is reported to have expressed himself to the authorities of that colony thus: 'Why lay such stress upon your patent from King James of England? Your patent is but a bit of parchment. James has no more right to give away or sell Massasoit's lands and cut and carve the country than Massasoit has to sell James's, or to send his Indians to colo nize Warwickshire.' "But the granting and accepting of the charter of Charles II settled this question; and Rhode Island acquired then the same rights to the Indian lands within its jurisdiction as the other colonies had to the lands within their jurisdiction. The Supreme Court of the United States says, by Chief Justice Marshall, in Johnston i's. Macintosh (8 Wheat. 603), 'the very grant of a charter is an assertion of the title of the crown, and its words convey the same idea, —the country granted is said to be Rhode Island, etc., and the charter contains an actual grant of the soil, as well as the powers of government.' "From these and other authorities the commission has been led to consider it as authoritatively settled, that the ultimate title to the lands of the tribe was vested in the State subject to the possessory right of the Indians, and that the State could not convey these lands without the assent of the Indians, any more than the Indians could convey without the assent of the State." To some persons it will no doubt seem that the position of the commission was a
tacit acceptance of the political doctrine of the "Divine right of kings"; while others will take note that Chief Justice Marshall was a full-fledged imperialist, in the early period of perfect wisdom in our republic. The commission reported to the legislature that at the meeting with the Indian coun cil, December 26, 1879, "an agreement on the part of said council was made that, in behalf of the tribe, they would quit claim to the State the interest of said tribe in their common or vacant lands, and all other tribal rights and claims for the sum of five thou sand dollars." Accordingly, the common lands of the specified tribal reservation were sold at pub lic auction in the summer of 1882, realizing "schedule prices." The stipulated sum of five thousand dollars was duly paid to the tribe, being distributed to one hundred and eighty persons. "Indian Fort," one hundred and eight feet square, and the three Indian ponds wore reserved from sale. The matter of the "shore rights" of the Xarragansett tribe has commanded the at tention of the legislature; for by request of the State Senate, the Rhode Island Supreme Court, appellate division, rendered an opin ion on the subject, February 24, 1898 [R. I. Reports, Vol. XX, p. 715]. The Mohegans in Connecticut and the Montanks on Long Island, in the State of New York, are reported to be taking similar action.
EARLY CRIMINAL TRIALS. III. THE ADVENTURES OF LORD MOHUN. Lord Mohun attracted a large measure of public attention during his lifetime, but the story of his turbulent life would have been buried in the events of more than two cen turies had not his name and career supplied a theme for the imagination of Thackeray.
Charles Mohun, fifth Baron Mohun, was born about 1675. When only a year old his father was mortally wounded while acting as second in a duel, and as a boy he seem? to have been subject to no control whatever. In 1692 he quarreled over dice with Lord
