The Grand Jury of Alexandria presented the slave trade of that place, as “disgraceful to our character as citizens of a free government,” and as “a grievance demanding legislative redress;” that is, the interposition of Congress—­but one hundred and seventeen men have decided that there shall be “no action whatever” by Congress in relation to slavery.

In March, 1816, John Randolph submitted the following resolution to the House of Representatives:  “Resolved, That a Committee be appointed to inquire into the existence of an inhuman and illegal traffic of slaves, carried on in and through the District of Columbia, and to report whether any, and what measures are necessary for putting a stop to the same.”  The COMPACT had not then been formed and the resolution was adopted.  Such a resolution would now “be laid on the table,” and treated with silent contempt.

In 1828, eleven hundred inhabitants of the District presented a petition to Congress, complaining of the “DOMESTIC SLAVE-TRADE” as a grievance disgraceful in its character, and “even more demoralizing its influence” than the foreign traffic.  The petition concluded as follows:  “The people of this District have within themselves no means of legislative redress, and we therefore appeal to your Honorable body as the only one vested by the American Constitution with power to relieve us.”  No more shall such appeals be made to the national council.  What matters it, that the people of the District are annoyed by the human shambles opened among them?  What matters it, that Congress is “the only body vested by the American Constitution with power to relieve” them?  The compact requires that no action shall be had on any petition relating to slavery.

The horse or the ox may be protected in the District, by act of Congress, from the cruelty of its owner; but MAN, created in the image of God, shall, if his complexion be dark, be abandoned to every outrage.  The negro may be bound alive to the stake in front of the Capitol, as well as in the streets of St. Louis—­his shrieks may resound through the representative hall—­and the stench of his burning body may enter the nostrils of the law-givers—­but no vote may rebuke the abomination—­no law forbid its repetition.

The representatives of the nation may regulate the traffic in sheep and swine, within the ten miles square; but the SLAVERS of the District may be laden to suffocation with human cattle—­the horrors of the middle passage may be transcended at the wharves of Alexandria; but Congress may not limit the size of the cargoes, or provide for the due feeding and watering the animals composing them!—­The District of Columbia is henceforth to be the only spot on the face of the globe, subjected to a civilized and Christian police, in which avarice and malice may with legal impunity inflict on humanity whatever sufferings ingenuity can devise, or depravity desire.