and were admitted by his brother, who said that the mayor had retired. In a few moments the mayor came down to the prior, when Marshal Kane stated to him the substance of the information received, and reminded him of the excited condition of the city, which rendered it imperatively necessary to adopt me prompt and efficient measures to delay the advent of the correctly apprised to the state of affairs, and to arrest the threatened danger. For that purpose the partial destruction of the bridges was suggested. Mayor Brown immediately assented to the suggestion as one of absolute necessity, but said that as mayor of the city his jurisdiction terminated with its corporate limits, and that consequently he could not assume to exercise powers beyond those limits. The mayor added, "The governor, however, is here, and I will go up and see him." In a few moments he returned and said that Governor Hicks was not well and would there fore receive us in his room. Immediately upon entering the room Mayor Brown and Marshal Kane gave to governor Hicks a full statement of the matter and solicited his authority to destroy the bridges. Governor Hicks replied that it was a serious affair to undertake to destroy the bridges, and he expressed some doubt as to his authority to give such an order. It was urged in reply that it was a case of absolute self-preservation; that in three or four hours' time a large body of troops would probably be in the city inflamed with passionate resentment against the people of Baltimore for the assault made on their comrades in the Pratt-street encounter, and that as the city was filled hundreds of excited men, armed to the teeth, and determined to resist the passage of troops, a fearful slaughter must necessarily ensue, and the safety of the city itself be put in peril, unless by the destruction of the bridges time could be gained to avoid the difficult by peaceable arrangement of some sort. Governor Hicks fully and most distinctly assented to all this, and said, "Well, I suppose it must be done," or words of precisely that import, to which the mayor replied, substantially, "Governor, I have no authority to act beyond the city limits, and can do nothing in this matter except by your direction; shall the bridges be destroyed?" Governer Hicks emphatically and distinctly replied in the affirmative. It is absolutely impossible for any misapprehension to exist on this point.

The mayor, Marshal Kane, and I then proceeded to the marshal's office, where we found several highly respectable citizens gathered, to whom the mayor and marshal gave a statement of their interview with the governor. The mayor then issued written orders for the destruction of the bridges. The next morning I learned by the newspaper extras that the orders had been carried into effect.

Respectfully, yours, &c.,

E. LOUIS LOWE.

No. 4. Extracts from the message of the Mayor of Baltimore.

[BALTIMORE, July 11, 1861.]

To the honorable the Members of the First and Second Branches of the City Council:

GENTLEMEN:

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On the 19th of April last an attack was made by a mob in the streets of Baltimore on several companies of a regiment of Massachusetts troops,