nsufficiency of the
_posse comitatus_, I WILL BE PRESENT PERSONALLY, TO DIRECT ANY
MILITARY REQUISITIONS."

Think of that, gentlemen of the Committee! Figure to
yourselves his Excellency, at the head of the Boston and
Worcester Brigades, ten thousand strong, marching to Marshpee,
to suppress an insurrection, when scarce twenty old muskets
could have been mustered on the whole plantation?

With the utmost respect for his Excellency, I could not
refrain on reading this "order of the day," from exclaiming,
as Lord Thurlow did, when a breathless messenger informed him
that a rebellion had broken out in the Isle of Man--"pshaw--a
tempest in a tea pot."

Let us not, however, because the Indians are weak and
in-offensive, be less regardful of their rights.

You will gather from the Report of Mr. Fiske, conclusive
evidence of the long continued and deep rooted dissatisfaction
of the Indians with the laws of guardianship, that they never
abandoned the ground that all men were born free and
equal, and they ought to have the right to rule and govern
themselves; that by a proper exercise of self-government, and
the management of their own pecuniary affairs, they had it
in their power to elevate themselves much above their present
state of degradation, and that by a presentation of new
motives for moral and mental improvement, they might be
enabled, in a little time, to assume a much higher rank on
the scale of human existence. And that the Legislature would
consider their case, was the humble and earnest request of the
natives.

Is not the conclusion then, from all the facts in the case,
that the system of laws persisted in since 1763, have failed
as acts of paternal care? That the true policy now is to try
acts of kindness and encouragement, and that the question of
rightful control over the property or persons of the Indians
beyond the general operation of the laws, being clearly
against the whites; but one consideration remains on which the
Legislature can hesitate: the danger, that they will squander
their property. Of the improbability of such a result, Mr.
Fiske informs you in his report, [page 26.] He found nearly
all the families comfortably and decently clad, nearly
all occupying framed houses, and a few dwelling in huts or
wigwams. More than thirty of