' I I gittsintrOj Gairtts rinsugam) Br PENIMIAN, REED & CO A? GAZETTE BUILDING, 7:Cra. GO 3ThLtua. 191troot. fir ,Pi A r i llfuls". • stsp,"..- TIERS FOS WU:XL] . Thrbe CopLub ybrr ybyr. by Irma, ubb........111 $0 car's . ' I 9.5 PO4llO. SO au, adtrasa. and axle /no to 111 TRW 7U$ °ALLY t•I amle• De/Inm! by tamer, (par evelt,)-- 3 Puts. MAO. Liberal red. • to Newsbm mad •211114 • WEDNESDAY:MARCEL 11,1868. . No Ckr i rrinesiovran,ernbodied . - - in the C ' tntion, Is more deer and anal by e, than that of impeachment. IF . , conferie on the two Roues of. Coi f- gnu., power hai heretofore been f - eze on 'event ctonudou, but al. r• 'royale persons , holding compare. . t - - tiiely au Nitrate posillons. So far as . f .. ~ °Too- ol i tlors Was duiciplintid wire . - - coneetne ,no complaint of injustice or 1 hiudstiO ever tittered. The corn. . : mon Medi ant of the country has stead !' fly o proceedings against them. • ' . And the cling tuts been general that forany o impeached and dlaplaced, at leak an undred have richlydeserred like deme ation. But, . slier all, the •:-... - p chief ublie W w d elf t a to rs, ih t e e 'Ca th i e terryss ilniti° t 'i nati t li the of . . civil liberty, - Lea not arisen from the short-comings. or overt crimes of. men .. - in low or medium itatime. The great ' - experience in all .omintnes and ages. .:. . i Deliberative asumblies may, indeed, de. I . • . tterired=cgerhairkes:' emanateda t Ir"stmhetheunzeifornic. generate into "instruments of faction. , Instances of this infirmity are not want- • lag lethistory. But merlons encroach- menta upenpopnlar freedom hove al- i. . moat invariably come from the opposite i direction--from the chief executive cal. 1 • *cer craftily or by force extending his . l prerogetives and megnifying his author. - . . ity. Po lathes this gone in the United i • States, during the last thirty year& that ~. the -President hal come to claim and use - • a much larger'. measure of rumor than 1 _ • any limited -monarch in Bum* has .•• • dared to assert in the last two bun. .)...' died - nem- Tenn usuzmalons hare ! been justified, naturally enough, under . - • pretense of inaservitiarn. That is the plea invariably, urged for despotism But that this plea should be urged here - . mainly, if not exclusively, by those who claim to be Democrats, may well mate surprise not , untaingled with contempt. In this posture of affairs it is moat suitable that the bolt of impeachment shook fall oa the head of s Ptealdent, and panicalarly on the bead of that one who his done more than all his mede. °mum combined, not. only to bring the office into disgrace, but to render it a formidable menace to'civil liberty. • , It has been held that Panora Basra; , -• in thou ancesaesot fervor which marked, • his opposition to the ratification of the -• Federal Constitution, was swayed by , unti:hided and unmanly apprehensions --imperially when; RDMI reviewing the large mum:onof authority actually con.; ferred on the nesident, and the liability , __ always existing that more er would be routed than was given, he exclaimed, ' "Your President will become a King." The experience of the - nation since then has shown that he was not miat,ken in estimating the tendency to executive en croaclunent encouraged by the very terms elate Constitution itself. Indeed, • so palpable has this become that Mr. SEWARD has not sernpled to declare that the people of this errantry; regularly elected a Ring every four years. This iris become the ' , actual working of the goiernment, thoegh . It was not the in tention of its founder& Ot all mon. 1 erclies, an elective one to the worst of all to he deprecated. The history of Po land is felt of .adnacinition and warning on this head. : - It is time the tendency towards. M. perkily= was checked ; and the way to do this' is by Impeachment. . This con sideration has Dressed upon us strongly for two years pan. Hence ' while most f the Benublican journal s flippantly . diimissed impeachment as a "farce" or a "sham," we steadily regarded it as a stern .neceillty, if Republitan ft:unite- 1 I glans were to be preserved aming na, not simPli In form and seeming, but in I , subatan-e and