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Correspondence of Governor Sharpe. 427
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reason to believe that if I had declined to comply with their
Requests they would have applied directly to His Ldp or
Yourself in such Person's behalf; Few if any of these Recom-
mendations have been in favour of Assembly-Men & some of
the Persons recommended have proved very unworthy of the
Favours they obtained. Was it His Ldp's Pleasure to leave
the Disposal of all those Offices that are not bestowed on
Councillors entirely to Myself & to signify to those who may
apply to him that he is determined to take Notice of no Appli-
cations for Favour unless they come to him thro my hands, I
should flatter myself that in a few years many more of the
Delegates might be brought to act a moderate Part, but at the
same time I do not think that all the Offices which are in the
Gift or Disposal of the Ld Proprietary or his Deputy exclusive
of those which are enjoyed by Members of the Council are
sufficient to secure a Majority in the Lower House. As to
the Offices of Deputy Surveyors & Deputy Commissaries of
which there is one in each County they are of so little Value
(hardly three of them being worth more than £50 a year,
most of them not more than £30 & some not even £01 pr
Ann) that I am persuaded very few Members of the Assembly
who are capable of executing them (for many are not, nay can
scarcely write) would choose to resign their Seats in the
Lower House for such Offices tho they have been hitherto held
for Life or as long as the Persons on whom they have been
conferred behaved well & found themselves able to execute
them. Indeed since I have been in the Province the Sessions
of Assembly have been so frequent that every member who
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Letter Bk. IV
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attended has got much more a year for that Service (being
allowed at the Rate of fourteen Shillings a Day & Travelling
Charges) than the best of the abovementioned Offices are
worth: Who then among them would exchange their Places
in the Lower House for Trifling Offices & instead of being
Favourites of the People & (as they conceive themselves) Per-
sons of great Consequence, become as would certainly be the
Case obnoxious to most of their Neighbours & of no Conse-
quence at all. Besides according to your Plan these Offices
must be made triennial or else there would be none of them
to bestow on other Assembly men after the first & if they
were to be made triennial I am satisfied that scarcely a mem-
ber in the House would thank me for bestowing such Offices
on themselves or their Friends even without its being made a
Condition that they should in Consideration of their being so
rewarded give only one Vote contrary to their Inclinations.
I have you will perceive supposed that the fourteen Deputy
Commissaries as well as the fourteen Deputy Surveyors are
appointed by His Ldp's Lieutt Governor but this is not the
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p. 114
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