Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1861-07-04

force Of this department will render to him tina
Instant and willing obedience which is due from
every good citizen to his government
I NATH. p. BANKS, Major General,
Cong Depart of Annapolis
Previous t. the PRONUNCIATION of the order
suspendlng the functions of the police, the
RI Board met and adopted the following preamble
and resolutions
Whereas the laws of the State Of Maryland give
the whole and exclusive control of the police force
of the city to the Boord of Police, or ganzcd and
appointed by the General Assembly and not on v
are the said Board bound to exercise the powers in
and to discharge the duties imposed upon them
but all other persons positively prohibited, un
der heavy penalties, from interfering with them in
so doing; and
Whereas there is no power given to the Board to
t,ansfcr the control over any portion of the police
force to any person or persons whomsoever, other
than the officers of police appointed by them, in
pursuance of the express provisions of the law, and
acting under their orders and
i Whereas by the orders of Major General Banks,
an officer of the U. S. army, commanding in this
city, the Marshal of Police has been arrested-the
Board of Police superseded, and an officer of the
rected to assume the command and control of the
I police force of the city; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That this hoard do solemnly protest
against the orders and proceedings above referred
to of Major General Banks arbitrary exercise
of military power, not warranted by any provision
of the constitution or laws of the United States OF
of the State of Maryland but in dcrogation of all of
! them.
! Resolved, That whilst the board, yielding to the
force of circumstances, will do nothing to increase
the present excitement, or obsruct the execution
| of such measures Major General Banks may
deem prAper to take on his responsibility fer
1.-The preservation of the peace of the city, and of
public order, they cannot, consistently with their
views of official duty and of the obligations of their
oaths of Office, recognize the right of any of the
officers and men of the police force as SUCH to re-
ceive orders or directions from any other authority
! than from this board.
| ResolUed, That in the opinion of the Board the
| fotcible suspension of their functions suspends at
the same time the active operation of the Police
Law, and puts the officers and men off duty for the
/ present, leaving them subject, however, to the
rles and regulations of the service as to their per-
sonal conduct and department. and to the orders
which this board may fit hereafter to issue when
the present illegal suspension of their functions
CHARLES HOWARD, President
VIM. H. GArCHELL,
CHAs. D. Kinks,
JOHN w. DAVIS,
GEO. WIN. BRowN, Mayor,
and Elk otficio Member of the Board.
Referring to the events recorded above, the
Baltimore Exchange says:
If there is any man among us into whose
mind and heart they have not sunk deep, al
ready, it is because nature has endowed him
with neither. The powers which rule over us
may press, still further, as doubtless they pro-
pose to press, the vindictive and brutal harsh
ness of their domination, but, so far as our
humiliation is concerned, they have nothing left
fCQ do. The rights and liberties of our people
are-at an end, with the laws and constitution
which secured them to us. Our statute book is
compressed into proclamation, and Provost
Marshal is our master. We have but to ex-
change the anthems of our freedom for God save
the King!
= We presume that no intelligent reader requires
his eyes to be opened to the shallow weakness
Of the pretences under which the long gathering
conspiracy against our city has at last disclosed
its purposes The charge against the Marshal
OF Police, that he was cat the head of an armed
force hostile to the authority of the government,
and acting in concert with its armed enemies"
is too transparency preposterous to deserve dis
cusslon 1t is simply getting up fictitious
military exigency, in order to cover the iniquity
of usurping military Intervention. If the
charge was even reasonably probable, the mere
suggestion of its truth, with the exhibition of
the slightest proof would have secured the in
renoyafnf Col. Kane, by the Police
TbDafd, rom tue Jaff0H= ne Would then -havs
been unfit to fill. If General Banks haa not
f7chosen to resort to the Police Board the grand
/ jury Of the District Court, in session even now
and crowded with swift witnesses, would have
! furnished him presentment for high treason in
an hour, if he had the slenderest thread of truth
upon which to hang his accusation. The law
of the land afforded him a remedy, speedy, an
pie and overwhelming and the fact that he has
not chosen to resort to the law, but has had re-
course to military violence in its stead of itself
establishes, peradventure, that his accusation is
pretext and fiction.
But even if the allegation were we'll founded
al
of the Board Against the gentlemen who
compose it, not even the proclamation itself
breathes syllable of complaint or suspicion.
No man in this community, who has the slight
est regard for truth, will venture to mpeach the
perfect integrity, impartiality and success with
which they have discharged their important and
most difficult duties. There is no honest man
among us who entertained doubt, yesterday,
as to their continuing intention and ability to
preserve the peace of the community and pro-
tect The lives and property Of our people. They
are swept away from the places they have filled
with honor-as the Marshal is removed from the
station in which he has commanded the sympa-
thy and respect of all good men-for the simple
and only reason, that it is the policy of the
government to overturn the laws, instead of en-
forcing them, and to establish its unprnciped
partsans in power, by usurpation and force
If any man doubts this, let him go to the office
of the Provost Marshal, or look at the once
familiar faces of the outlaws who have already
supplanted the police force, and obtained con-
troll of the town. Under such vsitations, the
severest Of human duties is forbearance Yet
our people must aforbear. We caution and en-
treat all good men to remember themselves, in
stead of outrages which are put upon them, and
to offer no pretext for further wrong, by giving
way to natural resentment. To-day is not all
of time, and of things such as these there will
surely come an end. Let them not delay its
coming by rasbness. Every act of oppression
is seed of retribution, and God cares for the
! right.
4srest of the Police Commissioners.
Since the arrest of Marshal Kane, it has been
expected (says the Sun of Tuesday, that the
gentlemen comprising the Board of Police would
be arrested by the military, nevertheless con-
siderable excitement was created early yester-
day morning when it was announced on the
street that Charles Howard ESQ President and