420 Correspondence of Governor Sharpe.

Letter Bk. V

by the earliest Opportunity. I was indeed at first surprized a
little at the Secretary of States being so very particular &
minute in his Enquiries but as precise & express answers
were demanded for His Majesty's Information & Satisfaction
I thought it incumbent on Me to be as explicit & exact as
possible in my Answers to the Questions & hope Your Ldp
was of Opinion on the perusal thereof that I did no more than
was requisite & could not have declined giving such Answers
without appearing ignorant of Matters I could not be well
unacquainted with, besides I apprehended my giving Lord
Shelburn an Account of All the Money paid Annually by the
Inhabitants of this Province for Taxes Duties & Quit Rents
would serve to shew that they also bear some Burthen as well
as their Fellow Subjects in Great Britain. In the last Letter
I had the honour to address to Your Lordship I informed you
that we had again advertised the Sale of Ann Arundel Man-
nour to be on the first Inst & 1 have now the pleasure to tell
you that on that Day & yesterday We sold as many parcels
thereof as amount together to the quantity of 7104 5/8 Acres for
which the Purchasers are to pay the Sum of £8919 1 9 3/4 ster-
ling exclusive of the Six pence p^r Acre allowed for surveying
&c The Residue of the Mannour being 3576 2/8 Acres We
shall probably sell at private Sale when we return from Balti-
more Kent & Queen Annes Counties whither we are now
proceeding in order to set up the Mannours that lie in those
Counties. By way of Encouragement to the People that
attended the Sale of Ann Arundel Mannour to bid tho they
had not Bills of Excha or Cash enough in their Pockets to
deposit as the first payment for the Parcels they might choose
to purchase We thought it for Your Ldps Interest & there-
fore agreed to indulge All the Purchasers a few Days for
their first Payment, but by the first Ship that sails hence after
our Return Your Ldp may expect a Remittance for the
Amount of such first Payment. I now remit Your Ldp
inclosed Seconds of the Bills I transmitted the 30^th of July last
for £22 1 6 0 & £48 6 also Firsts of Exchange that have been
since paid as p^r the inclosed Minute for some Surplus Land
that upon Surveying it was found to lie in Collington Mannour
& for a part of the Tract in this County called Whites Plains.
One of the said Bills viz. Isaac Landsdales on Jn^o Buchanan
being for the Sum of £24 15 5 & the other Jn^o Cook's on
Perkins & Co for £5 9 1 & James Mitchell's on Jordan &
Maxwell for £16 9 11. The Agents Acounts to the 29 of
Sept^r last are now before us & we are preparing a State so as
to report thereon to Your Ldp when we return again to
Annapolis. I am My Ld &c.