Correspondence of Governor Sharpe. 3

tive. When the Council shall be thus Constituted, I think
there cannot be much danger from the Noise & clamour that
any Lower House of Assembly may raise; But as the bare
preventing Mischiefs to the Proprietors rights & the interest
of the Province in General will tend very little to the further-
ance of both, it is worth considering whether the pretended
patriot Spirit & clamour of the Lower House, cannot be either
totally silenced, or rather directed towards the improvement
both of the interest & Honour of his Lordship & his Gover-
ment & of the prosperity and happiness of the people in
General. And here give Me leave to observe & to lay it
down as a Rule, that whatever Noise & clamour may be raised
under the appearance of consulting & promoting the Welfare
& happiness of the people, by their Representatives, 19 in 20
of these in fact only consult & intend their own private inter-
est ; & therefore by throwing out a Sop in a proper manner
to these Noisy Animals it will render them not only Silent, but
tame enough to bear Stroking & tractable enough to follow
any directions that may be thought fit to be given to them : I
would not be understood here to mean, the buying of those
who shall be pleased to call themselves Leaders, for besides,
that tho' they are in themselves really too insignificant &
worthless, yet would they demand and expect a very consid-
erable price, w^h when they had obtained they would be turned
out of the House, & could consequently be of no further ser-
vice ; and one would no sooner be bought off, than their num-
bers would be Increased by others starting up, with the very
view, from the example thus shown them ; but instead of this
I would take off their followers & leave the Leaders to
Explain either alone or with so Slender a Train as to prevent
their doing any Mischief, or obstructing any wise or Salutary
Measure; And this I think may be executed by the Means
the Goverment already have in their hands, even without Mul-
tiplying Officers for this purpose.
There are 58 Members of that House ; 14 Counties send
four each, & the City of Annapolis sends two. Now the buis-
siness is to find Baits for 30 of these ; which number is a clear
Majority, Supposing they were all to attend ; But it is very
rare by information that above two thirds are present, & not
above one Day in a Session that they Exceed 48. To answer
therefore this purpose, I would appropriate the 14 Sheriffs
places, which will undoubtedly secure 14 Members & may by
good Management of their Comissions secure double that
number; (But with this reserve ag^t appropriation of the Sher-
iffs in case it shall hurt the receipt of his Lordships Revenue)
There are 14 Farmers of his Lordships Quit-Rents, 14 Deputy
Comiss^rs and 14 Deputy Surveyours; all these places are con-

Calvert
Papers.