Scent of the young Myrtle and yellow Jessamine with which the woods. abound is delightful. The staple commodity here is rice and the only thing they export to Europe. Beef, Pork and Lumber they send to the West Indies. . .

Sept 8 1742.

Wrote to Miss Mary Fayweather in Boston. The same time wrote my Father a full and long acc! of 5 thousand Spainyards landing at S' Symons. We were greatly alarmed in Carolina; 80 prisoners now in C Town, they had a large fleet, but were scattered by bad weather. Our little fleet from Carolina, commanded by Cap! Hardy could not get to y Gen assistance, the Enemy were sailed to St Marks. "Tis said Capt. Hardy instead of cruising off St Augustine barr where it was probable he would find them returned with all the men to CTM Town, wch has greatly disgusted the Gov! and Council as well as the rest of the Inhabitance. There is sent now 3 Men of Warr and 4 provincial vessels under the command of Capt. Frankland. Sent my father his kettle Drums, informed him of M! Smith seling the rum he sent us, and giving away the preserved sorrel, tho' he assured us it was by mistake put on board a vessel going to Barbadoes and carried there. Sad wretch. Sent for Cowcumber seed - Polly gone to school at Mr Hicks's at 140 pound per annum.

Eliza Lucas, Journal and Letters (edited by Mrs. H. P. Holbrook, Wormsloe, 1850), 17-20 passim.

36. Routine in Maryland (1754)

BY GOVERNOR HORATIO SHARPE

Sharpe was governor of Maryland from 1753 to 1768; his efficiency is well shown by the extract below. - Bibliography: Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, III, 553-562, V, 270-272; J. T. Scharf, Maryland, I, 442 ff.; Channing and Hart, Guide, § 101. For earlier Maryland history, see Contemporaries, I, ch. xi.

IN

N obedience to your Ldps Instructions I have transmitted Copies of all the Laws made at a Session of Assembly begun & held at Annapolis in this Province the 2d of Oct 1753 & have fulfilled your Lordsp's pleasure by inclosing therewith a few Observations for the more easy reference to any thing new or of an extraordinary nature by

any of them enacted. Such a Bill as your Lordship was pleased to recommend in your Instructions for the Naturalization of German Protestants importing themselves into this Province was brought into the Lower House of Assembly in the Oct' Session but did not pass through, however these people suffer no great Inconveniences from the want of such a Law, as there is an Act of Parliament in force in England naturalizing all such Foreigners after a few years Residence in any of His Majesty's Plantations. Advising with your Lordship's Agent & Judge of the Land Office about having parcells of Land surveyed in the several Counties & erected into Mannours I was informed that there is not remaining a Tract of Land (unless one in the Lower part of the Eastern Shore that I have a prospect of Discovering & the Barrens) extensive enough to answer that purpose in any part of the province, except in Frederick County near the Frontiers, & there are two mannours surveyed & reserved in that County already; if I should by any enquiries get knowledge of Vacancy which will answer that End, or Land contiguous fit to be added to the Mannours already laid out & erected, I will punctually obey your Lordships Instructions. Your Ldp's Expectations of having what Land remains vacant in the more populous parts of the Country sold off at more advanced prices, cannot I am afraid, be answered as much as I wish; The Method always followed here of locating Land Warrants by selecting the most rich & fertil Land without regarding any regularity of its Area, or making one of its Courses coincide with. the Boundary of the adjacent prior patented Tract, has left the Land hitherto remaining Vacant & uncultivated, in such irregular small & incommodious parcells that it is thought scarcely worth any ones While but those on whose possessions it joins, to take it up even at the common Rate. I observed in a Letter to your Ldp's Secretary soon after my Arrival that in some of the Counties there is supposed to be a considerable number of Acres, for which your Ldp receives no Rent. . . .

I have herewith sent for your Ldp's information & satisfaction an exact State of the worth of the respective Ecclesiastical Benefices in the province at this time; your Ldp will see that the Divisions already made have reduced most of them to a very moderate Value. The misinformation that had been given me made me represent untruly the Income of some of those that are now vacant, which Error your Ldp will be hereby enabled to rectify. . . . Your Ldp's distinguishing marks of Favour to M' Bacon & M' Malcolm were delivered them the same Day who expressed a dutiful sense of & thankfulness for the honour your Ldp had

been pleased to confer on them which they intend to do themselves the honour of acknowledging by Letter to your Ldp.

The Trustees of the Charity School about to be established in Talbot County gratefully accept your Ldps proposals & are preparing a thankfull Address for the most kind Testimony of your Ldp's Approbation. . . .

I am sorry at being unable to put the Scheme your Ldp: was pleased to intimate for compleating the Governour's House in execution; for want of being covered the House is now reduced to so bad a State (the Timber work being mostly wasted & demolished) that less than £300 or £400. will not put it in the Condition it was left in by the workmen, & I apprehend to perfect it would require as many Thousand, so large a sum it is impracticable to raise by Lottery in these parts where it is with the greatest Difficulty that £100 or £200 can be raised by that method for executing any work of the most general Utility. . . .

