374 Correspondence of Governor Sharpe.

Letter Bk. IV

Mannours that nothing in those Settlements whatever might
have been reported of them could restrain your Ldp as you
are at present circumstanced from selling the Mannours the
Settlements having been often mentioned in the Province tho
Nobody here had before seen them nor could positively say
how far they were intended to operate. Being apprehensive
from the surprize your Ldp expresses at a Letters being
sent to M^r Calvert relative to Ann Arundel Mannour that you
are displeased at its having been wrote I think it necessary to
inform your Ldp that the Commissioners were unanimously of
opinion M^r Calverts Conduct made such a Step necessary else
I am sure I should not have applied to him nor did we consider
it as making Application for his Leave or Consent. The
Reasons that induced the Commissioners to advertize the Sale
of that Mannour in the first place were that the Land was

valuable & likely to sell high & that by the Sale of that Man-

nour a considerable Sum might be raised at once & remitted
to your Ldp & as the Steward had already a Platt of the
several Tenements & the Mannour was not far from Annapolis
we could more easily & speedily know the Value of the Land
& the Improvements thereon & how every Tenement was
held or circumstanced ; At the time we advertized it for Sale
we never expected the least Obstruction would be given
thereto by M^r Calvert for M^r Dulany then said he had under-
stood from M^r Calvert himself that he had for his part dropt
all Pretensions to it, but soon after it was advertized M^r
Jordan heard that M^r Calvert had cautioned People against
purchasing ; sensible how prejudicial such a Report would be
to the Sale & at the same time concluding from what M^r
Dulany had said that M^r Calvert when applied to would
disavow the having given such Cautions we thought it expe-
dient & for your Ldp's Interest to call on him to declare
whether he had done so or not, that if he should deny the
Accusation we might produce his Letter at the Sale & if he
avowed it that we may put off the Sale till we could inform
Ourselves more certainly of his Pretensions & be able to
answer such questions as we expected the Purchasers would
ask in case the Mannour was set up. As your Ldp will long
before this comes to hand have received a joint Letter from
the Commissioners wrote in Consequence of M^r Dulanys
Opinion upon a Perusal of the State that was transmitted by
M^r Hamersley to M^r Jordan I shall not trouble your Ldp
again on the Subject, neither M^r Jordan nor I can pretend to
understand much of the Law we must therefore rely much on
M^r Dulanys Opinion which indeed will also have great Weight
& Influence with such as may be inclined to become Pur-
chasers. As your Ldp in your Letter of the 6^th of Nov^r