.
The act of March 1913, was intended to apply to
the School and Internal Lands and could
not have been intended to apply to land not granted
to the State until l849 and 1850. The act of 1852,
to provide for the sale Of million acres of the
swamp and overfowed lands' says: "That the Regis
ter of the Land Office is authorized to sell warrants
for one million acres of land, to be located on the
swamp or overaowed lands, donated by acts of Con-
gress of I'd March, lS49, and 2sth September 1850
the warrants to be issued for not more than six humid
red and forty nor less than forty acres according to
the laws regulating the surveys and legal subdivisions
Of sections adopted by the United States" 49,
1t was clearly the intention of the trainers of the
act of 1852 and Of the Legislature that passed it, that
warrants should be sod-the purchasers being author
lied to locate upon any of the swamp lands that
might accrue to the State under the donation by Con-
gress. The lands were then being selected If a
location made upon land that did not belong to
the State the purchasers of warrants could and
authorized to make other locations The act of 1852
made no appropriation for refunding money for land
sold under its provisions. The Register of the Land
Office in 1852, construed the law as have stated
above that he could sell warrants, and that they
might be located on any of the swamp lands belong
ing to the State, and he conceived himself en-
powered by the act of 1S4S to draw orders for the
repayment of money for lands enormously held.
He did not enormously sell land warrants. He sold
as authorized by the law of 1852, the warrant, and
it was the duty of the purchaser to make location.
If the purchaser located his warrant upou land to
which the State had title he had the right to raise
it, and make another location. This was the con-
sructon placed upon the law by the Register Of the
Land Office in 1862, Immediately after its enactment.
The act Of ls4s was nullity-as it made no pro-
vision for repaying money to those who had bought
lands of the State ofLouisana The act of 1852 was
designed to give effect to the act of 1885, and did so
to the extent of $3OOO and this sum was applied to
and owned by the State prior to the donation acts OF
1849 and 1850. 5G ~ @a
1t was not until 1855 that anything was heard OF
money being reimbursed for s,rap lands enormously
sold. The Auditor seems to have been ignorant of
the law of 1852, making specific appropriation of
$4,000. He was authorized to pay out to this extent
and no more; and not authorized to pay for swamp
lands at ALL 1t was his duty to have been controlled
in bic tfar NV ha mott yyhi
that money shall only be paid out Of the treasury by
Specific appropriations He had no discretion in
the premises 1t is not for him assume the respon
sibties of paying out, not $4,000 he has stated
in bis report of January, 1866, but about $25 900 in
1854 and 1856 out of the Swamp Land Funds; and
about $500 out of the School, Internal Improvement
and General Funds of the Treasury, for what he calls
lands enormously sold. r.
The Legislature -Democratic-ha permitted this
abusevioation of the Constitution to go unrebuked
The Auditor, in January 1855, informs the Legsla
ture of the construction he had placed upon the act
of ls4s-he, and they of the Legislature knew, or
should have known, that this act made no appropria
ton at all and that it had made appropriation
it expired by Limitation Of the Constitution in
1850 They knew that the act of 1862 only appro
priated $4,000 for reimbursing money for land sold
anu tudI Tile CoisttutioHdl VI oIHel
legal authority to make these payments from the
Treasury The Legislature did not, until the goth OIL
March, 1856, make appropriations out of which
money could be legally or constitutionaly reimbursed
to purchasers of swamp lands from the State. 1t is
true that the 18th section of Act BIG of 1856 de
cared that the Register is authorized to draD ,cdr
rants on the auditor of Public Accounts for thu
repayment of money paid upon entries on lands e,ro
neously sold.'' AS the Act made no specific appro
priation required by the Oath article of the Con
stitution, it gave authority to draw money on this
account from the Treasury and all money paid from
the Treasury for account of swamp lands sold unit
the passage of this Act Of goth Of March, 1856, ha
been done in violation of the constitution OF TIN
| State. t' ~
mean not to impute any criminality to the Audi
tor Imerey design to show the recklessness eyince
the disregard Of the Constitution and laws dsplayet
by the dominant party Of the State. &c..
This paying Of money from the Treasury withou
authority of law and in violation of the Constitution
I of the Statp il becomnr common thing, The Au