Court,
the public, and themselves, they had a task so difficult to perform,
that it is not surprising that their deliberations were in secret."

From 1800 till 1816, nothing was divulged. In the spring of 1816,
the Hon. Charles Fenton Mercer, in a speech delivered by him in 1833,
says, "The intelligence broke in upon me, like a ray of light through
the profoundest gloom, and by a mere accident, which occurred in the
spring of 1816, that, upon two several occasions, the General
Assembly of Virginia had invited the United States to obtain a
territory beyond their limits, whereon to colonize _certain portions_
of our colored population. For the evidence of these facts, _then new
to me,_ I was referred to the Clerk of the Senate; and in the
_private records_ I found them verified."

On the 21st of December, 1800, the Virginia House of Delegates
passed, in _secret session,_ the following resolution:--

"Resolved, That the Governor [Monroe] be requested to correspond
with the President of the United States, on the subject of purchasing
land without the limits of this State, _whither persons obnoxious to
the laws, or dangerous to the peace of society, may be removed."_

The General Assembly of Virginia, having through their agent, Mr.
Jefferson, failed in 1800, 1802 and 1804, to obtain a place of
_banishment_ for that portion of their colored population whom they
were afraid to hang, and unwilling to pardon, passed on Jan. 22,
1805, still in _secret session,_ the following resolution:--

"Resolved, That the Senators of this State in the Congress of the
United States be instructed, and the Representatives be requested, to
exert their best efforts for the obtaining from the General
Government a competent portion of territory in the country of
Louisana, to be appropriated to the residence of _such people of
color as have been, or shall be, emancipated, or may hereafter become
dangerous to the public safety,"_ &c.--[See African Repository, June,
1832, and November, 1833.]

The Legislature of Virginia having failed in all their attempts to
find a suitable Botany Bay, to which the free people of color,
convicts, and other dangerous persons could be banished, passed in
1805 a law prohibiting emancipation, except on the condition that
the emancipated should leave the State; or, if remaining in the State
more than twelve months, should be sold by the overseers of the poor
for the benefit of the Literary Fu