Wednesday, December 31.
Importation of Slaves.
The House proceeded to consider the amendments reported by the Committee of the Whole on the twenty-ninth instant, to the bill to prohibit the importation or bringing of slaves into the United States, or the territories thereof, after the 31st of December.
Mr. Sloan was decidedly opposed to the amendment. He was aware that some might charge him with departing from his well-known peaceable principles, in contending for so sanguinary a punishment as death. But many crimes inferior to this were punished with death, and he thought that there ought to be a proportion in these things. Mr. S. stated the hardships of the Africans, and the cruel circumstances attending their importation, and insisted on the magnitude of the crime at considerable length.
After some conversation between Mr. Smilie and the Speaker, on a point of order, Mr. Dana called for a division of the question. The question was accordingly divided, the first being on striking out of the bill so much as inflicts the punishment of death.
Mr. Ely was against striking out. He deemed the crime in question as one of the most heinous kind, and one which ought to be punished capitally. But his principal reason for advocating so severe a punishment was, that he thought it the most effectual method of putting a stop to the trade. The other provisions of the bill were, in his opinion, not sufficient. If the punishment of death was inflicted, he presumed no persons would venture to engage in the trade, and run the risk of being punished, especially, as the traffic is one of the most uncertain and perilous kinds. It is said, if you punish with such severity, none will inform; but will any one venture to run the risk under this impression? Mr. E. thought not. Besides, this is the most humane punishment, because it will most effectually prevent the accumulation of miseries that result from the trade. It will, also, remove all the difficulties on the subject of forfeiture, by preventing the introduction of slaves.
Mr. Tallmadge said he considered the question before the House to be, whether we should strike out that part of the section which attaches the crime of felony to this nefarious traffic, and, of course, annexes to it the punishment of death. He trusted the House would not consent to strike out that clause of the bill, the retention of which should receive his hearty support.
Since I have had the honor of a seat in this House, I can scarcely recollect an instance in which the members seem so generally to agree in the principles of a bill, and yet differ so widely as to its details. There seems to be great unanimity respecting the atrocity of the crime, but a wide difference of opinion as to the measures necessary to prevent it. To me, it is matter of surprise as well as of regret, that gentlemen, who appear so ardently engaged to prevent the introduction of slaves into our country, should not be willing to unite with us in providing for it an adequate punishment. The evils which may be expected to result from this commerce, if persisted in, will fall on the Southern States; and the Eastern and Middle States are accused of carrying it on. If this be the fact, and gentlemen are sincere in their declarations, why will they not unite with us to mete out that punishment which, on their own statements, will fall exclusively on those who are concerned in this execrable traffic from the Northern States?
Mr. Mosely.—The only objection which has been made against this section of the bill, as it was originally introduced, is, that the severity of the penalty as there prescribed, would probably prevent the law from being carried into execution.
I entirely agree in the justice of the general remark, that it is the certainty, more than the severity, of the punishment, which tends to prevent the commission of crimes; that when the penalty is excessive or disproportioned to the offence, it will naturally create a repugnance to the law, and render its execution odious.
But I would ask, in the first place, what punishment can be considered as too severe to be inflicted on this inhuman and murderous traffic? Viewed in all its consequences, there is hardly to be found, I apprehend, in the whole catalogue of crimes, one attended with more accumulated guilt. I have, indeed, sir, heard no gentleman suggest any thing in palliation of this offence, or deny that it is justly deserving of death. Why, then, are we to presume that the law would not be enforced? The gentlemen from the South assure us that they, and the people whom they represent, are sincerely solicitous to prevent the further importation of slaves into this country, and they will cheerfully and cordially co-operate in the most effectual measures for that purpose. Will they, then, from motives of tenderness to the persons employed in importing them, be unwilling to subject those persons to the punishment they justly merit?
Sir, there is one circumstance worthy of attention, which I think must obviate every objection of this sort. Who are the people engaged in this business? We have been repeatedly told, and told with an air of some triumph, by gentlemen from the South, that it is not their citizens; that they have no concern in this nefarious traffic; that it is the people from the Northern States who import these negroes into the Southern States, and thereby seduce their citizens to become their purchasers. If this be the fact, are we to believe that they will entertain any particular feelings of partiality or passion towards this class of people, or that they will not feel a just degree of indignation towards them, and be disposed to subject them to the most exemplary punishment? And as it respects the great body of the people in the Northern States, at least, I will presume to say, of the State which I have the honor to represent, should any of their citizens be convicted upon this law, so far from charging their Southern brethren with cruelty or severity in hanging them, they would acknowledge the favor with gratitude. When we consider the character of the persons engaged in this traffic, that they are the most hardened and abandoned of the human species, and that it is extremely lucrative, can we suppose that any penalty short of death will deter them from it? I shall be very glad if even this will have the effect.
