Letter of Transmission. xix

during a debate in the House. On June 2, complaint was made concerning the
oppressive conduct of the under sheriffs in Charles County. They were sum-
moned before the House, censured on June 9 and obliged to pay costs.

On June 3, the House voted not to take notice in the Fee Bill of the Ex-
aminer General's fees. The vote was 20 to 26 and was an anti-Proprietary
triumph. The delegates from St. Mary's and Annapolis, all from Kent except
Wilson, the two Somerset men present, Harrison of Charles, George and

Bayard of Cecil, Thomas of Talbot, Addison of Prince George's, Henry of

Worcester, and all the Dorchester men, except Lecompte, voted for inclusion
of the fees.

On June 4, a report was made concerning the unfinished Governor's house,
and the House voted, 25 to 8, that Gov. Bladen had not complied with the law
as to that house. Over a dozen delegates had gone home. The St. Mary's
delegation divided (Key and Barnes defending the Governor, who was also
upheld by the Greshams, Hammond of Anne Arundel, the two Somerset dele-
gates and Scarborough of Worcester).

On June 5, in a very small house, a bare quorum of 28 being present, the
members voted, 10 to 18, that " the Public " should pay the expenses of sending
for certain delegates. The Anne Arundel men (except Worthington), Smith
of Calvert, Sheredine and Buchanan of Baltimore, Hopper of Queen Anne's,
Addison of Prince George's, Dulany of Annapolis, and Scarborough of
Worcester thought the men sent for ought to pay the expenses.

On that day, a report was made upon the imprisonment for debt of Rev.
Thomas Chase, Rector of St. Paul's Parish, on account of his being unable to
pay a judgment bond to his predecessor's widow. No especial relief was given
him, but a general statute was passed as to such bonds.

When the next division occurred on June 10, 44 members, out of 54, were
present and the House refused relief to Chase, by a vote of 17 to 27. The vote
for his relief was largely anti-Proprietarian: Wilson of Kent, Hall and
Carroll of Anne Arundel, Smith and Mackall of Calvert, Smallwood and
Harrison of Charles, Hyland and Pearce of Cecil, all the Talbot members
except Thomas, Sheredine and Paca of Baltimore, Hammond of Queen Anne's,
Hooper of Dorchester, and Stoddert of Prince Georges.

No further division took place until June 16, when it was determined that,
to prevent fraud, four shillings (and not two) should be exacted at each deliv-
ering out a hogshead of tobacco. The vote was 31 to 16 and the minority was
comprised of anti-Proprietarians: the Anne Arundel delegation, Smith and
Mackall (the only Calvert men present), the Goldsboroughs, Buchanan and
Paca of Baltimore, Hammond of Queen Anne's, Wootton of Prince George's,