clusively, comprising all the information communicated to this Department since 1816, in relation to the introduction of slaves into the United States. I have the honor to refer the House of Representatives to my report of the 9th January, 1819, on this subject; and I transmit, herewith, paper marked A, which contains that part of the instructions from this Department to the commanding naval officers in relation to slave vessels.

The public vessels now cruizing have not yet reported their operations, nor is it known that any seizures have been made by them. I have the honor to be, With the highest respect,

The Honorable the SPEAKER

Sir, your most obedient servant,
SMITH THOMPSON.

of the House of Representatives.

No. 1.

Extract of a letter from Captain Charles Morris to the Secretary of the Navy, dated

U. S. FRIGATE CONGRESS,

Off the Balize, 10th June, 1817.

"Most of the goods carried to Galveston are introduced into the United States; the more bulky and least valuable, regularly through the custom house; the more valuable, and the slaves, are smuggled in through the numerous inlets to the Westward, where the people are but too much disposed to render them every possible assistance. Several hundred slaves are now at Galveston, and persons have gone from New Orleans to purchase them. Every exertion will be made to intercept them, but I have little hopes of success.

No. 2.

Extract of a letter from Lieutenant Commandant John Porter to the Secretary of the Navy, dated

L

U. S. BRIG BOXER,

Off the Balize, June 28th, 1817.

"I shall leave this on Monday to cruise off the Sabine river. It is reported that attempts will be made to smuggle slaves into Louisiana from Galveston, and the natural presumption is, that they will attempt the Sabine or the Achafalaya rivers. The depth of the water of those rivers is very inaccurately represented on the charts, and it will not be in my power to approach nearer the shore than within ten miles of the Sabine, and not nearer than thirty off the Atchafalaya. Whatever can be done to prevent their being brought clandestinely into the country, will have to be performed by the boats, which, sir, shall be actively employed the moment we arrive on the ground."

No. 3.

Extract of a letter from Captain John D. Henley to the Secretary of the Navy, dated

U. S. SHIP JOHN ADAMS,

Amelia Sound, January 24th, 1818.

"I yesterday detained the English brig Neptune, of London, for a violation of the slave act. By her papers it appears that she cleared from Jamaica for this port, with a small quantity of rum, and eight convict slaves, sentenced to transportation for various offences. It is evident that their object was to emuggle them into the State of Geogia, thus making a Botany Bay of the United States. I shall send her to Savannah for trial.

No. 4.

Extract of a letter from Captain John D. Henley to the Secretary of the Navy, dated

U. S. SHIP JOHN ADAMS,

Cumberland Sound, March 17th, 1828.

"It would be gratifying to me to know how far the commissions granted by Aury or M'Gregor, to vessels evidently commanded and manned by citizens of the United States, are to be respected. I have not the smallest doubt, from the situation those pirates have fixed upon for their rendezvous, that the goods found in their prizes will be disposed of principally in the United States, and that the part which may consist of slaves will be smuggled into Georgia, as many of the inhabitants are too much inclined to afford every facility to this species of illicit trade."

A.

Extract from the instructions of the Navy Department to the Commanders of all United States' vessels cruising in the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, &c.

"You have also enclosed such parts of several acts of Congress, prohibiting the importation of slaves into any ports or places within the jurisdiction of the United States, as are necessary to point out to you your duty and authority under these laws; and it is expected and required of you by the President, that a strict and vigilant attention be paid to the direction therein contained, that, if possible, this inhuman and disgraceful traffic may be suppressed.

"By the act of the 20th of April, 1818, you will perceive that it is made unlawful to import or bring, in any manner whatsoever, into the United States or Territories thereof, from any foreign kingdom, place, or country, any negro, mulatto, or person of color, with intent to hold, sell, or dispose of such person as a slave, or to be held to service.

"By this act it is also made unlawful for any citizen of the United States, or other person, to build, equip, load, fit, or otherwise prepare, any ship or vessel, in any port or place within the jurisdiction of the United States, or to cause any such ship or vessel to sail from any port or place whatsoever, within the jurisdiction of the United States, for the purpose of procuring and transporting any such slaves to any port or place whatever. And any ship or vessel employed in such importation of slaves, or so built, fitted out, or prepared, is liable to be seized or forfeited. And by the act of the 3d of March, 1819, the President is authorized to employ any of the armed vessels of the United States to cruise in such places as he may think proper, where he may judge attempts may be made to carry on the slave trade by citizens or residents of the United States, in contravention of the acts of Congress prohibiting the same; and to instruct such armed vessels to seize, take, and bring into any port of the United States, to be proceeded against according to law, all ships or vessels of the United States, wheresoever found, which may have taken on board, or which may be intended for the purpose of taking on board, or of transporting, or may have transported, any negro, mulatto, or person of color, in violation of any of the provisions of the act of the 20th April, 1818, above referred to, or in violation of any other act or acts prohibiting the traffic in slaves.

"You will perceive from the generality of the provisions in these laws, you are authorized to take, and bring in, all ships or vessels of the United States, which may have been in any manner employed, or intended to be employed, in the slave trade; or any other vessel offending against the provisions of any of the laws you have enclosed. You will particularly notice the two provisos to the first section of the act of 1819; the first of which directs in what manner you are to keep and dispose of the slaves which may be found on board of any ship or vessel seized by you. If brought within the United States, they are to be delivered to the Marshal of the District where brought in, and transmit the evidence of such delivery to this Department. Upon the capture, therefore, of any vessel having slaves on board, you will immediately proceed to the Island of Sherbro, on the coast of Africa, and deliver such slaves to the agent appointed by the President to receive them, pursuant to the provisions of the act, or to any other agent so appointed, at any other place on the coast of Africa. The second proviso relates to the disposition of the officers and crews of such vessels so captured by you. Great vigilance will be expected from you in the safekeeping of all such officers and crews, until they shall be handed over to the civil authority to be proceeded against according to law."

