x Preface.

to the Assembly in 1721 the Governor was able to express his great

pleasure "that those little heats which lately disturbed you are now
happily at an end."

Of the important legislation accomplished during the period com-
prised in this volume, the session of 1721 witnessed the passage of an
Act for Preventing the Making of Trashy Tobacco, and for Bettering
the Staple of the Province, and in the following February (1721/2) a
special session of the Assembly was called for the purpose of making
some amendments to the Act in order to render it more effective.
The need for legislation upon this subject was urgent. The quality
of the tobacco shipped from Maryland had deteriorated, and its price
had consequently declined. Considerable quantities had been con-
demned in England and ordered to be burned, greatly to the loss both
of the owners and of the royal revenues from the import duty. Both
the Governor and the Propriefary urged the vital importance of im-
proving the quality of the staple, and as an encouragement thereto the
latter consented to continue to accept a duty upon tobacco in lieu of his
quit rents upon land, although the duty was levied upon the hogshead
and a diminution in the quantity of shipments resulting from the main-
tenance of a higher standard in quality would correspondingly reduce
his revenue.

This reform was, however, unpopular with the representatives of
the people, and at the session of 1722, the Lower House made attempts
first to repeal, and then to nullify the Act. These efforts were defeated
by the Upper House.

The session of 1723 was a prolonged one, and was notable for the
enactment of two measures of important constructive legislation; first,
the creation of Circuit Courts for the trial of all matters of fact as well
as all criminal cases in the counties in which they arose, thus relieving
the Provincial Court of its criminal jurisdiction and the people of much
hardship from the expense and delay incident to attendance upon that
court; and secondly, the passage of an Act for the establishment of a
Free School in every county of the Province.¹

In an instruction from Lord Baltimore to the Governor dated March
19, 1722, and laid before the Assembly at the session of 1723, it was
denied that the Statutes of England had the force of law in Mary-

¹ The Free School at Annapolis was established in 1696. An Act passed at the session of
1715 for vesting in the Rector, Governors and Visitors of the Free Schools title to certain land
in Annapolis, was classed as a private act in the journals and therefore was not included
among the laws of the session printed in Volume XXX of the Archives. The text of the
Act is given, however, in Bacon's Laws of Maryland at Large, being Chapter V of the session
laws.