UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

"
*
"
or,
probableamount.
"
Accordingto the census, there were in Massa-
APPENDIX. 259
sources, and have found them widelyvarying from
the truth ; and, more than all,they have compared
the statements in one
chusett
six hundred and twenty-sevenlunatics and
idiots supported at publiccharge; accordingto the
part of the census with those in returns of the overseers of the poor, there were eight
another part, and have found most extraordinaryhundred and twenty-seven of this class of paupers.
discrepancesṬhey have also examined the original "The superintendents poor of the State of
manuscriptcopy of the census, depositedby the marshal
New York report one thousand and fifty-eight pauper
of the District of Massachusetts in the clerk's lunatics within that state ; the census reportsonly
office in Boston, and have compared this with the
printededition of both Blair and Rives,and Thomas
Allen,and found here,too, a variance of statements.
"
Your memorialists are aware that some of these
errors in respect to Massachusetts, and perhaps also
in respect to other states, were committed by the
marshals. Mr. William H. Williams, deputy marshal,
states that there were one hundred and thirty-Pennsylvaniathree colored pauper lunatics in the familyof Samuel Your memorialists deem it needless to go and also in some counties in Virginia.
" further
"
Mr. Benali Blood,deputymarshal, states,on one
page, that there were fourteen colored pauper lunatics
therein reported.
and two colored lunatics,who were supported at private
"
In view of these facts țhe undersigned, in behalf
charge,in the familyof Charles E. Parker, in the of said Association,conceive that such documents
town of Pepperell; while on another page he states oughtnot to have the sanction of Congress,nor ought
that there are no colored persons in the familyof said they to be regardedas containingtrue statements
Parker. Mr. William M. Packson states,on one page,
relative to the condition of the peopleand the re-
that there are in the familyof Jacob Cushman, in the
one edition has given twenty, and the other twentyseven,
self-supporting lunatics,in towns in which,
accordingto privateinquiry,none are to be found.
According to the original and manuscriptcopy
of the
census, there were in Massachusetts ten deaf and
dumb and eightblind colored persons ; whereas the
printed editions of the same document multiply them
into seventeen of the former and
twenty-twoof the
latter class of unfortunates.
"
The printedcopy
were in the towns of Hingham
of the census declares that there
and Scituate nineteen
colored persons who were deaf and dumb, blind,or
insane. On the other hand, the undesignedare informed,
by the overseers of the poor and the assessors,
who have cognizance of every pauper and tax-payer
in the town, that in the last twelve years no such
diseased persons have lived in the town of Scituate ;
and they have equallycertain proof that none such
neither found nor made record of such
have lived in Hingham. Moreover, the deputymarshals
persons.
"
The undersignedhave carefullycompared the
number of colored insane and idiots,and of the deaf
and dumb and blind,with the whole number of the
colored population, as
the census, in every city,town, and county
stated in the printededition of
of the
United States ; and have found the extraordinary contradictions
'and improbabilities that are shown in the
following tables.
"
The errors of the census are as certain,if not as
manifest,in regardto the insanityamong the whites,
as among the colored people. Wherever your memorialists
have been able to compare the census with the
results of the investigations of the state governments,
of individuals, or societies, theyhave found that the
national enumeration has fallen far short of the more
seven hundred and thirty-nine.
"The government of New Jerseyreports seven
hundred and one in that state ; the census discovers
only four hundred and forty-two.
"The Medical Societyof Connecticut discovered
twice as many lunatics a3 the census within that
state. A similar discrepancywas found in Eastern
B. Woodward, in the town of Worcester ; but on into detail in this matter. Sufficeit to say, that these
another page he states that there are no colored persons
are but specimensof the errors that are to be found in
in said Woodward's family.
the ' sixth census' in regardto nosologyand education,
and theysuspectalso in regardto other matters
"
of the United States. They believe it would
town of Plympton, four pauper colored lunatics, and have been far better to have had no census at all
one colored blind person ; while on another page he than such an one as has been published ; and they
states that there are no colored persons in the family respectfully requestyour honorable body to take such
of said Cushman.
order thereon,and to adoptsuch measures for the
"
But, on comparingthe manuscriptcopy
of the correction of the same,
if the same cannot be
census at Boston with the printededitionof Blair and corrected,for discardingand disowningthe same, as
Rives, the undersigned are convinced that a large the good of the country shall require, and as justice
portion of the errors were made by the printers, and humanityshall demand.
that hardly any of the errors of the originaldocument
tables for onlythree of the
"
We have room for the
are left out. The original document finds the states." [We will caution the reader not to skip this
colored insane in twenty-ninetowns, while the printedstatistical table,as he probably never saw one like it
edition of Blair and Rives placesthem in thirty-five before.]
towns, and each makes them more than ten-fold greater
MAINE.
than the state returns in regardto the paupers. And
36 of these under 10 years of age.
Everyfable,allegory and romance, must have
its moral. The moral of this ought to be deeply
considered by the American people.
In order to gaincapital
territory,
for the extension of slave
sources
the most importantstatisticaldocument of
the United States has been boldly, grossly, and perseveringly
falsified , stands falsified to thisday.
Query : If state documents are falsifiedin support
of slavery,what confidence can be placed in
any
?
representations that are made
upon
the subject