de even trespass, much less
riot. It is said that Apes and the rest were indicted under
some obsolete law, making it a misdemeanor to conspire against
the laws. We have looked for such an act, but cannot find it
in the Statute Book.

At any rate, law or no law, the Indians were indicted and
convicted. They were tried by their opponents, and it would be
impossible to get justice done them in Barnstable County. An
impartial jury could not be found there. It is the interest of
too many to keep the Indians degraded. We think the conviction
of these Indians is an act of cruelty and oppression,
disgraceful to the Commonwealth. The Marshpee Indians are
wronged and oppressed by our laws, nearly as much as ever the
Cherokees were by the Georgians. But it is useless to call for
the exercise of philanthropy at _home_. It is all expended
_abroad_.

An attempt was made to indict some of the white harpies, who
are selling rum to the Indians, without license. Those men got
clear, and are still suffered to prey on the poor Indians;
but to stop a load of wood, which in reality belonged to the
Indians themselves, was an outrage which the Court were ready
enough to punish! Is it creditable to let the _white_ spiders
break through the laws, while we catch and crush the poor
Indian flies?

THE INDIANS.

William Apes and the Marshpee Indians, who were tried before
the Court of Common Pleas, in Barnstable County, were ably
defended by Mr. Sumner, of this city. Apes was sentenced by
Judge Cummings, to thirty days imprisonment in the common
jail. One other was sentenced to ten days imprisonment, and
the rest were not tried. When the sentence was pronounced,
several Indians who were present, gave indications of
strong excitement at what they conceive to be a tyrannical
persecution. It is much to be feared, that this unnecessary
and apparently vindictive course, pursued by the overseers
and their friends, after the Indians had become quiet, and
resolved to wait patiently for redress from the Legislature,
will inflame them to acts of violence, and give the whites,
who wish to oppress them, further advantages over them.

We have visited the greater part of the tribe recently, in
their own dwellings, and we know how strongly and unanimously
they feel upon the subject of what th