"[176] The Provost-Marshal, with the plenary powers conferred
upon him, commenced a system of search and seizure, in private houses,
of arms and munitions of every description.
On the 1st of July, General Banks announced that, "in pursuance of
orders issued from the headquarters at Washington for the preservation
of the public peace in this department, I have arrested, and do detain
in custody of the United States, the late members of the Board of
Police--Messrs. Charles Howard, William H. Gatchell, Charles D. Hinks,
and John W. Davis." If the object had been to preserve order by any
proper and legitimate method, the effective means would palpably have
been to rely upon men whose influence was known to be great, and whose
integrity was certainly unquestionable. The first-named of the
commissioners I knew well. He was of an old Maryland family, honored for
their public services, and himself adorned by every social virtue. Old,
unambitious, hospitable, gentle, loving, he was beloved by the people
among whom his long life had been passed. Could such a man be the just
object of suspicion, if, when laws had been silenced, suspicion could
justify arrest and imprisonment? Those who knew him will accept as a
just description:
"In action faithful, and in honor clear,
Who broke no promise, served no private end,
Who gained no title, and who lost no friend."
Thenceforward, arrests of the most illustrious became the rule.
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