Mr. Kelly was again nominated for Congress in 1856, and at the election on November 4th of that year was returned to the Thirty-fifth Congress by an overwhelming majority. Of the 11,599 votes cast in the Fourth Congressional District of New York, John Kelly received 8,319, L. W. Ryckman, 1,497; W. F. Gould, 1,735, and 48 were scattering. Kelly’s majority over all was 5,039.
During Mr. Kelly’s second term in Congress a savage riot occurred in Washington at the District election in June, 1857. For some time the city was at the mercy of a gang of professional desperadoes, composed of Washington Know-Nothings, and Plug Uglies of the same party from Baltimore, the latter being the pets and followers of the malignant Henry Winter Davis. The Mayor was powerless to preserve the peace with the insufficient police force at his command, and President Buchanan, on the Mayor’s requisition, called out the Marines at the Navy Yard under Major Tyler to disperse the rioters. The military proceeded to the Northern Liberties, where they were attacked by the mob, and several innocent citizens were killed. Major Tyler was finally compelled to return the fire of the infuriated mob, and for some time that portion of the city was the scene of a fierce battle. It was not until the fire of the soldiers was directed in a few cases with fatal effect that the miscreants were driven off and dispersed.
After the disturbance, the Mayor of the city and the Chief of the Washington police, feeling themselves unable to cope with the lawless bands in their midst, appealed to Congress for relief. A bill to establish an Auxiliary Guard for the protection of public and private property in the city of Washington was accordingly introduced in the Senate, and after an extended debate the excellent measure passed that body, and was sent to the House of Representatives for action there. The remedies applied in the city of Baltimore, where still more atrocious scenes of bloodshed annually had occurred under Mayor Swan’s Know-Nothing administration, with Henry Winter Davis firing the hearts of his Plug Uglies to a war of extermination against foreigners, presented an example to Washington of the effective way of redeeming the latter city from the scoundrels who infested it. The Legislature of Maryland took the control of the police force of Baltimore from the Mayor, and lodged it in the hands of an independent officer known as Marshal of Police. In the bill creating the office the celebrated George P. Kane was designated as Marshal, and no better man ever lived for a position of that kind. Col. Kane was a gentleman by instinct and education; the purity of his character was universally recognized, and the intrepidity of his nature was perfectly understood by the law-breakers of Baltimore. A man of gigantic stature, he possessed wonderful symmetry and comeliness of person, enormous physical strength, and a courage that would have carried him to the stake to be flayed alive in vindication of an idea or principle he believed to be right. This man did more to redeem Baltimore from the assassins and ruffians who had controlled it than all other men and agencies combined. Under Marshal Kane’s magnificent administration the Monumental City became one of the most peaceable, as it long had been one of the most beautiful of American cities. In after years the people rewarded this destroyer of Know-Nothingism in their midst, first with the office of High Sheriff, and next with that of Mayor of Baltimore.
The bill to establish an Auxiliary Guard in Washington, whose features resembled those of the Maryland Act creating a Marshal of Police in the city of Baltimore, received Mr. Kelly’s decided approval and support when it reached the House. In the course of the debate on this bill, April 15, 1858, Mr. Kelly said:
“The proposition before the Committee is that the police laws of this city are of such a character that the citizens of Washington have to ask Congress to alter them in order to protect them from the murderer and assassin. The bill proposes to give to the President of the United States the power to appoint the Chief of Police, and that that Chief of Police, with the consent of the Secretary of the Interior, shall have the power to appoint his subordinate officers. The people here are willing to throw up their charter, given to them by Congress, for the reason, as they say, that they are not able to protect themselves against the criminals that infest the city. The amendment proposed by the gentleman from New York (Mr. Dodd) providing for the selection of Commissioners by the people is, in my opinion, objectionable. Men elected as Americans will, of course, appoint Americans or Know-Nothings to office, and vice versa, Democrats will do the same thing. The only way to give this city an efficient police is by passing the bill reported by the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goode), placing the power in the hands of the President of the United States to appoint the Chief of Police. Mr. Chairman, in the various arguments that have been made on this bill, all kinds of logic have been brought to bear in favor of gentlemen’s different prejudices. The gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Maynard), in discussing this bill yesterday, referred to a transaction which took place during a former Congress.[44] He spoke of men who earn their living by the sweat of their brow as a ‘parcel of Irish waiters.’ Now, sir, I do not think that that expression was called for. These men, whether Irish or German, or belonging to any other country, have the same rights under the Constitution as American-born citizens. It is not to be said that because these men were waiters, they had not their independent rights and privileges as much as the Representatives of the people on this floor. I tell the gentleman from Tennessee, and other members of this House, that the humble Irishman has his rights under the Constitution, naturalized as he is by your laws, equally with the native-born, and until he commits some act in derogation of the true principles of manhood, it does not become any gentleman to stigmatize him or speak of him in such a contemptuous style.
