Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

210 quiries of him concerning George Harris, and being told of his flight to Canada, ex claims with fervour “Thank God !” She then explains that George Harris is her brother, that she had been purchased many years before by a West Indian planter who had emancipated and married her, that her husband had lately died, and that she was now on her way to Kentucky for the purpose of setting George at li berty. We shall not stop to comment on this string of unnatural incidents, for something stranger is about to transpire. George Shelby in speaking of George Harris mentions his marriage with Eliza. We quote the rest of the conversation— “ ‘Was she born in your house V said Madame de Thoux. “ ‘No. Eather bought her once, in one of his trips to New Orleans, and brought her as a present to mother. She was about eight or nine years old then. Fa ther would never tell mother what he gave for her ; but, the other day, in look ing over his old papers, we came across the bill of sale. He paid an extravagant sum for her, to be sure. 1 suppose, on account of her extraordinary beauty.’ “George sat with his back to Cassy, and did not see the absorbed expression of her countenance, as he was giving these de tails. “At this point in the story, she touch ed his arm, and, with a face perfectly white with interest, said, ‘Do you know the names of the people he bought her ofT “ ‘ A man of the name of Simmons, I think, was the principal in the transac tion. At least, 1 think that was the name on the bill of sale.’ “ ‘O, my God!’ said Cassy, and fell insensible on the floor of the cabin.” Os course Eliza turns out to be Cassy’s child, and we are soon entertained with the family meeting in Montreal, where George Harris is living, five or six years after the opening of the story, in great comfort. Now, the reader will perhaps be sur prised to know that such an incident as the sale of Cassy apart from Eliza, upon which the whole interest of the foregoing narrative hinges, never could have taken place in Louisiana, and that the bill of sale for Eliza would not have been worth the paper it was written on. Observe. George Shelby states that Eliza was eight or nine years old at the time his father purchased her in New Orleans. Let us again look at the statute-book of Louis iana. In the Code JVoir we find it set down that “Every person is expressly prohibited from selling separately from their moth ers, the children who shall not have at tained the full age of ten yearsf And this humane provision is strength- SOUTHERN LITERARY GAZETTE. ened by a statute, one clause of which runs as follows— , “Be it further enacted, That if any per son or persons shall sell the mother of any slave child or children under t'e age of ten years separate from said child or children , or shall , the mother living , sell any slave child or children of ten years of age or under , separate from said mother , such person or persons shall incur the penalty of the sixth section of this act.” This penalty is a fine of not less than than one thousand nor more than two thousand dollars, and imprisonment in the public jail for a period of not less than six months nor more than one year. Vide Acts of Louisiana , 1 Session, 9th Legislature , 1828-9, No. 24, Section 16. What will be said now of the story of Cassy and her children ? Really Mrs. Stowe should be more cautious in the construction of her works of fiction. And yet we know not but the fancy-sketch of the separation and the reunion was the best finale “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” could have had. There is a fitness, a sort of epic unity in making a book of the most absurd improbabilities wind up in an im possibility that we can not think open to criticism. We have devoted a much larger space to the plot of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” than we designed, when we commenced this review; it only remains for us to consi der briefly those points upon which the authoress rests her abuse of the South ern States, in the book as a whole.— These may be reduced to three, —the cruel treatment of the slaves, their lack of religious instruction, and a wanton dis regard of the sacred ties of consanguinity in selling members of the same family apart from each other. We have already shown, by a reference to the laws regulating Slavery in the Southern States, that many of the alle gations of cruelty towards the slaves, brought forward bv Mrs. Stowe, are ab solutely and unqualifiedly false. As for the comfort of their daily lives and the almost parental care taken of them on well-regulated plantations, we may say that the picture of the Shelby estate, drawn by Mrs. Stowe herself, is no bad representation. The world may safely be challenged to produce a labouring class, whose regular toil is rewarded with more of the substantial comforts of life than the negroes of the South. The “property interest” at which the author ess sneers so frequently in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” is quite sufficient to ensure for the negro a kindness and attention which the day-labourer in New England might in vain endeavour to win from his em ployer. But we surely need not elabo rate a point which has been settled so well by Southern writers before. The lack of religious instruction for slaves is a charge aga^ s t the South, in great favour with Northern fanatics, many of whom are deplorably in Want of “reli gious instruction” themselves, ab-3 vastly]] beneath the pious slave in that low f or their neighbour which is the keystone the Christian arch. Yet never was there a charge more extravagant. We can tell these worthies that throughout the South ern States a portion of every house of worship is set apart for the accommoda tion of slaves ; that upon very many plantations may be seen rude but com fortable buildings, dedicated to God, where stated preaching of Ilis Holy Word is ordained ; that Sabbath schools for negroes are established in several of the Southern cities; and that in every Southern family, almost without an ex ception, where morning and evening pray ers are held, the domestics of the house hold are called together to unite in them. Instances of fervent and unaffected piety among the negroes, where they have not been tampered with by Abolitionists, are by no means rare. The entire absence of anxiety of mind, with the negro, aris ing from the perplexities of business and the lack of employment, and the practice, habitual to him from his birth, of resign ing all care for the morrow to his master, are favourable to the reception of reli gious truth, and we believe that statistics would show a larger proportion of pro fessing Christians among the negroes than among the whites. Writers like Mrs. Stowe, in treating of this snbject, assume that there can oe no acquaintance with gospel truth among a class who are not permitted to learn to read. But how many of the early Christians were igno rant and illiterate persons? The fisher men of Galilee were men without in struction when they first followed the fortunes of the lowly Nazarene. As for Mrs. Stowe, she is answered upon this point in her own pages. Uncle Tom was no scholar, and after many years of diligent application could at last read his bible with difficulty. Yet where shall we find a nobler and purer exemplifica tion of the “beauty of holiness” than in him ? It is, indeed, a triumphant vindi cation of the institution of slavery against Mrs. Stowe’s assaults, that in a slave holding community a character so perfect as “Uncle Tom” could be produced. We have, it is true, intimated that “Uncle Tom” is somewhat overdrawn, not one dash of human frailty entering into his composition. Yet making due allowance for this, and relying solely upon his bi blical lore, we may take “Uncle Tom” and deny, in the face of New England, that there can be any serious lack of re ligious instruction in a society of which he was a member. Mrs. Stowe is, we believe, peculiarly favoured in the way of spiri ml advantages. Daughter of one clergyman, wife of another and sister to [.November 6,