Uncle Tom’s Cabin - a Scottish Verdict!
December 17, 1852
A large meeting of the Glasgow Emancipation Society has given a testimony of “gratitude and approbation” to Mrs. Stowe. Notable among the people on the platform was William Wells Brown.
Colored Citizens of Boston
December 10, 1852
A letter from Wm. C. Nell, to “Esteemed Friend Garrison”, tells of a series of public meetings “under the auspices of colored citizens ranking with the Free Soil Party.”
Two resolutions are listed: One of the resolutions notes that the Whig and so-called Democratic parties “of this country are endeavoring to crush, debase and dehumanize us as a people; any man among us voting for their respective candidates, virtually recognizes the righteousness of their principles, and shall be held up to public reprobation as a traitor, a hissing and a by word, a pest and a nuisance, the off-scouring of the earth.”
A second resolution says that the “candidates of the Free Democracy need no eulogy…. Our hands, our hearts and our votes are theirs.”
Election of Gerrit Smith
November 12, 1852
As a Representative to Congress, “…we believe he does not fear the face of man, and will dare to do his whole duty, as it shall be clearly revealed to his own mind, be the odium or peril what it may.”
Death of Webster
November 5, 1852
The letter by Quincy, from the previous week, is repeated. There is also a long sermon on Webster, by Theodore Parker, begun here, concluded in the next weekly edition.
Death of Daniel Webster
October 29, 1852
Edmund Quincy, writing as editor, in the absence of Garrison, comments on Webster. He has “no praise from Mr. Webster”, but “has no disposition to employ bitter words, however fit, to describe his character and his public life.” The article ends, with this note of the death: “Disappointed, mortified, Ashamed, heart-broken, he turned his face to the wall and died. It was the only thing left for him to do.”
Womens’ Rights and Taxation
October 22, 1852
Included is a letter from Harriet Hunt, 32 Green St., Boston, in which she addresses The Treasurer and Assessors of the City. It is a “protest against the injustice and inequality of levying taxes upon women, and at the same time refusing them any vote or voice in the imposition and expenditure of the same.” The item is introduced by the editor, saying, “It will be easy enough to sneer at this letter, but its facts and arguments, so clearly and soberly put, will have their effect on candid and thinking men.”
Political Sharp-Shooting
October 15, 1852
Here are some “typos”noted — some samples of the several included in the paper:
“Mistake in Spelling - some eulogist of Pierce has pronounced him a war-scared hero!” —Those types!
The Tribune having said, ‘Gen Scott carries British lead about him to this very day; the Lantern asks, Is it in the head?’”
“Scott is a dead-letter in this country - (Coshocton (Ohio) Democrat. Like all other ‘dead letters’ he will be sent straight to Washington. - Raleigh Register.”
Anti-Abolition
October 15, 1852
Under the Refuge of Oppression, there are extracts from Rev. Dr. Joel Parker, who is simply identified as an “Evangelical” Divine. “When the slave’s desired freedom has been obtained, his destitution of political rights soon begins to be felt as a hard condition. Some of our philanthropists had hoped that this difficulty might be removed. I have myself no confidence in such an anticipation. But suppose it might be removed, then, though new privileges have been acquired, the acquisition only makes their social inferiority more keenly felt. To be unfettered in body and intellect, to be cultivated in taste and manners, to be elevated to an equal political influence, and yet to be held in a condition of social inferiority, that must be felt as the ‘unkindest cut of all.’ …the white race must be free to choose such conjugal and other social relations as are most agreeable to their tastes. They will never unite themselves with a caste which is physically and mentally inferior to their own, especially when marked by such a broad and unmistakable distinction as black and white….”
Speech of Sumner to Congress
September 17, 1852
Included in the paper is a copy of half of Sumner’s speech, with which he proposed the repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law. The article appreciates the speech, and commends it for wide reading. “But it is not without its vulnerable points…. It clearly demonstrates the unconstitutionality of the Fugitive Slave Law … But, beyond this, it does not travel an inch…. …this would be merely to go over the same ground again, and to ultimate in the universal supremacy of the Slave Power as at the present time. This is not statesmanship, but infatuation. Our cry still is, ‘No Union with Slaveholders!’”
Response to Uncle Tom’s Cabin
September 3, 1852
From a correspondent of the Lincoln (Maine) Democrat, here are some of the words about the book: “… It is a mischievous, dangerous work, got up on purpose for evil; that is the inevitable tendency of it. It is really lamentable that where great evil is being concocted, you will always hear the rattle of petticoats. For her offence the Son of God died! Not content with the agony she created in Heaven, she now seeks to destroy the last hopes of humanity on earth, by this attack upon our glorious Union.”