The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-09-20
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Meeting to determine ,chat course Of action shall
pursued"
Sincerely desirous as l have been at all times, t.
meet and receive the suggestions of any of cit
! zens and to cooperate in any practical reforms
deeply regret the tone and spirit of these resolutions
| The first proposition looks to the appointment O
! Judges of Elections This power, it may be prope
for me to state, is shared Jointly by the Mayor an
City Council. will state, further that at the las
election as well as all former occasions, hav
| endeavored to procure and recommend the bes
men who were believed to be available | have hat
messengers in almost every ward of the city, to in
duce good men to act in that capacity The EN-
barrassments under which | have labored, hav,
sometimes compelled me, in the absence or indispo
siton to serve of the most suitable persons, de
the pest could, and not unfrequently to call upoI
the resident magistrates of the wards in which the
election was being held. On one occasion large
number of the Judges sent in their designations
the day preceding that on which the election took
place.
The second proposition claims the appointment
OF two hundred special policemen in each ward o
unlmpeachable honesty, making four thousand in
ALL The experiment of going outside of the regu-
lar police organization OF the city fully tested
on former occasion, and did not result as | had
reason to hope, and anticipated. | have never OBJ
Jected, and do not now object, to the appointment
OF any conservative tiZens or any number of con-
seryatIve citizens, who may express an honest wish
10 serve the city In the preservation of order at the
polls, should it be deemed advisable The effort TO
obtain two hundred special policemen in each ward
tree from party preiudices, would soon prove, /
fear, how utterly useless it would be to ATTEMPT it.
IL IN their appointment we brought the two parties
IN antagonism, you would have one set of police
men arrayed against another, and the violence
whlch we are endeavoring to suppress would be
transferred from the people to the police.
Inc management of a crowd of thirty thousand
voters on the day of an election ashed into frantic
madness, by the incessant musings of the Press is
not problem of easy solution for any man-least
oil ALL Is it to be disposed of by the resolutions of
meeting, composed of persons, in the man whose
habits and pursuits, have not brought them to ex-
anime gravely into the subjects with which they
undertake to deal. My experience in these cleo
tons satisfies me, that, notwithstanding all the po-
nee ce may do, we require additional legislation, and
that no remedy will be complete until that is OBJ
tanned. TO those who would throw the whole res
possibility of all our evils upon the Mayor and po-
lice, would ask:
Is there any existing law which enables them to
supply the defects OF your criminal system?
Gan they prevent the carrying of concealed Wea-
pons?
Can they prohibit the taking of inadequate bail,
when officers holding commissions directly from the
people prove taithless to their trust?
Is there any power which they can exert to pre-
vent electualy undue crOwding at the polls on the
DAY OF an eectiOn-an evil as old as the charter
oi your city-when more than three thousand per-
sons are required to cast their votes between
O'Clock and sunset, at a single precinct?
Can they prohibit the use of Intoxicating liquors
or control the places where they are sold?
The people Of this city will find that this whole
subject is yet to be understood and that any expe
dent which may be resorted to, in the absence Of
proper laws, Is but an experiment at best, which
may or may not prove successful when practically
applied
In a community disposed to cooperate with the
Notwithstanding a sincere desire to main
tain the laws-every citizen should consider him
sell special policeman, without the formality of a
commission from the Mayor. Suppose the whole
city stood in this relation, how much less difficult
would be the duty he is called to perform But the
responsibility is upon the Mayor alone, and there it
must rest. Instances have occurred where rowdies
and murderers have escaped from the police in their
struggles to arrest them, with crowds of citizens
standing by, and desire manifested to lend
helping hand to the authorities of the city. | ask
these in all sincerity, where two hundred special
policemen in each ward are to be found free from
party bias who will undertake the pers of this ar
duous and thanklesS duty.
1t seems to me, fellow citizens, that great deal
OF what we complain of in the conduct of elections
is due to the apathy and indifference of our cit-
zens When has it been customary for property
holders and men of business to attend the primary
meetings, where bad nominations originate? Never
within my recollection. Had the respectable gen.
temen who composed the meeting in the Square
communicated with me, before the announcement of
the call In the public papers, | would have assured
them OF my sympathy and cooperation in any
effort they might desire, to arrive at fair and
honest expression of the public sentiment in all the
wards where injustice has been done, or was ex-
pected to be done, to the legal voters. No party
ties could induce me to uphold nominations which
had been obtained by violence fraud. The
whole police force of this city would have been de-
tailed to have afforded the amplest protection to all
who had been excluded from participation in the
nominations for State and City officers.
