CHAPTER XV.   FURTHER CONDITIONS OF PLANTATION, INSTRUCTIONS, ORDERS, &C.     ALTHOUGH the examination of proclamation and surplus warrants led us in some degree into the third period of the proprietary government, it was necessary to notice those matters, (general in point of time) which form the subjects of the three last chapters, before we proceeded to exhibit the main body of the documents belonging to that period. There will, even after the insertion of these, remain various matters to be discussed and illustrated, which are not particular to either of the three periods into which, for the sake of lief and distinction in so blended and confused an enquiry, I have considered the aera of the provincial government as being divided. Here, however, appears to be the proper place for the third collection of instructions, and other important papers found on record; they will not reach entirely to the time of our revolution, as there are some others which will come in more properly after we have noticed the revenue system of the proprietary, and, in particular, the erection of a Board of Revenue, by which some of the latest instructions were issued. But although the documents now to be inserted may anticipate some matters of recital and remark yet to appear, the judgment of the reader will easily direct him as to their proper application. This collection begins with the commission to Charles Carroll, Esq. which gave such umbrage to governor Hart, although I do not perceive that it contains any thing absolutely new, for, the office of chief escheator, of which the governor particularly complained, as being an office of record, had before that time been vested as well in the surveyor general as in the proprietary's agent, and the management and (a) receipt of the tobacco and tonnage duties had also been formerly among the chief agent's authorities. I am not certain, considering the violent outcries of Mr. Hart about the powers conferred on Mr. Carroll that the last mentioned gentlemen did not obtain a commission still more extensive than this, but no other is found on record, and the disappointment of the governor, and those of his party, at finding that Mr. Carroll was to continue in the confidence of the new proprietary, was sufficient to raise objections against     (a) This was also complained of, and especially because the receipt of Mr. Carrol comprehended what was destined to the purchase of arms and ammunition.