Preface. xi

On receiving this defiant address, the Governor prorogued the As-
sembly.

In the same year, 1768, Governor Sharpe was recalled by the Pro-
prietary, who appointed in his place Robert Eden, the husband of Lady
Caroline Calvert, Baltimore's sister. Baltimore, in his letter announc-
ing this change, and indirectly through his secretary, expresses his high
appreciation of Sharpe's energetic, intelligent and faithful service, and
assures him that there would have been no thought of displacing him
but for the claims of " fraternal affection," to which the secretary adds
" the solicitation of relatives."

Horatio Sharpe was one of the best governors that colonial Maryland
ever had. Intelligent, energetic, firm and conscientious, he maintained
an equitable balance in his three-fold duties to the British crown, whose
subject he was, to the Proprietary, whom he represented, and to the

people whose welfare he had to protect and promote. He had had mili-
tary training and experience as an officer in the British army, and it
soon stood him in good stead. Shortly after he had taken his seat the
French and Indian war broke out, and he was made commander-in-chief
of all the forces in America operating against the French, until super-
seded by General Braddock. After the disaster on the Monongahela,
Sharpe showed the utmost energy in the defence of the frontier, over
which a host of the enemy and their savage allies were expected to pour.
But his activities in peace and war can better be studied in the Assembly
Journal and his correspondence.

Governor Eden was an exceedingly amiable man, and was highly
esteemed, and his feelings toward the Marylanders with whom he was
brought into contact were most friendly. During the agitation which
was leading to independence he was long persuaded that the disaffected
and mutinous were little more than a turbulent rabble, and that the men
of influence and substance did not entertain such sentiments. His rep-
resentations to this effect to the British ministry in the early stage of the
war saved Maryland to a great extent from such raids as Dunmore was
making on the Virginia coast. When, however, the Convention had
assumed all powers, so that not even the shadow of authority was left
him, and the colonies were plainly on the eve of declaring their inde-
pendence, he abdicated his office and departed for England on board a
royal frigate, on June 24, 1776, the .principal gentlemen of Annapolis
escorting him to the vessel in evidence of their personal esteem. After
the conclusion of peace he revisited Maryland, and died in Annapolis
in 1784.