tions which have been established at the North to carry on
crusades against slavery. My position in that respect is still
unchanged. I hold that the people of the free States have nothing to
do with slavery; that they are not responsible for it, and that it is
their duty to let it alone. At the same time I have just as steadily
opposed the slave-trade. I think it inhuman and atrocious, and I am
the last man that would consent to its restoration. This section as it
stands, in my judgment, cannot be improved. I think we had better
leave it, and not raise these troublesome questions which will
inevitably be suggested if these words are restored.

Mr. MOREHEAD:--This is a matter which requires some reflection, and,
on the whole, I am inclined, for the present, to withdraw my
proposition.

Mr. SEDDON:--I do not like this plan of legislating in the
Constitution. The Constitution ought to be an instrument defining and
limiting the powers of Congress. We had better leave to Congress, or
rather, to assign to Congress the power to exercise this prohibition.
I, therefore, move to amend by inserting at the commencement of the
section these words: "The Congress shall have power to prohibit," and
to strike out at the end of the section the words "are forever
prohibited."

Mr. ALLEN:--This would be a most effectual way of reviving the
slave-trade. It would remove the constitutional prohibition, and
permit Congress to prohibit or permit it, as that body may choose.
Would that ever hereafter be considered a crime which Congress had
power to permit? No. I cannot conceive it possible that any State
should seriously wish to see a traffic resumed which has been
stigmatized by the whole civilized world as worse than piracy. This is
a question which I would not leave to Congress. We know how immensely
profitable this trade is--that fortunes are made by a single
successful voyage. Don't let such an inducement to corruption creep
into our Constitution.

Mr. COALTER:--I am in favor of this amendment, not because I am in
favor of the slave-trade, but because such a section is out of place
in the Constitution. The Constitution is a bill of rights, an
instrument which defines and settles the rights of citizens. It is not
a law. I have no fear that if we leave this to Congress the
slave-trade will be revived.

Mr. DONIPHAN:--I cannot agree with my colleague. I am opposed to the
foreign slave-trade in every form. I would not even make a treaty