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principle indeed was introduced, that ‘ all"lands in England were held either mediately or immediately of the Crown: but this was borrowed from those holdings which were truly feudal, and only applied to others for the purposes of illustration. Feudal holdings: were, therefore, but exceptions out of the Saxon laws of possession, under which all lands were held in absolute right. ‘These, there- fore, still form the basis or groundwork of the Common law, to prevail wheresoever the exceptions have not taken place. Ame- rica was not conquered by William the Norman, nor its lands surrendered to him or any of his successors. Possessions there are, undoubtedly, of the Allodial nature. Our ancestors, however, who migrated hither, were laborers, not lawyers. ‘Lhe fictitious principle, that all lands belong originally to the King, they were early persuaded to believe real, and accordingly took grants of their own lands from the Crown. And while the Crown continued to grant for small sums and on reasonable rents, there was no in- ducement to arrest the error, and lay it open to public view. But his Majesty has lately taken on him to advance the terms of pur- chase and of holding, to the double of what they were; by which means, the acquisition of lands being rendered difficult, the popu- lation of our country is likely to be checked. It is time, there- fore, for us to lay this matter before his Majesty, and to. declare, that he has no right to grant lands of himself. From the nature and purpose of civil institutions, all the lands within the. limits, which any particular society has circumscribed around itself, are assumed by that society, and subject to their allotment ; this may be done by themselves assembled collectively, or by their legisla- ture, to whom they may have delegated sovereign authority : and, if they are allotted in neither of these ways, each individual of the society, may appropriate to himself such lands as he finds vacant, and occupancy will give him title.
That, in order to enforce the arbitrary measures before com- plained of, his Majesty has, from time to time, sent among us large bodies of armed forces, not made up of the people here, nor rais- ed by the authority of our laws. Did his Majesty possess such a right as this, it might swallow up all our other rights, whenever he should think proper. But his Majesty has no right to land a sin- gle armed man on our shores; and those whom he sends here are liable to our laws, for the suppression and punishment of Riots, Routs, and unlawful assemblies, or are hostile bodies invading us in defiance of law. When, in the course of the late war, it became expedient, that a body of Hanoverian troops should be brought over for the defence of Great Britain, his Majesty’s grandfather, our late sovereign, did not pretend to introduce them under any
