The Express.
London, England, 1861-01-08 00:00:00

THE EXTRADITION CASE.

A public meeting of the inhabitants of Toronto
was held on the llsth ult., in St. Lawrence Hall, is that
city, for the purpose of expressing sympathy with the fugi-
tive slave Anderson, and of taking steps with a view to in-
ducing the government to prevent his being returned to a
state of slavery. The Toronto Globe says :—" The weather
we. most inclement, such as would have made a large meet-
ing for any ordinary purpose impossible ; but in spite el the
storm and rain, the hail last night was crowded with as
numerous an assemblage as almost ever convened within its
walls, evidencing the deep interest felt is Anderson's case
by all classes of our citizens. The mme thing was shown
by the hearty enthusiasm with which the sentiment*
uttered by the various symikers were reechoed by tho
audience. As might have been expected, the meeting com-
prised a considerable number of our coloured citizens.
The MAYOR was called to the chair.

Resolutions in favour of the objects of the meeting were
carried enthusiastically, and the following petition to the
Governor-General was unanimously adopted :
" The memorial and petition of the undersigned most re-
spectfully showeth :
' That as inhabitants of this free British province, and
warmly attached to the British constitution, we feel deeply
concerned in any event, or act of civil administration, by
which the reputation of our country as one whose soil can-
not be polluted with slavery, might be tarnished, or the in.
fiuence of British laws given directly or indirectly to the.
upholding of a cruel oppression.
" That, alarmed by the mauner in which the rash, and
as your petitioners believe, improper act of a local autho-
rity in Canada, in arresting and detaining wader an alleged
charge of murder in the state of Missouri, the person of
Anderson, now in gaol in Toronto, has been affirmed by a
majority of the Judges of the Queen's Bench, your peti-
timers gladly betake themselves to your Excellency as the
acting head of the executive government, in the earnest
hope that such a decision nuiy not prevent your Excellency
from disposing of this ace in harmony with the spirit of
our laws and the dictates of eternal justice.
"Thatyour petitioners believe that a just as well as
liberal interpretation of the Ashburton Treaty would exempt
the accusal party, Anderson, from the range of
its application ; and they are strengthened in this belief, not
only by the authority of a judge of long experience on the
Queen's Bench itself but by the opinions of eminent prac-
Mid lawyers in Curds and by decisions in analogous cases
both in Britain sad the United States; also by documents
extant and accessible, illustrating the meaning of Lord
Ashburton and other parties closely connected with the ar-
rangements of said treaty.
That were the prisoner in question remanded to a
United States jury in the circumstances alleged, sad in the
present state of the slays law, the prisoner's opportunities
of obtaining impartial judgment are go smell, and sn dimi-
nished beyond all that could have been foreseen
the parties to the Ashburton Treaty—espe-
cially since the decision in what is known es
the Died Scott case, which affirms that a coloured
person bas no rights that he can anent, or which citizens of
the republic are bound to respect—that his rendition on
the evidence alleged would be to recognise • state of
things never contemplated by those who framed the treaty.
And your memorialists submit that where so much as a
doubt of the reading of the treaty lutists, the benefit should,
as usual, but especially where such momentous inter,ts are
concerned, be given to the accused : and the case, so far as
it happily comes for preliminary judgment before our own
government, should be decided in a large end humane con-
struction of the clauses of the treaty and the acts of par-
liament hearing upon it, rather than liy niece technicalities.
That the consequences of disposing of this muse other-
wise, cannot, your mernorialista hope, but appear to your
excellence and your government most dangerous to the
sacred interest' of just liberty, In rendering the condition
of many industrious residents in this province one of
extreme peril. Nothing being easier tbau by means of
such evidence as hes been brought forward in this case
to dreg them back to bondage, or subject them W the
cruel pains of a law which gives no equal protection
to the slave, whether as regards life, chastity, or
religion ; and thus to render our happily, free
Mentor/, a hunting-ground for persons whose crime
may only have been that they dared to be better than slaves,
and defended, at the risk of their own lives, or with pos-
sible danger to the lives of aggressors and spoilers, their
inalienable rights and their dearest domestic relation..
"That, reposing confidence in the generous and British
like spirit of your excellency, and in the belief that your
memorialists plead only for what is just end right. according
to the law of asthma, the awed demands of relirion, and
the true reeling of international compacts, they pray
your
excellency to release the prisoner aforesaid, and lipid him
not liable to be rendered up to foreigu authorities as
claimed."
At the conclusion of the meeting the Mayor seat he was
exceedingly gratified at the manner in which the whole pro.
ceedin®tbad been conducted. He hoped, however, that
they would respect the law. The law must be treated with
respect ; but if he read the treaty and the statutes aright,
Anderson would never be given up. (Loud cheers.) Th. 7
were met that evening as one man, without respect to poll.
tics or party, and he was confident that the news of such an
influential and unanimous meeting would muse a bright ray
of light to penetrate the prisoner's dark cell (Great cheering.)
A Toronto telegram of the Mad ultimo says :—" In the
case of the fugitive slave Anderson, his counsel, in the
Court of Queen's Bench to day, gave notice of the intention
to appeal from the decision of the court. Chief Justice
Robinson said there was no rule upon which an appeal
could be claimed, but if the Court of Appeals chose to en-
tertain the matter the Court of Queen's Bench would offer
no opposition. The prisoner remains in the meantime at
the disposal of the government. and will not be surrendered
until all legal means have failed."

CRYSTAL PLUG& —Otte SH !LUNG DAY. —.•
MONDAY. JAN. 7.—Admiasiona on payment, 5,301; ditto
by Hain ticks* 1,843.—T0tal visitors, 7,20 t