In order to accomplish anything for the benefit of the slave, we must have a Southern audience; to them we must speak, and for them we must write.  With them we must reason, as brother holding familiar converse with brother.  Mrs. Stowe’s book is not likely to be generally read in the South; and provided it should be, it can excite no other than feelings of indignation and defiance in Southern minds.  Hence the work can result in no good, and may possibly, unless its baneful influence is counteracted, originate much evil.

If we take the institution of slavery in the United States, as a whole, and view it correctly, Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a gross misrepresentation.  The book has placed the people of this country in a false position; in a ridiculous attitude before the world.  There may be some truth in her statements—­barely enough to give them plausibility among the thoughtless, inconsiderate and uninformed; and those whose minds are warped by prejudice.  Horrid and revolting occurrences, such as are detailed in her book, have sometimes occurred among slaveholders, but they have been rare, and are now more rare than formerly.  They are but exceptions to general rules; why then present them to the world under circumstances, and in a style and manner, that will make an impression on the minds of a majority of uninformed readers, that they are every day occurrences; that a large portion, if not a majority of the slaveholders are involved in the charges specified.  How does such a procedure, on the part of Mrs. Stowe, comport with the great principles of truth and justice; which should have been her guide while writing on so grave a subject!  Wherever man possesses power over his fellow man, throughout the length and breadth of the habitable globe, there are occasional instances of brutality and barbarism, too shocking for recital; and that deeds dark, dolorous and infamous, should sometimes be perpetrated by American slaveholders, is nothing strange.  But is it just, is it right, for her to present slaveholders in the United States, en masse, to the whole civilized world, as a set of God-forsaken, heaven-daring, hell-deserving barbarians?  That Uncle Tom’s Cabin will make this impression on the minds of most of its readers, who are uninformed as to the institution of slavery in this country, is obvious to any one who will carefully read it.  I resided in the slave States forty-four years, and can testify that few, comparatively very few, were guilty of separating wives and husbands, parents and children, and that a majority—­yes a very large majority of slaves were treated kindly; and generally there existed between slaves and their possessors kind feelings, and strong attachments.  It is this attachment of slaves to their masters, that has frequently frustrated the evil designs set on foot by intermeddling, philanthropic cut-throats, alias abolitionists.