to give him an order on the Treasurer for the paper money to that amount.

I have the honour to be, gentlemen, your most obedient humble servant,

GEORGE PLATER.

To the Honourable the Council of Safety of Maryland.

MARYLAND COUNCIL OF SAFETY TO COLONEL JOHN HALL.

SIR: We hear that a forty-four-gun man-of-war and two sloops are on their way up the bay. The city is but weak, and we judge it necessary to have all the men drawn to town we can, for its defence. We should be glad you will give directions to all the companies and men in your battalion, that can be got ready, to repair, as soon as possible, to town. We should be glad to see you as early in the morning as you can.

We are, &c.

To Colonel John Hall.

MARYLAND COUNCIL OF SAFETY TO COLONELS DORSET AND WEEMS.

SIR: The Council of Safety have this moment received, by express, an account that a large ship-of-war and two tenders were, this afternoon, considerably above the mouth of Patuxent, and it is supposed they are now off Annapolis . Whether they entered into our river or to Baltimore, is not known. But be their destination to either place, it is absolutely necessary to have your battalion in readiness to march at an hour’s warning.

We are, &c.

TO THE APOLOGIST.

Philadelphia, March 5, 1776.

SIR: Every fresh opportunity of defending injured innocence must afford an uncommon degree of pleasure to so generous a mind as that of the Apologist . Give me leave, sir, to lay before you another part of the conduct of our Assembly, on which to exercise your benevolence. I have long lamented their great inattention to the rights of their constituents; but, lest I should be esteemed a carper, or desirous of hurting their influence or utility, I kept it to myself until your appearance. But as the principles on which you form your apology are new to me, I make no doubt but you will be able to remove any uneasiness at what I think an usurpation of our rights, or an ignorance of our rank in society.

The whole period I mean to lay before you commenced with the summer of the year 1774, and will end with the day on which they shall relinquish the usurped and illegal claims; and I charge all upon our present Assembly—not because they began or will end the usurpation, but because they continue it, while it is fully in their power to remove it forever.

I hold it as a firm principle in my politicks, that the powers of legislation can only be conferred by the society at large, and that freemen never intrust their representatives with the right of transferring it. I also hold it equally firm, that the right of instructing lies with the constituents, and them only; that the representatives are bound to regard them as the dictates of their masters, and not left at liberty to comply with or reject them, as they may think proper. These are my data, and on these I found what I offer for your consideration.

In the summer of the year 1774, Committees were fairly chosen throughout the Province, and directed by their constituents to meet in Convention, and there fix upon a mode to have the Province fairly and folly represented in Congress. They met accordingly, and finally agreed that three out of their own body, and four out of the House of Assembly, should be Delegates for the Province. They further agreed to leave the final nomination of the whole to the House, and only to recommend the three out of their own body, by name, little suspecting that the House would ever set up claims inconsistent with the desires of their constituents. The Convention accordingly recommended three out of their own body, at the same time requesting that four out of the House should be added to them, the whole to receive their nomination from the House; but the Assembly not only rejected the three recommended by the Convention, but refused to admit the members of the Convention to hear their debates on the occasion; and publickly declared, that the request of their constituents was inconsistent with their privileges, and that they could not, in duty to their constituents, comply with their desires. This principle, then avowed and since acted upon, is, in my opinion, more destructive of liberty than any claim of Great Britain; for if representatives, chosen by ourselves and clothed with our authority, are, in consequence, to hold rights inconsistent with ours, farewell to liberty.

They refused to nominate the men of our choice, purely because they were our choice; for the very next year, when we ceased to hold them out as our choice, they nominated them, though, in so doing, they were obliged to contradict every principle on which they founded their former refusal. They thereby convinced us that they meant to hold prerogatives which would be as inconsistent with our interest as they were alien to the Constitution. I confess to you, sir, that the freemen tacitly betrayed their own cause in permitting them to do so. But this by-the-bye. I hope it will not interfere with your apology.

Finding we were fairly asleep, and not to be waked by this conduct, they have adopted their last plan as best answering their purposes; for by it they can have such a representation in Congress, and Committee of Safety, as they choose, and all power will finally be stolen out of the hands of the people. You, sir, I doubt not, are satisfied of this. If you are not, only converse an hour with any member of our Committee of Inspection, and he will tell you how much authority is left in their hands, though the only body legally chosen on the present occasion. Look around you, and you will see Delegates in Congress, and members in our Committee of Safety, whom the free choice of the people would not admit in our Committee of Inspection, not to say into the House of Assembly. Thus the right of election is fairly lost, and we may no longer complain of attempts to tax us without our consent; for if matters continue in their present channel, we shall not only be taxed without, but against our consent.

If my memory serves me, a worthy member of the then Assembly, on the 18th of June, 1774, pointed out to the freemen of this city, in the clearest and strongest terms, the danger of committing the choice of Delegates to the Assembly. But the eloquence of another prevailed; and to please one man, we then relinquished a right which will never be exercised to onr advantage until we resume it. Our Assembly has as good a right to elect a King for us as to appoint one man to represent us in Congress or Committee of Safety, especially such as is not of their own body. I will boldly affirm, that they cannot retain that privilege but at the expense of our liberties. You have apologized, I acknowledge, for the kind of instructions given to their Delegates in Congress; but you have passed over what is infinitely more; important—the right they had to instruct them at all.

You are a pretty good hand at framing apologies, and I assure you I start matters which may stand in need of them, purely for the good of my country, and from a desire to establish our liberties. You will do me the favour, therefore, to offer a proper salve for such proceedings, as I cannot think they were bound by their oaths to behave in this manner. But if you see these matters in the light I do, I trust you will join me in recommending to the House to adopt some plan, at the present sitting, whereby every person, who is to be our representative in any publick body, may be annually elected, as the members of the House are, by the freemen at large, and thereby be brought under their control, as they ought, to be, but at present are not. This measure would be such an apology as would effectually remove, all suspicion of danger or dangerous designs. If not, a Convention ought to do it. To leave it undone is, in effect, to give up our liberties.

THE CENSOR.