LETTER OF TRANSMISSION
ROOMS OF THE MARYLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY,

BALTIMORE, June 1, 1919.
To the Maryland Historical Society:
GENTLEMEN :

We have the honor to submit the Thirty-Ninth Volume of the Archives of
Maryland, consisting of the Acts and Proceedings of the General Assembly of
the Province, during the Sessions held from 1732/3 to 1736.

The Session Laws of 1732/3 and those of 1734/5 are printed from
photostatic copies of the printed Session Laws of those years made for us,
through the courtesy of the Library of Congress. The Proceedings of the
Upper House in 1734/5 and 1735/6 are printed from the Calvert Papers. The
remainder of the text is taken from the manuscript Journals in the Maryland
Archives. (The Calvert Papers also contain the Upper House Journal for the
session of 1733.) The Appendix contains certain papers which were omitted
in printing the Council volumes for this period. It also contains three acts
which, by a regrettable oversight, were not copied for Volume 38, viz: 1712,
chapter 12, for killing squirrels, 1713, chapter 14, for paying the public charge;
and 1723, chapter 7, for the relief of John Mackenzy. With these, it is believed
that the printing of early Maryland statutes is now complete. As to Maryland,
I believe the statement is true made, by Professor E. B. Greene in " Provincial
America, 1690-1740," in regard to the Colonies in general, (p. 67) " The
policy of the colonial assemblies, at its worst, expressed a narrow and particu-
laristic spirit, disregarding sound considerations or imperial policy; at its best,
it stood for the vital principle of local self-government, and for the protection
of legitimate American interests against a narrow British policy."

The Proceedings of the Lower House are found in printed form in the
New York Public Library for the Session of 1732/3. No other printed
Proceedings have been located. In 2 Opinions Attorney General of Maryland
245 (May 1, 1917), will be found an opinion by Attorney General Albert C.
Ritchie, in reference to the deposit of Liber B. L. C. (1731-1752) of Laws in
the Library of the Society. For the Session of 1732/3, we find many of the
original messages from the Lower to the Upper House, written on small scraps
of paper, still preserved in the manuscript Archives.

The Black Books also contain the following manuscripts of this period:
No. 3, p. 126, Amendments to the Bill for the support of the Governor, April 10,