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to have been confined to Yourselves, whose Attention to the ancient
and undoubted Privileges of your own House, will, no doubt, be a
good Excuse to your Constituents, for your being entirely unac-
quainted with the Origin of such an essential Part of our Constitution
as the Other.
Lest any Person should, after Reading your Address, be struck
with what is mentioned above, concerning the Manner in which the
first Summons or Writs for calling an Assembly, were issued, and
wonder how there could be a Secretary or Sheriff in this Province,
before an Assembly was ever called, I must here inform him, that his
Lordship had a Power given him by his Charter, to Appoint, either
by Himself or his Deputy, such and so many Officers, as he should
think proper; and that by Virtue of this Power, he did, before any
Assembly was called, Appoint, not only the Two Officers above
named, but also Military Officers, Commissioners of the Peace, and
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L.H.J.
Liber No. 49
Dec. 15
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Coroners, on whom he settled such Fees as he thought adequate to
their respective Services; and that after Assemblies were called, and
the Constitution settled, he did, at Times, Create such Offices as he
judged expedient or necessary. I should be too Tedious, were I to
particularize when every Office that is now Established in this Gov-
ernment, was Created: But I cannot help intimating to you, as the
Circumstances may not be otherwise known, that in the Year 1681,
the then Lower House thought it expedient that they should be
allowed a Serjeant at Arms, and " humbly Requested his Lordship
to appoint such a Person to attend them during that Session; " but
his Lordship, for what Reason does not appear, did not think proper
to comply with their Request.
Before this Time then it could not have been a Question (however
Ancient and Undoubted their Right) Whether the Lower House
might Order their Serjeant to take a Governor's Secretary, or any
of his Family, into Custody ? and I believe it is a Question that was
never started in any Lower House of Assembly, before the present
Session. A Governor has been heretofore desired to permit a Gentle-
man that did Business for him to attend the Lower House on a
particular Occasion; but it is very clear that they did not pretend to
the least Authority over him : The Case happened when the Govern-
ment of this Province was immediately in the Crown, and when the
Assembly were disposed to give the Governor an additional Duty of
Threee Pence p Hogshead on all Tobacco exported : In order to settle
the Quantum of the additional Duty, they wanted to know what the
Impost of One Shilling p Hogshead amounted to, and therefore
" humbly desired his Excellency would be pleased to permit Mr.
Llewellin to go down to the House for some small Time, and that he
might bring along with him the several Accounts by him taken from
the Naval Officers."
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p. 212
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