Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-10-28
THE GAZETTE.
FRIDAY MORNING. OCTOBER IS 1859.

FRIDAY MORNING. OCTOBER IS. 1859.
A PREsENTNENT-The Grant Inquest for
the Criminal Court Of New York CITY have
presented some Of those evils which ni!,ct all
great cities. and against which the law and
public sentiment should be most earnestly
enlisted. The Grand Jury strongly CON
denim the disgraceful interference OF rartl-
san Aldermen and Judges in behalf Of noto-
rious characters under arrest for offences
against the laws. They assert that III lar
too many eases, the eyil-duei, after detec-
tion aud arrest by the police, has, without
UNSUITABLE cause, been discharged and per-
mitted to 90 at large by these tunctionares;
while, i'm other cases, where the forms OF
Justice have been observed, there is good
reason to believe that undue lenity is shown
to those whose political influence can be
made serviceable. From this the Grand
Jury argue that an elective criminal judicia-
~ is a dangerous and untrustworthy institu
ton, and recommend that the Police Justi-
ces be appointed by the Justices Of the Su-
perior Courts. Until this changers made. 1t
is urged that the existing evil might be OBJ
waited somewhat by defining the duty of
Aldermen and Police Justices, to the end
that this summary interference be checked.
The Grand Jury also condemn the letting
of premises for brothels, gambling saloons,
rum holes, and kindred purposes; and affirm
ed that all those who knowingly let houses
to improper characters should he subject To
penalty. lfmere physical nuisances, such
Us piggeries, slaughter-houses and kindred
establishments, are to be proceeded against
and abated, how much more, they argue,
should those places where body and soul are
wrecked, be prohibited and suppressed. =
More than seven-tenths of the cost of police
and paupersm can be traced to rumsellers,
more pretentious gambling houses, and bro
thels. The Grand Jury soundly argue that
those who derive profit from the use OF their
premises for such purposes ought to be held
responsible for the evils which they iniilct
OUR PUBLIC ARNoRIES AND FoRTS.-Ihe
recent seizure of the armory at llarpers Ferry
by a band Of seventeen white men and five
negroes and their holding, not only the public
buildings, but the entire town, with It's TWEEN
ty-two hundred inhabitants, as prisoners, for
nearly two DAYS, have drawn public attention
strongly to unprotected condition of all our
forts, arsenals and magazines from Name to
Texas.
On looking into the matter, We tiLd that
there is not regiment of regular soldiers on
the entire Atlantic and Gulf seaboard. We
have two companies at Fort Hamilton TO
protect New York lIarbor, one company at
Boston, one Just removing from Newport to
the West, two companies at Charleston, one ut
Key West, and eight companies of recruits at
the artillery school at Fort Monroe on the
Chesapeake Major French's battery has
been ordered to establish an artillery school
at Fort Clark, in Western Texas, and another
has been established at a frontier point on
Missouri river We recognise the advantages
to be derived from the establishment OF field
artillery schools on our Western frontier, and
readily coincide in the fact that the West
must and should be protected But we also
think it right to. insist that our forts and ar
senals on the Atlantic seaboard shall also be
kept in repair and ready state Of defence.
We are now constructing on the Dry Iortu-
gas, an immense fortifcation which has alrea-
DIV cost millions of dollars, and which, when
finished, will be the Gibraltar of the Cult OF
Mexico. Yet there it stands alone in the
centre of a thousand miles of uuguarded
coast, with not one hundred soldiers along
that whole ey tent, citizen soldicry TO rush to
its rescue, and no navy to guard 1t II 1t were
menaced.-N. Y. Herald.
n.s- J0HN FIELD begs leave To remind