The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-02-03
For the National Era.
REV. JOEL PARKER, D D, AND UNCLE TOM.

REV. JOEL fAhkEh' D. u, AND UNCLE TOM.
The former of these gentlemen has succeed
cd in making himself both very notorious and
very ridiculous IL is owing TO his own folly
that his name has been made known most un-
favorsbly by Unole Tom, throughout the civil
ized world and it is equally owing to his silly
rsshness that the attempt he has made 10 in
jure Mrs Stowe has resulted in disclosures vim
dicating her character, and dreadfully dam
aging his ewn.
The wonderful pathos and wit of "Uncle
Toms Cabin" have given it a circulation
greater than was ever attained i'm the same
time by any book ever printed, and have at the
same time rendered it the most powerful Anti
Slavery work ever written. No person not d.
rectly or indirectly interested in Slavery can
rise from its perusal without feeling Of dis
gust towards all the champions of American
Slavery, and more especially towards its eleri-
cal apologiSts. Of course, Uncle Tom, however
beloved and admired by the world at large, is
regarded as most pestilent fellow by all cot
ton gentlemen whether parsons, editors, mer-
chants, or politicians. Hence these people have
raised one loud and universal cry of eraggsra-
tion against Uncle Tom, and on precisely the
same principle of selfdefence that they have
united in clarifying and canonizing Daniel
Webster. But of all the assailants of Uncle
Tom no one has entered the arena in such an
absurd plight as our Doctor of Divinity, shaking
writ at him, and asking for $40, 900 to mend
reputation sadly battered before Tom was
born.
In Mrs. Stoves celebrated work occurs the
following passage:
"Tom had watched the whole transaction
30 Lac had a,xd
ing of it's results To him II looked like some
thing unutterably horrible and cruel, because
poor ignorant black soul he had not learned
to generalize, and to take enlarged views. II
he had only been instructed by certain minis
tiers of Christianity, he might have thought
better of it, and seen in it an everyday Incl.
dent of lawful trade, which is the vital sup
port of an institution which an American
divine tells us has no evils but such as are in.
separable from any other relations in social
and domestic life
A note at the bottom of the page gives DR.
Joel Parker, Of Philadelphia" as the American
divine referred to.
Dr. Parker had in fact never used the pre-
else language imputed to him, and of course
the authoress could not verify her quotation
Here, then, it seemed that Uncle Tom had one
vulnerable heel, through which it was hoped
he might receive fatal wound. He had ut.
tered falsehood, and must be made if possible
to confess it. If he admitted he had lied abou,
DR.. Parker, it would readily be inferred that
he had also lied about the shareholders. If q
confession could not be extorted, a jury might
mulct him in damages, and as a convicted Ii
heller he would no longer exert an influence
against the patriarchal institution and its rev
erend defenders.
The Doctor accordingly commenced cor
respondence with Mrs. Stowe ON the subject o
the great wrong she had done him and it il
really edifying to find a Northern clergyman 81
exceedingly sensitive to an impeachment of hi
Anti-Slavery integrity.
at is to me" he writes, "a matter of pro
found regret, that before you made this assault
upon my Christian and ministerial character
you had not conferred with me, or sought in
formation from some reliable source, so that
might have been spared an aspersion so wide
spread and so injurious to my professions
reputation and usefulness" And he demand
q full and public retraotion of the calumny.-
Letter Of Nay 8, N. Y. Observer, 18th Oct.
Again, on the 10th of May he tells her
"Yeu have made this assault upon a ministe
of the Gospel, upon one whose professional
reputation, like the reputation Of your sex FOL
chastity, is blasted by mere suspicion. | d.
say, with indignant remonstrance against tn,
injustice of this libel, that your language is un
true and slanderous, and | again demand full
and public retraction. If such retraction il
not made in a prompt and satisfactory man
ner, shall feel obliged to take the best mean,
can to throw off from myself the odium 70,
have sought to heap upon me-"
We have put few words in italics, to cal
the readers attention to the fact that the Doc
tor imputes to Mrs. Stowe, personally, the au
thorship of the alleged libel. She made thu
assault, and it is her language that is untrue
aud slanderous.
The threat in the second letter is more clear
ly expressed in the third, Of the 25th May:
Though you can never repair the wronI
you have done me, you can make such amend
as will, if made now, satisfy me. Should yo
find yourself in difficulty hereafter, therefore
| be pleased to remember that it is not of m,
seeking. greatly prefer that you shonld no
compel me to appear before the public in .
conflict with you, respecting matter which
you can so easily bring to an amicable ad
ustment"
The nature of the contemplated conflict y
is thus revealed by the Doctors friend and con
fidsnt, the editor of the New York Observer:
"Dr. Parker employed the most eminent
legal counsel, and, with good advice, resolved
to commence an action for libel against Mrs
Stowe, laying damages at S20,000!"-N Y
Observer, 2sd Sept
All this time our divine was well aware that
of what he was pleased to call her s.andfrou,
language, not one single word had proceeded
from her pen. He well knew that the quota,
a.. "A .n1 L..I a..
in various publications, and that he himself
had led her into the error of believing it genu-
inc, by his own folly in not condescending to
deny it Says Mrs. Stowe, in a letter to him,
Of the 2lst May, New York Observer, Oct. 7 !
cit Is considerable more than year ago
that saw the sentence in question quoted In
one of the leading papers Of the day, with your
name. said Immediately that did not be-
would contradict it. ! searched the papers,
week after week, with the eye OF friend, for
that denial. only found the thing TO affirmed
in paper after paper, both religious and secu-
lar. 1t was embraced in schedule of the say
ings and sentiments of American ministers in
regard to Slavery, which was read Mt public
meeting in the Worlds Fair, and which formed
basis Of some considerable discussion and
action on the propriety Of admitting American
peschers, without examination, into English
pulpits These papers in which all this was
recorded we're the leading religious prints
prints which could not suppose you were not
familiar with; and could not suppose that
you would allow any sentiment to 20 the
rounds Of them, printed in capitals, with your
name in iull, unless it were statement 10
which you were fully committed, and which
you were determined to abide by and sustain.
| Ii you thought the imputation Of this sentiment
o stain on your character, an injury to your
Christian end ministerial reputation why have
you never before contrsdlcted it Your note
was the first shadow OF any reason have ever
had TOR thinking this opinion was NOT you're"
The quotation was also published in the New
York Independent, widely circulated religious
paper, edited by three clergymeD. 1t was