The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1863-09-18
From the Pittsourg Gazette, (Rep.) July 22.
The Governor and the Tonnage
TaY-

cuTloilS cHapUcf iii The AlSloTy Vi tuc dulliu
istration of public affairs of this State unde
the auspices of Governor CURTIN. Whethel
it was calculated to recommend him for 1
second term they will be able to judge fol
themselves.
But there was another act more damag
ing by far, and that was his signature o.
the infamous bill to repeal the Tonnage Tax
lie knew and confessed that it was afro
ciously wrong. He could not but know that
it was procured-as has been since shown
by the report of a Committee of the House
by corrupt and illegal influences. He
was solemnly admonished, as was the Leg
islature, that it would be ruinous to the par
ty and himself, and that the men who voted
for it--outside of Philadelphia would be
left at home by their constituents. He ad-
mitted the probable consequences, as to the
party and himself, and was solemnly and
repeatedly pledged to refuse it his assent.
He signed it with indecent haste, during a
recess of the Legislature, under the pressure
of his principal counsellors, THos. A. SCOTT
and A. K. MCCLURE, in opposition to the
remonstrances of his Attorney General (the
Hon. S. A. PURvIANCE, now of this city,,
and his Secretary of State, and after hav-
ing given to those gentlemen the most pos
tive assurances that it should be vetoed.
He signed it too, Immediately after these
assurances were given, without the knowl-
edge of the former gentleman, who was his
constitutional adviser, and upon private
agreement in writing, made by THOMAS A.
SCOTT, for the company, to pay the sum of
$4,000 per annum into the Treasury,
which agreement he concealed from the peo-
pie, and afterwards surrendered to the COM
pany, without even preserving copy of it.
When interrogated at the next session upon
this point, he admitted the fact of the agree
ment and its surrender, and excused his con-
duct on the ground that the company was
actually paying more than that amount in
taxes to the State already, and that of course
it was of no further value to the people
The record showed that they had not been
paTy1fs5 t,,e half II rISas ifiiiOuiit,5 ana inc
whole statement was contradicted by the
testimony Of the Attorney General himself,
who swore before the Hopkins Committee
that the paper was given by SCoTr, and pla-
ced in his hands as an official document;
that il was afterwards demanded from him
by JOHN EDGAR THOMPSON, President of
the Company, on the ground that Scott had
no right to give it; that he refused to sur
render it for the reason that it was Public
Record; and that it disappeared from his
office, without his privity or any knowledge
on his part as to the way in which it was
withdrawn! These facts were before the
Hopkins Committee, and ignored in their
report, the Chairman (Mr. Hopkins) con-
senting reluctantly to their suppression, for
the purpose of securing unanimous report,
which he could not otherwise have got from
a committee, whose good will the Governor,
if not greatly misrepresented, had spared
no pains to secure. They are still of record,
and well known to the copperheads who fa-
vor his nomination, and will be duly para
ded, Of course, if the Union party of this
State should be so unwise as to invite it,
by selecting him as their candidate-a step
which, by the way, neither the Pennsylva-
mia Railroad Company nor his confidential
advisers and managers, who, as the news
papers tell us, have been so recently resum-
moned to Harrisburg on the occasion Of the
of the State; nor any other of the
parties who took so much interest in secur-
ing for him the promise of foreign employ
ment, would be likely to desire.
The same Legislature passed three other
acts, all part and parcel Of the same gigan-
tic scheme of spoiation and domination
one robbing the Treasury of seven millions
of dollars, in the name of the Sunbury and
Erie Railroad Company the other two,
to perfect the whole arrangement by author
izing either the merger or transfer of that
road itself to the Pennsylvania Central Rail-
road Company, which has since been effect
ed under the form Of ninety-nine years
lease. Governor Curtin, with no apparent
will of his own, approved them all, appa-
rently according to programme, thereby strip
ping the Sinking Fund of at least eighteen
millions of dollars, and making this mon
strous corporation the permanent master Of
the State and its Legislature! Whether it
OWNS them now or not, may be judged by
the fact, that although it had been solemnly
found by Committee of the House, that
this Legislation was procured by Thos. A.
Scott by fraudulent and illegal means; that
he had evaded the process of the House;
and that the President Of the Company had
declined an examination on a Doctors GER
tifcate, a second feeble effort to repeal the
law was bafaed and defeated at the last ses-
sion, and no attempt was made to direct a
or even to revive the inquiry, |
and bring the defaulting witnesses before
the Legislature! !