Copy of a Letter From Charles Read - 4
Weak Minds are apt to be in an extraordinary Manner inflamed, and get into violent Ferments, on reading an Article in the Gazette of a few Persons being destroyed by Indians; and yet these very Persons will with little or no Emotion, run over an Article of a Battle between two Armies, where Thousands fell on a Side. They get heated by the Mode of War, though it is of little Consequence whether the Scalp or Finger of a dead Corpse is taken off as a token of Victory, or how many Wounds it has. As a free People, Indians have the same Right to go to War, as any other Nation. When they become Subjects, they have the same Eight of living on Lands of their own, or of other People’s, by the Owner’s Permission. If they remove from one Place to another, the Overseers of the Poor may demand the usual Security, and the Magistrates deal with them as with others, for Misbehavior.
I know of no Law to oblige them
