The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-11-06
BALTIMORE.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6. 1858

"public mind the cure of acknowledged evils"
It even goes far to threaten, that if 'he late
notwithstanding thereby, we presume, The
CRY REFORM ASSOCIATION, perversely and
pseessv continued" it ''will call forth almost
unanimous demonstration of condemnation"
from that class whose favor and patronage The
American particularly desires to enjoy, and whose
interests and wishes, it fondy believes that it re-
presents. We confess that we have better opin-
ion Of the merchants and business men of Bati-
more. We believe that they have the sense to
know-athough The american may not know it
that the true ''defamers Of Baltimore" and the
worst enemies of its interests and their own, are
not the men who have exposed and denounced the
crimes and outrages that are committed in our
midst but the rulians and outlaws who per-
petrate them-the authorities who permit
them, and the press which seeks to gloze
over and conceal them. We believe, also,
that they have the spirit TO feel-athough The
american may not feel it-that loss of liberty
and honor and self-respect, is an injury greater
than a loss of custom-and that a who is
robbed of his rights loses that which is more
precious even than silver and gold. The american,
it is obvious, has no conception of any other or
higher interests than those of trade and cannot
therefore be expected to know, that the vindica-
ton and re-establshment of their civil, political
and personal Rights the publication and preser-
walton of the elective franchise-and the elevation
of honest, faithful, and competent men to offices of
public trust, is not less the appropriate and legit-
mate business of free men, than the selling of goods
and collecting of debts. The published list of the
REFORM ASSOCIATION is a gratifying evidence that
the mercantile community is not so demoralized as
The AmericGR. would have us to believe. And
even if the case were otherwise-and the cause of
popular reform, public order and private right
should he deserted abandoned and disowned
by every merchant in Baltimore-it would
other classes of Society-n different walks
of life and labor-and among the masses
of the People, to abundantly supply the
detection. From the haunts and homes of honest
industry, and from the dwellings and workshops
of humble toll, will come voice as potent in be-
half of Right and Justice as ever issued from
counting-rooms and banks. If they who have
the largest stake in Society, and consequently
reap the largest benefit from its protection fail to
do their duty, -humOler men will be found ready
and willing to do theirs. Such men have their rights
to defend, well as Others, and will submit even
less willingly to their deprivation. They feel the
degradation and indignity of dsfranchisement, as
Others may feel the apprehension of pecunary loss
The very fact that they have less of worldly gear
TO care for, makes them more solicitous for the
preservation of their personal Rights, because
those Rights the chief, and it may be- only
good for which they are indebted to Society. The
evils which even The american acknowledged
10 exist, and which the ASSOCIATION proposes to
REFORM are not confined to any one class in the
community, but press with equal weight upon all.
1t is in van therefore, for our contemporary to at
tempt to compass by threats what it has failed to
accomplish by cajolery. The ASSOCIATION WILL
doubtless persevere in the good work which it
has undertaken, although The american may
question its utility, or even deny its '.justifica-
tion'-and any such demonstration" as is
limited at by that Journal would only serve to
rally and unite in its support, and array in ndg-
nant and successful opposition to any such bare
faced and patent attempt to frown down the popu-
lar cause.-The whole body of the People
There is other point in The American s
sentation anew of a favorite argument in behalf
of silent acquiescence and submission and against
the necessity of any reform, which though often
refuted and exposed, our contemporary is never
tired of repeating. 1t says -
"The city perfectly quiet and orderly; there is
better prospect now of the laws being maintained
justice being enforced against known and notorious Grim
inals than any other past ten wears;
the Mayor is doing everything within his power thus
tO mai nfni
good feeling streets safe life property as
secure and business proceeding unnterruptedy as in
any city of the Union"
Because there is peace and quiet to-day, is
that any atonement for riot and disorder
yesterday, or any guaranty of peace and quiet
Tomorrow? Is it any sufficient and reason
able consolation to the man who was
beaten, insulted and disfranchised on the 18th of
October, to be told that it is now the 9th of No.
vember, and that so far he has escaped any repet-
ton of the indignity and outrage? After the
storm naturally comes the calm. After the excite
ment of the election necessarily follows the re-ac-
ton. Had the violence and disorder of a few
weeks ago, been kept up without intermission I'M
til the present time, life would have become intol-
cradle among us, and there would have been no
hesitation in the community about the nature of
the remedy TO be applied. As regards any 'better
"prospect Of the laws being maintained, and Of
'tjustce being enforced" in the future than in the
past, it need only be said, that we have the same
MAYOR over us now, that we have had during the
two years that are past-the same police, whose
faithlessness and ineficlency have over and over
again been proven, under precisely the same regu-
latons that originally enacted for its govern
ment, and of which any and every violation, il
was promised then, now, should be visited
with immediate dismissal, and with the same iden-
teal officers to enforce them--and the same magis-
trates to sit in judgment at the station-houses
with the assistance, it is true, of the Mayor
in person, who retains them in office while
he admits their incompetency, by assuming himself
to perform their duties All these things remain
as before. The only Improvements, in fact, that
have been attempted upon the past, are the addi-
ton of cavalry arm to the police, and the assump-
ton of ''magisteral functions and a rattle by the
MAYOR. Meanwhile, it cannot be pretended that
the ruifians and outlaws who have hitherto been
the terror and curse of this community, have
changed either their habits or their habitaton
Even as regards the protection of the Right Of
Suffrage at any future Election, we have no reason
to believe, that the same judges who witnessed and
connived at the fraud and violence of the 18th Of
October, as they had done at the October and No
vember elections Of the year before and not one Of
whom has been punished or indicted for his breach
of trust, will not he retained in ofice-or, if re-
moved that any better men will be appointed in
their places. 1t is, therefore, with good reason,
that we submit that there is nothing in Mr.
SwANNs present conduct or position, or in the
present condition of the city, whicfop,. 1ers the
slightest indemnity for the past or the smallest
curity for the future. We have already dwelt and
enlarged sufficiently, spon the fact that Mr..
SwANN's acceptance and retention of office, under
the circumstances of violence and fraud attending
his nominal reelection, WILL of itself, be sufficient
to destroy all confidence in his promises and his
efforts, and constitute a perpetual and abiding
grievance, for which it will not be in his power to
offer any adequate redress.
In case of HENRY GAMBRILL. indicted for the
murder of policeman BENTON on the night of the
22d of September, the Jury yesterday returned
a verdict of Guilty of Murder in the First Degree.
In this case the STATES ATTORNEY appears to have
discharged his duty ably and well. The Jury