act of 1715 (April session) chap. 44, § 6, 7 & 9—act of 1719 (May session) chap. 2, § 2—act of 1802 (November session) ch. 96, § 2.

sons may view the same, and see where such their servants are, and in whose custody."

The foregoing sections apply equally to the cases of all persons, whether white or black, who may be found travelling without passes, out of the county where their residences are; and all such, at the discretion of a magistrate, may be subjected to imprisonment and amercement. But the last section of the same act, while it bears, with a severity altogether at variance with the spirit of a free government, upon whites unhappily circumstanced so as to come within the terms of the previous enactments, introduces a provision by which they may be restored to freedom, if entitled to be free; and yet negroes and mulattoes, with the same rights, are left without relief. "When any person or persons (except negroes and mulattoes) shall be found travelling without passes as aforesaid, and shall be taken up as suspected runaways, and by any justice of the peace committed to the custody of any sheriff or gaoler within this province, it shall not be lawful for any such sheriff or gaoler to hold such person in custody longer than six months; and if such person can, at any time within the said six months, procure a certificate or other justification that he or she is no servant, he or she shall and may, by order of any two justices of the county where such person is committed to prison, be discharged from any further imprisonment, he or she serving such sheriff or gaoler or his assigns, so many days as he, she or they were in custody of such sheriff or gaoler, or otherwise paying ten pounds of tobacco per day to such sheriff or gaoler for THEIR IMPRISONMENT FEES, and no more; and paying unto such person or persons who took up such person two hundred pounds of tobacco, or serving him, her or them twenty days in lieu thereof; and if any such sheriff or gaoler shall detain such person in prison after such order of the justices aforesaid, or the expiration of six months, and payment of ten pounds of tobacco per day as aforesaid, such sheriff or gaoler shall be liable to an action of false imprisonment." Iniquitous as this law is, it is obvious that the object of the legislature could not be reached by it. It offered, indeed, a bounty to the sheriff or gaoler, who, by neglecting to give notice of the imprisonment of a suspected runaway, might protract such imprisonment till the value of his services, even though an absolute slave for life, would not be equal to the gaol fees. And yet without some further legislation, the gaoler himself would, in case the person detained was not a runaway, or if a runaway should not be demanded by his master, be made to suffer the loss of such expense as might be incurred for the sustenance of the suspected runaway during his imprisonment. The lure held out by the act to the gaoler, probably produced the abandonment of the slave in some instances by the master; and it became necessary, therefore, for the legislature to repeal the act, or to supply its defects. The latter part of the disjunctive was naturally preferred; and, on the eighth day of June, 1719, after reciting, that "Whereas by the act of assembly re

III. THE BENEFITS OF EDUCATION ARE WITHHELD FROM THE SLAVE..

66

In no country is education more highly valued, or its benefits

lating to servants and slaves, there is not any provision made what shall be done with such runaway servants or slaves that now are or hereafter shall or may be taken up and committed to the custody of any sheriff within this province, where the master or owner of such servant or slave, having due notice of such servant's or slave's being in the custody of such sheriff, refuses or delays to redeem such servant or slave, by paying their imprisonment fees, and such other charge as has or may accrue for taking up such servant or slave;” enacted, That, &c. every sheriff that now hath, or hereafter shall have, committed into his custody, any runaway servants or slaves, after one month's notice given to the master or owner thereof, of their being in his custody, if living in this province, or two months' notice if living in any of the neighbouring provinces, if such master or owner of such servants or slaves do not appear within the time limited as aforesaid, and pay or secure to be paid all such imprisonment fees due to such sheriff from the time of the commitment of such servants or slaves, and also such other charges as have accrued or become due to any person for taking up such runaway servants or slaves, such sheriff is hereby authorized and required (such time limited as aforesaid, being expired) immediately to give public notice to all persons, by setting up notes at the church and court-house doors of the county where such servant or slave is in custody, of the time and place for sale of such servants or slaves, by him to be appointed, not less than ten days after such time limited as aforesaid being expired, and at such time and place by him appointed as aforesaid, to proceed to sell and dispose of such servant or slave to the highest bidder, and out of the money or tobacco which such servant or slave is sold for, to pay himself all such IMPRISONMENT FEES as are his just due, for the time he has kept such servant or slave in his custody, and also to pay such other charges, fees or reward as has become due to any person for taking up such runaway servant or slave, and after such payments made, if any residue shall remain of the money or tobacco such servant or slave was sold for, such sheriff shall only be accountable to the master or owner of such servant or slave for such residue or remainder as aforesaid, and not otherwise." Laws of Maryland, act of 1719, (May session,) chap. 2.

