The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1852-12-30
LORD M0RPETEs PREFACE TO AN ENGLISH
EDITION OF UNCLE TOMS CABIN.

NeW York Journal of Commerce.
LORD M0RPETEs PREFACE TO AN ENGLISH
EDITION OF UNCLE TOMS CABIN.
The following Preface to an edition of Uncle
Toms Cabin, recently published in London.
was written by Lord Morpeth, Earl of Carlisle
have been requested to write a few lines Of
Preface for reprint of that very remarkable
book, UNCLE TOMS CABIN However flattered
might have felt by such proposal, under
any circumstances should probably have de-
clined to comply with it. if it bad referred to
any other book or any other subject
For, first with regard to the book
Its merits, in point of composition, and in its
avowed character of work of fiction, though
founded upon an actual state of society. and
phases of contemporary events and characters,
are sufficiently patent to every class of its
nearly unparalleled amount of readers In this
particular alone, its appearance has made a
kind of epoch in the literary rs well as. trust
in the moral history of the time. The mention
| of the bare reading would indeed, afford most
| inadequate measure of the extraordinary i'm
preston which it has made upon the public
mind and sympathy. Few are the societies in
which it has not for some time past formed the
staple topic of conversation and have had
the opportunity of knowing, in startling CON
trast OF the violent outburst of tears which il
has excited in some of the loftest regions Of
| our social life, and i'm the obscure cottages of
Woodworking and unpublished labOrers and
miners.
1t would be easy if it were not wholly super
fuous, to diate on tho qualities which have
| produced such concurrence and such an in
tenslty OF interest and admiration--the gay
huinor, the tender pathos the skill, SO various,
so delicate, 30 mastcrly displayed in the deln-
cation of Misunderstanding 10 tho readers
their foremost favorites but surely without any
degree of servie imitation. In Aunt Chloe,
and much of the interior economy of the Shelby
household, and especially in the bright blue
eyed Eva have we not repeated glimpses Of
Mr.. Charles Dickens In the tea-tabe dia-
logue of the Ohio Senator and his wife and in
the self portraying complaints of Mrs St
Clare, arc we not wildly reminded of our ad-
mirable Miss Austen? | think Topsy may
challenge tho honors of entire originality. But
behind and above all these playful graces OF
brilliant gifts Of the author, like her own Nj
agara's main torrent behind its silver spray, it's
emerald crest its saffron rainbow, rushes and
thunders on her mighty moral, the stream of
overwhelming irresistible, eternal Truth.
Neither will | be tempted to pause upon q
point which | made the subject of respectful
remonstrance in n letter which addressed to
the writer, in thanking her for the copy Of her
work she had been good enough to send to me
refer to what appeared 10 me singular want
OF knowledge and therefore, failure of JUS
tee, in speaking of the general condition of our
poor In England. To us, who know what tho
real state and facts of the case are this is of
comparatively little Importance and as there
is much, undoubtedly for us to mend, it NAV
not be amiss that we should have matters
shown to us under a still darker shadow than
legltimately attends them 1t is Of Importance
however, that the proprietors of slaves should
not be encouraged to lay the JUNCTION to their
souls that the common run of mechanics ard
laborers of England are on a level of suffering
and degradation with the slaves on a rice
swamp IN Carolina, or at a sugar-crop time in
Louisiana. This line OF argument has been
most oogently taken up bya very accomplished
Trend OF mine, Mr.. Helps, in paper which has
appeared in Fraser's Magazine, and have
reason to know that Mrs Beecher Stowe has
expressed herself on the subject with the fair
ness and candor which might be expected from
her. | am convinced that the motive which
principally guided her was wish not to leave
out of sight any ground upon which the advo-
Gates OF slavery might fairly or even plausibly,
rest and she states that her own point Of view
was materially influenced, ! must say very nat
urally, by the representations containcd"Sn
some OF the most popular current literature and
oratory OF our own country.
As was to be expected, the shout of praise
and chorus Of appreciation with which this
work has been received amongst US general
and loud as they have been, and are, have still
not been perfectly unanimous. While noble
iuatica has hacn randarad IN IA d., anu.o Of Al.
most enlightened organs of public opinion in
the country, cannot dissemble my regret that
in the most powerful of all, notice of it has
appeared instinct, AZ ! must say il appeared
to me, with oil tho susceptibility, the sOurness,
and the Jealousy of the saveholding and sla-
vcry-fosterng system itself My chief conso-
lation is, that it did not appear in the same
portion of the paper, and therefore, am will
ing TO hatter myself, could not have been in
dited by the same pens as those articles, which,
more especially within a recent period and
upon topics connected with the politics Of Eu-
rope, while they have been models of English
composition, have breathed the most generous
spirit Of English freedom
The only mode in which detraction ventures
to approach Uncle Tom, is to set out with ad-
hitting the merits Of its style and composition,
and then TO charge it with general exaggera-
ton. fear, undoubtedly it is but too true,
that human nature will not, under any of its
notifications, present us with many types Of
Uncle Tom nor, hope, on the other hand,
with many Of Mr.. Legree. But take this hui
man nature, such az we observe il in the world
Immediately around ourselves, such as we feel
it within our own bosoms--put it in contact
with the recognized codes and published laws
oil slaveholding States--impregnate it with the
habits and maxims of the surrounding society
transfer il, apart from check and observation,
TO tho remote plantation and obscure barra-
coon, and without resOrting to works Of fiction,
or dreams Of the imagination, work out for
yourself the inevitable result Let me adduce,
a. among the most cursory and incidental and