A Review of Uncle Toms Cabin | Page 7

It is true that abolitionists affect to have a great deal of sympathy for
them while they are slaves in the South, but they have none for the
ignorant, degraded, half starved, ill clad, free negroes in the North. No
wonder, for their Southern sympathy costs them nothing, but Northern
sympathy might empty their purses. Show me the abolitionist who is
willing to meet the free negro on terms of equality. No man can point
to one--no, not one. The African is neglected, scorned, and trodden
under foot every where; by abolitionists and every one else. This
prejudice is invincible, irremediable. The poor African is hopelessly
and irretrievably doomed to scorn, contempt and degradation while in
the midst of the white race. Is the African allowed the ordinary
privileges of the white man any where in all the liberty loving North?
Show me the spot! Where is it? Show me the state--show me the
neighborhood--the man--the woman among all the white race in all the
North, who is willing to allow the despised African, the ordinary
privileges of white men. Ah! you cannot do it. Shame! shame! Hold!
cease,--for God's sake cease your hypocritical cant about Southern
slavery. No! no! there is not a state in all this union where they enjoy
the privileges of white men. There is not--there never has been--and
there never will be! They are no where equal parties in an action at law.
They are no where credible witnesses against white men. They are no
where allowed the right of suffrage; or if the law allows it, they are not
suffered to avail themselves of it. They are no where admitted as judge,
juror, or counsellor. They are no where eligible to any office of profit,
trust, or honor. Their children are no where admitted into the same
school-room with the whites. They are no where protected, encouraged,
and rewarded in all the North. They are victims of injustice, scorned
and despised in every free state in this confederacy. And abolitionists
are as far from making equals of them, or associating with them, as any
one else.
The city of Baltimore presents the largest and most intelligent mass of
free negroes found in the United States. These in an appeal to the
citizens of Baltimore, and through them to the people of the United
States, say, "we reside among you, and yet are strangers,--natives, yet
not citizens--surrounded by the freest people and the most republican

institutions in the world, and yet we enjoy none of the immunities of
freedom. As long as we remain among you, we shall be a distinct
race--an extraneous mass of men irrecoverably excluded from your
institutions. Though we are not slaves--we are not free."
Judge Blackford, speaking of free negroes, says, "They are of no
service here, (in the free states,) to the community or themselves. They
live in a country, the favorite abode of liberty, without the enjoyment of
her rights."
Dr. Miller says, "if liberated and left among the whites, they would be a
constant source of corruption, annoyance and danger. They could never
be trusted as faithful citizens."
There is at last no sympathy between the two races, except in the slave
states. There, for the most part, we find kind feelings and strong
attachments between the slaves and the families in which they reside. I
must, however, refer the reader to other parts of this volume for
additional remarks on the subjects discussed in the preceding
pages,--more particularly to chapters, 4, 5, 6, 7. But I would ask, in the
name of all that is sacred, what advantage, what benefit under these
circumstances is conferred on the Southern slaves by emancipation? I
know from personal observation, that Southern slaves are better fed,
better clothed, and better housed than are free negroes, either North or
South; in short, they are better paid for their labor. The South is the
only part of the United States, where ministers of the gospel are
successful in Christianizing the African race--the only part of the
United States where there is anything like good order, good morals, or
Christianity among them. The only place at last, on this continent,
where the African is cared for and provided for, and where there is any
thing like sympathy, kindness or fellow-feeling between the two races.
It would be well for the people of the United States to inquire into the
origin of this slavery agitation. It is of foreign origin! It was our old
enemy England, that first sowed broadcast the seeds of dissension in
our midst. Abolitionism in this country first originated in, and has been
sustained by, foreign interference, and religious fanaticism. It is the last
hope of European monarchies to destroy our republic. The fact is
notorious, and is susceptible of proof,