What a noise is going on outside of the doors! There will, surely, enter a troop of men, women and children. How will they find places amongst the spectators of the tragedy which will soon commence?--for every chair is occupied, and many men are leaning upon the bar. There is room in front of the table, and near to the walls of the hall. A gentleman is entering. The auctioneer hastens to receive him with distinction, and conducts him to the chair behind the desk. The stranger is an American gentleman, and owner of the slaves who are now to be sold at auction. He owns a beautiful plantation, about forty miles from the city, near the railroad. He intends to run as a political candidate; he needs, therefore, money. He says he is ‘truly sorry’ to be obliged to sell his slaves at auction. Why sorry? Because his father raised most of them. They are ‘family slaves,’ and ‘very likely indeed.’ He is a young man of about thirty years. He has a high forehead, and an intelligent, upright face. But why can he not take a glance at the assembled audience? What is the matter with him, that he always bends his face over the desk, and that he will not look up? Has he not a right to be proud, and shall not the multitude envy the happy owner of a gang of one hundred and forty-nine slaves? But we comprehend what is the matter with him. He pretends to be a good Christian, and he is acquainted with the gospel; he therefore knows what is right, and what is wrong. It is his conscience that troubles him. His inner man is well aware that he is doing a heinous crime to sell at auction one hundred and forty-nine fellow-beings, redeemed by his Savior upon the Cross!