New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-09-25
what il the Mayor 2

4sfa Mayor. now has,his Chief Of Police, anf
aooogding to his own assurances and those ef
the pfoayune the peace Of the city Is secured i
CHIEF James, wa are told. will Put down ALI
yaohs and prevent all disturbances in cur city
This is comforting, though it may puzzle some
folks DO understand how General Lewis paNt'
ana means al preserving the peace eau ha %
enormously augmentedby the accession to power
sf asingie individual, as bis deputy and sebor
dinate.t Such a fact may be very compliment
fary to Chief James, but it is not to Mas or
Lewis. tits an admission that the principal
4 was not equal to the deputy. Mayor Lewis
Himself was'impotent to maintain the psace BY
flifself-he is omnipotent when he has Chief
James by his side By Chief James We mean
him who was que warranted by his friend E,
Irwin, Esq, not the Mr., suspended Chief James
who rode about with Mayor Lewis during the
inobs and had not the power and influence to
dispense che unlawful assemblage at st. Aary5s
! Market which marched thence into Camp
street, fred yolleys down that highway and
thus caused the death Of three men. Had Mr.
James then undergone his new process of iogal
or judicial restoration he would doubtless nave
!. put to- fight DR. Meighan's band Of heroes,
which not AL the eloquence or authority Of en-
eraI Lewis could effect.
Now. the purpose of this reference is to pro-
test against all their presumptons and against
the doctrine they inculcate that the Mayor Of
this-city is cipher .nobody-a sine aprisfs,
who can transfer al his powers to deputies ard
subprdinates Its a comfortable doctrine for
Plaoemen- for those who desire to avoid III
responsibility and labor, who are content TO
receive o handsome salary and cut grand
figure in the City Paiace. But We don't think
il was contemplated by the charter and laws
that he should be such q nobody. On the CON
trary, the charter, even after undergoing the
sTnasculation to which Mayor Lewis Tas aparty,
retains the clauses which constitute the Mayer
ca odicio justice and CONSERVATION Of the peace
and devolves upon him the duty Of s seeing that
the laws and ordinances within the limits Of tie
city Of New Orleans be properly executed;
Here il as large grant Of power as that male
To the President Of the United States under tie
Federal Constitution Will any one pretend
that, under this grant the Mayor has not tie
power topreserve peace, to maintain police, to
abate nuisances, and to cempel all the city Off
GERS toperform their respective duties? Would
any court regard il az q. usurpation for tile
Mayor to direct and superintend the mode Of
executing the laws and ordinances by the various
subordinates, and would any Of them dare
TO question his authority and power 50 to act 1
Away, then, with this absurdity about tlie
impotency of the Mayor, The only change
that has been made is in depriying the
Mayor Of the power Of appointment Of the
police. We condemn that we condemned
il loudly and earnestly, when Mayor. Lewis
advocated il with the single view Of de,
priYing Mayor Crossman Of what was thought
to be o very dangerous patronage. For tie
character Of the men appointed the Mayor has
q divided responsibility but becadsehe has not
made the appointments entirely himself, II does
not follow that he has no control over them, Or
that they are necessarily incompetent. On the
whole, we conclude that ii is an unfonnded pre-.
text that the Mayor has no power under the
law to maintain the peace and ordersof this
city, and that without Chief Of Police he's
utterly incapable and helpless. The practical
Importance Of this question arises from the na-
ture Of Judge LEAFS decision, under which the
Board Of Police may dispense with the officer
the Chief of Poliee--by declaring him unneces-
sary. The decision of the Judge goes no
farther than to declare that the office created
BY the City Council cannot be abolished But
he does not say--.he is too sound lawyer ever
osay-that under the aetof 1858 tits not com
petent insthe Board Of Police. az any time, II
declare The Office unnecessary.