Upon the enactment of this law, the most unprincipled sheriff should have been content. It became, indeed, not only his interest, but the interest of all other persons, to apprehend and to commit to prison coloured persons especially-for these might be detained for a longer period than six months, whether free or not; the right of the taker up to his legal reward and other charges was secured to him by a LIEN ON THE BODY OF THE PRISONER, and the sheriff or gaoler was indemnified in the same manner against the loss of his imprisonment fees. And by prolonging the imprisonment until the fees should be swelled to nearly the value of the prisoner, if a slave, the master, in many instances, might be unable or unwilling to redeem him, and the sheriff's sale, which in such case is autho

more generally diffused, than in the United States. The constitutions of nearly all the states, make it the duty of the respec

rized, could easily be turned to the account of some favourite of that officer, and eventually, by collusion, to his own pecuniary advantage. And should the suspected runaway not be a slave, yet, in a land where, from his colour, he is presumed to be so, and where others like him are daily "made merchandise of," the facility with which his imprisonment, aided by the provisions of this act, might be rendered profitable to the sheriff, would be greatly increased. But whatever may have been the true cause, the prevalence of a practice on the part of sheriffs, of prolonging the imprisonment of persons apprehended as runaways, is evidenced by an act of assembly, passed the twenty-second day of December, 1792, entitled "An act to restrain the ill practices of sheriffs, and to direct their conduct respecting runaways." The act sets forth, that "Whereas it is represented to this general assembly, that the sheriffs of the respective counties have neglected to advertise runaways, to the great injury of the owners; therefore, &c. That it be the duty of the several sheriffs, &c. upon any runaway being committed to their custody, to cause the same to be advertised in some public newspaper within twenty days after such commitment, and to make particular and minute description of the person, clothes and bodily marks of such runaway." "And if no person shall apply for such runaway, within the space of thirty days from such commitment, then it shall be the duty of such sheriff, if residing on the Western Shore, to cause the runaway to be advertised as heretofore directed, in the Maryland Journal and Georgetown Weekly Leger; and, if residing on the Eastern Shore, to cause the same to be advertised in the Maryland Herald and Maryland Journal, within sixty days from such commitment, and to continue the same therein until the said runaway is released by due course of law.” Maryland's Laws of 1792, (November session,) chap. 72.

In that part of the District of Columbia which was ceded by the state of Maryland to the federal government, the whole of these laws are still in force. Shortly after the date of the cession, however, the legislature of Maryland repealed the act of 1719, ch. 2, and the act of 1792, ch. 72, supplying their place by the following regulations, which, as it will be perceived, are in principle the same as the repealed acts. "That it shall be the duty of the sheriffs (respectively) of the several counties of this state, &c. upon any runaway servant or slave being committed to his custody, to cause the same to be advertised in some public newspaper or papers printed in the city of Baltimore, the city of Washington, and the town of Easton, and in such other public manner as he shall think proper, within fifteen days after such commitment, and to make particular and minute description of the clothing, person and bodily marks of such runaway." "If the owner or owners, or some person in his, her or their behalf, shall not apply for such runaway within the space of sixty days from the time of advertising as aforesaid, and pay or secure to be paid all such legal costs and charges as have accrued by reason of apprehending, imprisoning and advertising such servant or slave, it shall be the duty of such sheriff and he is hereby

tive legislatures to establish and support seminaries for learning, adequate to the wants of the citizens.

Common schools are,

required and directed to proceed to sell such servant or slave, and immediately to give public notice by advertisements, to be set up at the court-house door and such other public places as he shall think proper, in the county where such servant or slave is in custody, of the time and place for sale of such servant or slave, by him to be appointed, not less than twenty days after the time limited as aforesaid has expired, and at such time and place shall proceed to sell and dispose of such servant or slave to the highest bidder." Laws of Maryland, of 1802, (November session,) chap. 96, § 1 & 2, (passed 8th of January, 1803.)

