The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-10-23
1.-THE swamp Angel.

i
The shrewdness of Mrs Beecher Stowe in
carrying OH an attack is quite equal to that
OF General Joe Johnston in retreat. She
hos an eye for vantage ground as sharp
as that which marked and mapped every
natural rampant and bulwark OF mountain
and forest and river from Chattanooga to
Atlanta. The principles she follows we COM
mend to the literary strategistso of all coun-
tries and oil future ages. 1t is the, principle
OF the bombardment-known to military
men from the beginning--but somewhat
novel In literature: this principle-that TO
assail an adversary successfully you must
take position of offence where your enemy
cannot get at you.
Such were Mrs. Stoves tactics in the
Uncle Tom controversy: She gathered iso-
lated and abnormal facts and wove them into
sensational narrative. She had the novel
lists liberty OF giving what names she chose
to the victim of the story, and to further
her main purposes she selected the name of
one OF our most honored Southern states
men, to drag in the mire When she made the
name OF Legare the synonym of cruelty and
oppression, she already prejulged the whole
Southern question, and libelled its best de-
tenders and noblest representatives. No
thing could be more dexterous. This sort
OF attack admits of no reply When q
character in fiction is 30 contracted as to
awaken horror and detesfation, the name
given to that character itself becomes odi-
Gus. Mrs. Stowe knew this very we'll She
took advantage of the circumstance. She
gathered together the most piquant and ex-
treme cases Of outrage which had occurred
on Red River plantations and other remote
regions, whose fertility has invited men of
broken character and broken fortunes and
reckless adventure Cos well as men of char
acter and capital, and represented this So
cial chaos ns fair sample OF life at the
South. She erected n scene OF thrilling
horror-a Walpurgis night Of outraged in
nocence and hellish glee, and enthroned i'm
the midst of its tumult, OF blood-stained vir
gins, of witches and Of devils, master fiend
whom she named Legare. Such was the
strategy OF Mira. Stowe in her campaign
against Southern society. Uncle Toms
CABIN was erected OIL the principle Of the
Swamp Angel" it was distant, safe, das-
tardly, destructive and inaccessible
Had not the world been hostile to the in
stitulions OF the South, so unfair a libel
would have been denounced by honorable
and generous spirits everywhere. The re-
markaDle dramatic skill of the book would
not have saved it from the condemnation
Que to its malignant snfairness. What
would men think of a>story, spicy with the
flavor OF Boston or New York police ra.
ports with Mrs. Stowe as the procuress
or Dir. Beecher as the felon, around whom
the most shocking details OF the tragedy
were grouped; what would they think n,
such n story If it were foisted upon the public |
US just representation of the state OF North |
ern society? Who would not protest against |
the malicious libel? To legitimize sucb |
trayesties would be to enthrone falsehood
70 sacrifice to sensation the fair fame of any |
country the novelist might chance to dis
like. or of any institution, however sacred
"ilich lie sought to overthrow. Yet against
such attacks the injured party is defence
'e's' 80 long as there is wrong doing In
any country, and 30 long rs the authority
Oh any institution is liable to abuse, Uncle
Ionis Cabins con DO built BY. tho malevolent
and 'keys" OF any required shane or nat
tern can be lifted to them by the readers of
newspapers, by resident invalids, and by tra-
yelling correspondents The sport is as easy.
as sale, and, letus add, rs niagnanimous.
us the pelting OF frogs in pond.
Happily or unhappily, detraction grows
by what it feeds OIL. No habit is SO hard to
break MS that of confessng other peopls,s
SINS. And so, Mrs. Stowe, having used up
tae South, turns her attention to England,
ana inllicts the deepest modification and
MOST poignant anguish upon the family CON
hection OF her greatest modern poet. The
same cold-blooded sagacity Is displayed In
this case rs In the other. The crime sbo
charges upon Byron is well nigh teyonsS
the range OF public discussion. The iustia.
cation she adduces for tho horrid and pru-
rient revelation is tile claim of friendsbip
ana honor and Virtue The counter testi-
mony has, for the most part, either idIsap.
peared In the grave or been locked up in the
memories OF mon bound under tile most an
cred obligations Of secrecy. In the wild and
wayWaM poems Of Byron, especially in bla
dramas, and In tho mystiilcatlons In which
he delighted, there may be found plausible
grounds for charging him with the violation.
OF any commandment IN the decaloeue
forhe was as fond OF sensation as Mira.
stowe ls, and went into the business not
with the cool dexterity and financial nims
.. ol Q Dookmaker and magazinist, but with 7,
lne reckless aud rollicking lumor Of a spoil
eu clild, And, finally, the beloved and
honored lady whose virtue Is now aasailed
!, mas passed from the stage, leaving two
aanshters whom the modesty of sex would
oroid to enter upon such q discussion. Mr.,