The Portland daily press., 1878-04-17

the municipal debt is repetition Of the terri
BILE tale. If he had been permitted to live
there is reason for supposing that the efforts
which were in progress for his liberation might
have been crowned with success, and that
would have proved such misprision of Justice
that it is well a providential interposition has
caused 1t to miscarry. 1t goes into history that
one at least Of the great malefactors who proved
upon whole community for ten years through
series of perjuries and robberies which never
had parallel in the annals of mankind, did
not finally escape the penalty of his misdeeds.
His confederates are all at large, branded it is
true, with mark of infamy which can never
be effaced, but beyond the reach Of prosecution.
Some Of them escaped Identification and are
only suspected of completely with his offenses
by the comparatively few who were astonished
observers of the long series of peculations
which the Ring perpetrated with impunity for
the eleven years preceding the crushing expose
of 1871. Others soaght and found refuge in
exile, and few compromised with justice or
obtained release by the exercise of executive
clemency.
The most remarkable chapter in this huge
volume of guilt is the nnchallenged security
with which these audacious creatures pillaged
their fellow citizens of their property before
their very eyes. The money they stole was ap-
propriated by the Legislature, collected by the
tax gatherers and divided by the thieves year by
year so openly that nobody who paid the least
attention to the matter could be in any doubt
about the facts. Indeed they were exposed
often and specifically. But the newspapers
were quieted by patronage, the citizens were be-
numbed by a moral Inconsistencies which
| kept them in a state of hopeless insensiblity
and whenever the robbers encountered trouble
some opponent whom they deemed it an object
to silence, they ascertained his price and bought
him up. There was "Citzens Association"
formed five years before the flnal advertisement
the especial purpose of which was to unearth
the rascalities of the corporation officials. As
soon as this organization began to make lively
nqcisition into their mapractices its managers
were detached from it By tenders of lucrative
positions These new allies not only went over
to the Ring but they adroitly hoodwinked very
many influential citizens who were members
of the organization they were about to desert,
to sign memorials requesting them to accept
| the posts which had been offered them as q
| consideration for betraying their trust. This
was notably the case with Nathaniel Sands;
| Tweed s. Co invited him to take the office of
Tax Commissioner, salary $4,000 per snnum.
| To have gone over without some semblance Of
excuse would have subjected him to 30 much
obloquy that he could have been of no service
to his new associates. He obviated this diff.
Guilty by obtaining huge petition, signed by a
hundred or so of our very "best citizens'--
their names can always be got easily for the
asking, provided there is nothing to pay-urg-
ing him to enlist under the Ring banner, the
pretext being, of course, that 10 the capacity
assigned him, he could be an effective champion
! of reform. Sands tarned out to be a valuable
scquisition to his latest employers. 1t was he
that procured 33f signatures as late as March
| 1st 1871 to a petition praying that Tweed,
Sweeny, Hall and Co2nolly might thereafter
be empowered to levy taxes without the inter-
position of the Legislature. Se was particular
too, about the quality of Signatures he got.
He roped in a very large number OF first class
bankers, merchants, lawyers and gentlemen OF
acknowledged standing and worth, all OF them
of course as ignorant as babes in the wood Of
what they were subscribing to.
1t was by methods such as these, and because
they had a very short-sighted and easily hum
bugged constituency that the nest of corrupt
scoundrels scooped out of the unhappy tax
| payers of the Metropolis-among whom were
multitudes of helpless widows and orphans and
persons of small means-an aggregate of sixty
million dollars Is it any wonder that the hon.
est people of New York should breathe q sigh
of relief that the foremost of these conspirators
should have gone hence and can afflict them no
| more with his presence. YARMOUTH.