A Review of Uncle Tom's Cabin Part 1

A Review of Uncle Tom's Cabin.

by A. Woodward.

PREFACE.

For the last two years a "still small voice" has constantly whispered to me, in private and in public, at home and abroad, saying, _write!_ It was in vain that I strove to quiet this inward monitor by pleading incapacity, poverty, want of time, &c.; he heeded not my excuses. I inquired what would become of my dependant family, should I relinquish the practice of my profession and engage in other pursuits? He answered, "Put thy trust in the Lord, and _write!_" I yielded not to his monitions, but continued with unabated ardor the practice of my profession, until the latter part of autumn, 1852, when I was suddenly prostrated by disease, and forced to desist from the practice of medicine. I then commenced as soon as I was able, the preparation of a work, which I contemplated bringing before the public at some future period, provided I should live. In accordance with the plan of the proposed work, an essay on African slavery was to close the volume.

After I had finished about a hundred pages ma.n.u.script, in order, the question of African slavery in the United States suddenly thrust itself upon my mind with such force, that I found it somewhat difficult to investigate any other subject. My mind at the time was enervated by disease, and by no means well disciplined. Hence I could not control it. For this reason, I at once concluded to draw up a skeleton or outline of my essay on slavery; after which I contemplated resuming my work in regular order. It was about this time that my health rapidly declined, and I became so feeble that I could not sit at my table more than one or two hours in twenty-four. In this condition, by a slow process, I finished from chapter i, to the close of chapter xiii. The Introduction was written afterwards, to supply some obvious defects in that portion of the work alluded to.

None need tell me that there are defects and imperfections in the work. I am well aware of the fact, but could not remedy them without re-writing the whole, and that was impracticable under the circ.u.mstances. Critics need not trouble themselves about its defects as a literary production, as I lay no claim to merit on that ground.

Having been actively engaged in the practice of an arduous and perplexing profession for the last twenty-five years, I am aware that my qualifications for authorship must be somewhat defective. I was moreover forced to write, when my corporeal system was exhausted, and my mental powers oppressed by a complication of diseases. There are not many, I conceive, who will find any difficulty in clearly comprehending the ideas I intended to convey; if so, my object is accomplished.

The work was written under disadvantageous circ.u.mstances; but such as it is, I cast it out on the great sea of public opinion to abide its fate. If good is accomplished thereby, I shall rejoice; but if it is destined to sink into oblivion, I shall console myself with the reflection that I had no other object in writing, but the correction of error and the welfare of my fellow creatures. I may err, but I appeal to "the searcher of all hearts" for the purity of my motives and intentions. Whatever may be the effects of this work on the public mind; light and truth were my aim, and the best interests of my fellow beings, my sole object.

I appear before the public with reluctance, and am exceedingly mortified that it has fallen to my lot to treat any portion of my fellow citizens with severity; but I am nevertheless prepared to meet the sneers and frowns of those implicated. I shall offer no apology for the harsh language which will be occasionally found in this volume; as a desperate disease requires an active remedy. If I could, however, have re-written the work, I would have changed, in some places, the phraseology. I have brought many and serious charges against the abolition faction in the United States, but those who are not guilty of the charges alleged, need not feel aggrieved thereby. My remarks, for the most part refer to what is called _ultra-abolitionism_.

It is probable that I have occasionally quoted the language of others, without marking the same as a quotation. If so, it was not intentional. I could not, in doubtful cases, refer to writers whose ideas I may have used, on account of ill health. In quoting from the Bible I relied almost entirely on my own memory; but I presume I am generally correct.

I have now finished a task--by no means a pleasant one--and I have done it with a trembling hand, for the subject is a delicate one--a subject of intense interest, under the existing circ.u.mstances, to every American citizen. To me, the signs of the times appear to be ominous--to forebode evil! I sometimes fear that our political sun has pa.s.sed the zenith--lowering clouds intercept his rays, and at times obscure his former brightness, majesty and glory. The ship of State is tossed by furious winds, and threatened by boisterous waves--rocks and quicksands are on the right and left--an awful wreck awaits her, and can only be averted by vigilance, prudence, caution and circ.u.mspection on the part of her crew.

GREENCASTLE, IND., May, 1853.

Transcriber's Note: The CONTENTS are printed at the end of this book.

REVIEW OF UNCLE TOM'S CABIN;

OR

AN ESSAY ON SLAVERY.

INTRODUCTION.

SECTION I.

Since the following chapters were prepared for the press, my attention was directed by a friend, to a letter published in a Northern paper, which detailed some shocking things, that the writer had seen and heard in the South; and also some severe strictures on the inst.i.tution of domestic slavery in the Southern States, &c.

