Correspondence of Governor Sharpe. 433

has been some times Occupied by Two Persons Jointly, or to
the Place of Naval Officer of Patuxent, till the Receipt of
your Excellencys Letter mentioning the disposition you had
made of those Two Offices. The Impropriety of the Receiver's
holding the Keepership of the Rent Roll (which was intended
as a Constitutional Check upon him) has now turned his
Lordships Eyes to that Employment, and to that or any other
now Vacant, or which may become so, either in Conse-
quence of any Resignation of M^r Loyd, or of any new regula-
tions to be proposed by the Commissioners, or by any other
Accident his Lordship desires and expects M^r Alien may be
immediately Promoted, and the better it is & the sooner it
reaches him, his Lordship will be the better pleased, for he
has very much and deservedly engaged his Lordships atten-
tion and regard. In perusing Bacon's Edition of the Laws I
Observe there is an Act of Assembly made in 1704 for the
Advancement of Natives and Residents, which Incapacitates
any Person from holding an Office without a previous Three
years Residence, but with an Exception of Commissions flow-
ing immediately from her Majesty her Heirs and Successors.
The Government was at this time in the Crown, and I take it
to be now Settled, that the Lord Proprietary is to be Consid-
ered in loco Regis in all the Acts where the Crown is named,
and consequently the Exception will apply to the Grants to be
made by his Lordship, as it did to those of the Crown. His
Lordship has therefore Executed an immediate Commission
under his own Hand and Seal in favor of M^r Alien. Leaving
the particular Employ in blank to be filled up by your Excel-
lency as soon as it Arrives, according to what shall then Offer,
and your Excellency will please to receive it, as an Actual
immediate Commission, or as Instructions from his Lordship
for the particular Commission, as you will find it most effec-
tual to answer his Lordships Intentions.
His Lordship never hinted to me, during M^rGoldsborough's
long Illness, any Intention that M^r Walter Dulany should be
his successor, and your Excellency knows how he came to be
Called to the Council, as he was an Entire Stranger to his
Lordship. I mentioned in my Letter of 20. July that he had
been then named to his Lordship in case of a Vacancy by
Mess^rs Hanbury, and he has been since recommended by M^r
William Anderson, but to this 10^th of November neither of
the Brothers have wrote a word to his Lordship or me about
him, nor have I had a Line from M^r Daniel Dulany for some
Months. His Lordship has not authorized me to say what
were his Intentions, in Case the Vacancy had been kept open
till his pleasure was signifyed, but though it may Lay him
under difficultys to do otherwise than Confirm what your