|
|
Step Wrong that is in its Nature Justifiable and Right, or an Act
Lawful or Commendable, that is in itself Illegal and Oppressive;
however, if those Gentlemen were of Opinion the nth of October,
when you answered my Message, that they had been in an Error,
and had by their Address led me to think higher of my Power and
Authority over the Militia than I ought, they would have dealt
ingenuously in acknowledging their Error, and endeavouring to
undeceive me at that Time, but as they did neither, I can hardly
think that by saying they thought it " would be wrong for the
present " to order a Company of Militia to the Frontiers, they meant,
that, in their Opinion, it would be wrong or illegal for me to order
any to march for the future, especially when I remember the particular
Reason you gave for not advising me to order out a Company at
that Time, to wit, that there were then Soldiers enough on the
Frontiers to protect the Inhabitants; which indeed was the Case ;
but though the Soldiers could, and did, effectually protect them, 'yet
it was not in their Power, we find, to make them quiet and easy.
What Reason you have, or think you have, to presume, that if
your House had approved of my sending out any of the Militia
on that Occasion, I should not have ordered them from Queen-
Anne's, Kent, or Calvert Counties, I know not; I cannot positively
say that I should, but, in all probability, if you had desired me to
comply with the Request that Captains Delashmut and Chapline had
then made, in Behalf of the Frontier Inhabitants, a Company would
have been ordered from one of these Counties, lest the Inhabitants
of those, from which the Companies had been ordered to march on
former Occasions, should have complained of my compelling them
to do more Duty than might properly be deemed their Share; and I
|
L. H. J.
Liber No. 50
May 5
|
|
|
|
hope none of you are of Opinion, that a Person's residing on the
Eastern Side of the Bay, ought to excuse him from contributing to
the Security of those who live on this Side of it.
Had the Present you speak of been given to the Party of Cherokees,
even before Captain Broome received Orders to march, that Cir-
cumstances might, perhaps, have had some Weight with such as
imagine Indians will be restrained, or do the Duty of Soldiers; but
surely you will not pretend to say, that your framing a Bill for their
Encouragement, on the 3Oth of March, was a Reason why I ought
to have taken, or to have declined taking, any particular Step on
the 9th of that Month, which was the Day the Orders to Captain
Broome were issued.
In my Message of the 23d of February, I told you, that as I had
good Reason to apprehend, that the Soldiers which had been raised for
the more immediate Defence of our Frontier Inhabitants, would
disband themselves when they found that the Assembly had broke
up, without making any further Provision for their Support, I
thought it my indispensible Duty, to order two Companies of Militia
|
p. 172
|
|