I have in the following work, related an anecdote of a young lawyer, who being asked how he could stand up before the court, and with unblushing audacity state falsehoods; he very promptly answered, "I was well paid; I received a large fee, and could therefore afford to lie." I infer from the cla.s.s of letters referred to, that the writers are generally "well paid" for their services.

It has long been a practice of abolition editors in the Northern States, when they were likely to run short of matter, to employ some worthy brother, to travel South, and manufacture articles for their papers. Many of those articles are falsehoods; and most of them, if not all, are exaggerations.

No man who will consent to go south, and perform this dirty work, is capable of writing truth. And moreover, many of the letters published in abolition papers, purporting to have been written from some part of the South, were concocted by editors and others at home; the writers never having traveled fifty miles from their native villages. But some of them do travel South and write letters; and it is of but little consequence what they see, or what they hear; they have engaged to write letters, and letters they must write: letters too, of a certain character; and if they fail to find material in the South, it then devolves on them to manufacture it.

They have engaged to furnish food for the depraved appet.i.tes of a certain cla.s.s of readers in the North; and furnish it they must, by some means. They truly, are an unlucky set of fellows, for I never yet heard of one of them, who was so fortunate as to find anything good or praiseworthy among Southern people. This is very strange indeed! They travel South with an understanding on the part of their employer, and with an intention on their part, to misrepresent the South, and to excite prejudice in Northern minds. How devoid of patriotism, truth and justice. The mischief done by these misrepresentations is inconceivable. If every abolitionist North of Mason and Dixon's line, were separately and individually asked, from whence he derived his opinions and prejudices in relation to Southern men, and Southern slavery, nine hundred and ninety-nine out of every thousand would answer, that they had learned all that they knew about slavery and slaveholders from the publication of abolitionists: not one in a thousand among them having ever seen a southern slave or his master.

"Truth is stranger than fiction;" and it is also becoming more rare.

No wonder people are misled, when the country is flooded with abolition papers and Uncle Tom's Cabin. No one can read such publications without being misled by them, unless he is, or has been, a resident of a slave State. It is thus that materials are furnished for abolition papers and such publications as Uncle Tom's Cabin; and it is thus that the public mind is poisoned, public morals vitiated, and honest but ignorant men led to say and do many things, which must, sooner or later, result in deplorable consequences, unless something can be brought to bear on the public mind that will counteract the evil. The writer hopes, through the blessing of G.o.d, that the following pages will prove an efficient antidote.

Southern people have their faults; they err in many things: and far be it from me, under such circ.u.mstances, to become their apologist. It is not as a defender of the South I appear before the public, but in defense of my country, North and South. We are all brethren; we are all citizens of the same heaven-favored country; and how residents of one part of it can spend their lives in vilifying, traducing, and misrepresenting those of another portion of it, is, to me, unaccountable. It is strange, indeed! I entreat my countrymen to reflect soberly on these things; and in the name of all that is sacred I entreat you, my abolition friends, to pause a while, in your mad career, and review the whole ground. It may be that some of you may yet see the error of your course. I cannot give you all up. I trust in G.o.d that you are not all given over to "hardness of heart and reprobacy of mind." A word to the reader. Pa.s.s on--hear me through--never mind my harsh expressions and uncouth language. Truth is not very palatable, to any of us, at all times. Crack the nut; it may be that you will find a kernel within that will reward you for your trouble.

False impressions have been made, and continue to be made by the writers alluded to above; sectional hatred is engendered, North and South; and if this incessant warfare continues, it will, at no very distant day, produce a dissolution of this Union. This result is inevitable if the present state of things continues. Has the agitation and discussion of the question of African slavery, in the free States, resulted in any good, or is it ever likely to result in any? I flatter myself that I have clearly shown, in the following pages, that hitherto its consequences have been evil and only evil, and that nothing but evil can grow out of it in future. I think that I have adduced historical facts which clearly and indisputably prove that northern agitation has served but to rivet the chains of slavery; that it has r.e.t.a.r.ded emanc.i.p.ation; that it has augmented the evils and hardships of slavery; that it has inflicted injury on both masters and servants; that it has engendered sectional hatred which endangers the peace, prosperity, and perpetuity of the Union. Why, then, will abolitionists persist in a course so inconsistent; so contrary to reason; so opposed to truth, righteousness, and justice? They need not tell me that slavery is an evil; that slavery is a curse; that slavery is a hardship, and that it ought to be extinguished. I admit it; but this is not the question. On this head I have no controversy with them. The question is, whether their course of procedure is ever likely to remove or mitigate the evils of slavery. Are we prepared, in our efforts to remove the evils of slavery, to incur the risk of subjecting ourselves to calamities infinitely worse that African slavery itself? Or rather, is there the remotest probability, supposing the plans and schemes of abolitionists should be carried out, the Union dissolved, and the country plunged into civil war, that slavery would thereby be abolished in the southern States?

