xviii Preface.

Governor's salary being also renewed. That festering sore of injustice, the
treatment of persons in jail, many of them for no crime but merely because
of debt, was revealed in its full hideousness by a committee report, but to the
disgrace of the Provincials, no step was taken to remedy conditions and
the Upper House, in its desire to assure the creditors of their rights, refused
to release from confinement some unfortunate men whom the Lower House
recommended for such leniency by granting them private bankruptcy laws.
Complaint was made that the militia were not properly trained, and that there
were abuses in the issuing of warrants in the Land Office.

This is the first session of the Lower House for which the record of
the yea and nay votes is extant. There are 20 divisions reported. The.
speaker never voted. The roll was called by counties, according to the date
of their formation, as now. For some reason, however, Somerset was placed
out of its chronological order, after Charles. On July 21, when there was a
vacancy from Annapolis, on the division over the Revenue Bill, 48 members
voted. As there were 12 counties, each returning four members, and the
City of Annapolis, returning two, the total number of members was 50, when
there were no vacancies. Toward the end of the session, members began to go
home, and at a division on August 7 only 34 voted. The last division on
August 8 recorded 37 names.

The divisions were upon six main subjects, i. On July 12, it was voted to
print the yeas and nays, by a vote of 29 to 17. I can find no particular signifi-
cance in the alignment of members in this division. 2. On July 17, the House
voted, 26 to 21, to have trashy tobacco burnt and on July 19, reversed this vote
in a manner, by refusing, 21 to 26, to pass a bill to prevent exportation of
trashy tobacco. In these divisions, the Eastern and Western Shores separated.
In the earlier vote, all the Western delegates except one from St. Mary's and
two from Baltimore, voted for the drastic measure, while only one from Talbot,
one from Somerset and two from Queen Anne's joined them, from the Eastern
Shore. In the later vote, one from Kent also voted in the affirmative, but one
from Queen Anne's changed to the negative, and another St. Mary's man, two
from Calvert, and one from Charles voted against the destruction. 3. On
July 12, the House voted, 12 to 32, not to exempt delegates from service in the
Assizes. The affirmative votes were from St. Mary's, Calvert, Charles, and
Queen Anne's, with a scattering one from Baltimore and from Prince George's.
On July 21, by one majority, 22 to 23, the House voted not to bring in a bill
to punish bribery at elections. Most of the affirmative votes came from the
Eastern Shore, viz.: Kent i, Talbot 3, Dorchester 3, Cecil 3, Somerset 4, Queen
Anne's 2. 4. The Revenue Bill caused a division on July 21, when the House
voted, 16 to 32. not to consider it. On July 24, it voted not to alter the 12 pence