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sisting of Gentlemen bound by every Tye to promote the Happiness
& true Interest of the Province cannot be a Disadvantage to it, but
by their Knowledge & Experience in publick Business & their Right
to oppose any wicked Measures of an oppressive Governor on one
hand & to check the Violence of a Levelling popular Assembly or
Tyranny of a few Demogogues on the other or prevent the evil
Consequences of a Collusion between a corrupt Governor & a few
Leading Men in the Lower House, an Upper House may be &
indeed in such Cases has more than once proved a very necessary
& useful Branch of Legislature, & prevented one part of the In-
habitants being sacrificed as it were to the Humour & Caprice of
another part.
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MSS Ar-
chives of Md.
Portfolio a
No. 76
Hall of
Records
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6. If the Legislatures in most of the British Colonies consist of
three Branches & if in all of them where there are three the Middle
Branch is at least as dependant as that of Maryland which is really
the Case it cannot surely be denied that there is such a similarity
between them as the Upper House alledged tho the Members in
Maryland are appointed by the Proprietary & in the other Colonies
by the King, & the End of their Institution is the same As to the
Insinuation that the King being the Father of his People cannot
but that the Proprietary being only a Subject may & is likely to
prosecute Claims for his own private Emolument subversive of their
Rights it is quite groundless, for it is at least as much the Pro-
prietary's Interest that Maryland as it is His Majesty's that Vir-
ginia should flourish & the only fair Conclusion to be drawn from
the Circumstance of his being a Subject is that was his Disposition
quite the Reverse of what it is he would not venture to take any
Step which he could not justify to His Superiour & that he will be
rather apt to give up something of his rightful Claims than endeavour
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[p. 6]
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to extend them & at once expose himself to the Resentment of an
injured People & an offended Sovereign
7. True it is that the Lower House have in many successive Ses-
sions offered a Bill for raising Money to support an Agent & that the
Upper House have as constantly rejected it because they were not
as heretofore to be allowed a Vote or share in the Nomination of
such Agent nor allowed to appoint or at least an equal Sum of Money
to Support One themselves, for they insist that as a seperate Branch
of the Legislature they ought to have the same means of justifying
their Proceedings & vindicating their Conduct as the Lower House,
especially since the Lower House have given them the greatest room
to believe that an Agent under their sole Direction would be in-
structed to represent many Matters quite different from what they
really are, & to set the Conduct of the several Branches of the Legis-
lature in a false Light. The Disputes which have arisen between the
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[p. 7]
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