Introduction. li

THE ACADIANS

A petition from the Acadians, or French neutrals from Nova Scotia, now
scattered over the Province, praying relief, was presented to the Upper House
at the April-May 1757 session. Unfortunately no copy of this petition, which
doubtless recited their sufferings, has been preserved. The Assembly there-
upon passed an Act continuing in force until April 10, 1758, the law of 1756,
regulating their conduct and providing meagre relief for their maintenance
(pp. 10, 63, 65, 131-132). The Governor, on April 29, called the attention of the
Lower House to the account presented by Mr. Middleton for expenses incurred
by him in having brought a number of Acadians from Annapolis to Baltimore,
which account had been laid before the house in November 1756, but had not
been acted upon (p. 81). At the abortive "Convention of the Assembly"
held in February-March, 1758, a committee of the Lower House gave notice
that the act making provision for the Acadians would expire by limitation
on May 10, 1758 (p. 459), but no act providing for its continuance was passed.
Frederick, Lord Baltimore, had written Governor Sharpe under date of Decem-
ber 16, 1756, in regard to the Acadians, but that part of his " letter of instruc-
tions " relating to these unfortunate people is missing, although Sharpe's
reply, which tells us little, is extant (Arch. Md. vi, 513, 517; ix, 34).

JONAS GREEN, THE PROVINCIAL PRINTER

The Provincial printing had been in the hands of Jonas Green since he had
moved his press to Annapolis in 1745, and acts were passed by the Assembly
from time to time " for the encouragement of Jonas Green " and for payments
to him (pp. 401-402). His ordinary government work was the printing of
the session laws and of the Votes and Proceedings of the Lower House. The
Proceedings of the Upper House were not ordinarily printed. From time to
time when legislation of a popular nature had its origin in the Lower House,
and was defeated or greatly amended in the Upper House, the former body
would order the rejected bill to be printed for distribution as propaganda for
the popular party. Two instances of this kind are recorded in this volume.
The first Service or Supply bill, which was introduced at the April-May, 1757,
session and rejected by the Lower House after it had been amended in the
upper chamber, was ordered printed on April 28 (p. 82). No copy of this bill,
printed or unprinted, has been located. At the September-December, 1757,
session, after the Service bill had been rejected by the Upper House, it was,
on November 30, ordered printed (p. 290). It is reprinted in the Appendix
from a copy of the contemporary pamphlet in the Maryland Historical Society
(pp. 707-750). There is one instance recorded in this volume in which the
Upper House ordered, the printing of a bill originating in the upper chamber
which had been amended out of recognition by the Lower House. This was the
act for " Reducing the Allowances of Members of the Assembly", intro-
duced at the September-December, 1757, session and discussed elsewhere
(pp. xlvii-xlviii, 196). No printed copy of this bill is known to be in existence.

As early as November 1753 the Rev. Thomas Bacon of St. Peter's Parish,
Talbot County, had petitioned the justices of that county for permission to