By recurring to the sections of the law of 1715, above transcribed, it will be seen that magistrates were empowered to decide, in their discretion, whether the person apprehended as a runaway should be deemed such, and be accordingly committed to prison. Whether such power had been abused, or whether a proper exercise of it, had been found inconvenient to takers-up and sheriffs, I will not presume to conjecture, but, in 1810, (chap. 63, § 1,) legislative interposition was called into action in the following extraordinary measure: "Any court or any judge or justice of this state, before whom any negro or mulatto shall be brought as a runaway, shall be satisfied, by competent testimony, that the said negro or mulatto is not a runaway, before it shall be lawful for the said court, judge or justice to discharge the said negro or mulatto from the custody of the person or persons detaining the said negro or mulatto as a runaway, otherwise than by a commitment to the gaol of the county of which he is a judge or justice."

The barbarous severity to coloured persons which pervades the whole of the laws of Maryland on this subject, has at length been somewhat softened by an act passed February third, 1818. It is in these words: "Hereafter, when any servant or slave shall be committed to the gaol of any county in this state, as a runaway, agreeably to the laws now in force, and the notice required to be given by law by the sheriff shall have been given, and the time for their detention expired, and no person or persons shall have applied for and claimed said suspected runaway, and proved his, her or their title to such suspected runaway, as is now required by law, it shall be the duty of the sheriff forthwith to carry such slave or slaves before some judge of the county court or judge of the orphans' court, with his commitment, and such judge is hereby required to examine and inquire, by such means as he may deem most advisable, whether such suspected runaway be a slave or not, and if he shall have reasonable grounds to believe that such suspected runaway is a slave, he may remand such suspected runaway to prison, to be confined for such further or additional time as he may judge right and proper; and if he shall have reason to believe that such suspected runaway is the slave of any particular person, he shall cause such notice to be given by the sheriff to such supposed owner, as he may think most advisable; but if said judge shall not have reasonable ground to believe such suspected runaway to be a slave, he shall forthwith order such suspected runaway to be released; and if no person shall apply for such suspected runaway after

also, provided "for the education of the poor gratis." In several, perhaps in all of the free states, no distinction is made in the distribution of the public bounty towards this object, between white and coloured children; but schools are constantly maintained for the reception and instruction of poor children of every class and complexion.

A different policy began very early in the slave-holding states. In none of these do the laws interpose to afford any aid or facility for the acquisition of learning to persons of colour, whether slaves or freemen. On the contrary, the extracts which I shall make from the laws of these latter states, will satisfactorily demonstrate the truth of the proposition at the head of this section, namely, that the benefits of education are withheld from the slave-and, I might add, from the free negro also.

South Carolina may lay claim to the earliest movement in legislation on this subject. In 1740, while yet a province, she enacted this law: "Whereas the having of slaves taught to write, or suffering them to be employed in writing, may be attended with great inconveniences, Be it enacted, That all and every person and persons whatsoever, who shall hereafter teach or cause any slave or slaves to be taught to write, or shall use or employ any slave as a scribe in any manner of writing whatsoever hereafter taught to write, every such person or persons shall, for every such offence, forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds current money." 2 Brevard's Digest, 243; similar in Georgia, by act of 1770, except as to the penalty, which is twenty pounds sterling. Prince's Digest, 455.

Virginia has attained the same end, though in a less direct manner. Her Revised Code of 1819, reiterates an enactment, "That all meetings or assemblages of slaves or free negroes or mulattoes mixing and associating with such slaves at any meeting house, or houses, or any other place, &c. in the night, or at

he may be so remanded, within the time for which he may be remanded, and prove his, her or their title as the law now requires, the said sheriff shall, at the expiration of such time, relieve and discharge such suspected runaway; and in either case, when such suspected runaway shall be discharged, the expense of keeping such runaway in confinement shall be levied on the county, as other county expenses are now levied." Laws of Maryland, December session of 1817, chap. 112, § 6.