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Show 51 602 IN D U N L A N n C E S S I 0 N S TN T H E U N I T E D S T A T £ S [ETH ANN ia » S E n g , l a u d e r ' w b 0 w r i t e s as a strong opponent of Puritanism, is do IOIIOWS. ' a u d S e v » ^ , e r d . t , , e , M O l V ? 0 0»"n i"i«»ed. l * e Joshua of old, to a work of blood; " nu tra?4dTe? , 6 X t l ' 8 e °r t b C i r U U i f 0 n " b a r S h u e S 8 t o t h e I n , l i a n s i u l " ° 8 e *™*- RedTea and the f + r r ° , ^ ^ '"* b n c k ia p r i m e v a l ^ on t b e 8 h °™ °f «"> to „ , 5 ^ ft , , P,a" 1 8 ° f P i , l e s t i n e > a u d j ° "bich Almighty Wisdom saw fit to make tho descendants of Israel the instruments of his wrath. So early as 1632 tuo Indians began to quarrel with tho English about the bounds of their land-" l o r t n e Puritan Pilgrims, maiutaiuiug that " t h e whole earth is the Lord's garden'' and, therefore, the peculiar property of his saints, admitted the natural right of the aborigines to so much soil only as they could occupy aud improve. In 1633 this principle was made to assume the shape of law; and, "for settling the Indians''title to lamia in the jurisdiction," the general court ordered, that "what lauds any of the Indians have possessed and improved, by subduing the same, they have just right unto according to that in Genesis, eh. i, 28, and oh. is, 1." Thus the argument used was vacuum domicilium cedit occupanti: and, by an application of the customs of civilization to the wilderness, i t was held, that all land not occupied by the Indians as agriculturists, " l a y open to any that could or would improve it." * * * # I t has been the fashion, of late, to assert for the Puritans that they regarded European right, resting on discovery, to be a Popish doctrine, derived from Alexander VI., and that they recognized the justice of the Indian claims. But this position cannot be maintained. Tho rude garden,which surrounded the savage wigwam was alone considered as savage pronerty. The boundless landscape, with its forests, fields, and waters, he was despoiled of, on the harsh plea of Christian right. In this way, Charlestown, Boston, Dorchester, Salem, Hingham, and other places/were intruded into by the Puritan Pilgrims, without condescending to any inquiry concerning the Iudian title. They were seized and settled, because they were not waving with fields of yellow corn duly fenced in with square-cut hawthorne. Although this is harsnly expressed by one evidently prejudiced, and is not fully warranted, it sets forth the Puritan theory of the Indian title correctly. The act of 1633, alluded to as given by Thomas and Hoinans,2 is as follows: It is declared and ordered by this Court and authority thereof, That what lands any of tho Indians in this jurisdiction ha^e possessed and improved, by subduing the same, they have j u s t right unto, according to that in Gen. 1. 28, and Chap. 9. 1 and Paul. 115,16. And for the further encouragement of the hopeful work amongst them, for the civilizing aud helping them forward to Christianity, if any of the Indians shall be brought to civility, aud shall come among the English to inhabit, in any of their plantations, and shall there live civily and orderly, that such Indians shall have allotmeuts amongst the English, according to the custom of the English in like case. Furthtr it is ordered, That if, upon good experience, there shall be a competent number of the Indians brought on to civility, so as to be capable of a township upon their request to tho General Court, they shall have grant of lands undisposed of, for a plantation, as the English have. And further it is ordered by this Court and the authority thereof, and be it hereby enacted, That all the tract of land within this jurisdiction, whether already granted to any English plantations or persons, or to be granted by this Court (not being 1 Tcler Oliver, Puritan Commonwealth, pp. 101-103. !La\is ol' Colonial ami State Governments (1BJ2J, pp. 9-10. |