Mr. Lloyd.—Though this traffic is sanctioned by the Constitution and laws of the United States, I regard it with hatred and abhorrence, and conceive it to be of the highest importance that we take means to put a complete stop to its further continuance. But, in my opinion, the punishment of death is not best calculated to accomplish this object. Besides, it is not proportional to the crime. This subject has not, I conceive, been fairly argued. Very few of the negroes brought into this country are kidnapped and stolen away. Look at the condition of the people of Africa. Three-fourths of those brought into this country are slaves originally, either by descent or conquest. It is a fact that slavery prevails extensively in Africa. Those taken in conquest are disposed of and sent abroad on account of the vindictive spirit of those people. Such is their thirst for revenge, that this is absolutely necessary for the safety of the conqueror. Of course, all the arguments urged on the ground of the slaves being kidnapped and carried away from a state of freedom, are fallacious.
Mr. Olin.—I would ask gentlemen if they would not as soon be willing to be brought to the halter as to be made slaves for life? If they would, and I trust they would, man-stealing is a crime as bad as murder, and ought to be punished as heavy. I was at first against the punishment of death; but I own that gentlemen have convinced me by their arguments, and I am now the other way. I am persuaded that gentlemen will think there is nothing dishonorable in this changing one’s mind.
Mr. Early.—I formerly thought that the decision on this question was not a matter of any great importance; but as it seems now to be considered as a prelude to an attack on subsequent parts of the bill, it appears to me now important that the subject be well understood and rightly decided.
What are you told? You are now told that a forfeiture is unnecessary, and that to inflict the punishment of death is the only way to stop this trade. I consider this as an old attack revived in a new form. I hope the House will pardon me for undertaking to assign reasons for the bill as reported.
I should like to know how the fear of death will operate on a man who is bound with his slaves to a country where he knows the punishment will not be enforced. He will be bound to a country where the people see slaves every hour of their lives; where there is no such abhorrence of the crime of importing them, and where no man dare inform. My word for it, I pledge it to-day, and I wish it may be recollected; no man in the Southern section of the Union will dare inform. It would cost him more than his life is worth. No man would risk it when it led to the punishment of death, when it was not for an offence which nature revolts at. They do not consider it as a crime.
The gentleman (Mr. Smilie) has said that, in the Southern States, slavery is felt and acknowledged to be a great evil, and that therefore we will execute a severe law to prevent an increase of this evil. Permit me to tell the gentleman of a small distinction in this case. A large majority of the people in the Southern States do not consider slavery as a crime. They do not believe it immoral to hold human flesh in bondage. Many deprecate slavery as an evil; as a political evil; but not as a crime. Reflecting men apprehend, at some future day, evils, incalculable evils, from it; but it is a fact that few, very few, consider it as a crime.
It is best to be candid on this subject. If they considered the holding of men in slavery as a crime, they would necessarily accuse themselves, a thing which human nature revolts at. I will tell the truth. A large majority of people in the Southern States do not consider slavery as even an evil. Let the gentleman go and travel in that quarter of the Union; let him go from neighborhood to neighborhood, and he will find that this is the fact.
Mr. Holland.—In the Southern States slavery is generally considered as a political evil, and in that point of view nearly all are disposed to stop the trade for the future. But have capital punishments been usually inflicted on offences merely political? I believe not. Fine and imprisonment are the common punishments in such cases. The people of the South do not generally consider slavery as a moral offence. The importer might say to the informer that he had done no worse, nor even so bad as he. It is true that I have these slaves from Africa; but I have transported them from one master to another. I am not guilty of holding human beings in bondage. But you are. You have hundreds on your plantations in this miserable condition. By your purchases you tempt traders to increase the evil. You and your ancestors have introduced this calamity into the country, and you are continuing, you are augmenting it. The importer might hold the same language to the jury and the judge who try him. He might tell them that they were even more guilty than he. Under such circumstances the law inflicting death would not be executed. But if you punish by fine and imprisonment only, you will find the people of the South willing and ready to execute the law.
