Correspondence of Governor Sharpe. 5

there are few in the Lower House who would not accept;
Besides, the Farmers must then as they do now, give good
security for their faithfull discharge of their Duty, you will
perceive too, by this Plan the Sheriffs & Farmers Comissions
are to be put into different hands for the sake of Extending
the Influence. And indeed, either of them with attending at
the same time to his own private affairs, is full Employm^t for
any one Man ; (but with reserve ag^t alteration of the Sheriffs
as aforesaid) Those two Comissions with those of the Deputy
Comissaries & Deputy Surveyors, I have already observed
should be sacredly applyed to the purpose of stripping the
Leaders in the Lower House of their followers, & never
Employed to any other purpose or given to any other Person's
than Members of that House or their Brothers or Sons, but
when there can be found none there worthy of that favour.
By three years of this course of proceeding, it would be gen-
erally understood to be the Resolution of the Goverment
(without its being mentioned, which it might not be proper to
do) to bestow those places amongst the most deserving of
that House & when it once comes to be found that getting
into that House & behaving there with prudence & Modera-
tion, is a certain & the only introduction to those Comissions,
You will have People who are now very Indifferent about
getting there, pushing to be chose with this very view.
The foregoing Plan Supposes that these favours are to be
Earned before they are obtained & indeed it is much more
safe & prudent that these Gentlemen should trust to the
Honour of the Goverment than that the Goverment should
trust to their Gratitude; for it is known from experience, that
of the Numbers who have been trusted with these places,
before they have done any thing to deserve them, there is
scarce one but what has upon quitting his office, flowen in the
face of the Goverment.
It is highly proper too, for the excecution of this plan, that
the Goverment should have some one Person at least in that
House on whom they can depend, as a Leader to collect &
direct the well Inclined ; Or, since they must have some Per-
son upon whose Shoulders they may lean, they will too fre-
quently for want of other support, fall in with the patriot
Leaders ; And this I conceive to be the great difficulty, both
in chosing such as may be trusted & in rewarding his Ser-
vices, without at the same time rendering him so unpopular
as to lose his Seat in that House upon a New Election. How-
ever, it is to be hoped every new Election may afford some
one or more, proper to take upon them the Management of
the Goverments Interest there, who may be content with one
of those Comissions at the Expiration of their Service.

Calvert
Papers.