The joint select committee to which was referred the memorials of the Legislatures of the States of Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi, New York and Connecticut, relative to the existence of domestic slavery in a portion of the States of the Union have duly considered the Same and now report1

That they fully appreciate the feelings of anxiety and alarm which have been produced in the Slave holding States by the misguided and incendiary movements of the abolitionists; they deeply regret that causes of excitement should have been given; and are truly solicitous to aid, by all proper means, in quieting apprehension upon the subject of slavery, and in suppressing the causes from which it has arisen. They concur unanimously in the opinion that the purposes of the abolitionists are highly reprehensible, and that their ends, even if peaceably attained, would be productive of the most deleterious consequences to every portion of our Union.

But it is believed that instead of succeeding in their wild and visionary schemes, the advocacy and dissemination of their doctrines and opinions have been, and will continue to be most disasterous to the slaves. Your committee cannot conceive how any true friend to the black man, can hope to benefit him through the instrumentality of abolition societies. Before their organization, changes were rapidly taking place in public opinion of a character the most favourable to the amelioration of the condition of our coloured population. Throughout the Slave States they had already been elevated in the Scale of morality and intelligence far above the low estate of their fathers and kindred in their native land. Not only was their condition as slaves made far more tolerable than it had been

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but the bosom of the christian and the philanthropist dilated with increasing hope that the time was fast approximating^approaching^ when by the resistless force of public sentiment, operating through colonization societies, and with the assent of their present masters, they should be released from thraldom, and returned moral and intelligent to their own benighted land, to Scatter there the blessings of liberty, of learning, and of religion. Contemplating the subject in this aspect the hearts of christian freemen yielded a willing assent to the belief, that providence in its inscrutable wisdom, would, through the agency of the Slaves, effect the redemption of Africa from pagan darkness, idolatry and barbarism. This hope rose brilliant before us, and guided by its light, we turned in imagination from the miserable abodes of wretchedness and squallid want, which have heretofore denoted the habitation of the emancipated black man in America, to the contemplation of a nation of freemen scattered over Afric’s sunny shores, enjoying in peace, and in security the blessings of civilized life. The intelligent slave himself, for such there are, instead of deploring his situation in America as the most hopeless and degraded, rejoiced that his servitude was to be the precurser of freedom and of happiness to his kindred beyond the ocean. These are a few of the desirable results which we confidently believe would have been produced by the colonization societies, had they been permitted to persue, undisturbed, the even tenor of their way. They violated no public law; outraged no private right; appealed to no vulgar prejudices; excited no angry and malignant feelings. They were silently, but surely winning their way upon public opinion, and entwining powerfully around the affections of the people. We may ask where now are the hopes that brightened upon the philanthropist?

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where the prospects of liberty that gladdened the heart of the slave? and where the energies of the voluntary associations which promised him release from his manacles?

Your committee turn with feelings of sincere regret to the abolition societies, and bid you seek there a ready answer to all. They have forged new fetters for the black man, and added an hundred fold to the rigors of slavery. They have scattered the fire brands of discord and disunion among the different States of the confederacy. They have excited the most rancorous and embittered feelings among the citizens of the same community. They have aroused the turbulent passions of the monster mob, whose actings have been marked by every deed of atrocity, and whose fury has no discriminated in its victims. They have threatened the violation of the sacred rights of private property, and have pertinaciously insisted upon doctrines, which if reduced to practice, would deluge our country in blood, rend the Union asunder, and bring desolation upon all that was won by the valor, and hallowed by the blood of our fathers. The corrective of these evils is to be sought for at the bar of public opinion, and your committee confidently believe that that tribunal will firmly, and powerfully pronounce the rebuke which is so richly merited, and allay all further cause of anxiety and alarm.

We hold that the citizens of the slave holding states are no more amenable for the existence of the evil of slavery, than are those of the non slave holding states. It was introduced by our common ancestors, and came from them to us, with the invaluable charter of our liberties, as a part of our heritage. our constitution, which was the result of a spirit of amity, and of that mutual deference and concession, which the peculiarity of our political situation rendered indispensable, recognizes its existence in express terms, and certainly guarantees, to the States

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where it does exist, its continuance, without inference on the part of the National Government. No rights which were not surrendered by the States at the formation of the constitution, can now be wrested from them without their consent ^without their consent,^ and any effort to divest them must be regarded as a violation of that sacred instrument. We would say in the language of the immortal Washington “let every violation of the constitution be reprehended. If defective, let it be amended, but not suffered to be trampled upon while it has an existence.”2 Whilst, therefore, we deeply deplore the condition of that unfortunate race of our fellow men, whose lots are cast in thraldom in a land of liberty and peace, we hold that the arm of government has no power to strike their fetters from them. We are confident that an overwhelming majority of our fellow citizens would spurn indignantly the man who would urge upon them an interference with the rights of property in other states. We believe that the people of Illinois are Sincerely attached to the federal constitution, and that they would not tamely look upon its open infraction. We believe that they have a deep regard and affection for our brethren of the South, and that upon any proper occasion they would fly to their assistance. But as your committee are not aware of the existence of abolition societies in this State, they deem a decided expression of opinion all that is, at this time, demanded

Therefore, Resolved by the General assembly of the State of Illinois that we highly disapprove of the formation of abolition societies, and of the doctrines promulgated by them.

Resolved that the right of property in slaves is secured to the slave holding states by the federal constitution, and that they cannot be deprived of that right without their consent.

Resolved that the general government has no power to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia against the consent of the citizens of said district.

Resolved that the Governor be requested to transmit to the States of Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi New York and Connecticut a copy of the foregoing report and resolutions.3