548 



NEW YOEK. 



represent to render every other subject subordinate 

 to the attainment of these vital ends. 



The last Legislature failed us in accomplishing 

 these ends. They can be reached successfully by 

 wise selections ot candidates from among the able 

 men of the State who are known to be true and un- 

 compromising friends of the canals and their com- 

 merce. And we again appeal to you that in your ac- 

 tion in your party capacity you may be governed by 

 these important considerations. 



The convention, accordingly, introduced the 

 following resolution into its platform of prin- 

 ciples : 



Resolved, That the commercial prominence of our 

 State is largely due to its canals | that they should be 

 managed with rigid economy and probity ; that all 

 abuses should be reformed ; and that the best inter- 

 ests of the Commonwealth demand their judicious en- 

 largement and improvement, so that their full ca- 

 pacity will be utilized, and that it is the duty of the 

 General Government to interest itself in this great 

 work. 



The Democratic Convention expressed their 

 view of the subject in the following : 



Resolved, That in the State, as in the national Gov- 

 ernment, they demand economy in expenditure, 

 strict adherence to the letter and spirit of the consti- 

 tution, and the protection of the rights of the people 

 against the encroachments of monopolies created oy 

 special legislation. That the canals of the State, 

 which have contributed largely to the wealth and the 

 commercial supremacy of New York, should remain 

 the property of its citizens ; that they should be kept 

 in perfect repair and so improved as to meet the de- 

 mands of a constantly-increasing commerce ; that the 

 tolls should be reduced so as to command the carry- 

 ing-trade j and that the system of management pro- 

 vided for in a bill passed by the last Democratic As- 

 sembly and rejected by the Eadical Senate should 

 be adopted, so that corruption and peculation shall 

 cease and the canal revenues be honestly applied to 

 the maintenance of the canals and the payment of 

 the debts incurred in their construction. 



During the political canvass, however, the 

 greater prominence of other issues caused that 

 of the management of the canals to he in a great 

 measure overlooked ; but the public attention 

 has been again directed to the subject, and it 

 is confidently expected that the Legislature of 

 1869 will bring about a reform in this impor- 

 tant branch of the State administration. 



The impeachment of Commissioner Dorn 

 was the result of the investigations of a select 

 committee appointed by the last Legislature to 

 examine into the propriety of bringing in arti- 

 cles of impeachment against any State officer. 

 A report of considerable length was submitted, 

 which closed with the following resolution : 

 _ Resolved, That Eobert C. Dorn, Canal Commis- 

 sionei-j be and he is hereby impeached for high crimes 

 and misdemeanors. 



This was adopted, and managers of the im- 

 peachment were appointed by the Assembly. 

 Eight articles of impeachment were framed, 

 charging Mr. Dorn with corruption and fraud in 

 several contracts which had been made for re- 

 pairing the canals, and with appropriating pub- 

 lic money to his own use and that of his favor- 

 ites. The Senators and judges of the Court of 

 Appeals sat as a High Court of Impeachment 

 on the fourth Tuesday of May, and listened to 



the evidence and arguments in the case. The 

 trial continued about two weeks, but attracted 

 very^little attention, and the commissioner was 

 acquitted, the largest vote against him on any 

 article being eight to twenty. 



Among the various conventions of the year, 

 was one called for the purpose of "protesting 

 against tne action of the British Government 

 with reference to the imprisonment of adopted 

 citizens," which met in Albany on the 5th 

 of February. A letter was received from 

 Horatio Seymour, expressing his sympathy 

 with the objects of the meeting, and a series 

 of resolutions was adopted, among which were 

 the following : 



Resolved, That the American people have regarded 

 with deep solicitude the course of the British Gov- 

 ernment toward naturalized American citizens its 

 arbitrary seizure and retention of them without trial, 

 and the assumption of the British courts to disregard 

 their plea of citizenship founded upon naturalization 

 and to assert the doctrine of perpetual allegiance ! 

 That we protest against such assumptions as at war 

 with the vital principles of free government, and wo 

 call upon the Administration at "Washington to resist 

 and repel them. 



Resolved, That we demand of foreign governments 

 no rights that we do not acknowledge on the part of 

 our own. That, commensurate with the right of natu- 

 ralization, we recognize the obligation of citizenship 

 the duty of the Government to restrain its citizens 

 from unlawful acts and the right to protect them in 

 their lawful pursuits. 



Resolved. That the claim of military service asserted 

 by some or the Continental nations of Europe, against 

 naturalized citizens, their former subjects, is so unjust 

 in itself, and so incompatible with the assumed du- 

 ties of such citizens to the Government of their choice, 

 that it becomes the duty of the Federal Government to 

 demand the relinquishment of any such pretensions, 

 and to enforce the position by all the authority of the 

 Eepublic. 



Resolved, That the doctrine of the perpetual and in- 

 alienable allegiance of a subject is incompatible with 

 the growth of modern society, and the freedom of 

 populations and that the whole history of the people 

 of these United States is a protest against it. 



The Eepublicans held a convention at Syra- 

 cuse, on the 5th of February, to appoint dele- 

 gates to the National Convention at Chicago. 

 A proposition was made in this convention to 

 reorganize the Eepublican party in the city of 

 New York, under the joint supervision and 

 direction of Freeman J. Fithian and Thom- 

 as Murphy, the object being to exclude from 

 the deliberations of the convention the radical 

 delegation from that city. These delegates 

 were, however, admitted by a vote of 256 to 

 54. ^Resolutions were adopted, reaffirming the 

 devotion of the party to the principles of jus- 

 tice, legality, and nationality, declaring its ap- 

 proval of the reconstruction measures of Con- 

 gress, and its "unalterable purpose -to main- 

 tain untarnished and inviolate the public faith 

 and national credit," and pronouncing in favor 

 of U. S. Grant and E. E. Fenton, for Presi- 

 dent and Vice-President of the United States. 



On the evening of the 3d of July a mass 

 meeting of working-men was held at the 

 Cooper Institute, in the City of New York, 

 under the auspices of the National Labor 



