The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-07-14

was loosed, or the golden bowl was broken, or
the pitcber had broken at the fountain, or the
wheel broken at the cistern,' he turned, by
sad necessity of such natures, to the delights
of those PARSONS whose indulgence renamed
possble after his nobler faculties had lost their
occasions and the power Of exclusive occupa-
ton. -,
The change was as rapid as it was terrible;
had seen him in the glory OF his strength.
was boy, indeed and could not iuiy comPre-
bend or estimate him; but whole man IL
never wholly misunderstood even py the ieas'
capable observer; and if the impression was
somewhat confused and indefinite 1t was, never
theless, grand and inspiring. he was gen1e-
man of the olden time; one OF those oemi-Sous
of the pioneer period of society, that seem COM
pounded of the savage and civilized ePochs
which they unite. He had outllved the iaDu-
lous era TO which he appropriately belonged,
and was as i'll assorted to the new times as the
whole hero race of our idolatry would De, II we
had their personal presence now instead OF
their consecrated memories
A ruined tower is picturesque, Tor 1t mad no
sacredness but q temple in decay 10 humila-
ting II is the tomb of a god wreck OF a re-
ligion, worship in dishonor When | met this
man again, after some years of absence from my
mountain home, with my earliest apprehensions
of him sharpened and heightened by the dis
lance and difference of the commonplace plati-
tudes of fashionable life, and graced by those
touchings of the imagination which adorn our
ideals and accommodate the object to the hon.
age which we must give somewhere, to keep our
faith alive and cur souls IN tone-when met
him again, bowed with years, IN sadly dlsor-
dered dress, with dimmed eye, unsteady limbs,
untoned features, and nothing OF himself lett
but his noble form Of head and that erect hair,
standing like monument OF the dllapldated
man, felt the contact like blow. My habit
ual reverence CROPPED for its object in that chaos,
like child in a darkened chamber seeking tor
its father Standing over his grave, could have
recognised him. could have found him all
alive again in every street and on my play
grounds, his presence would have answered to
nv apprehension wherever turned if only ne
had not been therefore as he was. could
[ think, have borne the shock Of all natural
change. The even rush of years would have
left some noble traces to adorn the ruin; sec
ond childhood would have preserved some sym
metry in decay; but-he remembered me and
had forgotten himself! Like the chieftan of
clan. he was naturally foster-father to the
children of his early friends. This, too, was
extingushed. He had lost the habit of that
respect the capsciouspess Of its mutual claims,
and the sympathies and demeanor of the rela-
ton
Why does the church pray for deliverance
from sudden death The battlefield is the fit
test death-bed of the soldier When sit is fin
ished let the strong struggler give up the
ghost that the body may not become the grave
of the soul, nor the holy ones see their own cor
ruptiop.
Before this strong man became incapable OF
active useful life, his relations to it were d.
vorced, and his great energies were left to prey
upon themselves He was not born to rust, but
to wear out and when society refused his ser
vices and repealed his participation, the appe-
ttes, which had been suspended and controlled
by half century Of intense engagement in
worthy Offices, resumed their opportunities; the
vices of youth displaced the proper dignites of
age and the offended witnesses of his fall lost
their confidence in human virtue by the shock
ing exhibition of it, weakness.
was not his fault, but the fault of wretched
meagreness and meanness of conditions which
could not hold such q mind and heart to their
highest uses and noblest capabilities to the end.
date his death at the period of his discharge
from public duty; there justice sets up his mon
ument, and its broad shadow covers all that lies
behind it.
THE NEGRO ExoDus.-ln consequence of the
rigid enforcement of the 18th article of the
new Constitution Of Indiana, the black popula-
ton of that State are leaving in hundreds for
quarters ip the Eastern States. The Cincin-
matt Commercial, Of the 9Th ult, says:
We scarcely pass along the landing in these
long June days without observing one or more
negro families, with their household plumber
recently landed from some of the lower river
or Madison steamers. Becoming little curl
Gus with regard to this new feature in African
we made inquiry, and found that
they were moving from Indiana in consequence
of the severe enactmepts Of the Legislature, en-.
forcing the 18th article Of the new Constitution
Of that State. All persons whose mothers are
unable to prove the possession of greater pro-
portion than one-sixteenth of European blood,
and who came into Hoosierdom since Noven-
Der /, 1851, are forced to take up their beds
f they have any and walk. All negroes,
quadroons, octageroons, duodeca-
rooms etc. who can prove residence in the
State prior to November 1, 1851, are allowed
to remain under certain conditions and by
registering their names with the county clerk
Anv person who employs a negro, who is in the
State contrary to the new law, is liable to a
fine of not less than ten nor more than five
hundred dollars.
THE CASE or REpbEN RoBERTs vs.. ]. D
YATES, SHERIFF OF CHARLESTON DIsrRIcT--
We are gratifed to learn, from an entirely re.
liable source, that the British Government has
had the good sense and the good feeling to or
der the discontinuance of this case, instituted
by the British consul in this city, Mr. Mathew,
to try the constitutionality and validity of our
police law. in relation to free colored seamen,
cooks and stewards, coming from sister or
foreign State into the ports Of South Carolina
The case had reached the stage of an appeal
to the Supreme Court Of the United States,
from the verdict Of a jury, sustaining the con-
stitutionality Of the law, under charge of his
honor, Judge Gilchrist to that effect. We had,
some time since, learned, on Senatorial au.
thority, that Mr. Champion, the British Min
lister at Washington had intimated that Mr.
Mathew was proceeding against the wishes,
or without the sanction of the British Govern
ment This is now fully confirmed, az we
learn that the instructions to withdraw the
suit emanste from, or have been transmitted
through Mr.. CHAMPION. We hail this pacific
friendly and considerate course, on the par
| Of Great Britain, as an augury Of good and
as an example, il ought not to be lost on thu
part of our Northern and Western sister States
If Great Britain, in gil the majesty of hel
power, and in oil her AntiSlavcry feeling
yields to the necessity of our police law surely
our sister States should not be behind her
either in justice or comfy. On the other hand
this wise and friendly step of the British Gov
eminent should react on ourselves, and induc,
us so to modify thesxisting law, as to readel
it less offensive to Foreigners, and to substtut,
a kind Of eurfew, or some other system, for tn,
/ x.oaox,4 ....uu.a, ia ;x,.x,olific lolox.a.