Uncle Tom's Cabin in AlabamaThe writer of the following letter sends us his name and address: "———, ALABAMA, May 8th, 1853. "To the Editors of the Evening Post: "I have just finished a perusal of 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.' I read every word to my wife. I will not attempt to describe to you her feelings. She is an Alabamian; I a Virginian by birth. We are slave-holders. The moment the steamer with George Harris and Eliza, his wife, touched the Canada shore, three shouts for liberty, to the tops of our voices, rent the air. "Every man, woman, and child, white and black, in the southern States, can bear testimony to the truth of the portrait which Mrs. Stowe, God bless her! has drawn of Slavery. One of not the least excellencies of the book is, that a Christian, of the highest style, standing side by side with Wilberforce and Mrs. Hannah More, leads the reader by the hand through the habitations of cruelty that lie before our eyes. He or she can then draw a contrast between the Christian and a mistress or mother, who was some years since a near neighbour of mine, who owned a little negro girl. She would heat the tongs, and pull the flesh off her body with them. "I durst affirm that if his Satanic majesty were put upon his voir dire he would confess that one of the works of the devil which Christ was manifested in the flesh to destroy. "In my opinion, 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' is destined to have a greater influence for good than any one single book that has been published since the close of the canon of Scripture. Mrs. Stowe, if I may so speak, is an impersonation of our Saviour, going about doing good. The reader at once penetrates the deep meaning of the parable of the servant that took his fellow-servant by the throat, who owed him a few pence; of the good Samaritan, and of Dives and Lazarus. Mrs. Stowe has ended her book just as she should have done. She has suggested no plan of emancipation further than the example of young George Shelby goes. She has left the duty and responsibility just where St. Paul, in his letter to Philemon, left it, on the slave-owner. "Our warmest thanks and best wishes to Mrs. Stowe, whom generations unborn will rise up and call 'blessed.' Very respectfully, &c."—Evening Post, May 24. |