|
1 704 3 Ann " It was Enacted, that no Person or Persons,
who have not made this Province their Residence for
the Space of three years shall have hold possess or
enjoy any Place or office of Trust or Profit within the
Same either by himself or Deputy except such Person
or Persons as shall have Immediate Commission from
her Majesty her Heirs & Successors, for any such Place
or office afd as also such person or persons now Pos-
sessed of any Such Place or office as afforesaid. But
that all and every her Majestys Principal officers within
this Province, having or that shall hereafter have
Authority by Virtue of any Commission from her Maj-
esty her heirs and Successors to him or them granted
to dispose of any Place or office whereof they have a
Right to dispose be obliged to make Choice of such
person or Persons as they shall think most worthy and
capable of executing such place or office as aforesaid,
out of the Inhabitants of this Province who have been
Resident during the Time and term aforesaid, (except
before excepted) any Custom or Usage to the Contrary
notwithstanding.
The Destination in this Act and the Act of 1701/2 is one &
the Same. No person is to be prefer'd to a place or office of
Trust but a Native or Resident for 3 years, by any of her Maj-
estys Principal officers Within the Province, but her Majestys
own Power and Prerogative in this Respect is declared to
stand on the same Footing it did before, as by An immediate
Commission from her Majesty her Heirs and Successors any
Such Place or office is tenable, Such is evidently the difference
with Respect to Pluralities where however the power of the
Governor or Commander in Chief Is abridg'd or circumscrib'd
(without a formal dispensation)
The King or Proprietary's Prerogative, as supreme Ordi-
nary remains even unquestioned, and my Lord Baltimores
extreme Delicacy and Tenderness With Regard to the Execu-
tion of his undoubted Authority in Relation to these Two
Acts of Assembly, as well as in all other Respects of Govern-
ment, are very Remarkable. So far from ever Infringing the
civil or religious Rights of the People, He has always wav'd
his natural & hereditary Rights and Privileges confirm'd By
positive Laws, and by name only is known to be Absolute. A
chief officers in the Province. I transcribe a whole Act to remove a
Vulgar Error similar to that which prevailed in Case of Pluralities. I
have often heard that no person but a Resident for 3 years, could hold a
place of office or trust, And took it for Granted with others, but there was
not a Syllable mentioned About immediate Comissions which would have
been Lookd upon as Illegal tho' Ratified by the Law that secured the
Privilege of Residents.
|