These are the questions at issue between the abolition party and the writer; and these are among the prominent questions discussed in the following pages. It is true that I have hastily glanced at slavery in all its bearings, but it was the fell spirit of abolitionism which first attracted my attention, and induced me to investigate the subject. It was its revolutionary designs and tendencies, its contempt of all law, human and Divine, that first impressed my mind with the necessity of prompt and efficient action on the part of the friends of our country. It was the unparalleled circulation of Uncle Tom's Cabin that aroused my fears, and excited in my mind apprehensions of danger.

If such productions as Uncle Tom's Cabin are to give tone to public sentiment in the North, then a.s.suredly are we in danger. Should Mrs.

Stowe's vile aspersion of southern character, and her loose, reckless and wicked misrepresentations of the inst.i.tution of slavery in the southern States ever become accredited in the northern section of the Union I fear the consequence. I sometimes survey the condition of my country with consternation and dismay, and tremble in prospect of what may yet occur. History records the rise and fall of nations. We read of revolutions, butcheries, and blood. We have flattered ourselves that our beloved country for ages to come, and probably forever, is destined to escape these calamities. But, O G.o.d! how mortifying the reflection that there are now, in our midst, religious fanatics and political demagogues, who for a little paltry gain or notoriety would plunge us into all these evils!

I have repeatedly, in the following pages charged the abolition faction with revolutionary designs and tendencies. Some may doubt the truth and justice of the charge; but I beg such persons to recollect that abolition writers and orators have, times without number, avowed an intention to overthrow this government; but it matters not what their avowed designs and intentions are, for their lawless and seditious course leads directly to that result. If they ever succeed in carrying out their plans and schemes we know that revolution and disunion will be the consequence. It was remarked by Mr.

Frelinghuysen, of New York, on a certain occasion, that "abolitionists are seeking to destroy our happy Union." Chancellor Walworth says, "They are contemplating a violation of the rights of property secured by the Const.i.tution, and pursuing measures which must lead to civil war."

The union of these States is based on what has been called the slavery compromise; and the Union would have never taken place, had not the right to hold slave property been secured to the slave states, by a provision in the Federal Const.i.tution. Had not the free states relinquished all right to interfere with slavery in the slave states, no union of the slave and free states could ever have taken place. The right to hold slave property, and to manage, control, and dispose of that property in their own way, and at their own discretion, was secured to the slave states by a solemn contract between the slave and non-slaveholding states, and that contract binds every individual in this nation, North and South. Slave property then, is held under the protection of the supreme law of the nation, and any citizen invading the rights of the South, is guilty of a civil trespa.s.s. Hence, all interference with slavery by northern men, is a violation of the spirit, if not of the letter of that const.i.tutional compact, which binds these states together. Any attempt by northern men, either direct or indirect, to dispossess the South of her slave property, or in any way to endanger or injuriously to affect their interests therein, is a violation of the supreme law of the nation. It is an act of bad faith--of gross injustice, and none but bigoted corrupt fanatics, and low political demagogues, would be guilty of so base an act.

It is clear then, that the slave states never will yield to the requisitions of abolitionists, and should that faction ever become the dominant party in the free states, dissolution of the Union will be a necessary consequence _Intelligent men_, who will persist in a course of conduct so unjust, so illegal, with a perfect knowledge of the probable consequences; are to all intents and purposes, as truly traitors to their country, as was Benedict Arnold; and as such, they should be viewed and treated. Mark my words, reader, I say, _intelligent men_, for nine out of every ten among those who have been seduced into the abolition net, are objects of pity, and not of contempt or indignation. Poor souls, they are ignorant; it is, I suppose, their misfortune and not their fault.

In order that I may be clearly understood, I will reiterate tho foregoing argument. Before the adoption of the Federal const.i.tution, the states were to a great extent sovereign and independent, and of course were in a condition to settle terms on which to form a more perfect union. The North and the South, otherwise, the slave-holding and the non-slaveholding states met in convention to settle those _terms_. The North in convention conceded to the South the right to hold slave property; and the sole right of making all laws necessary for the regulation of slavery. It was thus, we see, by a solemn contract or agreement, that the South acquired exclusive right to control domestic slavery within her borders. What right then, have the citizens of free states, to intermeddle with it? They have none, as long as the Federal Const.i.tution is the supreme law of the land. The union of these states is based on that instrument, and whenever we cease faithfully to observe its provisions, the Union must necessarily cease to exist. All interference then on the part of the North, endangering the rights or injuriously affecting the interests of the South in slave property, is a violation of the supreme law of the nation. I need not say more; the argument must be clear to every one; and I think the duty of all concerned equally clear.

