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much-maligned law not only gives a "trial" before a legal tribunal, before the claimant can be authorized to carry the alledged fugitive out of the State, but it takes away from the prisoner no right which he would have enjoyed before this act of Congress was passed.

In all cases of extradition, the evidence establishing the offence and escape of the persons demanded, is usually made in the country from which the person demanded has escaped, and is necessarily ex parte; and the chief question to be decided by the tribunal before whom he is brought, previously to making an order for his extradition, is only the question of identity. The party demanded has a right, of course, to show that he is not the person described But, if he be the person described, he has no right to claim a jury trial as to the question of his guilt, in the country to which he has escaped. The question of identity, and whether the person claimed is such a one as the treaty between the two countries requires to be delivered up, has always been tried summarily and without the intervention of a jury. No complaint has ever been made when white men have been sent to Europe, on a demand for their extradition, without giving them a jury trial; and why greater privileges in this matter should be granted to colored persons, is not easily perceived.

The State of Pennsylvania guarantees a jury trial to her own citizens, or to persons who are charged with committing an offence within her borders. Fugitives from another State have no such rights. The government to which the fugitive belongs, it is to be presumed, will do justice to its own subjects or citizens; and whether they do so or not, is no concern of ours. However individuals may fancy they have a mission to rectify all wrongs on the face of the earth, the State of Pennsylvania does not feel herself bound to the Quixotic enterprise of avenging the oppression of serfs in Russia or slaves in Georgia. This act of Congress does not require that a judge should, without trial, surrender a citizen of Pennsylvania to a kidnapper. The provision, "that in no trial or hearing, under this act, shall the testimony of such fugitive be admitted in evidence," is no more than the enactment of an established principle of the common law, that no man shall be a witness in his own cause. If this provision were not in the act, I would not receive the testimony of the prisoner to prove that he was not the person described, or that he was a free man. It would be a temptation to perjury, which no tribunal should permit to be presented to any man.

No lawyer would urge, before a court, such an absurd construction of the act of Congress, as that it means that no evidence should be heard on the part of the alledged fugitive. If such were the intention of the Legislature, it was easy to express it in unequivocal terms. In truth, there is nothing equivocal in the act: it forbids the judge to hear the testimony of the fugitive, but not the testimony of disinterested witnesses. It almost seems that nothing but a desire to render the law odious for the sake of political agitation, could ever have led to so gross a misconstruction, and so great a libel on our national legislature.

It has been objected, also, to this law, that it suspends the habeas corpus act-inasmuch as it enacts that the certificate of the judge or commissioner "shall be conclusive of the right of the person in whose favor it is granted, to remove such fugitive, and shall prevent all molestation of such person or persons, by any process issued by any court, judge, magistrate, or other person whomsoever." But this is a mistake. The truth is, that this provision of the law, forbidding the testimony of the fugitive to be received, and forbidding interference by other process, after a certificate, is but an enactment of an established principle of the common law, added through extreme caution, but wholly unnecessary.

"The writ of habeas corpus is undoubtedly an immediate remedy for every illegal imprisonment; but no imprisonment is illegal when the process is a justification of the officer; and process, whether by writ or war

rant, is legal whenever it is not defective on the face of it, and has issued, in the ordinary course of justice, from a court or magistrate having jurisdiction of the subject matter."-(Com. vs. Lacky, 1 Watts, 67.)

A person held as a fugitive under the certificate of a judge or magistrate, under this act, is legally imprisoned under process "from a court or magistrate having jurisdiction," and cannot be released by any other court or magistrate on a writ of habeas corpus or homine replegiando. The act of 1793 has no such provision as that which is the subject of complaint in the present case; yet in the case of Wright vs. Deacon, (5 Sergt. & Rawle, 62,) the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania decided that a certificate under that act was a legal warrant to remove the fugitive to the State of Maryland, and no writ of homine replegiando would lie from a State Court to try the question of freedom; and that a writ issued under such circumstances was "in violation of the constitution of the United States."

LETTER FROM BRO. J. T. BARCLAY, MISSIONARY TO JERUSALEM.

It will doubtless be very gratifying to all our readers, as it is to me, to hear from our much esteemed and much beloved Bro. Barclay, our missionary to Jerusalem, now on his way to that most interesting field of labor. We shall endeavor to furnish them, as early as possible, with all his communications relative to his travels, labors, and success in the great cause. The following letter, addressed to the Secretary of the Missionary Society, is filled with interesting incidents, which may be of good service, as premises for future operations. We have always something to learn from the experience of others, as well as from our own. We cannot expect to hear from him again till he arrives at the theatre of his operations. We intend (soon as we hear of his arrival) to mail for him, monthly, the Harbinger, and hope to receive communications direct from him, touching all matters of interest to our readers. The brethren will, no doubt, often remember him and his beloved family, when they appear before the King, under whose guidance and protection he goes to the land of his birth. May that eye that never slumbers nor sleeps, watch over him by day and by night, on the sea and on the land, guide him safely to the haven he desires to see, and crown his labors with success! A. C.

