two wrote letters to Secretary of State Cass. They demanded that the federal government intervene through Britain or directly with Canada. 34 In his final speech upon leaving office in January 1861, Governor Stewart said that no state had suffered more as a result of what he called slave abductions. But, he continued, while he hoped his state would remain loyal to the Union, Missouri must continue to fight to retain its rights. And among them was the right to maintain slavery and do all that could be done to have runaway slaves returned from Canada. 35
Cass responded to Stewart and Green’s lobbying efforts and penned a formal request to Britain. Like the Canadian and American governments, the British government needed to balance a host of considerations in its response, and primary among them was the desire to avoid conflict with the United States. Westminster’s instruction to Canadian Governor General Sir Edmund Head, who had succeeded Lord Elgin in December 1854, was clear. Canadian authorities were to take whatever actions were necessary according to Canadian law but then they were, according to British Foreign Secretary Lord John Russell, to “deliver up the person of the above named John Anderson to any person or persons duly authorized by the authorities of Missouri to receive the said fugitive and bring him back to the United States for trial.” 36
Freeman, the Hamilton attorney and founder of the Anti-Slavery Society of Canada, had petitioned the Canadian government on October 1, and on October 6 he began a fascinating correspondence with Macdonald. He wrote that the case rested entirely upon an interpretation of the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, and Macdonald agreed.
Freeman wrote to the attorney general explaining that he wished to present the argument that because Anderson and Digges had fallen into a scuffle while Anderson was attempting to flee, he was not guilty of murder but at most manslaughter. 37 Manslaughter was not included in the treaty’s list of extraditable crimes. Furthermore, there was the precedent stating that any action taken in escaping slavery was justifiable. It was a broad moral argument, leaning more upon natural law than upon a narrow interpretation of Canadian law and the British treaty, but it might work.
During his long and storied political career Macdonald earned the nickname “Old Tomorrow,” for he was a master at knowing when it was wise to postpone decisions. In this case, he opted to do just that. He wrote to Freeman stating, “I have come to the conclusion with great regret, but without any doubt existing in my mind that this party has committed the crime of murder: under which circumstances all I can do is to give you every assistance in testing the question before the Courts or a Judge byHabeas Corpus.” 38 Macdonald also secretly pledged to have the government pay all of Anderson’s legal fees.
GATHERING POLITICAL STORM
On November 4, 1860, Anderson stood as three sombre men in black robes entered Toronto’s Osgoode Hall courtroom. He could hear the sounds of the crowd in the packed and overheated hallways.
Freeman made the arguments he had carefully rehearsed. He concluded by quoting respected British statesman Lord Denman, who had once said that the Webster-Ashburton Treaty and related cases were based on the belief that “no nation is entitled to enforce a law of another country which was believed to be founded in injustice, such as the law of slavery.” 39 Freeman then dramatically paused, slowly gathered his papers, carefully ordered them, and took his seat.
Henry Eccles led the Crown’s case. He dismissed Freeman’s moral arguments, saying that this was simply a narrow legal question. Furthermore, there was no exemption in the treaty for escaping slaves, and the court, he argued, could not invent one. He explained: “No doubt it is contrary to the spirit of every law of Great Britain and of this country, that anything savouring of slavery should be
Cass responded to Stewart and Green’s lobbying efforts and penned a formal request to Britain. Like the Canadian and American governments, the British government needed to balance a host of considerations in its response, and primary among them was the desire to avoid conflict with the United States. Westminster’s instruction to Canadian Governor General Sir Edmund Head, who had succeeded Lord Elgin in December 1854, was clear. Canadian authorities were to take whatever actions were necessary according to Canadian law but then they were, according to British Foreign Secretary Lord John Russell, to “deliver up the person of the above named John Anderson to any person or persons duly authorized by the authorities of Missouri to receive the said fugitive and bring him back to the United States for trial.” 36
Freeman, the Hamilton attorney and founder of the Anti-Slavery Society of Canada, had petitioned the Canadian government on October 1, and on October 6 he began a fascinating correspondence with Macdonald. He wrote that the case rested entirely upon an interpretation of the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, and Macdonald agreed.
Freeman wrote to the attorney general explaining that he wished to present the argument that because Anderson and Digges had fallen into a scuffle while Anderson was attempting to flee, he was not guilty of murder but at most manslaughter. 37 Manslaughter was not included in the treaty’s list of extraditable crimes. Furthermore, there was the precedent stating that any action taken in escaping slavery was justifiable. It was a broad moral argument, leaning more upon natural law than upon a narrow interpretation of Canadian law and the British treaty, but it might work.
During his long and storied political career Macdonald earned the nickname “Old Tomorrow,” for he was a master at knowing when it was wise to postpone decisions. In this case, he opted to do just that. He wrote to Freeman stating, “I have come to the conclusion with great regret, but without any doubt existing in my mind that this party has committed the crime of murder: under which circumstances all I can do is to give you every assistance in testing the question before the Courts or a Judge byHabeas Corpus.” 38 Macdonald also secretly pledged to have the government pay all of Anderson’s legal fees.
GATHERING POLITICAL STORM
On November 4, 1860, Anderson stood as three sombre men in black robes entered Toronto’s Osgoode Hall courtroom. He could hear the sounds of the crowd in the packed and overheated hallways.
Freeman made the arguments he had carefully rehearsed. He concluded by quoting respected British statesman Lord Denman, who had once said that the Webster-Ashburton Treaty and related cases were based on the belief that “no nation is entitled to enforce a law of another country which was believed to be founded in injustice, such as the law of slavery.” 39 Freeman then dramatically paused, slowly gathered his papers, carefully ordered them, and took his seat.
Henry Eccles led the Crown’s case. He dismissed Freeman’s moral arguments, saying that this was simply a narrow legal question. Furthermore, there was no exemption in the treaty for escaping slaves, and the court, he argued, could not invent one. He explained: “No doubt it is contrary to the spirit of every law of Great Britain and of this country, that anything savouring of slavery should be
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