The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-08-08

The Baltimore AMERICAN from having been the
especial and consistent champion and apologist of
Mr.. SWAMI and his police, has suddenly become
the severe and memorable censor of both. After
having followed the fortunes Of the MAYOR, with
touching devotion and fidelity, through all the
changes and vcissitudes Of his official career, our
contemporary has turned its back upon its former
friend and patron, in manner that is equally sur
prisinp and unaccountable. In its leading article
of Friday, upon the 'Police SYSTEM it certainly
conceded the condition of the city to be quite as
bad as we have ever represented it, and expressed
its condemnation of the causes that have led to
such a melancholy result, in terms as pointed and
severe as it may become journal of its age and
responsibility to use In its plaintive assertion of
its Fright to demand that there should be as much
"security for life and property in this city, as in
"St. Petersburg or Paris" we have its tacit ad-
mission that no such security at present exists In
its candid acknowledgement that call that is re-
''qured is determination to enforce the law, that
twill be dreaded, and before which rowdyism and
evidence will melt away like snow beneath the
"noon-tide rays of an August sum- we have its
testimony to the fact, which we have always as
serted, and which Mr. SWAMI has as constantly
denied, that with the means at his disposal, the
preservation ofthe peace and the enforcement ofthe
laws in this city would be a comparatively easy
task, and that there only needed little
common honesty and courage to accomplish it.
Nor are the utterances of our neighbor upon this
subject negative merely. They are positive and
bold Its motives, Gin thus complaining of the
'fneficiency of our police SYSTEM disinterest
ed; for "the interests of Baltimore are dearer to it
ethan the success of any party" The weight that
should attach to its opinions is great for it is
CONSCIOUS of speaking the sentiments of all law
"abiding men," Its sense of fairness is unim-
peachabe; for it is 'willing to make all due allow
"ances" Its patience and moderation have been
extraordinary; for it has ''waited for the unried
machinery to work itself smooth" Its disap-
pointment has been proportionate; for ithas 'wait
'ed in vain" What, then, are the conclusions to
which our contemporary has arrived? Simply that
give London policemen more efficient in quell
'ing row than twenty-five of the best officers in
'this city would be-" and that Zone London de-
elective will ferret out and arrest law-breaker
"our entire force" Nor is The american less ac-
curate in its perception of causes, than it is bold
and specific in lis exposition of effects. There are
some men in the police force, it declares, who
are physically and morally unfit for the respon-
'sible places they occupy" Who put them there?
ut is crime against society to retain them in Of
'fce." Who retains them ?-who sins against
society ?-who is the criminal? "Ther continu-
ance on the poce-rolls is the effect of one of the
'evils demanding a remedy" Might not our
neighbor have added, "and the cause of an hun
"dred others?" ''The absence of q severe discip-
cline is another cause of police-ineficiency"-
suspension or dsmission from office should
promptly follow the slightest oversight blunder,
cor neglect of duty" Precisely the sentiments of
Mr. SWAMI himself, as announced by him in his
proclamation of October 18th, 1858: "Any case of
delinquency or neglect of duty" said the
MAYOR, twill be punished by suspension for the
"frst, and dismissal for the second offence" The
Rules prescribed for the Government of the Force,
published March 1st, 1885, contain words to the
same effect Whose fault is 1T that, during the
two years and half that have elapsed since the
organization of the force and the PRONUNCIATION of
those rules, these words have remained dead let
ter so that, at this day, The american should feel
emboldened to suggest as a remedy the enforce
ment of one Of Mr.. SWANS own rules ana the re-
demption of his oft-repeated promises? 1t is
true, that The american seems to shrink from fol-
lowing its premises TO their natural and inevitable
conclusion. 1t sufficiently defines the offence, but
avoids identifying the offender. "The ends of au-
'thority," it says 'seem to be flying about loose
'lyin the wind and no can tell exactly where to
'locate it," Surely, our neighbor is mistaken in
this; its memory, we fear, is getting bad. In the
same proclamation of October 18th, already allud-
ed to, Mr. SWAMI said: ''The MAYOR places him
self at the head of the Police, with view to its
thorough reorganization, and the perfection of a
System that shall be hereafter free from COM
''plaint." And again: "a thorough re-organi-
'zation of the service will take place, and every
"otficer will be held TO strict accountability to
''the MAYOR in person." These are Mr. SwANNs
own words. Has The american forgotten them
1t once applauded them, and the man who uttered
them-and not once only, but an hundred times
With what face can our contemporary now pre-
sumo to talk about the perpetual shifting of re-
''sponsibility from one grade TO that above it,"
and ANONYMOUSLY thrusting the MAYOR out of
view proposes, as remedy for existing evils, that,
chastity, the Marshal should be looked to by the
public as answerable for every failure of the force
''to do their duty''-and that the Marshal should
be 'himself responsible to the community for each
"unpunished offence" Surely, our neighbours
present want Of confidence in Mr. SWAMI must be
great in proportion to the faith with which it has
hitherto worshipped him, and all his works. Let
not our contemporary complain that we have per-
verted its meaning or misquoted its words. The
stick is its own-we have simply guided the blow,
letting it fall upon the head where it should pro-
perly light, unless our neghbor simply wishes to
beat the air. In commenting upon its language,
we have purposey refrained from contrasting it
with that which it has held on many previous oc-
casions in reference to the same subject. We have
no desire to convert the occasion into one of merely
personal triumph. On the contrary, we should be
only too happy to welcome our contemporary into
the ranks in which we are ourselves battling-and
to believe that the sentiments to which it has
given such recent and forcbe expression are
really its own, and that it will not unsay to-
morrow what it said on Friday. In the meantime,
we ask no better or clearer exposition of the
'causes of frequent crime in this city-of "crimes
(Which the (police) force was designed to prevent,
"and which are the more offensive because so
"openly and boldly perpetrated than is to be
found in its own declaration that 'the contempt of
authority that marks the proceedings of black
guards, in this or any other city is the fault OF
'the authority ITSELF"