424 Assembly Proceedings, April 23-June 5, 1740.

U. H. J.
Calvert
Paper

No. 735

Mess^rs Hanson & Matthews from the Lower House acquaint his
Excellency their House hath made Choice of a Speaker
Edmund Jenings Esq^r and Col Hammond are sent to the Lower
House to inform them His Excellency requires their Attendance
in the Upper House to present their Speaker for his Approbation
The whole House attend and present Philip Hammond Esq^r as
their Speaker with which Choice his Excellency declares himself well
pleased whereupon his Excellency makes the following Speech

p. 2

Gentlemen of the Upper and Lower Houses of Assembly
I proposed to have deferred calling you together for some time in
hopes of an Opportunity of laying before you an Answer from Our
Lord Proprietor to the Address of the Lower House Ordered to be
presented to him at Our last Meeting, but His Lordship having been
pleased to acquaint me, by the last Letter I have received from him,
that he had not heard any thing of the said Address, I was loath to
pass over the usual time of Our Meeting in Assembly, being very
well satisfied, that the true Interest of the Province can never be
pursued but by a good Agreement between the several Parts of the
Legislature, which I shall always endeavour to cultivate as much as
lies in my Power, by frequently calling you together, and making all
such reasonable Compliances with Your Desires, as are consistent
with the Trust reposed in me by his Majesty, and the Lord Pro-
prietor
And I must earnestly recommend Temper and Moderation on
Your Parts, that all Heats and Animosities may be avoided as much
as possible: This is necessary to judge rightly in the most trivial
Affairs of Life, and much more so in those of Weight, and Moment
under Our Consideration in a Legislative Capacity; the making of
Laws, for the real Advantage of those who are to be bound by them,
being a Task not easily to be performed, even by Men of the very
best Understandings, without a reasonable Degree of Thought and
Attention
If We have the Misfortune to differ in Opinion upon any Point,
it is cool and temperate Reason only that can bring us to a right
Understanding, and indeed with This I cannot well conceive how any
of Our Differences should prove irreconcileable, for the Interest of
the Proprietor depends so plainly and evidently upon the Prosperity
of the Province, that it is impossible for any Man of Understanding
to imagine him not to have it sincerely at heart; On the other hand,
as the Safety of the People, and the Security of their Property are
owing to the Protection of the Govern^t it is certainly their Interest,
as well as Duty, to give it a reasonable and proper Support; And I
hope that the Duties appropriated to this Use, and to the purchasing
of Arms and Ammunition for the Defence of the Province, will be