Ralfe, referring to the adoption of the Federal Const.i.tution, says, "It was no easy task to reconcile the local interests and discordant prepossessions of different sections of the United States, but it was accomplished by acts of concession." Madison says, "Mutual deference and concession were absolutely necessary," and that the Southern States never would have entered the Union, without concession as to slave property. And Governor Randolph informs us, "That the Southern States conceived their property in slaves to be secured by this arrangement?"

We are also informed by Patrick Henry, Chief Justice Tiglman, Chancellor Kent, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Justice Shaw, Chief Justice Parker, Edward Everett and others, that no union of these states ever could have taken place, had not the right to hold slave property, and the sole right to control that property been conceded to the southern States. And, Edward Everett, moreover, tells us that the northern States "deemed it a point of the highest policy, to enter with the slave states into the present Union." The reader will observe, that a majority of the authorities referred to, are northern men of the highest distinction.

I remarked in the preceding pages, that whoever invades the rights of the South in her slave property, violates the law of the land, and is guilty of a civil trespa.s.s; and I will now prove from the sacred record, that in opposing the civil laws of their country, they violate the laws of G.o.d, and consequently are guilty of a moral trespa.s.s. The primitive church of Christ was, under all circ.u.mstances, and at all times, subordinate to the civil authorities. They never stopped to inquire whether the laws were good or bad, just or unjust; their business was to obey the laws and not to find fault with them.

Christ and his apostles enjoined on their followers unreserved obedience and submission to the civil authorities. I need not here quote the language of our Saviour; it must be familiar to every Bible reader. I will, however, quote the remarks of St. Paul and St. Peter, on this topic. The former says, "Let every soul be subject to the higher powers." "Whosoever therefore, resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of G.o.d; and they that resist shall receive to themselves d.a.m.nation." He instructs Bishop t.i.tus to put his flock "in mind to be subject to princ.i.p.alities and powers, and to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work." "To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing meekness unto all men." St. Peter says, "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of men for the Lord's sake; whether to the king as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers." There is neither precept nor precedent in the Bible, which will countenance opposition to the laws of our country. No, not one word in the sacred volume, that can be thus construed. Opposition and resistance to the civil authorities, is one of the many corruptions winch have crept into the church of Christ. Men "have become wise above what is written;" and truly as our Saviour said unto the ancient scribes and pharisees, "they shall receive the greater d.a.m.nation."

What a marked contrast between Christ and his apostles, and the apostles of modern reform, _alias_ abolitionists. How dare they professing Christianity to fly in the face of the laws of their country? How dare they resist the execution of those laws? How dares Mrs. Stowe inculcate disobedience and open resistance to her country's laws? Great G.o.d! shall our country ever be freed from the dark and d.a.m.nable deeds of religious fanatics? Shall our country ever be freed from the curse of curses, religious ultraism, bigotry, and delusion?

Let those who profess to be the followers of the meek and lowly Jesus--those who profess to take the Bible as their guide, cease from their unwarrantable and seditious opposition to the laws of their country; or otherwise let them renounce the Bible, lay aside their Christian garb, and appear before us in their true colors, that we may know who they are, what they are, whom they serve, and under what standard they are fighting. Throw off your masks, gentlemen; don't try to deceive us any longer; some of us understand you, and we intend to expose you, and hold you up to the public gaze, as long as the good Lord will vouchsafe to us health and strength sufficient to sit in our seats, and hold a pen in our hands. Your conduct is a reproach to the Christian name, a stigma on the Christian character.

SECTION II.

