an officer of the law in executing a legal order of the
proper authority. In the case of Green the doubt arose from the
uncertainty whether he was bayoneted while resisting the officers or
after Mosely had made his escape. The evidence was conflicting and the
fact has never been made quite clear. No proceedings were taken
against the deputy sheriff; but a score or more of the people of color
were arrested and placed in prison for a time. The troublous times of
the Mackenzie Rebellion came on, the men of color were released, many
of them joining a Negro militia company which took part in protecting
the border.

The affair attracted much attention in the province and opinions
differed. While there were exceptions on both sides, it may fairly be
said that the conservative and government element reprobated the
conduct of the blacks in the strongest terms, being as little fond of
mob law as of slavery, and that the radicals, including the followers
of Mackenzie, looked upon Holmes and Green as martyrs in the cause of
liberty. That Holmes and Green and their fellows violated the law
there is no doubt, but so did Oliver Cromwell, George Washington and
John Brown. Every one must decide for himself whether the occasion
justified in the courts of Heaven an act which must needs be condemned
in the courts of earth.[32]

In 1842 the well-known Ashburton Treaty was concluded[33] between
Britain and the United States. This by Article X provides that "the
United States and Her Britannic Majesty shall, upon mutual
requisitions ... deliver up to justice all persons ... charged with
murder or assault with intent to commit murder, or piracy or arson or
robbery or forgery or the utterance of forged paper.... Power was
given to judges and other magistrates to issue warrants of arrest, to
hear evidence and if "the evidence be deemed sufficient ... it shall
be the duty of the ... judge or magistrate to certify the same to the
proper executive authority that a warrant may issue for the surrender
of such fugitive."

It will be seen that this treaty made two important changes so far as
the United States was concerned: (1) It made it the duty of the
executive to order extradition in a proper case and took away the
discretion, (2) it gave the courts jurisdiction to determine whether a
case was made out for extradition.[34] These changes made it more
difficult in many instances for a refugee to escape: but as ever the
courts were astute in find