The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-07-16
CONVENTION PROSPECTS.

majority Of the people Of the State of the ne
cessity of thorough and immediate revision
of the existing constitution BY more than
one token 1t has been made manifest to them
that the instrument which serves them as the
fundamental law is not merely inadequate
to the purposes OF social and political
order, but that it is absolutely a perversion OF
all the principles of Democratic government.
as they have been understood and cherished
by the people Of this State since Louisiana
attained her autonomy as State of the Amer
| lean Union. There Is not enunciated In this
whole instrument one single political dogma
that is not heresy, a bald and offensive con-
tradiction of the old accepted faith of our peo-
pie in regard to the aims and powers Of con-
stitutioual government and the duty and
allegiance of the citizen. Declaring in
its very first utterance that gov
ernments derive "their just powers from
the consent Of the governed, it goes on
to commit the people of this State to doctrines
they have always abhorred, and to erect q
governmental establishment Of the most ex-
travagant character and to confer upon the
myriad officials created by it such emoIu-
ments and powers as nopeople jealous Of their
liberties would ever dare to place In the hands
of any men or set Of men, even Of their own
choosing Indeed, the constitution of 1868
was not established by the people Of this
State. It was made by aliens and enemies, and
the people themselves were purpoSely disfran-
Chised in order to secure It's ordainment as
the law of the land. It was not made by them
nor for them, and from beginning to end it is
a shrewd and wicked perversion of the whole
theory and purpose Of constitutional govern
ment from the protection of the people, their
rights and liberties to the base uses of q set
of plunderers and soldiers-or rather camp
followers-of fortune. It was designed to
make of the officials Of the State the masters
instead Of the servants of the people. It
is an ediCt from rulers rather than
CesSion Of powers emanating from the
people. Such 1t was meant to be- q mere
license to plumber, and the assertion of the
divine right of the aliens who robbed us and
we must confess that it is admirably adapted
In all its details to these purposes. Indeed
what crimes have not been perpetrated under
It's sanction, and what usurpations and
tyrannies has 1t not been found capable Of
clothing with at least the semblance and out
ward appearance of law? There was
no crime nor outrage that could not
find license and a vindication
under the provisions OF this monstrous char
ter Of iniquity. 1t has fostered official pecu-
latton and the arbitrary abuse of power; it
has built up in every community vast monop-
olies within whose fatal shades all honest in
dustries have withered and died. under it's
license courts have been abolished when they
happened to be presided over by upright
judges who refused to sanctify with the forms
Of law the crimes of the executive, and other
courts have been created and their benches
filled with the plant tools of the administra-
ton; aye, more than all this, three separate
times have the means been found under this |
thing which is called a constitution to set
aside popular election and absolutely annul |
the declared will Of the people. A pretty con-
sttution Is this, forsooth, which does not even
guarantee the first of all the peoples fran
chises, the right to vote, and which contains
among its provisions nothing to forbid the |
Of statute comforting upon half |
dozen men the power to set aside elections |
and deprive the people of the ballot, which is |
their strongest weapon OF defense. and in
many instances their sole one Is
1t not natural that the people of
this State should desire, and earnestly |
desire, to abrogate such o constitution as
this? Would it not be passing strange II
they had failed through all these years of
wrong and oppression to realize its many in
EQUITIES, and now that the time and oppor-
5unity have come, If they should refuse to alb
rogate 1t and wipe it utterly out of existence
But there are memories connected with the
of this constitution and the |
methods used to thrust it upon an unwilling |
peonle, which make its abrogation a matter
Of feeling and sentiment as well as one
Of conviction. The people remember |
that the convention which framed it was not |
called by any power that had its source in the
people of Louisiana; that that convention
was held under the shadow OF bayonets; that |
the result Of its labors was reported to an Of
licer OF the army, who, as military COM
mander OF department, issued this same |
to the people as he would have |
published general order to his troops. They |
also remember that, to assure its adoption, q |
large class of lawful voters were disfranchised |
while the inappreciable boon of citizenship |
was at the same time conferred by no consent |
these memories fresh In their minds, there |
can but be desire very near and dear to the
hearts of these people to wipe out forever this |
perpetual reminder of the day Of their sorrow
and humiliation, and to erect in it's place a
of their own making, and gov
which shall in reality derive it's "just
powers from the consent Of the governed"
This we firmly believe they will do, and that |
right speedily. SO far the country is almost |
a unit in favor of a convention. The last
parishes heard from are Grant, Claiborne, |
Tensas and East Carroll, all In different por-
lions Of the State, and the resolutions adopted |
at the mass meetings in each parish instruct
their delegates to favor a convention. The
resolutions of the Tensas meeting are
strong in their denunciation of the |
proposed amendments, and especially
Of the second, which limits the power of the |
parishes to levy tax to1 per cent. II this |