flowing
far under his desk, awaiting the time when it would be in order to cry
out, 'Mr. President.' The reading ceased. Two voices were heard
shouting, 'Mr. President.' It was not to Mr. Roberts that an impartial
chairman could assign the floor. The member who introduced the
resolution was the one who caught the speaker's eye, and that member,
forewarned of Mr. Roberts's intention, moved the previous question. It
was in vain that Mr. Roberts shouted 'Mr. President;' it was in vain that
he fluttered his streaming ribbon of blotted paper. The President could
not hear a word of any kind until a vote had been taken upon the question
whether the main question should now be put. The question was carried in
the affirmative by a chorus of _ayes_, so exactly timed that it was like
the voice of one man. Then the main question _was_ put, and it was
carried by another emphatic and simultaneous shout."

Under the rule of such a Council the public money disappeared. Men who
went into the Council poor came out of it rich. Taxes increased, the
cost of governing the city became greater, crime flourished, and the
chief city of the Union became noted for its corrupt government.

IV. "THE RING."

I. THE HISTORY OF THE RING.

We have spoken of the outrages practised upon the citizens of New York by
the Common Council of that city. We must now turn our attention to the
other branches of the City Government, and investigate the conduct of the
real rulers of New York.

For several years the political power and patronage has been lodged in
the hands of, and exercised by a set of men commonly known as "_The
Ring_." They rose to power in consequence of the neglect of their
political duties by the respectable citizens of New York, and, having
attained power, were not slow in arranging affairs so that their
ill-gotten authority might be perpetuated. They controlled the elections
by bribery, and the fraudulent counting of votes, and so filled the
elective offices with their own creatures. Having done this, they
proceeded to appoint to the other offices only such men as were bound to
them, and whom they could trust to cover up their mutual dishonesty.
Competency to discharge the duties of the offices thus given was not once
considered. The Ring cared only for men who would unite in plundering
the public treasury, and be vigilant in averting the detection of the
theft. They wanted to exercise political power, it is tr