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To His Excellency Horatio Sharpe Esq:r Governor and Commander
in Chief in and over the Province of Maryland,
The Humble Address of the Upper House of Assembly
May it Please Your Excellency
That you may be able to judge of the Present Disposition of the
Majority of those who have been chosen by the People of this Prov-
ince to represent them in Assembly or rather of the few Gentlemen
by whose Opinion that Majority seems to be directed, and that you
may know how Little probability there is of the Business being
done for which the Assembly was at this time convened, we take the
Liberty to present to Your Excellency a Copy of a message which
was brought Us the 16 of this Month from the Lower House, by
way of Answer to one that was sent to them by this House, at the
time we returned, with a Negative, the Supply Bill they had offered
Us; Finding upon our reading this Bill, that it was framed on the
same vicious Plan, on which all the Bills for granting Supplies for
his Majesty's Service, which have been offered by the Lower House
for these last four Years were framed, & with Respect to the
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U. H. J.
Liber No. 36
April 24
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material parts of it, very little different from that which His
Majesty's late Attorney General, the present Lord Chief Justice
Pratt, in the opinion Communicated by your Excellency to both
Houses of Assembly two Years ago, held to be such a one as ought
not to have been passed into a Law, We thought it would answer
no good End to propose Amendments since the little regard that
House had paid to the Sentiments of this Communicated to them
in two long Messages in the year 1758 left Us no room to except
they would now remove the Objections we may have repeated and
therefore as we think was our duty we Signified to them that their
Bill would not Pass intimating to them at the same time that if
they were really Desirous to comply with his Majesty's Requisitions
made known to them at the Opening of this Session it would be an
easy Matter for them to prepare a Bill for raising such a Sum as
would be Sufficient for the purpose by some more Simple Mode of
Taxation, from this General Intimation of Ours, Your Excellency
will perceive the Gentlemen have agreable to their Usual Candour and
Ingenuity taken Occasion with a view we presume of Misleading
their Constituents to Suggest that by some Simple mode of Taxation
we mean any Mode that would Leave the Estate of the Lord
Proprietary of the Offices in this Government untouched or as they
are pleased to Speak very Complaisantly handled, as if it was im-
possible for them to have Taxed either His Lordships Estate or
those Offices otherwise than by such an intricate perplexed and
unequal Bill as that House in order to manifest their Superlative
Zeal for the Kings Service seem Determined to Adhere to, Had they
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p. 61
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