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400 Correspondence of Governor Sharpe.
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Letter Bk, III
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[making them ashamed of their Behaviour & of rendering
them odious to their own Constituents. My lourney to Fort
Cumberland last Summer & in the Winter to New York where
I was obliged to wait for & attend General Shirley near two
Months put me to about £150 Expence for which I shall never
receive more than thanks at most, to this let there be added
what the Frequency & Length of our Sessions of Assembly &
the Number of Military Officers who call on me lay me under
a necessity of expending together with part of my House Rent
& also the £250 which I am annually to pay Mr Calvert for his
Correspondence & deduct the whole out of my yearly Salary
& Perquisites which amount to about £1400. The Remainder
is for die Support of the Honour & Dignity of His Ldp's
Governor & for him to lay by against a future Day. I think I
have already hinted to you that I am not permitted to dispose
of any of the most honourable or Lucrative Offices because
another Person loves to have all Applications made to himself,
this perhaps is of itself sufficient to lessen the Weight & Influ-
ence that a Governor would otherwise have but as it has been
thought proper of late to saddle those Offices with about £550
p Ann. & I am charged with the Care of making the most
advantageous Bargains I submit to your own Judgment
whether it is possible for a Person in my situation to continue
always popular. Any Body that can get introduced to Mr
Calvert is sure to bring rne an open Lettr desiring I will
appoint him to this or that or the, first vacant Office should I
have any Objection to the Person so introduced & recommended
to me or for any other reason neglect to comply with the
Terms of such Letter, that Man thinks himself hardly dealt by
& immediately commences my Enemy. It has been the Policy
of my Predecessors always to have three or four Gentlemen of
Abilities in His Ldp's Council & the Rule was a good one,
such three or four gave the whole Board Weight & made the
Lower House more cautious how they attacked a Superiour
Branch of the Legislature. Since my Arrival I have had the
Misfortune to lose Iennings & two other Gentn of very good
Abilities from that Board whereby it is exceedingly reduced tho
those Accidents have made no more than three Seats vacant,
to fill the first I recommended the Son of one of those deceased
a Gentn in my Opinion of the best natural & acquired Abilities
of any in the Province & therefore a more desirable Friend &
more formidable Enemy. His Services while in the Lower
House supported my Recommendation, but my repeated
Applications in his favour for what Cause I know not have
hitherto proved ineffectual & instead of him am I ordered to
put into the Council a Person whose Merit & Qualifications are
to me all invisible unless I am to reckon as such an easy Dis-
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