The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-02-02
fnontinued from the First Pnns. l

syivania Company has no such prerogative.
Now, Il is Understood that the rights of the State
are to be decided here, in controversy with this
company i represent. If the state will bring a
suit, who are the proper parties to represent herl
Certainly only those authorized to do so. Now, In
this instance, understand, and you have seen IL
stated in the bills before you, that the Governor
of Pennsylvania or the Secretary of the State, or
the Attorney General. or some other of the high
Nigh illnesses about Harrisburg, has taken it into
his head that we have done something or may do
something i'm consequence of which we have for
feited our charter to the State. do not know the
grounds upon which that allegation is based. l
cannot know them until they are placed upon re-
cord, OF until they are In some way communicated
70 me or TO my clients by those who make them.
They are not defined, and do not know what they
these proceedings, which have been Instituted for
the purpose of trying the validity of our charter,
are based upon some tact of which the Pennsyl-
vania Railroad do not know anything whatever
May they not be just as Ignorant of the ground
upon which the Attorney General charges us with
having forfeited our charter as they about the
charter itself for, in their own bill, they say they
don't know anything about that1
Another thing, If we were here face to face with
who have a right to represent her, may it not be
very well supposed that she would waive consid-
erations which the Pennsyl vania Railroad would
be disposed to insist upon. For instance, won't
pretend to say that l know the gauge OF every
bodys mind 9bout the State capital, but do think
that am not so ignorant of the character of the
Attorney Generals understanding and his sense
of right, as not TO believe, with great confidence,
hat if he were in discussion with us upon this
would not attempt to demand the forfeiture upon
any such ground us that suggested here. He would
not, and do not think any but railroad corpo-
ration would dare to. No State, with proper re-
gard for justics and the interests committed to
the keeping OF these railroad companies, would
ever dream of saying that we have lost our charter
because we filed paper which we were required
TO file with the Secretary of the commonwealth,
and the Secretary kept il in his office for forty
days, and then, when very important interests had
been staked upon the suppOsition that IL was filed
according to law declined to do as plain duty as
fall IA AM uah min N 8
reason as that would be alleged to prove that we
have not charter, if we were before the Court on
charge brought by the State.
Now / do not say That in difficult and change
able circumstances the charter OF a company can
never become a subject of investigation, where a
suit has been brought against that corporation by
q private party. 1t is true that where private
individual or any other corporation believes that
it has suffered injury at the hands OF corpora
ton, a suit may be brought; and il this offending
corporation usties the act on the ground that It's
charter authorized it, it must produce so much OF
the charter as will legaiZe that particular act, TO
show its quality; and when you have redressed
the private grievance you have done with the in
vestgation of the charter. That's you must 20
with your Investigations far as it's necessary
go Tor the purpose of ascertaining the quality OF
the particular act that is complained OF against
that private party but as to allow private lndi-
Vidual to call upon corporation to produce its
charter, to have that charter pronounced invalid
for any public reason, or for any reasons that may
apply only to the interest of private controversy,
il is clearly out of rule, as half a dozen cases
which are cited here by MIR. Wharton and Mr.
that the gentleman upon the other side had not
studied the subject when he drew this bill, now
that attention is distinctly called to it, it cannot be
possible that my friend Mr.. Gibbons will insist
that there is any such rule
But then if there is any private party under the
broad heavens that ought 10 be silent, and refrain
from making any such allegation against us, 1t is
the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Sunbury and
Erie Railroad, the two plaintiffs this case This
is the last in the world in which they ought TO
be allowed to make any such allegation. They
have sued us as corporation, they are seeking de-
tnGf mas n nd af " ~
taken by the throat and dragged us into court
b that capacity, they to be tolerated in making
an argument that we are disarmed of the power to
defend ourselves as a corporation!
Observe that this suit is brought not against the
old consolidated company, the Atlantic and Great
Western Road Company of Pennsylvania, nor
against the officers and managers Of the present
consolidated company of the three States, but IL is
brought against the Consolidated Company itself
a corporation. In order that there may be no
difficulty about it, they have said that it is the At
IantIc and Great Western Company OF the states
of New York. Pennsylvania and Ohio. What
would have been the consequence had we accept
ed The challenge so chivalrously thrown down by
the gentleman of the other side to prove our COR
porate eXistence2 Suppose that in accepting that
challenge had failed to prove that we had a
charter OF, suppose that we had proved the ori-
ginal existence of our charter, and they had
been able to repel that nv some counter proof
of act the result of which was to for
felt our rights, why, then we would have
charter, we would be no party. and the suit
which they brought against us no suit 1t would
result in deciding not only the refusal OF this
motion, but OF the maj refusal OF THIS Dill, ana
would tnIn us and them incontinently out of
Court. Then all the eoquence of my friend Mr..
Cuyler would have been expended III vain upon a
mere local nothing, that has neither habitation or
name. For all the good or harm that he could
have done in that case, he might well have
gone on the top of the Allegheny Mountains aud
spoken his speech to the wild winds Then, what
would my friend Mr. Gibbons dot His business
now is to do the very, very up hill work of show
ing, how decree is to be pronounced in this case
against the reasons to the contrary, which he has
heard from Mr. Wharton and Mr.. Biddle; How
he is to get along with it just it stands, don't
know, But how he would nave got along az first
had he succeeded in proving that we had no ex-
istence how he was to get decree against no.
body, passes my comprehension. But supposing
he could pass over that, and get decree against
nobody, what sort OF an execution would he take
You issue writ of injunction and put it into
the hands of these two gentlemen, who of course
are burning with all the zeal that belongs their
clients, and all the anImosty that can be telt OF
course not personally, but uicdriouSiy. They no
doubt feel very bad against the objects of their
nunciatien in this Court, for don't think an y
body ought'to feel well, who says so many hard
things as Mr.. Cuyler did in his opening.
They start out this object of their clients
sympathy and fire in each eye, papers in each
hand, and they traverse the hills and valleys OF
this commonwealth to see ii they cannot find this
invisible existing thing that has local habi.
tation, and has no name by which it is known by
the children of men, They cruise about like the
Dutch Admiral in search OF the phantom ship, but
with hardly good prospect of success as he
had, because phantom might be visible, under
some circumstances. 1t appears and disappears
but this nonentty of theirs never appears and
what would be the consequences alter they had
spent six months in search of itl why, that they
would come home empty handed
In the whole history OF time, in the history OF
our jurisprudence, there has never been such an
attempt to commit legal suicide as this. am very
been we would have been compelled TO bury tins
corpse at the crossroads with stake through its
body As it is, IL has suffered moral death at the
hands of Mr.. Wharton and Mr. Biddle But it il
entitled to a decent funeral, which our friends or