CHAPTER XVII.
SQUATTERISM.
Some suffer them selfe for defaut of aparaunce, To be oiitlawyd, and other some suspendyd, Out of the churche for hys mys goiieranunce, And yet nought caryth, therfr'o to be defendyd, Howe beit they myght: and haue theyr mater endyd, Suche assay by falshode to prouoke the lawe, And than it fie, and them therefro with drawe.
The Ship of Fools.
Squatterism is the doctrine or system which has for its base the maxim eminently American that all citizens have equally the right to share in the com- mon property of the country, particularly in the public domain. The terms squatter and settler are often used synonomously, the former being no more a word of opprobrium than the latter. A squatter is one who takes possession of and settles on unoccupied land. He may do so legally, taking possession of lands belonging to the government, and in accordance with all the requirements of government, or he may plant himself on lands belonging to another or on lands in dispute, or on lands covered by Mexi- can grants of which he had no knowledge, or in the validity of which he had no faith. The term settler is rather the more respectable of the two, as that im- plies simply one who makes his home upon a piece of ground formerly either public domain, or land held by another and acquired by purchase. Thus we see a squatter may be a settler, and a settler may be a squatter. There is this distinction, and this only : a settler is seldom intentionally a fraudulent squatter, although a squatter may be a respectable settler. As
