Appendix. 659

Whereof 1 doe direct & Require of you that no such Officers for
the future be appointed w^thout Your Privity or Concent, or the
Governour for the time being and to be removed at .Pleasure, & of
this Our Instruction you are to Acquaint the Secretary & Commis-
sary and to take Care it be Complyd with.
2^dly You are to suffer no Law relating to the Paper Currency to
pass without Sending the said Tax over first for my perusal, it Being
Absolutely necessary for the Trade of his Majestys Subjects here
to Consult w^th them on that Head
You are to Cause these our Instructions to be Entered in the Jour-
nail of the Counsell
Given under Our hand and Seal at London this Twenty Eighth
day of Decem^r in the Twenty ninth Year of our Dominion over the
said Province Annoq Domini 1743
By his Lordships Command Jn^o Browning, Secretary

Calvert
Paper 295 1/2

The usual Way of Raising Money in Maryland for the Defence
of the Province & to defray other Publick Charges ever since the
Province was settled has been by a Levy or Assessment on all the
Taxable Inhabitants.
All Persons both White, Black & Mulattoes, that are Sixteen
Years old or upwards except White Women are accounted Taxables.
In the Month of June every Year the several Constables are obliged
to go to all the Housekeepers in their respective Hundreds & to de-
mand from each of them a List of the Taxables residing in his or
her Family, at the ensuing Court the Constables return those Lists
to the Clerks of their respective Counties, afterwards each Clerk
makes out one List of all the Taxables in his County & returns it
under the Seal of his Office to the Clerk of the Council & a Copy
thereof to the Secretary's Office. When the Legislature meet &
agree upon the sum to be raised, they pass the Act for raising it by
the Mode above mentioned viz. by a Poll Tax, in Consequence
thereof, the several Sheriffs at the Time of Collection (which is in
the Months of May & June) demand from the several Housekeepers
& other Freemen within their several Counties the Poll Tax that is
leviable on them according to the Number of Taxable Persons that
are in their Families.
For the Trouble of Collecting the Sheriffs are impowered to re-
tain in their own hands a Commission of Six p C^t The Remainder
they are by the Condition of their Office Bonds obliged to pay into
the hands of the publick Treasurers, who are accountable to the Gen-
eral Assembly.
As the Number of Taxables in the several Families is in general
proportionable to the Fortunes or Estates of the People (the Estates
in Maryland consisting for the most part in Negroes & Land, This
Mode of Taxation has been adhered to as equitable & it is by far the
easiest Way of raising Money that can be proposed

Calvert
Paper

No. 405