572 INDIAN LAND CESSIONS IN THE UNITED STATES [eth.axn. 18 



(1) All Purchases or Acquisitions •whatsoever, of any Lanils, &c. within this 

 I'rovince, made or to be made, from any Person whatsoi^ver, not deriving at the 

 same Time a lawful Title thereto, by, from, or nuder, his Lordship or his Heirs, 

 under the Great Seal, shall be void and null. 



(2) It shall bo lawful for his Lordship to enter upon, seize, possess ,and dispose of, 

 any such Lands, &c. so purchased or acquired from, any Indian or other, at his Will 

 and Pleasure, unless such Purchaser, at the Time of such Purchase or Acquisition, 

 have some lawful right or Title to such Lands, Ac. Ijy some Grant from his Lordship, 

 &c. under the Great Seal. 



(Coniirmed among the perpetual Laws, lliTll, ch. 2.) 



In regard to this law the author above mentioned remarks, in addi- 

 tion to what has been noted, that "The princiiile upon which it was 

 founded seems to have been adopted by the United States in the dis- 

 position of all the territories conquered or purchased by them from the 

 Indians." 



It is worthy of notice that the lords commissioners for plantations, 

 in the decision between Ulayborne and Lord Baltimore, declared that the 

 principle enacted in the above law held good even against the King. 

 ''Their lordships liaving i-esolved and declared as abovesaid the right 

 and title to the Isle of Kent and other places in question to be abso- 

 lutely belonging to the said Lord Baltimore; and that no plantation or 

 trade with the Indians ought to be within the precincts of his patent 

 without license from him; did therefore think fit and declare that no 

 grant from His Majesty should pass to the said Clayborue or any 

 others, of the said Isle of Kent or other places within the said patent."' 



On the 5th of July, lfio2, a treaty was made with the Susquehanocks, 

 the first article of which contained the following cession of land to the 

 English : 



First, that the English nation sh:ill have, hould, and enjoy to them their heires 

 and assigns for ever, all the land lying from Patus.eut river unto Palmer's island on 

 the westerne side of the baye of Chesepiake, and from Choptank river to the north 

 east branch which lyes to the northward of Elke river ou the eastern side of the said 

 bay with all the islands, rivers, creeks, . . . fish, fowle, deer, elke, and whatsoever 

 else to the same belonging, excepting the isle of Kent and Palmer's island which 

 belongs to captain Clayborne, But nevertheless it shall be lawful for the aforesaid 

 English or Indians to build a bowse or tfort for trade or any such like use or occasion 

 at any tyme upon Palmer's island.- 



Bozmau thinks that Patuxent river, the southern (or southwestern) 

 limit, ou the west side of the bay, of territory assigned by this treaty, 

 was the extent of the Susquehanock's claim in this direction, as Pow- 

 hatan claimed from James river to the Patuxent. It does not ai)pear, 

 however, how far west tlie granted territory extended. 



As nothing appears after this date to show that other cessions were 

 obtained from Indians in this part of the state, it was jirobably assumed 

 that this grant covered all the territory on the eastern side of the bay 

 north of Dorcliester county, and ou the western side all east and north 



'Bozraan, History of Jlarylaud, vol. ll, pp. 5.S1-585; Hazard, CoUectious, vol. I, p. 130i Chalmera, 

 Anoals, ch. IX, note 2.t. 

 ■^Boznian, ihid., p. G82. 



