viii Letter of Transmission.

voted for the bill to continue process in the courts, and 16 against it. (4) On
April 3,21 voted to continue the Revenue Bill, and 26 against such continuance.
(5) On April 4, on a motion for the previous question on an Address to the
Proprietary, 31 voted aye, and 15 no, and on the putting the question as to
whether the address be signed, 33 voted aye, and 14 no. (6) On April 4,
22 voted to lay a duty on New England spirits and 24 against such a duty. (7)
On April 5, 20 voted to agree to the Upper House Amendment to the Ordinary
Bill, and 25 not to do so. (8) On April 9, there were 35 votes against a duty
on arms, and only 9 for one. The affirmative votes seem to have been those
of the extreme Proprietary Party, viz: Hopewell, Blackiston, Dulany, Beale,
Ward, Scott, Gale, Dashiell, and Gordon. (9) On April 10, by a vote of 17 to
30, the Lower House decided not to cut the Assemblyman's allowance in half,
but to do away with any allowance whatever, and then, by a sudden overturn,
voting 29 to 17, postponed the whole subject to the next session. The negative
votes in the second division were, for the most part, those who had voted for
the diminution to one half, though four men changed on each side. It is
noteworthy that, although some divisions were close, the Speaker never had to
break a tie by his vote.

In addition to the long and important act for omitting bills of credit, an
important militia act was placed on the Statute book, insolvent debtors received
relief; money was appropriated for building a dwelling for the Governor, and
for his salary, and other acts provided for laying out Princess Anne Town,
Janssen Town at Elkridge Landing, and Benedict Leonardtown, and for
improving the upper Patuxent River.

The Session of 1733/4 was short, for, after six days, Governor Ogle
peremptorily dissolved the General Assembly, because the Lower House, by a
vote of 37 to 4, expelled Dulany and Beale, as delegates from Anne Arundel,
Gale from Somerset, and Gordon from Annapolis, because they had accepted
office from the Proprietary. The 4 negative votes were cast by Hopewell of
St. Mary's, Hooper of Dorchester, Ward of Cecil, and Dashiell of Somerset,
the last of whom I had classed with the Country party. (Upon the right of the
Proprietary to appoint to office under the charter, see opinion of Attorney
General Willes in 1736, in Chalmers' Opinions, p. 179. See also Baltimore's
Letter to Ogle in the Appendix.)

This Addled Parliament was succeeded in March 1734/5 by a new Assembly,
(the 43rd since the first settlement of the Province, if I count aright.) There
was not a great change in the membership. Hopewell of St. Mary's had been
succeeded by Key; Blackiston and Howard of Kent, by Harris and Kennard;
Beale of Anne Arundel, by Denton; Caldwell and Alien of Somerset, by
Stoughton and King; Benson of Talbot by Tench Francis; Brannock