評論
打印
The law of 1850 gave the enforcement of the act to United States officials. The agents of slave owners claimed many persons as fugitives. But few were returned to the South. The important result of these attempts to enforce the law was to strengthen Northern public opinion against slavery. It led to redoubled efforts to help runaway slaves through the Northern states to Canada. A regular system was established. This was called the "Underground Railway." In short, instead of bringing about "a union of hearts," the Compromise of 1850 increased the ill feeling between the people of the two sections of the country.
1850年的法律將強制執行這個法案的權力交給美國政府官員，奴隸主代表們宣稱許多人都是逃亡者，但是，很少有奴隸移交給南方。強制執行這個法律的重要結果是強化北方公共輿論反對奴隸制，這使得北方人幫助逃亡奴隸通過北方各州逃往加拿大的努力倍增；人們建成一個正規的體系，并稱之為"地下鐵路"。簡而言之，1850年的折中法案沒有帶來"心靈的聯邦"，而是助長了國家南北雙方之間的敵意。
348. "Uncle Tom's Cabin."
348．《湯姆叔叔的小屋》
It was at this time that Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote "Uncle Tom's Cabin." In this story she set forth the pleasant side of slavery-the light-heartedness and kind-heartedness of the negroes. In it she also set forth the unpleasant side of slavery-the whipping of human beings, the selling of human beings, the hunting of human beings. Of course, there never was such a slave as Uncle Tom. The story is simply a wonderful picture of slavery as it appeared to a brilliant woman of the North. Hundreds of thousands of copies of this book were sold in the South as well as in the North. Plays founded on the book were acted on the stage. Southern people when reading "Uncle Tom" thought little of the unpleasant things in it: they liked the pleasant things in it. Northern people laughed at the pretty pictures of plantation life: they were moved to tears by the tales of cruelty. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and the Fugitive Slave Law convinced the people of the North that bounds must be set to the extension of slavery.
就在這個時候哈里特·比奇爾·斯托夫人寫下了《湯姆叔叔的小屋》。在這個故事中，她寫出了奴隸制令人高興的一面--黑人們無憂無慮而又有仁慈之心；她還寫出了奴隸制令人討厭的一面--奴隸遭受鞭打、被買賣、被追獵。當然，從來就沒有像湯姆叔叔這樣的一個奴隸。這本書在南方和北方賣出成千上萬冊，舞臺上演出根據這本書改編而成的劇目。南方人在閱讀這本書時很少考慮其中令人討厭的東西，他們喜歡其中令人高興的事；北方人因為種植園生活的漂亮圖片而發笑，又因這些殘忍的故事而流淚。《湯姆叔叔的小屋》和《逃亡奴隸法案》讓北方人相信必須要限制奴隸制的擴張。
