Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1877-10-06
feIitisna Sentinel.
TIE STATE CONSTITUTION.
IN. o. Morning Start

animously OF the opinion that they
should have a new Organic Law.
The defects of TIE present State
Constitution are. on its face, so
glaring, and experience has reveal
ed so many hidden defects in its
dispositions-so many ways Of
evading and preventing what would
seem to be the spirit and intent of
its most important articles-that it |
is.natural for the people to-demand
a Convention in order to make a
better one. 1t is now very ptaih(
=. that its provisions were .carelessly
draw6b by set Of incapables; or de-
ceptively worded by arascally gang
of conspirators. At any rate, is
left openings and pretexts availa-
bic to the latter class, which they
used to their hearts content in car
rying out their nefarious designs.
We only need to look at the de-
cisions rendered by that precious
Get, Lndeling, Howell and Taliafer-
ro, when they were the majority
Ct the Supreme Court. to see how
true this is. They applied the
broadcst or the narrowest rules OF
Interpretation, adhered to the let
ter or pretended to seek the spirit,
occasion required, in order to
give jndical sanction to all tho
outrages on honesty, proprlcty and
liberty perpetrated by the Govern
or, the officials and the Legis ature
they we're appel ed to serve.
They defeated all tLa substantial
purposes for which Constitutions are
made at all.
1t would be a work of consider
able labor to recall and rehearse
one by one all the instances in
which popular and Individual rights
were su5verted under the late re-
gime by means Of the insuf1iciency
and unrighteousness of the existing
constitution. We will, therefore,
content ourselves with only such
references as may be useful while
we attempt to show what evils
snoLld be removed, and what bene.
fits should be secured by new
constitution.
First in order, and Of essential
importance in general, is the auord-
ing-the choice of terms and phra>
seology. The form Of words in
which any dogmatic or legis' alive
matter is exposed--the form in
which the parts of constitutional
charter are put together with tn
design Of making it a consistent
and harmonious whole-must cere
tainly be of primary advantage,
for on this, of course, depends the
efficacy of the body and members
of the system conceived. The
greatest care, attention and skill
shouldibe applied to the logical con-
struction of such document, for
it is the most serious of all temper.
al ts-it is the basis ON
which all legislation mast rest--if
builds The fabric Of the State-it
is or should lie the guarantee of the
safety of the fow against the tyra-
ny of the mary-the last citadel of
individual rights-the refuge of
the weak-the palladium of liberty;
but if i: be loosely or inaptiy word-
ed-if a word necessary to make
its meaning precise and certain is
omittcd-be assured the defect
will be taken advantage of to serve
the passions or interests OF
those who are in power. The
Interpretation will be one way or
the other, as it may happen to suit
them. Hold to the form OF
sound words which thus hath heard |
of me in faith" eaid St. Paul to
Timothy; and hence the Church
has, in the spiritual order, been ex-
tremely careful in the phraseology |
of it's teaching. So should it be in
the temporal order, and this more
particularly in the wording Of the
organic law of the State than in
any other writing. 10 the neglect |
of this requirement can be traced
the possibility of almost every FER
verse and servile Interpretation
that the judiciary or the Legislature
has been guilty of. Hayes is now
de tacto President in consequence
of there being no express phrase
in the Federal Constitution to say |
who shall count the electoral vote !;
and then when it was thought that
the Act of Congress creating the
Electoral Commission hao supplied |
this omission and had provided for |
ascertaining who had been elected
Al