Virginia Statesman

Rowland Stephenson's arrival in this country, arrest, detention, and subsequent liberation, are all detailed in the London papers, and are commented upon according to the knowledge or ignorance, good manners or impertinence, of the respective editors. The London Times, the leading journal, or all but, of Europe makes the following sensible and just remarks as to the delivery of fugitives to the government of the country whence they fly.

From the Times of the 11th April.

It seems so unquestionable, as we stated yesterday, that Rowland Stephenson cannot be given up to any British authority, by any authority in the United States without a breach of the law of nations. The man is not a convict. If he were, the rule, we think, is the same; but in this case, the man is a fugitive only. There is no record of a prosecution against him. The charges of which he has been the object may have been wholly unfounded. An innocent man may be, through gross error, or by the machinations of a conspiracy, accused unjustly of similar crimes and thus driven from the domicile afforded among civilized nations to all who peaceably touch their shores. The principle is obvious, that when a particular community has not been injured by a particular person, it cannot of mere right, punish or assist in bringing him to punishment. An express convention between two states, for the mutual surrender of fugitives under suspicion of crime, would supersede of course the ordinary maxims of jurisprudence, and authorize the imprisonment & transfer to an English officer of justice of such a man as Stephenson; but without such a treaty the thing is impossible to be executed, and we concur with the citizens of North America in their sentiments of jealousy on the subject.

The Morning Herald says—'We never recollect any circumstance exciting such general disgust as the detail of the capture of Rowland Stephenson in America We, of course, speak more particularly as to the feeling in the city, where we have heard but one opinion of this truly ruffian-like affair. Without any warrant, or any other authority whatever—directly in the very face of the law—officers of the law, be it remembered, armed with swords and pistols, in the middle of the night break into the house, where he is lying wounded, drag him from his bed, &c.'

'For our part, we believe that, such is the laxity of the laws in the United States, that, had Parkins offered 1,500 dollars to any one who would bring Stephenson's head in pickle, the head would have been brought to him, in due course, regularly salted in a pork barrel.'

'Hearing ye shall hear, but shall not understand.'