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L. H. J.
Liber No. 52
April 23
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sent 200 of the Provincials of Virginia by Sea, at the Expence of
that Province, to South-Carolina, and had 200 more of the Virginia
Provincial Troops ready to be carried there, if that Service had not
been provided for by the Arrival of a Regiment of One Thousand
Men from Europe. I have shewed you above, that the King has the
undisputed Right, that he has by his Commission put the Execution
of it into my Hands, that Maryland alone have disputed the King's
Right of Commanding his Subjects in Arms, altho' his Majesty's
Servant in the Execution of that Trust, has had a particular Regard
to the Ease and Security of the Province of Maryland. When I
know Things really to stand on this Footing, and can have no Doubt
that the Gentlemen that compose the Assembly of Maryland, mean,
not only to protect the Province of Maryland, but to give every
Aid to the Common Cause in their Power, I can have no Doubt
that on a cool Reflection of the general Situation of the Affairs
of this Country, the Duty they owe to the King and the Com-
munity (whatever Representations may have led them into the present
Bill) they will immediately set those Things on a true Constitutional
Footing, and enter heartily into the Common Cause for the Security
of Maryland, and to give their utmost Assistance against the Com-
mon Enemy. I intended when I writ from Albany to have come
directly to Annapolis, but some unexpected Business put it out of
my Power at that Time, and now I cannot fix the Time I shall be
with you.
"Hoping from your wise Management, and the People coming
to see their own true Interest, that I shall very soon have better
Accounts from you: I am, with sincere Regard, Sir,
"Your most obedient humble Servant,
"Loudoun."
Does it, Gentlemen, or does it not, appear from this Letter, that
the Earl of Loudoun applauded the Conduct of the Upper House
in rejecting the Bill, of which, at the Desire of the Lower House,
I had sent him a Copy? If it does, I intimated no more nor less
than the Truth, whatever Part of the Bill it was that induced his
Lordship to commend them for returning it with a Negative. At
the Time I sent him the Bill, I did not imagine he would Read any
more of it than the military Part, as I told the Gentlemen of the
Lower House in a Message dated the 6th of December, when they
desired me to transmit the Bill to him; and from the Manner in
which his Lordship expresses himself in the Beginning of his
Letter, I am apt to believe he never thought of perusing more of it
than that Part, nor do I see what good End it would have answered
for him to have waded thro' that voluminous Composition; for tho'
you are now pleased to signify to me, that the then Lower House
expected his Lordship would peruse it, in order to see if there was
any Thing impracticable in the Execution of the Plan for raising
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