But the conclusion to which your committee has arrived, after consulting all the evidence within their reach, is, that the African slave trade now prevails to a great extent, and that its total suppression can never be effected by the separate and disunited efforts of one or more states; and as the resolution to which this report refers, requires the suggestion of some remedy for the defects, if any exist, in the system of laws for the suppression of this traffic, your committee beg leave to call the attention of the House to the report and accompanying documents submitted to the last Congress by the Committee on the Slave Trade, and to make the same a part of this report. That report proposes, as a remedy for the existing evils of the system, the concurrence of the United States with one or all the maritime powers of Europe, in a modified and reciprocal right of search on the African coast, with a view to the total suppression of the slave trade, It is with great delicacy that the committee have approached this subject; because they are aware that the remedy which they have presumed to recommend to the consideration of the House, requires the exercise of the power of another department of this government, and that objections to the exercise of this power, in the mode here proposed, have hitherto existed in that department. Your committee are confident, however, that these objections apply rather to a particular proposition for the exchange of the right of search, than to that modification of it which presents itself to your committee. They contemplate the trial and condemnation of such American citizens as may be found engaged in this forbidden trade, not by mixed tribunals sitting in a foreign country, but by existing courts, of competent jurisdiction, in the United States; they propose the same disposition of the captured Africans now authorized by law; and least of all, their detention in America. They contemplate an exchange of this right, which shall be in all respects reciprocal; an exchange, which, deriving its sole authority from treaty, would exclude the pretension, which no nation, however, has presumed to set up, that this right can be derived from the law of nations; and further, they have limited it in their conception of its application, not only to certain latitudes, and to a certain distance from the coast of Africa, but to a small number of vessels to be employed by each power, and to be previously designated. The visit and search thus restricted, it is believed would insure the co-operation of one great maritime power in the proposed exchange, and guard it from the danger of abuse. Your committee cannot doubt that the people of America have the intelligence to distinguish between the right of searching a neutral on the high seas, in time of war, claimed by some belligerents, and that mutual, restricted, and peaceful concession by treaty, suggested by your committee, and which is demanded in the name of suffering humanity. In closing the report, they recommend to the House the adoption of the following resolution, viz: [92] 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. A. STATEMENT of the number of Africans seized or taken within and without the limits of the United States, and their / present situation. PRESENT SITUATION, &C. / 184 in the hands of the marshal of Georgia. 18 liberated by decree of court, and ready to be sent to Africa. In the hands of the Governor of Georgia. A warrant issued from court In the hands of the marshal of Alabama. In the custody of the marshal of Maryland, subject to the orders of the Presi- Sent to Norfolk, Va. and conveyed to Africa on board brig Nautilus, under NUMBER OF CAPTURES. B. STATEMENT shewing the names and rates of the several vessels ordered to cruise on the coast of Africa, for the suppression of the Slave Trade; the names of their several commanders; the time of their respective departures from the United States; arrivals on the coast of Africa, and departures therefrom; and the number of their captures. All the above vessels were ordered to pass through the West Indies, on their return to the United States, for the protection of commerce against the depredations of pirates, as well as the suppression of the slave trade. REPORT Of the Committee to which was referred so much of the President's message as relates to the Slave Trade. FEBRUARY 9, 1821. Read, and ordered to lie upon the table. 1 The Committee to which is referred so much of the President's message as relates to the slave trade, and to which are referred the two messages of the President, transmitting, in pursuance of the resolution of the House of Representatives, of the 4th of December, a report of the Secretary of State, and enclosed documents, relating to the negotiation for the suppression of the slave trade, REPORT: That the committee have deemed it advisable, previous to entering into a consideration of the proposed co operation to exterminate the slave trade, to take a summary review of the constitution and laws of the United States relating to this subject. It will disclose the earnestness and zeal with which this nation has been actuated, and the laudable ambition that has animated her councils, to take a lead in the reformation of a disgraceful practice, and one which is productive of so much human misery; it will, by displaying the constant anxiety of this nation to suppress the African slave trade, afford ample testimony that she will be the last to persevere in measures wisely digested to effectuate this great and most desirable object, whenever such measures can be adopted in consistency with the leading principles of her local institutions. In consequence of the existence of slavery in many of the states, when British colonies, the habits, and means of carrying on industry, could not be suddenly changed; and the constitution of the United States yielded to the provision, that the migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year 1808. But, long antecedent to this period, Congress legislated on the subject wherever its power extended, and endeavored, by a system of ri gorous penalties, to suppress this unnatural trade. |