LONDON, October 28, 1850.

My Dear Brother Challen: "The good hand of the Lord our God being upon us," we reached this city on the 4th inst., after an unusually short passage of twenty-one days, which, though so rough as to cause us much

sea-sickness, and deprive me of the privilege of preaching more than once, was yet, through the great kindness of Capt. Hovey, (the excellent commander of the Devonshire,) a very pleasant one.

I thankfully acknowledge the receipt of your prompt and kind favor of the 7th ult., which came to hand a few days after my arrival.

Anxiously desiring to enter the field of my future labors, and wishing to tarry here barely long enough to accomplish the object of my visit, one of the first matters that engaged my attention was to secure a passage to Beyroot, or some of the neighboring ports. But finding, for the first few days, no vessel destined to any port nearer than Alexandria, I applied at the office of the Oriental and Peninsular Steam Company, in hopes of being able to engage our passage in one of their Southampton steamers, two or three of which ply regularly every month between that city and various ports of the Mediterranean. I found the rates of charge, however, so exorbitantly high, that I was compelled to decline taking passage in that line: nor are the Liverpool and Alexandria steamers materially lower in their charge. I therefore took the cheapest lodgings that could be found, of a respectable character, and determined to wait awhile, in the hope of obtaining a more reasonable, and, perhaps, direct conveyance; nor was it long before I had the pleasure of finding a vessel advertised to sail directly for Jaffa, (the ancient Joppa,) and though I learned on application that it was not to leave for about a month, yet the accommodatious were tolerable, and the fare so moderate, that we deemed ourselves very fortunate in finding it; and though so anxious to be voyaging Zionward, made up our minds to wait patiently the appointed day of sailing. Judge of our disappointment, a day or two ago, on learning from the ship-broker, that the merchant who had chartered the vessel had decided to send his son as a passenger, and would permit no others to go. There being, however, two vessels in port loading for Alexandria, the one to sail on the 10th prox., and the other day after to-morrow, I succeeded in engaging our passage in the Hebe, of Glasgow, a little brig of only one hundred and eighty-four tons burthen, in which, by the blessing of a kind Providence, we hope to reach Alexandria by the close of the year, stopping two weeks at Malta on the way.

For the passage and fare on board the Scotch brig, the captain asks £75, or £37 10, if we do our own victualing, &c., he supplying fuel and water. Being able to buy provision, &c., for about eighty or ninety dollars, we have concluded to accept the latter offer, which is certainly much the lower. You must not, for a moment, suppose that any of us deem this adventure any hardship. So far from it, we are all anxious to start, and anticipate the voyage with feelings of delight.

If, on arriving in Alexandria, I can ascertain that the monthly steamer for Beyroot will start in a short time, I will await its departure, unless deterred by high charges; in which event we will either take an Egyptian smack, for Jaffa, or, (which is more probable, if the cholera shall have disappeared, and the fifteen days quarantine at Arish can be avoided,) we will engage a fleet of "ships of the desert," and pursue the route that the emancipated Israelites were forbidden to go, on account of the warlike Philistines, as far as Gaza, and then take the back-track of the Ethiopian grandee "the way that goeth down from Jerusalem to Gaza, which is desert." The most of my articles are left here in the Queen's Warehouse, subject to the order of Messrs. Ollin and Clemention, ship-brokers, who will forward them to Jaffa about two weeks hence, by the vessel in which we are denied passage.

To our most estimable minister, Mr. A. Lawrence, I am under the deepest obligations for his kind offices. The interest he manifests in behalf of the mission is quite unaccountable.

But for his kind interposition, I would have sustained a heavy expense at the Custom-House, on account of dutyable articles, and an irreparable loss

in the way of American re-prints of English works, to say nothing of injury done to my apparatus, by the ruthless examination to which every article is subjected by the vandal-like examiners at the dock. On representing the matter to Mr. Lawrence, he very promptly interposed, and addressed such a letter to the Lords of the Treasury as induced them to pass an order to forbid the inspection of the articles at all, and to have them "roped, taped and sealed," until I should be ready to leave the kingdom, when they are to be delivered to me, duty free, except the usual rent for storage in the Queen's Warehouse.

To Mr. Lawrence, and his son, (who has lately been to Jerusalem,) I am also indebted for valuable letters, which they have been kind enough, unsolicited, to favor me with.

