The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States, Sixteenth Congress, First Session, [Volume 1] Page: 185

                                
185
HISTORY OF CONGRESS.
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january, 1820.
Admission of Maine and Missouri,
Senate.
tains, and on this side of the Mississippi, for the
purpose of diffusing the slaves; those States are
rich in lands suited for cultivation by the labor of
slaves, and furnish ample room for the surplus
slave population of the old States. This process
of removal and distribution would produce the
intended amelioration, and lessen or banish the
apprehension of danger, wherever it may exist.
But, if we adopt and proceed upon the principle
assumed by the opposers of the restriction, and per-
mit the vast country beyond the Mississippi to be
peopled by slaves, the market will be supplied in
a small proportion only by the increase of the
slave popolation of the existing States. No, sir;
Africa will furnish most of those supplies, and, in
defiance or evasion of all our laws, the wretched
victims of cruel and unfeeling avarice will be
introduced by thousands and tens of thousands to
darken this region and live and die in slavery.
And, even if this should not be the case, the time
must come, and will come, when this species of
population will be so abundant that in all parts of
the country where slavery shall be permitted to
exist, by its continual increase, it will produce the
same surplus and same danger which are seen and
apprehended-in particular sections of the country.
According to this theory, therefore, of ameliorating
the slaves by spreading them over an extensive
surface, the only effect is to postpone the evil day.
How much better will it be, sir, to pursue a course
of restriction and gradual emancipation, so that
this evil day may never arrive.
I am sensible it is often urged that the contem-
plated prohibition will lessen the value of slaves
and operate indirectly upon the rights of the pro-
prietors, and to their prejudice. Suppose this to
be true, the answer, I apprehend is as satisfactory
as it is obvious. Sir, it can never be wise or cor-
rect legislation to authorize or permit the extension
of an acknowledged public evil, for the sake of
any private individual advantages. This would
be contrary to the very principles on which our
Government and all good Governments are found-
ed—that is, the welfare and happiness of the great
whole. We are continually witnessing the oper-
ation of this principle. In how many instances
during the operation of our embargo laws and the
restrictive system to which our Government thought
it proper and necessary to resort, were the hopes,
prospects, and property of individuals, sacrificed
for the public good! How many hundreds were
reduced to penury by the sudden derangement of
all their mercantile concerns, or the perplexities in
which they were involved ! Yet, such effects as
these, though certainly foreseen, never divert a
Government from pursuing its proper course. And
what shall we say of war 1 Congress has deemed
it necessary, and may deem it so again, for the
protection of our country's rights and honor. Still,
it is a melancholy truth, that private losses and
misfortunes are the certain consequences, and count-
less miseries are ever found in its train. All these,
however, are deemed subordinate considerations
in the midst of patriotic feelings, or are forgotten
in the prospect of vindicated rights, success, and
glory. And, while we are admiring the laurels of
the hero, we are unconscious that they may have
been earned at the expense of the widow, the
fatherless, and the broken-hearted—by the ruin of
all their hopes.
But, Mr. President, there is another argument
entitled to our respectful consideration, because it
results from the course of conduct which Congress
have pursued since 1808. They passed laws pro-
hibiting the importation of slaves, as soon as the
Constitutional restriction on their power was re-
moved by lapse of time; and since then, there has
been a laudable, continued, and united exertion to
put an end to this infernal traffic, which the Presi-
dent, in his Message, has described as a disgrace
to any civilized country. Laws have been multi-
plied ; penalties increased in severity-; the utmost
vigilance enjoined on the officers of the Govern-
ment and our public armed ships employed to give
effect to these laws; and yet all these arrange-
ments and exertions have proved ineffectual. Ava-
rice and cruelty are busily engaged, and their arts
are still successful. Slaves are still inhumanly
hurried to our shores and fraudulently introduced
into our States or Territories, notwithstanding all
our endeavors to prevent it. This being the no-
torious fact, what is to be done 1 Congress have
repeatedly given to this country and to. the world
pledges of their anxious wish and their determina-
tion to put down this scandalous violation of their
laws. Let Congress, then, and our laws, be con-
sistent. There is one way, and only one, in which
we can accomplish the noble object in view ; it is
our duty to resort to it: shut up the market com-
pletely; prohibit slavery in all the States to be
formed beyond the Mississippi; and the point will
be soon gained. By removing the cause, we shall
prevent the effect; by destroying the market, we
can destroy the trade. The importer of slaves is
actuated by an insatiable thirst for gain; totally
regardless of all principle in accomplishing his de-
signs. Let us meet him on his own ground, de-
stroy all possibility of profit, and he will abandon
his employment; at least we shall have expelled
him from our shores, so that our own country will
no longer be the scene of his abominations. Our
Western States—Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississip-
pi, and Alabama—can be amply supplied with
slaves from those States bordering on the Atlantic;
they need no supplies from abroad. As proof of
this, I call the attention of the Senate to the unan-
imous voice of Congress, on various occasions,
prohibiting the importation of slaves, and the read-
iness with which these prohibitory laws have been
enacted. If further proof be necessary, the in-
crease of the slave population in the old States, as
shown by the census, will remove all doubt on this
head.
Mr. President, much more might be urged in
considering this question of expediency; but the
subject is, in many respects, a delicate one. I
therefore forbear; resolving never to pass those
bounds which discretion and good feeling have
prescribed, and which have, thus far during the
debate, been respectfully observed by others.
, It may be useful, however, to remark, generally,
that throughout the civilized world we nave evi-