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October 9
Liber No. 78
p. 384
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Law directs, and accords with the Advantage of the State. As we do
not mean to contravert what can, with Propriety, be admitted, we
shall assent to the Position, that where a Department is committed
to a particular Person, such Person is responsible for the proper
Management of it; but under this Limitation; if he is a subordinate
Officer, and subject to the Controul of others, and is directed by
them, in all such Cases of Direction, they are answerable, and no
Blame can be imputed to him. That Part of the Act which prescribes
the Duty of the Intendant, directs him to consult and advise with the
Governor and Council, on the State and Management of the Revenue,
public Monies and Tobacco, and the Demands and Debts of Govern-
ment. But you say, Consultation and Advice impart receiving In-
formation, and cannot imply receiving Commands. We presume that
whenever an inferior Officer is required to consult the superior,
Consult does not impart receiving Information, but that he is to
receive Directions, because it would be preposterous, and in this
Instance, degrading to the Executive, to make it the Duty of the
Intendant to report to them in Cases of Doubt and Difficulty, and
leave him at Liberty to pursue the Dictates of his own Judgement.
That the Assembly were sensible of this when they created your
Office, we have not a Doubt, and we are equally convinced that it
was far from their Intentions to make you the very Independent
Officer, you want to make yourself. Had they thought it expedient
that you should stand on other Ground, with Respect to the Execu-
tive, than other Officers of Government, they would have declared
as much, in Terms not to be misunderstood; their Silence on the
Subject, affords a Presumption very different from your Construc-
tion, for they well knew that any Expressions giving us the Controul
we contend for over you, would have been superfluous. Besides,
there is a Principle which pervades every Part of the Constitution,
and the Laws made since the Revolution, have adopted the Idea,
that a Variety of Checks is necessary to ensure the due Execution
of the Laws; to this Principle you are indebted for many of your
Powers, and this Principle would not have permitted the Legislature
to exempt you from Controul, had they even been inclined to violate
the Constitution and confer Powers on you as transcendent as
your merit.
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p. 385
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But it seems the Intendant cannot be controuled, because the Office
would become an useless Burthen on the People. To prove this, you
must shew that a Man cannot act right, if his Power of doing wrong
is limited. Whether the Weight of Taxes has been unnecessarily
augmented by the Creation of your Office, depends on the Execution
of it. To convince the People of the Contrary, it will be incumbent
on you to shew that the Specifics have been better managed, produced
more, and the Revenue more judiciously and advantageously applied
than when under the Management of the Executive, whose Incom-
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