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great Justice, as my sole Design in giving those Orders, and the Design
of the Gentlemen that advised me, was to prevent the good People
in one particular Part of the Province being disquieted or distressed;
and I cannot conceive that any future Governor of this Province,
however unworthy he may be of the Appellation of Humane and
Benevolent, will ever think of making the March of these Companies
a Precedent for ordering others hereafter to the Frontiers, and sta-
tioning them there, not for the Space of a Month or Six Weeks only,
and not in order to repel a foreign Invasion, or to protect the In-
habitants from the most imminent Danger, but to gratify his private
Resentment, and with a View of disgusting the People against their
Representatives. Should the Government of Maryland be in the
Hands of a Person of such a Turn, the People would, no Doubt, be
unhappy; but it is to be hoped, that his Council will think themselves
and their Families too much interested in the Happiness and Welfare
of their Country, to countenance or connive at such an Attempt; and
he will most undoubtedly find by Experience, that instead of disgust-
ing the People against their Representatives, by such arbitrary Pro-
ceedings, he will inevitably bring their Resentment and Execrations
on himself.
It gives me great Pleasure to find, that you now see the Behaviour
of the Militia, that ran to their Arms on the Alarm that happened
in November 1755, in it's proper Light; the Willingness they shewed
to march to the Assistance of their Fellow-Subjects in another
Province, was truly laudable: I return you Thanks for your Eulo-
gium on them, and am thereby encouraged to remind you of a
Message that I sent to the Lower House of Assembly the next
Session afterwards, wherein were the following Words: " I must
also recommend it to you, to repay the Officers of the Militia of Caecil,
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L. H. J.
Liber No. 50
May 5
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Kent and Frederick Counties, what they expended on the Alarm in
November last, when it was believed in those Counties that a large
Body of Indians were advancing toward the Center of the Province."
It appears by their Journal, that the House about a Month after-
wards, referred the Officers Accounts for Consideration of the next
Session: The Consequence of which has been, that none of them
have been yet paid, tho' an Act has been passed since I laid them
before the House, for Payment of the Public Charge of this Prov-
ince, by Virtue of which, many Members of that House, as several
Gentlemen among you can testify, have received, or may in a few
Weeks receive, to the Value of some Hundred Pounds a piece, for
serving their Country as Representatives in Assembly.
The Number of Gentlemen that accompanied me on my Journey
to the Frontiers in the Year 1755, after the Defeat of General Brad-
dock, was not, I believe, so large as you imagine; the Company con-
sisted of Lieutenant Gold and Ensign Russell of his Majesty's
Forces. Mr. Ridout my Secretary, the Deputy-Sheriff of Frederick
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p. 177
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