I have now finished a task--by no means a pleasant one--and I have done it with a trembling hand, for the subject is a delicate one--a subject of intense interest, under the existing circumstances, to every American citizen. To me, the signs of the times appear to be ominous--to forebode evil! I sometimes fear that our political sun has passed the zenith--lowering clouds intercept his rays, and at times obscure his former brightness, majesty and glory. The ship of State is tossed by furious winds, and threatened by boisterous waves--rocks and quicksands are on the right and left--an awful wreck awaits her, and can only be averted by vigilance, prudence, caution and circumspection on the part of her crew. GREENCASTLE, IND., May, 1853. Transcriber's Note: The CONTENTS are printed at the end of this book. REVIEW OF UNCLE TOM'S CABIN; OR AN ESSAY ON SLAVERY. INTRODUCTION. SECTION I. Since the following chapters were prepared for the press, my attention was directed by a friend, to a letter published in a Northern paper, which detailed some shocking things, that the writer had seen and heard in the South; and also some severe strictures on the institution of domestic slavery in the Southern States, &c. I have in the following work, related an anecdote of a young lawyer, who being asked how he could stand up before the court, and with unblushing audacity state falsehoods; he very promptly answered, "I was well paid; I received a large fee, and could therefore afford to lie." I infer from the class of letters referred to, that the writers are generally "well paid" for their services. It has long been a practice of abolition editors in the Northern States, when they were likely to run short of matter, to employ some worthy brother, to travel South, and manufacture articles for their papers. Many of those articles are falsehoods; and most of them, if not all, are exaggerations. No man who will consent to go south, and perform this dirty work, is capable of writing truth. And moreover, many of the letters published in abolition papers, purporting to have been written from some part of the South, were concocted by editors and others at home; the writers never having traveled fifty miles from their native villages. But some of them do travel South and write letters; and it is of but little consequence what they see, or what they hear; they have engaged to write letters, and letters they must write: letters too, of a certain character; and if they fail to find material in the South, it then devolves on them to manufacture it.