AN ACT OF THE ASSEMBLY RELATING TO THE

INDIANS.

I. Whereas before the late War, daily and grievous complaints of the Depredations and Insults of the Indians was Exhibited against them, by divers Persons bordering upon and residing near to the Habitations of the said Indians: For the Prevention of the like Disorders for the Time to Come, and for the cultivating a better Understanding with the said Indians, the want of which has been so injurious to the Government.

II. Be it Enacted, &c. That whoever shall discover or find any Indian or Indians killing, hunting, or in Pursuit of any Horses, Cattle or Hogs, the Right and Property where of is in any white Men inhabiting within this Government, every such Person or Persons on Discovery or Sight thereof, may, and he is hereby impowered, to apprehend and seize every such Indian or Indians, and him or them so apprehended and taken to convey before some one of the Commis sioners to be appointed for Indian Affairs, and for want of such, before the next Magistrate; which said Commissioner or Magistrate together with the Ruler or Head Man of the Town to which such Indian Delinquent may belong, is and hereby impowered to punish every such Delinquent in such Manner as the Nature of the Offence may require, and to award Restitution to the Party injured for all Damages by him sustained; saving always the Right of Appeal to the Governor and Council, if either party shall think themselves aggrieved or wronged thereby.

III. And be it further Enacted, &c., That if any Difference shall, for the fututre, arise between any white Man and Indian, concerning Trade or otherwise howsoever, every such Difference shall be heard, tried, and determined by such Commissioners as the Governor or Commander in Chief for the Time being shall appoint, together with the Ruler or Head Man of the Town to which the Indian belongs; Saving only the Right of Appeal as herein before saved and excepted. IV. And whereas there is great Reason to believe, that Disputes concerning Land has already been of fatal Consequences to the Peace and welfare of this Colony; Be it further Enacted, &c. That no White Man shall for any consideration whatsoever, purchase or buy any Tract or Parcel of Land, claimed or actually in Possession of any Indian, without special Liberty for so doing from the Governor and Council first had and obtained, under the Penalty of Twenty Pounds for every Hundred Acres of Land so bargained for and purchased, One Half to the Informer and the other Half to him or them that shall sue for the same; To be recovered by Bill, Plaint

or Information, in any Court of Record within this Government; wherein no Assign, Protection, Injunction or Wager of Law, shall be allowed or admitted of.

V. And be it further Enacted, &c. That whatever white man shall defraud or take from any of the Indians his goods or shall b abuse or injure his Person each and every Person so offending shall make full Satisfaction to the Party injured, and shall suffer such other Punishment as he should or ought to have done, had the Offence been committed to an Englishman. A. D. 1715.

At this same sesion of the Assembly, An Act was passed for a Town on Roanoke Island for the Encouragement of Trade from Foreign Ports, it was repealed by Act Nov. 23, 1723. Chap. 12.

Also an Act for raising Corn, to satisfy the Debt due from this Government to the Honourable Charles Craven, Esq., Governor of South Carolina and for the Subsistance of such Forces as shall be raised for the necessary Defence of the Frontiers of this Government. (We presume this debt was created on account of the Indian War through which the Colony had just passed, to cover the expense of the South Carolina troops who came to the assistance of the Colonists in North Carolina.)

AN ACT OF THE ASSEMBLY AMENDING ACT INCOR-
PORATING BATH TOWN, AND REGULATING
ITS PUBLIC LIBRARY.

I. "Whereas, at the Request of Mr. John Lawson, Mr. Joel Martin and others, a certain Tract or Parcel of Land, purchased by them, lying on the Old Town Creek, in Pamptico, and containing by Esti mation Sixty Acres, be the same more or less, being a Part of a larger Tract then belonging to David Perkins, but now in the Possession, and of Right belonging, to Colonel Thomas Cary, and divided from thence by a Line of marked Trees from the Old Town Creek, to Mr. Barrow's line, now also the Right and Possession of the said Cary, was Incorporated and made a Township, by an Act of the General Assembly, made and ratified at the House of Captain John Hecklefield, the Eigth day of March Anno Domini 1705, with divers Privileges and Immunities therein, and thereby invested in the said John Lawson, Joel Martin and Nicholas Daw, to and for the Uses therein mentioned, To promote therefore the Settlement of the said Town, and for securing the Public Library of St. Thomas Parish, in Pamptico;

II. Be it Enacted, &c. That the said Land be, and it is hereby

henceforward invested in Mr. John Porter, Mr. Joel Martin, Mr. Thomas Harding and Capt. John Drinkwater, or any two of them, to and for the Uses aforesaid, and Declared, Confirmed and Incorporated into a Township, by the name of Bath Town; with all the Privileges and Immunities hereafter Expressed forever.

III. Pursuant to which, It is hereby Enacted, That Convenient Places and Proportions of Land be laid out and preserved for a Church, a Town-house and a Market-place; and that the rest of the Land which is not already laid out, be forthwith laid out into Lots of Half an Acre each, with convenient Streets and Passages, by the said Trustees, or any Two of them.

Then follows Sections IV to XVIII relating to the sale of lots, &c. XIX. And whereas, at the Promotion of the Reverend Doctor Thomas Bray, a Library hath been sent over to Bath Town, for the Use of the Inhabitants of the Parish of St. Thomas, in Pamptico; and it is partly feared that the Books belonging to the same will quickly be embezzled, damaged or lost, except a Law be provided for the more effectual Preservation of the same.

