shall appear to us to be necessary and expedient for the advantage of the grantees, and the improvement and settlement of our said colonies. And whereas, we are desirous, upon all occasions, to testify our royal sense and approbation of the conduct and bravery of the officers and soldiers of our armies, and to reward the same, we do hereby command and empower our Governors of our said three new colonies, and other our Governors, of our several provinces on the continent of North America, to grant, without fee or reward, to such reduced officers as have served in North America during the late war, and are actually residing there, and shall personally apply for the same, the following quantities of land, subject, at the expiration of ten years, to the same quit-rents as other lands are subject to in the province within which they are granted, as, also, subject to the same conditions of cultivation and improvement, viz: To every person having the rank of a field-officer, 5000 acres. To every captain, 3000 acres. To every subaltern or staff-officer, 2000 acres. To every non-commissioned officer, 200 acres. We do likewise authorize and require the Governors and commanders in chief of all our said colonies, upon the continent of North America, to grant the like quantities of land, and upon the same conditions, to such reduced officers of our Navy, of like rank, as served on board our ships of war in North America, at the times of the reduction of Louisbourg and Quebec in the late war, and who shall personally apply to our respective Governors for such grants. And whereas, it is just and reasonable, and essential to our interest and the security of our colonies, that the several nations or tribes of Indians with whom we are connected, and who live under our protection, should not be molested or disturbed in the possession of such parts of our dominions and territories as, not having been ceded to, or purchased by us, are reserved to them, or any of them, as their hunting grounds; we do, therefore, with the advice of our privy council, declare it to be our royal will and pleasure, that no Governor or commander in chief, in any of our colonies of Quebec, East Florida, or West Florida, do presume, upon any pretence whatever, to grant warrants of survey, or pass any patents for lands beyond the bounds of their respective governments, as described in their commissions; as, also, that no Governor or commander in chief of our other colonies or plantations in America, do presume for the present, and until our further pleasure be known, to grant warrants of survey, or pass patents for any lands beyond the heads or sources of any of the rivers which fall into the Atlantic ocean from the West or Northwest; or upon any lands whatever, which, not having been ceded to, or purchased by, us, as aforesaid, are reserved to the said Indians or any of them. And we do further declare it to be our royal will and pleasure, for the present, as aforesaid, to reserve under our sovereignty, protection, and dominion, for the use of the said Indians, all the lands and territories not included within the limits of our said three new Governments, or within the limits of the territory granted to the Husdon's Bay Company; as also all the lands and territories lying to the Westward of the sources of the rivers which fall into the sea from the West and Northwest as aforesaid; and we do hereby strictly forbid, on pain of our displeasure, all our loving subjects from making any purchases or settlements whatever, or taking possession of any of the lands above reserved, without our special leave and license for that purpose first obtained. And we do further strictly enjoin and require all persons whatever, who have either willfully or inadvertently seated themselves upon any lands within the countries above described, or upon any other lands, which, not having been ceded to, or purchased by, us, are still reserved to the said Indians as aforesaid, forthwith to remove themselves from such settlements. And whereas great frauds and abuses have been committed in the purchasing lands of the Indians, to the great prejudice of our interests, and to the great dissatisfaction of the said Indians; in order, therefore, to prevent such irregularities for the future, and to the end that the Indians may be convinced of our justice and determined resolution to remove all reasonable cause of discontent, we do, with the advice of our privy council, strictly enjoin and require that no private person to presume to make any purchase from the said Indians, of any lands reserved to the said Indians, within those parts of our colonies where we have thought proper to allow settlement; but that, if, at any time, any of the said Indians should be inclined to dispose of the said lands, the same shall be purchased only for us, in our name, at some public meeting or assembly of the said Indians, to be held for that purpose, by the Governor or commander-in-chief of our colony, respectively, within which they shall lie; and in case they shall lie within the limits of any proprietaries, conformable to such directions and instructions as we or they shall think proper to give for that purpose: And we do, by the advice of our privy council, declare and enjoin, that the trade with the said Indians shall be free and