hem just right. Then we must
turn them all into legal voting citizens--"

"That depends on how long they have been in the country," interrupts a
brisk little man, rising quickly to his feet, and assuming a legal air.

"Mr. Sprig! you are entirely behind the age. It matters not how long
these gentlemen from Ireland have been in the country. They take to
politics like rats to good cheese. A few months' residence, and a little
working over, you know, and they become trump voters. The Dutch are a
different sort of animal; the fellows are thinkers," resumes the Judge.

Mr. Snivel, who has been sipping his whiskey, and listening very
attentively to the Judge, rises to what he calls the most important
order. He has got the paper all ready, and proposes the gentlemen he
thinks best qualified for the naturalization committee. This done, Mr.
Snivel draws from his pocket a copy of the forged papers, which are
examined, and approved by every one present. This instrument is
surmounted with the eagle and arms of the United States, and reads thus:

"_STATE OF NEW YORK_.

"In the Court of Common Pleas for the city and county of New York:

"I---- do declare on oath, that it is _bona fide_ my intention to
become a citizen of the United States, and to renounce forever all
allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, State or
sovereignty whatever, and particularly to the Queen of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, of whom I am a subject."

Signed this---- day of---- 184-.

JAMES CONNOR, Clerk.

"Clerk's office, Court of Common Pleas for the city and county of
New York."

"I hereby certify that the foregoing is a true copy of an original
declaration of intention remaining on record in my office, &c.,
&c., &c."

"There! it required skill and practice to imitate like that" Mr. Snivel
exultingly exclaims. "We require to make thirty-seven citizens, and have
prepared the exact number of papers. If the cribbers do their duty, the
day is ours." Thus is revealed one of the scenes common to "Rogues'
Retreat." We shrink at the multiplicity of crime in our midst; we too
seldom trace the source from whence it flows. If we did but turn our
eyes in the right direction we would find the very men we have elected
our guardians, protecting the vicious, whose power they
covet--sacrificing their high trust to a low political ambition. You
cannot ser