XX. Be it therefore Enacted. That the said Library shall be, continue and remain in the Hands, Custody and Possession of a Library Keeper, to be elected, nominated and appointed by the Commissioners hereafter by this Act appointed, or the Major Part of them; which said Library-keeper is, and shall be hereby bound and obliged, to keep and preserve the several and respective Books therein, from Waste, Damage, Imbezzlement, and all other Destruction, (Fire, and all other unavoidable Accidents only excepted) and is and shall be hereby accountable for the same, and every Book thereof, to the Commissioners hereafter nominated; and to that End and Purpose, the said Library-Keeper shall pass Two Receipts for the Library aforesaid, one to the Commissioners hereafter named, and the other to the Church-Wardens of the said Parish, for the Time being, in which Receipts the Title of each Book shall be instituted: And in case all or any of the Books is or shall be found to be wasted, damaged or embezzled or otherwise destroyed, (except as before excepted) the said Library-Keeper, his Heirs, Executors and Administrators, are and shall be hereby bound and obliged to answer double the Value of the same; and the said Commissioners are hereby impowered to sue for the same, in any Court of Record in the Province, by Bill, Plaint, or Information, or other Action; wherein no Essoign, Protection, Injunction or Wager of Law, shall be allowed; and that what thereby shall be recovered, (reasonable Charges and Expenses deducted) to employ and dispose of towards the Compleating and perfecting the aforesaid Library so wasted, endamaged, Embezzled,

or otherwise destroyed, within the Space of Twelve Months after such Recovery.

XXI. And be it further Enacted, That in case of the Death or Removal of the said Library-Keeper, the Church-wardens of St. Thomas's Parish shall immediately take into their Custody, Possession and safe-Keeping, all the Books belonging to the said Library, and shall be answerable for the same to the Commissioners of hereafter in this Act nominated.

XXII. And be it further Enacted. That the Church Wardens of St. Thomas's Parish, in Pamptico, upon receiving the Books belonging to the said Library, shall compare the same with the Catalogue and Receipt for the same in their Custody; and if any of the Books are wanting or damaged, they shall give an Account thereof, in Twenty Days at Farthest, to the Commissioners hereafter mentioned, who are impowered to sue the said Library-Keeper, or in case of his death, his Executors or Administrators for the same; And in Case the said Church-wardens refuse or neglect to give such Account, then the said Church Wardens, their Heirs, Executors or Administrators and every of them, are hereby made accountable to the Commissioners hereafter named for all the Books belonging to the said Library, and contained in the Catalogue therof.

XXIII. And be it further Enacted. That the said Commissioners, or any Five of them, within Twenty Days after such Notice given, shall forthwith proceed to the Election of another Librar Keeper, to whose Custody and Safe Keeping the said Library, and every Book therein contained, shall be forthwith delivered by the said Church Wardens, by order of the said Commissioners; which said Library-Keeper so elected, shall continue in the same office, unless removed by the said Commissioners, or the Major Part of them (which they are, upon a just occasion, hereby empowered to do) or until the settlement of a Minister in the said Parish; which said Minister or Incumbent shall, ex-officio. be Library-Keeper, and shall be unanswerable for the same to the Commissioners aforesaid, in Manner as is by this Act directed.

XXIV. Provided always, That the said Library shall not be removed out of Bath Town other than to the Incumbent's House: and not thither, without Liberty first had and obtained from the said Commissioners, or the Major Part of them.

XXV. That the Inhabitants of Beaufort Precinct shall have Liberty to borrow any Book out of the said Library, giving a Receipt for the same to the Library-Keeper, for the Time being, with a Promise to return the said Book or Books, if a Folio, in Four Months Time; if a Quarto, in Two Months Time; if an Octavo, or under,

in One Months Time; upon penalty of paying Three Times the Value of the said Book or Books, so borrowed, in Case of Failure in returning the same; And the said Library-Keeper is hereby obliged to enter such Receipt in a Book, to be fairly kept for that Purpose, and upon the Return of any Book or Books so lent shall note it returned on the opposite side or Column of the said Book, and not Cross or blot the same; And in Case the Person that borrows any Book or Books out of the said Library, doth refuse to return the same, or doth damnify the said Book, upon Complaint thereof given by the said Library-Keeper, his Executors or Administrators, to two or more of the Commissioners, and by them or any Five of them, to the Chief Justice of the Province for the Time being, or any Two Justices of the Peace, it shall be lawful, and the said Chief Justice, or any Two Justices, are hereby empowered and required, by Warrant of Distress, directed to any of the Constables of the said Precinct. to levy Three Times the Value of such Book or Books, on the Goods and Chattels of the Person so refusing to deliver or damnifying the same; and for want of such distress, to commit the Person to Prison, till Satisfaction be made to the said Library-Keeper..

XXVI. And be it further Enacted. That the Commissioners hereafter named, shall make, or cause to be made, several Catalogues of all and singular the Books in the said Library, and the same being fairly written, and signed by the said Commissioners or some Five of them, One to be entered upon Record in the Secretary's Office of this Province, One to be in the Custody and for the Use of Commissioners hereafter named, under which the Library-Keeper shall sign a Receipt for the respective Books, One to be in the Custody of the Church Wardens of St. Thomas's Parish for the Time being, under which the Library-Keeper shall also sign a Receipt for the respective Books, and one to be fairly entered in a Book for that purpose to be kept by the Library-Keeper in the said Library, that so any person may know what Books are contained therein.

XXVII. And be it further Enacted. That the Commissioners or any Five of them, hereafter named, after making one exact Catalogue of all and singular the respective Books in the said Library shall and are hereby directed, to appraise and rate each Book. at " price certain in the Current Money of this Province: which appraisement shall be an established Rule to determine the Value of the said Books, in case any suit is brought by the said Commissioners against any Person that shall detain or damnify any of the said Books, or against the Library-Keeper, his Executors or Administrators.

XXVIII. And be it further Enacted. That the Commissioners hereafter named or any Five of them, shall, every Year, or Easter Monday Yearly, resort to the House where the said Library shall