Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1860-03-29

, QUESTION Of Governor Letcher, Of Virgins
the Stale Journal gives the annexsi lette
|, of Governor Of Ohio 10 abe Goyernos 4
Virginia. --s szasasszs
II will be seen that Goy. Deunisoas refu
sal to issue the warrants, rests upon th
want of substance, rather than Of form 4
the application, without which be has n,
power under the constitution, and laws o
the United States TO issue the extraditioI
warrants. f@ -, N.l Aasss
coPr OF LETTER FROM GOV. DExSIsoN II
4 GOV.
- 4zser ,,cr,, nasss'
i rvsysE sas .a.ss'I q AA' = ,s.s.5 x. ~
l - Stare OF Ono,
| ExEcuTIvE DEPARTMENT,
| CoLuMBus, March 8, 1860
His Erceilencey,
John Letcher, --ss .--s...
l. Governor of VIrginia,
SIR.-1 have carefully examined the re.
Iquisitions Of your Fxcellency' and their
accompanying documents for the extradi-
ton of Owen Brown and Francis Merriam,
charged as being fugiiises from the justice
Of Virginia, and as now being within this
State; and am satisfied that no sufficient
case is presented to authorize me 10 issue
either of the warrants asked for The
reasons for this conclusion are fully set
forth in the copy of the opinion of the At
torney General of this State, TO whom l
submitted the papers in the case, which l
have the honor to transmit to You here
with. With sentiments of high repect,
| Your obedient servant,
w. DENNISON.
OPINION OF ATTORNEY GENERAL woLcorT
OFrcE OF THE AIRY GENERAL.
CoLUMBUs, o., March Z, 1860
SIR.-I have thoroughly considered the
Requisition of the Governo. of Virginia,
made upon you as Governor of Ohio, for
the extradition of Francis Merriam and
Owen Brown, which you have submitted
for my opinion.
These cases are essentially alike-the
charges against each of the persons snb-
stantially similar-the annexed documents
of the same general import, aud the re
QUESTION as 10 each in precisely the same
from-so that the disposition OF one is in
effect the disposition of the other. To
avoid the needless multiplication of words,
l shall herein consider only the Requisition
of Francis Merriam.
This requisition begins with a preamble
reciting that whereas, it appears by the
annexed documents, which are hereby Ger
tilted to be authentic, that Francis Mer.
riam is a fugitive from justice from this
State (Virginia) charged with conspiring
with slaves to rebel and make instruction,
and for conspiring with certain persons to
induce slaves to rebel and make insurrec
tion." And then proceeds in the ordinary
form to demand of the executive authority
of the State of Ohio the said Francis Mer-
riam as a fugitive from jnastice, TO be
delivered to M. johnson, who is hereby APP
pointed agent TO receive him on the part
of this commonwealth" These are the
parts of the requisition itself material now
to be noticed. The only "docunenis an
nexed" are (1) a transmit of. certain pro-
ecedings bad before the Circuit Court of
Jefferson County, Virginia, from which it
appears that an Indictment bad been duly
presented against Merriam; (2) a copy of
that indictment in which be is charged with
the offenses mentioned in the requisition;
(3) an attestatiou by Robert ]. Brown,
Clerk of that Court, uuder its seal, @that
the foregoing is a true transcript from" its
records; and "a the certificate Of John
Kenney, aJudge of the Twelfth Judicial
Circuit of Virginia, holding special term
of the Circuit Court of Jefferson Coun-
ty," that Robert J. Brown is Clerk Of that
Court" and that his said attenuation is in
due form &
Upon this state of case, question is made
concerning your power to issue warrant
for the surrender of Merriam to the author
tiles of Virginia. @
Nc'enactment of this State has clothed |
its Governor with authority to surrender TO
another State fugitives from its justice seek
lug refuge here. Whatever power he may |
have in this behalf must be derived from
the Constitution of the United States, and
the act of Congress respecting fug;tives
from JUSTICE" approved the 18th of Febru-
ary, 1898 since these are the only enact
ments, assuming to confer this authority,
which have force in Ohio, These are SO
well known as to require no recital here.
The act of Congress. it is to be noticed,
does not seek to enlarge the power Of ex-
tradition beyond the limits imposed on it
by the Constitution, and any attempt at
such enlargement would be utterly void
Recognizing those limitations, it simply de-
fines the mode in which the power, as es
tablished by the Constitution, shall be ex-
ecuted. This power, both as to the condi-
ton Of its existence, and the manner Of its
exercise, is of the most special and limited
nature. BY their very terms, no person
can be removed from one State to another,
in virtue of these constitutional aud stat
utory provisions, except on the simultane-
Gus occurrence of three distinct conditions.
/. He must have been charged 10 anoth-
er State, by indictment or affidavit, with
the commisson there of "treason, felony or
other crime" s sss,ss..s -
Q. He must have fed from that State to
escape its Justice, and
8. Demand for his surreDder-accompa-
MED by an authentic copy of the indict-
ment or affidavit on which the demand is
have been made of the ex-
ecutive authority of the State to which be
fad hv tho execufive authr,yifv of the