Introduction. xxv

both legislative and executive powers for in such a case "a Tyranny would be
established." The message to the Governor concluded by requesting him to quiet
the minds of people in Maryland by withdrawing his proclamation of November
26, 1770, as well his instructions of November 24 establishing fees in the Land
Office, and that he would make known the names of "those ill Advisers who
have daringly presumed thus to tread on the invaluable Rights of the Freemen
of Maryland" (pp. 199-200).

After being approved by the members of the Lower House by a vote of
thirty-one to three, this message was delivered to the Governor on November 23
(pp. 207-208). A week later in his reply to this address, Eden said that he
thought that the Delegates' objections to his proclamations were due to a
desire "to excite popular Animosity." It was they, he insisted, who wanted to
usurp power and he gave as an illustration the arrest of William Steuart,
Register of the Land Office, by order of the Lower House during a meeting
of the General Assembly in fall of 1770. In this case, the Governor claimed,
the Delegates assumed all powers, executive and judicial, as well as legislative
(p. 219). Eden quoted at length from his message to the Lower House On
November 20, 1770, regarding this arrest (pp. 219-223 ; Arch. Md. LXII, 421-
425). He maintained that Steuart was condemned without authority by the
Delegates "to undergo an Imprisonment, to which even Highwaymen and
felons are not subject by the Law ....." (p. 224). The arrest of William
Steuart has been discussed in a previous volume of the Archives (LXII, xxvii-
xxix).

Governor Eden then pointed out that in regard to the officers of the colonial
government they were supported by fees and if these fees were taxes he ques-
tioned the sole authority of the Lower House to impose them. He cited instances
in the past when the Lord Proprietary, either himself, or through the Governor
and Council, had claimed the right to regulate officers' fees (pp. 225-231).

As to the Land Office, Eden claimed that the Proprietary had a right to
dispose of his real estate on such terms as he deemed proper and to settle and
regulate the fees of his officers in that department. That in this respect the
Land Office might be called his Lordship's private office. While the people of
Maryland have access to it, the officers were appointed by the Proprietary and
cannot be compelled to perform any services without an adequate compensation
(pp. 231-232).

Regarding his proclamation of November 26, 1770, the Governor maintained
that he did not issue it until after the most mature consideration and that to him
it appeared to be "a Measure not only lawful, but necessary......." As to the
last suggestion of the Lower House about his advisers, Eden said that he would
not allow the Delegates to tell him whom he was to consult or exclude from his
confidence, nor should any man have "the least Pretence" to reproach him with
having betrayed his confidence (p. 233).

The importance that the Delegates attached to this dispute with Governor
Eden was shown by their ordering that their address to him and his reply to
them should be printed separately and four copies sent to each person entitled
to receive the Votes and Proceedings of the Lower House (p. 233).