“The gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Stanton), in speaking on this Bill, attributes the defeat in 1844 of that great and honored statesman, Mr. Clay, who has long since gone to his grave, to the Empire Club in the city of New York, and to the manner in which the election was conducted in that city. Let me tell the gentleman that I was conversant with all those facts, and knew of the transactions which took place in New York in 1844. There was another Club there at that time, and it was a very objectionable one, because all the pugilists, all the fighters, and all the rowdies you could find, were brought together by pay, by solicitations of whatever nature, and were formed into a Club in opposition to the Empire Club at that time. Now, I ask the gentleman if he knows who was president of that Club?”
Mr. Stanton: “I know nothing in regard to that Club. Who was the man?”
Mr. Kelly: “Bill Poole. I am sorry to say he got into a personal difficulty in New York and was killed. Let me say to the gentleman that when both of those Clubs were organized at that particular time, though there were violent men in both, neither one of these Clubs used violence against citizens in going to the polls to exercise the right of suffrage. That cannot be said in this city, for I am reminded of the transactions which took place at the election here last June.”
“The gentleman from Mississippi, (Mr. Quitman,) said, in his speech, that there was no violence in this city; that he had travelled around on frequent occasions, in order to see if some one of the rowdies here would not attack him. Now I know that the gentleman has displayed courage upon the battle-field, and rendered essential service to his country. No man doubts his integrity, his honesty and his bravery; but had he been here last June, he would have met in the streets of this city that which no man desires to meet. I saw a body of young men from eighteen to twenty years of age, driving men of thirty and forty years of age before them like sheep from the field, and firing their pistols among them indiscriminately. Yet there did not appear to be, so far as I could see, courage enough in the citizens of this city to resent the outrage which was perpetrated upon them at that time.
“Crime, Mr. Chairman, in all cities, whether it be here, or in New York, or elsewhere, unless checked by the physical power of man, will continually manifest itself. Some gentlemen here have argued that you cannot check it by physical force; that moral force must be resorted to. That is all humbug, for such a check amounts to nothing at all. Violence of all description will be committed, unless you have proper officers to prevent it. Then you ought in the present case to organize a police force to meet this exigency, and to arrest the individuals who are in the habit of committing crimes in your city. Now this bill organizes an efficient police, under the jurisdiction of officers of this Government who have the full control of it,—a force which will be the means of protecting individuals who come here to transact business, as well as yourselves, for many of you admit that it is dangerous to leave your rooms at night,—that you are afraid of encountering these marauders who infest the city. The main objection on the other side of the House is that the Chief of Police, who may be appointed by the President, will be partial in his appointments, selecting only partisans, or those who favor his political principles, just as it is supposed the President himself will appoint a man who is of his politics. That argument, in my opinion, cannot hold good. I do not think such a course will be carried out, and I know if I had anything to do with it, I would not be partial at all. I would select men for their character alone. If I saw they were efficient, physically able to do the duties of policemen, and of good moral character, I would appoint them upon such grounds alone, without regard to politics. But, gentlemen on the other side say they are afraid to trust the President. Well, we are afraid to trust them in the city of New York. The case of this city and that of New York, between which some analogies have been made, are not parallel cases at all. This city is under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government. The President and the Congress of the United States are here; Ministers from foreign Governments are here; and the courts here are under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government. The only difference between the appointment of a Chief of Police by the President and by the Mayor is this: in the former case the Chief of Police is responsible to the Federal Government, and if he does not carry out the laws, can easily be reached; while on the other hand if the Mayor does not appoint satisfactorily, the people cannot reach his appointee, in the same manner.”[45]