"Su 899 625 2 § TRACT NO. IV. Published by the Republican Association, of Washington, under the direction of the Congressional Republican Executive Committee. A E 449 .R26 Copy 1 *- iilE SLATE TRADE. y /y,<~^ The proceedings and debates during th'fe last session of the late Congress, indicate a most marked deterioration of moral sentiment at the South in respect to the African slave trade, and are fearfully ominous of the near approach of the time, when, at any rate in the Gulf States, that hitherto universally reprobated traffic will be as heartily sustained as is the institution of slavery itself. Only so lately as in 1856, when Mr Etheridge of Tennessee presented resolutions in the House on that subject, nobody in that body was found bold enough to express any sympathy for the slave trade, and his resolutions, as modified in their phraseology by Mr. Orr of South Carolina, were agreed to with only eight dissenting votes. And even as to these votes, whatever may have been the real motives which controlled them, they were given professedly, not from any ob- jection to the opinions set out in the resolutions, but from an opposition to the adoption of any resolutions whatever, and upon the ground that the revival of the African slave trade was not a practical question before the country. Nevertheless, in the face of all this apparent unanimity, Mr. Etheridge in 185 6. predicted that the Democratic party at the South would ulti- mately adopt the African slave trade as a part of its creed and policy, and the prediction, ex- traordinary as it appeared when made, is even now being verified. Mr. Etheridge understood thoroughly the composition of the political com- bination, whose future course he predicted. His error, if he committed any, was in not anticipa- ting the rapidity with which a foregone conclu- sion would be reached. The Consular and Diplomatic Appropriation Bill which was passed last winter, contained, among other things, a clause appropriating seventy-five thousand dollars to enable the Presi- dent of the United States to carry into effect the act of March 3, 1819, the proposed appropriation being based upon an executive statement of the ex- penses incurred, and to be incurred, in the return to Africa of the negroes rescued from the Echo. These expenses consisted of the bounties due by law to the ofBcers capturing the Echo, of the cost of trials and of supporting the negroes prior to their delivery in Africa, and of a sum, equal to one hundred and fifty dollars per head, agreed to be paid to the Colonization Society, for main- taining the negroes for one year after their deliv- ery in Africa, and for instructing them, during that period, in the arts of civilized life. The proportion of these sums was as follows : Bounties - - - - - - $7,850 Expenses of trial and of supporting ne- groes before delivering them in Af- rica _---.- 35,050 Colonization Society - - - - 32,100 75,000 The law under which these expenSfes were in- curred, was the second section of the act of March 3, 1819, which section is in the words following : " And be it further enacted^ That the President ' of the United States be, and he is hereby, au- ' thorized to make such regulations and arrange- ' ments as he may deem expedient for the safe ' keeping, support, and removal beyond the lim- ' its of the United States, of all such negroes, ' mulattoes, or persons of color, as may be so de- ' livered and brought within their jurisdiction, ' and to appoint a proper person or persons, re- ' siding upon the coast of Africa, as agent or ' agents for receiving the negroes, mulattoes, or ' persons of color, delivered from on board ves- ' sels, seized in the prosecution of the slave trade, ' by commanders of the United States armed ' vessels." The history of the proceedings of the Govern- ment under this section, is, that President Mon- roe, soon after the law was passed, called the at- tention of Congress to a possible doubt which existed, whether it authorized any expenditure in respect to rescued negroes, after their deliv- ery in Africa. He, however, informed Congress that he should proceed upon the construction that such expenditure was authorized, unless MouofrraplJ that body should remove doubt by declaratory legislation, and give him directions to proceed differently. Congress has never acted further upon the subject, and the construction given to the law by President Monroe, has been acted upon without interruption from that day to this. Very considerable expenses seem to have been incurred in this way. Mr. Dowdell of Alabama stated in a speech made in the House on the 25th of Jan- uary, that, up to the year 1830, the cost of re- turning two hundred and sixty recaptured ne- groes had amounted to the sum of §204:, *Z 00, be- ing more than one thousand dollars per head. This is more than three times the rate of cost upon the Echo negroes. Although it is hardly worth while, after a con- struction of law has been settled by a practice of forty years, to discuss the merits of it, it would certainly seem, that the expression of doubts by President Monroe, should be ascribed rather to his extreme caution and scrupulosity, t!ian to any uncertainty fairly to be found in the law itself. It provides, in express terms, for " receivint/ the ncfjrocs "' upon the coast of Africa, and for an agency for that purpose. It must have been contemplated that such an agency would involve all the expenses necessary to the '■'■receiving" of destitute and distressed persons, who must be maintained until they can be put in the way of obtaining their own livelihood. Human beings, even if they are black, cannot be discharged upon a barren strand like bales of goods. The law did not contemplate that they should be thus left to shift for themselves. They were to he '■'received," and by a suitable agency to be des- ignated for that purpose, and to be '■'• received" of necessity, not as merchandise, but as men, women, and children, with all the wants and claims of humanity. The appropriation proposed last winter in re- spect to the negroes rescued from the Echo, was thus required by a proper and long-settled con- struction of the act of March 3, 1810, and would never have been assailed, but for the newly- awaikened desire to revive the African slave trade. In the House, on the 27th of January, two mo- tions in respect to this appropriation were voted upon ; one made by Mr. Dowdell of Alabama to strike out the appropriation altogether, and the other made by Mr. Crawford of Georgia to reduce the appropriation from seventy-five to forty-five thousand dollars, so as to cut off the sum pro- posed to be paid to the Colonization Society for maintaining and educating the negroes for one year after their delivery in Africa. In substance there was no difference, in intent, or in eifect, between