The Upper House. 91

London for the Service of this Province and will not pass — sent by
John Ridout Esq.^r along with the following Message Viz.^t
By the Upper House of Assembly Decem..^r 16..^th 1765
Gentlemen.

We should very willingly concur with you in the Enaction of a
Law for the Appointment of an Agent, at the general Expence, upon
Terms agreeable to Equity, and Consistent with the Principles of
our Constitution, but we do not conceive, that the Bill we have
returned with a Negative is entitled to that Character.
According to our System of Laws, there is a co-ordinate Qualifica-
tion of the Electors and their Delegates, & this, in respect of Property,
being appropriated to no Species, and requiring but a very moderate
Share. There are but few Freemen excluded from the Capacity of
electing or being elected; but tho this Right is so diffusive in this
View, other Considerations arising from the Frame of our Consti-
tution, and the Fitness in preserving an Analogy between this, and
the Constitution of England have restricted it, and therefore the
Members of the Upper House, composing a distinct Order, and in
that having a Check upon the Lower in the Introduction of all new
and general Regulations, are disabled from electing, or being elected
the Delegates of the People, but since their Consent is requisite to
give Life and Vigour to all general Regulations, this their Disability
is no more productive of Insecurity to their political Rights or private

U. H. J.
Liber No. 36
Dec. 16

Properties, than the Exclusion of the Delegates of the People from
sitting in the Upper House is repugnant to theirs. Each Order is,
in this Respect, politically divided from the other, each has a Power
to Controul and check the other, and in this a Barrier, not only to
defend itself, is furnished to each, as a Political Body, but also an
equal Opportunity of consulting and providing for the general In-
terest and Welfare of the Province, in which the Members of the
Two Houses, as Individuals of the same Society, are equally con-
cerned.
It would, without Doubt, be expected that the Agent should deem
it to be his Duty to observe the Directions of his Principals, & that
they would give him his Dismission should he venture to act by the
Guidance of any other Rule; It would, too, be expected, or the Ex-
pence of his Support had better been spared that in Consequence of the
Appointment of an Agent, some Measures or Regulations of general
Concernment to the Province reaching all Individuals without Dis-
tinction, would take Place, and that the beneficial or disadvantageous
Effects of these Measures or Regulations would depend upon their
Wisdom and Prudence who should plan or direct them. In the
Wisdom and Prudence of your House your Electors have reposed
great Confidence, but they alone would not be involved in the Conse-
quence of your Measures, which muot equally extend to us who are

p. 260