Archives of Maryland, Volume 0009, Page 0120 - Correspondence of Governor Sharpe, 1757-1761

Correspondence of Governor Sharpe, 1757-1761

120 Correspondence of Governor Sharpe.

verted but when they pressed him to answer to other Matters
he desired to be excused for the Reasons mentioned in my
last Message to the House on the occasion. You will observe
that I declined entering into a Controversy with the House
about their Right to send for other Persons to their Bar as
much as I possibly could, but by insisting that my Family is
not & cannot be subject to their Jurisdiction I have intimated
to others that they may dispute their Authority likewise since
the House have themselves thought proper to put my Family
& all private Gentlemen's Families exactly on the same
Footing. It is a Maxim with me that it is the Duty & Interest
of the Supreme Magistrate in such a Gov^t as this especially
to support the Dignity of the Inferiour Branches of the Legis-
lature as well as of the Courts of Judicature because these in
their Turn support the Dignity & Authority of his Office but
if either of these should endeavour to overleap the others &
to render them contemptible it behoves him to oppose such
an Attempt; The Practice of calling the Magistrates &
others before the Lower House for real or pretended Offences
or Neglects is but of late Date & if not timely checked must
destroy our Constitution. Whether what the Lower House
took occasion at this time to say about the Upper ought to
be attributed to Ignorance or a worse motive I leave you to
judge but to whatever Cause their unaccountable Declaration
was at this time owing I have I hope given them such an
Answer as will prevent a Repetition of it. It will be more
easy for You to conceive than for me to say what might have
been the Consequence of such a Doctrine being generally
believed here as "that the Upper House is no Part of our
Constitution" a Doctrine that the People I mean the Lower
Class of them which are a great Majority would readily
swallow because they are taught by the Pensilvania Gazettes
that there is no such Branch of the Legislature in that Gov^tIt is from that Quarter that all our Fine Schemes are im-
ported, to the Proceedings of the Assembly of that Province
& a tew evil disposed Persons among ourselves I am en-
debted for all the Trouble that I have at times met with.
It is not enough for them to be a Democracy themselves but
they would willingly have their neighbours in the same Situa-
tion; however I congratulate myself on being vested with a
Power which M^r Denny wants, & I flatter myself that by my
Steadiness & Integrity I shall convince every Man of common
Understanding among us that the Peoples Liberty & Prop-
erties would become very precarious if the Lower House of
Assembly was alone to possess all the Power that is now dis-
tributed among the several Branches of our Legislature.
Among the other Papers which you will herewith receive is

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Correspondence of Governor Sharpe, 1757-1761

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