_Resolved._ That while, as they trust, their love of freedom, and their desire for the happiness of all men, are not less strong and sincere than those of their British brethren, they cannot, as a Board, interfere with a subject that is not among the objects for which the Convention and the Board were formed. _Resolved._ That the preceding Resolutions be communicated to the "Board of Baptist Ministers, in and near London," together with the subjoined letter, to be signed by the acting President, and the corresponding Secretary of the Board. (_Signed_) DANIEL SHARP, _First Vice-President of the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions in the United States._ LUCIUS BOLLES, _Cor. Sec._ It may assist you to form a more correct opinion of the whole subject, if we allude to a few of the circumstances which make slavery, in this country, a matter of peculiar difficulty, and which, consequently, require those who would promote the real welfare of the coloured race, to act with great caution. In the first place, the political organization of the United States is widely different from that of England; and this difference makes it impossible to adopt here a course similar to that which the British Parliament have adopted in reference to slavery in the West Indies. This country is not one State, with an unrestricted Legislature, but a confederacy of States, united by a Constitution, in which certain powers are granted to the National Government; and all other powers are reserved by the States. Among these reserved powers is the regulation of slavery. Congress have no power to interfere with the slaves in the respective States; and an Act of Congress to emancipate the _slaves_ in those States would be as wholly null and void, as an Act of the British Parliament for the same purpose. The Legislatures of the respective States cannot interfere with the legislation of each other. In some of the States, where laws forbidding emancipation exist, the _minority_ cannot, if disposed, give freedom to their slaves. You perceive, then, that the National Government, and the people of the Northern States, have no power, nor right, to adopt any direct measures, in reference to the emancipation of the slaves in the Southern States. The slave-holders themselves are the only men who can act definitively on this subject; and the only proper and useful influence which the friends of emancipation in other States can use, consists in argument and entreaty. The existence of our union, and its manifold blessings, depends on a faithful adherence to the principles and spirit of our constitution, on this and on all other points.