mancipation policy was adopted, the same principles would not be
recognized. We are now removing doubts. We wish to have these matters
no longer involved in uncertainty. We insist upon having these
provisions in the Constitution.

Mr. RUFFIN:--I wish to say a word on this subject, much as I regret
the consumption of time. I am willing to leave this question where it
is now; and my reason is this: If we put this into the Constitution,
the question may be raised, whether if foreign nations should
interfere with this kind of property on the high seas, the Government
would not be bound to consider it a cause of war. We ought not to bind
ourselves to go to war. War should always depend upon considerations
of policy. We should raise a thousand troublesome questions by
putting these words "shall be protected" into the Constitution. The
matter is well enough as it is. Our rights in this respect are well
enough protected by the ordinary course of national diplomacy. I would
not be willing to put into the Constitution language which would
embarrass us hereafter.

Mr. SEDDON:--I will frankly say that I think slave property upon every
ground is as well entitled to the national protection as any other
species of property.

Mr. BARRINGER:--This amendment brings up the very gist of the matter.
The question of the right of our property to Federal protection is now
an open one. In the case of the Creole it was settled by negotiation,
and not by the courts. The question so often hinted at and suggested
in this Conference is now fairly brought up for decision. Governor
CHASE struck at the very root of the matter the other day, when he
said that slavery was an _abnormal_ condition. He laid down the
opinion of the North. He is a statesman and a lawyer. He says that
slavery cannot exist anywhere until it is established or authorized by
law. This is the Northern idea, and it is a technical one. I hate
technicalities almost as bad as I do sectionalism. The North deals in
both. I regret to speak in these terms of the North, but I must if I
speak truth. Now, I will lay down what is the opinion of the South
upon the subject. We say that the right to hold and use slave
property, always, everywhere, exists until it is prohibited by law. We
say that it is a natural right, which grows out of the very
necessities of society. We hold that the condition of slavery is a
normal condition--not local at all; that it is found everywhere,
except where it