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such Matters as shall certainly be in his Power to comply with, and
that his Office Bond heretofore passed /tho' there have been similar
Instances, ought not, without the Consent of his Sureties to be liable
for any Breach of Duty under this Bill, as it was no Part of their
original Contract when they entred into the Engagement
The Power given to the Assessors we apprehend is too extensive
that it ought to be more restrained, and their Duty more certainly
defined and fully ascertained than it is by the Bill.
It is directed by the Bill " that every Person or Persons that shall
have any ready Money or Plate in his or their own Possession, or
that of any other Person for him or them shall on Demand give a
full Account to the Assessors, of the Weight of all such Plate, and
the Sum or Sums of all such ready Money, under the Penalty of
double the Value of the Plate or Money concealed, and that the
Certificates of Assessment which shall by the said Assessors be
delivered to the Commissioners, and all the Books of Proceedings
of the Commissioners, and the Accounts by them settled with the
several Collectors shall after such Settlement be delivered to the Clerks
of the respective Counties "
Few prudent Men would chuse to publish to all the Inhabitants of
the Counties they live in, or even to their domestic Servants all the
Plate and ready Money they may have as they might think it too
great an Encouragem.t to Rapine and therefore we object to the
Bill in this particular.
Altho' we agree with you in taxing the Manors and reserved
Lands of the Proprietary we object to the Tax upon his Quit Rents,
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U. H. J.
Liber No. 35
April 18
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such a Tax was never before attempted to be imposed in this Prov-
ince, and has not been established in any other Colony in North
America. We are apprized of the Disputes subsisting in a neighbour-
ing Government which have been carried so far as to render the
Determination of a Superior necessary, and are now in a Course
which must terminate in the Decision of his Majesty. If it could be
supposed that the Governor is at large in the Matter, or that if he is
not that he would disregard the Restrictions he may be under it could
hardly be presumed that Lord Baltimore would submit to a Tax
upon a Revenue which has not been admitted in any other Colony,
and which his Lordship has so much Reason to controvert, the
Quit Rents payable to him can't be thought by any one to be a Render
proportioned to the Value of the Lands, and tho' it is not expressed in
our Patents that we should undertake the Burthen of defending our-
selves, yet it seems plainly to arise from the Nature of his Grants,
and to be Part of their Consideration; that they have been thus
understood by his Tenants seems to be evident from their never
having made any Attempt 'till now to subject his Quit Rents to any
kind of Tax, and from an express Law which passed in 1651 by
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p. 278
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