these two motions. The adoption of either, nullified and practically ab- rogated the act of March 3, 1810. The motion of Mr. Dowdell left no provision for the expenses of returning rescued negroes to Africa, or of snp- {lorting them prior to their return. The motion of Mr. Crawford would leave them to be thrown naked upon the coast of Africa, there to perish by hunger or violence; a course of procedure so repugnant to humanitj-, as to be certain to ren- der the act of I\Iarch 3, 1810, odious, and there- by to bring about its repeal. Nevertheless, although the effect of the two motions was in reality the same, that of Mr. Dowdell was most offensive in point of form. The motion of Mr. Crawford had this pretence ofj justification for it, that it was affected to be placed upon a doubt whether the act of March 3, 1810, authorized any expenditure upon res- cued negroes, after thej' were landed in Africa. The motion of Mr. Dowdell had no pretence of justification whatever. Neither he, nor anybody else, presumed to deny that the act of March 3 promised certain bounties to the recaptors of unlawfully-enslaved negroes, and that it also provided for their support until they were re- turned to Africa. So far, the law was explicit beyond all peradventure, and to strike out the whole appropriation, was to abrogate and nul- lify the law altogether. But it may be repeated again, that if thus more offensive in point of form, as it undoubtedly was, the policy indicated by Mr. Dowdell's motion was not, in intrinsic demerit, one v;hit worse than the proposition of Mr. Crawford. And, indeed, it may fairly be questioned, if it would not be more humane to repeal the whole act of March 3, 1810, than to throw cargoes of negroes upon the coast of Af- rica, among strange tribes, without shelter, food, or means of any Jiind. The motion of Mr. Dowdell was negatived, yeas 28, nays 103. Those who voted in the af- firmative, were as follows ; South Carolina — Messrs. Bonham, Boyce, McQueen, and Miles. Tennessee — Messrs. Avery, Maynard, and Wright. Texas — Mr. Bryan. Virginia — Messrs. Caskie and Goode. Florida — Mr. Hawkins. Alabama — Messrs. Cobb, Curry, Dowdell, Houston, Moore, Shorter, and Stallworth. Georgia — Messrs. Crawford, Gartrell, Seward, Stephens, and Trippe. Louisiana — Messrs. Davidson and Sandidge. Mississippi — Messrs. McRae and Singleton. North Carolina — Mr. Euffin. The motion 'of Mr. Crawford was negatived, yeas 50, nays 145. Those who voted in the af- firmative, were as follows : Tennessee — Messrs. Avery, Maynard, Watkins, Wright, and Zollicoffer. Mississippi — Messrs. Barksdale, McRae, and Singleton. ViuGiNiA — ^lessrs. Bocock, Caskie, Edmund- son, Garnett, Goode, Hopkins, Jenkins, Letcher, and Smith. South Carolina — Messrs. Bonham, Boyce, McQueen, and Miles. North Carolina — Messrs. Branch, Euffia, Shaw, and Vance. Texas — Mr. Bryan. Kentucky — Messrs. Burnett, Clay, Peyton, Stevenson, and Talbott. Alabama — Messrs. Cobb, Curry, Dowdell, Moore, and Stallworth. Georgia — Messrs. Crawford, Gartrell, Jackson, Seward, Stephens, and Trippe. Louisiana — Messrs. Davidson, Eustis, and Sandidge. z •> Florid A~Mr. Hawking. '" Illinois— Mr. Hodges. North Cabolixa— Messrs. Ruf5n, Shaw, and Vance. Of the one hundred and forty-five votes against Mr. Crawford's motion, only nineteen were from the slave States, as follows : Missouri— Messrs. Anderson, Cariithers, Craig, and Phelps. Maryland— Messrs. Bowie, Davis, Tacaud, and Stewart. North Carolina— Messrs. Gilmer and Wins- low. Arkansas — Mr. Greenv.-ood. Tennessee — Messrs. Jones and Smith. Kentucky— Messrs. Marshall, Mason, and Un- derwood. Virginia — Mr. Millson. Delaware — Mr. Whitely. Georgia — Mr. Wright. Thus, of the sixty-eight slave-State members present and voting, forty-nine voted for Mr. Crawford's motion. Of the absentees, Mr. Wood- son of Missouri, who came in after the vote was declared, said he should have voted for the mo- tion, if he had arrived in season. Another motion in respect to this appropria- tion, had been voted upon in Committee of the Whole on the 26th of January. This was made by Mr. Bonham of South Carolina, and being re- jected in Committee of the Whole, there is no record to show who supported it. Mr. Bonham's motion was to qualify the ap- propriation by the following proviso : " Provided, That no part of this sum shall be ' used for schooling the children, or for instruct- ' ing the children and adults in the arts of civ- < ilized life." Mr. Bonham said, among other things : " It is now, for the first time, that we have an ' instance in an appropriation bill for teaching ' Africans the arts of civilized life. This is the « point." Mr. Bonham could tolerate nothing, which treated Africans as if they were capable of being civilized, or which implied the idea, that it was desirable to civilize them. He saw too clearly, that an idea like that, carried out in the practice of the Federal Government, was a cutting rebuke to the institutions of his own State, and of all the Southern States, in which the education of the negro is prohibited as criminal. According to the logic and morals of South Carolina, negroes are born to be slaves, not to be civilized. The opposition in the House to the appropria- tion for the expenses of the Echo negroes, was carried to an unusual extreme. The principal portion of the men concerned in it, having failed to strike the appropriation out of the Consular and Diplomatic Appropriation Bill, voted against the passage of the bill itself, and succeeded in defeating it three times. They did this, although they were the political friends of the Adminis- tration, and under party obligations to sustain the general appropriation bills for carrying on the Government. This violent course of proce- dure, proposing to sacrifice an entire appropria- tion bill rather than submit to an obnoxious sec- tion, marks the rancor and desperation of the partisans of the African slave trade. In the Senate, this appropriation for the Echo negroes gave rise to the same discussions which it had excited in the House. Mr. Clay of Alabama moved to strike out the whole appropriation, but, just before the vote was taken on the IGth of February, he so modi- fied his motion as to propose to strike out ST5.000 and insert $45,000, being a motion similar to that made in the House by Mr. Crawford. Mr. Clay's motion was negatived, yeas 12, nays 40, the foilowing Senators voting for it : Messrs. Chesnut, Clay, Davis, Fitzpatrick, Hammond, Iverson, Johnson of Tennessee, Ma- son, Beid, Thompson of Kentucky, Toombs, and Ward. Of the forty negative votes, twelve were from the slave States, (if we reckon Delaware as such,) as follows : Messrs. Bates, Bell, Benjamin, Crittenden, Green, Houston, Hunter, Mallory, Pearce, Polk, Slidell, and Yulee. Let us now examine what