The Sun.
London, England, 1868-11-24 00:00:00

NATURALIZATION FRAUDS.

There was once, and still may be, an institution
known in London as the "Judge and Jury," a
coal-hole where immorality was redeemed, as far as
immorality can be—by wit. Those who had seen
the Judge with his cigar in his mouth and a glass
of brandy and water beside him might be reminded
of the scene during the issue of certificates of natu-
ralization in New York to fraudulent applicants.
It is stated that such frauds were perpetrated on a
grand scale in Philadelphia, but that they passed
all bounds in New York.. The Nation, on these
frauds, writes, that not • one of some 15,000 voters
who claimed to be naturalized citizens, thcugh they
had not completed their five years' residence, had
ever been near the court-room ; and that 5,000 to
7,000 were non-existent. Describing a judge who
passed these, that paper says—" He invited a friend
who happened to be in his court-room to sit by him
while he played a little joke. Then he left of call-
ing the names from the list before him, and pro-
ceeded to call off a long string of purely imaginary
names invented by himself on the spur of the mo-
ment : John Smith, James Snooks, John Jones,
Thomas Noakes, and the like. For every name a
man instantly answered, and took a certificate !
Finally, seeing a person on the other side of
the room scratching his head, the judge called
out George Scratchem !" Here!' responded a
voice. ' Take that man outside to scratch,' said
his honour to the usher ; mud resumed the more
regular manufacture of voters. Yet there is not a
single Democratic lawyer of any weight in this city
who dares to come out and run for a certain one of
our judgeships against this audacious ruffian, who
might as well as not be defeated had any of his
nominal party associates the nerve to face him and
his backers. It is notorious that even among the
nominating leader=, whom he purchases with ser-
vices such as we have been speaking of and with
money, he has not one friend and many enemies.
At least 10,000 certificates of naturalization have
been issued for the use of repeaters,' and scattered
through the State. The total number of certifi-
cates fraudulently obtained, in this and other cities,
is at least 25,000 to 30,000." The Tribune the
day after the election wrote---" With an honest
vote, New York would give not less than forty
thousand majority for Grant and Griswold. In
this city their supporters largely exceed a third of
the legal vote, while they are a decided majority of
the native-born electors. We are overwhelmed here
through the issue and use of reams of fraudulent
Naturalization Certificates and the nefarious syste-
matic operations of 'repeaters,' organized and paid to
register in many districts and vote from poll to poll.
If it shall prove that our State officers are thus
cheated out of the returns, we demand a contest,
and a determined effort to unmask and punish the
villainies whereby this result has been effected.
We urge that a meeting be held, a committee ap-
pointed, and the collection of evidence commenced
forthwith." We congratulate New Yorkers upon
whtit their Irish friends have done for them. In-
deed it must be gratifying in the highest degree to
long-descended American families that the Pats,
with some of the Bog of Allan still sticking to them,
can out-vote them, legislating for their property and
good behaviour. They may learn once and for all
that the more Irish New York becomes, the less
they will like it ; and they had better now make
their stand against a tide of corruption of which
they are the victims, and which they cannot check
by truckling. The first thing to teach the Irish is
that if they desire American citizenship, and to
exercise its rights, they must become American
citizens, and not foreign conspirators. They must
regard the United States as their country, not as a
field on which to plot—first, against the natives for
plunder, and next, against the British for revenge.
Not only, however, did the judges know how to
add to the list of voters, but they also knew how
to subtract from it, as the following instance will
show : " Mr. William Newman, one of the Tri-
bune's employes, who had registered in the Ninth
District of the Sixth Ward, went to the polls,
and was told that he could not vote under any cir-
cumstances, as somebody' had already voted in his
name. He desired to be sworn, but the officers de-
clined to accept his vote under oath." So tremendous
have been the alleged frauds, so openly have they
been displayed, that the much suffering community
of New York city have at length been moved to
action. The courts have taken cognizance of the
matter, and the District Attorney, Mr. Courtney,
has preferred bills of indictment, which the grand
jury have found, so all the cases will go up for
trial ; among them that of a judge. Unfortu-
nately, prosecutions in this form assume the guise
of political persecution. The cases are, in truth,
conspiracies against the sovereignty of the people,
and as such, in America, should be regarded as
highly treasonable. But instead of this, whatever
party prosecutes is said to be in conspiracy against
the people. The returns show how successful the
Democrats have been in the city of New York in
swelling up a majority which has swamped the
genuine American opinion of the State,- as therQ
was no overcoming the 60,000 for Seymoer and the
70,000 for Hoffman, who himself, aided by his
proclamations, &3., in his own election using his
office as Mayor to forward his candidature for the
Governorship. A trustworthy paper writes : " False
names in thousands were put on the registration
lists, and on the strength of them repeaters went
from precinct to precinct, voting early and often.
In Brooklyn, in defiance of law, the officials whose
duty it was to count the vote deliberately an-
nounced their intention of performing their func-
tions in secret with closed doors. This was in
order to make the majority as large as might

