He represents the impartial scientific observer.

His books were published during the years 1856, 1857, and 1861.

They constitute in their own way an indictment against slavery quite as forcible as that of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," but an indictment that rests chiefly upon the blighting influence of the institution of slavery upon agriculture, manufactures, and the general industrial and social order.

The crisis came too soon for these publications to have any marked effect upon the issue.

Their appeal was to the deliberate and thoughtful reader, and political control had already drifted into the hands of those who were not deliberate and composed.
In 1857, however, there appeared a book which did exert a marked influence upon immediate political issues.