The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1880-04-07
COMMUNICATION,

|
Nix. ED1roR-
The first communication of til,
writer was written under the belle
that the action of the General AS
sembly, in repeating the charter 0
Pinevillc, was inadvertently taken, {
not unnatural step in the proceeding!
of a large body, freshly called togetb
er, and working under the provisions
of a Constitution new and necessarily
unfamiliar to many Of its members
The language of that article does no,
so read, and we frankly disclaim any
intention to arraign the General As
sembly "for ignorance, or gross neg
|ligence or carelessness." In your
last issue letter from Senator Luck
EFT appears, in which he asserts, thaN
|if "Civis" had read Article AZ. of The
Constitution, he would have seen that
claws repeating local or special laws
may be passed." AS to the right Of
the Legislature to pass such laws
under certain conditions, there can
be no dispute, and we have never
doubted it. The only point of differ.
ence between the Senator and the
writer is as to the mode or method
of passing these laws, to render them
of full force and effect. Upon this
point we seem to differ widely. The
Constitution Of. State is the com.
mon property of.its citizens, and it
is their duty, as we'll as their interest,
to see that those who are charged
with their Government adhere rigid
ly to its requirements. The people
of this State have but recently pass.
ed through the ordeal Of the framing
and adoption of new organic law,
in almost every respect an admirable.
instrument; but what will this avail
as, if interpretations are suffered to
be put upon this law, which nullify
by their action the object and spirit
of its proyisions?. u
Of the various subjects embraced
iu our present Constitution, there is
no one of greater Importance than
that referring to the Limitation Of
Legislative powers, and we only NJ
ter very common, opinion, when We
assert that upon no question do the
labors Of the Convention give greater
evidence Of careful and mature
thought and wise provision than is
manifested in the several articles
touching this subject. In the Con.
stitution of 1868, the powers Of the
General Assembly are comparatively
unlimited, and from this canse
sprung many of the evils and abuse
which characterized the proceedings
Of the Legislatures held under its
regime. No checks were imposed to
prevent hasty or &c parte legislation,
nor to restrict the enactment of loca
or special laws on great number of
subjects foreign to the public inter
est, or which more properly come un.
der the cognizance Of other bodies.
To meet such difficulties, the provis
ions of the Constitution Of 1879 are
admirably full and comprehensive,
so much SO that we deemed repeti
tion of any of the evils from which
we suffered under the former law
simply impossible. Now it is cer.s
tainly undcniable that the object and
intention Of the trainers of the new
Constitute IN was to impose such re |
strictions upon the law making pow
er, as to reudersin the future all has
~ and &c parte legislation of local
or special character simply impossi-
BILE; aud we claim that they have
have done thisin Article 48 in terms
as explicit and direct as the English |
language is capable of expressing.
: Now how shall we describe the ma. |
ture of the bill repeating the charter
Of Pineville2 Let Senator Luckett
do this for MS. He states that the
Governor cheerfully consented to We
to- the bill. az soon "a the true conf7i I