The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-01-19
BALTIMORE.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 1859.

Il - -
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 1859.
The MAYORS Message is certainly remarkable
document-remarkable less, perhaps, for what it
says than for what it does not say-inore for its
significant avoidance of certain topics than for its
insignificant treatment of others. In this respect
the MAYORS silence is more expressive even than
his words It is, moreover, remarkably long
document filling nearly four columns of THE
DAILY EXCHANGE, and suggesting the inquiry how
many columns Mr.. SWAMI will occupy-when-as
his friends confidently expect will one day be the
case--he comes to be PRESIDENT of the UNITED
STATES and writes Messages for the whole UNION
The fact is, however, there many topics TO
which Mr.. SWAMI could not venture TO alude at
ALL that he may reasonably be excused for being a
little more difuse than usual in his treatment
of those which he deemed it safe to handle.
point of literary STYLE also, the Message is
what remarkable-more so, perhaps, than any
that we have had from the same source. The i'm
provement in the MAYORS English, we regret to
say, has not kept pace with that which he an
nounces in the citys finances Tried by any of
the ordinary rules of grammatical construction,
portions of the Message will be found we fear
wholly unintelligible. Take, for example, the
following which occurs near the beginning:
The widespread revulsion in every department of
trade and productive industry which for two years
has bone heavily upon the prosperity of large
decided reaction The mechanical and working classes
still suffering and large accumuations of capital in
the absence of adequate nducement, have been with
drawn from pursuits in which it had been protably
simultaneously employed.
The MAYOR MEANS we presume, that IN the an
''sence of adequate inducement'' to continue or to
embark in business, '1arge accumuations of capi-
tai have been withdrawn" &C.; but certainly
that is not what he says. So in another sentence
the next but one Immediately preceding the
above-he says:
Nothing strongly illustrates the advantages of
natural position than the uninterrupted with
which for years past our people have been favored.
Uninterrupted career" of what 2-of adversely
or prosperity ?-of sickness health 2-of good
government or violence? His Honor omts to saw
Another remarkable feature in the Message is
what we may pronounce to be-for Mr.. SwANN-its
remarkable humility. The concluding paragraph,
in fact, in which he deprecates censure and ap-
peals to the ''public forbearance and liberaty''-
is sufficiently humble to be touching. Indeed, we
note it as gratifying symptom, indicative of bet
ter spirit animating the Getty government''-that
the whole Message is comparatively free from that
tincture of arrogance and assumption-that in
hated and almost defiant tone by which the pre-
vious productions both oral and written, of the
same author, have been invariably distinguished
There is in this Message no charge of conspiracy
ito break down the city government" or ITO
''paralyze its arm" and no reference to the 'par-
''san press" AT the same time we do not wish to
be understood as intimating-that Mr. SWAMI has
lost confidence in his administration On the
contrary, every thing stated in the Message is
pronounced to be ''most gratifying. Things not
gratifying are not stated at all, and of things
mixed, like the Jail business, only the ''gratifying'
features given, and the others left out. Things
Gratifying alternate with things gathering"
and even the extraordinary measures which have
'been introduced to preserve the peace of the city,
are said to "have been attended with the most
fattering results by which, we suppose, the
MAYOR means the ''result' of the 18th of October,
and by the extraordinary measures" alluded to-
those which were used to secure that result
So much for the style and manner of the Mes
sage. For the matter it contains-we presume
that orr readers, or as many of them as had any
curiosity upon the subject, have already ac-
quainted themselves Herewith, by the diligent and
aborious perusa thereof. For the information of
those who have not been at such pains-nor mean
10 be-we will state that it commences with an
expression of devout gratitude on the part of the
Getty government for the ''means of robust
''health and physical enjoyment-unchecked by the
'vicssiudes Of climate-for the escape of our city
H., r
natural position" 1t impresses upon the City
Council the necessity ofproviding adequate tproec.
'ton for home industry by wise determinations"
and recommends prompt and decided legislation
upon the subject. 1t recapitulates, in brief,
the commercial statistics of our neighbor. The
4merican-of the precise value of which, the pub
lie do not now require to be informed. 1t reviews
the measures that have been taken for the improve
ment OF the channel of the Patapsco, and states
the fact important to Mariners that the new
channel is "a true E. S. f. and W n. W.
''line-admitting the passage of vessels with a
''North or South wind;' whereas, "by the old
channel, seven different courses were REQUIRED
ITO reach our wharves'' 1t congratuates the
Council upon the satisfactory exhibit pre-
sented of the City Commissioner department-the
improved condition of affairs in the Collectors
department-the gathering account given by
the Fire Inspector of the operations of his depart
ment, and the satisfactory DETAIL" furnished by
the Board OF Health, of the operations of theirs.
The MAYOR also compliments the late United Fire
Department and the present Water Board: and re-
ters to the ''fatterng condition" of the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad Company, over whose line and
its various connections, he takes an extended ex-
cursion to Parkersburg, and ''all parts of the
West" Returning from this jaunt to matters
nearer home, His Honor devotes the two closing
paragraphs of his Message to the Organization of
our criminal SYSTEM and the police. That he
does not say more upon the subject, sprobably at
tributable TO the fact that the Jail record for the
past year shows the average increase in the num-
Der of persons confined in Jail each morning, to be
"34 daily, and total increase of commitments
over the past year-of ST." Now as there cannot
well be commitments without arrests-according
to the standard set up by the MAYOR, this increase
of commitments unexplained, must argue a cor
responding increase of crime. The natural reluc-
lance of the MAYOR to assign TO so notifying
fact prominent place in his Message probably
accounts for the somewhat disproportionate amount
of space devoted TO the consideration of other
matters, which are, relatively speaking-of much
less importance