Sir
In Times of public Distress and Convulsion when a free People are threatened with a deprivation of their civil Liberty, Exertions for it's Preservation influenced by its purest Principles, and conducted with all possible Attention to Form and Ceremony we hope will not be considered, as an Indignity or Insult to any Rank or Station in the Community. The Proceedings, which your Excellency reprehends in your Letter addressed to Chs Carroll, John Hall & Wm Paca Esqrs and communicated by them to our Board, arose from an Impression, that we, who are entrusted with the public Safety, should pursue with Vigilance every effectual Measure, tho' the Danger to be guarded against, may rest only in Possibility. The intercepted Letters from Administration to your Excellency,
we own, furnish grounds for conjecture, and Apprehension only of your having held an injurious Correspondence; and whilst we reflect on the general Tenor of your Excellency's Conduct, the friendly Disposition you have often manifested and the several favourable and impartial Represen[ta]tions you have made to Administration of the Temper, and Principles of the People of this Province, we sincerely lament the Necessity of the Times, which urging us to guard against every Possibility of Danger, forced us to a Measure disagreeable to [us], and which may prove an unmerited Treatment of your Excellency. ー We acknowledge, Sir we know of no Information you have given Administration countenancing or encouraging the Introduction of Troops into this Province: nor do we know of any measures whatever to have been concerted, or pursued by your Excellency injurious to this Province or America.
We thank your Excellency for your Resolution of continuing in your Station, as long as permitted, or the ostensible Form of the established Government can contribute to preserve the Peace of the Province, and we cheerfully acquiesce in your Excellency's Assurance, that as the Convention is shortly to meet, they shall find you here. As far as our Influence extends with that respectable Body, it shall not be wanting to remove every Obstruction to your peaceable Departure, whenever your Excellency's Continuance here shall become inconsistent with your Instructions, or your private Affairs shall demand your Return.
With ardent Wishes for a speedy Reconciliation upon honorable and constitutional Terms, We have the Honour to be [&c.]
Charles Carroll, V.P.
[Annapolis] 18th Apl. 1776.-