There are nearly four millions of slaves in the United States; and the question now presents itself to every free born American citizen; what are we to do with them? The abolition party demand their immediate emanc.i.p.ation. Is it practicable, safe, or proper? What would be the consequences? What would be the consequence of turning loose upon ourselves four millions of human beings, to prowl about like wild beasts without restraint, or control, and commit depredations on the white population? Four millions of human beings without property or character, and utterly devoid of all sense of honor and shame, or any other restraining motive or influence whatever! And they too, under the ban of a prejudice, as firm, as fixed as the laws which govern the material universe. In that event, is it not probable; is it not almost certain, that there would be either a general ma.s.sacre of the slaves, or otherwise that the white population would be forced to abandon the soil? Will any one pretend to deny that either entire extinction of the African race would be likely to result from universal emanc.i.p.ation, supposing the manumitted slaves should remain in our midst, or that otherwise the consequences would be disastrous to the white population? None, I presume. What then shall we do? The slaves are among us; they must be governed and provided for, and is it not our duty in making provisions for them, to act with reference to the general welfare of all concerned--white and black? Is there an intelligent man in this nation, who has reflected on the subject, that really believes that the condition of the African race in the United States, would be bettered or improved in any respect, by immediate emanc.i.p.ation? I have clearly shown in the following pages that it would not. Facts prove the contrary. Yes, stubborn undeniable facts, that none but a knave or a fool will gainsay. We know that improvidence, idleness, vagrancy, and crime, are the fruits of emanc.i.p.ation; not only in the United States, but also in the West Indies. We have already stated on good English authority, (Lord Brougham), that the West India free negroes, are rapidly retrograding into their original barbarism and brutality; and the London Times quite recently a.s.serted, that the British emanc.i.p.ation experiment was a failure; that the negro would not work; that his freedom was little better than that of a brute; that the island was going to the dogs, and the negroes would have to be removed, &c. Have we any reason to believe, that a different result would follow emanc.i.p.ation in the United States? No, we have none, for it is a notorious fact, that free negroes are everywhere idle and vicious in this country, and that crime among them is ten-fold more common than it is among Southern slaves.

We hear a great deal about emanc.i.p.ation--the freedom of the African race--free negroes, &c. It is all sheer nonsense. Strictly speaking, there is not a free negro in the limits of the United States! There never has been, and there never will be. The white and the black races have never co-existed under the same government, on equal footing, and never can. Their liberty is only nominal! "It is all a lie and a cheat!" Is the negro free any where in the Northern States? No, he is not. There is no sympathy between the two races. Northern people loathe and despise free negroes. They cannot bear the sight or smell of them. The negro then is not free anywhere in the Northern States.

Not only the prejudices, but also the laws of the free states proclaim it impossible: and the prejudices of the whites against the African race is stronger in the free states, than it is in the slave states.

Every free state in this Union is disposed to cast them off as a nuisance. They cannot bear their presence. Their very color renders them odious; and this aversion to the African race, is daily becoming stronger and stronger in every free state in this union. Nothing can counteract it--nothing can overcome it. It is in the very nature of things impossible. No, no! Negro novels piled mountain high in every street and alley, in every city and village in this Union, will accomplish nothing for the poor despised African. "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots," then may ye who are accustomed to loathe, shun, and cast off the African race, receive them to your kind embraces.

It is true that abolitionists affect to have a great deal of sympathy for them while they are slaves in the South, but they have none for the ignorant, degraded, half starved, ill clad, free negroes in the North. No wonder, for their Southern sympathy costs them nothing, but Northern sympathy might empty their purses. Show me the abolitionist who is willing to meet the free negro on terms of equality. No man can point to one--no, not one. The African is neglected, scorned, and trodden under foot every where; by abolitionists and every one else.

This prejudice is invincible, irremediable. The poor African is hopelessly and irretrievably doomed to scorn, contempt and degradation while in the midst of the white race. Is the African allowed the ordinary privileges of the white man any where in all the liberty loving North? Show me the spot! Where is it? Show me the state--show me the neighborhood--the man--the woman among all the white race in all the North, who is willing to allow the despised African, the ordinary privileges of white men. Ah! you cannot do it. Shame! shame!

Hold! cease,--for G.o.d's sake cease your hypocritical cant about Southern slavery. No! no! there is not a state in all this union where they enjoy the privileges of white men. There is not--there never has been--and there never will be! They are no where equal parties in an action at law. They are no where credible witnesses against white men.

They are no where allowed the right of suffrage; or if the law allows it, they are not suffered to avail themselves of it. They are no where admitted as judge, juror, or counsellor. They are no where eligible to any office of profit, trust, or honor. Their children are no where admitted into the same school-room with the whites. They are no where protected, encouraged, and rewarded in all the North. They are victims of injustice, scorned and despised in every free state in this confederacy. And abolitionists are as far from making equals of them, or a.s.sociating with them, as any one else.

The city of Baltimore presents the largest and most intelligent ma.s.s of free negroes found in the United States. These in an appeal to the citizens of Baltimore, and through them to the people of the United States, say, "we reside among you, and yet are strangers,--natives, yet not citizens--surrounded by the freest people and the most republican inst.i.tutions in the world, and yet we enjoy none of the immunities of freedom. As long as we remain among you, we shall be a distinct race--an extraneous ma.s.s of men irrecoverably excluded from your inst.i.tutions. Though we are not slaves--_we are not free_."