xxiv Introduction.

derived. We will see that two separate Supply bills were drawn up by the
Lower House at the April—May 1757 session. The first was amended by the
Upper House in such a way as to cause its rejection by the lower body. The
second bill under a slightly different title than the first, a bill that was a make-
shift and inadequate, was, however, finally passed as a compromise measure.

The first of these two Supply bills was entitled "An Act for His Majesty's
Service and the more Immediate Defense and Security of this Province ".
It was drawn up by a committee of the Lower House consisting of Edward
Tilghman, Philip Hammond, Matthew Tilghman, William Murdock, and
Charles Carroll the Barrister, and was introduced on April 19 (pp. 61-62).
After amendment in the Upper House, it was rejected by the lower chamber
on April 27 (p. 77).

It has not been possible to learn in detail all the provisions of this bill as
passed by the Lower House, as no copy of it, printed or in manuscript, can be
found, although a resolution was adopted by the Lower House directing its
printing together with the amendments to it proposed in the Upper House and
the messages exchanged between the two houses relating to it (p. 82). From
the recorded votes on the amendments and from the messages which passed
relating to it, its general tenor as well as the differences of opinion between
the two houses can be learned. Under it five hundred men as requested by
Loudoun were to be raised and maintained, although the Lower House, while
reluctantly acquiescing in this number, declared that it was unnecessarily large
for the protection of the Province. The Upper House amended the bill so as to
double this number. The Lower House bill evidently provided that a specified
minimum number of men should always be left to defend Fort Frederick,
while the Upper House amendment left the number to be retained in this
fort to the judgement of the Governor. The money to be used under this
bill seems to have been certain unexpended balances left over from previous
Supply bills, and was not to be raised by new taxation.

The Lower House imposed so many restrictions on the methods of keeping
the military accounts and the muster rolls, and so tied up payments for provi-
sions and men on furloughs, as would have tied the hands of the Governor and
seriously hampered the efficiency of the service. The Lower House bill further
provided that irregularities in officers' accounts should be recoverable from them
by civil suits and with pecuniary penalties, while the Upper House placed the
remedy in courts martial which might either fine or imprison the offender.
There were also differences of opinion as to the method of pensioning soldiers
injured in service. Probably all these differences could have been adjusted,
however, had not the Lower House insisted that the garrison at Fort Frederick
should never be less than a minimum number fixed by the act, which would
have prevented the use of the Provincial troops by the Governor where he
thought they were most needed. The problem as to how best to obtain funds
for the support of the soldiers to be raised did not enter into this bill as in
later Supply bills, for it would appear that only certain unexpended balances
left over from previous Supply bills were to be made use of, and that no money
was to be raised by new taxes (pp. 119-120). The bill as amended in the