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26 Correspondence of Governor Sharpe.
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Calvert
Papers.
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Govermt was raised till 1716. when the late Lord Baltimore
assum'd the Administration of Govermt. The Assembly then
being convinced by Reason mentioned in the Act, that a Larger
Support for Govermt than One Shilling was Necessary, In-
tended by that Act to be provided for & to include & Exclude
other matters in the same Act, They did by an Act lay a
Duty of 15d pr Hogshd instead of 12d pr hhd In the Act of 1704.
By an Act of 1716 wh Act was Temporary from wh time upon
the Expiration of that Act the Govermt has been & still con-
tinues to be supported By the Perpetual Act in 1704 — still un-
repeal'd.
So that, the Govermt being in Possession of & continue to
receive the Duty directed by the said Act of 1704, the only
Question since as I can find was in 1733. By the Lor House
of Assembly — The comittee in their partial Report recited not
the Preamble of the Act of 1671 . No Notice is taken wh might
tend to the Honor & lustice of Lord Baltimore's Ancestors,
wh the Preamble recites Viz' With all Imaginable Gratitude
& Thankfullness for his Lordps unwearied care & Vast Expences
& Charges wh his Lordp had been put from his first Seating
his Lordps Province unto that Instant meerly to preserve them
with Enjoymt of their Lives & Liberties with Encrease of their
Estates & Fortunes & for the conservation of all Societies.
The Charge of Every Goverment without which it cannot
Subsist ought in Reason to be bourn by those whose conser-
vation depend upon the Goverment for and towards defraying
the many Great & Necessary Expences &c.
And by wh Act Intituled an Act for Raising & Providing a
Support his Lordp the Lord Proprietor of this Province (in
lieu of his Rents &c) during his Natural Life & likewise (in-
certed) a Supply towards the Defraying the Public Charges of
Govermt. These Grateful Ancestors their Desendants take
No Notice of the Benefits their forefathers had recd from the
Ist Proprietor, only in their Report recite, several Temporary
Acts for support of Goverment During the Administration by
Lord Baltimores Ancestors — And then recite An Act made in
1692 when Mr Copley was Govr soley under the Crown, wh
Act the Report possitively Asserts to have been continued as
a Law of this Province by a Genl Assembly the 28th of June
the 11th of Wm the 3d in 1699" And from the Strength of that
Asscertion this inference is made by that Report "That by
the frequent continuance & Re-Enacting the said Act of 1692
During the time wherein the Govermt & Protection of the
Province was in the Crown The Legislature did not Deem
the same or any of them perpetual — But to have a Duration
only with such Govr & Goverm'
Be pleased to observe — Ist the Act of 1692 for a Settlemt
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