"Slavery cannot be extended. By their ordinance Congress has declared that the new States shall be republican States, and have no slavery." Colonel BLAND, a member of the Convention from Virginia, said he "wished slavery had never been introduced into America," and that "he was willing to join in any measure that would prevent its extending farther." To allow it in new States would not prevent its extending farther, and therefore it was prohibited in such States. Doctor RAMSAY, a member of the Convention of South Carolina, in his History of the United States, says: "Under these liberal principles, Congress, in organizing colonies, bound themselves to impart to their inhabitants all the privileges of coequal States.... These privileges are not confined to any particular country or complexion. They are communicable to the emancipated slave, for in the new State of Ohio, slavery is altogether prohibited." This compact, then, applies to State as well as Territorial governments, and was so understood in all sections of the country--northern, central, and southern--when the Constitution was ratified. Let me now call attention to the very significant proviso to the sixth article. What does the word original mean, and what does the whole article mean with that word in the proviso? "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said Territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, &c.; _Provided, always_, That any person escaping into the same, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any one of the original States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service as aforesaid." This means that there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except for the purpose of reclaiming such fugitives--and I admit that slaves were intended--as are lawfully claimed in any one of the original States. The very fact of the proviso implies that Congress understood that the right of reclamation could not exist, unless it was excepted. And of course it could only exist for the purpose excepted. The intention was to grant the right to the original States, but to limit it to them. It is impossible to conceive of a measure for framing the proviso as it is, if that had not been the intention. As the ordinance itself made provision for the formation of new States, such States must have been in the minds of members when acting upon it. If the object had been to authorize the reclamation of slaves escaping to this territory from other States than original States, it is certain the word "original" would have been omitted. It was intended for the purpose of limiting the right.