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When these humane provisions are contrasted with the system which they superseded, there can be but one sentiment in favor of a steady adherence to its support. The document accompanying this report, and marked A; states the number of Africans seized or taken within or without the limits of the United States and brought there, and their present condition.

It does not appear to your committee that such of the naval force of the country as has been hitherto employed in the execution of the laws against this traffic, could have been more effectually used for the interest and honor of the nation. The document marked B is a statement of the names of the vessels, and their commanders, ordered upon this service, with the dates of their departure, &c. The first vessel destined for this service arrived upon the coast of Africa in March, 1820, and in the few weeks she remained there, sent in for adjudication four American vessels, all of which were condemned. The four which have been since employed in this service, have made five visits, (the Alligator having made two cruises in the past Summer) the whole of which have amounted to a service of about ten months by a single vessel, within a period of near two years; and since the middle of last November, the commencement of the healthy season on that coast, no vessel bas been, or, as your committee is informed, is, under order, for that service.

The committee are thus particular on this branch of their inquiry, because unfounded rumors have been in circulation, that other branches of the public service have suffered from the destination given to the inconsiderable force above stated, which, small as it has been, has in every instance been directed, both in its cutward and homeward voyage, to cruise in the West India seas.

Before they quit this part of their inquiry, your committee feel it their duty to state, that the loss of several of the prizes made in this service, is imputable to the size of the ships engaged in it. The efficacy of this force, as well as the health and discipline of the officers and crews, conspire to recommend the employment of no smaller vessel than a corvette or sloop of war, to which it would be expedient to allow the largest possible complement of men, and, if possible, she should be accompanied by a tender, or vessel drawing less water. The vessels engaged in this service should be frequently relieved, but the coast should at no time be left without a vessel to watch and protect its shores.

Your committee find it impossible to measure with precision the effect produced upon the American branch of the slave trade by the laws above mentioned, and the seizures under them. They are unable to state, whether those American merchants, the American capital and seamen which heretofore aided in this traffic, have abandoned it altogether, or have sought shelter under the flags of other nations. It is ascertained, however, that the American flag, which heretofore covered so large a portion of the slave trade, has wholly disappeared from the coasts of Africa. The trade, notwithstanding, increases annually, under the flags of other nations. France has incurred the reproach of being the greatest adventurer in this traffic, prohibited by her laws; but it is to be presumed that this results, not so much from the avidity of her subjects for this iniquitous gain, as from the safety which, in the absence of all hazard of capture, her flag affords to the greedy and unprincipled adventurers of all nations. It is neither candid or just to impute to a gallant and high minded people the exclusive commission of crimes, which the abandoned of all nations are alike capable of perpetrating, with the additional wrong to France herself of using her flag to cover and

protect them. If the vigor of the American navy has saved its banner from like reproach, it has done much to preserve unsullied its high reputation, and amply repaid the expense charged upon the public revenue by a system of laws to which it has given such honorable effect.

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 ensure the co-operation of one great maritime Power in the proposed exchange, and guard it from the danger of abuse.

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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:

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.

NUMBER.

DATE OF SEIZURE.

PRESENT SITUATION, &c.

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184 in the hands of the Marshal of Georgia.

18 liberated by a decree of Court, and ready to be sent to Africa.

In the hands of the Governor of Georgia. A warrant issued from Court against these Africans 21st February, 1821; the Marshal has been instructed not to proceed on this warrant to take the Africans, because they are in the hands of the Governor.

In the hands of the Marshal of Alabama.

In the custody of the Marshal of Maryland, subject to the orders of the President of the
United States.

Sent to Norfolk, Va. and conveyed to Africa on board brig Nautilus, under the charge of
J. B. Winn, Esq. United States' Agent to Africa, in January, 1821.

Sent into New Orleans, and delivered to the Marshal.

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B.

STATEMENT showing 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.

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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.

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS-SECOND SESSION.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1823.

Mr. Mercer submitted the following resolution which; was read, and laid on the table:

Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to enter upon and prosecute from time to time, such negotiations with the several maritime Powers of Europe and America, as he may deem expedient for the effectual abolition of the African slave trade and its ultimate denunciation as piracy under the law of nations, by consent of the civilized world.

FEBRUARY 28, 1823.

The House proceeded to the consideration of the above resolution. The said resolution being read, and debate arising thereon, Mr. Hooks moved that the said resolution be again laid on the table;

And the question being taken,

It was determined in the negative,

Yeas,
Nays,

25,

104.

Mr. Wright then moved an amendment to the said resolution; and further debate having arisen thereon,

The previous question being called for, and being demanded by a majority of the members present,

The said previous question was put in the form prescribed by the rules. and orders of the House, viz: Shall the main question be now put?

And passed in the affirmative.

The said main question was then put, to wit: Shall the said resolution pass?

And passed in the affirmative,

Yeas,
Nays,

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EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS-FIRST SESSION.

JANUARY 26, 1824.

131,

9.

Mr. Mercer laid the following resolution on the table:

Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to communicate to this House such part as he may not deem inexpedient to divulge, of any correspondence or negotiation, which he may have instituted with any foreign Government since the 28th of February last, in compliance with a request contained in a resolution of the House of Representatives of that date, relative to the denunciation of the African slave trade as piracy.

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