open to all our subjects whatever; Provided, That every person who may incline to trade with the said Indians, do take out a license, for carrying on such trade, from the Governor or commander-in-chief of any of our colonies, respectively, where such person shall reside; and also give security to observe such regulations as we shall, at any time, think fit, by ourselves or commissaries, to be appointed for this purpose, to direct and appoint, for the benefit of the said trade; and we do hereby authorize, enjoin, and require the Governors and commanders-inchief of all our colonies, respectively, as well as those under our immediate government as those under the government and direction of proprietaries, to grant such licenses without fee or reward, taking especial care to insert therein a condition that such license shall be void, and the security forfeited, in case the person to whom the same is granted shall refuse or neglect to observe such regulations as we shall think proper to prescribe as aforesaid. And we do further expressly enjoin and require all officers whatever, as well military as those employed in the management and direction of Indian affairs, within the territories reserved as aforesaid, for the use of the said Indians, to seize and apprehend all persons whatever, who, standing charged with treason, misprisons of treason, murders, or other felonies or misdemeanors, shall fly from justice and take refuge in the said territory, and to send them, under a proper guard, to the colony where the crime was committed, of which they shall stand accused, in order to take their trial for the same. Given at our Court of St. James, the seventh day of October, 1763, in the third year of our reign. God save the King. EXHIBIT 5. Treaty with Spain, October 27, 1795.1 Treaty of friendship, limits, and navigation, between the United States of America, and the King of Spain. ART. 5. The two high contracting parties shall, by all the means in their power, maintain peace and harmony among the several Indian nations who inhabit the country adjacent to the lines and rivers, which, by the preceding articles, form the boundaries of the two Floridas. And the better to obtain this effect, both parties oblige themselves expressly to restrain, by force, all hostilities on the part of the Indian nations living within their boundary: so that Spain will not suffer her Indians to attack the citizens of the United States, nor the Indians inhabiting their territory; nor will the United States permit these last mentioned Indians to commence hostilities against the subjects of his catholic majesty, or his Indians, in any manner whatever. And whereas several treaties of friendship exist between the two contracting parties, and the said nations of Indians, it is hereby agreed, that in future no treaty of alliance or other whatever, (except treaties of peace,) shall be made by either party with the Indians living within the boundary of the other, but both parties will endeavor to make the advantages of the Indian trade common and mutually beneficial to their respective subjects and citizens, observing in all things the most complete reciprocity, so that both parties may obtain the advantages arising from a good understanding with the said nations, without being subject to the expense which they have hitherto occasioned. 1American Treaties to 1827, by Jonathan Elliott (1827), p. 342. EXHIBIT 6. Legal Status of the Indians. An exposition of the relationship between the Indian Tribes or Nations of North America, and the Sovereign Power within whose Territories they resided, will be found in the Opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States in the following cases: Johnson v. M'Intosh (1823), 21 U. S., (8 Wheat.), 543; Mitchel and others v. The United States (1835), 34 U. S., (9 The United States v. Rogers (1846), 45 U. S., (4 How.), 567. EXHIBIT 7. The Establishment of a Nation in a Country.1 HITHERTO we have considered the nation merely with respect to itself, without any regard to the country it possesses. Let us now see it established in a country which becomes its own property and habitation. The earth belongs to mankind in general; destined by the Creator to be their common habitation, and to supply them with food, they all possess a natural right to inhabit it, and to derive from it whatever is necessary for their subsistence, and suitable to their wants. But when the human race became extremely multiplied, the earth was no longer capable of furnishing spontaneously, and without culture, sufficient support for its inhabitants; neither could it have received proper cultivation from wandering tribes of men continuing to possess it in common. It therefore became necessary that those tribes should fix themselves somewhere, and appropriate to themselves portions of land, in order that they might, without being disturbed in their labour, or disappointed of the fruits of their industry, apply themselves to render those lands fertile, and thence derive their subsistence. Such must have been the origin of the rights of property and dominion: and it was a sufficient ground to justify their establishment. Since their introduction, the right which was common to all mankind is individually 'Vattel's Law of Nations, (Chitty 1883), Bk. I, Ch. XVIII, p. 97. |