The Lower House. 99

On Motion, The Question was put, Whether any Bill shall be
brought in, for raising a Sum of Money for his Majesty's Service,
on the Plan of the old Bill, explaining that Part relating to the new
Emission, so as to give it equal Credit with the present Currency,
or Not ? Resolved in the Negative.
The House adjourns till the morrow Morning at 9 of the Clock.

L. H. J.
Liber No. 48
March 24

Tuesday Morning 25^th March 1755.

The House met according to Adjournment, &c.
His Excellency the Governor communicated to Mr. Speaker the
following Message, viz.
Gentlemen of the Lower House of Assembly,
In Answer to your Address that was delivered me the 15th
Instant, I beg Leave to assure you, that any Representations or
Requests, which you may at any Time think proper to make, shall
always have their due Weight with me; but I cannot avoid intimat-
ing to you my Opinion, that the Person, whose Conduct is made the
Occasion of that Address, is not so culpable as your Committee
seems to have imagined. Just after I had received the Address of
your House, and the Report of your Committee, Mr. Rawlings
presented me the following Narrative, together with some Papers,
which I have also thought proper, as they are referred to in the
Narrative, to transcribe into this Message.
One Thing I must observe in Favour of Mr. Rawlings, as he has
not insisted on it himself, that he was indeed applied to by a com-
missioned Officer, before he proceeded to issue his Warrant for that
Kelly, who was represented as a Person liable to be impressed for
his Majesty's Service by that late Act; and his Desire that his
Conduct might be examined into, in a legal Manner, by a proper
Court of Judicature, which may punish his Offence, if he has trans-
gressed the Laws, or manifest his Innocence if he be without Offence,
does not seem to betray any Consciousness of Guilt: Indeed, from
the Papers that have been submitted to me, and his own Assevera-
tions, I must confess, Gentlemen, and beg Leave to observe as much
to you, that it does not, as I before hinted, appear to me, at present,
that he has been guilty of any Misdemeanour whatever; although he
must of Necessity have been a great Sufferer by being brought so
far from his Home, and compelled to a long and expensive At-
tendance on your House. I assure you it is very far from my
Intent or Design, to call in Question the Rights and Privileges of
your House; but at the same Time, I shall regard it as my Duty,

March 25

and must endeavour to preserve the Rights, Liberties and Privileges
of the People, which are secured by and dependent upon, the due

p.89