The Upper House. 83

Laws for regulating the Militia, not " being sufficiently clear in their
" Directions about distributing our Arms and Ammunition through-
" out the several Counties, and the Colonels not being willing or
" obliged to make themselves Answerable for them, and there being
" no place of any strength or Security in this City to lodge them in,
" I was very desirous of having- your Advice and Assistance in an
" Affair of so very great Importance to the province "
In your Address of the 16^th of May instead of giving a direct ans^r
to this you assured me you would deliberately consider of any Propo-
sition I should make for the better distribution and Security of the
" Provincial Arms and Ammunition, and give any Advice and As-
" sistance in that Affair as you should think agreeable to me, and con-
" ducive to the Welfare of the Province "
Upon this I gave you my Opinion that the Safety of the Countrey
could never be sufficiently provided for without one good Magazine
at least, of such Strength, as might effectually secure Our Arms and
Ammunition, from whence they might be distributed from time to

U. H. J.

time, as our Occasions require, at the same time I recommended to
you to consider the Insufficiency of Our Militia Laws, as to any
Obligation upon either Officers, or private men, to take the Field,
and behave as they ought to do in defence of their Country against
an invading Enemy
To this you answered in Your Address of the 4^th of June, " that
you would very willingly have entered upon the Consideration of
these Matters was there any Probability of having the Result of that
Consideration pass into a Law that Session, if such Law should be
thought necessary " But what prevents you now Entring upon the
Consideration of an Affair of such Importance to the Province, you
have not yet acquainted me, tho' I have recommended it to you again
this Session
Gentlemen
If you consider what I have now offered to you with Attention and
Candour, you will easily Judge in what manner you have dispatched
the Bills for his Majestys Service, which I recommended to have the
first place in your Proceedings, and how far short you have come of
what might have been reasonably hoped for, and what may be further
necessary for you to do to Answer the just Expectations of the
Government
I shall not deny but that some of the Laws that now lie before the
Upper House may be of Use to the Country in some respects tho'
they are inconvenient in others But a provision for the defence of the
Province must at all times be absolutely necessary for in case of an
Invasion from a foreign Enemy, without Our being in a condition
to Oppose them, We may be effectually deprived of the Benefit of all
Our Laws whatsoever

p. 92