This was not, as contended by some gentlemen, a mere question of revenue; but it was a question whether the Government of the Union should come forward and condemn the act of a State, which she was fully authorized to pass. If it is necessary to increase the revenue, let us meet that subject fairly and fully, and not single out a particular resource of a particular State. It is on this ground that I principally object to this measure. The gentleman from New York (Mr. MITCHILL) has endeavored to prove that because in the Southern States the article of slaves produces a great profit, it is therefore proper to make it the subject of taxation. I ask if there should be a profitable species of trade carried on in any other part of the Union, would it be deemed politic or just on that account to lay an additional tax upon it? The fair principle of taxation is, that every part of the Union should contribute equally. When any branch of trade is profitable in New York, I, though a Southern man, rejoice at it. When the fisheries of the Eastern States prosper, I feel highly gratified--not because those whom I represent are particularly interested in them, but because I consider myself as a part of the whole, and that whatever advances the interests of any part of this Union must promote the interests of every part of it. With regard to the moral principle involved in the slave trade, we have nothing to do with it. On this point the Union ought to be silent. On this subject can any thing be more pointed than the provisions of the constitution, which, contrary to most of the other provisions, cannot be altered but with the consent of every State in the Union. Why then shall we cry over what we cannot prevent, like a school boy? Each State, so long as she confines herself within the limits of her constitutional powers, must be the exclusive judge of her own conduct; and it becomes not one State, influenced by different feelings, habits, and interests, to pronounce upon the conduct of another. All, so far as regards themselves, are judges of right and wrong. We, too, have as strong a conviction of the propriety of our measures as those who differ from us in sentiment on this subject. We may perhaps think it more blamable to make slaves of white people than of the blacks. I confess I have not been able clearly to understand the ideas of the gentleman from New York (Mr. MITCHILL.) A few days since that gentleman offered a report, the object of which was to free raw materials from duty. Will the State of South Carolina profit by this? No. It will conduce to the benefit of other parts of the Union; but we shall bear the burden: and still, on this occasion, because we derive a certain profit from a particular description of trade, the gentleman contends for taxing it.