vv-as said ia the de- bates in Congress upon this Echo appropriation. In the House, on the 25th of January, Mr. Dowdell of Alabama said : " I will take this occasion to say, without dis- ' cussing the expediency of reopening the slave ' trade, a matter tvhich properb/ belongs to the sov- ' ereign States ichose industrial policg is to be affected ' bij 'if, that the laws are highly oSensive in de- ' fining that to be piracy upon the high seas < ivhich is not robbery, and in attaching the death ' penpJty to an act which in itself is not necessa- ' rih/ immoraV Mr. Clay of Kentucky said : " I am opposed to all these laws on our stat- ' ute book in relation to the slave trade, and I ' will not vote a dollar for the purpose." In the House, on the next day, (January 26th,) Mr. Crawford of Georgia said : "In 1819, the whole South was unanimously against the slave trade. Noic, it is becoming divi- dcd, and unless the war upon slavery is stopped, jiftcen years u-ill tvitness the trade o'pcn for the South, and our then Mexican possessions reach- ing to Guatemala certainly, and probably fur- ther south." Mr. Seward of Georgia said : " I look upon the law for the suppression of the slave trade as mischievous and wrong. While I do not pretend to commit myself in reference to the policy of the slave trade as affecting the States whose interests would be touched V it, I am opposed to the whole law, because I think it wrong and a violation of the Constitu- tion. * "■'■ '-^ " Your navy is to be used as a police to inter- fere with the business of citizens, and to arrest themfor a crime which is said to be piracy. I say that that strikes at the institution of slavery at the South. I want to have that law repealed. I want to leave this matter to be settled by the States as a domestic question. I doubt whether, so far as tny State (Georgia) is concerned, she would be benefited by the foreign slave trade, because I think she has at present a suf3acient /' ' supply of labor. But fhere are other States ' that may differ from us in that respect ; for in- ' stance, the State of Texas ; and I want all the ' States to have the right, without the interfer- ' ence of Congress, to carry on the slave trade, if ' they wish." Mr. Clay of Kentucky, by way of explaining and modifying what he had said on the previous day, declared that he was opposed to the reopen- ing of the slave trade, although he disliked the existing laws against it, and especially disliked the 8th article of the Ashburton treaty. He said: "I am especially opposed to another law, or ' rather treaty stipulation, on our statute book, ' and that is the 8 th article of the treaty of Wash- ' ington. I regard it as an entangling alliance ' with Great Britain. I regard it as an alliance ' 30 entangling, that last year it produced all ' those outrages on our flag which occurred in ' the Gulf, and it is producing every day out- ' rages upon our flag on the coast of Africa. It ' is an entangling alliance which requires us to ' ke^p a force of eighty guns constantly on the ' coast of Africa." Mr. Miles of South Carolina said : " I am not prepared to advocate the reopening ' of the slave trade, but I am prepared to advo- ' cate, with all my mind and strength, the sweep- ' ing away from our statute book, of laws which ' stamp the people of my section as pirates, and ' put a stigma upon their institutions. I will never ' consent, if I can possibly help it, to allow this ' stigma to remain, which degrades and puts a ' slur upon the people of my part of the Confed- ' eracy. I believe, Mr. Chairman, that these are ' questions that ought to be left, as gentlemen ' have said, to time ; and to be controlled, more- ' over, by the sovereign States themselves. I have ' very grave and serious doubts about the con- ' stitutionality of the laws for the suppression of ' the slave trade." In the House, on the 2'7th of January, Mr. Crawford of Georgia said : " This question of opening the slave trade is ' one of the highest importance, and one which ' threatens to make and unmake parties in the ' country. It is a question v,-hich grows stronger ' and stronger every da;/, and I beleive the result ' of it will be the building up and tearing down ' of party platforms." In the debate in the Senate, February IG, Mr. Mason of Virginia and Mr. Brown of Mississippi both maintained that humanity required that the Echo negroes sho\ild have been retained in the United States as slaves. Mr. Mason said : " If humanity had been consulted, or, rather, if ' humanity could have been consulted instead of ' consulting the actual provisions of the law, ' these negroes, I presume none will doubt, would ' have been far better provided for by retaining ' them in the country into which they had been ' illegally brought, and making such provision ' for them in a state of bondage as the laws of ' the States where they were landed would ad- ' mit of, or might require." Mr. Brown said : " The only inhumanity inflicted upon them at ' all, was by the action of your Government. ' They would have been delighted to remain in our ' country. Slavery here is better than that sort oj ^freedom ivhich they evjoyed at home. They were ' not allowed to do it. They were seized, put on ' shipboard, and sent out of the country. Now, ' we are asked to foot the bill, to do it without ' even the shadow of authority under the Consti- ' tution. I would repeal the law, repeal it in- ' stantly, as not based upon the Constitution ' which we are sworn to support." Some other proceedings in Congress last win- ter, in connection with the slave trade, are de- serving of notice. On the 23d of December, Mr. Blair of Missouri asked leave to submit the following resolution : ^'- Resolved, That the Committee on the Judi- ' ciary be, and hereby is, instructed to report a ' bill more efiectually to prevent the slave trade, ' under the guise of the ' coolie trade ' so called, ' or of ' apprentices,' or of ' African labor import- ' ation companies,' or under any other name, or ' in any other guise, the real purpose or effect of ' which maybe, directly or indirectly, immediate- ' ly or ultimately, to make slaves of the persons ' so procured and transported." Unanimous consent being required, objection was made by Mr. Houston of Alabama. On the same day, Mr. Kilgore of Indiana asked leave to submit the following resolution: '■^Resolved, That the President of the United ' States be requested to report to this House, ' what information has been received by him in ' regard to the recent importation of slaves from ' Africa into Georgia, and what steps, if anj, ' have been taken to punish this violation of the ' laws of the United States." Unanimous consent being required, objection was made by Mr. Garnett of Virginia. On the 26th of January, the Committee of the Whole House having