|
|
L. H. J.
Liber No. 50
May 9
|
Resolved, That tho' there may have been some Petitions of Claim-
ants upon the Public (which do not at present occur to this House)
preferred to the Upper House in the first Instance; tho' some Allow-
ances may have been made and insisted upon by the Upper House,
which this House had not considered, or had rejected, and tho' some
Claims may have been inserted in the Journal of Accounts, which this
House had not considered, or had before disallowed; yet it has been
the constant and uninterrupted Usage, for the Claims of almost every
Public Creditor to be laid before this House in the first Instance,
and to be adjusted and allowed, or rejected, by it; tho' still the Upper
House have had a Negative on the Journal of Accounts, in which
Allowances were made for those Claims, and that Power this House
did not intend to deprive them of (whatever may be their real Right)
in the Case of the £2500 appropriated by the Bill, but to allow them a
Negative, as they would have had on the Journal had Allowances for
those Expences been made therein; and that the most material Claims
against the Public in the first Instance preferred to the Upper House,
have been of such a Nature as would not have been made against the
Public but through that House, and which this House have thought
it the Heighth of Injustice to burthen the Public with, and therefore
have rejected Time after Time, till they have disappeared.
Resolved, That in all Grants of Aid for his Majesty's Service,
and the Defence and Security of this Province, it is just and reason-
able that the Lord Proprietary, who is more nearly and immediately
interested than almost any of his Tenants, should bear at least an
equal Proportion with them of the Taxes necessarily imposed for
those Purposes; and that if his Lordship should desire (which we
cannot suppose) to be totally exempted from the Payment of a Tax
upon so large a Part of his Revenue as his Quit-Rents, it would
discover an Inclination to oppress his Tenants, by loading them
with that Expence which he himself ought to bear for the Security
of his own Property, and betray a Want of Zeal and Loyalty to his
most Gracious Sovereign, by not chear fully contributing with the
Rest of his Subjects, towards the Defence and Support of his just
Rights against the Encroachments of his most inveterate Enemy.
|
|
|
|
p. 212
|
Resolved, That a Tax similar to that imposed by the Bill upon
Lucrative Offices, Employments, and Benefices, is commonly imposed
in England; and it is the more reasonable and just here, as so large a
Proportion of the Produce of the People's Labour is given by Law
to the Maintainance and Support of the Officers and Clergy.
Resolved, That holding Judicial and Lucrative Offices within this
Government by the Supreme Magistrate thereof, this House appre-
hends is Unconstitutional; but that while he does hold them, it is
Reasonable he should be Taxed on the Incomes thereof, in the same
Proportion as other Officers are proposed to be Taxed.
|
|
