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Page 19
CHAPTER II.
It is no part of my design to offer apologies for, or by any means to
conceal the faults of Southern slaveholders. But the reading of Uncle
Tom's Cabin, has indelibly fixed the impression on my mind that Mrs.
Stowe's narrative is false. The question is, whether such, or similar
occurrences, are _common_ among Southern slaveholders. If they had
been _rare_, she had no right to make the impression on the whole
civilized world, that they are every-day occurrences. Nor had she any
right unless she had been an eye witness of the leading facts detailed
in her story, to publish a book which presents her country in such an
ignoble attitude before the world; she had no right to base such
calumnious charges on heresay, rumor, or common report. I shall
proceed to show that her tale is improbable, and that it is likely
that no such transactions as are detailed in her story, ever have
transpired among Southern slaveholders.
It is doubtful whether one hundreth part of what hag been published in
abolition papers, during the last fifty years, in regard to Southern
slavery, is true; and those who have received their impressions of
African slavery in the South, from that source, are utterly incapable
of expressing correct opinions on the subject. It was never the
intention of abolition writers, to publish the truth on any subject,
having reference to the Southern section of the United States. Their
object was to make false impressions on the minds of Northern men, and
thereby to originate and sustain a party, from whom, they expected to
derive certain benefits. They worked for pay. Many years ago, I
stepped into a court-house, in a small town in Tennessee, and
immediately after I had seated myself, a lawyer arose, and made a very
vehement speech in favor of some scape-gallows who was arraigned
before the court. After he had taken his seat, another gentleman of
the bar arose, and replied to him. The two gentlemen alternately
speechified the judge and jury for several hours; after which the
judge passed sentence on the culprit, and the two lawyers left the
court-house. As they passed on in the direction of their residences, I
overheard one remark to the other, "in the name of ----, how can a man
stand up before the court, and lie as you did to-day." "Oh!" said the
gentleman in reply, "I was well paid, I received a large fee, and
could afford to lie." Some of the abolition editors, I presume, are
well paid for their services. But to return to Uncle Tom's Cabin. No
other mental culture is necessary, in order to qualify an individual
to write such a book as Uncle Tom's Cabin, except the reading of
novels and abolition papers. Mrs. Stowe, I have no doubt, is well read
in both. And she has performed her task in a manner that has excited
the wonder, and elicited the admiration and applause of millions!
Volumes of eulogiums have been lavished upon her! She is now the
wonder and admiration of America, and a goddess in England; and woe to
him who refuses to do her homage! This rare production bids fair to
supplant the Bible in Sabbath Schools in some parts of our country!
What next? This is an age of wonders and humbugs. For aught we know,
Jo. Smith's Bible, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and the spiritual rappers, may
yet revolutionize our world. It is, however, difficult to tell, what
is in the womb of the future; for many new wonders and marvelous
revelations may yet spring up in the land of Yankeedom! Nothing is too
hard for them. The word impossible, has no place in their vocabulary.
Having remarked, that I considered the narrative of Mrs. Stowe untrue;
it now devolves on me to show the improbability of some of her
statements. An old negro man, whom she calls Uncle Tom, is the hero of
her tale. Uncle Tom was the servant of a gentlemen, by name Shelby,
who resided in Kentucky. She represents this old negro, Uncle Tom, as
a very remarkable character. She tells us that Tom was pious and
honest; not simply so, indulgent reader, in the ordinary acceptation
of these terms, but that he was really and truly a God-fearing man--a
man of unimpeachable veracity, strict honesty, and ardent piety; above
suspicion--above crime--a perfect man--a man of almost angelic purity.
We, moreover, learn from her narrative, that good old Tom, (God bless
his soul and preserve his dust), was a kind of overseer on Shelby's
farm; that to him was committed the oversight and supervision, of
whatever pertained to Shelby's farming operations and interests. And
as a proof of Shelby's implicit confidence in him, she states, that he
sent Tom alone at one time, to Cincinnati on business, and that he
returned home with five hundred dollars in his pocket. Tom, according
to her account, was a great favorite, not only with his master, but
also with his mistress and the entire family. Shelby's son George was
devotedly attached to him.
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