Complete Works of Harriet Beecher Stowe

by Harriet Beecher Stowe

  It is a dire calamity that this class of writers have taken hold of the subject of slavery. It is a misfortune that slavery should be presented in a fictitious garb. I fear the consequences. It portends no good to the nation. Slavery is among us, it is a solemn reality, and if we expect to get rid of it, we must look it full in the face; see it as it is, and treat it as a matter of fact business. We know that it is an evil — a deplorable evil; but what shall we do with it? The plague is on us — about us — in our midst. Where? Oh! where, shall we find a remedy? The great work is before us; who is competent to the task? Statesmen as wise and patriotic as any the world ever produced, have shrunk from the task, confounded and abashed. Where is Clay! Where is Webster? All that was earthly of them, is no more. Long did they grapple with the monster slavery, and by their wise councils, through many a dark and stormy period, did they safely conduct the ship of State. But they are gone, and shall we now confide the interests of this great nation, to the keeping of a few sickly sentimentalists? No, heaven forbid that we should be led blindfold to ruin! I entreat you, my fellow countrymen, to open your eyes and look around you, and be not deceived. Your all is at stake. Arise in your strength and crush the monster abolitionism, that threatens your blood-bought liberties.

  Mrs. Stowe tells us that the object of her book is to awaken sympathy for the African race. If that, and that alone was her object, she probably had better not have written on the subject. Sympathy for the African race is right and proper, provided that it is properly directed; but blindfold sympathy in the North, is not likely to result in any good to the slaves of the South. The kindest and best feelings of the human heart, unless they are directed and controlled by prudence and discretion, frequently result in no good to the possessor, and too often in positive injury to the object of his solicitude. An excess of sympathy some times dethrones the judgment. Sympathy for the slave may prompt us to act in the right direction; but unless judgment and justice illumine our paths, and direct our steps, all our efforts to ameliorate his condition, will prove worse than useless. The slaves of the South are proper objects of our sympathy, and so are their masters, and so is every living and sensitive being in God’s creation. Everything that lives and breathes upon the face of the earth, has demands upon our sympathies; and it would be well for us to provide ourselves with a large stock of it; but we should be careful in meting it out, to give every one his due. It is a gross error in the dispensation of our sympathies, to direct our attention solely to some one object, regardless of the wants and rights of others.

  In order to accomplish anything for the benefit of the slave, we must have a Southern audience; to them we must speak, and for them we must write. With them we must reason, as brother holding familiar converse with brother. Mrs. Stowe’s book is not likely to be generally read in the South; and provided it should be, it can excite no other than feelings of indignation and defiance in Southern minds. Hence the work can result in no good, and may possibly, unless its baneful influence is counteracted, originate much evil.

  If we take the institution of slavery in the United States, as a whole, and view it correctly, Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a gross misrepresentation. The book has placed the people of this country in a false position; in a ridiculous attitude before the world. There may be some truth in her statements — barely enough to give them plausibility among the thoughtless, inconsiderate and uninformed; and those whose minds are warped by prejudice. Horrid and revolting occurrences, such as are detailed in her book, have sometimes occurred among slaveholders, but they have been rare, and are now more rare than formerly. They are but exceptions to general rules; why then present them to the world under circumstances, and in a style and manner, that will make an impression on the minds of a majority of uninformed readers, that they are every day occurrences; that a large portion, if not a majority of the slaveholders are involved in the charges specified. How does such a procedure, on the part of Mrs. Stowe, comport with the great principles of truth and justice; which should have been her guide while writing on so grave a subject! Wherever man possesses power over his fellow man, throughout the length and breadth of the habitable globe, there are occasional instances of brutality and barbarism, too shocking for recital; and that deeds dark, dolorous and infamous, should sometimes be perpetrated by American slaveholders, is nothing strange. But is it just, is it right, for her to present slaveholders in the United States, en masse, to the whole civilized world, as a set of God-forsaken, heaven-daring, hell-deserving barbarians? That Uncle Tom’s Cabin will make this impression on the minds of most of its readers, who are uninformed as to the institution of slavery in this country, is obvious to any one who will carefully read it. I resided in the slave States forty-four years, and can testify that few, comparatively very few, were guilty of separating wives and husbands, parents and children, and that a majority — yes a very large majority of slaves were treated kindly; and generally there existed between slaves and their possessors kind feelings, and strong attachments. It is this attachment of slaves to their masters, that has frequently frustrated the evil designs set on foot by intermeddling, philanthropic cut-throats, alias abolitionists.

