[104] The slaves on the "Constitution" were not condemned, for the technical reason that she was not captured by a commissioned officer of the United States navy.
[105] These proceedings are very obscure, and little was said about them. The Spanish claimants were, it was alleged with much probability, but representatives of Americans. The claim was paid under the provisions of the Treaty of Florida, and included slaves whom the court afterward declared forfeited.
[106] An act to relieve him was finally passed, Feb. 8, 1827, nine years after the capture. See Statutes at Large, VI. 357.
[107] It is difficult to get at the exact facts in this complicated case. The above statement is, I think, much milder than the real facts would warrant, if thoroughly known. Cf. House Reports, 19 Cong. 1 sess. II. No. 231; 21 Cong. 1 sess. III. No. 348, pp. 62–3, etc.; 24 Cong. 1 sess. I. No. 209; Amer. State Papers, Naval, II. No. 308.
[108] The first method, represented by the Act of 1818, was favored by the South, the Senate, and the Democrats; the second method, represented by the Act of 1819, by the North, the House, and by the as yet undeveloped but growing Whig party.
[109] Committees on the slave-trade were appointed by the House in 1810 and 1813; the committee of 1813 recommended a revision of the laws, but nothing was done: Annals of Cong., 11 Cong. 3 sess. p. 387; 12 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 1074, 1090. The presidential message of 1816 led to committees on the trade in both Houses. The committee of the House of Representatives reported a joint resolution on abolishing the traffic and colonizing the Negroes, also looking toward international action. This never came to a vote: Senate Journal, 14 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 46, 179, 180; House Journal, 14 Cong. 2 sess. pp. 25, 27, 380; House Doc, 14 Cong. 2 sess. II. No. 77. Finally, the presidential message of 1817 (House Journal, 15 Cong. 1 sess. p. 11), announcing the issuance of orders to suppress the Amelia Island establishment, led to two other committees in both Houses. The House committee under Middleton made a report with a bill (Amer. State Papers, Miscellaneous, II. No. 441), and the Senate committee also reported a bill.
[110] The Senate debates were entirely unreported, and the report of the House debates is very meagre. For the proceedings, see Senate Journal, 15 Cong. 1 sess. pp. 243, 304, 315, 333, 338, 340, 348, 377, 386, 388, 391, 403, 406; House Journal, 15 Cong. 1 sess. pp. 19, 20, 29, 51, 92, 131, 362, 410, 450, 452, 456, 468, 479, 484, 492, 505.
[111] Simkins of South Carolina, Edwards of North Carolina, and Pindall: Annals of Cong., 15 Cong. 1 sess. p. 1740.
[112] Hugh Nelson of Virginia: Annals of Cong., 15 Cong. 1 sess. p. 1740.
[113] Statutes at Large, III. 450. By this act the first six sections of the Act of 1807 were repealed.