The southern press. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1852-06-15
UneIo Toms Cabin.

Toms Cabin" work in two volumes of more
than three hundred pages each, which appeared
originally in the National Era, in Il succession
of numbers, and has recently been re-publlshed
in its present form. The papers inform us that
already, within eleven weeks ofits republication,
; eighty thousand copies of it have been sold al
the rate of a dollar to dollar and quarter per
copy j.. . .
The authorizes of this work is HARRIET
BEEcHER Stowe, wife of Professor Stowe, and
daughter of DR.. BEEcHER. She resided for
many years, before and after marriage, at Gin
cinnati "Unce Toms Cabin is an anti
slavery novel. 1t is a caricature of slavery. II
selects for description the most odious features
of slayery--the escape and pursuit of fugitive
slaves, thu sale and separation Of domestic slaves.
the separation of husbands and wives, parents
and children, brothers and sisters. II portrays
the slaves ofthe story as more moral, intelligent
courageous, elegant and beautiful than ths'
masters and mistresses and whsre-it comedies
any of these qualities to the whites 1t Is to SUI
only, as are, even though shareholders, opposed
to slavery. Those in favor of slavery are slavr
traders, slave catchers, and the most weak, de
PRAYED, cruel and malignant of beings or demons.
1t is little curious, that the two works on
slavery which have attained the largest circula-
ton since the Wilmot proviso was proposed,
have both emanated from Cincinnati The
first, the lecture on the North and the South"
by the senior editor of this paper the other,
"Uncle Toms Cabin" Of the lecture, about
three hundred thousand copies were printed in
pamphlets and newspapers. The novel will
probably reach an equal circulation.
1t deserves to be considered that the defence
Of the South was documentary argument, con-
sistng chiefly of collection of all the evidence
on the subject which existed in an authentic
shape. The attack on the South is a novel;
romance. The system of the South relies on
fsct-the sentiment of the North flies to fiction
This is significant. For some time before the
North, the practical, calculating and unimagina-
tive North, claimed the facts. But since the ap-
pearance of "the North and the South, that pre-
tension has almost been abandoned. We have
been struck with the almost total abstinence o.
the northern press from all sllusion to the result.
Of the last Census, when discussing the slavery
question. That Census has indicated trum
phautly the positions of the lecture on "the North
and the South" Now, what is the value Of I,
work Of fiction in this controversy ha
would be its value even if every incident il con
tains were founded on fact as the writer init
mates! Why just nothing at all. Every mar
who is accustomed to reason is familiar viii
the artfce Of discounted antagonist. Wber
refuted in argument, when overwhelmed with
evidence, he insists on relating an snecdote, OF
telling q story-be retreats into fiction, or ctes
sparticular instance-although every one capa.
bic Of reasoning knows that any Proposit OF
can be maintained, or any institution be over.
thrown, il the citation Of particular incidents j.,
accepted as argument. Government, society
law, cirilzatioEsitself would fall in an hour, II
we were 10 listen 10 the stories Of the wronp
and ruin that incidentally or exceptionally attend
them. Do not murderers escape-sre not TIC
innocent sometimes put 10 death under the ad
ministration Of criminal law! And yet whC
would abolish il, even IL hundreds Of novel
were written TO illustrate IFS defects, or unde
pretence Of exposing its enormity' DO we no
find bad men with wealth and good men il
want-then why not have novel 10 prove il
and to insist on the abolition Of property Nay
there is religion itself, whose institutions canno
be Invested Of superstition, hypocrisy aud fanati
cism. How many romances could be writer
and have been written 10 illustrate these latter
yet must we abolish religion,
Mrs. STOwE may have seen during her resi-
dence in Cincinnati, in the arrival and departur,
Of emigrants, aud in the trade and navigation o
the Ohio and Mississippi more families separ
sted forever, she must know that from tina
single city more husbands, brothers, sons anc
fathers have gone voluntarily, as She calls !,
from wives, mothers and children, and in IL,
pursuits Of trade met with untirnely death b,
fevers and cholera on the river, or in the wilder
ness, leaving their families 10 suEyt from want
their children 10 perish from neglect, than prob
ably all Who have been separated by the slav
trade. Why don't she write romance again
emigration, and navigation and commerce The
are all permitted by our laws.
Bot Mrs. STowE complains that slavery give
TO one man the power over another 10 do thes
things. Well, does not freedom, az she call
it, Cannot the landlord Of Cincinnati torn on
sfsmily from his dwelling IL unable to pay Ii
rent Cannot those who have food and rainier
refuse them TO such as are unable TO buy ? An
does not Mrs. Stowe herself virtually do tbes
very things. Suppose poor man were 10 pr,
sent himself to her and say MADAM, !. am poe
man with a large family, and we are destitute
And unless you prevent it, shall be eompele
tomorrow to hire myself as hand on A.
boat for New Orleans, and besides exposin
myself 10 the cholera and yellow fever lesV
my wife in delicate health, my Oldest daughte
70 the dangers ofs large city without Prote