Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1852-12-18
NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER.
THE PROGRESS OF DEPRAvITY.

desperate leroclty. Inc ACCOUNTS Hom NEW ioah
continue to be appalling in number and atrocity
In the Evening Post of Tuesday we find the fol-
lowing consecutive paragraphs, exposing the state
of things in that city, which can hardly be worse
than it is already:
The INCREASE CRME.It is only week since the most
solemn witnessed in of the highest Of the
city Four persons after careful and just trial for murder
sentenced to death the day. They await
ing the execution of the penalty in the Tombs.
In the building in which they confined are four
other persons from whose necks temporary formay Of law
only withhods the fatal rope They will all probably very
soon be carried TO the scaffod.
One would think that if the prospect Of capital punishment
knowledge that eight beings prisons
verge OF an ignomni5us death would operate as an awful
warning.
But does not Since the sentences Of Saturday week
uttered three of death by wul violence have
Cured and have been stabbed tits supposed fatal
y Indeed scarcely day passes that not compelled
chronicle instances of the malicious fatal of
deadly weapons.--NeD York Post.
The city of BALTIMORE, however, is now, by
universal admission, the great hotbed of crime and
villany. OF the most. recent and most horrible
outrage in that city, of which brief notice appear
ed IN this paper yesterday, we refer the reader to
the following particular and authentic account,
copied from the Baltimore American:
THE BALTIMORE AMERICAN OF YESTERDAY
We
last evening the victim the ourages
and rooosas Which mas ever been IN our city The cir
Mr. Hicks arrived in the city in the steamer Champion shortly
$ FL aha Of from ss M o "a
wharf, where he had business passing
street Calvert streets rope with running
the ey @ mi c e ne pc S asgga
and pulled him into the alley the others assaulted
and the torn out In order % get possession Of the he
succeeded in taking about seventeen hundred oan cash portion
Coz CO.. Of New York, and gold watch
character the assault to be unable though
was not probable he could have done successfully and by the
the villains Utterly conus staggered
street proceeded to the store Of Mr. Gabriel Clark where he
received attention His hand
the knife used in ripping his pockets and his named
the sand and lime thrown into his facbcyond this
probable the parties Hcs having this
for the Of ah r srrsa nun To h en- I
draft was immediately stopped
ionai particulars Mr. United Collector 1t vienna
the Fountain Hotel on Light street where he registered hs
thence proceeded down Lombard street with the intention ofdepog
dragged into the alley violent as deprive him all conscious
robbery accomplished When he came to- he rome WAS nil
about his neck lie unable cutting
staggered into pfiabe in the x
BY with which the had Seen drawn ns around II h
bruised ~ the violence with which he had been used and his
ton a oncer rendered him '''''
In the Baltimore /" Sun /" we find the following
manly exposition Of the causes in part at least of
this horrible state of the city We beg the reader
to note especially the passages which we have ital
cized
PROM THE BALTIMORE % SUN " OF YESTERDAY
The PRoGREss RowDYIsM-The audaeity Of rowdyism
has not abaed in city, will it, until something eff
fectua is done to subdue it. Indeed the city suffer
will suffer- and ought suffer the inevitable consequences Of
mat reputation wheh ray Is fastening upon t. There is
mn nifest iae6iciency IN ne administration 81 aw and
venat concern for persoaa popularity furnishes the only so
ton of the dsgaceu truths that force themselves upon
notice. Two facts alone, recorded in paper OF Monday
morning prove the reckessnes the spirit which
infests the city, On Saturday night il thrust itself whn the
very walls Of the house. and with snsoent voceraon
flung its contempt into the very teeth Of the appointed officers
Of the law The Of such any jus
ce should be edulousy guarded against moral energy
will eventually be wrecked upon the rcgoy peculiar
prornce to rsGuke.
another juror oas assaulted in The streets on ac
count Of The erd rendered There facts associated with
this matter which relieve of the enormy that would other
wise apperan to but those cognizable by the
press and the people ignorant Of them. View
may the incident peculiar tho dsreputable processes
which developed like fungi in the atmosphere Of criminal
Jurisprudence" obtains ~ our courts OF icp
Penalties VIGOROUSLY Inadequate the offences which
they affect TO punish. The two, FIVE, dollars with
costs which imposed in Of riot and violence but
hating apologies for remedial punishment and BAT rote The
social er they tadfcouy supposed aay if not to
1t will not any longer for this department and the
other 10 be throwing of the responsibility for prevalent and
increasing rowdysm of the day The peace and order Of the
city, and the public security, coufded certain officers
cd By The people from amongst eneiUesj and if these off,
fail IN the discharge Of their duties that awlesness in
in daring and arocty the public will have difficult
Guilty in arriving at verdict against me hole them
The opinion will be universal and just that they uor
The places they occupy and whether they thrust themselves
upon the people candidates for suffrage, called out
by the people themselves mistake has been made hch time
aud experience only rec In the time, il becomes
the duty Of the people, and Of the press in their name
act the faithful and energetic administration Of the laws and
falling in this the incompetent officer either renquish
his position sink beneath that conumey which The weight
Of public opinion will heap upon his name
This commentary of the Sum- is, we do not
doubt, just and wellappied, as far as it goes But
even the Sun" does not 90 to the root Of the evil
1t is not By accident that lie Courts and Officers of
Justice are inefficient, and the laws consequently
unexecuted and trampled upon. The real evil con-
ssts in subjectng the Judges and Officers of all the
Courts of the State to periodical popular election.
In one of those phrenzes which sometimes sezes
upona whole community, industrously druggcd with
the most pernicious notions of what is sometimes
called "progress" but which daily experience
teaches us is always progress downwards, such as
is now exemplifed in the City Of Baltimore-the
State Of Maryland was induced, year or two ago,
under the idea of reform" to change its Consttu
ton so as to subject the appointment of the Judi
cial Officers Of the State to the periodical universal
suffrage of the People. Behold the consequence
The inevitable consequence, predicted by all the
wise heads of the State, now already realized as is
fully acknowledged by those who assisted to bring
this affective curse upon the State, and whose eyes