The North-Carolinian., 1852-07-03
From the Southern Press
UNCLE TOM'S CABIN.

We have just finished the perusal OF
'sUncle Toms Cabin" a work in two
volumes Of more than three hundred pages
each, which appeared originally in the
National Fra, in a succession of numbers.
and has recently been published in its
present form. The papers inform US that
already. within eiexen weeks Of it's re-
publication, eighty Thousand copies Of it
have been sold at the rate Of dollar to a
dollar and quarter per copy.
The authoress 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 Cincinnati. "Uncle Toms Cabin'' is an
anti slavery novel. 1t is caricature OF
slavery. 1t selects for description the
most odious features of slavery-the
escape and pursuit Of fugitive slaves, the
sale and separation Of domestic slaves,
the sepa ration Of husbands and wives,
parents and children, brothers and sisters.
1t portravs the slaves of the story as more
moral, Intelligent. courageous, elegant
and beautiful than their masters and mis-.
tresses and where it comedies any Of
these qualities to the whites, it is to such
only. as are. even though Shareholders,
opposed to slavery. Those in favor Of
slavery are slave traders. slave catchcrs.
and the most weak, depraved, cruel and
malignant Of beings or demons.
1t is little curious, that the two works
on slavery which have attained the largest
circulation since the Wilmot proviso was
proposed, have both emanated from CincIn-
| natl. The first. the lecture on ''the
North and the South,'' by the senior editor
of this paper; the other. ''Uncle Toms
Cabn.'' Of the lecture, about three
hundred thousand copies were pr'nted 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, consisting chiefly of a coflec
ton of all the evidence on the sub bject
which existed in an authentic shape.
The attack on the South is novel-a
romance. The system of the South relies
on tact-tl,e sentiment of the North flies
to fiction. This is significant. For some
time before. the Mott the practical,
calculating and unimaginative North,
claimed the facts. But since the appear
ance Of '.the North aud the South" that
pretcnsion has almost been abandoned
We have been struck with the almost
| total abstinence Of the northern press from
| all illusions to the result Of the last Census,
when discussing the slavery question.
That Ce nsus has vindicated triumphantiy
the positions of the lecture on 1.-THE Norti,
aud the South.'' Now, what is the value
of a work Of fiction in this controversy ?
What would be its value even il every
| Incident it contains were founded on fact,
| as the writer intima;es Why just no.
thing at all. Every man who is accustom-
ed to reason is familiar with the artitice OF
a discounted antagonist. When refuted
In argument, when overwhe lined ith evi-
dence, he insists on relating an anecdote.
! Or telling a story-he retreats into fiction,
or cites a particular lnstance-aitlloue ell
every one capable Of reasoning knows thai
any proposition can be maintained. OF
any institution be overthrown, if the
citation of particular incidents is accepted
as argument. Government. society. law,
civilization itself would fall in an hour
If we were to listen to the stories Of the
wrong and ruin that incidentally or excep
| tiOnally attend them. DO not murderer:
escape-are not the innocent sometimes
put to death under the administration o
criminal law And yet who would
ab"iish it, even if hundreds Of novels
were written to illustrate its defects, OF
under pretence of ex Exposing its enornity
DO we not find bad men with wealth and
good men in want-then Why not have a
novel to prove il. and to insist on the
abolition of property: Nay. there Is rel'-
eion itself, whose institutions cannot De
divested Of superstition. hypocrisy. and
| fanaticism. How many romances Gould
be written and have been written to mus
trate these latter yet must we aoo''s"