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common Sense, and contradicting Facts which most glaringly evince
the contrary. In vain therefore do their Honours deal out such
soothing Speeches as this, "We know that the Inhabitants of this
Province in general are an honest, well-meaning People, as loyal
Subjects as any in His Majesty's Dominions, and endowed with a
Spirit conducive to His Majesty's Service, to the utmost of their
Abilities; but we are sorry to say, at the same time, that they are
misled by the Influence of very unfaithful Guides :" In vain, I say,
do they pour out such plaintive moving Strains as these; The People
of Maryland will not discard these Guides, and rely upon pretended
Guardians and Protectors, till they become as blind and infatuated
as the simple Flock in the Fable, which being mollified and ensnared
by Speeches, exactly in the Strain of their Honours just quoted,
were prevailed upon to exchange their faithful Dogs for ravening
Wolves. — I would not be understood, by any Thing that has been
said, as if no Gentleman in that Station could be a Friend to his
Country; but the Position I controvert is, that the Gentlemen of that
Branch are so, from the Nature of their Constitution. — Men there
are of such invincible Integrity, that no View of Profit, or Incentive
of Ambition, can seduce them from the Duty they owe to their
Country, nor do I deny that there are such at present in the Council;

p. 52

but such a Conduct must flow from their personal Merits and Virtues,
and not from any Influence arising from the Frame and Constitution
of that Body, since I think it must most clearly appear, from what has
been said above, that whenever there is any Competition of Interests
between the People and Proprietor, their Honours must be under the
Bias of very powerful Motives to prefer the latter, and conse-
quently cannot be the constitutional Guardians and Protectors of
the Peoples Rights.
Their Honours are pleased to urge the following Extract from
the Report of the Lords of Trade, on the Pennsylvania Acts, against
the Lower House: — "We are satisfied that there is nothing so likely
to preserve the Tranquility of the Province itself, or its Dependence
upon the Mother Country, as the maintaining, with a strict and steady
Hand, the necessary Powers and just Prerogatives of the Crown,
and the preferring an uniform and settled Principle of Government,
to an occasional Departure from it, for temporary Convenience.
Every Day's Experience convinces us, that it is in vain to negotiate
away His Majesty's Prerogatives; every new Concession becomes a
new Demand, and that, my Lords, of some new Dispute." — Every
Proposition in this Part of the Report, I believe all the Inhabitants
of Maryland will very readily assent to, as too rational to admit of
any Doubt; but it is not enough to cite true Propositions, for this
would make Controversy endless, and the Pastime only of Children,
but it is necessary that they should be applicable to the Points in

p. 53

Dispute. However true it may be, that it is expedient to maintain the