under consideration the Consular and Diplomatic Appropriation Bill, Mr. Seward of Georgia moved the following as an amendment: " Provided, further. That all the laws heretofore ' passed, prohibiting the slave trade, be and the ' same are hereby repealed. And that the policy ' of restricting the foreign slave trade be left ' with each of the States, as afiecting their own ' local policy." This amendment was not voted upon, being ruled to be out of order. On the 23d of December, Mr. Sandidge of Lou- isiana introduced a resolution, which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for the ab- rogation of that article of the Ashbur),on treaty which requires the keeping of a squadron on the coast of Africa, for the suppressix)u of the slave trade. On the olstof January, Mr. Kilgore of Indiana asked leave to submit the following resolutions : "Whereas the laws prohibiting the African ' slave trade have become a topic of discussion ' with newspaper writers and political agita- ' tors, many of them boldly denouncing these ' laws as unwise in policy and disgraceful in ' their provisions, and insisting on the justice ' aud propriety of their repeal, and the revival of ' the odious traffic in African slaves ; and mrereas ' recent demonstrations afford strong reasons to ' apprehend that said laws are to be set at defi- ' ance, and their violation openly counte_ianced ' and encouraged by a portion of the citizens of ' some of the States of this Union ; and -whereas ' it is proper, in view of said facts, that the sen- ' timent of the people's representatives in Con- ' gress should be made public in relation thereto : ' Therefore, "1. Bcsolved, That while we recognise no ' right, on the part of the Federal Government or ' any other law-making power save that of the ' States wherein it exists, to interfere with or dis- ' turb the institution of domestic slavery where ' it is established or proWcted by State legisla- ' tion, we do hold that Congress has power to ' prohibit the foreign traffic, and that no legisla- ' tion can be too thorough ia its measures, nor ' can any penalty known to the catalogue cf mod- ' ern punishment for crime be too severe, against ' a traffic so inhuman and unchristian. " 2. Resolved, That the laws in force against ' said traffic are founded upon the broadest prin- ' ciples of philanthropy, religion, and humanity; ' that they should remain unchanged except so ' far as legislation may be needed to render them ' more efficient ; and that they should be faith- ' fully and promptly executed by our Govern- ' ment, and respected by all good citizens. '• 3. Resolved, That the Executive should be ' sustained and commended for any proper effort, ' whenever and wherever made, to enforce said ' laws, and to bring to speedy punishment the ' wicked violators thereof, and all their aiders ' and abettors." Mr. Burnett of Kentucky objected to the intro- duction of these resolutions, but it being in order on that day to move a suspension of the rules, Mr. Kilgore moved that they be suspended, so that his resolutions might be considered. The suspension of the rules was not carried, yeas 115, nays 8-1 — not two-tuirds. Of the affirmative votes, only five were from the slave States, as follows: Maryland — Messrs. Bowie, Davis, and Ricaud. NoKTH Carolixa — Mr. Gilmer. Kentucky — Mr. Marshall. And of these live, only one, Mr. Bowie, belongs to the Democratic party. The negative vote came, as to the bulk of it, from the slave States. The balance was con- tributed by their Northern allies, as follows : Messrs. Barr, Florence, Gillis, Gregg, Lawrence W. Hall, Hodges, Miller, Kiblack, Searing, Aaron Shaw, Robert Smith, George Taylor, Vallandig- ham, "^."hite, and Wortendyke — 15. In the Senate, on the IGth of February, the following discussion took place between Mr. Wilson of Massachusetts, and Mr. Hammond of South Carolina : " Mr. Wilson. We have branded the slave ' trade ; we have passed laws against it ; and, ' although we were the first nation to brand the ' slave trade, I suppose that, owiug to a variety • of causes not necessary to discuss at this time, ' we have done as much as any other people to ' keep that trade alive. Our ships have hovered ' on the coast of Africa and have engaged in the ' traffic. One of those ships has been captured ' by a vessel of our navy and brought into this ' country. These Africans, in the spirit of the ' law — I say nothing about the letter of the law — ' have been returned, and the President of the ' United States has made a bargain with the only ' men, it seems to me, with whom he could have ' made a bargain, the colony of Liberia, to take ' care cf these recaptured Africans. I tliiuk the ' President of the United States, in so acting, ' acted according to the spirit of the law, and ' according to the public judgment of the coun- ' try ; and, for one, I give my vote most freely to ' carry out the bargain the President of the Uni- ' ted States has made. " Whether it be strictly legal or not, I care ' not. I always notice that when an act of hu- ' manity, an act of liberality, an act of justice, ' is to be performed, it is very difficult to find ' authority, either in the Constitution or laws of ' the country. For myself, I see in the law of ' 1819 enough to authorize the President to make ' this bargain, and my own heart impels me to ' give it a prompt and decisive vote. I simply ' say that there is a disposition in this country, ' and it is said there are secret organizations in ' this country, to reopen the slave trade ; that ' hundreds of thousands of dollars have been ' subscribed to carry it out and engage in the ' trade — to defend the trade ; and that, in por- ' tions of this country, grand juries cannot be re- ' lied upon to indict persons if caught in that ' trade. Well, sir, we have made a capture ; we ' have returned those persons. I want it to go ' out to the country and to the world, for the ' credit of the American name and the American ' character, that the contract made by the Presi- ' dent of the United States is in accordance with ' the sentiment of the people, and that he is sus- ' tained by a vote approaching unanimity in the ' Congress of the United States. " Mr. Hajimoxd. The Senator from Massachu- ' setts says that there are parts of the United ' States where grand juries cannot be found to ' indict persons engaged in the African slave ' trade. I should like to know to what part he ' alludes. " Mr. Wilson. Mr. President, I do not know ' that I said that there were parts of this coun- ' try where grand juries would not indict. I ' said there were portions of this country where ' it was believed they would not. It remains to ' be seen whether that be the case or not. I ' want to say, in reference to the statement I ' made, that it was but a day or two since I had ' a conversation with a gentleman, who was a ' member of the last Congress, from the Southern ' States — a man who, in Congress, always spoke ' for and advocated the policy of slavery. He ' has spent this winter mostly in Alabama, and ' he said to me, the other day, that he was amazed ' at the sentiment he found in the Gulf States ; ' that that sentiment approached unanimity in ' favorof reopening the slave trade; and, from the ' investigations he had made, he was satisfied ' that organizations existed for the opening of the ' trade ; that money was subscribed for the busi- ' ness ; and that it would be extremely difficult, in ' that part of the country, to get a grand jury to ' find an indictment, or to get a conviction from a ' petit jury ; that he was amazed at the senti- ' ment generally pervading that part of the coun- ' try ; and that we had no conception of it here. ' I think that anybody who has read of the move- ' ment led by Mr. Yancey of Alabama, and other ' gentlemen in that part of the country, will come ' to this conclusion : that there is a party, mainly ' in the Gulf States, extending through a portion ' of the Southern States, in favor of reopening ' the slave trade; and these doctrines have been ' avowed during the present session of Congress, ' by gentlemen representing that section of the ' Union, in the other branch of Congress. " Mr. Hammoxd. I am not at all, nor is any ' portion of the South, liable for the impressions ' which any person travelling through the South ' may form. There is no sort of doubt that a few ' persons in the South, some of them highly re- < spectable, wish to open the African slave trade; ' but from what knowledge I have rnyself, and ' from what knowledge I have received, and I ' have been active in inquiry, my opinion is, that ' nine-tenths of the people of the South are ut- ' terly opposed to it ; and I think the more the ' subject is discussed, the fewer will be the num- ' ber who are in favor of reopening the slave t ' trade. I will inform the Senator from JIassa- I ' chusetts of one fact of which I supposed he I ' was cognizant: that during the past week the i ' grand jury in Savannah has found true bills in ! ' two different cases against persons whom it ' was alleged had participated in the African j ' slave trade." -Air. Hamruond is a great slaveholder, and, like ' most of his class, is opposed to the opening of a | trade which would reduce the value of his prop- I erty. But it is most evident that the strength of ' his own opinion against that trade, misled him in respect to the actual sentiraent and to the tend- ! ency of sentiment at the South. He could not t possibly express himself to-dav, with the confi- dence which he displayed on the IGth of Febru- i ary. At that time, he repudiated, and with ap- I parent resentment, the suggestion that Southern ' grand juries would refuse to find indictments for violations of the laws against the slave trade. Since that time, a trial jury in his own State has acquitted the officers and crew of the Echo, who were XakQn Jlagruntc delicto; and at this day, it is admitted that nowhere at the South is it possible to obtain convictions for similar offences. _ Mr. Hammond was mistaken, as to the condi- tion of Southern sentiment at the time when he spoke, but still more mistaken as to the course and tendency of Southern sentiment. Jlr. Craw- ford, who declared that the slave-trade question was "ffroidnr/ slromjerand strom/ir," and would soon make and unmake parties and platforms mi the South, understood that matter, it is evident, a good deal better than Mr. Hammond did. Mr. Crawford is a politician who belongs to the pres- ent day and generation. Mr. Hammond, recalled to public life from a long retirement upon his plantation, belongs to the past. Nevertheless, if the present and recent condi- tion of public sentiment at the South is not what Mr. Hammond, in February, supposed it to be, it certainly was so at a period not remote. The South- ern feeling in favor of the slave trade, to what- ever extent it now actually exists, is certainly a new thing under the sun, 'although it may have resulted from a train of causes which have been in operation a good while. If it has been long at work out ot sight, the disorder has, at any rate, broken out suddenly; so suddenly, indeed, that the existence of it is hardly yet realized. Nor is it necessary to be true, in order that we should suff-^r all that we possibly can suffer from the evil, that the slave-trade sentiment should get possession of the whole South, or even of a major part of the Souff. If that sentiment be- comes predi?>minant in any one State so situated as to carry on the trade, the mischief is done. But the actual case is, that the whole tier of States upon the Gulf of Mexico is infected; and this being so, the African slave trade may wax and flourish, be the predicament of public opia- i ion, in Virginia, Maryland, or even South Caro- j lina, what it may. It is the region upon the j Gulf which wants more slaves than it raises, and the evil becomes formidable indeed, when the j people of that region, with its vast stretch of sea : coast, determine to receive cheap slaves from [Africa, rather than dear ones from the northern slave States. I The movement at the South in favor of the j slave trade, although new and sudden, is, after all, only a logical and necessary result of the ideas which have been propagated in that quar- ter during the last twenty-tive years. When the old ground, unanimously maintained by the revolutionary fathers, that Slavery was a great evil, to be endured only until it could be got rid of by safe and practicable methods, was aban- doned for the new doctrines of Mr. Calhoun, that the institution was a positive good, establishing the best relations between capital and labor, and beneficial alike to both parties to it, a movement in favor of the African slave trade could not be long postponed. In no respect more objection- able, and in many respects vastly less so, than the slave trade between Virginia and the Gulf States, it has the powerful recommendation of the greater cheapness in the cost of the commodity dealt in, and this relative cheapness has been continually on the increase, the price of slaves in Virginia having more than duplicafed within a quarter of a century. Of late years, also, schemes of aggrandizement, looking to the double objects of control in the Union so long as the Union may endure, and of laying the foundations for a powerful slave- holding empire upon the Gulf of -Mexico in the event of the di'-ruption of the Union, have taken possession of the Southern mind; and to these schemes, in anything like the development and proportions designed by those who cherish them, the revival of the African slave trade seems to be essential. Slavery