Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/423

 Carolina may perhaps, by degrees, do of herself what is wished, as Maryland and Virginia already have done."

Mr. Sherman, of Ct., concurred with his colleague, (Mr. Ellsworth.) "He disapproved the slave-trade; but as the states now possessed the right, and the public good did not require it to be taken away; and as it was expedient to have as few objections as possible to the proposed scheme of government, he would leave the matter as he found it, The abolition of slavery seemed to be going on in the United States, and the good sense of the several states would probably, by degrees, soon complete it."

Mr. Mason, of Ya., said: "Slavery discourages arts and manufactures. The poor despise labor when performed by slaves. They prevent the immigration of whites, who really enrich and strengthen a country. They produce a pernicious effect on manners. Every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring the judgment of heaven on a country. He lamented that some of our eastern brethren, from a lust of gain, had embarked in this nefarious traffic. As to the states being in possession of the right to import, that was the case of many other rights now to be given up. lie held it essential, in every point of view, that the general government should have power to prevent the increase of slavery."

Mr. Ellsworth, not well pleased with this thrust at his slave-trading friends at the north, by a slave-holder, tartly replied: "As I have never owned a slave, I can not judge of the effects of slavery on character; but if slavery is to be considered in a moral light, the convention ought to go further, and free those already in the country." The opposition of Virginia and Maryland to the importation of slaves he attributed to the fact that, on account of the rapid increase in those states, "it was cheaper to raise them there than to import them, while in the sickly rice swamps foreign supplies were necessary. If we stop short with prohibiting their importation, we shall be unjust to South Carolina and Georgia. Let us not intermeddle. As population increases, poor laborers will be so plenty as to render slaves useless. Slavery, in time, will not be a speck in our country."

Delegates from South Carolina and Georgia repeated the declaration that, if the slave-trade were prohibited, these states would not adopt the constitution. Virginia, it was said, would gain by stopping the importation, she having slaves to sell; but it would be unjust to South Carolina and Georgia to be deprived of the right of importing. Besides, the importation of slaves would be a benefit to the whole union. The more slaves, the more produce, the greater carrying trade, the more consumption, the more revenue.

Williamson, of N. C., expressed his conviction that the two southern states, if prohibited to import slaves, would not become members of the union. Wilson, of Pa., suggested that, if negroes were the only imports not subject to a duty, such an exception would amount to a bounty. Gerry, of Mass., thought the convention had nothing to do with the conduct of the states as to slavery; but they ought to be careful not to give any sanction to it. Dickinson and Langdon, of New Hampshire, maintained that neither honor, safety, nor good