  Mrs. Stowe will probably learn when it is too late, that she cannot work out the salvation of the slave population by misrepresenting slaveholders, — by exciting sympathy in the North, and by arousing feelings of wrath and defiance in the South. “The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.” She may inculcate disobedience and open resistance to the laws of her country; but so did not Jesus Christ; so did not St. Paul. Go, woman, to your Bible and learn your duty to your Creator and your fellow creatures, before you write another book. They, (Jesus Christ and St. Paul,) enforced obedience to the ruling authorities, “Render unto Cæsar, the things that are Cæsars; and let every soul be subject to the higher powers;” is the language of Divine Inspiration. Mrs. Stowe belongs to that faction in the North, long known as the abolition party, and would not scruple to bring about the emancipation of the slaves by any means, regardless of consequences. She would not, I suppose, hesitate to force emancipation on the South, at the point of the bayonet, regardless of the murders, rapines, rapes — the indiscriminate butchery of unoffending women and children — the overthrow of the Union, and the introduction of lasting hates and civil wars, and the ultimate massacre and extinction of the entire African race!! Great God, what atrocious crimes have been perpetrated in the name of liberty!!! She does not, however, openly advocate these extreme measures in her book, but there is, nevertheless, a squinting in that direction in several places. In inculcating resistance to the laws of her country, she is virtually advocating a dissolution of the Union, with all its attendant consequences, results and horrors. For whenever we cease to observe the solemn compact that binds us together, then the Union must necessarily be dissolved, and civil wars, with all its calamities, must follow!! Mrs. Stowe will pardon me if I should perchance, inferentialy saddle on her some things, that will make the vital fluid curdle in her veins; unless she is dead to all those emotions of soul which characterize her sex. As I find her in bad company, I am forced in the absence of better testimony, to judge her from the company in which I find her. The old Spanish proverb is as true as Holy Writ, viz., “Show me the company you keep, and I will tell you who you are.” If she chooses to write novels, and bring grave charges against others by insinuation and innuendo, in order to evade the responsibility of defining her position clearly and openly, she will not, I hope, take offense if I define it for her.

  Mrs. Stowe asserts that there are no laws in slave States to protect slaves, and to punish the cruel and brutal outrages of masters. That masters can cruelly beat their slaves, and also murder them with impunity! This is untrue — nothing could be more false. In the eye of the law, there is no difference between the man that murders his slave, and the man that murders his neighbor; and the laws not only punish men for cruel and unnecessary punishment inflicted on slaves, but there are penal statutes against the unnecessary
and barbarous abuse and destruction of horses, and other species of property. She may tell us that the penal statutes, so far as slaves are concerned, are a dead letter; that they are inoperative; that they have no force or effect whatever. This also, I know to be untrue, from personal observation. I admit that slaveholders often evade the punishment due their crimes, and so do men everywhere. The crimes of men of wealth and influence too often go unpunished, not only in the slave States, but wherever the foot of man has trodden the soil. All will admit, that as a general rule, so far as free men are concerned, the laws are based on principles of justice and equality, and yet, the wealthy, the influential and the powerful, in many instances, find but little difficulty in evading the law, and perverting justice whenever they come in contact with the indigent and ignorant. From a superiority of knowledge, wealth and station, men derive advantages in legal transactions as well as in everything else. It is but one of the misfortunes incident to poverty and ignorance.

