Year: 1879

A, FRIDAY, JUNE 20, !
are now res judicata, and the people In
this convention arc estopped from in
quiring into the truth of the facts and
from sitting in judgment on the valid
ity of the State dt bt. Courts have no
Jurisdiction over the sovereign power,
and where there is no jurisdiction there
can be no res j,ttlicatu.


This convention represents the entire
sovereignty of the people, as q unit, in
which are included all the powers of
government, legislative, executive and
judicial powers-the power to make
the law and to execute it which, united
in one or more persons, is the power of
despOtism or absolute power. These
powers the people, in their sovereign
capacity, possess, and in their consti-
tutional conventions divide out and
distribute between three distinct, CO.
ordinate and independent departments.
These powers arc now all vested in
this convention, and by virtue of the
judicial power the convention has the
right to review tho action of the Fund
ing Board and the decisions of the
courts, and to affirm, reverse or amend
them if in conflict with the laws and
constitution of the State. The doctrine
of estopal docs not apply to the sover-
eign power. The action of the States
of Georgia and Missouri, by which
millions of fraudulent debts were
thrown out, did not impair their credit,
nor was their authority questioned.


Nor will the credit of Louisiana or
her citizens be injured by the refusal of
the convention to pay illegal and fraud
ulent debts. 1t is a delusion to suppose
that the funding act of ~ and the con-
stitutional amendment of the same
year obligated the people and bound
them by a solemn contract to pay all
outstanding bonds against the State,
whether legal or not.


The amendment to the Constitution
Of '6S did not authorize the exchange
of consolidated bonds for illegal bonds
issued in violation of the Constitution
of the State.


The funding act of 1874 limited the
power of the Funding Board to the ex-
change of consuls for legal aud valid
outstanding bonds against the State
and for valid warrants. The third Sec
tion provides that the consolidated
bonds shall only be exchanged by the
Board of Liquidation for all valid out
standing bonds of the State and all
valid warrants drawn by the Auditor
previous to the passage of the act, ex-
constitutional officers of the State.


Governments are but trusts or agen-
cies, and those invested with the pow
ers of government are only the agents
or trustees of the people, and every act
of these agents or trustees is open to


investigation, review, reversal and an


nulment, if In conflict with the con-
stitution, which is their mandate, The
people of the State of Georgia, in con-
ventfon, sat in Judgment on the va.
lidity of the public debt of that State,


and ordained millions of it to be ille-
gal, null and void, aid prohibited its


payment. This action on the part OF
the people of Georgia did not impair
the public credit of the State, nor the
private credit of her citizens, nor has
the authority of the convention been
questioned. The people Of Missouri,
in convention, sat in judgment on the
validity of the State debt, and ordain-
ed that bonds obtained by fraud from
the treasury were null aud void and
should not be paid. This action on
the part of the people of Missouri did
not impair the public credit of the
State nor the private credit of her citi-
zens. Nor will the public credit of
Louisiana, nor the private credit of her
citizens, be impaired by the refusal of
the people, in convention, to pay ille-
gal and fraudulent debts.


There appears to be a strange delu-
sion in regard to the funding act of
1874 and the constitutional amendment
of that year, which delusion consists
in supposing that the people obligated
and bound themselves by solemn con-
tract to pay all outstanding bonds
against the State, whether valid and
legal, or whether illegal and fraudu-
lent. This delusion arises from an er-
ror of both law and fact, and is the
cause of radical differences of opinion
among the honest and good men of our
State, and has led to much detraction
and Misrepresentation of our people.
The amendment to the constitution of
1868 did not authorize the exchange of
consolidated bonds for illegal and void
bonds, issued in violation of the consti-
tuition of the State.


The funding act of 1874, recited in
the amendment, did not authorize the
Board of Liquidation to exchange con-
solidated bonds for illegal and void
obligations against the State, but on
the contrary expressly limited the
powers of the board to the exchange of
cOnSOls for legal and valid Outsfa nj per