The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-07-18
MI H. NESRIAT,
POLICE COMMISSIONERS,

l"e 'oHowlnS memorial was presented to Con.
gress yesterday morning:
To the Honorable the Senate and House
@ Representatives of the United States:
ne memorial OF Charles Howard William
- Snhcheii and John w. Davis. Citizens
%. baltimore. i'm the State of nIarvI,nd
respectfully Represents:
Ihat between two and three o'clock on the morn
ing OF the lst OF July instant they were severalv
'"ueeu rom sleep, at their respective dwellings,
,"' se o'neS o. soldiers OF the army of the United
H1"tes' quartered In or about this CITY, and wprs
removed by force and gainst their will from ,bair
aomes and families to Fort McTIenry, where tbev
nave ever since been confined as prisoners and now
are. N '"
our memorialists, at the time, received no fur
tuer information to the cause of their arr.st
t"An Iiat the same was made hy order o. Major
uentrai Banks, commanding this military depart
tue"'' I' nor nave they since been informed of any
e"a yes Whatever against them, further than thoca
contained IN a proclamation of General Banks ia
sueu later in the same day, a copy of which ia
ken from one of the newspapers Of the city, thev
append hereto. N1
By reference to the said proclamation. your HIM.
oraoe Bodies will perceive that the arrest of
tnemoriasts is alleged to have been made s.in
pursuance OF orders issued from the headquarters
vi the army at ashington, for the preservation
OF the public peace in this department." and is at
temptedato be justified by the refusal of your memor
aIists' as members of the Board of Police of
natinore to acquiesce in the legality and effect Of
a previous proclamation of Gen. Banks, decaripg
'heir oihclal authority superseded.
The proclamation in question roes on IN cb.ro,
'hat your mefn0TlaliStS, after such attemp,ed sus
pension ot their functions, had continued 20 hold
sessions oaiiy; that upon forced and unwarrant-
aol9 construction" OF the previous proclamation
referred to, they had declared the Police Law tn
De suspended and their pnice force to be eff dutv
Intending to leave the city without anv nolics
Pro'ec!ion "hatever;" and that they had moreover
reused TO recognize, as policemen certain persons
selected by Provost Marshal under General
banks, to act IN that capacity. There is n further
allegation that the headquarters under the charoe
OF the BOARD, when abandoned by the officers, re-
semoled in some respects a concealed arsenal -
our memoralists respectfully represent that
together with their colleague Charles d. Kinks
ESQ, wa" was arrested with them, (but has since
oeca discharged, on his parole, because of in
health,) and sthe Mayor of the CITY ryhn hos nnt
oeen arrested, they constitute the Board of Police
aq"ds'-corporation created by the Legislature Of
Mary land, and having exclusive police jurisdiction
IN the CITY OF Baltimore. The nature and extent of
eneIr I"hcunns and duties will be made known to
Code OF Public Local laws of the State of Marv-
iana' Art ~, sec. sec to So and sec 100 to
22S incIusive.) " w
1t will there be seen that their powers are If
ampiest Character, and that they not only have
cpntroi OF the whole Police Department of the
STATE wlthla the city limits, but are likewise
charged with the appointment of all ind res nr
Election, aud the conduct of all elections whatbr
so that every such election is by special enactment
declared invalid and of 10 effect unless held by til
board and under its control and supervision. 1t
WIN iurther app"ar, by the explicit terms of the
raw, that no ponce force can lawfully exist in BaI-
tinore, unless appointed and governed nv the pa
ice t"ard and that neither officers nor men when
appointed, have any official authnrity or inrisdic-
tiop' independently of apartfrom the ard. hn,
W of 'i' o' them are merely employed in pursuance
OF the express provisions of the law, sto enable
lhe Board to discharge the duties imnosod on
them t"sou U"
By section 6l9 of the article of the Coda NJ
!e""Y referred to, heavy pscuniary penalties are
imposed upon any person who shall forcibly resist
or post7uci the execution enforcement of snv of
the provisions of the law, in the premises, r dis
purse any money in violation thereof and II il
MADE the cuty OF the Board to enforce such pensl
ties by civil action, leaving the parties WIN NOV
have violated the law still subject to indic,n,.nt
for any criminal offence com lifted bv them in tb
course of such violation. Your memorialists with
their colleague Mr.. Kinks, were duly aonointsd nv
the Legislature of Maryland, at its January sas
sion, lSG0 to carry out the provisions of tba 1Ii
system, at which they have thus indicated the lead
ing features, and they duly took the oath to do so
which is prescribed by the law
The term of office If Messrs Howard and Dor;
does not expire until the 10Th of March 1890 ad
that OF MesSrs. Gatchel and Hirks extends for sill
Two years longer. None Of them are subject to re-
moVai, except by the Legislature of MARYLAND
from which they drive their aurhoritv ard tYno'
uohs. A'the provisions of the Police Law were
iuliy tested by legal proceedings Instituted in tho
Superior Court of Baltimore city shortlv after ito
enactment, and carried, appeal, to the Court of
last resort In the State. The result was an M,
qualified recognition, by all the Judges of the cam
inrmlty OF the law, in all particulars with the
Constitution Of Maryland and that OF the United
States.
