justice, Bedle had given fervent charges to a grand jury that led to the indictment for fraud and conspiracy of the Republican city commissioners; he later tried and sentenced them. Bedle won the election by a relatively large margin, possibly stemming from the Panic of 1873, which had made national Republicans and elected politicians generally unpopular. Term in office In his inaugural address, Bedle called for economic thrift, home rule for municipalities, and general legislation regulating corporations (as opposed to individual charters). Bedle argued that devolution of responsibility to the municipalities, which were the primary sources of spending and taxation, would tend to reduce both. Though he hoped for the day "when every city in this State, of a certain population, will be governed by one general law," he acknowledged that this would require a constitutional amendment. Governor Bedle's first veto killed a bill to incorporate a Newark manufacturing and trading company on the grounds that this was special legislation. He vetoed at least five similar bills for manufacturing corporations and two for fraternal lodges in his first year in office. Special legislation was restricted by a state constitutional amendment ratified by the voters in November 1875. As a result of the restriction on special legislation, activity declined precipitously and Bedle's remaining two years in office were some of the least eventful, legislatively, in New Jersey's history. In his second year in office, Bedle declared his interpretation that the restrictive amendment did not apply to all municipal law. However, he vetoed a bill in spring 1876 that would have regulated local elections in Jersey City. He vetoed two more bills that were narrowly written to affect only Newark, though only because these were not passed with proper public notice. In 1876, Bedle vetoed a bill which would "provide for the maintenance and education of the deaf and dumb, feeble-minded, and blind persons in [New Jersey]" on the grounds that the policy was too radical and not compliant with the Constitutional provision limiting bills to one subject. Though the New Jersey Senate voted to override his veto, six Assembly Republicans crossed party lines to prevent the bill's passage. However, the Republican legislature did overcome Bedle's veto to pass a prison reform bill which Bedle argued would create statutory officers too powerful to be chosen without constitutional advice and consent processes. During his final year in office, Bedle appointed his father-in-law, Bennington