The news & observer., 1901-03-15

ornment, which would thus fall to pieces :"
II this view Of tbs law is correct, it
is not material to inquire whether there
is an appropriation under chapter l3 Of
the Laws Of 1897, or chapter 19 of the
Laws of 1855, because by chapter q Of
the Laws of 1899, il there was such an APP
preparation it had been Withdrawn by
the General Assembly, the Treasurer had
been forbidden to pay, and under the au
thorities we have cited this was within
the power of the General Assembly.
TIE PRINCIPLE is VITAL
In the beginning of this discussion
stated that the principle involved in this
case was vital l do not believe that
there is any provision in tho constitution
which has been wrought out with so much
expenditure of time, money and sacrifice
as the provision that money shall not
be withdrawn from the Treasury except
in consequence of appropriation made by
law" and l believe that this power in
the hands of the people of retaining con-
troll over the purse of the State is the
cne power by which they may be able
to maintain their rights.
John Randolph Tucker, one Of the ablest
Of American constitutional lawyers, in a
great speech which he made in Congress
in 1879, reported in the Congressional
Record, of the first session of the Forty
sixth Congress, says that the "power over
the purse of the people is part of those
inherited privileges vested by the people
in this House ard in the Senate by means
of which the peoples representatives in
the legislative department may check
executive usurpation and constran re-
dress of grievances. This money power
was the lever by which the Saxon peo-
pie unheaved the solid centralism of the
Norman polity and transferred the monar-
chy of the conquest into the noblest type
Of constitutional government in the Old
World This power over the purse in the
hands of the Commons made the sword
impotent in the hands of the king. The
power was used there Tin England) as the
medicine of the constitution; the Tu-
dors and the Stuarts demanded supplies
fer their schemes of ambition in war and
peace; the Commons halted on griev-
ances; the crown sent messengers to
them to hurry up supplies and adjourn
without redress of grievances; but the
Commons said, "The purse Is ours to give
or to withhold; to give absolutely or on
condition, abandon dangerous powers and
practices. Let go your hold on our liber-
ties and we will give you money" This
weapon for q peoples defence we'll and
wisely welded has reformed the British
Monarchy purged away its despotic prin-
ciples, enlarged popular authority, secured
personal liberty, and the personal rights
of man by the splendid muniments of law
! and an Independent jury, and brought the
whole government under the influence and
control of the will of the people 1t
was the light of civilization which ban
shed the night of barbarism from the
kingdom"
Sir Erskine May, in his Constitutional
History of England, Vol. 1, 440 says: "Cne
of the most ancient and valued rights Of
the Commons is that of voting money
and granting taxes to the crown for the
public service. From the earliest times
they have made this right the means of
cXtorting concessions from the crown and
advancing the liberties of the people They
upheld it with q bold spirit against the
most arbitrary kings, and the bill Of
rights crowned their final triumph over
prcrogative. They upheld it with equal
frmness against the Lords"
TIE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE.
The struggle in England to obtain con-
troll of the money Of the government
was long and obstinate, and extended
over a period of more than thous-
and years. The Commons first obtained
the right to sit separate from the House
of Lords. They then demanded the privi-
lege of originating the Revenue Bill, and
when they had once gained this power
they used it as a defense against any
encroachment upon their rights, and as
a means of destroying the prerogative Of
the king wherever it encroached upon
the rights of the people. The king
came to them and demanded supplies.
The Commons said, we will give you mon
ey but you must redress gievances The
right which the people have today through
their General Assembly to determine what
apr ropriation shall be made and how;
what claims against the State shall be
paid and when, is a right derived from
this great struggle between the Commons
and the king, and is crystalized and pre-
served in that article of the constitution
to which we have referred; that ''nO
money shall be withdrawn from the
Treasury except in consequence of appro-
priations made by law" 1t is this power
that makes the people though the Gener-
al Assembly a sovereign, and which caused
this same Supreme court to say, in Ewart
VS.. Jones, 116 n c., $40: under our
form of government the sovereign power
resides with the people, and is exercised
by their representatives in the General
Assembly" The power was placed in the
constitution for the very purpose for
which it was exercised, in chapter q
of the Laws of 1899 and the resolution of
the adjourned session of 1900, as a check
upon the other departments. Foster. in
his Work on the Constitution, says. on
page 29S, "The checks upon the judiciary
are the power Of the Legislature to re-
move their members in the same manner
as the executive by impeachment. The
power of either House to refuse the ap-
preparations necessary to carry on their
business" And again, on page 303, "Of
the three departments, the strongest is
the legislative and the weakest the judic-
iary. The Legislature has the control of
the Iurse, and can starve the other
two by refusing them the supplies with
which to carry on the government, and
even to support themselves" There is one
part of this statement of the law which
/ am inclined to think will be modified in
the works upon the constitutional law
which are hereafter written, and that Is,
thaf tho iltdiciorv 10 tha weakest of tba