x Letter of Transmission.

will of the Assembly towards Governor Bladen was shown by their voting a
tax on tobacco exported from the Province to provide for his support and by
passing a new act for building a governor's house, under which act the structure
was begun which is now McDowell Hall in St. John's College.

The Proprietary had vetoed an act tor the assessment and payment of public
dues passed in 1741, but news of the dissent did not arrive in the Province, until
the Sheriffs had collected a large part of the tax levied by that law. The
Assembly promptly passed, and Bladen signed early in the Session, an act which
comes very close to a nullification of the Proprietary's action.

The members of the Lower House straggled in more slowly than usual and
it was nearly the end of September, when all had arrived. The attendance at
the divisions was good, however, and the general harmony between the two
Houses caused an unusually large amount of legislation to be enacted.

One new County, Worcester, was established out of the seaboard portion of
Somerset County and two new parishes were formed: All Saints' being consti-
tuted out of the western portion of Prince George's Parish in Prince George's
County and St. Thomas' out of St. Paul's Parish, in the backwoods of Balti-
more County.

Bladensburgh, in Prince George's County, was laid out and named in honor
of the Governor. Charlestown was laid out on North East River in Cecil
County, in the expectation that it would become the county seat, and Snow Hill
Town was laid out anew to become the county seat of the new Worcester
County.

The law for the speedy recovery of small debts, the act for the relief of poor
debtors, and that for the relieving of the colonists from aggrievances in the
prosecution of suits at law were revived, while an important act, passed for
the advancement of justice, was intended to diminish delays and undue techni-
cality in the court proceedings. The same law fixed the appearance fees of
attorneys.

Another act, which did not receive the Proprietary's approval, provided for
the trial of matters of fact in the several counties where they should arise, in
order to prevent the parties from being compelled to attend the Provincial Court
in Annapolis. This act provided a method of selecting jurors.

The act for repairing damages in Provincial and County Records received a
supplement and a continuance of actions in the Provincial Court was granted,
as the concurrent legislative session conflicted with its sessions.

Sheriffs were forbidden to continue the ill practice of demanding tobacco,
instead of bills of credit or coin, in payment of taxes and other legal dues—
a proof that a considerable part of the Province was not engaged in raising
the staple crop. A similar act, caused by the emergency of a poor crop of