ifty-seven
Southern Congressmen refused to declare a re-opening of the slave-trade
"shocking to the moral sentiment of the enlightened portion of mankind,"
and eight refused to call the reopening even "unwise" and
"inexpedient."[19] Three years later, January 31, 1859, it was
impossible, in a House of one hundred and ninety-nine members, to get a
two-thirds vote in order even to consider Kilgore's resolutions, which
declared "that no legislation can be too thorough in its measures, nor
can any penalty known to the catalogue of modern punishment for crime be
too severe against a traffic so inhuman and unchristian."[20]

Congressmen and other prominent men hastened with the rising tide.[21]
Dowdell of Alabama declared the repressive acts "highly offensive;" J.B.
Clay of Kentucky was "opposed to all these laws;"[22] Seward of Georgia
declared them "wrong, and a violation of the Constitution;"[23]
Barksdale of Mississippi agreed with this sentiment; Crawford of Georgia
threatened a reopening of the trade; Miles of South Carolina was for
"sweeping away" all restrictions;[24] Keitt of South Carolina wished to
withdraw the African squadron, and to cease to brand slave-trading as
piracy;[25] Brown of Mississippi "would repeal the law instantly;"[26]
Alexander Stephens, in his farewell address to his constituents, said:
"Slave states cannot be made without Africans.... [My object is] to
bring clearly to your mind the great truth that without an increase of
African slaves from abroad, you may not expect or look for many more
slave States."[27] Jefferson Davis strongly denied "any coincidence of
opinion with those who prate of the inhumanity and sinfulness of the
trade. The interest of Mississippi," said he, "not of the African,
dictates my conclusion." He opposed the immediate reopening of the trade
in Mississippi for fear of a paralyzing influx of Negroes, but carefully
added: "This conclusion, in relation to Mississippi, is based upon my
view of her _present_ condition, _not_ upon any _general theory_. It is
not supposed to be applicable to Texas, to New Mexico, or to any _future
acquisitions_ to be made south of the Rio Grande."[28] John Forsyth, who
for seven years conducted the slave-trade diplomacy of the nation,
declared, about 1860: "But one stronghold of its [i.e., slavery's]
enemies remains to be carried, to _complete its triumph_ and assure its
welfare,--that is the existing prohibition of the African
Slave-trade."[29]