528 INDIAN LAND CESSIONS IN THE UNITED STATES [eth.ann. 18 



opinion of the United States Supreme Court' is so full and decisive on 

 this point that a suuimary of the statements therein contained will dis- 

 pense with the necessity of furnishinj? proof of the acknowledgment 

 of this principle from the history of the discovery and settlement of 

 the continent. 



Although Spain obtained immense territory in the western continent, 

 she did not rest her title solely on the grant of the Pope. On the con- 

 trary, her discussions with France, Great Britain, and the United 

 States respecting boundaries all go to show very clearly that she 

 based her clainjs on the rights given by discovery. 



France also founded her title to the territories she claimed in America 

 on discovery. Her claim to Louisiana, comprehending the immense 

 territory watered by tlie Mississippi and its tributaries, and her claims 

 in Canada as well, wei-e based expressly on discovery. In the treaties 

 made with Spain and Great Britain by the United States this title 

 was recognized by the latter. The claims by the states of Holland 

 to American territory were based on the same title, and the contest 

 with them by the English was not because of a dispute of this prin- 

 ciple, but because the latter claimed prior discovery. All the transfers 

 of American territory from one European nation to another were based 

 on the title by discovery; nor did any one of the European powers 

 give more comi)lete or moi'e unequivocal assent to this principle than 

 England. In 149G her monarch commissioned the Cabots to discover 

 countries "then unknown to all Christian people," with authority to 

 take possession of them in the name of the King of England. To the 

 discovery made by these navigators have the English traced the title 

 to their possessions in North America. 



In all these claims and contests between the civilized nations of 

 Europe, the Indian title to the soil is nowhere allowed to intervene, it 

 being conceded that the nation making the discovery had the sole right 

 of acquiring the soil from the natives and of establishing settlements 

 on it. This was understood to be a right with which no other Euro- 

 pean government could interfere ; it was a right which each government 

 asserted for itself and to which all otliers assented. Those relations 

 which were to exist between the discoverers and the natives were to be 

 regulated by themselves. The rights thus acquired being exclusive, 

 no other power could interpose between them. 



Neveitheless, it must not be understood that the Indians' rights were 

 wholly disregarded by the powers in planting colonies in the territories 

 taken i)ossession of by them. 



Continuing, the court remarks — 



In the establishmeut oif these relations, the rights of the original inhabitants were, 

 in no inst:inee, entirely disregarded, but were necessarilj', to a cousiderable extent, 

 impaired. They were admitted to he the rightful occupants of the soil, with a legal 

 as well as just claim to retain possession of it [or rather so much as was necessary 

 for their use], and to use it according to their own discretion; but their rights to 



' Jbhnsou and Grahain'a lessee v. Mcintosh, 8 Wheaton. p. 543 et seq. 



