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Show 1G6 NO TE S ON lately seem to think and teach that it is right for us to vio- t Ia.tc the plain commands of God whcncYcr some grca.t national good can be secured by it, would do well to contemplate the inflexible principle of this poor. sl:wc, who, without being able to read a. letter of the Blblc, w~s ~ct cn~tblcd to perform this most sublime act of sclf-rcnuncmlJon in obedience to its commands." Now I do not wish to be understood as vouching for the truth of the above; on tho contrary, certain portions of it seem to me to have a very apocryphal air, especially the second, third, fourth and fifth sentences : but tho last two sentences arc valuable as showing ~Irs. Stowe's opinion of her friends, the "higher-law" men, and how, in her view, tl1c conduct of "this poor slave" puts them to the, blush. 'l'he advocates of the Fugitive Law could not desire a moro complete justification than J)lrs. Stowe has here volunteered for them. 'l'hc seventh chapter treats of the Northern prejudice ogainst negroes, and in what the author says of the unchristian character of this prejudice, I go with her to tlwfullest extent; and I am happy to sec that she admits-what indeed she could not help admitting-that there is no such prejudice at the South. But she tells us further that this · prejudice at the North is a rcsiU.uum of slavery, which, although it "has been abolished in the New England States," has "left behind it" this its "most baneful feature." And herein, I think she is mistaken: ~ am satisfied, from the testimony of those who lived under the olJ regime, and can remember the state of society at thnt time, that there wus then no such prrjudico. .My grandfather had a sla.Yc, •~ faithful body-scrv::mt, ::uul there was certainly no such prejudice against him: on the> contrary, all the children were as much attached to "Black Peter," as rue the children of Southern slavc-ownrrs, at the present day, to the sla.ves with UNCL!!: TOM'S CABlN. 107 whom they lla,·c grown up ft·om childhood; an11 I bcliC\'C it wns so generally; a.nd, indeed, if I were disposed to branch off into n. piJilosophicnl spccnbtion on the subject, I think I could find, in the nature of the relation that rxisted between tltem, some reasons why it sl10uhl be so. If, then, s]a.,·cry is to be abolished in the Soutltcm States, a.ncl the neg1·o rcma.in on the soil, cit.ltcr the Southerner must be a good Uca.l superior to his Northern brother in sympathy for whatever is human, or the same prcjw.lico will develope itself there that has borne so ha.rd upon the negro here. I hope I may TIC\'cr see the Southern negro reduced to such a condition. Chapter eighth is hca.detl, "J)f:tric St. Cittrc," and contains a. good deal of truth about errtain 1W1'tlte1·n ladies. 'Vhat is here s:tiJ. about whipping, requires no other remark than l1as alrcatly been made on the subject. Chapter ninth is entitled, "St. Clare," and oprns as fol lows:- . "It is with pleasure that we turn from the da.rk picture JUSt presented, to the character of the generous and noblehearted St. Clare, wherein the fairest pict~rc of our Southern brother is presented." Antl what, in our atlthor'S view, is this "fairest picture"? That of a s~eering sceptic, (vol. i. pp. 264-266,) who "had only that km~ of benevolence which consists in lying on a. sofa, and eursmg the clmrch and clergy for not being mar~ tyrs and confesso,.," (vol. ii. p. 137,) who, aceo1·ding to his own account of lumsclf,. (vol. i.i. p. 2-!,) '' instea(l of being actor and rPgcncrator m soCJcty," was "a. piece of driftwooll," "floating and eddying ubout," and his life, "a. contemptible non-sequitur." Now I do not find fault witl1 1\Jrs. Stowe for dra.win(l' the pictu~·c of such an easy, good-for-nothing, "graceless dog,'' (vol. '· p. 264,) but I do protest, most emphatically, against |