If half the zeal had manifested itself in such a
move as that which has characterized the proceed
lngs OF the Town Meeting, we should have had
practical test of all that, in my Judgment, it is
possible for any class of citizens to attempt in
giving direction to sound and healthy reform with
complete prospect of success. If citizen refuses
to do his duty at the primary meetings, in holding
salutary check over incompetent and unworthy as
pirants for public trusts, he has himself alone to
blame.
The proceedings of the primary meetings in some
OF the wards have no wish to defend. | should be
sorry to believe that any respectable number of
those who placed me here are in any way response
bic for nominations unfairly made. They can have
no sympathy from me, and nv fellOw-citiZens NAV
rest assured that the countenance of this office will
never be extended to any who may desire to up
hold them. Such nominations procured by unfair
means cannot and ought not to be sustained. am
prepared now, and at all times, to unite with con-
servatVe men to denounce violence or any attempt
to stite the voice of single qualified voter
1t is the privilege of every man to participate in
the selection of those who nominated to rule
over him, or to control the affairs of the govern
ment under which he lives For twenty years past
we have heard complaints of the manner
in which these primary meetings have been con-
ducted. The evil is not confined to anv one PARTY
The remedy, and the only remedy that can see is
with the conservative classes who refuse to partci
pate in them, and leave the results to be controlled
by incompetent and designing men.
yield to no one in this community in my ankle
ty to aid in any well directed effort bring abont
harmony and good feeling in the conduct of cleo
tons in this city. 1t is no new subject to met
has engaged my best faculties for more than two
years past.
In my former connection with every election that
has heretofore taken place in this city, have the
evidence of some of our most prominent and rela-
BILE citizens, who had the means of knowing as to
the singleness of nv efforts to do Justice to ali par
tes and to t9 every voter his constitutional
rights. The aid and support of every good citizen
is what | most need to sustain me in any effort to
reform abuses-aEd to put check to the licentious
spirit which has sometimes manifested itself in our
public affairs. The Mayor is but ingle agency in
this combination. He cannot be present at all the
precincts to see that the Judges or police do their
duty. The judges of election, the police, and the
citizens, are all alike responsible. We should not
go to the polls with the desire to find fault but to
cooperate in securing fair election.
When disturbance occurs, it is the duty of the
judges-al invested with magisterial powers for the
occasion-to commit promptly. and of the police to
execute their orders. If legal voter or any num-
Der of voters excluded from the polls it is the
duty of the citizens to communicate with the Mayor
to point out the oifenders-and If ne fails to do
his duty in such an emergency, it is time enough
then to lay the responsibility at his door. 1t is my
honest conviction that the regular police of the CITY
will prove more efficient in the absence of special
officers appointed for the OCCASION to share the re-
sponSibility with them; and vet | repeat am not
indisposed now, should it be desired, nor have
ever been, to commission special policemen, any
respectable citizens who may have desire to lend
their disnterested in aid of the authori
ties of the city.
Fellow citizens, l do not wish to be placed in a
false position by the proceedings of the late meet
ing in Monument Square. | am sure it could not
have been the intention of the respectable gentle
men who composed that meeting. | wish it dis
tincty understood that will use the whole power
of this office; in giving the amplest protection to
every citizen in the exercise of his rights have
always been ready and willing to receive sugges-
tons and am thankful at all times for the support
of conservative men. Whatever nominations are
before the people, it is my earnest desire to secure
a fair and unObstructed vote. have no interest in
the result but the good of the city. To this end
shall bend my most active efforts. | would invite
every citizen of Baltimore to unite with me in ar
irving at this result. With irmness on the part of
to lay aside prejudice, and cooperate with the au-
thOrities of the city, do not despair of meeting
the just expectation of the public.
For the last fifteen years, ellow-citizens, have
been connected with the public interests of your
State and City. During the progress of your great
works of internal improvements, | have negotiated
and disbursed, for the benefit of your people, more
than twelve millions of capital. | cannot Weld in
zeal and devotion in all that concerns your welfare
to the foremost upon the list of respectable mer-
chants who signed their names to the call for pub
lie meeting. hope that my past labors have not
been without their fruits and that, at least, they
have gained for me the just and impartial consider
alton of those whom have cndeavored so earnestly
to serve. In the midst of ISLANDERS which would
have deprived me long since of nv good name |