I believe the statements of Mrs. Stowe to be untrue, for the following reasons. First, because Shelby had a number of slaves from whom he could select; and I know from personal observation, that it is a universal practice among slaveholders to sell their most worthless and vicious slaves to negro traders. If they are forced to sell such a negro as she represents Tom to be, some neighbor who is acquainted with the slave, will give a higher price for him than a negro trader will. A negro trader will give as much for a negro who is a rogue, as he will for one who is an honest man. The negro trader pays no attention to the character of a negro; for the very good reason that the character of the negro is unknown to those to whom he expects to sell. No representation or recommendation whatever, can have any influence with those to whom they sell. They know nothing about the character of the negroes whom they purchase, and they have no reliable means of learning anything about them. Tom was purchased in Kentucky and sold in New Orleans. Therefore, Haley, the negro trader, would not have given one dime more for Tom on account of his good qualities. But Mrs. Stowe tells us, that Shelby was indebted to Haley, and that he preferred to purchase Tom on account of his good qualities; and that Shelby expected a high price from him on that account. Haley would have given several hundred dollars more for a man who was about twenty-five years of age, than he would have given for poor old Tom; though the young man might have been as vile a rogue, as ever went unhung. No man of common sense can fail for one moment, to discover the truth and justness of the above reasoning. Thus we see that falsehood is indelibly stamped on Mrs. Stowe's narrative at the very outset. What is it that enhances the value of negroes in the estimation of the negro trader? And what is it that recommends them, or enhances their value in market? First, the age of the slave is taken into consideration. Nobody will give as much for an old negro as he will for a young one in the prime of life. Tom was an old man, and Shelby had in his possession a number of young negroes. These facts alone stamp falsehood on the face of Mrs. Stowe's tale. Secondly, the physical force or power of the negro, and his apparent health, are taken into consideration. The purchaser, if he knows nothing about the qualities of negroes, will give the highest price for those (judging from appearances) that can perform the most labor. Now, is it reasonable to suppose, that a purchaser would have given as much for poor old Tom, as he would have given for a negro who was twenty-five or thirty years of age? There are from twenty to twenty-five years difference in the ages of the negroes, and there is a proportionate difference in their values. Reader, what do you suppose is the value of twenty years' labor in dollars and cents? Well, whatever it is, poor old Tom was precisely that amount less valuable, than many other negroes in the possession of Shelby; and yet Mrs. Stowe tells us that Shelby sold Tom, because he could get a higher price for him than any other negro in his possession. Why? Because of his good qualities. I have clearly and indisputably shown that Tom's good qualities did not enhance his value one cent with Haley. And at the same time, Tom was worth more to Shelby than any half dozen negroes on the farm. How absurd! Was a more barefaced, palpable, glaring and malicious falsehood ever fabricated? I am sorry that justice to my countrymen, my friends and my relatives, requires at my hands, an expose of this low, scurrilous production, entitled "Uncle Tom's Cabin." This is a fair sample of abolitionism. But I am not done with Uncle Tom. Mrs. Stowe tells us that he was a great favorite with Mrs. Shelby, and Shelby knew of course that it would almost break his wife's heart, and that young master George would almost go beside himself; yet he sells poor old Tom to this infamous negro trader, notwithstanding! Ah! "murder will out," and falsehood will out, likewise. The statements of Mrs. Stowe are inconsistent; they are sheer fabrications: the figments of a diseased brain.
I will again remark, that strictly honest, upright negroes, those remarkable for their good qualities, and those who are withal, negroes of more than ordinary value, are never sold to negro traders. The statement that Shelby was guilty of such an act, under the circumstances, as detailed in the preceding pages, is too absurd, too futile, too foolish to deceive or mislead any one who knows anything about the institution of slavery in the South; or the customs, habits, or manners of slaveholders. The work, however, was prepared for those whoso minds were warped by prejudice, whose judgments were beclouded and perverted by sectional hatred and bigotry, and whose imaginations were bewildered and distempered by the reading of abolition publications and novels. To such it has proved a treat, yea, they have read it with avidity and delight.
