stated to
have fled from the justice of that country and taken refuge
within this Province and now in custody at Sandwich should be
given up, upon which His Excellency required my opinion whether
the Law of this Province authorized him in complying with such
demand or not. Had His Excellency been confined to the official
requisition and the deposition that accompanied it he might I
think have been warranted in delivering up those persons inasmuch
as there is thereupon evidence on which according to the terms of
our act (3 Wm 4th, C. 8) a magistrate would have been "warranted
in apprehending and committing for trial" persons so charged who
is convicted of the offence alleged viz: riot and forcible rescue
and assault and battery would, if convicted, have been subject
according to the Laws of this Province to one of the several
punishments enumerated in the act as applicable to felonies and
misdemeanors.

"'That the Governor and Council are not confined to such evidence
is clear since though limited in their authority to enforce the
provisions of the act against fugitives from foreign States by
the condition above mentioned viz: being satisfied that the
evidence would warrant commitment for trial etc. yet in coming to
that conclusion they are I think bound to hear no ex parte
evidence alone but matter explanatory to guide their judgment;
for even tho' satisfied with their authority so to do, they are
not required "to deliver up any person so charged if for any
reason they shall deem it inexpedient so to do.'

"In the present case I think the evidence on oath as to facts not
alluded to in the official Communication and as to the law of the
United States upon the subject becomes extremely important; I
mean that of Mr Cleland and Mr Alexander Fraser the Attorney for
the City of Detroit. The case appears to be this--Two coloured
persons named Thornton a man and his wife were claimed as slaves
on behalf of some person in the State of Kentucky; that they were
arrested and examined before a magistrate in Detroit and he in
accordance with the law of the United States made his certificate
and directed them to be delivered over as the personal property
of the claimant in Kentucky; that the Sheriff took them into
custody in consequence and that when