Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol I).djvu/112

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§ 84. was originally settled under the protection of Massachusetts; but the inhabitants in a few years afterwards (1638) felt at liberty (after the example of Massachusetts) to frame a constitution of government and laws for themselves. In 1630 the Earl of Warwick obtained from the council of Plymouth a patent of the land upon a straight line near the sea-shore towards the southwest, west and by south, or west from Narraganset river forty leagues, as the coast lies, towards Virginia, and all within that breadth to the South sea. In March, 1631, the Earl of Warwick conveyed the same to Lord Say and Seale and others. In April, 1635, the same council granted the same territory to the Marquis of Hamilton. Possession under the title of Lord Say and Seale and others was taken of the mouth of the Connecticut in 1635. The settlers there were not, however, disturbed; and finally, in 1644, they extinguished the title of the proprietaries, or Lords, and continued to act under the constitution of