Mrs. Stowe, presuming on the gullibility of her readers, has made other statements that I will notice. The wife of this very kind-hearted, humane and gentlemanly man, Shelby, had a maid-servant, by name Eliza; and Eliza had an only child; a very remarkable boy indeed! probably about five or six years of age; if there is any truth in her tale. Eliza was a delicate bright mulatto girl; a great favorite with her mistress; and her child of course a great favorite with the entire family. But, as if determined to break his wife's heart, Shelby sells Eliza's child also, to the negro trader, Haley. Here is another, to say the least of it, very improbable statement. If Shelby was the man that she represents him, he would have sold the entire dozen woolly heads that were perched on the veranda railings, on the morning after the transaction, before he would have sold the only child of his wife's maid-servant. The estimation in which maid-servants and their children are held by Southern ladies, is probably unknown to most of my Northern readers. Unless driven to it by dire necessity, a Southern gentleman would almost as soon part with his own children, as with his wife's maid-servant, or her children, except for crime. Eliza is represented by Mrs. Stowe as all perfection and beauty, and her darling boy as a little angel. Maid-servants occupy a position in Southern families far above that of any other class of servants; but little below the white members of the family. I resided forty-four years in the Southern States, and it is with pride that I record the fact, that a Southern gentleman would dispose of anything—everything—carriages, horses, stocks, tenements and lands, before he would dispose of such servants as Uncle Tom, and his wife's maid-servant's child, and thereby break his wife's heart. No! far be it from Southern men; their wives are their all; and far be it from them, to say or do aught in opposition to the will of their wives, anything that will deeply mortify or afflict them. A man would be hooted from genteel society in the Southern States, for such an ignoble act. Whatever the faults of Southern men may be, they feel themselves bound to treat their wives with consideration, respect and kindness. But I must return to Eliza and her boy. Eliza, overhearing the conversation between Mr. and Mrs. Shelby, on the night after the interview between Shelby and Haley, she cautiously and quietly takes her boy out of the bed, and elopes. She hastens with all possible speed to the State of Ohio. Haley returns to Shelby's on the succeeding morning for the purpose of taking possession of Tom, and Eliza's child; but Eliza having decamped with the child, he and a couple of Shelby's negro men go in pursuit of her. They overtook her at the river; and Mrs. Stowe tells us, that she fled precipitately across the river on floating fragments of ice, with her boy in her arms! She tells us, that the ice was floating, and that a boat was expected to pass over the river that night. Was ever a more glaring falsehood penned. As well might she have told us, that Eliza walked over the river on the water, with a boy who was probably five or six years of age, in her arms! How inconsistent! How foolish! How superlatively ridiculous are such tales!! It is enough; I need not wade through the entire work, in order to show the falsity of Mrs. Stowe's tale.
She has calumniated her countrymen, and the slander has gone with electric speed on the pinions of the press, to the ends of the earth. Her country lies bleeding at her feet; its institutions totter. But ah! if she can but luxuriate in her ill-gotten gains, but little does she care what becomes of her country. She, truly, has been well paid for her services. She has received a "large fee," and all this was done under the pretense of serving the cause of liberty! Yes, truly, she is serving the cause of liberty with a vengeance. Had all the despots of earth leagued themselves together, for the purpose of crushing civil liberty, they could not have given it such a shock, as has been done by the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Well may the friends of republican institutions bow their heads with shame and regret. The moral influence of the great American republic is destroyed. The friends of liberty throughout the world, mourn the disaster.
Mrs. Stowe is the modern Eve. Old mother Eve said, "The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat." Mrs. Stowe may say, "The serpent beguiled me, and I did write." Yes, she did write. The daughter of a clergyman and the wife of a clergyman did write a novel; and other clergymen seem to think it a fit substitute for the Bible in Sabbath schools; and ere long, other clergymen will, I have no doubt, read their text from it in the pulpit. God preserve the world, from clerical knaves and fools. Of all the curses, that ever were permitted by Almighty God to fall on wicked and deluded nations, there are none so much to be dreaded, as corrupt, bigoted, fanatical clergymen. A clergyman—a minister of God—a minister of the gospel of peace and glad tidings to all—who with his eyes open, will countenance, aid, or abet, any thing that destroys the peace and harmony of this nation, or that threatens to result in disunion and civil war, ought to be hurled forty leagues deep into perdition.
I entreat you my fellow citizens, to open your eyes and look around you! Behold hydra-headed infidelity stalking over New England, in clerical robes. Behold others, who have so far lost sight of their calling, and the spirit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that they are opposing the execution of the laws of our common country! Sowing dissentions and exciting feelings of envy, jealousy and hatred among our citizens. Be not deceived by their clerical robes and assumed sanctity; it is all lighter than a feather in the balance. My friends, there is danger ahead. Beware lest you be led blindfold to ruin by canting hypocrites. These are the men that endanger our liberties. Stand aloof, give no support to religious bigotry and fanaticism. I call on you as Christians, as patriots, "to touch not, taste not, handle not the unclean thing."
Pardon me, my countrymen; I am an American citizen, and as such, I speak and write. I know that I shall incur the displeasure of many by the expression of such sentiments as the above; but shall the fear of man deter me from warning you of your danger? No! heaven forbid! My country is my pride; my country is my boast; my country is my all; and woe to him, that would dissolve this glorious and heaven favored Union, and stain her fair fields with the blood of her own citizens. He that rebels against the laws of his country, or bids defiance to the solemn compact which binds together these States, is a traitor to his country—a traitor to his God. He that would destroy the Constitution, which was framed by our revolutionary sires, let him be accursed of God, and driven forth from the habitations of civilized man. Let every Christian—every friend of our beloved country, respond, a hearty Amen.
Mrs. Stowe has slandered her countrymen; hence, the great popularity of her book! We listen with pleasure to a recital, of the vices of our neighbors; we roll it as a sweet morsel under our tongues; but oh! I don't tell us anything about their virtues; we don't want to hear them spoken of! Friend, speak evil only of your neighbors, or else, be silent! We don't wish to hear you speak well of any one. We have no taste for eulogy, but give us slander, by wholesale and retail, and we will gulph it down!
This is a dark picture of the human heart, but I believe a tolerably correct one!