Page:The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787 Volume 2.djvu/376

 370 RECORDS OF THE FEDERAL CONVENTION F/ednesday MADISON 4ugust 22 & that the good sense of the several States would probably by degrees compleat it. I-Ie urged on the Convention the necessity of despatch(ing its business.) Col. Mason. This infernal trafic originated in the avarice of British Merchants. The British Govt. constantly checked the attempts of Virginia to put a stop to it. The present question concerns not the importing States alone but the whole Union. The evil of having slaves was experienced during the late war. Had slaves been treated as they might have been by the Enemy, they would have proved dangerous in- struments in their hands. But their folly dealt by the slaves, as it did by the Tories. He mentioned the dangerous insur- rections of the slaves in Greece and Sicily; and the instruc- tions given by Cromwell to the Commissioners sent to Virginia, to arm the servants & slaves, in case other means of obtain- ing its submission should fail. Maryland & Virginia he said had already prohibited the importation of slaves expressly. N. Carolina had done the same in substance. All this would be in vain if S. Carolina & Georgia be at liberty to import. The Western people are already calling out for slaves for their new lands; and will fill that Country with slaves if they can be got thro' S. Carolina & Georgia. Slavery discourages arts & manufactures. The poor despise labor when performed by slaves. They prevent the immigration of Wh!tes, who really enrich & strengthen a Country. They produce the most pernicious effect on manners. Every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. The 7 bring the judgment of heaven on a Country. As nations can not be rewarded or punished in the next world they must be in this. By an inevit- able chain of causes & effects providence punishes national sins, by national calamities. He lamented that some of our Eastern brethren had from a.lust of gain embarked in this nefarious traffic. As to the States being in possession of the Right to import, this was the case with many other rights, now to be properly given up. He held it essential-in every point of view, that the Genl. Govt. should have power to pre- vent the increase of slavery. Mr. Elsworth. As he had never owned a slave could not

