'Which cards we are informed were delivered by Stephen Steward, Junior, the council of safety having taken the same into consideration, are of opinion that such cards are contrary to the resolves of congress and convention, and against the 21st section of the declaration of rights, which asserts:

"That no freeman ought to be taken or imprisoned, or deprived of his freehold, liberties or privileges, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any manner destroyed, or deprived of his life, liberty or property, but by the judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.'’

'Ordered, therefore, that the said John Weems and Stephen Steward, Junior, attend the council of safety on the thirtieth day of December, to shew by what authority the said cards were so made out and delivered.'

On the 30th of December, colonel John Weems and Stephen Steward, Junior, accordingly appeared before the council of safety, and acknowledged that they had been active in making out and delivering the cards mentioned in the order of the board, and having promised that they would not intermeddle in the same manner again, but would leave all persons to be dealt with according to the law of the land. They were dismissed by the council, on condition that they pay the messenger his fees.

On Tuesday, the 5th of March, about seven in the evening, information was received at this place, that a man-of-war and two tenders were coming up the bay, and had taken a New England schooner lying at the mouth of the Patuxent river, the wind blowing hard at S. W. and the general expectation was, that they would be at Annapolis in a few hours, the necessary

dispositions were made to receive them in case they thought proper to land, and expresses were despatched to Baltimore and other parts of the province, to communicate the intelligence. Between twelve and one o'clock on Tuesday night the wind shifted, and blew a violent gale at N. W., and so continued all day on Wednesday, during which time there was no certain information of the position of the vessels. On Thursday there was a light breeze up the bay, and about two o'clock the vessels hove in sight, and at half past three came opposite to the city with some prizes, and stood up the bay. Off the mouth of this harbour they burnt a shallop loaded with oats, and in the evening anchored off the mouth of the Patapsco. On Friday night intelligence was received, that the vessels were the Otter sloop-of-war, and two tenders, and the general opinion was entertained, that they were going to Baltimore to take or destroy the ship Defence. The Defence, however, being got ready on Friday night, towed down the river, manned with a number of brave fellows, all of whom were Americans in their hearts, and most of them by birth, attended by several smaller vessels, crowded with men, to assist in case of an engagement. Captain Nicholson, of the Defence, got under way early on Saturday morning, resolved to re-take Hudson's ship, (a large vessel the Otter had made a prize of, loaded with wheat and flour,) and to engage the Otter, if she moved to assist the tenders which guarded the prize; the morning was thick and hazy, and the Defence got nearer to them than was expected, before they discovered her bearing down upon them, those on board the tenders appeared much alarmed, and pushed off with precipitation, and

on a signal given, more hands were sent by the Otter to assist in rowing them off, which was effected with difficulty, leaving three or four small prizes, besides Hudson's ship, all of which fell into the hands of captain Nicholson, who having manned the prize ship, and seeing the Otter get under way, clued up her courses and prepared for battle, expecting her to come up, but the 'Otter' having waited about two hours, as if in expectation of captain Nicholson's coming down, at length bore away, and in the afternoon came to anchor off this port. Captain Nicholson continued his station some time, and having performed his duty in the most gallant manner, returned with his prizes to Baltimore.

On Sunday morning the Otter sloop and her tenders made sail and went down the bay. The regulars, militia, and the people in general, behaved on this occasion in the most spirited and patriotic manner.

At this period of gloom and general distress, balls were prohibited in this place, and throughout the province, by a resolve of the convention. The public mind at this period, disinclined as it was to the indulgence of the ordinary pleasures and amusements of life, was devoted to matters of a serious character, and therefore musket and cannon balls lost none of the public favour under the interdiction referred to.

'ANNAPOLIS, July 6th, 1776.

'A declaration of the delegates of Maryland. "To be exempt from parliamentary taxation, and to regulate their internal government and polity, the people of this colony have ever considered as their inherent and unalienable right: without the former,

they can have no property; without the latter, no security for their lives or liberties.

"The parliament of Great Britain has of late claimed an uncontroulable right of binding these colonies in all cases whatsoever, to force an unconditional submission to this claim, the legislative and executive powers of that State have invariably pursued for these ten years past, a studied system of oppression, by passing many impolitic, severe and cruel acts for raising a revenue from the colonists, by depriving them in many cases of the trial by jury, by altering the chartered constitution of one colony, and the entire stoppage of the trade of its capital, by cutting off all intercourse between the colonies, by restraining them from fishing on their own coasts, by extending the limits of and erecting an arbitrary government in the province of Quebec, by confiscating the property of the colonists taken on the seas, and compelling the crews of their vessels, under the pain of death, to act against their native country and dearest friends, by declaring all seizures, detention, or destruction of the persons, or property of the colonists, to be legal and just.

'A war unjustly commenced, hath been prosecuted against the united colonies with cruelty, outrageous violence and perfidy; slaves, savages and foreign mercenaries, have been meanly hired to rob a people of their property, liberty and lives; a people guilty of no other crime than deeming the last of no estimation without the secure enjoyment of the former. Their humble and dutiful petitions for peace, liberty and safety, have been rejected with scorn; secure of and relying on foreign aid, not on his national forces,

the unrelenting monarch of Britain hath at length avowed by his answer to the city of London, his determined and inexorable resolution of reducing these colonies to abject slavery.

'Compelled by dire necessity, either to surrender our properties, liberties and lives, into the hands of a British king and parliament, or to use such means as will most probably secure to us and our posterity those invaluable blessings.

'We, the delegates of Maryland, in convention assembled, do declare, that the king of Great Britain has violated his compact with this people, and that they owe no allegiance to him. We have therefore thought it just and necessary to empower our deputies in congress to join with a majority of the united colonies in declaring them free and independent States, in framing such other confederacy between them, in making foreign alliances, and in adopting such other measures as shall be judged necessary for the preservation of their liberties; provided the sole and exclusive rights of regulating the internal polity and government of this colony be reserved to the people thereof. We have also thought proper to call a new convention, for the purpose of establishing a government in this colony. No ambitious views, no desire of independence, induce the people of Maryland to form an union with the other colonies. To procure an exemption from parliamentary taxation, and to continue to the legislatures of these colonies the sole and exclusive right of regulating their internal polity, was our original and only motive.

"To maintain inviolate our liberties, and to transmit them unimpaired to posterity, was our duty and