  Much has been said, and much has been written about the harsh and cruel treatment of Southern slaves; but there is a vast deal of error and misconception among those unacquainted with the facts, and too much misrepresentation among those, who are, or ought to be better informed. The Southern slave is not amenable to the civil laws for his conduct, except in a qualified sense, and under certain circumstances. He is accountable to his master, and his master is amenable to the civil laws. If suit is instituted for damages, in consequence of depredations committed by a slave, it is brought against the master, and not against the slave. Hence, when a slave is guilty of a misdemeanor, the authority to punish is vested in the master, and not in the legal authorities. I do not pretend to say, that this is the exact letter of the law, but this I know, by common consent, is the practice in the South. The right to punish being vested in the master, he inflicts the punishment in his own way, and to some extent, at his own discretion. The master is judge, juror, and executioner. Whipping is the ordinary punishment inflicted on slaves for crime. Whether it is the punishment most likely to deter them from the commission of it, I know not; but I think it is probable, that under the circumstances, they can find no punishment better adapted to the proposed object. Be it as it may; custom has decided that it shall be the punishment of the slave. Theft is the most common crime among slaves, and for this they are whipped by their masters, and no further notice is taken of the crime. A slave is simply whipped for an offense, which would imprison a white man for several months, and then confine him in the State penitentiary for several years. The master may, if he chooses, surrender the offending slave to the legal authorities; but supposing that he does, the punishment is the same; he is simply whipped and sent back to his master. The crime may be theft, destruction of property, assault and battery; it matters but little what, if we except murder, rape and arson, the punishment is whipping; whether inflicted by the master or the legal authorities. Thus, we see, that the punishment of slaves is much more lenient, than the punishment of free white men for similar crimes. Hence, slaves escape punishment under circumstances, and for crimes, for which white men would be severely punished. Slaves are viewed, for certain reasons, to some extent, as irresponsible beings. “Oh! he is a poor negro, and knows no better,” is an expression common in the South. The crimes of free negroes in the slave States, unless they are of the most flagrant kind, are seldom punished. I have known repeated instances, where stolen goods were found in their possession, and they were suffered to escape unpunished; no one appearing willing to enforce the law against them. On the contrary, their crimes were winked at and tolerated, for the reason that they were considered a poor, unfortunate, depraved and ignorant class.

  Transportation of slaves from Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky, to the extreme Southern States, as a punishment for crime, is not an unfrequent occurrence. I believe that in most cases, where families have been separated, it has been in consequence of vile conduct on the part of slaves. Much of the selling of negroes to traders — the parting of wives and husbands, parents and children, which we hear and read of in Northern publications, had its origin in crime on the part of the slaves. They are frequently transported for crimes which would hang a white man; or otherwise confine him in the penitentiary for a series of years, or for life time. Negroes are frequently whipped and then transported to the extreme Southern States for murder; and that too, under circumstances, where the crime is one of a very aggravated character; for premeditated murder — murder committed with malice prepense. But in the eyes of abolitionists, it is dreadful to whip a slave for so small an offense; and yet they would stand by, and with exquisite pleasure see a white man hanged for the same crime. Kind souls! what a pity that white men could not come in for a share of their sympathies; but they have none for them; it is all for the woolly heads. But really, I should like to know what becomes of their sympathies, when some poor free negro is taken sick in their midst, and starves, and dies, and rots in his filth! Ah! don’t touch my purse. No, by no means! We all know that it won’t do to touch your purses. Your sympathies never leak out in that way. You are too shrewd for that. Fie! Fie! it is all wind, and it costs you but little to blow it out.

  Slaveholders are called murderers, because in a few rare instances, a slave may have been worked to death; and they denounced as cruel and oppressive task-masters, because probably one in five hundred, under peculiar circumstances, may have been guilty of cruelty to his slaves. The same thing occurs everywhere, the world over. And it occurs as frequently in Yankeedom, the hot-bed of abolitionism, infidelity, and wooden nutmegs, as anywhere else, There are more white men and white women worked to death in the North, than there are slaves worked to death in the South. Oh! but, says an objector, those white people are free. Nobody forces them to work beyond their capabilities of endurance. The objection is without foundation, for indigence and liberty, never resided together in the same hovel or hut. Hunger and cold are hard masters, far worse than Southern slaveholders; and the penurious Yankee who inadequately pays the laborer, and thus suffers him to starve or freeze to death, is morally as bad as the man who whips his slave to death. If the latter is a murderer, so is the former. The generality of slaves are better paid for their labor, than the poorer classes of people North or South. They at least receive more in return for their labor. They are better fed, better clothed, and better housed. Most of them are happy and well provided for. Their appearance, their health, cheerfulness and fondness for music, give the lie to Northern representations. Masters are responsible for the maintenance of their slaves under all circumstances; in infancy and old age, in sickness as well as in health. But as soon, as Northern white slaves become incapacitated for labor, they are suffered to lie down in their filth and starve and die. Where then, are their lords and masters, who have grown wealthy from the proceeds of their labor?