in this Situation might in future be chosen a Member of the Assembly, and your Lordship will perceive on turning to p. 53, 54, that M Hagar was re-elected. Such, My Lord, was my motive for passing the Act, Cap. 1, and permit me to assure your Lordship if I had entertained any Suspicion that this Act impugned in any Degree the Statute, I would have dissented to it avowedly on that very ground. In Pensylvania, Foreigners naturalized may be chosen Members of the Assembly, and there is Reason to apprehend that if they should not have (since the point has been stirred) the same privilege in Maryland, it would be a great disadvantage to this Colony, especially as (notwithstanding they maintain their Ministers by Contribution) they are equally taxed with others to support the established Clergy; a Charge to which they are not liable in Pensylvania, where there is no such Establishment. The Effect of this Act is merely local, the Design of it was in no degree to set aside the Limitation contained in the Statute, and the provisions of it are almost necessary on account of the Privilege enjoyed by Foreigners naturalized in Pensylvania. On these Considerations I hope for your Lordship's most favorable Construction. I acknowledge myself greatly obliged to Your Lordship for your polite Attention to my request, should any Business call me home; and only beg leave to add that I hope any Consideration such a Proposition may induce will not remove me from my Government so long as my Conduct therein merits the Approbation of His Majesty, and His ministers for this Department which shall always be the Endeavor as it has ever been the Sincere Wish of, My Lord Your Lordships most obedient. and very humble Servant Robt Eden. DARTMOUTH TO EDEN. Deputy Governor Eden. Sir. Whitehall April 10th 1773. I have received and laid before the King your Letters to me of the 12th and 29th of January and 26th of February last and am very much obliged to you for the very full Explanation contained in your Letter of the 29th of January upon the two points I took the Liberty to mention to you in my dispatch of the 4th of November last. I consider your Continuance in the Government of Maryland as a Circumstance of very great advantage to the King's Service and congratulate you upon the very recent mark of His Majesty's favor in His Royal Approbation by Order in Council of that Continuance. I am &c Dartmouth. EDEN TO DARTMOUTH. Annapolis 19 August 1773. My Lord. Herewith I have the Honor of transmitting to your Lordship a Copy of the Laws enacted our last session of Assembly, which stands prorogued to the 11th of October next, when it will meet, and I hope take into Consideration some Regulation of our Staple, which is falling into great Disrepute at Home since the dropping the Inspection Law. I shall transmit to y! Lordship a Copy of the Votes and Proceedings of the late Session by the Pacquet. They are not yet Printed. I beg your Lordship to accept my Thanks again for your obliging Letters, and to be assured that I shall ever endeavor to merit His Majesty's gracious Approbation in this or any Situation I may be placed in. The Governor of Virginia is gone to Fort Pitt, and I endeavored in vain to meet His Lordship on the Frontiers of this Province in his way up so am under a necessity of visiting Williamsburg next month to comply with the Statute of William and Mary with respect to my new Commission, the Certificate of which shall be immediately transmitted to your Lordship. I am, With great Respect, My Lord, Your Lordship's most obedient and very humble Servant Rob Eden. KNOX TO EDEN. Whitehall 5th Feb 1774. Deputy Governor Eden. Sir. I am directed by the Earl of Dartmouth to send you the inclosed attested Copy of His Majesty's Free Pardon of John Godfrey otherwise Henry, who being convicted at the last Assizes at Dorchester of Theft was sentenced to be transported, and is now supposed to be in Maryland, having embarked at Bristol in the Ship Isabella which sailed from that Port for Baltimore the 16th of October. If you can convey this Pardon to the unfortunate Man, and be of any Assistance in enabling him to avail himself of the King's Clemency, it will be an Act of great Compassion to his disconsolate Relations here. I am &ca Willm Knox. GOVERNOR PENN TO EDEN. Sir Philadelphia, 16th May 1774. On the receipt of your Excellency's Letter of the 31st of January last I resolved, in Compliance with your Request, to delay the issuing a Proclamation for the exercise of the Jurisdiction of this Province up to the Lines run and marked by the Commissioners under the Proprietary Agreement as the Bounda ries between Maryland Pennsylvania and the three lower Counties, till it was known whether the Guardians of M Harford would sign the Commissioners' Return, and instruct you to join in such Proclamation. I am now to inform you Sir, that that Point is reduced to a certainty M Wilmot our Solicitor having lately advised me that the Guardians have expressly refused an Application made to them for that Purpose, conceiving it to be a matter in which from the nature of their Trust, they cannot legally intermeddle. Altho' I have always been advised that the Proprietary Agreement enforced by the Decrees in Chancery, and ratifyed by his Majesty in Council, on the joint Petition of both Proprietors, is of itself final and conclusive on all Parties; and that nothing is essentially wanting to substantiate these Proceedings, yet I should been glad your Excellency could have thought yourself justified in joining with me in a Proclamation to extend the Jurisdiction of both Provinces according to the lines thus Settled; as it would leave without Excuse those who might be disposed to give Opposition to the Measure on either side. But as it is now Evident that Mr Harford's Guardians will give you no Instructions on this Head, I cannot, consistent with the justice due to the People settled on our side of those lines who have been and yet are in a great measure in a lawless State, any longer defer affording to them that Protection they have so repeatedly applied for, and which they have a right to claim from this Government. I have therefore come to a Resolution by the Advice of my Council to issue the Proclamation ex parte and hope your Excellency, before you Embark for England, will take such Measures on the occasion as you may judge most proper to prevent the Peace of the two Provinces from being again disturbed, and those valuable Purposes from being defeated that induced the respective Proprietaries to enter into the Agreements for settling their Boundaries, and which in their Execution have been attended with an immense Expence to them. I sincerely wish you a happy Voyage, and am with great Respect Your Excellency's Obedient His Excellency, Robert Eden Esq John Penn. Sir EDEN TO PENN. Annapolis 21st May 1774. The Guardians of the Proprietor of Maryland appointed by the Lord Chancellor of England, declined I presume, signing the return of the Commissioners in their Capacity of Guardians, because they might think it improper to do the Act without the Especial Direction of the Lord Chancellor upon an application bringing the matter before his Lordship in a regular Course of Proceeding, their ward being under his particular Protection, but whatever may have been the reason whether that which I have suggested or any other, why the Guardians have declined the Measure, I conceive (and the Council of this Province whom I have consulted are of the same Opinion) that it would be most improper for me, in my Station to undertake in any Degree, the Exercise of a power, which the Guardians have refused upon the declared Principle, that it is a matter, in which, from the Nature of their Trust, they cannot intermeddle. What may be the Effect in Respect of the Peace of the two Provinces of an ex parte Proclamation issued by your Government I do not undertake to say, nor do I doubt but that the Tendency of such a Measure will be most maturely considered before the Execution of it tho' for my own part I am not without Apprehension, that some disagreeable Disturbances may be the Consequence of such an ex parte Proclamation and I can't but express my Wish that it may be deferred. I expect to take my Departure from Maryland in a few Days and will embrace a very early Opportunity after my Arrival in England to communicate your Letters to the Guardians; but 'till Instructions shall be sent hither to direct the Conduct of the Provincial Government I believe I may venture to assure you no steps will be taken here to indicate a Concurrence with, or an Admission of the propriety of, the Measure you propose. I am Sir &c. Robert Eden. The hoñble John Penn Esq Governor of Pennsylvania. |