The Daily Times. — 1861-01-12 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

NEWCASTLE, U.M.'S. SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES.  "My Lord Duke,—We, the undersigned merchants, and traders of the city of London, have learnt with deep regret of the decision of a majority of the judges in the Canadian Court of Queen's Bench, in. the case of a fugitive slave, named Anderson, who, in escaping from slavery in Missouri, in 1853, killed a man named Digges, who was seeking to apprehend him, for the purpose of restoring him to his master. After residing more than seven years in Canada, as a British subject, Anderson has been claimed, under a clause of the Ashburton Treaty, as guilty of murder. "It is not the purpose of your memorialists to dwelt upon the legal points of the case, as argued by the. learned judges, who have decided that the fugitiveAnderson ought to be surrendered into the bands of those• who claim him, and whose avowed purpose is to burns him to death at a slow fire, though they cannot forbearfrom urging that the treaty distinctly sets forth that tog justify the surrender of any person under its provisions,. the crime with which he is charged must be also a crime. according to the laws of the country in which he has taken refuge. "Your memorialists would rather lay stress apes the great principles of justice and humanity, which would be violated by the rendition of a man who has committed no crime recognised by British law, and who, in defending his liberty at the hazard of his own life, has a claim upon the sympathies of every Christian community. "Your memorialists deem it of special importance to. state, in this place, that when the Extradition Bill was: under discussion in the British Parliament, in 1843, the: late Earl of Aberdeen, then at the head of her Majesty's. Government, and Lord Ashburton, the negotiator of the treaty, distinctly affirmed that, under it, no fugitive from slavery could be claimed, and Lord Metcalfe, administrator of the Canadian Government, was committed to an observance of that policy. Further, antecedent to the treaty, a fugitive slave having been ordered by the provincial executives to be given up on a charge of horse stealing, and having been rescued, the Imperial Government entirely disapproved of the decision, and issued instructions to the effect that no runaway 'have should be surrendered, in future, under any pretence whatever. "Your memorialists would therefore most earnestly beseech your Grace to take the promptest measures for securing the personal safety of Anderson, and for obtaining a reference of his case to the Judicial Committee of Privy Council, in order that the point which his being claimed has raised may be discussed by the highest legal tribunal of the realm. whose decision, it may be confidently anticipated, will be ir,. accordance with those strict principles of.humanity and right which are the foundation of the British Constitution, and of the personal rights of every individual dwelling under its protection. "London, 9th Jan., 1861."  In answer to a letter from the secretary of the abovementioned society, Lord Lyons, the British envoy to Washington, states that a demand from the United States Government for the surrender ofibAnderson was forwarded to her Majesty's Government in the month of Pctober last, and that a similar demand was forwardej last month to the Provincial Government of Canada b). His lordship adds that these demands psual form, and simply stated that Ander• with murder. sllo'enrewiasn the arg et 2