of the Council of Safety, 1775-76. 369

received no other Letters from the Ministry but what he gave
us up and which we sent you Copies of; We examined his
Bureau and Closet and found several Letters in them from
him to Administration and his Friends in England wherein he
represents this Province in a favorable Point of View.
We were not without our Suspicions that a Plan had been
concerted by the two Persons you mention, and have deter-
mined, if possible, to get to the Bottom of it — and for that Pur-
pose on Saturday last, before the Receipt of your Express,
issued our Order to M^r Samuel Purviance Chairman, M^r W^m
Lux, Deputy Chairman, and M^r George Lux Clerk of the
Committee of Observation for Baltimore County, to appear
before us this Day, and to bring with them all the Proceed-
ings, papers, Letters, orders, Entries, Instructions &^c relative
to the intercepted Letters — we are resolved to have a full and
open Examination of the Affair and shall then cheerfully submit
our Conduct to the Public.
We consider the Authority of the whole Province trampled
upon and insulted (if not conspired against) and having your
Letters holding forth the same Sentiment, we have thought it
advisable, as we know not to what Lengths this Matter may
be carried, to call a Convention to be held at the City of
Annapolis on Tuesday the seventh of May next, at which
Time we shall be glad to see all the Gentlemen-Deputies, that
can be spared from Congress. We shall endeavour to have
all our Proceedings ready to lay before them on the first Day
of their Meeting, and shall submit to them whether our Con-
duct has been either timid, inactive, or in any other particulars
unjustifiable.
Our Proceedings with the Governor are such, as are in our
Opinions in every Respect defensible; we are convinced from
his Declarations and Answers & from his Manner of behaving
to us, that he will not leave the Province, little Minds might
have been gratified with actual Imprisonment and further
Severities, but we do not imagine the Congress meant any
such Outrage on Humanity. We have all the Advantages we
could have had, if we had committed him to the public Goal,
and we are persuaded many more. Nobody can believe that
we are courting the Governor at present: 'tis the Peace and
Happiness of the Province we wish to preserve, and we are
persuaded that it will be best done by keeping up the osten-
sible Form of our Chartered Constitution. We feel for you;
the Insult offered by M^r Hancock in not admitting you to his
Presence must have been grating — our Province is the Object
of Attention, and we are to be plunged into all the Horrors of
Anarchy, only to gratify a few individuals out of Congress.
However we shall still persevere in doing our Duty with

C. S. C.