be needed. Such a proceeding, of course,
makes the perpetrators of it liable to punish-
ment on conviction, but unfortunately it does not
vitiate the poll—and conviction these gentry do not
greatly fear. In order that it might be learned just
how large a majority it was that would probably
be needed, the notorious Supervisor Tweed and his
associates sent out a day or two before the election
to every county in the State a circular to this effect :
The recipient was to make arrangements with a
shrewd and reliable Democrat in each city and in
most of the towns, whose business it should be to
transmit in the early part of the evening an ap-
proximate estimate of the relative vote of
the two parties. "There was, of course, an objet:
to be gained." The object was, of course, that the
Hoffman ring might in turn tell their henchmen in
this county and Kings how many ballots to add to
the number really cast, fraudulently or honestly.
The desperate lengths to which Tamtnany went arc
perhaps more strikingly shown by the harmonious
proclamations of Mayor Kalbileisch ant M tyor
Hoffman—whom we are asked to believe only u
fortunate in his associates, though the plain truth
is that the most of them are as unfortunate in him
as he is in them--both of which incite to lawless-
ness and murder. Luckily some of these rascals,
and some big fish as well as some little ones, are
under arrest ; and unless honest citizens, with pro-
verbial American good nature, let them go, they
will stock the penitentiary, it is to be hope]."
There are, however, some indications that nei-
ther in Philadelphia nor in New York will the
result be patiently submitted to. In the latter city
the Union League have appointed a committee to
investigate the alleged frauds, and steps will be
taken to contest Mr. Hoffman's election. Among
the persons arrested for naturalization frauds is
Probate Judge Mizner, Ottawa county, Ohio.

TEXAS.

(From the 'lnvto-American Times.)

It is but fair to Texas, which we have not hesi-
tated to denounce for the political assassinations we
call murders, to show that the country is all that
its advocates claim it to be as a field for emigration.
Indeed, its advantages are sufficiently great, if
slowly, at least surely, to weigh clown the prejudice
caused by the lawlessness on which we have
commented. The Houston 1 inies, in writing of
its resources, observes that, " Cotton is and al-
ways will be produced successfully in Texas, and
it will always bear a moderately good price. Corn
is raised abundantly, and when distilling becomes
general, as it will, it will be very profitable. The
hide trade is now beginning to rival the cotton
crop, and we believe that from this time forth it
will be worth as much to Texas as the cotton trade.
The hide trade in Texas is destined to become a
source of great wealth; The wool trade, we appre-
hend, is about half the value of the cotton trade,
and will almost equal it after a white. The tallow
trade, too, is also growing into importance, and
will soon become a source of immense revenue.
The wine trade of Texas is increasing . every year,
and will ultimately become one of the largest and
most prosperous industries in the State. When the
railroads are extended a little further into the in-
terior the flour trade will soon become one of the
largest and most profitable in the State. The beef
and cattle trade is already very large and prosper-
ous, and as soon as packing establishments are
erected at all needful points the trade will become
a leading one in the State. The castor bean and
and the California clover are both attracting at-
tention, and will be sources of much profit. In a
few years the present small but general and pro-
fitable business of raising sorghum and making
molasses and sugar from it will become a pro-
fitable industry for Texas. Hay-making, from
clover, from millet, from Hungarian grass, from
crab grass, from pea vines, and from many other
materials, will become general and profitable
in this State. Manufactories of cotton, wool;
leather, horns and bones, and many other things,
into articles of use and commerce, have already
commenced in the State, and will continue to spread
and prosper. Potatoes, ground peas, cabbages,
onions, garlic, and similar things, which enter so
largely into the industry and prosperity of other
countries, are now being largely produced in Texas,
and will soon be generally and abundantly pro-
duced for home consumption and cotn ;tierce. The
raising of horses an I mules was injured as a busi-
ness by the war, but is now recovering, and with
the improvement in stock now going on Texas will
coon become the equal of Kentucky in this noble
industry. The way to bring ten millions of people
here to produce all the wealth with which the soil
of Texas teems] is to extend each one of the rail-
roads one hundred miles a year. The Pacific
Ledger tells the following story :—" Twenty-three
years ago a colony of German emigrants settled at
New Braunfels, at the junction of the Guadaloupe
and Corral Rivers, in Texas. At this point, where
the great road from Austin and San Ant)nio passes
through the centre of Comal county, have the in-
dustrious settlers pursued their unpretending la-
bours, until they can now boast of a flourishing city
and county seat containing 4,000 inhabitants. Co -
mal county lies upon the south side of a range of
mountains running from the north-east to the south
west, and embraces 900 square miles of fertile land
in a high state of cultivation. The principal staples
are cotton and corn, the latter averaging 30 bushels
to the acre. The climate is healthy, and cattle,
horses, sheep, and goats in large numbers fatten
upon the prairies. The town of New Braunfels is ra-
pidly improving, and new houses are constantly
springing up on every side. It possesses 30 dry goods
stores, three flouring mills, three saw-mills, two
manufactories, the one for cotton the other for
woollen cloth, a sash factory, and workshops for
every trade. The south-west is supplied with every
description of wheel carriages and waggons from
this place. From 4,000 to 5,000 saddle-trees are
made here annually, and the country around is sup-
plied with barrels for beef packing, molasses, &c.
It is also an extraordinary cotton mart for the sur-
rounding region, exporting to Mexico annually
several thousand bales. New Braunfels has pecu-
liar advantages over all other Southern cities in her
immense water power. The Coma], which is only
three miles long, has on one-half this distance a fall
or momentum of 2,000 horse power, and never
overflows its banks. In New Braunfels there are
very few coloured people, out of 800 registered
voters only about eighty being coloured. Good
mechanics work for $2 50c. per day, and common
labourers for $1 50c. The city and county are well
supplied with schools. The New Braunfels Aca-
demy is a building of hard stone, 160 feet in length,
and embraces five departments, under five compe-
tent teachers—two German, two English, and a
translater. This school averages about 300 pupils,
all studying the English as well as the German
language, so that the children of German emigrants
have abundant opportunities of here becoming ac-
quainted with the English language. About a
dozen American families have permanently settled
here. There are four churches--one Catholic, two
Lutheran, and one Methodist. The service in all
is held in German. The building material, such as
hard and soft stone, brick (burnt and unburnt),
and cedar and cypress, are abundant, but pine lum-
ber is hauled from 50 to 60 miles, and costs from
five to six cents per foot ; burnt brick, ten dollars
per thousand.