I met the Assembly the 25th of March upon the Business that was mentioned in my Letter dated the 10th of Feby the Contents of which I hope e'er this your Ldp is acquainted with, but neither my utmost Efforts or the Example of the Virginians who had just then granted the Sum of £10,000 for that purpose could induce them to make the least Provision for the Encouragement of the Ohio Expedition. . . . I have taken an Opportunity since my arrival of visiting Baltimore which indeed has the Appearance of the most increasing Town in the Province, tho it scarcely answered the Opinion I had conceived of it: hardly as yet rivaling Annapolis in number of Buildings or Inhabitants; its Situation as to Pleasantness Air & Prospect is inferior to that of Annapolis, but if one considers it with respect to Trade, The extensive Country beyond it leaves no room for Comparison; were a Few Gent" of fortune to settle there & encourage the Trade it might soon become a flourishing place but while few beside the Germans (who are in general Masters of small Fortunes) build & inhabit there I apprehend it cannot make any considerable Figure.

Correspondence of Governor Horatio Sharpe (Maryland Archives, VI, Baltimore, 1888), I, 52–57 passim.

This celebrated case illustrates the relation of church and state in the colonies, and is also the beginning of the public career of Patrick Henry. Maury was an estimable minister of Huguenot ancestry. - Bibliography: Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, VI, 24; Maury, Memoirs of a Huguenot Family; Channing and Hart, Guide, § 134. December 12th, 1763.

DEA

EAR SIR: Now that I am somewhat more at leisure, than when I wrote to you by Major Winston, from Hanover, some few days ago, I have sat down to give you the best account I can of the most material passages in the trial of my cause against the Collectors in that Court, both to satisfy your own curiosity, and to enable the lawyer, by whom it is to be managed in the General Court, to form some judgment of its merits. I believe, sir, you were advised from Nov'r Court, that the Bench had adjudged the twopenny act to be no law; and that, at the next, a jury, on a writ of inquiry, were to examine whether the Plaintiff had sustained any damages, and what. Accordingly, at December Court, a select jury was ordered to be summoned; but, how far they who gave the order, wished or intended it to be regarded, you may judge from the sequel. The Sheriff went into a public room, full of gentlemen, and told his errand. One excused himself (Peter Robinson of King William) as having already given his opinion in a similar case. On this, as a person then present told me, he immediately left the room, without summoning any one person there. He afterwards met another gentleman (Richard Sq. Taylor) on the green, and, on his saying he was not fit to serve, being a churchwarden, he took upon himself to excuse him, too, and, as far as I can learn, made no further attempts to summon gentlemen. These, you'll say, were but feeble endeavors to comply with the directions of the Court in that particular. Hence, he went among the vulgar herd. After he had selected and set down upon his list about eight or ten of these, I met him with it in his hand, and on looking over it, observed to him that they were not such jurors as the Court had directed him to get, being people of whom I had never heard before, except one, whom, I told him, he knew to be a party in the cause, as one of the Collector's Securities, and, therefore, not fit for a juror on that occasion. Yet this

man's name was not erased. He was even called in Court, and, had he not excused himself, would probably have been admitted. For, I cannot recollect, that the Court expressed either surprise or dislike that a more proper jury had not been summoned. Nay, though I objected against them, yet, as Patrick Henry (one of the Defendant's lawyers) insisted they were honest men, and, therefore, unexceptionable, they were immediately called to the book and sworn. Three of them, as I was afterwards told, nay, some said four, were Dissenters of that denomination called New Lights, which the Sheriff, as they were all his acquaintance, must have known. Messrs. Gist and McDowall, the two most considerable purchasers in that county, were now called in to prove the price of tobacco, and sworn. The testimony of the former imported, that, during the months of May and June, 1759, tobacco had currently sold at 50s. per hundred, and that himself, at or about the latter end of the last of those months, had sold some hundreds of hhds. at that price, and, amongst the rest, one hundred to be delivered in the month of August, which, however, were not delivered till September. That of the latter only proved, "That 50s. was the current price of tobacco that season." This was the sum of the evidence for the Plaintiff. Against him, was produced a receipt to the Collector, to the best of my remembrance in these words: "Received of Thomas Johnson, Jun'r, at this and some former payments, £144, current money, by James Maury." After the lawyers on both sides had displayed the force and weight of the evidence, pro and con. to their Honors, the jurors, and one of those who appeared for the Defendants had observed to them that they must find (or if they must find, I am not sure which, but think the former) for the Plaintiff, but need not find more than one farthing; they went out, and, according to instruction (though whether according to evidence or not, I leave you to judge), in less than five minutes brought in a verdict for the Plaintiff, one penny damages. Mr. Lyons urged, as the verdict was contrary to evidence, the jury ought to be sent out again. But no notice was taken of it, and the verdict admitted without hesitation by the Bench. He then moved to have the evidence of Messrs. Gist and McDowell recorded, with as little effect. His next motion, which was for a new trial, shared the same fate. He then moved it might be admitted to record, "that he had made a motion for a new trial, because he considered the verdict contrary to evidence, and that the motion had been rejected;" which, after much altercation, was agreed to. He lastly moved for an appeal, which,