The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-07-11
BALTIMORE.
WEDNESDAY, JULY H. 1850

r the summer-term in The several
,n,s and the discharge oil 'he Jufss Suin'noneo
.ou'. ,be law of the last session oil Inc Legisa-
uh may. we think, afford point 'or retrospec-
Of which our readers will cheerfully pause,
'O' ooment, with us. Having contributed, in
,,av with all zeal and earnestness and our best
O"' hit TO the change which the last few months
,.o ,vronpbt in the condition of the city, we
hove hitherto been sparing of the commentator
-rbicb so many favorable developments of the
,oyy system, from time to time, have merited, lest
we should be suspected of too hasty disposition
TO applaud, where our feelings and sympathies
might be regarded as too warm for an impartial
Judgment. We have been unwilling, BESIDES 10
incur the reproach however undeserVed' vi I" ue-
sire to magnify results in the producuon VI winch
,ro r,iobt claim an humble share, and thereby to
-.aoct mon ourselves, in some degree, the public
,nnrobation we might bespeak for measures to
which this journal gave so early ana SO un.lrihg d
snnport, A period, however, has now arrived
when such considerations ought no longer 10
10Th and when the most active or the humoleSt
AGENT in consummating the policy OF Reform
NAV fairly hold up his work, to friend ana Zoe
alike. and call on both to say that II Is goou'
DO onr readers remember the circumstances OF oe-
nression which surrounded and pervaded ms
community when the summer solstce was upon
no last wear? Who can fail to recall the doubts
and onnrehensions which seemed to make up all
Aha rrceent and shroud the future? The morhiy-
inc sense of shame as an individual, and dispar-
ocement as a citizen, which oyercame every right
minded man-as he reflected on the public evils
which had grown so formidable and yet could
mot see how they were to be cured-must yet lin
ger painfully in all memories Disguise ii as we
NAV, there is but one thing to be said IN regard
TO our political condition, at the time referred to,
and that is-that we were living under the vilest,
and meanest and most offensive of despotisms-
tbe despotsm of gang of rufians and felons, SO
few and so contemplate that single grasp of
stronp-handed authority could have crushed them
like glass and yet so supreme, from the weakness
and conniyance of authority that they crushed
what they pleased, as well. We have no wish to
rauew the humiliation which such remembrances
must awaken. in those who permitted as well as
those who endured. But there were many per-
sons then-honest and well-meanng no doubt
who could not see what was brandished in their
f,cos and would not believe though they could
not controyert persons so welded to their political
nreiudices and associations, that they could recog
nize nothing honest or true outside OF them, and
therefore attributed 10 partisan feeling and de-
nouncpd as personal spite, the exposure by the
press and from the hastings, OF the abuses which
they themselves knew and felt all the while. We
appea to those persons to contrast the pestitential
atmosphere which then surrounded them, with the
free air which they and all of US are breathing
now. We call upon them to do the justice which
they then tened TO the supporters and advocates
of as honest and true cause as ever was, for
time trodden down. We ask them to recognize,
in the moderation of its ultimate triumph and in
the impartial benefcence of its measures and their
administration the integrity and the patriotism on
which the Reform movement was founded. Let
them look at the administration of justice between
man and man-the intelligence and purity which
have taken the place of what-we will not charac-
terize it'll lately filled the jury-box. Let them
contemplate the administration of criminal Justice
even as it is, and Judge what it might have been,
if the reform which swept partially through one
portion of the Augean stable, had been permitted
to cleanse it all. Let them walk the streets, by
day or by nght-freqnent all public places
visit all public acknowledgements, everywhere,
the visible presence of law, security and order
of duty recognized and duty faithfully discharged
and they must be more than perverse, to deny
that the tree was good which has brought forth
such fruits. But whether they deny or confess,
the truth happily remains in spite of them, and
we rejoice, for our part, and are proud to welcome
it. We hail the restoration of the supremacy of
the laws among us, under circumstances so I'M
promising and apparently so helpless, as one of
those marvellous self-vindications, by which re-
publican government, so often, is able TO illus
trate its superiority and exalt and consecrate its
principles. We do not conceal the qualification
with which we look back upon our own humble
part in reformation as full of honor to the
institutions under which we live as of advantage
to the community in whose behalf it has been
wrought We look TO the ripeness aud develop
ment Of the new system, as it gradually takes its
place among the fixed organizations of the gov
ernment for daily demonstrations of improved
and increasing usefulness We call upon all good
citizens to give it not merely their applause, but
their energetic cooperation and support that
the embarrassments, and the petty and factious
annoyances with which its enemies and the sub
jects of its vistations have sought to obstruct it,
may only illustrate its vigor and integrity, and
thereby strengthen the hold, already strong, which
it has upon the confidence of the people