"P. S. No provision having as yet been made for the reception of slaves upon the coast of Africa, you will, for the present, and until ordered otherwise, consider the foregoing orders, relative to the disposition of such slaves as you may capture, so far modified, that you will deliver them on Smith's Island, at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, to such agent as may be appointed by the President to receive them there."

SIXTEENTH CONGRESS-FIRST SESSION.

MAY 8, 1820.

Mr. MERCER, from the committee, consisting of Mr. Hemphill, Mr. Mercer, Mr. Strong, of New York, Mr. Edwards, of Pensylvania, Mr. Rogers, Mr. Lathrop, and Mr. Abbott, to whom was referred, at the commencement of the present session of Congress, so much of the President's Message as relates to the slave trade, made the following report:

The Committee on the Slave Trade, to whom was referred the memorial of the President and Board of Managers of the American Society for Colonizing the Free People of Color of the United States, have, according to order, had under consideration the several subjects therein embraced, and report:

That the American Society was instituted in the City of Washington on the 28th of December, 1816, for the benevolent purpose of affording to the free people of color of the United States the means of establishing one or more independent colonies on the Western coast of Africa. After ascertaining, by a mission to that continent, and other preliminary inquiries, that their object is practicable, the Society requests of the Congress of the United States a charter of incorporation, and such other legislative aid as their enterprise may be thought to merit and require.

The memorialists anticipate from its success consequences the most beneficial to the free people of color themselves, to the several States in which they at present reside, and to that continent which is to be the seat of their future establishment. Passing by the foundation of these anticipations, which will be seen in the annual reports of the Society and their former memorials, the attention of the committee has been particularly drawn to the connexion which the memorialists have traced between their purpose and the policy of the recent act of Congress for the more effectual abolition of the African slave trade.

cruisers.

Experience has demonstrated that this detestable traffic can be no where so successfully assailed as on the coast upon which it originates. Not only does the collection and embarkation of its unnatural cargoes consume more time than their subsequent distribution and sale in the market for which they are destined, but the African coast frequented by the slave ships is indented with so few commodious or accessible harbors, that, notwithstanding its great extent, it could be guarded by the vigilance of a few active If to these be added colonies of civilized blacks, planted in commanding situations along that coast, no slave ship could possibly escape detection; and thus the security, as well as the enhanced profit, which now cherishes this illicit trade, would be effectually counteracted. Such colonies, by diffusing a taste for legitimate commerce among the native tribes of that fruitful continent, would gradually destroy among them, also, the only incentive of a traffic which has hitherto rendered all African labor insecure, and spread desolation over one of the most beautiful regions of the globe. The colonies and the armed vessels employed in watching the African coast, while they co-operated alike in the cause of humanity, would afford to each other mutual succor.

There is a single consideration, however, added to the preceding view of this subject, which appears to your committee, of itself, conclusive of the tendency of the views of the memorialists to further the operation of the act of the 3d of March, 1819. That act not only revokes the authority antecedently given to the several State and Territorial Governments to dispose as they pleased of those Africans who might be liberated by the tribunals of the United States, but authorizes and requires the President to restore them to their native country. The unavoidable consequence of this just and humane provision, is, to require some preparation to be made for their temporary succor on being landed upon the African shore; and no preparation can prove so congenial to its own object, or so economical as regards the Government charged with this charitable duty, as that which would be found in a colony of the free people of color of the United States. Sustained by the recommendations of numerous societies in every part of the United States, and the approving voice of the Legislative Assemblies of several States, without inquiring into any other tendency of the object of the memorialists, your committee do not hesitate to pronounce it deserving of the countenance and support of the General Govenment. The extent to which these shall be carried is a question not so easily determined.

The memorialists do not ask the Government to assume the jurisdiction of the territory, or to become in any degree whatever responsible for the future safety or tranquillity of the contemplated colony. They have prudently thought that its external peace and security would be most effectually guarded by an appeal, in its behalf, to the philanthropy of the civilized world, and to that sentiment of retributive justice with which all Christendom is at present animated towards a much injured continent.

Of the constitutional power of the General Government to grant the limited aid contemplated by the accompanying bills and resolutions, your committee presume there can exist no shadow of doubt; and they leave it to a period of greater national prosperity to determine how far the authority of Congress, the resources of the National Government, and the welfare and happiness of the United States, will warrant or require its extension.

Your committee are solemnly enjoined by the peculiar object of their trust, and invited by the suggestions of the memorialists, to inquire into the defects of the existing laws against the African slave trade. So long as it is in the power of the United States to provide additional restraints upon this odious traffic, they cannot be withheld, consistently with the justice and honor of the nation.

Congress has heretofore marked with decided reprobation the authors and abettors of this iniquitous commerce, in every form which it assumes; from the inception of its unrighteous purpose in America, through all the subsequent stages of its progress, to its final consummation: the outward voyage, the cruel seizure, and forcible abduction of the unfortunate African from his native home, and the fraudulent transfer of the property thus acquired. It may, however, be questioned if a proper discrimination of their relative guilt has entered into the measure of punishment annexed to these criminal acts.

Your committee cannot perceive wherein the offence of kidnapping an unoffending inhabitant of a foreign country; of chaining him down for a series of days, weeks, and months, amidst the dying and the dead, to the pestilential hold of a slave ship; of consigning him, if he chance to live out the voyage, to perpetual slavery in a remote and unknown land, differs in