xxiv Letter of Transmittal.

scalps of hostile Indians of £10 each; and £25,000 for the expenses of the joint
expedition with Virginia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina against the enemy.
These monies were to be expended through the three Commissioners or Agents
appointed under the Act who were to make disbursements under orders from
the Governor. The Agents named in the bill were William Murdock, of Prince
George's County, James Dick, a prominent Scotch merchant living in London-
town, Anne Arundel County, and Daniel Wolstenholm of Annapolis, the last
two named not being members of the Assembly. The Supply Bill for His Maj-
esty's service as passed covers forty printed pages of this volume. As a joint
expedition with the three other colonies was not destined to be made, the As-
sembly at its next session was then to be called upon to modify this act.

The Roman Catholic question of course came to the fore again. Just before
the close of the previous session, it will be recalled that on July 3d the Lower
House addressed the Governor at length on the subject, and that Sharpe on
July 8th sent a reply to the Lower House in which he showed that many of the
statements contained in the address were unfounded. It may be noted here that
the Proceedings of the Council show that the answers to the inquiries, directed
to the justices of the several counties by the Governor, declared that no treason-
able activities by Catholics had occurred anywhere (Archiv. Md., xxxi, 72, 80,
81). At this session, under date of April 15th, the Lower House by a vote of
39 to 4 again came back at Sharpe in a very long address, which was largely
a reiteration of the charges against Attorney-General Henry Darnall and his
brother, John Darnall, the justice, declaring that popular opinion demanded that
they should be removed from office. The charge was also repeated that favorit-
ism had been shown certain criminals through Catholic influences. The Gov-
ernor replied on April 24th to this address in great detail, going into the charge
of favoritism and filing depositions showing conclusively that this was without
foundation. The charges against the Darnalls were again discussed. The Gov-
ernor agreed that no Maryland youth should be educated at " Popish Foreign
Seminaries," and said he would approve a law to put a stop to it. He declared
that before the Protestant Revolution offices were held by both Protestants and
Catholics, and that when the Province was threatened both rushed to its de-
fence. After the Revolution priests were allowed to hold and add to their
lands, and until the Scotch outbreak of 1746 the attitude of the Assembly to-
wards the Roman Catholics and the relations between the latter and the Protes-
tants had been friendly. He denied that the Roman Catholics, except in isolated
instances, had given trouble.

A bill to prevent the growth of Popery, drawn up in the Upper House, was
sent to the Lower House on April 23d. It was exceedingly drastic in its provi-
sions. It prohibited parents sending children overseas to any Catholic school or