x Letter of Transmission.

In recording the results of yea and nay votes, it was customary to place the
majority first, whether it were affirmative or negative.

On September 5, the House voted, 9 to 39, not to give presents to the Six
Nations of Indians. The affirmative votes were Barnes of St. Mary's, the
Greshams of Kent, Stoughton and Dennis of Somerset, Colvil of Cecil, Joseph
Hall of Baltimore, Sprigg of Prince George's, and Gordon of Annapolis. It is
difficult to find party lines here.

On the same day, the House voted 31 to 17 to place in the fee bill fees
one fifth less than the former ones. The negative votes were chiefly of the
Country party, which now for some time lost control of the body: George
Wilson of Kent, all the Anne Arundel members, except Henry Hall, the three
Calvert men present, the Goldsboroughs of Talbot, Hooper and Lecompte of
Dorchester, all the three Prince George's men, Bordley of Annapolis, and
Thomas Hammond of Queen Anne's.

In a third division on that day, the fees were fixed at nine pounds of tobacco
for copying a side, by a vote of 32 to 16. The vote was curiously different
from the preceding one. The majority were strange bedfellows and the
minority consisted of Barnes of St. Mary's, the Greshams of Kent, Courts of
Charles, all four Somerset members, Ennalls of Dorchester, all the members
trom Cecil except Hyland, John Hall and Buchanan of Baltimore, Gordon of
Annapolis and Outten of Worcester—in general Proprietarians. On Septem-
ber 6, the House, by 23 to 25, refused to reconsider this vote and Abell and
Bond of St. Mary's, Sheridine and Paca of Baltimore, Thomas Wilkinson
of Queen Anne's, as well as Purnell and Selby of Worcester changed their
vote, most of them being Proprietarians.

At the next division, on September 11, the Lower House voted to have a
composition for quit-rents, by a vote of 31 to 17. The negative vote was
largely of the Country party: Bond of St. Mary's, all four Anne Arundel
members, all four from Calvert, William Wilkinson of Charles, Nicholas
Goldsborough of Talbot, Sheredine and Paca of Baltimore, the three Prince
George's men and Bordley of Annapolis. By exactly the same vote, the house
voted that the composition should be £5000 and not £4500, but Lloyd of
Talbot changed from affirmative to negative and Paca of Baltimore from
negative to affirmative. A third division, on that day, resulted in a decision,
17 to 31, not to insert alienation fines in the quit rent bill. The votes were cast
just as before.

On September 12, the yeas and nays were called six times, a number never
before reached in Maryland. When the question arose as to whether a duty
should be laid on other commodities than tobacco, the House divided evenly,