other negro in his possession. Why? Because of his good qualities. I
have clearly and indisputably shown that Tom's good qualities did not
enhance his value one cent with Haley. And at the same time, Tom was
worth more to Shelby than any half dozen negroes on the farm. How
absurd! Was a more barefaced, palpable, glaring and malicious
falsehood ever fabricated? I am sorry that justice to my countrymen,
my friends and my relatives, requires at my hands, an expose of this
low, scurrilous production, entitled "Uncle Tom's Cabin." This is a
fair sample of abolitionism. But I am not done with Uncle Tom. Mrs.
Stowe tells us that he was a great favorite with Mrs. Shelby, and
Shelby knew of course that it would almost break his wife's heart, and
that young master George would almost go beside himself; yet he sells
poor old Tom to this infamous negro trader, notwithstanding! Ah!
"murder will out," and falsehood will out, likewise. The statements of
Mrs. Stowe are inconsistent; they are sheer fabrications: the figments
of a diseased brain.

I will again remark, that strictly honest, upright negroes, those
remarkable for their good qualities, and those who are withal, negroes
of more than ordinary value, are never sold to negro traders. The
statement that Shelby was guilty of such an act, under the
circumstances, as detailed in the preceding pages, is too absurd, too
futile, too foolish to deceive or mislead any one who knows anything
about the institution of slavery in the South; or the customs, habits,
or manners of slaveholders. The work, however, was prepared for those
whoso minds were warped by prejudice, whose judgments were beclouded
and perverted by sectional hatred and bigotry, and whose imaginations
were bewildered and distempered by the reading of abolition
publications and novels. To such it has proved a treat, yea, they have
read it with avidity and delight.