486 



NEW YORK. 



to give State aid to new railroads, and others 

 which provided for the construction of rail- 

 roads in the city of New York. Much of the 

 legislation of the session had reference to the 

 railroads and canals of the State, and has been 

 already alluded to in connection with those 

 important works. Vigorous and repeated at- 

 tempts were made by the Democratic members 

 to secure the repeal or modification of the 

 metropolitan excise law, but without success. 

 Among the proposed amendments was one ex- 

 empting lager-beer from its operation, and an- 

 other providing that "no arrests shall be made 

 for a violation of the excise law except upon 

 a warrant issued from a court of competent 

 jurisdiction." 



In connection with the important railroad 

 legislation of the State, numerous charges of 

 bribery and corruption are made from time to 

 time. Accusations of this kind appeared in 

 several public prints during the session of 1868, 

 in connection with the passage of what was 

 known as the. 4 ' Erie Bill," and a resolution was 

 passed providing for a committee to make in- 

 vestigations and ascertain "whether any party 

 or parties interested in supporting or opposing 

 any measures relating to railway companies 

 have, either in person or by agent, directly or 

 indirectly, paid or offered to pay any member 

 or members of the Senate, during that session, 

 any money or other valuable thing to influence 

 their vote or action in Senate or committee." 

 By a subsequent resolution this committee was 

 authorized to sit during the recess, and report 

 at the next session. They entered into an ex- 

 tended investigation, occupying several months, 

 and examined as witnesses parties interested 

 upon both sides in the alleged corrupt legisla- 

 tion, members of the "lobby," and the editors 

 of the papers in which the original charges ap- 

 peared. Their report was made on the llth 

 of March, 1869, and the conclusions at which 

 they arrived were summarily stated thus : 



"1. Large sums of money were expended 

 for corrupt purposes by parties interested in 

 legislation concerning railways, during the ses- 

 sion of 1868. 



"2. Lobbyists were thus enriched, and in 

 some cases received money, on the false pre- 

 tence that the votes of senators were to be 

 thereby influenced. 



" 3. There is no proof of actual bribery of 

 any senator 



"4. The newspaper charges made in the in- 

 stances that were brought to the notice of your 

 committee, were founded upon rumor alone, 

 and have been in no case sustained by the evi- 

 dence of the writers or other proof." 



They expressed their opinion, however, that, 

 under the law as it then existed, it was almost 

 impossible to prove the crime of bribery, be- 

 cause both parties to the transaction were 

 liable to punishment. "True," they say, 

 "the testimony given by one, on the trial 

 of another, cannot be used against the person 

 testifying. But the witness well knows that 



such testimony necessarily gives the clew to 

 evidence by which he himself can be convicted 

 and punished. The result is either a refusal to 

 testify, or remarkable forgetfulness, or some- 

 thing worse." They therefore recommended a 

 change in the law, by which the giver of a 

 bribe which is accepted shall be exempt from 

 prosecution. A bill had been already intro- 

 duced by the chairman of the committee, Mr. 

 M. Hale, "for the more effectual suppression 

 and punishment of bribery," which embodied 

 this provision ; and also made it an indictable 

 offence for any officer of a company or corpo- 

 ration to use the money of such company or 

 corporation for purposes of corruption. This 

 act subsequently passed both Houses of the 

 Legislature, and received the approval of tho 

 Governor. 



The amendment to the Constitution of the 

 United States, known as article fifteen, was 

 submitted to the Legislature for approval soon 

 after its adoption by Congress, and a resolu- 

 tion, reported by the Committee on Federal 

 Relations, to whom it had been referred, favor- 

 ing its ratification, was made the special order 

 of the day on the 17th of March. It met with 

 a spirited opposition, and several substitutes 

 were offered, but the original resolution was 

 finally adopted on the 14th of April by a strict 

 party vote of 17 to 15 in the Senate, and 72 to 

 47 in the Assembly. This action was not, 

 however, transmitted to the proper authori- 

 ties at Washington, and on the 30th of August 

 J. 0. B. Davis, at that time acting Secretary 

 of State, wrote to Governor Hoffman, request- 

 ing him to forward " a certified copy in the 

 usual form " to the State Department. To this 

 request the Governor replied in the following 

 terms : 



STATE OF NEW YOKE, ) 

 ALBANY, September 3, 1869. J 

 To the Hon. J. 0. B. Davis, Acting Secretary of State, 



Washington, D. O. : 



SIR : I have the 'honor to acknowledge your letter 

 of the 30th of August, received here yesterday, re- 

 questing me to forward to your department " a certi- 

 fied copy in the usual form of the action of the Legis- 

 lature of New York, -upon the fifteenth proposed 

 amendment to the Constitution of the United States." 



The action of the Legislature was, by concurrent 

 resolution, not submitted to the Executive for ap- 

 proval, nor was he directed or requested to promul- 

 gate the same. 



In all previous instances of proposed amendments, 

 save one, a formal bill was passed, which, like all 

 other bills, was submitted to the Executive, and in 

 the exceptional instance I find no record in this de- 

 partment of any Executive action. 



In accordance with your request, however, I.enclose 

 a copy of the resolution, signed by the clerks of the 

 two Houses. 



Very respectfully your obedient servant, 



JOHN T. HOFFMAN. 



At the opening of the next session of the 

 Legislature the majority in both Houses had 

 changed from the Republican to the Dem- 

 ocratic side, and on the very first day the fol- 

 lowing resolution, introduced by Mr. Tweed, 

 of "New York, was adopted: 



