of the Council of Maryland. 61

[Council to the Commissioners for Baltimore Town]

Gentlemen We received your Letter of the 14^th Ins^t and should
have attended to it sooner, had not other Business of Consequence,
that then lay before us, required our immediate Notice. We lament
that in the Execution of the Act for the immediate Supply &^ca the
Utility of which is recognized by every Friend to his Country, you
should be embarrassed with so many Difficulties. Little did we
expect the Commissioners of Baltimore Town would have met with
Opposition from any of its Inhabitants, in their Endeavours under

Liber C C

No. 22

the Act to procure Supplies for the Army, and less did we think any
should be found so destitute of real Patriotism, as to bid Defiance to
the supreme Authority of the State and the Officers appointed to
execute the Law, that the Rest who have nobly distinguished them-
selves in the Cause of Freedom and indicated a sincere and inviolable
Attachment to their Country and Love for the Army, would with a
Criminal Indifference, stand by and suffer the Officers of the State
to be insulted and the Act, made for the professed and laudable Pur-
pose of relieving the Army, suspended by arbitrary Power. We can-
not suppose that the Inhabitants of the Town, whose Courage and
Magnanimity were never questioned with Impunity, were deterred
from rendering their Aid to the Commissioners, by the impotent
Threats of a Few Individuals, of repelling Force, by Force, nor can
we think they possess so little Discernment as to allow themselves
to be imposed on by the shallow Artifices mentioned in your Letter,
that the Commissioners had no Authority to impress Waggons in
the Country from whence it is inferred that they had no Power to
seize Flour purchased for the French: this must be the Conclusion,
or it could have no Relation to the Subject. That if the Flour was
seized, the Inhabitants would perish! Were the Inhabitants to be
supplied with that Flour? if they were, it was an Infringement of
the Law and liable to be seized. M^r Smith cannot despise our Opin-
ion more than we contemn his Conduct, which we esteem highly
reprehensible, because it leads to Anarchy and Confusion and has a
palpable Tendency to defeat or elude a Law founded on the most
evident Necessity, the Execution of which the public Safety requires.
On the most mature Consideration of the Business referred to us,
we find no Reason to recede from our former Advice and Instruction
and for your Satisfaction we will repeat so much as respects the pres-
ent Subject. We think Flour and Wheat purchased for the French,
liable to Seizure, and therefore would advise you to seize and secure
such and to take a particular Account of the Quantity of each and
the Person in whose Possession Seized. We are more particular
because we are Solicitous to ascertain the Quantity of Flour and
Wheat purchased in this State under the Pretext of acting as Agents
for the French. We instruct you not to transport the Flour and
Wheat purchased for the French, until you receive our further In-

p. 56