AMERICAN SLAVERY: A REPRINT OF AN ARTICLE ON "UNCLE TOM'S CABIN," OF WHICH A PORTION WAS INSERTED IN THE 206TH NUMBER OF THE "EDINBURGH REVIEW;" LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, LONGMANS, & ROBERTS. PREFACE. THE following article was partially published in the "Edinburgh Review," during my absence from Europe. Considerable portions of the matter contained in the proofs, as I finally settled them, were omitted. It is now reprinted unmutilated, indeed verbatim, from the revise as it left my hands. On reperusal I have found nothing to soften or to retrench, though I could add and strengthen much. To bring down the story of American Slavery to the present time, I have reprinted the speech of Mr. Sumner in the Senate of the United States, on the 19th and 20th of May last, and a brief notice of the frightful scenes which followed it. The moral and intellectual character of Mr. Sumner has long been admired by Europe. To sympathy for his courage is now added sympathy for his calamity. I cannot believe that he has suffered in vain. I cannot believe that the great country to which he is an honour, is destined to be much longer an ex ample of the depravation and ferocity which sudden wealth and uncontrolled power can produce in nations, as they have often produced them in individuals. The present degradation of the United States is a tremendous warning. It must sadden and alarm all who believe in the excellence of purely democratic institutions. |