Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1861-08-09
LETTER FROM FREDERICK.
Correspondence ofthe Daily Exchange ]

; SRNNs was to~Aee well iiltu WIFI AUDITORS, {
very considerable portion of whom were ladie
whose beauty and intelligence would grac,
any assembage. The popular attraction o
the day was the report of the Hon. S. Teaklt
! Wallis, from the Committee on Federal Rela
tons, upon the memorial of the Police Com
missioners of Baltimore, which, it had beer
extensively rumored last night and Yesterday
would be submitted this forenoon.
The report, which is very lengthy, covering
think, seventy five pages of foolscap, was
read con dmore by its author, and with an elo-
cutionary skill which materially heightened
the impressive force and effect OF its close and
vigorous logic and of its beautifully rounded
periods. .
The production is generally conceded to be
one of remarkable argumentative power. To
my mind, it is by far the ablest paper upon
the subject o! which it treats that has yet come
to my knowledge. By the States Rights men
ii is hailed with positive enthusiasm as con-
elusive indication of their views, and the wish
is generally expressed by them that it may be
widely disseminated throughout the State as
the platform of their party in the approaching
political contest Of the fall. So earnest is their
appreciation of its sentiments and its conclu-
sions that, departing from the usual porlia-
mentary practice, large majority of the
States Rights members of both Houses serious
ly propose to attest their endorsement by af-
fixing their hands and seals to the document,
quite willing to incur any hazards which
such an endorsement and attestatiou may
bring down upon them at the present or in the
gloomy future.
The reading of the letter was several times
interrupted with applause which the Speaker
found it difficult to suppress, and one excited
was so forgetful of the propriety of the place
and OF the occasion as TO give vent 10 his en-
thusiastc appreciation in a style Of cheering
peculiar, | think, to Frederick county, and
which is in effect picturesque but not pleas
ant combination Of the neigh Of an indignant
horse and the screech of II hungry panther.
(Your correspondent has heard them both. J
Two members of the 0pposition-Dr. Wilson,
of Hartford, and Mr.. Mcdders, of Kent--voted
in the affirmative upon the passage of the re-
solutions.
The vote stood Affirmative AZ; Negative.
T-Messrs. Lawson, McIntire, Fiery Routzan,
Bayless Roop and Mccoy.
The report reviews at length the creation
and the functions of the Board of Police, re-
citing the outrages which led to its adoption
as the sole means re-establishing the supre-
macy Of the law in Baltimore. 1t refers to
the determined hostility which the measure
encountered and to the severe tests--the Sc
verest legal ingenuity could devisc-by which
its perfect constitutionality was triumphantly
established, and its strict legality sanctioned
by the legislative and judicial departments Of
the State, and asserts that the perfect fairness
and impartiality with which the law was adj
ministered had exercised a material and salu-
tary influence upon the prosperity Of the city,
TO such an extent that men of nll parties unit
cd in praising the'act and its enforcement, and
in regarding it as an inestimable blessing
The facts attending the arrest of Marshal
Kane and the Police Commissioners and OF
the military occupation of the city, by order
OF Gen. Banks, are fully set forth and the
conclusion is arrived at that the occurrences
mentioned must be taken as the combined and
deliberate acts Of the General Government in
contravention of the rights Of Maryland and
OF her citizens under the Constitution.
The violation of the personal rights of the
citizen involved in the arrest ofCol. Kane and
the Police Commissioners is forcibly dwelt
upon the facts and the laws bearing upon
them being grouped with consummate skill.
The only answer, the report contends, which
has been given to the petition Of the prisoners
to Congress for speedy investigation or trial,
is the appropriation by that body of a sum OF
money to pay the illegal police; though the
declination OF the President to furnish Con.
yrcss with the grounds Of their arrest is
tacit confession That the arrest was groundles!
and unjustifable.
Under these circumstances it is maintained
to be the duty Of Maryland to re-assert thos,
principles Of civil liberty which our fathers
asserted with their swords, and appeal to thu
whole country--since appeals to Congress are
obviously futile-aganst those gross anC
violent usurpations of which our State is madt
the theatre
! 1t is no longer a question Of Union or Dis
union, butof constitutional right and civil
liberty on the one hand, and the annihilator
OF state distinctiyeness, the establishment Of O
military despotism on the other. The attempt
OF the General Government to interfere with
the internal policy Of any State is so clearly a
violation Of the Constitution as not to admit
| OF doubt The Police Commissioners holding,
therefore, their office under the Constitution,
exactly as does the President Of the United
States, neither Congress nor the President has
the constitutional right or power TO remove
them, and the State of Maryland might with
equal propriety appoint and pay the army OF
the United States MS for Congress to appoint
and pay police force for the city Of Balti-
more.
II the Commissioners were guilty Of treason
or OF misprson Of treason, they were guilty
only as individuals, and not as officers and
as such might safely justly have been dealt
with by the judicial tribunals
Failing thus to comply with the plain re-
QUESTIONS of the Constitution and Of the laws,
the Federal Government has deliberately revo-
lutlonized the fundamental principles Of the
Union. The suifcicncy and the legality OF
the plea OF a " military necessity" is deped
an toto, and in its application 10 States espe-
cially. II is principle depending for its le-
gitlmacy wholly upon bayoncts.
The synopsis furnish is but faint and
meagre one necessarily so from the great
length Of the document and my inability to
secure careful perusal Of it. The argumenta-
tive points Of the paper have rot attempted
to present.
Mr. Kessler presented to-day the petition ola
number Of citizens Of Fred. co., praying the
passage Of n law for the further protection Of
slave property, which was referred TO the APP
propriate committee, together with petition
from one hundred and thirty-fye citizens Of
Baltimore county, presented by Mr.. Ford,
praying the passage Of an act TO prevent the
driving Of wagons aud stock on the Sabbath
day throughout the State. The unsophisti-
Gated petitioners Of Baltimore county do not
appear 20 have realized the truth Of that
'gllttering generality" that there are no
Sabbaths in revolutionary times"
A bill reported by Mr.. Gordon, Of Allega-
ny, to amend the 253d section Of article 90 Of
the Code Of General Laws, in relation to the
bonds Of Register Of Wills, was passed.
Mr. Pitts reported an important bill TO add
TO the Code Of General Laws an article de-
claratory Of the rights OF riparian proprietors
on lands bordering on the navigable waters
Of the State, which was passed after short
discussion.
1.-THE bill provides that riparian proprietors
shall be entitled TO all accretions caused by
the natural recession Of the waters, and shall
be entitled TO exclusive right Of improving in
the front Of their lands, provided such inn
prOyement shall not interfere with the nayi-
issued from the land Office shall prejudice the
right Of riparian proprietors; and that no
warrant issued from the land Office shall affect
any land covered by The naYlgahle watera Of