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U. H. J.
Liber No. 36
Nov. 3
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We know that if an Officer hath been guilty of any illegal Exaction
He may be punished, and that the Law, without adopting your
Proposition, is Sufficient for that purpose we know too that the
Officers do not deserve to be generally branded as Extortioners, & Op-
pressors, and that on the Contrary, They are as respectable for their
Characters of Probity and Humanity, as any other Gentlemen in the
Province, & That they ought not to be harrassed to humour Ignor-
ance, & Credulity, gratify Envy, or appease the Malevolance of
Enmity, we therefore reject your Proposition on this Head as in
that part of your Message relative to the maney, wherein you say
that the gold Coins by our Proposed Alteration will not pay any of
the Charges of Inspection You have mistaken Our meaning, which
was, that Gold as well as Dollars might be applyed to defray all the
Charges of Inspection.
We can see no reason, why you Should be so Solicitious to Secure
the Alternative in paying paper Money, or Gold or Silver, at this
time it can be of no Possible Benefit to the People, because no one,
of the very few who possess paper-money, can be imagined to be
so regardless of his Interest as to part with it at a great and certain
Loss, and the Insisting upon a Provision to be made now for the
payment of paper-money, which may be hereafter remitted under
some future Law, when there can be no absolute Certainty that any
such Emission will take place, & the Terms of it, should be one, can't
at present be foreseen, is very far from being apparently Expedient,
especially as that Matter may with Propriety be deferred, till the
Consideration of the general Expediency of a new Emission of
Paper-Money Shall come before the Assembly, For these Reasons,
it is, in Our Opinion a Point of Slight Consequence to the People,
whether the Alterations now given, or not; But however we might be
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p. 141
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inclined to yield to your Desires in this Article were no other Per-
sons, than You and ourselves concerned in the passing of Laws, yet
as the Power of Legislation is differently constituted, and liable to
other Controwl, We must Ultimately adhere to what we have Sig-
nifyed in this, and our former Messages with respect to the Money.
Upon our Recollection of what passed in March session 1755 and
considering that the present Inspection Law was near expiring, we
understood the general Expressions in that Point of the Governor's
Speech at the Opening of this Session, in which He recommended
it to the two Houses to Consult by what means the Trade, and Com-
merce of this Province might be Promoted, and encouraged, Con-
sistent with the Laws of Great Britain, to point at the Inspection
Act and the Clause in it rating foreign Silver Coin and upon our
application to his Excellency we are Satisfied by his Answer that He
is so restricted as that he cannot consistent with prudence and the
Obedience He owes to His Majesty & the Lord Proprietary give his
assent to a new Bill, which Should rate the Species of Coin Men-
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