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GOVERNOR SHARPE'S DIFFICULTIES. 485
sitting, and have framed a bill for granting £40,000 for his Majesty's service, but as it does
not exempt his Lordship's manors and some lands which he has ordered to be reserved
in the populous parts of the Province from the Land tax which is imposed as one of the
funds tor sinking the money, I ought in obedience to a letter which I have lately received
•from Mr. Calvert to reject the bill and be guilty of such reasoning as Gov. Morris has been
in defending his superiors instructions; but by what I can find, his Lordship's council and
best friends will advise me very differently, and insist on my disobeying for once Mr.
Calvert's order, unless those arms should happily arrive before the bill can be offered me.
Whether I shall be approved or condemned for this step I cannot predict, but am in hopes
that the arguments which may be used to convince his Lordship that the preservation
of his province depends on a supply, bills being passed at this juncture, and that his lordship's annual proportion of the intended tax will be less than the interest of the money
which, according to his agent's account, he lost last year, will excuse me for not insisting
so strenuously on what his lordship and Mr. Calvert distinguished by the name of prerogative. I would not imply by anything that has been said that I at all approve of the
Assembly's conduct; on the contrary, I think them absolutely inexcusable for the part
they have acted on this occasion, and if an act of generosity in his lordship had afforded
me the least room, I would not have despaired of making them ashamed of their behavior
and of rendering them odious to their own constituents. My journey to Fort Cumberland
last summer, and in the winter to New York, where I was obliged to wait for and attend
General Shirley near two months, put me to about £150 expense, for which I shall never
receive more than thanks at most; to this let there be added what the frequency and
length of our sessions of assembly, and the number of military officers who call on me lay
me under a necessity of expending, together with part of my house rent, and also the
£220 which I am annually to pay Mr. Calvert for his correspondence, and deduct the
"whole out of my yearly salary and perquisites, which amount to about £1400. The
remainder is for the support of the honor and dignity of his lordship's governor, and for
him to lay by against a future day. I think I have already hinted to you that I am not
permitted to dispose of any of the most honorable or lucrative offices, because another person loves to have all applications made to himself. This, perhaps, is of itself sufficient
to lessen the weight and influence that a governor would otherwise have, but as it has
been thought proper of late to saddle those officers with about £550 per annum, and I am
'charged with the care of making the most advantageous bargains. I submit to your own
judgment whether it is posssible for a person in my situation to continue always popular.
Any body that can get introduced to Mr. Calvert is sure to bring me an open letter,
desiring I will appoint him to this, or that, or the first vacant office, and should I have an
objection to the person introduced and recommended to me, or for any other reason, neglect
to comply with the terms of such letter, that man thinks himself hardly dealt by, and
immediately commences my enemy. It has been the policy of my predecessors always to
nave three or four gentlemen of abilities in his lordship's council, and the rule was a good
one, such three or four gave the whole board weight, and made the Lower House more
^cautious how they attacked a superior branch of the legislature. Since my arrival I have had
the misfortune to lose Jennings and two other gentlemen of very good abilities from that
board, whereby it is exceedingly reduced, though these accidents have made no more
than three seats vacant. To fill the first I recommended the son of one of those deceased, a
gentleman in my opinion, of the best natural and acquired abilities of any in the province,
and therefore a more desirable friend and a more formidable enemy. His services while
in the Lower House supported my recommendation, but my repeated applications in his
favor, for what cause I know not, have hitherto proved ineffectual, and instead of him am
I ordered to put into the council a person whose merit and qualifications are to me all
invisible, unless I am to reckon as such an easy disposition and his having lately contracted marriage with a niece of his lordship, who was lately in England, and whom
Object Description
| Title | History of Maryland - 1 |
| Creator | Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas) |
| Publisher | J. B. Piet |
| Place of Publication | Baltimore |
| Date | 1879 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
Description
| Title | 00000518 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | GOVERNOR SHARPE'S DIFFICULTIES. 485 sitting, and have framed a bill for granting £40,000 for his Majesty's service, but as it does not exempt his Lordship's manors and some lands which he has ordered to be reserved in the populous parts of the Province from the Land tax which is imposed as one of the funds tor sinking the money, I ought in obedience to a letter which I have lately received •from Mr. Calvert to reject the bill and be guilty of such reasoning as Gov. Morris has been in defending his superiors instructions; but by what I can find, his Lordship's council and best friends will advise me very differently, and insist on my disobeying for once Mr. Calvert's order, unless those arms should happily arrive before the bill can be offered me. Whether I shall be approved or condemned for this step I cannot predict, but am in hopes that the arguments which may be used to convince his Lordship that the preservation of his province depends on a supply, bills being passed at this juncture, and that his lordship's annual proportion of the intended tax will be less than the interest of the money which, according to his agent's account, he lost last year, will excuse me for not insisting so strenuously on what his lordship and Mr. Calvert distinguished by the name of prerogative. I would not imply by anything that has been said that I at all approve of the Assembly's conduct; on the contrary, I think them absolutely inexcusable for the part they have acted on this occasion, and if an act of generosity in his lordship had afforded me the least room, I would not have despaired of making them ashamed of their behavior and of rendering them odious to their own constituents. My journey to Fort Cumberland last summer, and in the winter to New York, where I was obliged to wait for and attend General Shirley near two months, put me to about £150 expense, for which I shall never receive more than thanks at most; to this let there be added what the frequency and length of our sessions of assembly, and the number of military officers who call on me lay me under a necessity of expending, together with part of my house rent, and also the £220 which I am annually to pay Mr. Calvert for his correspondence, and deduct the "whole out of my yearly salary and perquisites, which amount to about £1400. The remainder is for the support of the honor and dignity of his lordship's governor, and for him to lay by against a future day. I think I have already hinted to you that I am not permitted to dispose of any of the most honorable or lucrative offices, because another person loves to have all applications made to himself. This, perhaps, is of itself sufficient to lessen the weight and influence that a governor would otherwise have, but as it has been thought proper of late to saddle those officers with about £550 per annum, and I am 'charged with the care of making the most advantageous bargains. I submit to your own judgment whether it is posssible for a person in my situation to continue always popular. Any body that can get introduced to Mr. Calvert is sure to bring me an open letter, desiring I will appoint him to this, or that, or the first vacant office, and should I have an objection to the person introduced and recommended to me, or for any other reason, neglect to comply with the terms of such letter, that man thinks himself hardly dealt by, and immediately commences my enemy. It has been the policy of my predecessors always to nave three or four gentlemen of abilities in his lordship's council, and the rule was a good one, such three or four gave the whole board weight, and made the Lower House more ^cautious how they attacked a superior branch of the legislature. Since my arrival I have had the misfortune to lose Jennings and two other gentlemen of very good abilities from that board, whereby it is exceedingly reduced, though these accidents have made no more than three seats vacant. To fill the first I recommended the son of one of those deceased, a gentleman in my opinion, of the best natural and acquired abilities of any in the province, and therefore a more desirable friend and a more formidable enemy. His services while in the Lower House supported my recommendation, but my repeated applications in his favor, for what cause I know not, have hitherto proved ineffectual, and instead of him am I ordered to put into the council a person whose merit and qualifications are to me all invisible, unless I am to reckon as such an easy disposition and his having lately contracted marriage with a niece of his lordship, who was lately in England, and whom |
