Introduction. ixxv

1760, by the Lower House but was so amended in the Upper House, that the
lower chamber refused to accept the amendments, and ordered it printed in the

Maryland Gazette. It is reprinted from the Gazette in the Appendix (pp. 514-

516).

It has been pointed out in the discussion of the Naturalization Bill (pp. ixiii-

ixvi) that unnaturalized aliens were often the victims of grave injustice
because their lands were held under defective titles and were subject to escheat,
and a flagrant instance of this kind was mentioned in the case of the estate
of Valencius Duchart. The record in this case in the form of a petition is
printed in full in the Appendix (pp. 517-519).

The Darnall defalcation, already discussed in a previous section (pp. iv-lviii),
gave rise to bitter recriminations between the Governor and the Lower House.
It will be recalled that Sharpe requested the House to include in its journal his
correspondence with Attorney-General Stephen Bordley and with the Loan
Office, which would show that he had done everything in his power to protect
the interests of the Province. As the Lower House did not comply with this
request, all the documents in the case were ordered printed by the Governor
and Council in pamphlet form for public distribution. The omitted letters,
taken from this pamphlet, are printed in the Appendix (pp. 519-521).

Four letters which apparently escaped the attention of the editor when the
Sharpe correspondence for this period was published in 1890 (Arch. Md. IX)
are now printed for the first time and will be found in the Appendix. Two of
these are communications from Frederick, the Lord Proprietary, to Sharpe,
usually designated as "instructions", dated, respectively, March 17, 1759, and
Dec. 20, 1760, formally notifying the Governor of his "assent" to the acts
passed by the Assembly and approved by the Governor at the March-May 1758
and March-April 1760 sessions (pp. 522-524). There is also a letter from
Secretary Cecilius Calvert, dated at London, March 30, 1759, referring to
various Maryland matters, including such controversial questions before the
Assembly as the Steuart-Woodward disputed election case, Attorney-General
Pratt's opinion on the constitutionality of the Service Bill, the double tax on
Roman Catholics, and other less important matters. It also contains a dig at
Benjamin Franklin, then in London (pp. 525-526).

There is printed in the Appendix a very interesting letter dated March 30,
1759, from Governor Sharpe to his brother, Philip Sharpe, of London, in
regard to the exchange of French prisoners and what would appear to have
been an illegal trade carried on in privateer vessels under flags of truce between
certain American colonies and the French West Indies, resulting in the export
of goods to the enemy and the drainage of gold from the colonies. Sharpe also
tells of handsome "douceurs" received by Governor Denny of Pennsylvania and
Governor Bernard of New Jersey for granting such flags of truce to privateers
to trade, which seemed to him to savor of what in modern parlance might be
called graft. Sharpe says that while all the colonial lawyers feel that this
trade is legitimate, he has refused to further it, and adds that he has serious
doubts as to whether the Ministry will approve of it. He asks his brother
Philip to look into the question and to give him an opinion upon it (pp. 526-
528).