The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1864-12-24
Tho Canada Confederate Robbers

Tho Canada Confederate ROBBERS
The protested ground on which Mr.. JUS
tice Coursal discharged the st. Adams rob
bers was, a want Of Jurisdiction, which
was conveniently discovered for the occa.
eion, OH the pretense that the provincial
set to carry into effect the AshDurton
treaty had not received the requisite royal
Therefore, as the Judge said:
The case was most exceptional one, ana
being a treaty matter between the two ma.
tione, he could do no other than allow our
own act 70 rive way before that Of the I'm.
perial Legislature. The revised imperial
act must rule herein; and that act required
were arrested should be signed by the Gov
or-General. He
SO it appears that all extraditions hith-
erto made under the AshburtOn treaty were
illegal. The timely discovery il as remark.
able as the Judges reasoning upon It. Be-
ing treaty matter between the two ma
lions, he rays he cannot he governed by
the treaty, because the provincial sanction
Of It has not received the royal sanction.
The imperial act, he says, is supreme, but
~ tho imperial act has not, in due form,
sanctioned the provincial sanction Of the
treaty, which We suppose Is also an imPe-
rial act, therefore he must fall back on the
old act, which required that the warrant OF
seizure should be signed by the Governor
General.
Justice ,Coursal has discovered all this
complication of imperial acts, and this Pc
culiar sOlemnity ola treaty matter, which
requires that the treaty. should be fgot
aside, since he issued his warrant for the
arrest Of these men, Or perhaps he had
the proper time. So ardent was his regard
for. the treaty matter, that although the
prisoners were arrested on seperate war.
rants, he insisted on discharging all upon
the first case, contrary to the circumstances
Of counsel. He said, ''if the Court could
have reserved the point for q higher tribu-
nal, it. would gladly have done so, but
we'd, there admitted Of no delay" And as
the liberty Of the subject is involved in all
trials Of criminals. we suppose crime must
have immunity under the wise judgement
Of Coursal.
If anything more than this remark able
outcome h required to show the character
Of this proceeding, It may pc coupled with
the robbers to send to Richmond for evil
dence that they we're Oonfederates, opera
ting in belligerent way ON q Canadian
base. 1t would appear that the want Of
jurisdiction was discovered after that plan
was resolved on and probably it was the
cause of the recall OF that. II IS said that
vaTiods crown lawyers condemn the decl-
sion, and that the Canadian public are as
founded by 1t. But i: will be remembered
that in all these cases of Anglo. Confederate
pirates, the law has been declared to be
adequate, but somehow in every case there
has been want ofjnrisdiction, or an inn
perfection in the administration, which
has permitted the pirates 70 go on their
way rejoicing and destroying; and by ,
remarkable coincidence, this result has
always pleased the British public.
The law was adequate in the case Of the
Alabama and Georgia, but the scruples Of
the Ministers as to the.suficieDcy of the
proof could not be satisfied till just after
the vessels had sailed and as soon as they
have sailed the British Government feels Il
incum bent on it to see that they have the
run Of the harbors of the world, and that
the neutrality which is . sham in Great
Britain shall be kept very sacred in other
parts for the protection Of her pirates. The
law was adequate in the case Of the Chesa-
Peake pirates, and the Nova Scotia Court
declared them pirates, but they were set
loose on the pretense that as the Nova SEQ
tia Courts were competent to try pirates,
there was no need to return them to the
United States; and as the Nova Scotians
had no complaint against the pirates, there
was no reed to hold them.
The Lake Erie Canada Confederate pi-
rates have been discharged on the same
plea Of want Of jurisdiction. We find there
is no Jurisdiction in the British provinces
to take cognizance OF crimes and acts Of
war carried on from that territory against
the United States. War exists along the
border. All our towns are exposed to in
cursions from Canada, and yet the Cana
dian Government has no jurisdiction to
prevent it. 1t is well that we should know
this, that we may not be deluded by rely
| ing on Canadian action to repress these in
cursions, until We are undeceived by the
burning of our town. but may take such
measures for our protectiod as this state OF
| hostilties demands Ctn. GGz.