134 CASE OF THE POST-NATI OF SCOTLAND- 



the West Indies should be naturalized ; which 

 are people not only &quot; alterius soli,&quot; but &quot; alte- 

 &quot; rius coali.&quot; 



To these conceits of inconvenience, how easy it 

 is to give answer, and how weak they are in them 

 selves, I think no man that doth attentively ponder 

 them can doubt ; for how small revenue can arise of 

 such denizations, and how honourable were it for 

 the king to take escheats of his subjects, as if they 

 were foreigners, for seizure of aliens lands are in 

 regard the king hath no hold or command of their 

 persons and services, every one may perceive. And 

 for the confluence of Scotsmen, I think, we all con 

 ceive the springtide is past at the king s first coming 

 in. And yet we see very few families of them 

 throughout the cities and boroughs of England. 

 And for the naturalizing of the Indies, we can 

 readily help that, when the case comes ; for we can 

 make an act of parliament of separation if we like 

 not their consort. But these being reasons politic, 

 and not legal, and we are not now in parliament, 

 but before a judgment seat, I will not meddle with 

 them, especially since I have one answer which 

 avoids and confounds all their objections in law ; 

 which is, that the very self-same objections do hold 

 in countries purchased by conquest. For in subjects 

 obtained by conquest, it were more profit to indeni- 

 zate by the poll ; in subjects obtained by conquest, 

 they may come in too fast. And if king Henry VII. 

 had accepted the offer of Christopher Columbus, where 

 by the crown of England had obtained the Indies by 



