The Opelousas courier., 1897-10-16
onr Court.

The Court goes on silently, and so fal
| i. has proven u decided improvement
and success. If the outlaw element ot
! that penalties must follow crimes Will
certainty, it will be deferred from com.
mitting them, and tile parish will bt
| saved very heavy expense in going
| through the farce of fruitless investi-
| CATION.
There is another evil that should bt
promptly met and cured and that is the
! system of par1Oning criminals whenev-
er they have been fairly tried and con.
| victed OF crime. This has become a
curse and some have been taught t1
| think, and not without reason, that nc
matter what juries may do in convict.
ing criminals, Influences may he brought
| to bear on the Governor Wtiich will Sc
cure their pardon. This isitlamnable in
the attorneys and others who resort to
it.-tlamnable in II governor that will
yield to such influences, and doubly SO
ia pardoning Boards that will recon-
mend parduns as indiscriminately as it
has become. The Courts are unneces-
sary, and the expense of keeping them
up for criminal purposes, had better be
dispensed with, if there is to be a pow
er behind them TO annul all, or, any
part Of what they may do, to punish
| criminals. Tho practice of the Par
dOning Board and of the Governor has
become an outrage on all honest and
law abiding people, and shonld, and
doubtless, will erelong, if it be con-
timed, he met by lynch law. They
have a right to protection against Grim
inals, and if tho Governor and the Par
doning Board will persist in turning
outlaws loose on the people, for politI-
cal or other purposes, society will re-
sort to natural law, which guarantees to
every coed man protection of his recog-
nized rights. That it should be pro-
tected is "A law founded on an intimate
ture. Montesgnieu has said, and that,
too, with sufficient reason, that Before
laws were made, there We're relations OF
possible justice. TO say that there is
nothing just or unjust bnt what is
commanded by positive laws, is the
same az saying that before describing
of - circle, all the radii were not equal"
lfsfactioDal politics is sought to be
raised by personal influence and ambi
ton above the natural and statuatory
laws. the sooner the masses act npon it,,
under the dictates and sanctions OF the
natural laws. the better it will be for
them. Let it he well understood that
whatever efficacy may be given or de-
MED to human iegisla:ion, the natural
laws exist. There is no way to abolish
them, and whilst 10 snit the peculiar
conditions and exigencies of communi-
ties, they may be modified, they can
never lie abolished or annihilated.
Clouds may gather as black as night
and obscure the rays, but behind and
far beyond them the sun shines on.
The status naturGlis exists among ma
tions and, indeed, is recognized as the
supreme law internationally, This is
conspicuous, because they have no rec
ogniZah legislative body 10 formulate
statutes for the common government IN
ter Sese.
1t is different with organized cnmmu-
mites in a State government. They
have agreed 10y compact to accept spe-
cial for natural laws. and they have
the indsputable right to require that
they he enforced. 1T is for Ibis they
pay taxes and perform many other self
imposed duties. Lynch law has al
ready acquired great potency nearly
everywhere, and we think it may be
safely said, it has been to a great ex-
tent necessitated by the paralysis Of
our statnatory laws. The Governors
sworn duty is to sec that these laws are
faithfully enforced, aud no individual
influence should ever cause him to
swervc from it.