cannot exist withoutslaves ; and if, as Mr. Crawford of Georgia supposes, the slaveliolding section is to absorb the whole of Mexico, quite to Guatemala, within fifteen years, or within three times that period, it can only be 7 done by fresh importations of negroes. In no other way is it possible, considering that free white laborers multiply more rapidly than negro slaves, to prevent such a prior occupation by free institutions of so much of the continent as re- mains to be occupied, as will confine slavery within territorial limits, not susceptible as yet of precise demarkation, but discernible, never- theless, with sufficient definiteness and distinct- ness, to alarm politicians proverbial for their far ■ sighted anticipation of future events. As a matter of fact, the African slave trade with the United States, is now actually reopened, after being closed for half a century. The current information of the day leaves no room to doubt that cargoes of slaves are being landed, from time to time, in the Gulf States, and that preparations are being made to enter upon the traffic in good earnest and upon a large scale. The conditions exist, which render the continuance and expan- sion of the traffic inevitable. There is a market for the subject-matter of the traffic, offering a profit vastly exceeding the risk. In fact, the risk is reduced to the small one of capture upon the high seas by the public vessels of the United States, and it is now certain that such capture involves only the loss of ship and cargo, unat- tended with danger of personal punishment to the parties concerned. If the cargo is once landed, the risk is enaed, and the venture reali- zed. Southern newspapers contain advertise- ments from responsible planters, offering so much per head for imported Africans. The interposi- tion of legal authority has become abortive. Law, according to our frame of Government, is only enforceable through the instrumentality of juries, and Southern juries reflect, not the law, but the humors and prejudices of the vicinage. In the case of the Echo, taken with a full cargo of ne- groes on board, there was not merely not a con- viction, but an absolute acquittal. A failure to convict might have resulted from the perversity of a single juror, but an acquittal required the concurrence of the whole panel. After an ac- quittal in such a case, it is idle to expect convic- tions in any case. The risk is thus nominal, while the profits of the trade are enormous. The risk is really less than that of the slave trade in Cuba, where heavy bribery is necessary with the Spanish officials, while the price of slaves in the United States exceeds the price in Cuba two- fold, and the profit of the trade with the United States must therefore be more than twice as great as with Cuba. Where the carcass is, there will the vultures be gathered together. Where there are tempting profits, there will be no lack of men to do the business. If the Gulf States will buy raw Africans at five times their cost, there will be no want of sellers. Capital enough, ships enough, and seamen enough, can be found in New York city alone, to supply to the Gulf States one hundred thousand negroes annually. To anticipate such results, it is not necessary to assume the universal or even general dopravity of mankind. This evil work may be done by a few persons, and it is sufficient to know that no business ever failed to be carried on, which of- fers remuneration to avarice. This reopening of the slave trade with the United States, which ma" now be regarded as an accomplished fact, is cae of the great events of the present times. To deal with it and put it down, by any proceedings subsequent to the land- ing of the victims of the trade, seems to be im- possible. Our forms of Government are popular, even in the judicial department, and a fixed pre- determination of juries, in respect to any class of subjects, overrides law, or, rather, settles prac- tically what the law is. It is quite as true that the law is in the breast of the jury, as that it is in the breast of the judge. It is this well-understood control of the locali- ty, over the actual administration of law emana- ting from the central authority, which was doubt- less one of the circumstances which created the strong desire for the acquisition of Cuba, on the part of all that class of persons who favor the revival of the African slave trade. The people of Cuba having been born and bred to that traf- fic, it could be carried on there against Ameri- can law, just as it always has been carried on against Spanish law ; and if the island was made a part of the United States, the transfer of slaves from it to the slave-buying States upon the Gulf of Mexico would become a legitimate commerce. Upon the whole, if the African slave trade, now opened, is to be closed again, it must be done by operations on the coast of Africa and upon the high seas, and, to this end, there must be a complete reversal of the influences which dominate over the Government at Washington. Instead of abrogating the eighth article ef the Ashburton treaty, the number of guns upon the coast of Africa should be increased, and effective light-draught and swift steamers substituted for slow-going sail vessels. But, without going into the details of measures, the whole animus of the Government at AVashington must be changed. Interpreting the past by thelight of present events, it is now evident that the real object of certain preposterous pretensions as to the sacredness of mere flags, without reference to the real nation- ality of vessels, was to facilitate the carrying on of the slave trade. So, too, without reference to doubtful and disputed questions of the right of visitation, it is now evident that the repulse of all overtures from foreign Powers, looking to amicable and well-guarded conventions upon this subject, is attributable to a secret spirit of favor towards the slave trade, which has long luiked in the governing dynasty in this country, and which has at length broken out without disguise and without shame. He must be charitable and confiding indeed, who believes that Administra- tions at Washington, controlled by the Gulf States, will ever do anything effective towards shutting up the African slave trade. Not such aid, or such defenders, do the times demand. If our laws are to be executed, there must be different executive agents. What is wanted, in short, to put down this infamous traffic, is a Republican President, and that would suffice to accomplish the object. The election of such a President would be felt in everj- slave barracoon in Africa. He might not alter the letter of the instructions under which our cruisers act, but the spirit in l\ 8 which they would be executed would be instant- ly changed. Like master, like man. Official subor- dinates are quick to uaderstand, without express words, what is desired of them. It is one thing for the officers of a squadron of observation to know that they best please the powers that be by seeing nothing and doing nothing, and quite another thing for them to know that their offi- cial superiors will punish remissness and reward activity. The 8'h article of the Ashburtoa treaty would be a dead letter no longer, if the executive power of this country represented its moral convictions upon this subject. That is the change which the case demands, and it would effect a remedy, as suddenly as a thunderbolt dissipates the foul vapors of the atmosphere. And without this remedy, there appears no ra- tional hope of arresting such an expansion ot the slave trade, as will rivet slavery upon the continent, beyond the reach of help, or hope. WASHINGTON, D. C. BUELL & BLANCHARD, PRINTERS. Stereotyped by Blancbard's Patent, issued February 22, 1859. 