Introduction. xxv

upper chamber was rejected by the Lower House on April 27, and ordered
printed by the latter with the amendments, messages and resolutions relating to it
(pp. 77,82).

On April 28, the day following the rejection by the Lower House of the
first Service bill after it had been amended by the Upper House, the new bill
with a slightly different title was introduced in the Lower House by the
same committee which had prepared the first bill. One cannot help feeling
that the introduction of an entirely new bill was a face-saving device on the
part of the Lower House, as it appears to have abandoned most of the
demands which caused it to reject the former bill as amended by the other
house, although it was only to remain in force until December 25, 1757. The
title of the second bill, which became a law on May 6, was "An Act for his
Majesty's Service and for the more needed Defense and Protection of the
Frontier Inhabitants of this Province ". With all the intricate administrative
terms of this law we need not concern ourselves here, as it will be found printed
here in full (pp. 119-129). As an assertion of the authority of the Assembly
to limit the use of the five hundred men as it saw fit, the act provided that
except for an unspecified number of men to be left to garrison Fort Frederick,
the remainder must be employed in ranging the nearby frontier for the protec-
tion of the inhabitants. This was little more than a face-saving assertion, how-
ever, as a subsequent clause left the entire matter in the hands of the Governor,
by empowering him in the event of an emergency to march any part of the five
hundred men wherever he thought necessary, provided the remainder were
left at Fort Frederick for use as rangers.

At the September-December, 1757, session it was ordered by the Lower
House on October 21, that a special committee bring in a new Supply bill for
His Majesty's service. The same men who had drawn up the Supply bill
which had become a law at the previous session, with the addition of Ed-
ward Dorsey, composed this committee (p. 244). On November 11 there
was introduced the bill entitled "An Act for Granting a Supply of £20,000 for
His Majesty's Service, and for the more immediate Defense of the Frontier
Inhabitants of this Province—by an equal assessment on all Estates, Real
and Personal, and Lucrative Offices and Employments "; and the Lower House
sitting as a committee of the whole proceeded to debate and amend it (pp. 244,
270-274, 280-283). This bill opened up sources of taxation hitherto new
to Maryland. It taxed all the lands owned by the Lord Proprietary hitherto
free from taxation, imposed a double tax on lands and property owned by
Roman Catholics, and taxed at five per cent or more the salaries of practically
all the office-holding class, except the Governor, although it did tax certain
income of the Governor other than his official salary. Such a measure natu-
rally aroused the opposition of the Lord Proprietary, of his numerous
appointees, and of the wealthy Catholic land-holding group. It also aroused
the opposition of the Governor and of the Upper House, as some of its provi-
sions were felt to threaten the prerogative of the Proprietary.

The Lower House proceeded to debate and vote upon certain of its pro-
visions. On the question as to whether the assessors, who were to levy the