| 627 parties have been of great assistance in the examination of the important question arising in this cause.
"When the patriots and wise men who framed our Constitution were in anxious deliberation to form a perfect union among the States of the confederacy, two great sources of discord presented themselves to their consideration: the commerce between the States, and fugitives from justice and labor. The border collisions in other countries had been seen to be a fruitful source of war and bloodshed, and most wisely did the Constitution confer upon the National Government the regulation of those matters, because of its exemption from the excited passions awakened by conflicts between neighboring States, and its ability alone to adopt a uniform rule, and establish uniform laws among all the States in those cases.
"This case presents the important question arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States, whether a citizen of the State of Illinois can be transported from his own State to the State of Missouri, to be there tried for a crime, which, if he ever committed, was committed in the State of Illinois; whether he can be transported to Missouri, as a fugitive from justice, when he has never fled from that State.
"Joseph Smith is before the court on habeas corpus, directed to the Sheriff of Sangamon County, State of Illinois. The return shows that he is in custody under a warrant from the Executive of Illinois, professedly issued in pursuance of the Constitution and laws of the United States, and of the State of Illinois, ordering said Smith to be delivered to the agent of the Executive of Missouri, who had demanded him as a fugitive from justice, under the 2d section, 4th article of the Constitution of the United States, and the act of Congress passed to carry into effect that article. The article is in these words; viz.: 'A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice and be found in another State, shall on demand of the executive authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime.' The act of Congress made to carry into
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