1859. i \'-. s HBRARY OF CONGRESS 011899 625 2 4 [ Evening Journal — Extra. ] THE 8LAYERY QUESTION IK MEW-TOMIt:. IN ASSEMBLY, January 23, 1S50. Mr. Ford, of Erie county, from a majority of the select committee to which were referred all the resolutions, tlocumeuts, &c., on the subject of Slavery, reported, for himself, Mr. Green of Greene county, and Mr. Eoot of Herkimer coun- ty, the following' resolutions : Resolved, (if the Senate concur) That the peo- ple of the State of New-York are strongly at- tached to the Federal Union, and consider its preservation a matter of the highest interest to themselves, the whole country, and the cause of civil liberty : That while to sustain it on their own part, they vi-ill faithfully abide by all the provisions, compacts and compromises of the constitution, they will also firmly oppose all at- tempts, from whatever source they may come, and under whatever pretence they may be made, to dissolve the Union. Resolved, (if the Senate concur) That the peo- ple of the State of New-York are uncompromis- ingly opposed to the extension of slavery into any territoiy of the United States where it does not now exist, and that our senators in Congi-ess are hereby instructed, and our representatives are requested, to use their best efforts to pre- veut such extension, by such coustitiitioaal legis- lation as may be necessary. Resolijed, (if the Senate concur) That the peo- ple of the State of New-York have learned, with great satisfaction, that the people cf California have adopted a constitution which is in accor- dance with the free institutions of oitr country ; and our senators in Congress are hereby instruc- ted, and our repi'eseutatives requested, to vote for the admission of California into the Union as a state. Resolved, (if the Senate concur) That in the opinion of this legislature, Congress have the power of exclusive legislation over slavery in the District of Columbia, and that our senators in Congress are hereby instructed, and our re- presentatives requested, to endeavor to procure the passage of a law that shall put an end to the slavery trade in that District. Resolved, (if the Senate concur) That the Gov- ernor be requested to transmit a copy of the foregoing resolutions to each of the senators and representatives in Congress from this state. Mr. Raymond, of New-York, for himself and Mr. BowEN of N. Y., the minority of the same committee, submitted the following REPORT. The minority of the select committee to which was referred so much of the Governor's Message as refers to slavery, concurrent resolutions pas- sed by the State Senate, and sundry resolutions offered in the Assembly, upon the same subject, Report : That the minority of that committee cannot unite in reporting to the Assembly the resolu- tions adopted by the majority, because they do not regard them as a satisfactory expression of the sentiments of the people of this State, upon the subject to which they refer. The minority deemed it the duty of the com- mittee to report resolutions which should embo- dy as accurately and fully as possible, the pria- ciples and wishes of the people of this State in regard to slavery, so far as the action of their Senators and Representatives in Congress may be connected therewith. It seemed to them im- portant that, in view of the aspect w^hich the relations of slavery to the federal government have assumed, and of the discussion aud action upon those relations now pending in Congress, the sentiments of the people of New- York should be cori'ectly and distinctly set forth ; and they sought, therefore, to frame such resolutions as shoul(!r effect that object, rather than express merely the opinions of individual members of the committee, or even of the Assembly. The extension of slaverj^ into territory of the United States now free, is the principal point of interest and importance connected with this sub- ject at the present moment ; and the committee have, therefore, endeavored to ascertain, from the most accessable and reliable sources of infor- mation, the sentiments of the people of this State upon that point, and upon the pi-oper action of Congress in regard to it. They fiud that at the session of the Legis- lature of 1848, a resolution was passed in the Assembly by 107 affirmative votes, there being but 5 votes against it, instructing our Seim- tors and requesting our Representatives in Cou- H 6' Ingress " to use their best eflbrts to insert into any act or ordinance establishing territorial govern- ment for any territory belonging to the United States, or fundamental article or provision which shall provide, declare and guaranty that slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall first have been duly convicted, shall be prohibited therein, so long as the same shall remain a territory." At the session of 1849, a resolution embodying the same sentiments, in nearly the same words, was passed in the Assembly by 114 affimative and 3 negative votes ; and our Senators were further instructed, and our Representatives re- quested, by a vote of 104 to 16, to use their best efforts to procure the passage of a law which. would prohibit the " extension of the laws of Texas, or the institution of domestic slavery over that part of New Mexico lying east of the Rio Grande." The minority of your committee have not been able to discover any evidence that the people of this state have at any subsequent time, disap- proved of any of these sentiments thus set forth by their immediate representatives in the As- semblies of 1848 -and 1849. On the contrary they find substantially the same views and opi- nions reiterated in the popular conventions of the several political parties into which the peo- ple of this state have been and still are divided. At a state convention of delegates representint' the whig party held at Syracuse in