reality. The eresident's violation of 'the Odic. Tenons in fur. tithes no stronger imams for iroosed- • ing simian him than existed before--in 1 -_tie teisapmosniation _of the funds aria. 1 mg from Bid sale of confiscated estates; to his management respecting segues. ' , rotted Southern railroads ; in Li. abuse 1 ' of the pardoning power; in hlaprostliu- , tiers of patronage; in his threats against 1 the . legislative department; and in his asanniption of exclusive authority over' . the revolted States. • Iwieed, we doubt not ultimate and impartial' history will adjudge [that 'the gromds upon which Congress has finally decided to. proceed ' , . against .the Offender are .feebler than those it rejected ea insufficient at the opening orate present session.' . Mist .is most needful Is an example - which shall henceforward deter the ' ~ President—whoever be may be or by ! - yid& . party : soarer elected—from stretching his authority beyond the' strict letter of , the Coutitution. , I this judgment, we doubt not,, all con siderate and thonghtfhl Democrats con cur isfully as Republican& . Mere poll, Belau, nrayed by . temperaty passioks; excited by portioned hopes, or Impelled by flaming anlinosines, may object. Bat these routing," - a:Wm minority ! , elsmonitte, indeed, but not worthy to be taken into account in dab:railing seism 'so momentous to the republic and to civil liberty everywhere and for all time. Tun RIPITSLIC4B &Vas Convict' vow,- assemble at Minis borgh on Wednesday neat, will prob ably express a preference for some eiti - - aos - of this Comm,onesith as the sand. Mae for 'the Tice Presidency. Dele gates to that body hare been chosen, who are - dWided* in. Opinion between - three differed lamdualii—elat la Cm.' sow, Snow and 011/LEY. The Stnte thireention will select the Star delegate, at large to the National Conviitlon, and no more, the balk of the delegates being , Sl:wine/srby . oonventioasorattferel/Mte within the respective ,d/miticbc . It is tAintiore, that any eXpresehm of wifely:no* On the part of the State • Convention, while confeusedly of high nuthati ty, conclu de' and bled . only the four • delega tes at- aarge " Tao district delegates will not maybe . at laxity, bit will doubtless 'fee am . strained to fallow wither the local in : artistic:W or the local preferesees, as ~ the cue nisi be. ileiCe, it is prawns.' - We thug the same. dirsmities of prefer ence which ire now apparent - . in the Stain will be exiebited at Chicago In - May.- This wautotunalimitimay lead to a setting wide . ohill the gentlemen I tithtedPean4haias for the, wooed plater on the natiomstithket. - Such a rts• I s uit can burdj7..be astdrktd unless the • minority in The State- Convention. on Whir:hetet side it may be found„ well wai ve:thcf;.,Millis:Wens.-andsomake. an unanimous rectommeidation, and an 'tree the pada delegates, shall - =mit to lay 'wide . kited sod persooel prefer; emcee ; and'Juts/lily :thatain at Chicago the thdiridnal witontay receive the dersemesit of the State Convention. , . Damon= to-the- &publican Bute . convention" at llabidepbll4" tbq 414, gobig by the Pennayitiniq Ceti raiitoroad and midrib!, fa:1,1011i ikee.'fteelve fralacal 4 03 4 1 4 3 ( ieqini vows THE IPROJECT RENEWED. . . At the union of the Legislature for 1807, it will be remembered, a bill was introduced into the House to tax all Transportation Companies, which also mined and traded in coal, twenty.. flee . ectiti for each ton seat by them to market. The wording of the bil was as general as the terms in which we have now stated Re scope. Only three Companies were in the 'category described. These were the Delaware and Hadson Canal Company, the Pennsylvania Coal Com pany, and the Delaware, Lukawanna and Western Railroad Company; known as the - New York Companies, and carry ing roths exeltuively from Luzerne county. I . . • The Delaware and Hudson Canal Com , pany . vras chartered by the State of New York; received State aid in constructing - its seal from Rondous, on the Haden, to a po i nt on the Delaware OppOstta the mouthof the river Le ckawaxen ; and b, yro believe, the only Company so aided that ever repaid the fnioneys or credit so