Correspondence of Governor Sharpe. 253

Resolutions accordingly. The Upper House on their part
insist that such Allowance ought in reason to be made, & that
they will not pass the Journal without it, while the Lower say
that if he ought to be paid for his Services he should be satis-
fied out of the Duty on Tobacco for Support of Government
& the Fines & Forfeitures. By the Messages that pass't
between the Two Houses on this Subject (if I can get them
copied time enough to be herewith sent for they are pretty long)
you will see what was advanced at this time by each House
in support of their respective Resolutions. At the time the
Affair of the Journal was depending a Number of People came
to Town from the Upper Part of this County & Prince Georges
in order as it was given out to make the Upper House pass
the Journal without any Allowance to the Clerk of the Council
but after a Day or two they all dispersed & tho it had been
intimated that they would compel M^r Ross to relinquish his
Claim or pull down his House which terrified him so much
that he desired the Upper House to wave it they committed
no Act of Violence whatever nor did the Upper House think
fit to take any notice of their being in Town or to alter their
Measures at all on that Account. The Truth is that from the
People's succeeding so far by their riotous Meetings & Pro-
ceedings in the several Colonies as to force the Persons who
had been appointed Destributors of the Stamps to resign their
Offices they begin to think they can by the same Way of Pro-
ceeding accomplish any thing their Leaders may tell them they
ought to do, & really I know not whether the Civil Power in
any of the Colonies will be sufficient of itself to re-establish
Order & enforce the Observance of the Laws at least for
sometime & yet if any Person here should on that Account
urge the Expediency of applying for any Military Force he
would be deemed an Enemy to his Country & be treated
accordingly. In my Letter dated the 11^th of last Month I told
you that altho the People of this Province seem'd determined
against receiving the Stamp't Paper the Courts payd so much
respect to the Act of Parliament as not to proceed to do any
Business wherein the Act directed Stamp't Paper to be used,
& the Conduct of the Courts & all the Officers hath been ever
since the same except in one Instance where the Justices of
Frederick County being met in order to lay the County Levy
& adjust how much each Person was to pay towards the Cur-
rent Charges of the County for the last year directed the
Clerk to enter Bail on behalf of a person who had been
arrested & was in the Sheriffs Custody: M^r Darnall the Clerk
refusing to do so unless Stamp't Paper could be procured the
Court deem'd his Refusal a Contempt & would have com-
mitted him had he not complied with their Order, but they did

Letter Bk. IV