UTC
The National Era
Unsigned Letter
Washington, D.C.: 17 July 1851

A WORD OF COMMENDATION.

To the Editor of the National Era:

  "Uncle Tom's Cabin" increases in interest and pathos with each successive number. None of thy numerous contributors, rich and varied as they have been, have so deeply interested thy female readers of this vicinity as this story of Mrs. Stowe has thus far done, and promises to do.

  The noble character of Mrs. Shelby, her just and comprehensive views of slavery, and its necessary consequences; the case of Eliza and her boy, with its touching incidents—indeed, the whole history of slavery as it is universally known, and most strikingly developed in this story, is peculiarly calculated to enlist the moral and religious sympathies, and call to action the latent energies of the female heart.

  And wishing to extend the salutary influence which I think these numbers and the general matter of the Era will inculcate, I enclose a small "voluntary," covering three months' subscription to the names annexed.

  I know nothing of the "politics" of the ladies, or of their sharing sentiments upon slavery; but I know or learn they have a woman's heart, highly cultivated, and alive to every appeal of human want or woe, and exert an influence corresponding to the commanding position they occupy in society.

New York, July 1, 1851.