advanced in that. Comnronwesith. Me Maumee Wi.trere,ot PlilladelPhiS, at an early day, wateonstitnted a corporation sole, with right to haptore the naviga tion of the Lackawszen by building dams- and locks ; so creating a stack water nevigation, which the Legislature reserved the power to take pusendoiof on cartel° condniona -The Delaware and ' Hedson Canal Company became the as- I algab of Mr. Wones, and so obtained a 1 standing lit Pennsylvania. Mr. Wears I had no authority given him:to mine and 1 trains: in coal. He arse, at most, only made a common Carrier. The Canal Company, by its charter, WAS empow ered to mine and sell CoaL Being in this stele under Mr. Wynne assign ment, it used ts.B the rights here which its. New York charter conferred, and so , became a tranegressor. As the time drew near for the Common wealth to resume the privileges granted to Mr. WITILTE, a Legislative Committee wan appointed to Investigate and report upon the expediency of suchresnmption. It decided that liking the Lackawaxen section of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, (as .the Womb's improvement came to be known,) bo the conditions prescribed, was altogether inexpedient. But, in the course of the aforesaid ex amination, the Delaware and Hudnin Canal Company was made aware teat It was exercising rights in this Common wealth to which It had no title; that It was, in fact, usltigtte New York fran chises-within our borders without au thorny, At the following_ sesalon oft the Legislature, a bill was introduced , waiving the States right to Venom,. the 1 franchises granted to Mr. Waters, and ' authorizing the Delaware and Redone I Canal - Company lb proceed in Pronsyl. a-Apia under its New. York charter. Phcre was a pieligiona fight over this bill; but it is elan to affirm that notinore than one number of either House com prehended the microbe and snore of it, and that the „Gertantor, who finally ap proved the bill, was equally tit the dark. They eupposed It was a sinrrendet, with out considetation, Of stumble rightslas longing to the State, when the design wan simply to domeetkedehere the New York charter of. the Canal Company. By the passage: of that bill the Delaware and Hudson Canal l Oompuy became a Pernaybania coreoration ; a fact public men at Harrisburg have not discovered up to this time. I The Pennsylvania Coal. Company grew on of the comblidation of several companies created by the Pennsylvania .Legielature. In form -11. Is strictly a Pennsylvania company. All its elec tions are - held within the State, and a 1 definite proportion of ate officers are. Citizens here. This artupany owns a railroad, extending rom Pittston, on ' the North Branch of the Seim:lemma, to Hawley, on the lackawaxen, where it strikes the Delasare and 'Had-' eon Canal. From this point to tide water on the Hudson, It has, ty con tract,-the right to use onehalf the lock. age on the sad canal. In fact, it em ploye not more than 'thirty boat?. pro [ (erring a railway trsnaportstion ot Which it has the option. This is by a branch road of its own constroction, from Haw. ley,edown the Lackawexen, fifteen miles, I to' its confluence with the Delaware, I there intersecting the Erie Railway, over which it runs trains either to New burg or New York. 1 The -Delaware, Lickawanna and] Western - Railroad Company also exists excludvely by authority of our own lawn Scranton is the Centre of its opt. rufous, from wheoceit ' ,extends esst and west. Towards the eas t, it rune an In dependent line of - railway down to Euton, or near thereto; land from thence a third rail on the. Central Railroad of New Jersey to ' , acme:iodate its broad gine. ...Thus it reaches Newark Bay at Elizabeth, and runs on to Jersey City. From Scranton its independent road ..., rune west to Great Bend in Siugnehan na county, where It intersects, the Erie Railway, by - which it xesehes E.agham- I ton. - Prom this - point It Isends coal by i the Cheotoogio canal,' to Riles,-and by railroad, :direct. to Syracuse. It alto follows the Erie to Owego, and thence, the branch to Ithaca, where It frelghs flown the to Central and Western New York., I , - ~ . Bat all three of these .Compaulcs are, in