xl Introduction.

The report continuing stated that the Lords of the Committee of Council for
Plantation Affairs approved of the petition of the guardians of Henry Harford
and ask his Majesty to approve of the reappointment of Eden as Governor of
Maryland which his Majesty in Council did on March 5, 1773.

See also Acts of the Privy Council, Colonial Series, 1766-1783, p. 556, and
Letter of Transmittal, p. xi.

II. Amount of tonnage of vessels entering Maryland from September 29,
1769, to September 29, 1771. Governor Robert Eden furnished the Speaker of
the Lower House this information in connection with the proposed erection
of a lighthouse at Cape Henry. See introduction, pp. xxii-xxiii and p. 107 of
the text of the Governor's letter of October 16, 1771, in which he refers to this
shipping data which he is sending the Delegates through their Speaker.

III. Proceedings in the case of Robert Moreton, Customs Officer, May-July,
1773. It appears that the Sloop Speedwell, because of her master's failure to
properly enter her cargo, had been libelled by Robert Moreton, his Majesty's
Customs Officer at Baltimore (Maryland Gazette, Feb. 4, 1773, has notice of
Moreton's appointment).

The case is discussed in the Council Proceedings for May 6, 1773, and in the
following letters and depositions:

Letter from Robert Moreton to [Gov. Robert Eden], May 10, 1773; Extract
of a letter from Robert Moreton to the Commissioners of the Customs at Bos-
ton, May 28, 1773; Extract of a letter from the Collector and Deputy Comp-
troller of the Customs at the Port of Patuxent to the Commissioners [of
Customs at Boston?], June 10, 1773; Commissioners of Customs at Boston to
Gov. Robert Eden, July 6, 1773; Depositions of John McMachan and James
Gaddes, May 10, 1773.

The proceedings of the Maryland Council mentioned above are printed from
a photostat copy of the Peter Force transcripts of these proceedings now in the
manuscript division of the Library of Congress. As the General Assembly was
not in session at this time, that is, during May, 1773, the Council was holding
its meeting as the Governor's advisory body and not as the Upper House of the
Assembly. If the original records of these proceedings could have been found,
they would, of course, have been used. It is greatly to be regretted that no
original records of the proceedings of the Council since the meeting held on
Sept. 24, 1770, have ever been located (Arch. Md. XXXII).

THE EDITOR.