Year: 1876

The summary of Lord Derby's last note,
which appeared among our cable dispatches
yesterday, brings the important question of
extradition again into view. The extradition
article in the treaty of 1S42 is defunct, and
no attempt will be made by either govern
ment to resuscitate it. 1t is, therefore,
necessary to agree upon q new treaty. We
trust there will be no needless delay in the
negotiations and that both Mr.. Fish and
Lord Derby will approach the question in
spirit of justice and Cancellation. We be-
lieve Secretary Fish has been entirely right
in the recent controversy, and the fact that
IN influential portion of the English press
has admitted the strength of his position and
acknowledged the force of his arguments
ought to satisfy his pride. His arguments,
cogent as they were. are spent weapons; they
related to the obligations Of treaty pro-
vision which is practically annulled, and
both governments must now approach the
subject as if it were new question.


1t would be inconsistent with justice and
with the interest of both countries to leave
the matter in its present shape. Each coun-
try is now q safe asylum for criminals and
outcasts and neither has any interest in
harboring the cutthroats and scoundrels
who may escape from the other. As Mr..
Webster correctly said, in 1842:-''The sur
render to justice of persons who, having
committed high crimes seek asylum in the
territories of neighboring nation, would
seem to be an act due to the cause Of gen.
oro1 ;,,cf;oa on1 yrovavlv ba1op <O bo
present state Of civilization and inter
course" This obligation is peculiarly strong
between the United States and Great Britain
''The British provinces of North America"
said Mr.. Webster, ''are separated from the
States Of the Union by line of several
thousand miles, and along portions of this
line the amount of population on either side
is quite considerable, while the passage of
the boundary is always easy" Does Canada
want to be a place of refuge for all the felons
who can fly across the border? Do we want
to harbor her criminals and take the risk of
their repeating on our soil the crimes for
which they fed? 1t will be q scandal to
civilization if things are allowed to remain
long in their present state. A treaty on the
proposed English basis would be better for
this country than none ; a treaty on our pro-
posed basis would also be better for England
herself and her colonies than none. When
both parties have so large and substantial an
out on punctilios


The point on which Lord Derby chiefly
insists is the right of the surrenderlng gov
eminent to determine whether the person
demanded would be indictable under it's
own laws on the evidence presented. This
is leading feature of the treaty Of 1912,
which provides that surrender shall be
made ''only upon such evidence of crimi-
nality RS, according to the laws of the
place where the fugitive or person so
charged shall be found, would Justify
his apprehension and commitment for
trial if the crime or offence had there been
committed. This principle may be pre-
served in new treaty without any great OBJ
struction to justice It would not happen
in one case out of twenty that the person
demanded would have committed any other
crime than that on which his extradition is
sought If the fugitive is known to have
committed more than one crime let him be
demanded for both or for all, and let pro-
vision be inserted in the new treaty binding
each government to examine the evidence on
each charge when more than one is made.
This would cover every case except that. of
undiscovered crimes, and these would be SO
few and rare that il would make compare
lively little difference whether they were
provided for in the treaty or not. If the
two governments will begin negotiations in
right spirit there ought to be no difficulty
in making q treaty which would cover
nearly all the crimes committed by fugi-
tives from justice.


The Fifth Avenue Conference.


The democratic newspapers are vexed
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