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Show 340 SLAVERY AGIT.tVriON. distinct in their nature, n.nd, in intcrp1·cting and cxcrcisin the grant of the power of cxclu. ive 1 gi s]a.tion, that distinc~ tion should be constantly borne in mind. I s it neccssar in order to render this place a comfortable scat of the ge~~ cral government, to abolish slavery within its limi t ? No one can or will advance such a propo ition. 'l'hc government has rcmo,jncd here ncar forty years without the slightest inconvenience ft·om the presence of domestic slavery. Is it necessary to the well-being of the people of the District, that slavery should be abolished from amongst them ? 'rhcy not only neither ask nor de. ire, lmt arc almost unanimously opposed to it. It exi ts here in the mildest and most mitigated form. In a popnlation of 39, 34, there were, at the last enumeration of t.hc population of the United States, bnt 6,119 slave'. 'rho number has not probably much increased since. 'rhey arc dispersed over the ten miles square, engaged in tho qnict pursuits of husbandry, or in menial offices in domestic life. If it wc1·e necessary to tho eai.cicncy of this plncc as a sent of the general government, to abolish slavery, which is utterly denied, the abolition should be confined to the n ecc~. ity which prompts it, that is, to the limi ts of the city of Washington itself. Beyond those limits, persons concerned in the government of the United States have no mot·c to do with the inhabitants of the District, than they have with the inhabitants of the adjacent counties of Maryland and Vir· ginia which lie beyond the District. To abolish slavery within the District of Columbia whilst it remains in Virginia and Maryland, Rit uated as tha~ District is, within the very heart of those State , would expose them to great practical inconvenience and annoyance. Th: ?istrict would become a place of refuge and escape for fng1tive slaves from the two States, and a plncc from which a spirit of discontent, insnbordination and insurrection might be fostered and cnconraged in the two States. Snp~ SLAVEHY AG111A'l'10N. 341 pose, as was at one time under consi<lcration, P ennsylvania had granted ten miles squtLrc within its l'imi ts, for the pur-lJOSC of a scat of the general ~"rov crumcnt : could ConO'r .. .., b . "'• without a violation of good faith, have in troduced aud es-tablished slavery within the Lo,·om of that Commonw<·al t h iu the ceded territory, after ,'he l1ad aholishc<l it so Ion o· .1 n·o b'" ns the year 1780? Yet the iueonveuicncc to P ennsylvania in the case supposcu, would huvc been much less than thut to Virginia and Maryland, in the en c we arc arguing. It was upon this view of tho subject that tho Senate, at its last session, solemnly declared, th at it would be a violation of implied faith, resulting from tho transaction or tho cession, to abolish slavery within the District of Columbia. And would it not be? By im plied faith, iB Incant, that when a gmnt is made for one avowed and declared purpose, known to the parties, the grant should not be pcrvcrtcu to nnothcr purpose, unavowed and undeclared, aud injurious to the grautor. The grant in the case we arc considcrin o- n ' of the territory of Columbia, was for a seat of gover·nment. \Vhatever power is necessary to accompliHh that object, is cnrried along by the grant. But the aboli tion of slavery, is not necessary to the enjoyment of this site as a scat of the general government. The grant in the Constitution of exclusive power of legislation over the District, was made to iusure the exercise of an cxclnsivc authority of th e general government, to render this place a safe and sccuL'e seat of government, and to promote tho well-being of the inhabitants of the District. The power granted ought to be interpreted and exercised solely to the end for which it was gmnted. The language of the o-rant was ncccRsarily br oacl, comprchcnsi vc, and exdusivc, bcca.n e all the cxig·cncics which might arise to r ender this a secure scat of the general government, could not have been foreseen and provided for. The language may possibly be sufficiently comprehensive to include a power of abolition ; but it would not at |