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Show 50 IHOMAS] MASSACHUSETTS' POLICY TOWARD THE INDIANS 601 Winslow, William Brewster, Isaac Allerton, and the rest of our associates, entering into a league of peace with Massasoit, since called Woosameqiiin, Prince or Sachem of those parts: he, the said Massasoit, freely gave them all the lauds adjaceut to them, and their heirs forever.1 In the "Journal of a Plantation," first printed iu 1022, and abbreviated in Purchas' Pilgrime's,2 occurs the following passage, which accouuts for the absence of natives at this time and place: He [Samoset] told us the place where we now live is called Patuxet, and that about four years ago all the inhabitants died of an extraordinary plague, and there is neither man, woman, or child remaining as indeed we havo found none; so as there is none to hiuder our possession, or lay claim to it. It would seem from the evidence furnished by the old records that as this colony began to increase, it adopted the just policy of purchasing from the natives the lands they desired to obtain. "It is a consoling fact," says Dr Holmes, "that our ancestors purchased of the natives theii laud for an equivalent consideration, as appears by a letter from the pious governor "Winslow, dated at Marshfield, May 1st, 1G7C, as follows: ' I think I can clearly say, that before.these present troubles broke out, the English did not possess one foot of laud in this colony but what was fairly obtained by honest purchase of the Indian proprietors. We first made a law that none should purchase or receive of gift any land of the Indians, without the knowledge of our court. Aud lest they should be straitened, we ordered that Mount Hope, Pocasset, aud several other necks of the best laud in the colony, because most suitable and convenient for them, should never be bought out ot their hands.1 "3 This letter brings out two important facts: First, that the people of Plymouth recognized the Iudiau occupauts as the proprietors; second, that they adopted at an early day the rule that no purchases of land should be made without the consent of the court. It is to be noticed that Peter Oliver," in his severe charge against the Puritans of overlooking the Indians' rights, does not include Plymouth. However, it may not be amiss to add Bancroft's comment ou the last clause of Winslow's letter: "Repeated sales had narrowed their [the Indians'] domains, and the English had artfully crowded them into the tongues of land as ' most suitable and convenient for them.' There they could be more easily watched, for the frontiers of the narrow peninsulas were inconsiderable." This, after all, is but a sample ou a small scale of what has been done on a much grander plau during the march of civilization over the territory of the United States. As indicated above, the theory held by the colonists of Massachusetts in regard to the Indian title to the land was not the same as that held by the people of other colonies. This theory as given by one, though 'Tbacher, History of Plymouth, p. 38, note. »Timelier, History of Plymouth, p. H5. 1 ISook 10, chapter 4. 4 puritau Commonwealth. |