The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-11-04

from its counsels and action remains free and uncommit
ted to pursue his political convictions in all matters Of
general government and policy
The concluding phrase should read-''all mat
tiers of State and General Government and policy"
We re-publish the Address entire, with the
above correction, so that our readers may have it
in convenient and accurate form.
ADDRESS.
number of the citizens of Baltimore, believing
that state of things exists in this community
der which its members can no longer rest in safety
or without disgrace, have united themselves to-
gether under the name Of the CRY REFORM Asso-
CATION for the purpose of indicating and preserv
ing their political, personal and civil rights. The
evils and abuses which, in their render such
organization indispensable at this time are so pat
ent, and involve deeply and notoriously the good
of the city and the material interests of every
within its borders, as to supersede the neces-
sity for any elaborate exposition of them here. 1t
is sufficient to say-what cannot, they believe, be
denied, with any decent respect for the truth-hat
there is no reasonable and sufficient security in Bal
timore for person, property franchise, under the
existing administration of the laws. A system of
recognized violence and despotic ruffanism has
grown to maturity and power, a very element
of government, under the inetlicency of police
force ample it is costly, but which, in spite of
individual and meritorious exceptions, is defective
alike in morale, material and administration Or
ganized bands of conspirators and outlaws have
usurped open mastery over important departments
of industry; controlling the owners of property in
the exercise of their rights it, well in the
employment of labor in connection with it, and
driving humble and peaceful men from the lawful
field of their honest livelihood and toll Outrages,
by day and night, upon unoffending citizens rob
berries the public highways; savage assaults
upon voters while vainly attempting to exercise
the right of sufrage murders of men, at their
own hearths and in the streets-have become
the burden of the press, until even the grossest
enormities have almost ceased to startle
munity, to which scarce anything would be
novelty but peace and good government. The
comparative inrequency of arrests, the facility
with which the most notorious offenders find re-
lease upon insufficient security; the hardness of
trial, the uncertainty of conviction and the made
uuacy of punishment even when the crime is most
heinous and glarng-all tend, if left alone, to the
perpetuation of misrule which is utterly Subver-
sive of the objects of civilized society IT, to such
an array, be added the browning outrage and
shame of the last election day-when the purity of
the ballot-box made public mockery, and the
secrecy of the ballot itself, farce; when access to
the polls was rendered impossible, except at the
armed and absolute pleasure of the most abandoned
wretches among us; when the most sacred and fun
damenta prerogatve of citizenship was trodden
down, with perfect impunity in the presence of the
constituted authorities, and the great of this
whole community was disfranchsed by force and
ostenatious fraud before the eyes and without the
Intervention of the officers of the law-here surely
can be no need of dwelling further upon the causes
which have induced the members of this Assoca-
ton to leave the quiet of their homes and business
have felt such step to be demanded not less by
their own rights and interests than by the reputa-
ton of the city, which such atrocities, unrebuked
have so sadly stained.
The members of this Association believe that the
evils under which they and their fellow-citizens
are suffering are susceptible of easy cure, within
the scope of the existing laws with good faith and
reasonable efficiency on the part of those who are
charged with their administration. But they see
enough, in the experience of the past, to satisfy
them that a temporary diminution or suspension of
those evils is no guaranty for their permanent sup
preston, and that no momentary effervescence of
Official vigilance activity affords any certainty of
the re-estabishment of order and good government.
They convinced that the only positive security
against the continuance of such grievances and
their augmentation, in the future is the combined
and resoute action of the citizens themselves within
the limits of the law also They have therefore
pledged themselves to each other to jon with such
affiliated societies may be formed for like pur-
poses, throughout the city, in indicating and re-
establishing their rights and restoring the good
name of Baltimore. 1t is their declared purpose
to unite in guarantying hereafter the purity
of the ballot-box and absolute freedom of access
thereto, and in promoting ana securing, by all
lawful and fair means, the election of honest COM
petent and faithful men, without distinction of par
ty to the various offices of Municipal Judicial and
Executive trust in this city. Every member of the
Association, while binding himself to the exclusion
of party purposes and preferences from its counses
and action, remains free and uncommitted to pur-
his political convictions in all matters of State
and General Government and policy. The Association
has been organized by the election of the permanent
officers, whose names are subscribed hereto. AS
its first and most appropriate public act it has re-
solved to make the present appeal to the communi-
ty, and its members therefore respectfully and ear
nestly invite their feowcitzens to cooperate with
Them by the formation of kindred associations in
the different wards, with a view to the peaceable
and lawful attainment of the objects which they
have disclosed, and which are common and vital
necessity to of every honest calling and every
shade of political opinion.
SAMUEL W. SMITH, President
WM II. DC. WRIGHT,
HuaH A. COOPER, w.; p.;a.
tal iH DR.. A. G.. ROBINSON, i'' ie'iuen'''
GEO. WIN. BRowN, ...
Henry NJ. WAKEFIELD, Recording Secretary.
JAMES FL. BARNEY, Corresponding Secretary
y LAMBERT Cuttings, Treasurer.
Scotch military company has been formed in
Niuoinnati