The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-06-05

Outrages appear to be the order of the day. We
have foreign outrages-and we have domestic out
| RACES. We have outrages upon the high SEAS
and we have outrages in the highways and by
ways of our great Cities. We have American
vessels stopped upon the broad Ocean by foreign
cruisers-and we have American citizens murdered
in broad daylight by native ruflians In the city
OF New Orleans, within the past few years, MUIR
ders and assassnatons and assaults with deadly
weapons, have grown to be common occurrences,
by day and by night, in the most public places of
the City. During that period, the entire municipal
government, and the whole administration of
criminal justice in that City, have been in the
hands of that political party, whose cardinal max
i'm is that 'Americans should rule America" In
TINS instance, we are sorry to say, the expert
ment of american rule in America, - has been
anything but successful The utter failure of the
present government of New Orleans to fulfill any
OF the ends for which laws are ordained, and men
set in office to administer them has led to n gene
raj union of the more conservative portion of
the population of that City, in favor of an en-
tire Reform in Municipal affairs and finally
to an armed Rebellion against the existing
authorities. The first intimation of an
approaching Revolution was given in the nomina-
ton of an Independent Candidate for the office of
Mayor, in the person of Major G. T. BEAURE-
GARD, formerly of the Typographical Engineers,
and an officer of distinction in the Mexican
war The invitation extended to Major BEAuRE-
GARD by the citizens of New Orleans, without
distinction of party, to become an Independent
Candidate for the Mayoralty, and his reply accedng
to their request, we publish in another column
The next move appears to have been a sudden one
Although vague rumors of Vigilance Commit tee
had been floating about the City for months
past, no public intimation was given of any such
design In silence and secrecy the authors of the
plot appear to have matured their plans, and as
noiselesSy and effectually, to have put them into
execution. On Wednesday night, the Vigilance
Committee seized the Public Arsenal and most of
the City Armories, and on the following morning
issued the proclamation which we also publish
elsewhere. The proclamation explains ITSELF 1t
reveals condition of affairs, of which the columns
of the daily journals of New Orleans have furnished
for years past the daily proof Weare not disposed
to advocate or justify such extreme and revolution
airy measures, A Vigilance Committee we have al
ways looked upon doubtful remedy for the
evils which seem to be inherent in the working
of our political institutions in the larger Cities
The necessity for such organization anywhere
pre-supposes state of affairs, when free nstitu-
tons have ceased to be-either practicable or de-
sirable. The formation of Vigilance Committee
is tacit admission that in the community where it
exists, the principle of popular sovereignty and of
an elective government has proved a failure
We are not prepared to say that things
have not come to that pass in the City
of New Orleans We are not prepared
to say that matters here, and in all
the larger Cities not gradually tending to the
same result We will not, therefore, PREJUDICE with
unnecessary harshness the course of the New Or
leans Revolutionists. Wehave watched for months
the gradual progress of things in that misgoverned
city, from bad to worse. We know that the pres
ent movement, violent and revolutionary as it may
appear, has the sympathy and the cooperation of
the best men in New Orleans. We see many points
of resemblance between the history of New Orleans
under the rule of the Thugs, and that of Baltimore
under the dominion of the Plugs. We shall await
with interest further accounts of this desperate at
tempt to cure what we fear, is ineradcabe social
and political evil for according the sequel shall
show, it may serve for an example or a warning to
ourselves in future days