570 Assembly Proceedings, April 5-22, 1720.

L. H. J.

I Refused Indeed to Comply with both these his Demands,
as being Expressly Contrary to the Laws of the Province, and
Surely I am Excuseable also in point of Policy for so doing,
for I should have been by so Servile a Compliance, reduced to
the Dispicable Circumstance of Applying to him for my
Bread by Craving of him that Appointment, their Lordshipps
were pleas'd to Nominate for my maintenance, and also been
guilty of betraying this Country into the hands of a man who
by Principle is an Enemy to the Protestant Constitucon, and
this too at a time when the Rebellion was Scarcely Suppressed
in Great Britain and other Invasions threatned to destroy it.
This person not only renewed his demand of the money
mentioned for the Support and defence of the Government in
his Letter of the 9^th October 1716 but had the Confidence
therein to Caution me against passing some Laws the As-
sembly then Sitting had prepared for my assent I shall only
mention one Law I Did, notwithstanding his Insolent advice
then pass Viz.
An Act for the better Security of His Lordship's Govern-
ment and the Protestant Interest within this Province.
The first Publick Occasion this Person Exerted his Com-
mission on was to discharge two Criminalls out of Prison (one
of them his Nephew) who had been Informed against for
firing the Great Guns on the tenth of June, but Convict of
more heinious Crimes against his Majesty, and this he did
Contrary to the Judgment of the Court of Oyer and Terminer
held on that Occasion, which Obliged me to Remand them to
Prison, untill the fines adjudged were Complyed with, and
Immediately Sent for M^r Carroll and Tenderd him the Oaths
which he refused to take, for which reason I Required him to
Act on his Commission that part only which related to his
Lordship's private Estate ffor that it was a Publick Affair, and
more than unreasonable, that a Profest Papist Shou'd Set

p. 8

Criminalls at Large, who were convict of so great Crimes
against our Sovereign, by only giving a Line to the Sherife
that the Lord Proprietor was Sattisfied as to the fines Im-
posed.
Severall Commissions were brought in by M^r Carroll, some
filled up to Papists and others in blank and on my refuseing to
Admitt the Surveyors Generall of the Eastern and Western
Shore, without first takeing the Oaths appointed by Act of
Assembly, I was not only menaced for having thereby Shutt
up his Lordship's Land Office ; but Even Insulted on my Sick
bed at a late hour of the night when in a Dangerous State I
was makeing my Will as some Honourable Gentlemen can
Testify, whom I desired to be Witnesses on the Occasion.