The southern press., 1851-07-28

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dense nsgro pophAtiou. We NEST with hundreds
OF men who will ask 6is question In the open
Daylight and most Of them large shareholders
at that
This infamous bill not only stamps uan Al
traitor who carries tis slaves into the District
for sale, but goes beyond the erpress letter Of
The Consfitusion, and coniscstes his property
forerer. 1t does more--it steals from The S0ulh
lis slape capital, without which the lands Of the
South must in degree become barren wastes
and its present productiveness and wealth, un-
fruitfulness aud poverty. BY this bill the South
ern man is told that he shall not have equal
privileges with the citizens OF the free States
to carry any property he may possess into the
District and sell it--but on the contrary, II ne
attempts it. his property shall DO coniiscaied--
his negroes SET free. This bill strikes at the
very foundation of slavery; for once concede 70
the Ab0litonsts that they have power TO liberate
slave under certain contingencies, and make
distinctions in the property OF citizens norm
and South, and they will contend that they nave
the right in all cases---whch Is halfway grant
ed by this concession Many efforts were made
to strike out this odious feature Of the bill, and
substitute for the liberation Of the slave d fne
of epen as high as fue hundred dollars and i'm
prisonment of the offending parties. But nothing
short Of liberation and freedom of the slave
would satisfy the repacious maws Of the Aboil-
tionists--and the South surrendered And now
Southern men are called upon to rejoice over
this law, which is most infamons-infamous
because it is violation of the Constitution
Infamous, because it makes invidious distinctions
in prOperty-fnfdm0 because it is direct and
permanent robbery of the South.
Don't the 4th article Of amendments to the
Constitution guarantee to every citizen the
peaceable possession of his property, against
unreasonable seizures ?-Yet this law--this
harbinger Of peace to the country-says the
Southern man, il he carries his negro into the
District of Columbia for sale, he shall be taken
aw ay from him-sezed and set mt liberty. Yet
Southern men, every day, tell us that no viola
ton Of the Constitution has been made by the
pas sage of any of these "happy adjustment
billI"-State Guard
The PAwNBRoKER.--Here is an exquisite, af-
fecting, and true picture of that "harpy" OF
modern times-the pawnbroker Thank God
there are but few such scenes as this enacted in
our country: but they are too common in Eng
land, we re this sketch was drawn.
To the pawnbroker, the civility almost essen
tial to thu thrift of other tradesmen is wholly
superfiuo u.s. He places no quckeyed shopman
at the door, tenacious solicitor of the linger-
ing custOi ner to enter and trade. He stands in
his shop, the deputy of Mammon his customers
are not to be wheedled, coaxed, grinned at, pro-
tested to- He need not bow his back, or crush
his face up into smiling wrinkles, at the hesitat-
ing purchas. n. No: his customers-ihe people
who contril ute to him 30 per cent-for the
most part aS dress him with respectful meek
ness many with a shame-faced hesitation, as
though they begged his aid, the free offering of
his money---no pledge, no profitable hostage
left. Other tradesmen make it part oftheir craft
to presume the possession of wealth in their
customers: to the pawnbroker they come, the
best of them for the time, branded with the mark
of necessity. How different that face there, that
one in the third box from the door-how differ
ent the sweet, meek countenance, from the face
of five years since 1t is lady, young creature,
with canke .ous sorrow at her heart; fair thing,
with that suffering, yet resigned look of grief,
more profoundly touching than the widest ang-
uish. With the gentle, yet hesitating, grace of
the body, and faint smile at her lir, she pre-
sents a small trinl.et to the pawnbroker. How
different the moneylender's manner from the op-
pressive obsequiousuess of the jeweller who,
five years since, sold the locket to her. The
tradesman, with cold eye, turns over the trinket,
while the woman-it is almost the last of her few
OiiRluVh'S, anu tHttc sLc PosNitf, "iiu hu"SiJ
babes at thome-6nds herself waiting, with stinted
breath, the sentence of the pawnbroker. At
length he condescends to ask, ''What do you
want on this!" And, God help her! her heart
is eased at the condescension. The pawnbroker
may, from the independence Of his calling, by his
exemption from the idle courteses assiduously
cultivated by tradesmen, be as jocular as his ma
tive wit will allow him with many of his well
known customers. Again and again he may
crack his joke upon the coat withdrawn on the
Saturday for the Sabbath wear, and duly re-
turned to his safe guardianship on the Monday.
Coats will wear out, the nap will lose its gloss,
and the pawnbroker will have his joke upon the
frailty of broadcloth, and joking, offer less and
less upon the fading garment He knows she
cannot take it away; and, therefore, she resign
edly receives both the impertinencc Of the shop
keeper and the money he vonchsaies her,
Strange that tradesmen should so differ ia man
ners! The pawnbroker is a sort of King Midas
in squalid neighborhood; he is potentate
sought by the poor, who bear with his jests--
who, in tatters, bow down to him, and, with
want in all their limbs, with empty bellies and
despairing hearts, make court to him--that he
will be pleased to let them eat. How can the
pawnbroker deal in the courtesies of trade
His daily petitioner is want, with tiger appetite
-fecHless, abandoned, seiidoOmed vice, and
moody despair. Life to him is 30 often "turned
the sunny side without" that he must needs be
made calous by the hard nature of his calling
How can we drive bargain with despair, turn
ing the penny with the complacency of stock
broker! How bate down wretchedness? How
huckster with famine Yet this Is the daily busi-
ness of the pawnbrokerl
GIGANTIC WATER-WoRKs IN CEYLoN-We
have held the opinion that the Croton Works
were the most gigantic in the world, and we
have heard the assumption made that no works
OF such magnitude ever existed in the days Of
old. So far as the latter assertion is concerned
it is correct. Mr.. Tenant, in his recent travels
in the Island of Ceylon, describes some ancient
Water Tanks, beside which our Croton works
are as some small creek compared to the Hudson
river One tank named Paiharecolorn. is seven
miles long, three hundred feet broad and sixty
feet high The tank was faced throughout its
entire length with layers of square stones.
This huge tank is but one OF great many
scattered over the country and had been eracfod