The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-10-21

kets, printed on letter sheeI WIN NC leauy ior
delivery from our counter this afternoon. Mer-
chants and Others desirous of having their business
cards inserted can be accommodated by leaving
their orders at the Counting-room during the day.
zzazr..z<-=u<z=..-.z.a.-.-.-~
The occurrences of the last Election, with all
their hpmiliatng details, have, we presume,
now satisfied the people of Baltimore of the
fact that they are not living under such a
government as It becomes free and civilized
community to uphold. The measure of protec-
ton accorded to the citizen is not such as he is en-
titled to demand, and the imbecile administration of
the laws he is bound no longer to tolerate That in
the heart Of great city like this men should be
subjected, while in the exercise of their legal rights
TO blows, threats and insults, is bad enough, but
that they should be thus treated under the eyes of
the very Judges and Policemen, who are charged
with the preservation of the peace, and clothed
with full power to arrest and commit offenders,
admits of neither palliation or excuse. All this
has been borne not for day only, but at every
successive election for three years past and the
violence which has thus displayed itself has been
confined to no one locality, but has roed at will
the facts, and until very recently they have occu-
pied themselves in determining where they should
place the responsibility. 1t is time they should
decide this question, unless they are prepared to
surrender the direction of their affairs into rufian
hands forever, and they must speedily act on that
decision, unless they are willing to concede their
incapacity for sefgovernment. most vital and
mi amt &c bpfn nd &c tIof
every man should face it fairly, and tearing down
the fimsy defences, behind which corruption and
ineficiency have sought shelter, expose them to
the public gaze. Ifa gang of outlaws take posses
sion of the polls ntimidate and strike down voters
stuff the ballot-boxes, and render the place one
scene of violence and disorder from morning until
night, aud if the Judges fail to commit them, and
the police neglect TO drive them from the spot or
crush them into instant submission to the law. who
is to blame? Who but THOMAS Swami, Mayor
of Baltimore, who selects these disreputable
officials? We will not discuss now the apollo
gies he has made nor the legal opinions he has
quoted, nor his assertions Of his own meritorious
services, nor his reservations of the purity of
his intentions. It is enough to know that
he has failed to perform the duties of his station.
and that the want of integrity or capacity on his
part is the chief cause of such failure This is proven
by the whole course of his administration and
what we remember of the past affords as conclusive
evidence as what we now witness in the present.
Whatever may have been his motives, he has I'M
by his acts done more than any other
one man among US to bring about or perpetuate
the misrule which wrongs and dishonors u.s.
He appointed on the police force some of the most
abandoned characters in this city, and be retained
them there long after he knew of their evil
lives and habits, even if he was not informed on
these points when he selected them. He was aware
of The complaints made of their gross abandon
ment Of duty on various election DAYS, and he
neither busted himself to investigate the charges
nor did he promptly dismiss the delinquents. He
nominated many unfit and some utterly disreputa-
bic Judges of Election, and he re-nomnated them
after they had in some instances so located the
polls rs to facilitate fraud and violence, and had
in many cases disgrNced themselves by receiving
and without objection thousands of il
legal votes. He installed Magistrates at the sta
uon-houses who habitualiy released felons on straw
bail, and he did not venture 10 remove them though
the press gave publicity to their acts He received
his office from hands black with the iuiquites they
had perpetrated TO gain it for him. and under such
he accepted dishonor, and his
place together. Will any one aver that
nil these things were consistent with the conscen-
tious and heightened discharge of the duties of his
station? Is it any excuse 10 say that crime exists
or that the Courts here refuse to punish
Nv
Legislature had conferred upon him higher powers
When he rewarded criminals he must have ex-
pected crime TO increase when he tolerated the
outrages Of one election, bad men had right to
suppose that he would not too severely repress
them at another; when he appointed and re-
appointed Mr.. MEARIs, the vioators of the law had
little reason to dread its vengeance; and when he
confided trust TO Mr.. HNsLEY, the wrongdoer
was justified in thinking that no inquiry would be
instituted fhe assisted that citizen TO abuse it. Thus
we have gone from bad to worse, and the
banded rutlianism of the town holds the rights of
decent men subordinate merely to its own schemes
or pleasures. With the experience of the past
staring us in the face how are we to account for
the scenes of Wednesday last, on any hypothesis
that is consistent with belief in the desire of the
MAYOR, honorabIy and impartially, to do his
duty2 That he could have done it, no man can
entertain doubt. Had he accepted the CO.
operation of the citizens as rendered him by the
Reform Committee all would have been well.
They had the indisputable right TO claim to be
consulted in such an emergency, and as Mr..
SWAMI was not autocrat, but MAYOR only, he was
bound TO accept their profered aid, whether it
was distasteful to him or otherwise. 1t was his
business TO take that the person of the mean
est citizen should be protected even from
''undue crowding" in every highway and
byway within the city limits, and that every
arrangement should be made to enable the hum
blest legal voter to exercise his lawful rights
without molestaton In order to secure these
ends, he should have summoned, if necessary.
five thousand citizens, and have permitted the
SHERIFF to divide with him the responsibility and
labor of the day. But he gave US only promises,
and they were DETERMINATIONS, and they were
special orders, which have as
usual been disregarded; and for every violation
Of public decency and private right that was
witnessed on Wednesday week, the MAYOR of Bal
timore is directly and mainly accountable. He NAV
suit part OF. Ills Durluen on MT. WHITNEY. but
FOR whose shameless neglect OF duty many of the
noted rufians who were most conspicuous that
day, would long since have been taught to fear the
avs; or upon Judge STUMP, but for whose msera-
BILE incompetency many of these scoundrels would
be now within the walls of the Pententary.
But it will not better his own position to demon
Itrate the inefficiency of others, or the utter
of the system under which we live
The plain fact is before this community, that one
Or two hundred well known bullies OUTRAGED If on
Election day, and usurped dominion over the great
,r number of the wards, and that the MAYOR, with
our hundred armed policemen, and the power 10
Increase the number ten-fold, was unwilling or
Unable TO control them
We learn that JNo. Fl. THOMAS, Esq, who was
lrrested on the day of the late Election at the
wentieth ward polls, and dragged off to the sta
ion-house, has brought suit against the officers
Who arrested and confined him, and also agai INST
he CITY. Mr. THOMAS counsel are Hon. REvERpY
Johnson, WM H. NORRIS and S. TEAcKLE WALLIS,
lsqs, and the damages are laid at $50, 000 1t is |
ertainly high time to have the question settled,
Whether the citizens who pay taxes for the support