Introduction. lvii

Controul and check the other", and although the voters for the members of the
Lower House comprised nearly all the freemen of the Province, the members of
the Upper House could neither vote for delegates nor serve as such in the lower
chamber. Under the bill it was proposed to vest in the Lower House alone the
appointment and regulation of an agent, although the taxes collected for the
support of such an agent would not only be collected from the voters who
chose the delegates to the Lower House, but also from the members of the
Upper House who were excluded from the selection of delegates, who would not
only appoint the agent, but would spend the money collected for his support;
and that by this the members of the Upper House were placed below the meanest
qualified voter in the Province. It was asked was it equitable that the Lower
House be supplied with the means to urge its pretensions before the Crown, and
the Upper House be deprived of the means of presenting its claims. The upper
chamber then made a counter proposition for the appointment of an agent, or
agents, which it well knew would be rejected. It said that it would agree
either to the appointment of an agent to be selected jointly by both houses, or
to the appointment of two agents, one of whom would be selected by the upper,
and one by the lower, chamber; and that if either of these suggestions was
acquiesced in, it would join in passing a bill for a proper support (pp. 91-93).
Of course both suggestions died aborning. A few days later, on December 19,
the Upper House in a message to the Lower House on the subject of a salary
for the Clerk of the Council again brought up the matter of a provision for
an agent, but nothing came of it (pp. 104-106).

PARISHES, CHURCHES, AND CHAPELS

Petitions for enabling legislation were presented at the November-December,
1765, session from seven parishes, of which six were granted. A petition was
presented in the Upper House by the rector, vestry, and inhabitants of St.

James Parish, Anne Arundel County, declaring that the amount of tobacco

levied as a tax by the act of the Assembly of 1762 was not sufficient to build
and finish the new church, but that there was in the hands of the parish for
repairing the old church a balance of £137:7: 10, which had been collected
for building a new church before the recent act was passed. The petition de-
clared that as there would be required to complete the new church and church
yard 80,000 pounds of tobacco over and above this £137: 7: 10, it was prayed
that an act be passed levying 80,000 pounds upon the inhabitants of the
parish; and an act to this end was thereupon passed (pp. 43, 218, 297-298).
The vestrymen and Protestant inhabitants of All Faiths Parish, St. Mary's
County, petitioned the Assembly that there be levied an assessment of 120,000
pounds of tobacco upon the inhabitants of that parish to build a parish church
and for other parish purposes (pp. 50-51, 265). The petition was presented
in the Upper House and referred to the Lower House (p. 158). A bill
authorizing this assessment was then passed by the Lower House and sent to
the upper chamber where it was favorably acted upon (pp. 60, 185). St.
Andrew's Parish, St. Mary's County, also petitioned the Assembly through its
rector, vestrymen, churchwardens, and other principal inhabitants, that as