Mr. Meigs offered in modified form the resolutions submitted at the last session:—
"Whereas slavery, in the United States, is an evil, acknowledged to be of great and increasing magnitude, ... therefore,
"Resolved, That a committee be appointed to inquire into the expediency of devoting five hundred million acres of the public lands, next west of the Mississippi, as a fund for the purpose of, in the
"First place; Employing a naval force, competent to the annihilation of the slave trade," etc. Question to consider decided in the affirmative, 63 to 50; laid on the table, 66 to 55. House Journal, 16 Cong. 2 sess. p. 238; Annals of Cong., 16 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 1168–70.
1821, Dec. 3. President Monroe's Message.
"Like success has attended our efforts to suppress the slave trade. Under the flag of the United States, and the sanction of their papers, the trade may be considered as entirely suppressed; and, if any of our citizens are engaged in it, under the flag and
papers of other powers, it is only from a respect to the rights of those powers, that these offenders are not seized and brought home, to receive the punishment which the laws inflict. If every other power should adopt the same policy, and pursue the same vigorous means for carrying it into effect, the trade could no longer exist." House Journal, 17 Cong. 1 sess. p. 22.
1822, April 12. Congress (House): Proposed Resolution.
"Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to enter into such arrangements as he may deem suitable and proper, with one or more of the maritime powers of Europe, for the effectual abolition of the slave trade." House Reports, 17 Cong. 1 sess. II. No. 92, p. 4; Annals of Cong., 17 Cong. 1 sess. p. 1538.
1822, June 18. Mississippi: Act on Importation, etc.