ve act was amended
so as to make it more effective, and passed by a vote of eighty-four
to sixty-nine. In the Senate, with several amendments, and heated
debate, it passed by a vote of seventeen to thirteen; but upon being
returned to the House for concurrence, the Northern members had heard
from their constituents, and the bill was tabled, and its friends were
powerless to get it up.

In 1818-9, Congress passed an act offering a premium of fifty dollars
to the informer of every illegally imported African seized within the
United States, and twenty-five dollars for those taken at sea. The
President was authorized to have such slaves removed beyond the limits
of the United States, and to appoint agents on the West Coast of
Africa to superintend their reception. An effort was made to punish
slave-trading with death. It passed the House, but was struck out in
the Senate.

On the 12th of January, 1819, the Secretary of the Navy transmitted to
the Speaker of the House of Representatives copies of circular letters
that had been sent to the naval officers on the various stations along
the sea-coast of the slave-holding States. The following letter is a
fair sample of the remainder:[1]

"NAVY DEPARTMENT, January 22, 1811.

"SIR:--I hear, not without great concern, that the law
prohibiting the importation of slaves has been violated in
frequent instances, near St. Mary's, since the gun-boats have
been withdrawn from that station.

"We are bound by law, by the obligations of humanity and sound
policy, to use our most strenuous efforts to restrain this
disgraceful traffic, and to bring those who shall be found
engaged in it to those forfeitures and punishments which are by
law prescribed for such offences.

"Hasten the equipment of the gun-boats which, by my letter of the
24th ultimo, you were directed to equip, and as soon as they
shall be ready, despatch them to St. Mary's with orders to their
commanders to use all practicable diligence in enforcing the law
prohibiting the importation of slaves, passed March 2, 1807,
entitled 'An Act to prohibit the importation of slaves into any
port or place within the jurisdiction of the United States from
and after the 1st day of January, 1808.' The whole of this law,
but especially the 7th section, requires your particular
attention; that section declares, that _any_ ship or vessel wh