LOUISIANA. 



the Constitution of tho United States. Ho oontondc 

 In disctuwing the power of the Convention, that they 

 had the supremo power to frame a Constitution with- 

 out submitting it to the people. In support of this 

 proposition ho cited a list of constitutions which had 

 never boon submitted, as follows: Tho constitutions 

 of Virginia, 1770; Ohio, 1802; Pennsylvania, 1776 

 and 1700 ; South Carolina, 1776 and 1790 ; Tennessee, 

 1796 ; Vermont, 1777, 1786, and 1793 ; Missouri, 1820 ; 

 New " 

 1777, 

 1801 



1818 ; Indiana, 1816 ; "Delaware, 1776." 1792, and 1881 j 

 Florida. 1865 ; Connecticut, 1776 ; Alabama, 1819 and 

 1867; Arkansas, 1836; Georgia, 1777, 1789, amend- 

 ments adopted 1795 ana 1798, and amendments to Con- 

 stitution of 1780 adopted in 1812, 1818, 1824. 1835. 

 1840, 1841, 1848, 1847, and 1849. Tho question of 

 whether the Convention was bound by the call of tho 

 Legislature had long since been decided in the nega- 

 tive. The Convention of 1845, which was composed 

 of the ablest jurists of Louisiana, had, by a vote of 06 

 to 6. decided that tho Legislature had no right to pre- 

 scribe its limit*. From these facta he concluded the 

 Convention had power to mako a Constitution with- 

 out submitting it. In tho Convention of 1812, after 

 the Constitution had been passed and signed by tho 

 President, tho Convention passed a separate and dis- 

 tinct ordinance, having no connection with the Con- 

 stitution. 



Mr. George disagreed with Judge Land on the 

 question of the Convention's power to frame a Consti- 

 tution without submitting it to tho people. It was 

 true the Convention was the representative of the peo- 

 plo, but only to the extent of performing those duties 

 for which they had been called. He attached but little 

 importance to the precedents read by Judge Land, 

 but he thought tho opinions of Judge Coolcy, the 

 great constitutional lawyer, were entitled to greater 

 weight. This was a progressive age. The rights of 

 tho people were better understood and maintained to- 

 day than a hundred years ago. It would be found 

 that, in the majority of cases, the Constitutions not 

 submitted had been framed in tho early days of tho 

 States, and when everything was crude and un- 

 settled. 



Mr. Caffrey declared that the sovereignty of tho 

 people could not be alienated or transferred. It is 

 true they might delegate certain powers to representa- 

 tives, such as in the case of the Convention. He did 

 not hesitate to say that if tho Convention attempted 

 to frame a Constitution without submitting it to tho 

 people, it would surely bo defeated. When the Con- 

 vention was called by one branch of the government, 

 and when it was expressly stipulated in that call that 

 the Constitution should be submitted to the people, he 

 felt it his duty, as a dutiful Qitizen, to obey tho dic- 

 tates of the call. If this Convention did not submit 

 the Constitution, the people would call another Con- 

 vention, and this would be the remedy to defeat tho 

 Convention. Referring to the argument used by those 

 supporting the other side of tho question, that tho 

 Georgia Convention passed an original law in appro- 

 priating $25,000 to pay its expenses, Mr. Caffrey said 

 this proved nothing as to the power of the Conven- 

 tion. When the people of Georgia called the Con- 

 vention they implied that nothing should be done to 

 prevent its meeting; and, as no provision had been 

 made to pay the expenses of the Convention, it was 

 only natural that the Convention itself should mako 

 the appropriation. It was right, because in doing so 

 the Convention only followed the implied wish of the 

 people that they should meet. In following out this 

 idea tho speaker asserted that this Convention could 

 sit longer than sixty days, or could appropriate an ex- 

 tra amount, because these actions would be in compli- 

 ance with the wish of the people that the Convention 

 should frame an organic law, and it might be necessa- 

 ry to sit longer, or to have more funds, to frame this 

 law. 



Mr. Pardeo took tho ground that tho Convention 

 had no power to legislate, as tho Constitution of tho 

 United States declared that every member of a Legis- 

 lature should tuko an oath to support the Constitution 

 of the United States, and tho Convention had passed 

 a resolution declaring it was not necessary for its mem- 

 bers to take such an oath. 



The most important subject that came before 

 the Convention was that of the State debt. It 

 was referred to a committee of seventeen 

 members to examine and report upon. Two 

 sub-committees were appointed, one consisting 

 of four members, and the other of two mem- 

 bers. The sub-committee of four made a re- 

 port which embraced the facts relative to each 

 class of original bonds as set forth in the report 

 of the State Auditor to the Convention. They 

 also examined all the acts of the Legislature 

 pledging the faith of the State to the payment 

 of her obligations, and to ascertain whether or 

 not adequate provisions for their redemption 

 at maturity and the payment of interest had 

 been made under the requirements of the Con- 

 stitution. The questions before them were: 

 1. "Whether the Legislature of 1874 was com- 

 petent to bind the people of a free State ? 2. 

 Whether any evidence exists in the office of 

 the Secretary of State showing the adoption 

 by the people of the constitutional amendments 

 of 1874? A report of three of the sub-com- 

 mittee held that the Legislature that passed 

 the act of 1874 was not chosen by the people, 

 but was upheld by the military arm of the 

 Federal Government; the funding act was 

 therefore invalid. With regard to the second 

 question, it held that the constitutional amend- 

 ments of 1874 were not ratified by the people, 

 the returns having been counted by the Re- 

 turning Board in violation of the facts. 



One member of the sub-committee submitted 

 a minority report, saying that the Legislature 

 of 1874 was recognized by the Government of 

 the United States, and therefore it was a com- 

 petent body. With regard to the second ques- 

 tion, Mr. Caffrey urged " that public officers are 

 presumed to do their duty. The amendments 

 have been duly promulgated and acted on; 

 under them millions of bonds have been funded, 

 and the question of whether there is sufficient 

 evidence in the office of the Secretary of State 

 of their adoption has been swallowed, as it were, 

 by the great fact that the amendments have been 

 acted on and acquiesced in by the people, and 

 by every department of government." 



A recapitulation of the details embraced in 

 tbe majority report of the sub-committee pre- 

 sented the following results : 



BOXDS RECOMMENDED TO BE PAID. 



Relief of State Treasurer $699,600 



New Orleans and Nashville Railroad 468,000 



Floating debt 600.000 



Btate Penitentiary. 800,000 



Free School F and 1,198,600 



Seminary Fond 188,000 



Total $8,48,000 



This amount was subsequently increased to 

 $4,000,000 by additions for interest. 



