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Doubt that those Gentlemen, on considering coolly on the Affair,
will, from their Care for the Preservation of the Lives and Proper-
ties of their Fellow-Subjects, from their Zeal for the Common
Cause of all North-America, and their Duty to the King, propose
such an Act as is not only agreeable to the Instructions, but agreeable
to our happy Constitution of Government in the British Dominions,
without attempting to make Alterations in it, at a Time when the
Enemy are taking every Advantage that can be drawn from any
little Jars that may happen in any of the Provinces of his Majesty's
extensive Dominions on this Continent, which are therefore Things
every Man, who is a real Lover of his Country, will to the utmost
avoid.
As to the Dispute of what Province Fort Cumberland belongs to,
'tis a Thing I never heard disputed, but by all Men I have met with,
was deemed to be in Maryland; but be that as it will, 'tis of no Con-
sequence, nor has it any Thing to do in this Affair, nor had I the
least Intention of loading Maryland, or easing any other Province,
by sending the Provincial Troops of Maryland to it; and in my Orders
at that Time, I shewed the greatest Attention to Maryland, in em-
ploying the Whole of the Troops raised by them in covering their
Frontiers, and securing the Inlets into their Country, when I actually
sent 200 of the Provincials of Virginia by Sea, at the Expence of that
Province, to South-Carolina, and had 200 more of the Virginia
Provincial Troops ready to be carried there, if that Service had not
been provided for by the Arrival of a Regiment of 1000 Men from
Europe.
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L H. J.
Liber No. 49
Feb. 13
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I have shewed you above, that the King has the undisputed Right,
that he has by his Commission put the Execution of it into my Hands,
that Maryland alone have disputed the King's Right of Commanding
his Subjects in Arms, although his Majesty's Servant in the Execu-
tion of that Trust, has had a particular Regard to the Ease and
Security of the Province of Maryland. When I know Things really
to stand on this Footing and can have no Doubt that the Gentlemen
that compose the Assembly of Maryland, mean, not only to protect
the Province of Maryland, but to give every Aid to the Common
Cause in their Power, I can have no Doubt that on a cool Reflection
of the general Situation of the Affairs of this Country, the Duty
they owe to the King and the Community (whatever Representations
may have led them into the present Bill) they will immediately set
those Things on a true Constitutional Footing, and enter heartily
into the Common Cause, for the Security of Maryland, and to give
their utmost Assistance against the common Enemy. I intended when
I writ from Albany to have come directly to Annapolis, but some
unexpected Business put it out of my Power at that Time, and now I
cannot fix the Time I shall be with you.
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p. 240
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