266 Correspondence of Governor Sharpe.

Letter Bk.ITI

[Sharpe to Conway.]

To General Conway. Annapolis the 12^th of Febry 1766
Sir
A Duplicate of the Letter you were pleased to address to
me the 24^th of Oct^r last having been brought hither a few Days
ago by the Post from N York I do myself the honour to
acknowledge my Receipt thereof but must at the same time
inform you that altho the People of this Province have not
gone such lengths as those of N York & some other of the
Northern Colonies their Sentiments with respect to the Stamp
Act seem to be much the same & had M^r Hood who was
appointed to distribute the Papers in this Province attempted
to execute his Office it would not I believe have been in my
power to protect him. In the Letter I took the liberty to
write to the Earl of Hallifax the fifth of September last I
informed His Ldp that M^r Hood had a few Days before
retired to New York where he has remained ever since so that
when Captain Brown Commander of His Majesty's Sloop
Hawke arrived here in December with some of the stampt
Paper destined for this Province there was no Person author-
ized to receive & distribute it had the People been disposed
to make Use of it: wherefore as the Lower House of
Assembly were averse to its being landed & there was no
Place of Security here in which it could be lodged I by Advice
of the Council desired Capt Browne to keep it on board & to
his doing so it is probably owing that there hath been no Dis-
turbance here since that of which I gave an Account in my
abovementioned Letter to the Earl of Hallifax. Had I no;
been convinced that it would be impossible without a consid-
erable Military Force to carry the Act of Parliament into Exe-
cution here while it was opposed so violently in the other
Colonies I should have called upon M^r Hood to execute his
Office & have promised to support him in the Discharge of
his Duty, but after the Proceedings of the People at N York
in the Presence of General Gage & a Body of His Majesty's
Forces I presumed that nothing more would be expected from
me under such Circumstances than to preserve Peace & good
order in the Province where I have the honour to preside
untill I could receive His Majesty's Instructions, & I flatter
myself with hopes that my Conduct on the occasion will not
be condemned but meet with His Majesty's Approbation. I am.

Original.

[Hamersley to Sharpe.]
S^r
This present Pacquet attends you by the hands of M^r John
Morton Jordan a particular acquaintance of Lord Baltimore &