|
|
L. H. J.
Liber No. 52
April 23
|
of State's Letter, to suggest that for Want of an Agent appointed
by that House alone to represent their Transactions in a true Light,
our most gracious Sovereign and hsi Ministers, had not been fully
and truly informed of the repeated generous Offers, which the People
of this Province had heretofore made by their Representatives, to
raise very large Supplies for his Majesty's Service, I could not help
considering the Suggestion as a Reflection on myself, for had not
the King's Ministers been informed of the several Votes of the
Lower House for raising Supplies, and of their Proceedings in Con-
sequence of such Votes, I should not have discharged my Duty: To
vindicate myself therefore from the Blame which the latter Part of
your Address seemed calculated to cast on me, I took the Liberty to
reply to this Purport, That if the Journals of the House of Delegates,
and the Bills offered by them to the Upper House, may be supposed
to contain a true Representation of their Proceedings, I presumed
there could not be any great Necessity for the Appointment of a
Person at home, under the Denomination of an Agent, to acquaint
his Majesty or his Ministers with the Transactions of the House of
Delegates, or to inform them of the Offers that House had made
to raise Supplies for his Service, since the Journals of that House
had been transmitted for their Information, particularly the Journal
containing the Messages that passed between the two Houses on the
Subject of their new Supply Bill. But say you, in your last Address,
"the great End of employing an Agent, is to represent and bring to a
final Determination any Matters in Dispute with the Proprietary, by
which the People may apprehend themselves aggrieved." Had you,
Gentlemen, in your first Address, given such a Reason for the Lower
House's desiring an Agent, I should not have considered it as any
Reflection on me for having neglected my Duty, nor have taken
Notice of it in the Manner I did, though I might not even then
have seen the Expediency of such a Person's being appointed; for
whatever some of you would insinuate, and endeavour to make other
Persons believe, the Lord Proprietary is, in my Opinion, not much
concerned in the Controversy which subsists between the House of
Delegates (or rather a small Majority of that House) and the
Gentlemen who constitute another Branch of this Legislature, on
the Subject of a Supply Bill; and whether the Sums which have at
Times been voted for his Majesty's Service, shall be raised by that
particular Mode of Taxation, which those, who are fond of Inno-
vations, seem intent on introducing and establishing in this Prov-
ince, his Lordship, I am confident, is very far from being averse to
contributing in Proportion with the Inhabitants of this Province
towards Supplies for his Majesty's Service, though I don't suppose
he would with, however zealous he might be to promote his Sov-
ereign's Service, or desirous to advance the Reputation of Maryland,
to have either Branch of the Legislature give their Assent to any
|
|
