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Show 154 DESPOTJSJ\t stands always rcady,-for the necessity of the case has created a peen liar class of men at tl~e south, who are gamblers by profession. It was to this class that those men belonged who were hanged at Vicksburg. 'rhis is a profession which has sprung up natnrally at tho south and as has been said necessarily, and which can b~ast of more talent and accomplishment among its members, than the three learned professions of law, physic and divinity united. 'l"'hc institution of slavery deprives a large portion of the people of their natural occupation. llut as man is essentially an active animal, to supply this deficiency it is necessary to create artificial occupations. Gambling is the employment, which under similar circumstances, has ever presented itself. to men, as a means of killing time. In order that this employment may be indulged in, whenever the want of 1t IS felt, It IS necessary that a peculiar class should exist, as It were, the priesthood of the gaming table, always ready at all times, to gamble witJl all comers. These are the professional gamblers. They practise gammg not for amusement, but as a livelihood. If they left every thing to chance and strictly observed the laws of pla)T, it would be iq~possible for them to live by their business, hccause, in the long run, they would be c01·tan~ to lose as much as they won, and so could have nothmg left whereupon to Jive. Hence they are compelled to play false. They must cheat, or starve. They arc not merely gamblers, but swindlers .. 'fhis explams the odium attached to their occupatiOn. Merely to gamble is no imputation upon anr body's character in the southern states, or at most tt ts an Imputation of which nobody is ashamed. To be a gambler by profession is infamous, because it is well understood, that every professional gambler is a cheat. . . . llut though the profession is infamous, still It IS crowded. lts members throng the steam-boats, the hotels, the cities, and the vill::lges of the south, and among them may be found, the m~st gentlemanly, agreeable, insinuating, talented, well mformed men of IN AMERICA, 155 the whole p~pulation, constantly on the watch, and always labo~·mg to at~ract, I? allure, to please, many of them attam a peculiar polish and elcaancc of manners. New recruit~ are .always crowding in. rrhc"' p.Jant.er who has rumed hunself by improvidence, disstpat~ on or lo.sses at the gar:ning table, the young disappomted hCir, bred up in mdolence and luxury by a father who diCs msolvent,-thesc persons find scarcely any other way of gaining their daily bread, except to adopt gamblmg as a profession. rl~herc is no other business for which they are qualified, there is no other art, which they understand. It seems hard to hold these individuals strictly responsible for the evil they do. You cannot expect them to starve. rrhey are the victims of a social system intolerably bad. The professional gamblers are above described such ~s they are, when at the head of their profession, and 111 the heyday_ of success. ln general, they soon begin to go down lull. . Proverbially improvident, they are abundantly supplied with money, or wholly without it. 'I'hc latter presently comes to be their habitual condition. Their fate closely resembles that of prostitutes in a great ctty. Drunkenness relieves their distresses for the moment, but by destroying their health and their mtellect, ~oon precipitates them into lower depths of misery. fhey become at last a burden upon relatives and friends; lind in an early death a refuge from despan j or are precipitated into crimes which carry them to the penitentiary or the gallows. . The vice of gambling is not confined to the supenor portion of the privileged order. It pervades the lower class also. There are blaeklegs and gambling hou~es adapted to the taste and manners of all. 'I o the business of gambling, the professional gamh! ers from ttme to t1me, add several other occupations. 'lhey become passers of counterfeit money, horsethieves, and negro-stealers. Nothing except the extreme poverty of the country, prevents them from orgamzmg an extensive system of plunder. Horses and slaves are almost the only thing, capable of trans- |