Such being the official tenure and lawful and
constitutional powers and duties of your memorial.
lists, they were astonsned the 9th of June LAST
10 D, VISITED without previous notice, by Col Ken
iy, otthe Maryland Volunteers, then pcamped near
Baltimore, and to be Informed by that officer that
he was Instructed by Major-Genera Banks to read
them proclamation declaring their official an
thority superseded, aad appointing Col. Kenly Pro-
State in their stead.
vi that proclamation a copy is appended to this
memorial, by which it will be seem that altbourh
various causes are alleged for the arrest of Col
George ?. Kane, Marshal of Police, and for super
sedng his official authority likewise, no ground Of
complaint whatever is pretended to exist against
the Board of Police, and no excuse is vouchsafed
tor the overthrow of the constitutional authority
OF the state OF Maryland vested in your memorial
lists, and of course incapable of being constitution
ally or lawfully divested by any federal authority
civil or military.
The City of Baltimore being entirely commanded
by large bodies Of Federal troops stationed around
it, and it being wholly impossible for vour meme
ra'sts to offer any effective resistance to the illp
gal proceeding of General Banks, they had no
alternative but to submit force and to vindcatc
as far as practicable the authority of the State of
Maryland and their personal and official riobto
and self respect, by protesting against such nro-
ceeding as an arbitrary and unconstitutional
exercise OF military power They accnrdinul ly
adopted the preamble and resolutions likewise
hereto appended 1t is in this act and in their con
timing tlueir sessions, under and in pursuance of
the law, that General Banks, in his proclamation
Issued on the day of their arrest processes to find
justification for his unwarrantable and unlawful
violation of their personal liberty.
1t is no part Of the intention of your memorial /
lists to enter into any discussion ofs the allegations
OF that proclamation, further than to say that it is
wholly untrue, as therein alleged. that they con-
tinued to hold the Police force of the s ate of
Mary yland in the City of Baltimore subject to their
orders, for any purpose inconsistent with the peace
or security of the Government They declared the
active operation OF the Police law to be suspended
for the obvious and transferable reason that the
torcble suspension of the functions of the Board
which alone had authority to administer the law.
necessarily parayzed the law also. They declared
the Police force appointed by them to be still an
existent BODY, because the law creating the fore.
torb'ds the dismissal of the men, except for cause
and then by the Board of Police alone after fri
had.
They declared it to be still subject to their or
ders Tor so long as the force exists it cannot be
subject, under the law, to any other. They refused
matter of obvious duty, to recognize as polica
men the parties named by Col Kenly TO act as
SUCH for they assumed il, they sill consider it.
to De beyond dispute, that Col Kenly could have
laws of Mary land, whatever his authority NAV
we been as military officer, (Which they d o not
propose to con.ider,) to appoint military subordi.
mates in the stead "f pulicrmen, outside of those
laws or in der0gation o. them.
The attempt by Col Keulv to enforce such no
lice app 'intments and all efforts of his nominees
10 act Hereunder were, moreover, punishable of
fences under the Police law the pen tties of which
1t was the sworn duty of your memoralists to en-
force, and in the violation of which it was iInpossi
bic that they could acquiesce. But your IneInori-
asts distinctly and emphaticaliv deny that they
had any other pu pose in their official protest and
action than to fulfil their manifest and sworn obi
cations, and to maintain the dignity aud assert
the authority If the laws Of Maryland which were
entrusted to their hands for cation but which
they precluded by force from executing
They soiemnly declare, that if they had been
permitted To continue in the exercise OF th-r func-
tiOns, after the arrest and imprisonment of the
Marshal OF Police, on the 9th of June they would
have continued to discharge their duties as they
had discharged them, theret"fnre, in all respects
futi fully impart ally aud the best of their ability
IN obedience to the laws sand the Consttuti n and
they asseverate and will maintain that the i'm gu
tahnn "i any other intention or purpose their
part is wholly destitute of foundation in fact
The statement in regard to the concealed ar
senal' at the Marshals Office, they do not deem it
necessary to aude to, further To to saw that it
is perfectly notorious and has been fully shown by
the message of the Mayor to the City Council OF
Baltimore that the arms in question were the Ia W.
fut property of the city; that they were insiguii-
cant in quantity, constituting but little more thar
the customary armament of the fOrca, for its pub
lie duties, and were lawfully Concealed to prevent
unlawful seizure. Your memoriaists therefore
General Banks in his proclamation give to tbei,
arrest and Imprisonment no color Justification o,
necessity.
And as to the proclamation of General Bank.
| ISSUED on the 18th OF June, announcing the arres
of the Marshal of Police and declaring his oficia
authority to have been superseded, these memo