16

Office of the Board of Commissioners )
of Police, No. 1 North street. )

Having the evening before issued the following—
ADDRESS TO THE POLICE FORCE.

BOARD OF POLICE, Baltimore, Nov. 22, 1866.

Having been appointed Police Commissioners by his Ex-
cellency, Governor Swann, vice Messrs. Samuel Hindes and
Nicholas L. Wood, removed, we desire to state that in the
prosecution of the duties assigned us, we do not design in-
terfering in any respect with the police force now organized, or
to remove any person connected with it for his political opin-
ions, provided he does not hereafter render himself amenable
to the laws now in force for the government of the Police of
Baltimore.

We believe the officers and men in the department are dis-
posed to be what the laws require them to be, conservators of
the peace, and it is hoped and expected that they will cheer-
fully aid us in preserving the quiet of the city.

We also invoke all good citizens to assist us by their coun-
sel and example, and that they will use their best endeavors to
prevent any undue excitement, and that they will also advise
all disposed to act otherwise to quietly and peaceably acqui-
esce in the measure now about being inaugurated by authori-
ty of the Governor.

JAMES YOUNG,
WM. THOS. VALIANT.

They then proceeded to issue an order to the sheriff, under
the 816th section of the Code, directing him to summon a
posse of one hundred men for the preservation of the peace of
the city, when they were arrested under the warrants from
the Criminal Court, and Sheriff Thomson, one of the peti-
tioners, was also arrested while executing their orders,

It thus plainly appears that at the t me the Criminal Court
passed the order in question, Hindes and Wood had been ac-
tually removed from the office of Police Commissioners by the
act of the Governor, in the exerci.su of his lawful authority
under the law of 1862, and had been notified thereof in the
most solemn form, and these commissioners, Young and Vali-
ant, had been duly appointed, commissioned and qualified to
fill the vacancies thus created, entitled to exercise the powers
and perform the duties of their office.

There cannot be any question of the Governor's power un-
der the law to remove the incumbents if, in his judgment, the
complaint of official misconduct has been proved. The law
makes his judgment final and conclusive, not subject to ap-
peal or review any more than a similar judgment passed by
the General Assembly.