Slave Trading In Washington

Some time since, au article, addressfid to uy, appeared in the Genuis of Liberly Vermont, in whiuh wus the fullowiug paragraph: "It is a!so asserted that llave trnders are liccnsed by Congress, either directly or indirectly, tu trarlio in sIhvps in the District, and that soinething like 8100 nnually is pnid iuto the United Stules Treasury by each licensed -lave dealer for his license, and the privilege of using ihe prisons as slave pens for hts human chattels. Ai e these things tot" At the Second session of the twentyIhird Congress, a, memorial for the abolition of the kfave trade was presenled in ! ihe House of Beprésentative, s:gned by eleven hundred of the citizens of tlie Icountiesof Washington and Alexanrlria, in this District; referrod, March 24, 1828, il !hc Commiüee on the District of Columbia, and February ü, 1835, on molion of Mr. Hubbard, of Now Hampshire, ordered to be prinled, with ihe namss tached. We have a manuscript copy of the memürial, witb -the ñames, now 1 fore us. It is a noble document, which we shall take pleasure in printing nt a future time. They complain of theiiiiuibility to suppress the evil, hnving no means witbin their power, and therefore ask the inlerference of Congress. In Ihe year 1829 or 1830, a mernber of the City Council, now a distinguished citizen of Washington, proposed a heavy tax on llie trade, to opérate to the extent of prohibitiun. This proposition was not ncted upon. In the year 1831, an act was passed by the Corporation to proviJe "revenue for the canal fund,'' by which a general system of licenses was estnblished - licenses to hacks, auctioneering, atriusements, &c, and among other items, the following: 'Lieense In trnde or traffic in slaves for prulit, $400." The object of this provisión was, to impose so heavy a tax as to discourage the trade. Soon afier its passr.ge, this provisión was coulosted. A case was sul)initted to the Circuit Court, which decided thnt said provisión was nuil and void, the oorporation liaving no power toenact it. The slave trade in the District of Columbia is, then, carried on without n i. : cense, directlyor indircciiy, by Congress! or the Corporation, and the cilizens have not the power to suppress it, unless, 1 deed, Public Sentiment should be s rong enough to sustain aü inaictment of it as a nusiance. As this is not the case, Congress alone has the power to act, and the responsibility of the conlinuance of the evil rests