The New Orleans Democrat., 1876-01-02
TNE MAYOR's MESSAGE AND THE
~ PRESS.

THE MAJORS MESSAGE AND THE
PRESS.
Avery great error has been committed
by some OF our contemporaries In the po-
sition assumed by them, from which TO
view the late message Of the Mayor.
They refer us to statutes and judiciar
precedents, whengthe very matter In
controversy is the validity OF those
statutes and the worth Of those prece-
dents. In the piping times OF peace,
when everything moves quietly and
steadily along, men are apt to be inob-
servant OF that insidious process by
which, as II has been said, "'power is
constantly stealing from the many TO
the few" Then are those precedents
formed, which are subsequently used
by designing and unscrupulous men 70
undermine the great constitutional
principles which secure and protect the
liberties Of the people. SO twas when
John Hampden entered upon his gio.
rious contest for forty shillings. A
court OF mere technical lawyers had no
difficulty IN finding numerous aprece-
dents on which to7basc a Judgment
against him. But Hampdcn took his
appeal to the people; and these forty
shillings cost Charles 1 his head.
He indignantly brushed aside those
precedents and demanded to know how
It was that the illegal violence OF
princes and tho weakness OF compliant
i,Idgcs could obliterate the rights of the
people OF England from the parchment
of Magma Charta. He planted himself
upon the eternal principles Of right and
Justice and the chartered liberties of the
English people. A few Of the noblest
statesmen which any country has ever
possessed joined him In counsel and
rallied the people 80 effectually, that
when that contest ended 1t was com
pletely settled, that not q thousand pre-
cedents could weigh one straw against
the least word Of Magma Charta. Such
are tho crises which occur in the history
OF every people. Such is the crisis
which Is upon lls now. IT cannot bc met
by the mere lawyer. It demands the
comprehensive grasp OF the jurist and
the statesman, who looks beneath the
judicial decision to the principle on
which II rests, who appreciates It's
bearing upon every public interest and
Is thoroughly imbued with the doctrine
that there con be no prescription IN
favor OF power and against the people.
Equally incompetent and still more
irrelevant are the statutes which have
been cited MS a bar to the action pro-
posed for those statutes form a por-
ton OF the very scheme OF usurpation
against which we are compelled to con-
tend, II we would recover any Of our
liberties, or secure even the subsistence
OF our families. Who needs TO be told
| that no people are free whose rights de-
pend upon the. mere will OF their rulers2
Yet tho objection which we arc now
considering resolves Itself into that
proposition. A basely partisan Legis-
lature, bent upon retaining power by any
and every means, has enacted that the
people OF this great city shall be de-
prived OF the right OF self-government,
and shall be taxed at the will Of
irresponsible boards; and these enact
ments, we are told, constitute an insu-
perable barrier to any manly and eff
cient effort for the recovery OF their
liberties. What freeman will not spit
upon such reasoning, rs being the only
answer which It really merits?
Again, 1t is suggested that there Ii
something OF Inconsistency in collect.
Ing back taxes, or even retaining those
collected, under statutes which are now
proclaimed to be illegal. This Is by nc
means clear; but, II 1t be so, 1t Is quite
irrelevant. No such question Is now
presented; and when it arises, it will be
met, as far as possible, In u spirit o.
equity and Justice. II II shall be i'm
possible 50 to settle it, we only have
one OF those cases, which frequently
occur, In which complete redress FOL
wrong is unattainable; but which have
never yet been regarded as . reason fol
persisting In the wrong.
/ M.t assssar5 .,.s-+ .s5 IA