Introduction. lxiii

of our House of Delegates'' for presentation, and he will be asked to cooperate
with your agent and the agents of the other colonies in endeavoring to pro-
cure relief.

Just before the Assembly was ready to adjourn, and all the regular business
of the session had been finished, except the formal assent of the Governor to a
number of bills already passed by both houses, the Lower House unanimously
adopted eight formal resolves which not only denied the right of Parliament
to impose taxes in Maryland, but also asserted the attitude of the house on
several public questions in controversy between the people and the Lord Pro-
prietary (pp. 416-417). These resolves need not be further discussed here as
they are similar to those passed at previous assemblies, and more especially
when the Stamp Act excitement was at its height; they have been discussed in
a previous volume (Arch. Md. LIX, xlii).

Sharpe's brief reply to the spirited message of the Lower House declared
that he was extremely sorry that his recommendations, made by his Majesty's
express commands, had had no weight with the house, and that had it not
instantly on presenting the address informed him that there was no more busi-
ness before it, he would immediately, in obedience to his Majesty's command,
have put an end to the session to prevent any further proceedings of the house
on the matter (p. 419). That Sharpe had misgivings and wondered whether
he might be censured for not having dissolved the Assembly immediately after
the address was made, and without waiting to add his "fiat" to the bills awaiting
his signature, is shown by a letter from him to the Lord Proprietary written
the day after adjournment, in which he says "but had I done so it would only
in my opinion have answered no other End than to raise a Ferment here &
perhaps in the Neighboring Colonies for the people would be apt to consider
it a Common Cause." He thought it would have been best had the Ministry
entirely ignored the Massachusetts Letter (Arch. Md. XIV, 511). That the
King and Hillsborough did not disapprove of Sharpe's course is to be seen
from a letter dated November 15, 1768, from Hillsborough to the Governor
in which he expresses complete satisfaction with the Governor's behavior
(Arch. Md. XIV, 561).

On the day before adjournment Speaker Lloyd of the Lower House reported
that he had received a letter from the Speaker of the Virginia House of Bur-
gesses respecting the acts of Parliament imposing duties to be collected in
America and the act conditionally suspending the legislative power of New
York. Lloyd was requested to write a respectful answer in the name of the
house (p. 409). Neither the Virginia letter nor the answer is entered in the
journal of the house nor have they been found among the Maryland or Vir-
ginia records.

JOURNAL OF ACCOUNTS

The dispute between the two houses about the adoption of a Journal of
Accounts carrying itemized appropriations for the expenses of the Provincial
government, had now for ten years prevented the adoption of a Journal and
the payment of the large debts due to the public creditors covering this long