|
|
May 28
|
Saturday May 28.th
The house met according to adjournment. The members were
called and all appeared as on yesterday. The proceedings of yesterday
were read. M.r Ringgold brings in and delivers to M.r speaker the
following address
To his excellency Horatio Sharpe esquire, governor and commander
in chief in and over the province of Maryland.
The humble address of the house of delegates.
May it please your excellency
We have taken that part of your excellencys speech, with the
several papers which have been laid before us, relative to the Mary-
land indians, into our consideration; and from thence, and on the
best enquiry we have been able to make, we cannot discover that any
of them, except those who have petitioned, are desirous of removing
from this province. We find that by an act of assembly made in the
year 1704, reciting that it was just the indians should have a con-
venient dwelling place, a tract of land on Nanticoke River, was
appropriated to the use of the Nanticoke indians, their heirs and
successors, for ever; under a proviso, that it should be lawful for any
person or persons that had formerly taken up and obtained any grants
from the lord Baltimore, for any tracts or parcels of land within the
boundaries thereof, upon indians deserting or leaving the said land,
to enter, occupy and enjoy the same: That by another act passed
in the year 1711, three thousand acres of land on Broad Creek, on
Nanticoke River were directed to be laid out by commissioners,
valued by a jury, and paid for by the public; and, that when the same
should be laid out, and paid for by the public as aforesaid, the same
should be to the use of the Nanticoke indians so long as they should
occupy the same, and afterwards should be disposed of as the general
assembly of this province should direct. That the commissioners
appointed by the last mentioned act, caused the three thousand acres
of land to be laid out and valued, and returned a certificate of their
proceedings into the provincial court office where it now remains of
record, by which it appears the land belonged to several owners and
proprietors and was valued in the whole to sixty thousand pounds
of tobacco, which together with eight thousand eight hundred and
eighty pounds of tobacco for improvements made on part of the
land, and expences attending the surveying and valuing thereof was,
as appears by the assembly proceedings in the year 1712, allowed
by and assessed on the public. By the papers laid before us, it appears
|
|
