on
Irish servants, to prevent the importing too great a number of Irish
papist into this province_." Although this Act was intended to remain
on the statute-books only three years, its life was prolonged by a
supplemental Act, and it disgraced the colony for twenty-one years. As
in New York, so here, the government regarded the slave and Papist
with feelings of hatred and fear. The former was only suited to a
condition of perpetual bondage, the latter to be ostracized and driven
out from before the face of the exclusive Protestants of that period.
Both were cruelly treated; one on account of his face, the other on
account of his faith.

"Unfortunately for the professors of the Catholic religion,
by the force of circumstances which it is not necessary to
detail, their religious persuasions became identified, in
the public mind, with opposition to the principles of the
revolution. Their political disfranchisement was the
consequence. Charles Calvert, the deposed proprietary,
shared the common fate of his Catholic brethren. Sustained
and protected by the crown in the enjoyment of his mere
private rights, the general jealousy of Catholic power
denied him the government of the province."[423]

A knowledge of the antecedents of the master-class will aid the reader
to a more accurate conception of the character of the institution of
slavery in the colony of Maryland.

It is not very pleasing for the student of history at this time to
remember that the British colonies in North America received into
their early life the worst poison of European society,--the criminal
element. From the first the practice of transporting convicts into the
colonies obtained. And, during the reign of George I., statutes were
passed "authorizing transportation as a commutation punishment for
clergyable felonies." These convicts were transported by private
shippers, and then sold into the colony; and thus it became a gainful
enterprise. From 1700 until 1760 this nefarious and pestiferous
traffic greatly increased. At length it became, as already indicated,
the subject of a special impost tax. Three or four hundred convicts
were imported into the colony annually, and the people began to
complain.[424] In "The Maryland Gazette" of the 30th of July, 1767, a
writer attempted to show that the convict element was not to be
despised, but was rather a desirable addition to the Province. He
says,--