September 3849, a resolution was adopted declaring it to be the " right and the duty of Congress plainly to yrohilit the establishment of slavery in any por- tion of the territories of the union at any time here_after." The same sentiments were proclaimed in lan- guage equally explicit, in conventions of a very Jarge section of the democratic party held at Herkimer on the 26th of October, 1847,— at Utica February 16, 1848, June asd, 1848, and again September 14, 1848. And in a joint con- vention of both jiortious of the democratic party held at Syracuse, Sept. 14, 1849. it was " Resolved, That Congress has full constitution- al power over slavery in the territories of the United States, and should exei-t that power on all occasions of attempts to introduce it there." And the precise intent and meaning of that resolution were still more clearly evinced by the xejection, by the same joint democratic state convention, of the following resolution offered by Mr. S. M. Burroguhs, of Orleans county : _ " Resolved, That we are opposed to the exten- sion of slavery, into the territories of the United States, and that we will use all conslUntional means necessary to prevent such extension." This resolution was rejected on the express ground that its language was ambiguous and equivocal. These are the declarations of the several par- ties which comprise all the people of the Stale of New-York. Taken in connection with the action of the Legislature, at its two last succes- sive sessions, and with public opinion, as ex- pressed through its usual organs, they demon- strate, in the judgment of the minority of your committee, a greater unanimity of sentiment on the part of the people of the State of New-York than has ever been evinced upon any other poli- tical question. That sentiment, thus unanimous, affirms, first, the power and the right of Con- gress, under the constitution, to prohibit, by po- sitive enactment, the extension of slavery into territory now free ; and second, the duty of Con- gress to exert that power by inserting such a prohibition into any act which they may pass, establishing territorial gevernment for any such territory. In the judgment of the minority, it is the duty of your committee to embody these sentiments, distinctly and unequivocally, in the resolutions vvhich they may report for your action. Those offered by the majority, do not, in their opinion, accomplish that object. They do not declare the constitutionality of a law prohibiting the ex- tension of slavery into territory of the Union now free, nor do they recommend to Congress the passage of such a law. A person who should hold that Congress had no power whatever over slavery in the territories, and who should be ut- terly opposed to any attempt on the part of Con- gress to exercise such power, could vote for them conscientiously and consistently. They express only the .sentiments, and nearly in the language, of the resolution rejected by the joint convention of the two branches of the demo- cratic party held at Syracuse on the 14th of September, 1849. Such resolutions furnish, in the judgment of the minority, no proper expression of the senti- ments of the people of the State of New-York, iior are they calculated to give to those senti- mentsthe weight to which they are justly enti- tled in the councils of the federal government. The minority of your committee, therefore, in the discharge of their duty, report the resolutions upon-this subject already adopted by the Senate, and respectfully recommend the concurrence of the Assembly therein. HENRY J. RAYMOND. JAMES BOWEN. RESOLUTIONS. In Senate, January 16, 1850. Resolved, (if the Assembly concur.) That as the federal constitution, was ibrmed and adopted ex- pressly to secure the blessings of liberty to the peo- ple of the United States and their posterity, there- fore the federal government ought to relieve itself from all responsibility for the existence or con- tinuance of slavery, or the slave trade, wherever it has the constitutional power over those sub- jects ; and our Senators in Congress are hereby instructed, and our Representatives are requested, to use their best efforts to procure the passage of laws that will eiVectually and forever put an end to the slave trade in the District of Columbia. Rcsoh'ed, (if the Assembly concur.) That the determination indicated by the Governor's mes- sagers, and the resolutions of the legislatures of various of the slaveholding states, and by the representatives of such states in Congress, to ex- tend dfimestic slavery over territoi-y acquired by the late treaty of peace with the Republic of Mexico, we feel bound to oppose by all constitu- tional means ; and our Senators in Congress are hereby instructed, and our Representatives re- quested, to use their best efforts to ]>rohibit, by positive enactment, the pxtension of slavery over any part of such territory, liowever small, and by whatever pretence of compromise. Rciolved, (if the Assembly concur,) That our Senators in Congress be instructed, and our Rep- resentatives requested, to resist firmly, and to the utmost of their ability, and by such positive 3 legislation as may be necessary, the extension of human slavery or the jurisdiction of Texas, over any part of New-Mexico. Resolved, (if the Assembly concur,) That we have learned witli great satisfaction that the peo- ple of California have adopted a constitution which is entirely in accordance with the spirit of the free institutions of our country ; aud our Senators in Congress are hei-eby instructed, and our Representative requested to aid in the pas- sage of such laws as may be necessary to admit that Sta,te into the Union. Resolved, (if the Assembly concur,) That the people of this State are desirous of preserving inviolate the Federal Union, and that they will strenously oppose all attempts, from whatever source they may emanate, or under whatever pretence they may be made, to effect its dissolu- tion. Resolved, (if the Assembly concur,) That the Governor be requested to transmit a copy of the foregoing resolutions to each of the Senators and Representa^'es from this State in Congress. Mr. Raymond subsequently made the following amendment to the second of the above resolu- tions ; and no objection being made, the amend- ment was receivfed as part of the original reso- lutions : The last clause of the second resolution is stricken out, and the following clause substituted: " And, recognizing the constitutional power of Congress to prohibit the introdaction of slavery 'into any territory now free, our Senators are hereby instructed, and our Rep- resentatives requested, to use their best efforts to procure the insertion of such a prohibition into any law they may pass, for the government of such territory." I TRRflRY OF CONGRESS ■iii. 011 899 525 Z §