THOMAS) ENGLISH POLICY TOWARD THE INDIANS 557 



receiveil Our furtlier directions therein; And it is Our further Will and Pleasure 

 that you do forthwith cause this Our Instruction to you to be niado Publick not 

 only within all parts of your said "I^.X'^'" inhabited by Our Subjects, but also 

 amongst the several Tribes of Indians living within the same to the end that Our 

 Royal Will and Pleasure in the Premises may bo known and that the Indians may 

 be apprized of Our determiu'd Resolution to support them in their just Eights, and 

 inviolably to observe Onr Engagements with them.' 



It was not surprising that the couditiou complained of should have 

 resulted from a wavering and undefined policy and double-headed sys- 

 tem. First, a total ignoring- of the Indians' rights, turning over the 

 problem to the colonies; then appointing an agent of Indian affairs ou 

 behalf of the government, yet subject in most respects to the control 

 of the colonial goveruors, who might, and did in more than one case, 

 grant away tracts of the very lauds reserved by this ageut to the 

 natives. Such a system, or rather lack of system, was likely to result 

 in confusiou and trouble. 



Two agents were appointed, one for the northern district — that is to 

 say, for certain of the northern colonies and the territory not embraced 

 in the colonial limits — and another for the southern district. 



Lord Egreiuont, writing on May 5, 1703, to the Lords of Trade iu 

 regard to questions relating to North America, remarks, among other 

 things, as follows: 



The second ([uestion which relates to the security of North America, seems to 

 include two objects to be provided for; The first is the security of the whole against 

 any European Power; The next is the preservation of the internal peace <fe tran- 

 quility of the Country against any Indian disturbances. Of these two objects the 

 latter appears to call more immediately for such Regulations and Precautions as your 

 Lordships shall think proper to suggest &ea. 



The) in order to succeed effectually in this poiut it may become necessary to erect 

 some Forts iu the Indian Country with their consent, yet his Majesty's Justice and 

 Moderation inclines him to adopt the more eligible Method of conciliating the minds 

 of the Indians by the mildness of His Government, by protecting their persons and 

 property, & securing to them all the possessions rights and Privileges they have 

 hitherto enjoyed & are entitled to most cautiously guarded against any luvasion 

 or Occupation of their hunting Lands, the possession of which is to be acquired by 

 fair purchase only, and it has been thought so highly expedient to give the earliest 

 and most convincing proofs of his Majesty's gracious and friendly Intentions ou this 

 head, that I have already received and transmitted the King's commands to this pur- 

 pose to the Goveruors of Virginia, the two Carolinas & Georgia, & to the Agent 

 for Indian Affairs in the Southern Department, as your Lordships will see fully in 

 the inclosed copy of my circular letter to them on this sulyect.- 



lu August of the same year the Lords of Trade informed Sir William 

 Johnson that they had " proposed to His Majesty that a proclamation 

 should be issued declaratory of His Majesty's final determination to 

 permit no grants of lands nor any settlement to be made within certain 

 fixed bounds under pretence of purchase, or any pretext whatever, leav- 

 ing all the territory within these bounds free for the hunting grounds 

 of the Indian Nations, and for the free trade of all his subjects." 



' Now York Colonial Documents, voL vu, pp. 478-479. ' Ibid., pp. 520-521. 



