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body of statesmenm, unequalled in the history of the world for their
cautious wisdom.

In the opinion of your committee, if the construction contended for
by the governor of New York, was justified by the letter of the con-
stitution, (as it clearly is not,) it would yet be a palpable violation of
its spirit, and render that constitution a fraud upon a portion of the
parties to it.

The positions of the governor of New York, when carried to their
legitimate results, lead to consequences of a most frightful character,
and which, as it seems to your committee, could not have been duly
weighed by him. The governor of New York says, it is no offence
to steal a slave, because one man cannot be the property of another,
and cannot, therefore, be the subject of theft. If, for these reasons,
it be no offence to steal a slave and carry him to New York, it would
be none to steal him and carry him to Louisiana. Surely, in such a
case, it would make no difference whether the thief steered north or
south after committing his robbery. The consequence is, if a citizen
of New York were to come into this state, inveigle a cargo of our
slaves on board his vessel, under the pretext that he meant to take
them to some "land of liberty," and should carry them to Louisiana
and sell them in the New Orleans market, and should thereafter take
refuge in New York, he would be free from arrest, and could not be
made to expiate his crime. And without wishing to make any unjus-
tifiable attack upon the citizens of any state of this union, you com-
mittee would be wanting in candour, if they expressed a doubt that
such a case, if the course of the governor of New York should be
perservered in, would be of probable and frequent occurrence. There
are bad men in every country who will commit offences when they
can profit by it, and do it with impunity. But what is still more
probable, (if the course of the governor of New York be acquiesced
in,) is, that those deluded enthusiasts at the north, who, in pursuit of
something they know not what, are spending thousands and thousands
in efforts which they must see, if they be no blinder than any one,
except a fanatic, ever yet was, can never accomplish their object, will
attempt to make those efforts practically efficient, by comming into our
state and making it a labour of virtue to steal our slaves and convey
them to a more galling bondage then they now suffer, in the northern
states.

Suppose one of those northern fanatics, who believing that the shed-
ding of the blood of the wives and children of souther slaveholders
would be but an acceptable offering in the eyes of God, should come
among us, and after inciting our slaves to insurrection, and aiding and
abetting them in it, should escape into New York, consistency would
compel the governor of N. York to refuse to deliver him up for trial
and punishment. He would say one man cannot be the property of
another. These negroes therefore were held in illegal bondage, and
the person who aided them in their effort to throw it off only perform-
ed a meritorious action.

Your committee do not wish by these remarks to excite idle fears.
This general assembly do not represent a timid people. But the ab-

horrent consequences flowing from the positions of the governor of N.
York, if carried to their legitimate results, tend to demonstrate the un-
soundness of these positions themselves.

The most painful circumstance attending this controversy with a
sister state, originates in the conviction which forces itself upon the
mind of your committee, that the executive of N. York has taken his
extraordinary course, either under the influence of the fanatical feel-
ings of the northern abolitionists, or with a view of conciliating those
enemies of the domestic tranquillity of this country. The distinc-
tions of the governor of N. York are impracticable, and will rarely be
applicable to any other case than one similar to that under considera-
tion. The common law of England is the law in every state of the
Union except one. The statutory crimes and felonies, in them all,
are very nearly of the same character. There is scarcely an article,
except slaves, which is property in one state, that is not property, and
the subject of theft, in all. The untenable distinction therefore of the
executive of N. York, seems to have been taken with a single view of
protecting the depredators upon our slave property; a species of pro-
perty to which we adhere with a stronger tenacity than such as orgi-
nates only in a calculation of its value.

Your committee lament the course of the executive of N. York,
and they trust that it will not be perservered in. They lament it not
more on account of the interests of this state, than of N. York. They
lament it because it brings the existence of this Union into jeopardy.

It is the pride and glory of our country to be an asylum for the
persecuted and oppressed of every nation and every clime. But
should any state of this Union erect herself into a place of refuge for
the thieves and robbers who might escape from the offended justice
of any of her sister states, should would sully that glory and render her-
self unworthy of that sisterhood which should be her pride. And
the country may rest assured that in such an event Virginia will take
proper measures to extricate herself from such an unholy alliance!

Your committee now approach the only part of their duty, the dis-
charge of which has given them any difficulty. What is the proper
remedy in this case? The means of redress and protection which
are within the reach of Virginia are ample. The only difficulty which
your committee has had has been in selecting one consistent with
the relations imposed upon the members of this confederacy by the
constitution. A variety of remedies have been proposed:

1st. An appeal to the supreme court of the United States.
2nd. An appeal to the congress of the United States so to amend
the statutes heretofore passed upon that subject, as to authorize the
demand in the cases contemplated to be made upon the circuit judge
of the United States, having jurisdiction in the state where the fugi-
tive may be found.
3rd. The appointment of inspectors to inspect all vessels trading
to the north, to see that no slaves are secreted.
4th. The requirement from all citizens of New York coming into
Virginia, security for their good behavior.