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Money which was then in the Hands of the Agents, or in the Loan
Office, and which had in Fact been reserved for them, you are
pleased to refer me to the Bill that had been rejected, in which, had it
passed into a Law, you said such Provision was made as you judged
most expedient for cultivating their Friendship; how regular or
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L. H. J.
Liber No. 50
May 5
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decent it was to give me such an Answer, or to refer me on that
Occasion to a Bill which did not then exist, and which had never
been offered to me, or how much this evinced an earnest Desire on
your Part to contribute, by the Presence of your good Brothers, as
you call them, to the Security of the Frontier Inhabitants, I submit
to the Judgment of others.
A few Days after the End of that Session, I was informed by a
Letter from the Officer commanding at Fort Frederick, that a Mem-
ber of your House had, on his Return from the Assembly, endeav-
oured to stir up Sedition among the Soldiers; that among other
Things he had told them, their Officers had no Right to punish any
Soldier for getting Drunk, that the Money which had been raised
for their Support was all expended, that their Officers could have
no Authority over them after the 25th of December, that they might
then go whither they pleased, and that no Person had a Right to
apprehend them; should the Gentleman deny that he industriously
propagated such a Doctrine among the Troops, there are many
Persons ready to prove it, particularly Captain Ware, Serjeant Love,
and a Soldier called Charles Claget.
Had any indifferent Person received such Information as I did
at this Time from the Commanding Officer at Fort Frederick, could
he have imagined that any of the Soldiers would have continued
there more than Six Months without Pay, or any Promise of being
paid? especially if such Person had given the least Credit to what
several Persons were encouraged, or forced, to come from Frederick
County, in October and November last, to Swear, namely, That the
Men had been ill fed and used barbarously by their respective Officers ;
and if the Soldiers had been persuaded to disband themselves, before
any of the Militia that were ordered out could reach the Frontiers,
there is the greatest Reason to conclude, from what has heretofore
happened, that not only the Settlement of Conococheague would
have been broke up, but that very few of the People who lived beyond
Frederick-Town, would have ventured to remain on their respective
Plantations; in which Case they would, it is apprehended, have been
taught even by some of yourselves to lay the Blame entirely upon
me, for not having ordered a sufficient Number of the Militia to their
Assistance, as I had done on former Occasions. I flatter myself, that
enough has been already said to justify the Orders that I sent to
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p. 169
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