WHEREAS it is represented to this General ASsembly, that Indians,
not in Friendship or Alliance with his Majesty's Subjects, and
especially some of those Nanticoke Indians, who some Years ago
left their usual Place of Residence, and went to the Westward, have
lately
fixed Cabbins, under Pretence of Hunting in different Places of this
Province,
where they have behaved very insolently, and have even intimated that
they
have been active in some of the horrid Cruelties committed last Summer
by
the Savages in the Frontiers of the neighbouring Provinces: And
as it is apprehended
that no strange Indian would, at this Time of open War, come
into this Province, unless with a View to get Information, and give
Intelligence
to our Enemies, or on some other ill Design; In order therefore, to
discover any such who may be lurking about hereafter,
II. Be it Enacted,
by the Right Honourable the Lord Proprietary, by and
with the Advice and Consent of his Lordship's Governor, and the
Upper and Lower
Houses of Assembly, and the Authority of the same, That the
several Constables
of the respective Hundred, wherein any Indian Town within this
Province
doth lay, shall, before the Twentieth Day of June next, and
so Yearly and
every Year, go to the Indian Town or Towns, within his Hundred,
and require
the Chief Indian or Great Man of the said Town, to give him
an exact
Account of the Names both Indian and English, Sexes,
and Ages of all the
Indians, belonging to the said Town; and the said Constable,
from such Account,
shall make a fair List, distinguishing each Sex and Age by different
Columns; That is to say, Men, Women, Boys, and Girls, and their
respective
Ages; and the same shall deliver to the Clerk of the respective County,
who
shall enter the same among his Land Records without Fee or Reward.
And if
the Chief Indian or Great Man of the Town, shall, upon Application
of the
Constable, refuse or delay to give an Account as aforesaid, the Constable
shall
immediately inform the Chief Justice of the County wherein such Town
shall
lay, who shall issue his Warrant to the said Constable to take such
Chief
Indian
or Great Man, and bering him before him to answer for such Refusal
or
Delay; and if the said Indian Chief or Great Man, shall not
give the said Justice
a satisfactory Reason for such Refusal or Delay, the said Justice is
hereby
required to commit such Indian Chief or Great Man to Prison,
there to remain
until he shall give such Account, and pay the Fees arising on such
Commitment
III. And be it
further Enacted, That when any Indian shall have Occasion
to go from the Town to which he or she belongs, he or she shall apply
to
some Justice of the Peace of the County wherein such Town shall lay,
for
a
Pass, who is hereby obliged to give one without Fee or Reward, wherein
shall be expressed such Indian's Name, both Indian and
English, and Age, the
Town to which he or she belongs, and an accurate person Description,
to
which Pass the County Clerk shall make the proper Certificate, and
affix the
County Seal, without Fee or Reward. And if any Person shall discover
an
Indian, without such Pass as aforesaid, Ten Miles distant from
the Town to
which he or she belongs, it shall and may be lawful for such Person
to seize
such Indian, and carry him or her before the next Justice of
the Peace, who
shall commit such Indian to Prison, unless he or she can make
appear to what
Town he or she properly belongs, there to remain until he or she can
fully
make appear the same; and when such Indian shall have made appear
to such
Justice that he or she does belong to some one Town in this Province,
or is
in Friendship and Alliance with his Majesty's Subjects of America,
then the
said Justice is hereby required to make out his Warrant to the Sheriff
to discharge.
|
Preamble.
Constables of
Hundred
wherein any
Indian Town
lies, shall
take an Account
annually
of the
Indians thereto
belonging.
The Chief
Indian of such
Town refusing
to give
such Account,
,may be taken
into Custody,
and committed
to Prison.
Indians travelling
from
their Towns,
shall take out
Passes.
If discovered
without a
Pass at Ten
Miles Distance
from
their respective
Towns,
may be seized,
and committed. |
