The Upper House. 301

An Address of the Upper House of Assembly presented to

his Honour the Governour by Col William Holland one of
their Members Viz.

February the 28^th 1721

To the Honourable Charles Calvert Esq^r Govern^r of the
Province of Maryland

The Humble Address of the Upper House of Assembly
May it please your Honour.
Your Honours Asserting his Lordships undoubted Right of
discharging any of the members of his Lordship's Honble
Council from acting as such (of which we never in the least
doubted) together with your acquainting us that you had a
particular Instruction from his Lordship relating to M^r
Bordley and a full Power to dismiss him, thereby to convince
us of the Legality of the Discharge; induces us to apprehend
that your Honour resents our making it a Question in our
answer to your Speech, at the Opening of this Session, whether
He were legally discharged or not. And therefore in the
humblest manner we think it our Duties to represent to your
Honour that We could not well answer the Question pro-
posed to us without that Reserve. For as your Honour had
never been pleased to communicate to us, either the Reasons
for discharging M^r Bordley, the manner of doing it, or the
Power his Lordship had given you for that purpose, and for
that his being a Member of the Upper House of Assembly
depended upon that of his being at the same Time of the Coun-
cil; we could not give an Answer to the one without making it
conditional with Respect to the other, So that we hope you will
not interpret that Sentence, as questioning his Lordships
Power but only intimating our own Uncertainty of what was
done in Relation to M^r Bordley. And to prevent any such
occasions of misunderstandings for the future, We make it
our humble Request that when at any Time hereafter you shall
think fit to propose any thing to us relating to the discharge of
our Duty as Counsellours, you will be pleased at the same
Time to acquaint us with all the Circumstances relating to it ;
otherwise it will not only be impossible for us to give proper
and pertinent Advice, but we shall be likewise oblig'd to return

U. H. J.

ambiguous Answers. We think that we have just Reason to
hope you will be thus free with us because we are under the
sacred Obligation of an Oath, not to divulge any secret you
shall be pleased to reveal to us as Counsellors though it should
relate to any one of the Council, And we are not Conscious that
we have at any Time so behaved ourselves in that Station, as
to induce you to Suspect our Fidelity. For we do Assure

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