xviii Introduction.

tions and Privileges, (2) Committee of Accounts, (3) Committee of Grievances
and Courts of Justice (4) Committee to enquire into the state and condition
of Arms and Ammunition, (5) Committee to inspect the accounts and pro-
ceedings of the commissioners or trustees for emitting bills of credit (Loan
Office), (6) Committee to inspect the several Public Offices. Special committees
were appointed as the occasion required.

In his speech to the two houses with which Sharpe opened the session, he
declared that he had called the Assembly together in obedience to the King's
command as expressed through the Earl of Egremont, one of the Principal
Secretaries of State, and as the result of a letter received from General Amherst,
the Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's forces in America, in order that
the Assembly might, in compliance with the King's orders, raise a sufficient
number of Maryland troops for defense, so that His Majesty's regular troops
might be freed for use on an important expedition. Sharpe in pursuance of
the promises contained in these letters declared that the King would supply
the Provincial troops with arms, tents, and provisions, but that the Province
would be expected to pay and clothe the men, although the Earl of Egremont
had promised that Parliament would be asked to reimburse the Province for
these expenditures. Egremont's letter, dated December 12, 1761, was a circular
letter, directed to the governors of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North
Carolina, and South Carolina. After referring to the chicane of the court of
Versailles and the dangers to the Province from the French, Egremont said
that it was the King's pleasure that there be raised with dispatch as large a
body of men as possible, these to be levied under the conditions which Sharpe
had outlined in his opening speech. Egremont also promised that the Pro-
vincial officers in the new forces would continue to have the same rank as that
to which they had been commissioned by the Governor, who was to select them
from among "such Gentlemen in your Province as you shall judge, from their
Weight and Credit with the People and their Zeal for the Public Service",
were most suitable, a reiteration of the same promise made in the King's
Warrant of December 30, 1747, when Provincial troops were then being raised.
The minister also admonished "that His Majesty expects that your Province
will not Obstinately persist in refusing to comply with their Duty to the
King .... a Behaviour which cannot fail to incur His Majesty's Displea-
sure" (pp. 5-7). General Amherst in his letter from New York, dated Feb-
ruary 9, 1762, transmitting to the Governor the above circular letter from
Egremont, urged the Governor to call together the Assembly at once, so that
the King's wishes might be promptly complied with, summarized the contents
of the Earl's communication, and added that as soon as he had apportioned
the quota which each province would be expected to furnish to complete the
regular regiments now serving in America, he would transmit to the Governor
a second letter from Egremont of the same date telling him what would be
expected of Maryland in order to comply with the King's command, and "the
Encouragements which his Majesty is graciously pleased to Empower me to
give [to his Maryland subjects] for effecting this most Essential Service"
(PP- 7-9)-