The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-05-16
THE AHrr.SLAyERY SOCIETIES OF THE NORTH.

THE ANTI SLAVERY SOCIETIES OF THE NORTH.
-TnEIR PEnMAsEScE AND PROGRESS Ono Of the
anislavery societies has held its anniversary meet
ing this ear at Rochester, the other in New York
Both seem full Of vitality and vigor as ever The
society at Rochester is the more outspoken extreme,
and violent but the honest and straig h,forWad
Of the two It's great guns wee Fred Douglass,
Wendell Philips, and Lloyd Garrison. Tho society
at the Tabernacle was represented chiefly by the
Tappaus, and Henry Ward Bcecher, who, according
to his fathers account, says very rash things 10 the
heat Of the moment, which he gets changod before
they find their way into the papers and last no.
least, Dr. J. MeCuno Smith, and George Downing,
Of oyster celebrity, and lately invested by his sa6S
majesty, Soulouque of Hayti, with the Gordon
Of the Legion of Honor. The meetings of this
society were very large and enthusiastic, and q
new impulse seems to have been given to it,
energies. A sort of revival has taken place.
and money was subscribed to send on for
anti slavery agents to lecture and distribute tracts
from village to village and from house to house
There was much anxiety eyinccd to get cheap cdl
ton of Mrs Stoves novel-"Unele Toms CABIN
for general circulation among class of the ropu-
lation that the dollar and dollar and half
editions could not reach.
This book is a remarkable specimen of the anti
slavery literature Of the North and its succcssbe
yond all precedent in the history of works of hcton
is an undoubted evidence of the deep seated anti
slavery sentiment that prevails in the Northern and
Eastern States. 1t demonstrates that the Fugitive
Slave law and the other compromise measures
have not scotched the snake, much less killed
it. Already, in eight weeks, fifty thousand copies
have been sod and it is expected that fifty thou
sand more will be sold ere long. The publisher and
writer have both made plenty of money, and will
make plenty more The result will be, that
tremendous impulse will be given to anti
slavery literature in the North, and the
country will be inundated with novels, not SO
well written, perhaps, as the work of Mrs. Stove,
but Of the same character and tendency. The sue
cess Of Uncle Toms Cabin" will stimulate into
activity five thousand pens and the presses of pub
fishers, who are the most mercenary portion Of the
entire community, will henceforth TEEN with negro
tales, and narratives Of facts stranger than fiction,
and stories Of fugitive slaves founded on fact and
true in all but the names.
1t is singular enough that the publishers and
booksellers who furnish the South with new works
are the most decided patrons Of this species oflitera
ture. 1t is not difficult to see whar the effect of
this book will be-which is already rc-publishsd in
Canada, and will shortly make its appearance
in England, to stir up the fire thero-and what
will be the effect of other works now in process
of composition by the same authoress, aid those
that, like mushrooms from dunghs, will spring
from the hot, reeking brains Of all the fanat-
ica writer's in the land, who will follow in her wake,
either in the hope of making money, or from the
ambition Of being read by many thousands Of the
community, or it may be from pure desire Of glori
flying God, making converts to the abolition cause,
and contributing to the amalgamation Of the white
and black races on this continent There is good
time coming, and we would not be surprised if,
with the excitement Of meetings, the agitation Of
organized societies and lecturers, the agency Of col
porteurs, and the influence Of the class Of literature
to which we have just referred, the boiling caudron
of abolition would long overflow, and produce
amount of mischief at which the stoutest heart would
now shudder if it could only realize those scenes
and events whose dim shadows the sagacious and
the far seeing discern as " through glass darkly,"
but which may, sooner than we are aware, loom ont
of the misty obscuriy Of the future into the form
and pressure of present realities.