xlviii Introduction.

by this and other instances of clerical misbehavior, at this session a bill was
introduced to bring under supervision and regulation the clergy of the Es-
tablished Church, who once inducted were then under no form of control. A
bill providing regulation and control was passed by both houses, but was vetoed
by Governor Sharpe, who really favored it, because approval would have been
contrary to instructions from the Lord Proprietary in regard to all bills affecting
his prerogative. Churches, parishes, clergymen, and the regulation of the clergy
are discussed at length in a section on these subjects (pp. lxix-lxxvii).

Claims of militia officers for overdue pay for services rendered in the late war
cropped up again at this session, although the Journal of Accounts passed
at the last 1766 session had taken care of most of such claims. A few officers
to whom payment had been overlooked when the Journal was made up and
passed at that session, brought their claims before the 1768 Assembly. Some
of these were favorably considered by the Lower House, while action upon
others was postponed. The failure of the Assembly to adopt any Journal of
Accounts at the 1768 session, perhaps due to its sudden prorogation by the
Governor, resulted in no payments being made.

Provincial agent in Great Britain. The Lower House resumed its long
struggle to secure an appropriation for the support of an agent in Great
Britain to represent the people before the Crown in controversies between
them and the Proprietary. The attempt made at the last session to secure funds
for the payment of an agent by public subscriptions and by a "Maryland Liberty
Lottery" having failed, a bill imposing an export tax of fourpence on tobacco
for the support of an agent was again passed at the 1768 session by the Lower
House to be promptly rejected in the upper chamber. The Lower House seems
to have had in mind the appointment of Charles Garth for this position,
although his name does not actually appear in connection with this position in
the journal of the house. The matter is discussed at greater length in the
section on an Agent in Great Britain (pp. lxvi-lxix). As usual, a committee
of the Lower House was appointed to examine into the condition of the arms
and ammunition of the Province. The detailed provisions of this report will
be found in a section devoted to this matter (pp. lxxxi-lxxxii).

The Journal of Accounts carrying appropriations for the current debts and
expenses of the Province was presented in the Lower House on June 20, 1768
(p. 402), but did not pass either house, probably on account of disputes about
certain items, or possibly because of the sudden prorogation of the Assembly
two days later by Sharpe, acting under the command of the King, on account
of the refusal of the Lower House to ignore the letter of the House of Rep-
resentatives of Massachusetts, protesting against the Townshend Acts. It
would appear that a few of the more pressing debts were taken care of in a
special ordinance passed just before adjournment (pp. 402, 405, 415, 318).
The Lower House refused even to consider a petition from certain inhabi-
tants of Cecil County to remove the Court House to Charles Town from
Head of Elk, because it had not been advertised in advance, agreeable to
the resolve of the Lower House made at the May, 1766, session (pp. 63,
64, 288, 343, 346). Perhaps the success of Baltimore Town at this same