XV.

If any of our citizens are carried off by force into those countries, and there held as slaves, we have the right, by force of arms, if need be, to compel their restoration, the same as if they Edition: current; Page: [37] had been carried into any other country. And that is all the political power which our constitution gives us over slavery in those countries. We have no more power to assume general Edition: current; Page: [38] political jurisdiction there, in order to prevent our people being carried there as slaves, than we have to assume similar jurisdiction over any other parts of the earth, in order to prevent our people being carried into them as slaves.