Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe _

it be a Success?-An Unprecedented Circulation.-Congratulatory Messages.-Kind Words from Abroad.-Mrs.

vasse in its levees. The intense interest excited by the story, the demands made upon the author for more facts, the unmeasured words of encouragement to keep on in her good work that poured in from all sides, and above all the ever-growing conviction that she had been intrusted with a great and holy mission, compelled her to keep on until the humble tale had as

th the name of Dr. Gamaliel Bailey as editor, appeared that of John Greenleaf Whittier as corresponding editor. In its columns Mrs. Southworth made her first literary venture,

hat her work was pronounced by competent judges to be the most powerful production ever contributed

he following appeal to its more youthful read

cle of friends whose faces she has never seen, but whose sympathies

n meeting in spirit week after week has been a constant refr

ressed. When you grow up, show your pity by doing all you can for them. Never, if you can help it, let a colored child be shut out from school or treated with neglect and contempt on account of his color. Remember the swee

children, unti

as at last brought her great work to a close. We do not recollect any product

for its publication in book form. He offered Mr. and Mrs. Stowe a half share in the profits, provided they would share with him the expense of publication. This was refused by Pro

n publisher, and ten years later the Harpers had brought out her "Mayflower." Still, neither of these had been sufficiently remunerative to cause her to regard literary work as a money-making business

" the book publication of the story was authorized before its completion as a serial,

ication of her book, with "one copy U. T. C. cloth $.56," and this was the first copy of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" ever sold in book form. Five

uin & Hill in Alexandria, Va.,-a plea impassioned, eloquent, but vain, as all other pleas on that side had ever proved in all courts hitherto. It seemed that there was no hope, that no

haven of refuge for the oppressed. To this end she at once wrote letters to Prince Albert, to the Duke of Argyll, to the Earls of Carlisle and Shaftesbury, to Macaulay, Dickens, and others wh

committed the result to God, she calml

hundred thousand copies of the book, had been issued and sold in this country. Almost in a day the poor professor's wife had become the most talked-of woman in the world, her influence for good was spreading to its remotest corners, and henceforth she was to be a public character, whose every movement

of opinion concerning it, began to pour in upon the author. Her li

child, nor could I restrain an almost hysterical sobbing for an hour after I laid my head upon my pillow. I thought I was a thorough-going abolitionist be

Longfello

of "Uncle Tom's Cabin." It is one of the greatest triumphs recorded in li

friendly remembrance

most

W. Lon

wrote to

the Fugitive Slave Law! Better would it be for slavery if that law h

rote to Mr

y the abuse it brings. Now all the defenders of

owe, Whitt

at she has been reading it to some twenty young ladies, daughters of Louisiana slaveholders, near

thy

G. Wh

orth Higginson ca

e most efficient of anti-slavery tracts is a double triumph in literature

ctfully and

Higg

n here. I found business prosperous. Jewett animated. He has been to Washington and conversed with all the leading senators, Northern and Southern. Seward told him

atory letters came hosts of others, threatening and i

y, cruelty, and obscenity, that their like could only be expressed by J

denounced by time-serving preachers as a meretricious work. Will you

e should as soon think of comin

and showing a much brighter side of the slavery question, but they all fell flat and were

editor. I have no comment to make on it, as that is done by itself. The editor might have saved himself being writ down an ass by the public

ese were without exception flattering and encouraging. Through his private secretary Prince Albert acknowledged with thanks the receipt of h

ng question of the world and age we live in, including all that is most thrilling in heroism and most touching in distress; in short, the real epic of the universe. The self-interest of the parties most nearly concerned on the one hand, the apathy and ignorance of uncon

extract has been given, Mrs. S

rticularly of notoriety in England because I see with what daily increasing power England's opinion is to act on this country. No one can tell but a native born here by what an infinite complexity of ties, nerves, and ligaments this terrible evil is bound in one body politic; how the slightest touch upon it causes even the free States to thrill and shiver, what a terribly corrupting and tempting power it has upon the conscience and moral sentiment even of a free community. Nobody can tell the thousand ways in which by trade, by family affinity, or by political expediency, the free part of our country is constantly tempted to com

g; it will show more than words can the kind of incident to which I allude. The tract is not a published document, only printed

sense. They are known by clergymen who yet would not on any account so far commit themselves as to preach on the evils of slavery, o

the internal slave-trade that one would think no man could ever forget. Men united in pledging themselves to the Fugitive Slave Law, who yet would tell you in privat

ng part of the subject. Nothing makes me feel it so painfully as to see with how much more keenness the English feel the disclosures of my book than the Americans. I myself am blunted by use-b

