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dreadful Hurley-burley it makes, it is nothing but an harmless Ex-
plosion of Wind. Whatever they may think of the Matter, there is a
mighty Difference between Argument and Declamation, between the
Evidence which reasonable Men require, and that Vehemence of
Asseveration, which is so apt to impose on the Minds of the Un-
thinking. How little to be envied is a Performance, the Labour of
nine Days, when the whole may be refuted by a bare Denial. The
Passage in Question might well be excused, for this Reason, from
any Notice, had there not been an Allegation in it, which seems to
have been inserted with a peculiar Malignity of Design; and that is,
that the Lower House, by the Bill, have endeavoured to destroy His
Majesty's Prerogatives, Upon the most diligent Attention to the Bill,
in all its Parts, I cannot find the least Foundation for this Charge.
In short, it seems so entirely groundless, that I might safely leave
it, to be confuted by itself, to every Man of common Understanding
in the Province; but it will be necessary to make some Remarks upon
it, since the View of the Authors seems to extend to a remoter
Region, where an Assertion, uttered with so much Confidence, might
have some Chance of gaining Credit, though at the Expence of being
branded, in this Part of the World, with the just Appellation of the
most shametul Contempt of Truth, and the most virulent Malice.
What other Motive could their Honours have, in taxing the Rep-
resentative Body of Maryland with an Attempt to trample upon
His Majesty's Prerogatives, but to render the Province odious in
the Eyes of our Mother Country, by representing their Delegates as
little better than Rebels and Traitors. This Message, as I observed
before, was thrown in just as the Assembly was rising, and after
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the Lower House had given the Governor Notice that no public
Business lay before them; so that they could have no Opportunity of
replying to it, although they were loaded with the most injurious
Calumnies. One would have expected an Extract of some Clauses
from the Bill, to support a Charge of so heinous a Nature; but as
there was nothing of this Kind in it, they have very boldly asserted it,
relying upon the Credulity of the People in England, and the Supine-
ness (of which they have had too much Experience) of those who
have had a peculiar interest in obviating and exposing such cruel
and groundless Reproaches.
For the Ease of the Person who shall undertake to answer these
Remarks (if any Answer should be deemed expedient) I will lay
before him, in one View, this and sundry other Allegations, of a
like Tendency, interspersed up and down in the Message of the
Upper House, which I humbly apprehend to be entirely groundless,
and do call upon him, in this public Manner, to produce his Proofs
in Support of them, by Passages extracted from the Bill, viz. That
the Lower House never intended to raise Supplies for His Majesty's
Service, unless at an Expence which His Majesty would consider
as beyond all Proportion above their Worth.
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