WiORTH SHORE BREEZE 
NOTES ON LOCAL HISTORY 
1. THE BASIS OF LAND TITLES 
By C. H. C. 
In 1497, five years after Columbus 
had discovered the New World and 
before he had reached the main land 
of America, John Cabot, sailing under 
a commission or license from the 
King of England and _ authorized 
thereby “to discover countries then 
unknown to Christian peoples and to 
take possession of them in the name 
of the King of England,” reached the 
North American continent and sailed 
down the coast from Newfoundland 
to Virginia. It is to this voyage of 
John Cabot and his discovery of this 
continent that the English traced 
their title and based their claim to 
the right to colonize North America. 
Although, ‘fon discovery of this im- 
mense continent the nations of Europe 
were eager to appropriate to them- 
selves so much of it as they could re- 
spectively acquire, they realized that 
it was necessary in order to avoid con- 
flicting settlements and consequent 
wars with each other, to establish a 
principle which all should acknow- 
ledge as the law by which the right 
of acquisition, which they all assent- 
ed to, should be regulated as between 
themselves. ‘This principle, now long 
established in the Law of Nations, 
was that discovery gave title to the 
government by whose subjects or by 
whose authority it was made, against 
all other European governments, 
which title might be consumated by 
possession.” ‘That is to say, the fee 
or absolute title to the land was thus 
considered to be in the sovereign by 
whose subjects it was discovered and 
in whose name it was taken possess- 
ion of. 
This principle disregards any sub- 
stantial title to the land in the In- 
dians who were found here occupying 
it, but so far as they are concerned 
“the theory universally adopted, act- 
ed upon and sanctioned by a long 
course of judicial decisions of the 
highest authoritv, was, that the In- 
dians found upon this continent had 
no legal title to the soil, as that term 
was understood at the common law 
and among civilized nations, no fee 
in the land, but only a temporary 
right of occupancy for which it was 
perhaps equitable to make them 
seme allowance.” Bill Nye says that 
“he Pilgrims were honest, and gave 
the Indians something for their land 
in almost every instance, but they put 
a price upon it which has made the 
Indian ever since a _ comparitively 
poor man.” As‘a matter of fact the 
territory occupied by the Indians was 
disposed of by the governments of 
Europe at their pleasure as if it had 
been found without inhabitants. 
After the voyage of Cabot, other 
navigators sailed along this coast, but 
more than a hundred years passed 
away before a permanent English set- 
tlement was made on this continent. 
Charters were granted in 1606 and 
and 1609, but “it is under the patent 
of 1620 which conveyed to the grant- 
ees an absolute property in all lands 
between the 4oth and 48th degrees 
north latitude that New England was 
in a great measure settled. The 
grantees under the 1620 charter, who 
were denominated the Plymouth 
Company, conveyed or assigned to 
Sir Henry Roswell dnd_ others, in 
1627, that territory which is now 
Massachusetts; and in 1628 a charter 
of incorporation, comprehending the 
powers of government was granted 
to the purchaser.” ‘This conveyance 
to Roswell and his associates “grant- 
ed and confirmed to them all the said. 
lands described and every part there- 
of and all the islands, rivers, ports, 
havens, waters, fishings, fishes, mines, 
et cetera, with their appurtenances.” 
The effect of this charter under 
which Roswell and his associates took 
their title was to grant to the Goy- 
ernor and Company as a body, the 
jura regalia or perogative rights of 
the crown; to be held for the Colony 
as the Crown held them for the realm 
of England; and also the ordinary 
right of property in the soil, to be 
held-and granted on the liberal tenure 
of free and common socage as private 
rights in real estates are held at com- 
mon law.” 
“The King having the power, in 
these unsettled parts of his dominion, 
out of the realm of England to grant 
a title to the land for the purposes 
of settlement and such powers of 
government as might be necessary; 
and a charter having been granted 
vesting the right in the soil in the 
grantees with very large powers of 
government including all necessary 
to the control and management of all 
public interests, of navigation and 
fisheries and of the seashore and nav- 
igable waters, the effect of this char- 
ter was, further, to grant to the com- 
pany both the jus privatum and the 
jus publicum of the crown: the jus 
privatum or title to the land to be 
held in fee, parcelled out to corpora- 
tions and individuals to be held in fee 
subject to the rules of the common 
law as private property; and the jus 
publicum or all those rights of the 
crown in the sea, seashore, bays and 
arms of the sea where the tide ebbs 
and flows in trust for public use of 
all those who should become inhabi- 
tants of said territory and subjects of © 
said government.” 
(Continued in a later issue). 
The orchestration of truth demands 
many diverse instruments an:l a con- 
summate wielder of the baton. 
Oh, the worth of coercion ina 
daily duty which must be done 
whether we like it or not! The de- 
sire to be free from such compusions 
is wrong. As well might the locomo- 
tive ask to dash out unrestrained over 
the prairie and the bridge. The 
tracks which confine it continue its 
usefulness and its life. 
The Kingdom of Heaven comes all 
the later for being expected too soon. 
Nature is full of by-ends. A moth 
feeds on a petal, in a moment the 
pollen caught on its breast will be 
wedding this blossom to another in 
the next county. 
Money making does not demand 
exalted talent, but it sets free talents 
which may be as dignified as you 
please. 
Men will never disappoint us if we 
observe two rules: 1, to find out what 
they are; 2, to expect them to be 
just that. 
IF You 
Want a Cook 
Want a Clerk 
Want a Partner 
Want a Situation 
Want a Servant Girl 
Want to Sell a Piano 
Want to Sell a Oarriage 
Want to Sell Town Property 
Want to Sell Your Groceries 
Want to Sell Your Hardware 
Want Customers for Anything 
Advertise Weekly in This Paper. 
Advertising Is the Way to Success 
Advertising Brings Customers 
Advertising Keeps Customers 
Advertising Insures Success 
Advertising Shows Energy 
Advertising Shows Pluck 
Advertising Is ‘‘Biz’’ 
Advertise or Bust 
Advertise Long 
Advertise Well 
ADVERTISE 
At Once 
WORTH SHORE BREEZE 
Everybody reads the Breeze. 
