work, my opinions underwent a change as to the merit of the work
and the designs of the writer in bringing it before the public.
The present chapter contains my first reflections on the subject
of slavery, after I determined to write on the subject.

It is a dire calamity that this class of writers have taken hold of
the subject of slavery. It is a misfortune that slavery should be
presented in a fictitious garb. I fear the consequences. It portends
no good to the nation. Slavery is among us, it is a solemn reality,
and if we expect to get rid of it, we must look it full in the face;
see it as it is, and treat it as a matter of fact business. We know
that it is an evil--a deplorable evil; but what shall we do with it?
The plague is on us--about us--in our midst. Where? Oh! where, shall
we find a remedy? The great work is before us; who is competent to the
task? Statesmen as wise and patriotic as any the world ever produced,
have shrunk from the task, confounded and abashed. Where is Clay!
Where is Webster? All that was earthly of them, is no more. Long did
they grapple with the monster slavery, and by their wise councils,
through many a dark and stormy period, did they safely conduct the
ship of State. But they are gone, and shall we now confide the
interests of this great nation, to the keeping of a few sickly
sentimentalists? No, heaven forbid that we should be led blindfold to
ruin! I entreat you, my fellow countrymen, to open your eyes and look
around you, and be not deceived. Your all is at stake. Arise in your
strength and crush the monster abolitionism, that threatens your
blood-bought liberties.

Mrs. Stowe tells us that the object of her book is to awaken sympathy
for the African race. If that, and that alone was her object, she
probably had better not have written on the subject. Sympathy for the