The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-09-10
BALTIMORE.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1858.

length the principles on which, we think, all good
men should be willing to unite, and by depicting
the character of the who is now greatly needed
for that position We have gone further, and in
order to present the matter in every different as
pect and as it were
''By indrecton find direction out"
we have shown the kind of man who ought not to
he entrusted with this responsible office. Claiming,
in common with other citizens, the right of free
discussion where public affairs and public officers
are concerned and having our interests, which,
however small, are vital TO us, bound up in the
prosperity of this community, we now, as hereto
fore, unhesitatingly take ground against the re-
election of Mr. SWAMI. He 'tdeemS it his duty
TO state publicly that he is again candidate,
and we accept it as a part of ours, to show that
the opposition which his career has arrayed against
him, is based upon something more substantial than
''political rancOr' or Exaggerated statements.
If in presenting our objections TO this gentleman
we offend one political party, and appear to be the
advocates of another must be content to he so
misunderstood, until time shall prove the honesty
of our determination to assert the right and con-
denim the wrong, irrespective of party ties. When
we say that Mr. SWAMI has not entitled himself TO
the confidence of our people as an impartial eff
cient and conscientious Magistrate, we propose TO
give very frankly the reasons for the faith tor the
want of it, that is in us. OF that undiscrimnating
panegyrc which it is so easy to write and doubt
less so pleasant to read, he has had full measure:
nor has he failed to receive Though not at our
hands, his portion of equally facile abuse. To
how much of the one or the other he is really en-
titled, vague and voluhle phrases will not show;
and we shall resort to his own acts and language
to determine. 1t is sufficient for the moment to
present them partially in the shape of cursory
review.
When few weeks after his election, Mr.. SWAMI
called extra session of the City Council, he
said to that body: at cannot be disguised that for
'some time past spirit of lawessness has prevailed
''to large extent in city, and that the power
''of the corporation is at this time wholly made
'quate to its suppression, = # it is admitted
con all sides TO exist, and it is the desire of all
''that speedy corrective should be applied. -
Impressed with the same convictions, the City
Council promptly placed at the MAYORS disposal
such police force as he demanded, and as would
have been amply sufficient to crush the disorders
complained Of had it been selected and organized
with sole regard to the public veal, and under
the dictates of enlightened duty Much of its future
value was dependant upon the tone and temper
given to it at the very outset. The Council had
performed its part of the task faithfully and well
The house had been swept clean and garnished,
and nothing devolved upon the MAYOR but the
obligation to place it in the keeping of creditabe
and decent men.
How the expectations of the best friends of that
new measure were disappointed, it is needless for
us to tell. That many worthy and caI able men
were embodied in the police corps, and remain
there still, is unqueStionably true 1t is not less
true, unfortunately, that many have found refuge
in its ranks, whose capacity measured only
by the worthless and disreputable standard of
political activity, and known ruflianS have been
enrolled, whose evil lives and degraded characters
have brought discredt upon their comrades, and
tainted the moral atmosphere around them. If
such should be admitted to have been the practice
of other Mayors yet wherein does Mr.. SWAMI
stand thereby justified? Society, whose rights he
compromised when he compounded with its inso-
lent and open enemies, looks to him alone to
answer it.
In the City Commissioners Office, the most de-
liberate fraud that has as yet disgraced the city
was cOncocted; and it was carried forward to-
wards its consummation under the flimsiest pre-
tence of cOncealment for nearly one year Au-
thorized to build Jail at a cost of Sl2O 600, the
City Commissioner, in collision with the contrac-
tor, instantly set about the erection of one, upon
a different plan, and upon a scale that would
cause disbursement, among the employees, of
about S4OO 600. The details of this arrangement
were all before the Council, early in May, and it
was not until September, when every effort made
toobtain the sanction of that body had failed, that
the proceedings were arrested by the tardy inter
vention of the MAYOR, and the dismissal of the
faithless officer from place The work, in the
meantime, had advanced so rapidly that the add-
tional burthen cast upon the taxpayers WILL at the
least, amount to $780, 900.
In his first annual message, Mr.. SWAMI thanked
the Council for having placed nearly five hundred
policemen at his disposal and gave his reasons
for having asked such an increase of power for,
said he, the protection of the person and proper
ETY. of the citizen, in the free exercise of his legti
''mate pursuits and functions, was a principle not
Ito be compromised or postponed for single
moment, and I deemed it my duty, that no time
"should be lost in clothing me with the power
necessary TO place beyond contingency this
Fundamental requirement of all well regulated
governments" How did he show his solictude
for the 'free exercise of the Legitimate pursuits
''and functions of the citizen, when the oppor-
tunity for action was afforded him? He twice
appointed the Judges of Election, who twice re-
moved the polls of various wards, from central
points to their extreme outskirts, and placed them
in juXtaposition to those of other wards. For
what purposes, but those of party and Of violence,
was authority thus misused? What else but
tumult and riot did any sane man anticipate?
Was the acquiescence of the MAYOR, in such case,
worthy of one who had announced, that ''the life
'of the humblest individual confding in the pro-
election of our laws, would be worth more than
'any burthen OF taxation, which it may be neces-
<sary to impose, in order to guard 1t against out
"rage and violence?' To have been Indifferent
to such an arrangement once, was bad enough
to have permitted it second time admits of no
palliation. The elections followed, and with
them-came COURAGE and violence against the
citizens and shameless derelicton of duty on the
part of the police. Too many impartial men.
whose probity is unquestioned, were witnesses
of these facts to leave room for an absolute and
general denial of them. Not all the official de-
nunciations than can be hurled against any class
or section, smother truth, and we are well
satisfied, that the verdict of the people of our city
will bear out the correctness and moderation
of these statements. OF many instances in which
policemen abetted the violators of the law, all
men have heard, and many have known; but of
any condemnation or punishment with which
authority visited them, every one is to this day
ignorant. The paper in which Mr.. SWAMI thought
proper to couch his reply to all complaints, was
in form a diatribe, when it should have been a
candid and respectful examination of the facts.
The mildest opinion concerning this production,
might be expressed in the language of the invec-
,rhn Mr. S1,- hnaSnlf nniuStly aSSailed