84 Assembly Proceedings, November 1-December 20, 1765.

U. H. J.
Liber No. 36
Dec. 13

Anns County and of S^t Pauls Parish lying partly in Queen Anne and
partly in Talbot County
Read the first and second Time in the Lower House & will pass.
Read the first and second Time by especial Order in this House &
will pass, so endorsed and sent by John Ridout Esquire.
The following Message is sent with the Journal of Accounts by
Benedict Calvert Esquire.

By the Upper House of Assembly 13.^th Dec.^r 1765
Gentlemen
That the Question between us, concerning the Clerk of the Councils
Salary may be brought to the single Point, upon which it really
depends, we think it proper to state some Facts that cannot be con-
traverted, and this Method is become the more proper, since it may
tend to compose the Minds of the People, who having been imposed
upon by the malignant Misrepresentations of factious Men, in whose
Candour and Veracity they have too much confided, are extremely
agitated.
In Pursuance of this Purpose, we lay down the following incontro-
vertible Facts, — That the Services performed by the Clerk of the
Council, for which He has a Claim upon the Public; are in no
Respect connected with the private Concerns of Lord Baltimore, —
that they are of a general Nature relative to the whole Community, —
that the Governor, by the Constitution of this Province, being
assisted in the Administration of the Executive Powers of Govern-
ment by the Advice of the Council, and it being expedient that there
should be an Officer to give Notice to the Members of the Council,
when their Attendance is requisite, to prepare the Mandates that
occassionally issue to the Subordinate Ministers, and to record &
preserve Memorial of the Proceedings in this Department, such
Officer hath always existed in this Province, under the Appellation
of Clerk, or Secretary, and is a necessary Constitutional Officer —
That, in this Capacity, he hath been enjoynd to perform various
Duties by many Acts of Assembly allotting for them no particular
Rewards — that He hath always received a Satisfaction for His
Services, in this Capacity to the Public in every Journal of Accounts
that hath passed to the last inclusive — that M^r Ross Claims nothing
but for Services done to the Public — Nothing but the Salary he &

p. 254

his Predecessors in Office have always Claimed of, and been paid by
the Public, — nothing but what all the Branches of the Legislature,
concerned in regulating and assenting to all the former Journals,
have thought his Services merited — that M^r Ross hath exhibited an
Account of Duties actually performed by him in his Office of Clerk,
and that it appears by his Account that, if the same Rule is admitted
in Charging the Public, which is established by the Inspection Law in
Matters of private Concern, the Expence of the actual Services done