10 was not intended to be applied to the cases of fugitive slaves. He quoted Canadian governor general Lord Metcalf as having said that he agreed with Ashburton and would never be party to the treaty being used to bring harm to fugitive slaves. 57
Rallies were also held in many other cities and towns. Montreal mayor Charles Seraphin Rodier painfully rose from his sick bed to attend the boisterous meeting at the James Street Mechanics’ Hall. He and the other speakers were highly critical of the decision and all argued that if the treaty demanded that Anderson be returned to the United States then the treaty was wrong and should be amended or ignored. The rally’s consensus view became that of Montreal’s newspapers, which had been filled with editorials spewing various degrees of invective levelled against the decision, the justices, the power of the British treaty over Canadian domestic affairs, and the slave catchers and Southern interests that had led to Anderson’s predicament in the first place. 58
Before a large crowd at Montreal’s St. Patrick’s Literary Society, the powerful political leader, future Father of Confederation, and passionate spokesperson for Montreal’s large Irish-Catholic minority Thomas D’Arcy McGee shouted, “The true voice and spirit of this province is that when the fleeing slave has once put the roar of Niagara between him and the bay of the bloodhounds of his master—from that hour, no man shall ever dream of recovering him as his chattel property.” 59
Freeman was running out of options. He wrote to Macdonald asking for advice. Macdonald recommended that he advance the case to the Court of Error and Appeal, which could hear it in February. Despite all the criticism that was being heaped upon Macdonald, he remained a strong advocate for Anderson, while recognizing the importance of adhering to the law and using the case to either establish a precedent or have the treaty amended so that no one else would be in Anderson’s position in the future. Macdonald wrote, “I have the strongest hope that I shall be able to relieve you of the necessity of making an order for the surrender of ‘the negro.’ ” 60
The Anderson case had become both a window and a weapon. It allowed all to see the precarious nature of the Canadian political and legal systems labouring under Britain’s imperial shadow, and the relationship between Canada and the United States that was tilting toward American dissolution and cross-border confrontation. Things could only get worse if complicated by a sudden intervention by Britain—and Britain moved.
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
Thomas Henning, secretary of the Anti-Slavery Society of Canada, had maintained a regular correspondence with Louis Alexis Chamerovzow, his counterpart at the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. In one letter Henning had written, “The cry here is throughout the land, Anderson is not a murderer but a hero and he must not be given up.” 61 Chamerovzow had, in turn, been keeping British political and civil society leaders abreast of the Anderson case and stressing its importance.
The British law community had been aroused by the many issues the Anderson case raised. There were more law journal articles about the ramifications of the case than about any other in years. There was near unanimity that Anderson should not be surrendered to the Americans. 62
The Robinson court’s split decision on Anderson had led many British newspapers to dismiss the entire Canadian justice system as incompetent, inhuman or both. The
London Post
, for instance, posed the rhetorical question: “Are they [fugitive slaves] all to be relegated to the whip and the tortures of the planter because a majority of Canadian Judges think that the word ‘murder’ in the treaty is to be interpreted according to the laws of Missouri, and not in accordance with the enlightened and human principles of English freedom?” 63
There had been further outrage when
Rallies were also held in many other cities and towns. Montreal mayor Charles Seraphin Rodier painfully rose from his sick bed to attend the boisterous meeting at the James Street Mechanics’ Hall. He and the other speakers were highly critical of the decision and all argued that if the treaty demanded that Anderson be returned to the United States then the treaty was wrong and should be amended or ignored. The rally’s consensus view became that of Montreal’s newspapers, which had been filled with editorials spewing various degrees of invective levelled against the decision, the justices, the power of the British treaty over Canadian domestic affairs, and the slave catchers and Southern interests that had led to Anderson’s predicament in the first place. 58
Before a large crowd at Montreal’s St. Patrick’s Literary Society, the powerful political leader, future Father of Confederation, and passionate spokesperson for Montreal’s large Irish-Catholic minority Thomas D’Arcy McGee shouted, “The true voice and spirit of this province is that when the fleeing slave has once put the roar of Niagara between him and the bay of the bloodhounds of his master—from that hour, no man shall ever dream of recovering him as his chattel property.” 59
Freeman was running out of options. He wrote to Macdonald asking for advice. Macdonald recommended that he advance the case to the Court of Error and Appeal, which could hear it in February. Despite all the criticism that was being heaped upon Macdonald, he remained a strong advocate for Anderson, while recognizing the importance of adhering to the law and using the case to either establish a precedent or have the treaty amended so that no one else would be in Anderson’s position in the future. Macdonald wrote, “I have the strongest hope that I shall be able to relieve you of the necessity of making an order for the surrender of ‘the negro.’ ” 60
The Anderson case had become both a window and a weapon. It allowed all to see the precarious nature of the Canadian political and legal systems labouring under Britain’s imperial shadow, and the relationship between Canada and the United States that was tilting toward American dissolution and cross-border confrontation. Things could only get worse if complicated by a sudden intervention by Britain—and Britain moved.
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
Thomas Henning, secretary of the Anti-Slavery Society of Canada, had maintained a regular correspondence with Louis Alexis Chamerovzow, his counterpart at the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. In one letter Henning had written, “The cry here is throughout the land, Anderson is not a murderer but a hero and he must not be given up.” 61 Chamerovzow had, in turn, been keeping British political and civil society leaders abreast of the Anderson case and stressing its importance.
The British law community had been aroused by the many issues the Anderson case raised. There were more law journal articles about the ramifications of the case than about any other in years. There was near unanimity that Anderson should not be surrendered to the Americans. 62
The Robinson court’s split decision on Anderson had led many British newspapers to dismiss the entire Canadian justice system as incompetent, inhuman or both. The
London Post
, for instance, posed the rhetorical question: “Are they [fugitive slaves] all to be relegated to the whip and the tortures of the planter because a majority of Canadian Judges think that the word ‘murder’ in the treaty is to be interpreted according to the laws of Missouri, and not in accordance with the enlightened and human principles of English freedom?” 63
There had been further outrage when
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