congress from laying any special tax upon slaves, lest they might in that way bo burden the owners as to bring about a general emancipation. Gentlemen have said that this petition does not pray for the abolition of the slave-trade; I think, sir, it prays for nothing else, and that, consequently, we have nothing more to do with it, than if it prayed us to establish an order of nobility or a national religion."
The same ground, the unconstitutionality of the object prayed for, was relied upon by Smith of South Carolina, as a reason for not committing the memorial. "Notwithstanding all the calmness with which some gentlemen have viewed the subject, they will find that the mere discussion of it will create alarm. We have been told that, if so, we should have avoided discussion by saying nothing. But it was not for that purpose we were sent here. We look upon this measure as an attack upon property; it is, therefore, our duty to oppose it by every means in our power. When we entered into a political connection with the other states, this property was there. It had been acquired under a former government conformably to the laws and constitution, and every attempt to deprive us of it must be in the nature of an ex post facto law, and, as such, forbidden by our political compact." Like the other speakers on that side, Smith indulged in a good many slurs on the Quakers. "His constituents wanted no lessons in religion and morality, and least of all from such teachers." Madison, Page, Gerry, and Boudinot advocated the commitment, As to the alarm which it was said would be produced by committing the memorial, Page thought there might be greater ground for alarm should they refuse to commit it. "Placing himself in the case of a slave, on hearing that congress had refused to listen to the decent suggestions of a respectable part of the community, he should infer that the general government, from which great good was expected to every class, had shut their ears against the voice of humanity. If anything could induce him to rebel, it must be a stroke like this, impressing on his mind all the horrors of despair. Were he told, on the other hand, that application was made in his behalf, and that congress were willing to hear what could be urged in favor of discouraging the importation of his fellow-wretches, he would still trust in their justice and humanity, and patiently await their decision. Presuming that these unfortunate people would reason in the same way, he thought that to commit the petition was the likeliest means to avert danger. He lived in a state which had the misfortune to have in her bosom a great number of slaves. He held many himself, and was, he believed, as much interested in the business as any gentleman in South Carolina or Georgia. Even were he determined to hold them in eternal bondage, he should feel no uneasiness at the reference of the memorial, relying on the virtue of congress, and their disinclination to exercise any unconstitutional power." "Though congress were restricted by the constitution from immediately abolishing the slave-trade, yet there were a variety of ways," so Madison remarked, "by which they might countenance the abolition of that traffic. They might, for example, respecting the introduction of slaves into the new states to be formed out of the western territory, make regulations such as were beyond their power
