"You will, therefore, consider yourself hereby especially instructed and required, and you will instruct and require all officers placed under your command, to seize, take, and bring into port, _any vessel of whatever nature_, found in any river, port, bay, or harbor, or on the high seas, within the jurisdictional limits of the United States, or hovering on the coast thereof, having on board any negro, mulatto, or person of color, for the purpose of selling them as slaves, or with intent to land the same, contrary to law; and, moreover, to seize, take, and bring into port, all ships or vessels _of the United States_, wheresoever found on the high seas or elsewhere, contravening the provisions of the law. Vessels thus to be seized, may be brought into _any_ port of the United States; and when brought into port, must, without delay, be reported to the district-attorney of the United States residing in the district in which such port may be, who will institute such further proceedings as law and justice require. "Every person found on board of such vessels must be taken especial care of. The negroes, mulattoes, or persons of color, are to be delivered to such persons as the respective States may appoint to receive the same. The commanders and crews of such vessels will be held under the prosecutions of the district-attorneys, to answer the pains and penalties prescribed by law for their respective offences. Whenever negroes, mulattoes, or persons of color shall be delivered to the persons appointed to receive the same, duplicate receipts must be taken therefore, and if no person shall be appointed by the respective States to receive them, they must be delivered 'to the overseers of the poor of the port or place where such ship or vessel may be brought or found,' and an account of your proceedings, together with the number and descriptive list of such negroes, mulattoes, or persons of color, must be immediately transmitted to the governor or chief magistrate of the State. You will communicate to me, minutely, all your proceedings. "I am, sir, respectfully, etc. PAUL HAMILTON. "H. G. CAMPBELL, _Commanding Naval Officer_, Charleston, S. C." On the 17th of December, 1819, President Monroe sent the following message to Congress on the subject of the slave-trade: "MESSAGE. "_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: