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under which he is acting, the Mayor of the city is made the
judge of, and is responsible for, the completeness and efficiency
of his arrangements for preserving the public peace; and that the
only official source of information, in reference to the plans here-
tofore adopted, was in him alone, and the officers acting under
him.

As to what your Excellency has said about the importance of
maintaining law and order in a great commercial metropolis like
this, I need hardley assure you, that no man has labored more
faithfully or assiduously, than I have done towards the accom-
plishment of this end. The events which have transpired since
I took charge of the municipal government, and the murdered
and wounded policemen, who have fallen in the late effort to pre-
serve the peace of the city, and to secure to the citizen the free
exercise of his right of suffrage, will sufficiently attest the activity
of my labors.                              

My preparations at the last municipal election were, as is
known, of the most ample character, sufficiently so in my judg-
ment, to have met any emergency. That individual instances
of complaint were to be found, is not to be wondered at. These
are incident to all excited elections, that have heretofore taken
place in our city.

My instructions to the police were of the most absolute and im-
partial character, and in every instance of decided outbreak, the
efficiency of this force was felt and acknowledged.

At the election in November, in furtherance of the object which
I have never lost sight of, in addition to the complement of offi-
cers assigned to the stations and the various election precincts,
acting immediately in concert with the judges, together with the
details by which they will be regulated, there will be, what may
be deemed in my judgment, a competent force to ensure to those
who may be entitled to vote, the free and untrammmeled exercise
of their right of suffrage; and I will state it as my belief that
unless some unforeseen occurrence should take place, or an un-
governable feeling should be excited by those who are now engaged
in the effort to break down the city government, that the elec-
tion will proceed quietly and without interruption.

As the Mayor of the city of Baltimore, I hold my commission
directly from the people, and am accountable to them for the
manner in which I discharge my trust, the office which I have
been called upon to assume was conferred upon me without soli-
citation, and will be laid down whenever it shall be made to ap-
pear that I have lost the confidence of those whom it has been
my highest endeavor to serve. I can recognize ''subordination"
to no other power within the sphere of my duty, I deemed it due
to courtesy to afford to your Excellency the amplest information
in regard to the matters to which you refer in your letter, and
now invite from you any reliable evidence upon which I can