ions and unnerved by the thousands of influences that blind and deaden us. There is a healthful vivacity of moral feeling on this subject that must electrify our paralyzed vitality. For this reason,

documents of the present struggle, written by two men who are, in their

ar by extracts from the codes of slaveholding States, and the records of their courts. These are documents that cannot be disputed, and I pray

the South Carolinian gentleman has sent to "Fraser's Magazine" an article; before published in this country, on "Uncle Tom's Cabin." The article in the London "Times" was eagerly reprinted in this country, was issued as a

sale had run to over a hundred thousand copies that reaction began, and the reaction was led off by the London "Times." Instantly, as by a preconcerted signal, all papers of a certain class began to abuse; and some who had at first issued articles entirely commen

intended that the cause should have a hearing. It is strange that they should have waited so long for the political effect of a book

ionists. 2d. To convert to abolitionist views many whom this same bitterness had repelled. 3d. To inspire the free colored people

lts, for they were men of noble hearts. "But oppression maketh a wise man mad," and they spoke and did many things in the frenzy of outraged humanity that repelled sympathy and threw multitudes of

a forbidden shibboleth, "Liberia," and the fact that the wildest and extremest abolitionists united with the co

nd should know how we stand. The subject is now on trial at the bar of a civilized world-a Chris

Beeche

l of Shaftesbury wr

ng to you the deep gratitude that I feel to Almighty God who has inspired both your heart and your head in the composition of "Uncle Tom's Cabin." None but a Christian believer could have produced such a book as

Mrs. Stowe repl

January

rl of Sha

omfort and an encouragement to me, feeble as I now am i

who feel as we feel, and who are looking with simplicity to

oble address of the Duchess of Sutherland, and I could not but feel that such movements, originating in such a qua

iating the Christian and truly friendly feeling that prompted this movement, and that there are even those

rtake it, it was this, that I had a true heart of love for the Southern people, a feeling appreciation of their trials, and a sin

free circulation among them, and that the gentle voice of Eva and the manly generosity of St. Cla

dissenting voice was raised; to my astonishment everybody praised. But when the book circulated so widely and began to penetrate

egan to denounce the work as unchristian, heretical, etc. The reason of all this is that it has been seen that the book ha

. All the force of lynch law is employed to smother discussion and blind conscience on this question. The question is

taly. It is not allowed in the bookstores, and the greater part of the people hear of it and me o

that she dares not have it appear on the outside of her letters, and that very amiable and exc

ligious paper in the United States, extensively read at the South, should have come out in such a bitter and unscrupulous s

ter of deepest sorrow. All those things, of course, cannot touch me in my private capacity, sheltered as I am by a happy home and very warm friends. I only grieve for it as a dishon

of America may be said to be interested in it. And, if I may judge from the furious and b

ws of the question will not be discouraged by the strong abuse that will follow. England is doing us g

good, though truly 'tis painful for us Americans to bear. The fact is, we have become

most fearful story, my lord,-I can truly say that I write with life-blood, but as called of God. I give in my evidence, and I hope that England may so fix the attention of the world on the facts of which I am the unwilling publisher, that the Southern St

for England on the invitation of the Anti-Slavery Society of th

they seek to do may be made more efficient by a little communion with those who know the

endship England has ever shown us, and will, I am confident, be so received. I earnestly trust that all who have begun to take in hand the cause will be in nothing daunted, but persever

Christian

. St

in "Fraser's Magazine." In his letter Mr. Helps took exception to the comparison instituted in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" betwee

rthur

lish nation as a nation. You will notice that the remarks on that subject occur in the dramatic part of the book, in the mouth of an intelligent Southerner. As a fair-minded person, bound to state for both sides all that could be said in the pers

ped apology,-a defense it cannot b

nference, however, which we of the freedom party draw from it, is not that the slave is, on the whole, in the best condition because of this striking difference; that in America the slave has not a recognized human character in law, has not even an existence, whereas in England the law recognizes and protects the mea

are very unwilling still to part with that wealth and power. They are unwilling to be convinced that it is their duty, and unwilling to do it if they are. It is always so everywhere; it is not English nature

the laws restricting the employing of young children eighteen hou

the high nobility of England who are friends of the common people and willing to help the cause of human progress, irrespective of its influence on their own interests, than there are those of a similar class among slaveholding aristocracy, though even that class is not withou

eart warms to her as, on the whole, the strongest, greatest, and best nation on earth. Have not England and America one blood, one language, one literature, and a glorious literature it is! Are not Milton and Shakespeare, and

rely

. St