I trust the very flattering reception given the Turkish envoy, in the States, will tend materially to allay Musselman intolerance of Christians, and secure for Americans a kinder reception than it has generally been their good fortune to enjoy.

Thus far we have received the most unexpected kindness, from persons whence it might least be expected.

I availed myself of an early occasion to present to the British and Foreign Bible Society, the commendatory letter of the American and Foreign Bible Society, and though their donation is quite small, (consisting of only twenty-five volumes,) yet I was much pleased in my various interviews with its officers. The reason assigned for making so small an appropriation, is that Bishop Gobat has drawn on them so heavily for Bibles, Testaments, Psalters, &c., for distribution in the Holy Land, that justice to other more destitute portions of the world, requires that they should not be too lavish in their donations, even to that interesting part of the "field."

This society has now established depositories at Malta and Smyrna; and inasmuch as they authorize the depositories at those places to sell to me on the same terms as the parent society, I thought it best, in the absence of exact information as to the best versions to distribute amongst the inhabitants of Judea and the Pilgrims resorting to Jerusalem, to purchase here only about one-third of the amounts appropriated by the American Christian Bible Society, and the co-operation of Eastern Virginia, and order the balance from Smyrna, after a personal examination of the field shall have enabled me to form a more correct estimate of its wants.

I have purchased, and received a donation, from the Church of England Jewish Society, and from the British (Dissenters) Society, for the propagation of the gospel among the Jews, a good many small works, such as the prophecies relating to the Messiah," portions of the gospel, &c., in Hebrew and Judeo-Spanish, which, with upwards of two hundred and fifty volumes of the entire Bible and the New Testament, will require some considerable time judiciously to distribute. Should an effort be made to dispose of any of them by sale, or must they all be given without money and without price? Please favor me with your opinion, if you cannot speak officially.

I had the pleasure of receiving, a few days ago, your esteemed letter, forwarded from New York, containing a substantial proof of the regard entertained by the superintendent and pupils of the Sunday School attached to the Christian congregation of the First Chapel, Cincinnati, for the children of the Jerusalem Mission.

Be so good as to convey to Dr. Leslie and his interesting charge, our thanks for this flattering proof of ther interest in the mission, and assure them that their offering is highly appreciated. Our best endeavors shall be made, so to apply it as shall seem most promotive of the interests of the erring young lambs of the House of Israel and the juvenile followers of the false prophet, and most likely to impress their minds with a sense of the superior excellence of Christian instruction over Rabbinical and Mohammedan.

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I have not yet been able to obtain my consent to the arrangement you suggest, in relation to the $25, for constituting my son Robert a life-member of the American Christian Bible Society. Just let the matter remain as it is. I trust the Lord will enable me not only to make all my children life-members, by annual subscriptions, but to continue my contributions afterwards. The effect, therefore, will only be to postpone the membership of each of them for one year. Many thanks, however, for the intended kindness.

In relation to your inquiry about the future transmission of funds, allow me to say, that I know of no place more expeditious or safe, than the remittance of Bills of Exchange to the house of Messrs. Baring, Bros. & Co.

I had an interview with one of the firm a few days ago, and he informed me that whenever such a bill is transmitted to them, they will immediately advise me of the fact, and send me a letter of credit, which will be available at Joppa, Beyroot, and Alexandria, and probably at Jerusalem. Such an arrangement I found it impossible to effect at New York; and hence the absolute necessity of visiting London. It will, however, always be a somewhat losing business. When I came over I had to pay 10 per cent. for a sixty-days draft, and then to submit to a further discount of about one-half per cent., in order to have the draft cashed. Nor would the operation have resulted more favorably, had I purchased sovereigns in New York, all things considered. Learning that the Hebe has nearly cleared, I must abruptly conclude, as I yet have some business to transact.

With love unfeigned, yours in the good hope,

JAMES T. BARCLAY. P. S.-Direct your letters to me, for the present, at Beyroot, Syria.

FAMILY CULTURE.

CONVERSATIONS AT THE CARLTON HOUSE-No. XII. DURING the year 1850, we did not enjoy our Conversations at the Carlton House. We have been abroad during much of the last year. And although we enjoyed many conversations in many families, and on many topics, we did not hear one on the Epistle to the Romans, nor on any other Epistle. There is, I might say, a general, almost a universal neglect, of rational, scriptural, family culture. Family worship, as it is called, is very common. I cannot say, however, that it is universal, amongst our brethren. A chapter is read, a hymn sung, and a prayer offered for the household, or for some part of it, for all are seldom present. But it generally wants interest, and, consequently, is not edifying. Perhaps it is more edifying than it appears to me, on most occasions, as the presence of a stranger may interrupt the regular routine. But, generally speaking, the families are not supplied, each individual, with a book, and there is

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