THE COLONIES.
The history of usury in this country presents little of interest to repay the search, yet it is necessary to our purpose to know something concerning it, and we will therefore examine, though as briefly as possible, its inception and continuance to the present time.
The British title to the territory comprising these United States, was founded on the right of discovery by John Cabot, who, in the year 1496, discovered and claimed for his sovereign,^ the vast desert country which stretches from the Gulf of Mexico to the most northern regions.^ This great continent was after- wards colonized and cultivated by the people of the kingdom, great numbers of whom flocked to the new found land.
" Government o'f some sort is necessary to the ex- istence of society,"^ hence we come immediately to the question : By what law were these colonists to be governed ?
To answer this satisfactorily, it will be proper for us to inquire a little concerning the general princi- 1 Henry VIII. ' Robertson's Hist, of America, B. 9. '^ Dr. Ghanning. (63)
pies of public jurisprudence on the subject, and the nature or description of the colonies so established.
Colonies are of two kinds : either such as are ac- quired by peopling and occupying uninhabited or desert regions ; or such as being already inhabited and cultivated, are acquired by conquest or cession. Between