The permanent law of importation was the act of 1826. It retained the features of the above acts and in addition forbade the importation into the state for any purpose convict slaves from territories or states whose laws transmuted the crimes of such slaves upon their removal.[103] Any one violating this act was ordered before a justice of the peace, who might require him to give bond with two good securities for his appearance with the slaves at the next term of the circuit court. If he were convicted of violating this act, his slaves were sold at public auction to the highest bidder.[104] It is to be noticed, however, that a professional slave-dealer could afford to lose a few slaves occasionally, because he paid only the transportation for convict slaves and received from five hundred to eight hundred dollars for each slave that he successfully smuggled through. There was no change in the laws of importation until 1855. The act passed in that year permitted the importation of slaves other than convicts as articles of merchandise, and thus replaced the acts of 1815 and 1826 in this respect.[105] This indicates a revolution on this subject. West Tennessee, the black belt part of the state, began to be settled in 1819 and was being put into cultivation in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. The abolition forces in the state were defeated in the constitutional convention of 1834.[106] The demand for slaves had increased as is shown by the increase in price from $584 in 1836 to $854.65 in 1859.[107] The old Whig areas had become Democratic by the early fifties, and Middle and West Tennessee were pro-slavery. The press and the churches had become more favorable in their attitude toward slavery. C. _The Stealing of Slaves._ Slaves were constantly stolen by individuals and organizations of professional slave thieves. This was one of the most difficult problems of slave government, and demanded very rigid laws for its regulation. By act of 1799, a person stealing a slave, a free negro, or mulatto, for his own use or to sell was guilty of a felony and suffered death without benefit of clergy.[108] The penalty for this offence in 1835 was reduced to not less than three nor more than ten years in the penitentiary.[109] The penalty was the same for harboring a slave with intent to steal him, or for persuading a slave to leave his master.[110] The following advertisement from a religious magazine shows how society was aroused at times on the stealing of slaves and how it proposed to recover them: