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Show 202 NOTES ON and nftcr giYing (p. 110,) the Jast item in Blair'S UCSCrip. tion of Roman sbvcry, adds: "To this alone, of all the atrocities of the slavery of old heathen Home, do we fail to find a parallel in the slaYcry of the United States of America." And yet, according to her own showing, the 1st, 3d, 5th, 8th, Dth, lOth, 12th and 13th "atrocities," (more than half the whole number,) of !loman sla.vcry,-tha.t is, slave-law, for it is thnt of which she is speaking, (see the title of the chaptcr,)-havc no parallel in American. Chapter Fourteenth compares the Hebrew with tho Amcri can slave law. This chapter is full of blundering, or worse than blundering, comments, and ludicrous misintel'prctations, -so ludicrous, on their very fttcc, as not to need examination, even had I room for it. I will just remark, IIOWC\'Cr, in passing, (what the reader, I fear, will hardly thank me for, as it seems to imply his own shallowness,) that tho practices referred to in the first three items of Professor Stowe's "summary," (p. 116,) arc every one of them expressly prohibited by Christianity, whereas sh.very <m!l slave-holding Christians, "faithful aml beloved," oro expressly 1·ecognized by it. ·As to the "cities of r efuge," the provision would be a perfectly proper one now, if tlJCrc were any necessity for it. A similar provision-the ~l\ucc of God-did exist in the mi<J<lle ages, and did immense service to civilization. "'11110 Israeli tes," says ])rofessor Stowe, "were commanded to cxtenninatc the Can~anitcs, men, women and children." \Vel!! when God shall command us to "exterminate the Canaanites/' I will take hold and do my part, and I trust tho Professor will his. One omission in this clwpter is noteworthy, as shm\ing the authors pntdence: in the passage cited by me two or three paragraphs back, (Ex. xxi. 20, 21, 26, ~7,) she cites the 2Gth and 27th verses, nnd omits the other two! Sec also an tqnally significant omission in Lev. xix. 20. UNCLE TOM'S CABIN. 203 On pages 88 anu DO, (chapters 5 and G,) arc prOVISIOnS of law requiring the accused master, in certain cases, to purge himself by oath, or sufl'cr punishment. On these provisions the author tries to be facetious: she speaks of tho "virtuous solemnity and gravity" of one of the acts, and sho,rs herself, thereby, "to be in the ·enjoyment of an ami a blc ign~rancc and unsophisticated innocence with regard to the workmgs of lmman society generally, ,Yhich is, on the whole, rather rcf,·csiiing." (p. D2.) She thinks a master who ~hould 'JU',(jlect to allow his sl<we sufficient clothing, c?Yermg. or food, would necessarily be bad enough to perjure hnnself for the sake of saving a "sum not excee£ling twenty pounds current money!" And, speaking of the act on page 80, she asks, "'Vha,t was this law made for? Can any one imagine?'' Yes, Mrs. Stowe! I can imagine: and my irnagin:ttion is n 't half as fertile as yours, either. ~rhe law was evidently mq,dc for tltis: If possible, to secure tho punishment of the offender here; or, failing that, to send him into etcmity with the awful guilt of pmjury on his soul to receive a double punishment hereafter. ' " Chapter ~rcnth : P1!TNC1PLES ESTADLJSJIED. "From a review of all the legal cases which have hitherto been presented, and of the principles established in the judicial decisions upon them, the following facts must be apparent to the reader: "li'h·st, ~rhat ma.stcrs do, now and then kill slaves by the torture." ' '1\ue! "llut," as l\Irs. Stowe says, "the actual number of them, compared with tiJC whole number of masters we take pleasure in saying, is smaJl. It is an injury to' thu cause of freedom to ~round. the argument ngainst slavery upon. the .frequency wuh whiCh such scenes as these occur. It ~11 sleads the popular mind as to the real issue of the subJect." (p. lOG.) |