“If any person shall wilfully carry or convey any slave, the property of another, without the consent of the owner or the guardian of the owner, with the intent and for the purpose of enabling such slave to escape out of this State, from the service of his owner, or any one having an interest in such slave, present or future, vested or contingent, legal or equitable, or if any person shall wilfully conceal any slave, the property of another, with such intent and purpose, the person so offending shall suffer death.”[96] I have read enough, Sir. These passages show you the statutes to be enforced in the name of the National Union, by its constituted authorities, in courts organized by Congress. And behind all these is Slavery itself to be enforced also. Sir, such an exhibition is more than sufficient. You cannot consent to any such thing. In organizing these governments, all that we can do is to protect life and property, and generally to provide the machinery of administration. Further we cannot go, and protect institutions in themselves an outrage to civilization. In the debate that ensued Mr. Sumner remarked:-- In this country there is but one “institution,” as all the world knows, and the phrase “and institutions,” when carefully introduced, means only one institution, which I need not name. Mr. Trumbull united with Mr. Sumner in criticizing the bill. “I was for it in the Committee; but since I have seen the operation of these laws in the Southern States, and the manner in which persons acting in behalf of the United States undertake to execute them, I have changed my opinion in regard to the propriety of such a clause as this, and I agree with the Senator from Massachusetts. I cannot consent by my vote, and I never will consent by my vote, to give sanction to a law that punishes a man for teaching another to read the word of God.” The bill was allowed to drop. But this debate had its influence in showing how impossible it was to recognize “institutions” existing in a State before the Rebellion. Slavery and the Black Code were not to obtain license under any such terms. Here was a point in Reconstruction. TAXES ON KNOWLEDGE. REMARKS IN THE SENATE, ON THE DUTIES UPON IMPORTED BOOKS AND RAGS, JULY 8, 1862. MR. PRESIDENT,--I ask a moment’s attention to the tax on books, which is raised in this bill from fifteen to twenty per cent. Assuming that this is done to increase the revenue, I have to say, that, if we place reliance on the evidence before us, it will not have such effect. The annual importation of books during the last four years shows that a duty of ten per cent is more productive than a higher rate. The increased importation is more than compensation for the diminished rate; but here it is with books as with other things.