that he would never
be a party to wronging fugitives.

In the course of his address Mr. Scoble gave some information about
the arrest of Anderson. He said that he personally went to Brantford
as soon as Anderson was taken up in April and tried to get a writ of
habeas corpus but could get no help from counsel in Brantford. At the
Brantford spring assizes Anderson was released by the judge, since
there was no evidence against him, but was rearrested three days
later. Other speakers at the St. Lawrence Hall gathering were Rev. Wm.
King, M. C. Cameron, Rev. Dr. Willis, Rev. Dr. Burns, Peter Brown and
Rev. Mr. Marling. At the close of the meeting there were cheers for
Anderson and others and groans for Magistrate Matthews.

There was much comment in the Canadian press on the case as a whole
and upon the judgment in particular. _The Montreal Herald_ of December
19, 1860, said: "We hope that the day will never come when the
wretches who traffic in the bodies and souls of their fellow creatures
will be able to say to any British subject, 'And thou also art made
like unto us.'" _The Quebec Mercury_ said: "The judgment of the court
in Anderson's case is one of those infamous prostitutions of judicial
power to political expediency which in this degenerate age have too
frequently polluted the judicial ermine." _The Montreal Witness_ said:
"Such a gigantic wrong cannot exist on the same continent with us
without affecting the people of Canada in one way or another.
Slaveholders long looked at Canada with evil eye. If the slavers get
Anderson back they will execute him before the slaves. It would be
worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to them annually."

Speaking on the evening of December 20 before the St. Patrick's
Literary Society of Montreal, Hon. Thomas D'Arcy McGee condemned the
decision in the Anderson case. "As a fugitive slave has never been
yielded by this province," he said, "I cannot believe that we are
going to take upon ourselves the yoke of that servitude just now. We
have no bonds to break or keep with the 'peculiar institution' of the
south; and the true voice and spirit of this province is that when the
flying 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."

As soon as the decision of the Court of Queen's Bench was given,
abolitionists in Toronto decided to carry the case to En