he grant was not void, under this deed alone. There was no
grantee, no legal consideration, and no power to convey. The deed
remained on record, until 1809, when the following act was passed by
the Legislature, attempting to confirm a deed made 26 years before, by
men who had no power to make such deed.

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS,

_House of Representatives, June_ 15, 1809.

On the representation of the Overseers of the Indian
Plantation of Marshpee, in the County of Barnstable, stating
in behalf of said Indians, that it would be conducive to their
interests, that a certain grant and allotment of lands therein
described, _formerly owned by said Indians_, for the support
of the gospel ministry among them, should be confirmed and
rendered valid.

_Resolved_, That a certain grant or allotment of land made by
Lot Nye, Matthias Amos, Moses Pognet, Isaac Halfday, Joseph
Amos, and Eben Dives, of the District of Marshpee, in the
County of Barnstable, as appears by their deed by them, and
by them signed, sealed and executed, on the seventh day of
January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, and
recorded in the Registry of Deeds, in and for said County of
Barnstable, in the fifty-fifth book thereof, and 139th
folio of said book, said land being 400 acres more or less,
according to said deed, be and the same hereby is confirmed
and rendered valid to all intents and purposes by them in
their said deed expressed, and the said tract of land shall be
and remain forever as a parsonage, for the use and benefit of
a Congregational gospel minister, as expressed and declared in
their said deed. Sent up for concurrence.

TIMOTHY BIGELOW, _Speaker_.

_In Senate, June_ 19, 1809,

Read and concurred.

H.G. OTIS, _President_. Approved, C. GORE.

June 19, 1809,
[True Copy.]

Now, if the deed was not valid in 1783, without the concurrent action
of the General Court, it could not be made valid by an act of the
General Court 26 years afterwards. Besides, the land had been in
possession of the Indians, by virtue of their title, more than twenty
years, after the making of the pretended deed. The power of the
grantors, if they ever had any power, had long expired, and Marshpee
was governed by new laws. We might as well hold that an act passed
by the House of Representatives in 1783, c