Mr. Dwight.—We are all happily agreed in the great object of the bill—the prevention of the importation of slaves into the United States. Unfortunately, we are not so well agreed in the means to effect this object. It is not, however, at all strange that men should differ about the best mode to accomplish so important a purpose; and especially men in the circumstances in which we are placed. Those of us who come from the Northern and Eastern States, where slavery exists not at all, or but in a slight degree, would naturally view this subject in a very different light from gentlemen who represent the Southern States, where slavery always has existed, and that to a great extent. As great a degree of unanimity as is possible is of much importance, both for the purpose of effectually preventing this inhuman traffic, and for the honor and reputation of our country.
The gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Early) has informed us repeatedly that a law making this a capital offence cannot be executed in the Southern States; that the importation of slaves has so long been familiar to them, that a great majority of the people consider it not as an aggravated crime, and a large portion of them as no crime at all; that if we make such an offence capital; if we make the consequence of importing a cargo of slaves to be the loss of life, no man will ever be prosecuted for it, because no man will dare inform. All the gentlemen, sir, from the Southern States, who have spoken on this subject, have told us that they earnestly wish effectually to prevent the slave trade in future. I am disposed to credit them fully. Indeed, I cannot conceive that they should not sincerely and fervently wish to prevent a traffic, which, if persisted in, must in all human probability, first or last, bring upon them and their families the most tremendous calamities. If, then, they view the subject in this light, if they are sincere in making these declarations, there is not only no danger that the law will not be executed, but they will unite to a man to execute the law; the whole community will inform; a regard to their own lives, and the lives of their posterity, will drive them to it. And if, sir, in the rigid execution of this statute, its penalties fall upon men from the Eastern States, who are profligate enough to engage in this inhuman trade, I most heartily concur with my colleague in saying, let the law have its full force, let it fall with all its force upon the offender; let him die.
The question being taken by yeas and nays, on striking out so much of the first section as inflicts the punishment of death on owners and masters of vessels employed in the slave trade, it was carried—yeas 63, nays 53, as follows:
Yeas.—Willis Alston, jun., John Archer, Joseph Barker, Burwell Bassett, Silas Betton, John Boyle, William A. Burwell, William Butler, George W. Campbell, Martin Chittenden, John Claiborne, Joseph Clay, George Clinton, jun., John Clopton, Orchard Cook, Ezra Darby, John Dawson, William Dickson, Peter Early, James Elliot, Caleb Ellis, Ebenezer Elmer, James Fisk, Isaiah L. Green, William Helms, James Holland, David Holmes, John G. Jackson, Walter Jones, Thomas Kenan, Nehemiah Knight, Edward Lloyd, Patrick Magruder, Robert Marion, William McCreery, David Meriwether, Nicholas R. Moore, Thomas Moore, Jeremiah Morrow, Gurdon S. Mumford, Thomas Newton, jun., John Randolph, John Rhea of Tennessee, Jacob Richards, Peter Sailly, Thomas Sanford, Martin G. Schuneman, Dennis Smelt, John Smith, Samuel Smith, Henry Southard, Richard Stanford, Joseph Stanton, Samuel Taggart, Samuel Tenney, Uri Tracy, Abram Trigg, Daniel C. Verplanck, Robert Whitehill, Eliphalet Wickes, Nathan Williams, Joseph Winston, and Thomas Wynns.
Nays.—Evan Alexander, Isaac Anderson, David Bard, George M. Bedinger, Barnabas Bidwell, John Blake, jun., Thomas Blount, James M. Broom, Robert Brown, Levi Casey, John Chandler, Matthew Clay, Frederick Conrad, Leonard Covington, Richard Cutts, Samuel W. Dana, John Davenport, junior, Theodore Dwight, Elias Earle, William Ely, John W. Eppes, William Findlay, John Fowler, Edwin Gray, Andrew Gregg, Silas Halsey, Seth Hastings, David Hough, John Lambert, Duncan McFarland, Josiah Masters, John Morrow, Jonathan O. Mosely, Jeremiah Nelson, Gideon Olin, John Porter, John Pugh, John Rea of Pennsylvania, John Russell, Thomas Sammons, Ebenezer Seaver, James Sloan, John Smilie, Benjamin Tallmadge, David Thomas, Thomas W. Thompson, Philip Van Cortlandt, Joseph B. Varnum, Peleg Wadsworth, John Whitehill, David R. Williams, Marmaduke Williams, and Alexander Wilson.
The question on inserting, in lieu of what was stricken out, a clause prescribing imprisonment for not more than ten, nor less than five years, was carried without a division.
The amendments to the second and third sections were read and agreed to, when, after several unsuccessful attempts to adjourn, the further consideration of the subject was postponed till Friday—ayes 71—to which day the House adjourned.