Letter of Transmission. ix

The last previous Assembly was elected in 1734, four years previously, and
there were many changes, as the following list shows, in which the new mem-
bers are indicated by italics: St. Mary's, John Read, James Waughop, James
Swan, Thomas Aisquith; Kent, George Willson, Philip Kennard, Thomas
Smith, Charles Hynson; Anne Arundel, Daniel Dulany, Vachel Denton, Philip
Hammond, Samuel Smith; Calvert, John Mackall, Benjamin Mackall, Walter
Smith, James Weems; Charles, John Courts, William Middleton, Bayne Small-
wood, Robert Hanson; Somerset, Levin Gale, Robert King, William Stough-
ton, Robert Jenkins Henry; Talbot, Nicholas Goldsborough, William Thomas,
Ed-ward Lloyd, Robert Lloyd; Dorchester, Henry Hooper, Henry Trippe,
Bartholomew Ennals, John Brannock; Cecil, Joshua George, Thomas Colville,
William Rumsey, Alphonso Cosden; Baltimore, Thomas Sheredine, Roger
Matthews, John Moale, Richard Caswell; Prince George's, John Stoddert,
Edward Sprigg, John Magruder, Turner Wootton; Annapolis, Daniel Dulany
(later Robert Gordon), Charles Carroll; Queen Anne's, Grundy Pemberton,
Solomon Clayton, Edward Wright, Thomas Wilkinson. Each County returned
at least one new man and in all there were twenty-two of them, though Bran-
nock of Dorchester had served in a previous legislature. As there were three
Smiths and two Lloyds, it is difficult sometimes to identify the member to whom
reference is made.

Six Committees were appointed, four of which consisted of five members;
while two, which were considered more important, consisted of seven and
eight members, respectively. The Committee of Aggrievances and Courts oi
Justice summoned before it the sheriff and under-sheriff of Dorchester County
and certain justices of the Talbot County Court to answer charges of oppres-
sion and extortion and complained of the fact that the officers took fees, in
accordance with a Gubernatorical proclamation and not in accordance of law.
One of the Talbot County justices, John Leeds, was also convicted of contempt
of the House and, refusing to make the apology tendered him, was put in the
custody of the Sergeant-at-arms.

There were only two divisions. On May 17, it was decided that a bill should
not pass prohibiting the importation of horses, by the close vote of 22 to 23.
It is difficult to find the significance of this vote, though in general the Eastern
Shore (except Kent, Dorchester and Somerset Counties) opposed the bill,
giving fourteen negative votes; while the same number of votes from the
Western Shore were cast in the affirmative.

The second division was upon the continuance of sundry actions in the
Provincial Court which passed, by a vote of 25 to 14, on May 18. St. Mary's
and Dorchester each cast three negative votes and there were no negative