slavery is an evil, regretted by every man in the country, to
have among us in any considerable quantity persons of this description,
is an evil far greater than slavery itself. Does any gentleman want
proof of this? I answer that all proof is useless; no fact can be more
notorious. With this belief on the minds of the people where slavery
exists, and where the importation will take place, if at all, we are
about to turn loose in a state of freedom all persons brought in after
the passage of this law. I ask gentlemen to reflect and say whether such
a law, opposed to the ideas, the passions, the views, and the affections
of the people of the Southern States, can be executed? I tell them, no;
it is impossible--why? Because no man will inform--why? Because to
inform will be to lead to an evil which will be deemed greater than the
offence of which information is given, because it will be opposed to the
principle of self-preservation, and to the love of family. No, no man
will be disposed to jeopard his life, and the lives of his countrymen.
And if no one dare inform, the whole authority of the Government cannot
carry the law into effect. The whole people will rise up against it.
Why? Because to enforce it would be to turn loose, in the bosom of the
country, firebrands that would consume them."[11]

This was the more tragic form of the argument; it also had a mercenary
side, which was presented with equal emphasis. It was repeatedly said
that the only way to enforce the law was to play off individual
interests against each other. The profit from the sale of illegally
imported Negroes was declared to be the only sufficient "inducement to
give information of their importation."[12] "Give up the idea of
forfeiture, and I challenge the gentleman to invent fines, penalties, or
punishments of any sort, sufficient to restrain the slave trade."[13]
If such Negroes be freed, "I tell you that slaves will continue to be
imported as heretofore.... You cannot get hold of the ships employed in
this traffic. Besides, slaves will be brought into Georgia from East
Florida. They will be brought into the Mississippi Territory from the
bay of Mobile. You cannot inflict any other penalty, or devise any other
adequate means of prevention, than a forfeiture of the Africans in whose
possession they may be found after importation."[14] Then, too, when
foreigners smuggled in Negroes, "who then ... could be operated on, but
the purchasers? There was th