ion by the "last
will or testament," or the making free in any way of Negro slaves. It
was a temporary Act, passed in 1752, void of every element of
humanity; and yet it stood as the law of the colony for twenty long
years.

In 1748 the Negro population of Maryland was thirty-six thousand, and
still rapidly increasing.

"By a 'very accurate census,' taken this year, this was
found to be the number of white inhabitants in Maryland:--

+---------+--------+-----------+-----------+---------+
| | FREE. | SERVANTS. | CONVICTS. | TOTAL. |
+---------+--------+-----------+-----------+---------+
|Men | 24,058 | 3,576 | 1,507 | 29,141 |
|Women | 23,521 | 1,824 | 386 | 25,731 |
|Boys | 26,637 | 1,048 | 67 | 27,752 |
|Girls | 24,141 | 422 | 21 | 24,584 |
|---------+--------+-----------+-----------+---------+
| | 98,357 | 6,870 | 1,981 | 107,208 |
+---------+--------+-----------+-----------+---------+

"By the same account the total number of mulattoes in
Maryland amounted to 3,592; and the total number of Negroes,
to 42,764. Pres. Stiles' MS. It was reckoned (say the
authors of Univ. Hist.), that above 2,000 Negro slaves were
annually imported into Maryland."[427]

In 1756 the blacks had increased to 46,225, and in 1761 to 49,675.
There was nothing in the laws to prohibit the instruction of Negroes,
and yet no one dared to brave public sentiment on that point. The
churches gave no attention or care to the slaves. During the first
half or three-quarters of a century there was an indiscriminate
mingling and marrying among the Negroes and white servants; and,
although this was forbidden by rigid statutes, it went on to a
considerable extent. The half-breed, or Mulatto, population
increased;[428] and so did the number of free Negroes. The contact of
these two elements--of slaves and convicts--was neither prudent nor
healthy. The Negroes suffered from the touch of the moral contagion of
this effete matter driven out of European society. Courted as rather
agreeable companions by the convicts at first, the Negro slaves were
at length treated worse by the ex-convicts than by the most
intelligent and opulent slave-dealers in all the Province. And with no
rights in the courts, incompetent to hold an office of any kind, the
free Negroes were in al