reality and substance ] Now York. Their stock is ambit:held ,Ixi Now York; their main -of are there; and the management procecea from thence. The laws of this State, so iar as essential to the existence of the Oro:parties, are complied With, but that is MI. • It was claimed, bat year, that these New York Companies had powers which ninid of the strictly Pennsylvania Com- panlei enjoyed; the latter-.. being simply I COliinnili carriers, and hence making no /site by merchandizing in I oats. When 1 the bill &tense referred to er a Mtn:alum:l set, the current impreesiOn. wan that It was designed in the interest of Imola- I Mrs to legislation; that is, that the per. 'pose watt to make the three Cempuilei I • • off, at a high price, the promoters of I the bill Sub proved not to be the fact. I 'The: bill originated in the Timmy De-' partment as a revenue measure.. The tax was reduced from twenty-five cents a ton to four cents, in which ehsipe the bill became a law. Estimating that these Companies mine anti sell three millions of tones year—wld Is near the 'tam mark—this tax yields one hundred and twenty thousand dotterel annually; and this, In addition to the hues prey fatuity paid; • Within the last few days a bill has been brought forward to. In ' erease the tax to twenty cents a ton; or , l say, six bandied thousand dollars a year. If this movement is honestly In favor of the Treasury two' (Mulleins ?cite.' Can these Companies affnd to pay this as. easiment? Ought it to be, c Weed to . [ these th ree CutuPalliss , 1 . It ts, deutniess, true that . these three companies lake vast weelistd of the -ii I State every year, which. vided up anent stockholders resident elsewhere. In this way Lezennicountile kept mrtil partitively, poor. The oiher system by which' udisidual owners mine Mid , mil ' coati, the . , Menspeirtatkm coMpardes smug only as Common cerebra. Pro duces very different result,. Thii wealth produced • by lids coal • bellac fa at once ' brought back - within our borders, and i s a .peipetual- source':of. mien* to the counties in which • theholders Of It re side. 'Let any one lake the income re. tarnsof Lusemesid biehnoilitoenutlek and Institute comparison between them; and lie will see that laisaine AN Owat immewirably behind ElehnylkilL In as inhaled wealth. The NeW York System Inunrsitnishisa, Whlle he .Penneylvaimis , system einlebes ourown Teople.l This las outudderathni lsglidaturs ought not to oserlook-- • -.. It is not straining pohg to es Woo Woo Now York Companr, franchises that ought not to have been conferred on them or any other corpora tions, and that in the present enlight ened condition of public opinion, will ' not be granted to other corporations. Individual 'operators In their respective neighborhoods are entirely at their mercy, haying no outlet of their own, and tying enastraineC. to accept such price for the coals mined by them as the companies nearest their lands sea fit to ofrei. But, it must not' be concealed that un der the Pennsylvania system individual operators have made nut gains. Indi viduil operators can be named who have returned, year after year, more than half a million of dollars as net galas. It would not hurt these Ins; any Z 12613 than it would hart the three New York Companies, to contribute liberally to the resources of. the State . Treasury.. The fact Is that all coal mined in the ',State ought to be pat under contribution for 'public purposes. There are points of objection to this policy, springing out of its apparent tendency to detract from the local advantages of our manatee turea. But we apprehend this tendency Is more imaginiu7 than real. At fall ' events, a tax cannot be imposed on such coals as go out of the State, while what is communed inside remains unburdened. The federal Constitution elands In the way of inch discrimination. Whitten.? may be the intention as to' the bill now brought forward—whether it is really in the Interest of the Treas. my or of legislation-mongers—whether desigifed to help the Schuylkill region by laying burdens on the Companies operating la Lucerne—we do not know. In the absence of reasons for Inferring a mister Intention, It is but jest to infer that the purpose of the bill la laudable. Bat we cannot refrain from submitting that the whole question of taxing coals ought to come under legislative review, and be dealt with upon broad principles- _ - PRACTICAL CONSIDP.R MONS. Intelligent citizens who bare uell& ly Observed the indications at - public, opinion in Ohio daring the past six months cannot be surprised to learn that theßepublicans of that State, In Con- vention, on Wednesday, declared •In favor, rind, of making all future issues of United StaMs bonds expreuly liable, to taxation as 'other property; Second, arresting the coaincilost of the cur many, the volime of which shoold be commensurate ,to the wants of the pen-, pie; and, Thin', of the inviolability of 1 the public AIM to Its creditors,. bat de- ! daring that the Plye-Twenty bonds may legally, and shOuld be bully and right fully. made payable In the currency oi the tountrjr which may be 'clogs!. temder whenever those bonds are redeemed. 1 Prom oar knowledge of the tone of the Republican. preen, and of the opinions prevalent among the masses of the party in 'Mkt, ,we have no doubt that these resolutions were adopted by more than a majority vote—probably with some threw near an entire unanimity, and that they faithfully , represent the conclu sions of th., great bed: of the party. The text oithe rew.haion relative to bond redemption is as follows: liltalitti. That the Republican pony pledeta itself to toe !tablet per meat or the Ihtblie debt ucortltatp to tee /awe miler which the hre4trnatty bonds were Issued, end sell h=et. " 4 ' rli It: paid ialek7:l tender Chen the Government 'hal/ be pre , plied to irdees4 0000 tonna. Upon the question of taxation of lends, the Indiana °Donation proposed to subject the present issues to their share 1 at the public bathes's, except where en primly, protected by ' exiatieg enact ments, while the Ohio Repubticans con fine the question only to future busuea' Substantially, these positions agree, since the adoption of either .secures the approval of the other by the Govern ment. To the position which Indiana and Ohio have thus taken, the reader may prepare iiimeelf to see the Republicans of the other States of the West and Northwest bringing those States, one after another, when their GNITCI3tIOIII are held. Those States will cast very nearly one half the entire vote in the National Conlin:inert at Mingo, and heir constituents will demand the earn est efforts of their delegates to embody similar declarations in the platform of that body. It is proper to state these facts and the Jost inferences which we draw as to their betting upon political calculations, that Our readers, citizens of Pennsylvania, and moat of them Republicans, may4x nutty understand what to expect, when they meet their western (needs at Chi cago. Them questions . will come no, backed with great numerical force and will'haveto be dinposed of. The. Re publicans of three States will any—and probably with truth-i.that they will be in danger of losing their State elections, and of perilting the.inte for President in November, 'exam they can squarely take the grounder Equality in taxation and One Uniform Currency for the din• charge o( public and private obligations. As to ezpsesioa or contraction of the currency, an ngreement can easily be reached on the basis of things as they are, prohibiting any farther tinkering legislation and leaving the question sub. Ject only to the eccessides of the Treas ury itself. But it Is easy to see that the other and main points will be insisted oa by the West and Ifinthwest, and it is by no 'means sure that they will not me. 'end la incorporating the phial to suit them in the Chicago platform. The Whole question of the redemption of the principal' of the Five-Twenty bonds in coin or currency would be prac tically settled by a return to specie pay. silents. A decision by the Supreme Court, upon what are known as the Legal Tender setts, from the Pacific slope, —which have been partially argued, but are not expected to reach a dual judg ment before next winter—that the legal tender notes are unconstitational, and that goldand ailver are the only lawful money, timid