the general utility of importing rogues, felons, and diseases, from the long infected walls and deeply corrupted mansions of Newgate, &c., to mend the constitutions and improve the morals of the good people of this Province."

From Governor Sharpe's letter of July 27, 1767, I quote a few pertinent passages: "That the Distempers the Importation and spreading of which the Act is calculated to prevent have been frequently brought into this and many other places in the Province and that scores of People have been destroyed here by the Jail Fever first communicated by servants from on board crowded infectious Ships is notorious." "May there not be a continual Influx of People into the Province without bringing more in a vessel that she can well contain, or have we no servants imported in vessels that belong to other Merchants than the two Contractors who have thought fit on this occasion to bestir themselves? The Truth is that many servants are imported annually from different parts of England, Scotland & Ireland but the Masters do not often receive more on board than can be conveniently accommodated, while those Contractors who have only a certain number of vessels in the Maryland Trade must it seems at particular times empty the jails and by that means it sometimes happens that they oblige the masters of their ships to receive on board twice the number they ought to bring, little anxious themselves of the consequence to the inhabitants here, nor very solicitous whether or no the crowding too great a number of the poor wretches into small compass may not be the means of destroying some of them." "The contractors may indeed say that if it is notorious such destructive distempers are frequently imported in convict ships, why do people by purchasing encourage the importation of them, to which it might be answered that there are in all societies people that will run all risks for the sake of making profit, but it becomes the Legislature as far as can reasonably be done to prevent other people suffering by the proceedings of people of such dispositions." "Finding they could not immediately succeed in their application for a dissent, Messrs. Sedgely & Co. in Bristol have I find furnished their ship with a ventilator which they may be ashamed of not having done long ago, and

Messrs. Stewart & Campbell have made theirs quite airy by opening a range of ports on each side between decks, and by that means it seems that the ships were kept healthy tho in one of them were imported more than a hundred and fifty persons besides the crew." 1

September 4, 1767, the Governor wrote: "You will see by the enclosed Gazettes that a kind of paper war hath been commenced here between Mr. Ringgold, consignee of the convicts from Bristol and some gentlemen who are friends to our quarantine act in which I think the former makes a poor figure and I suppose begins to wish he had not so officiously beyond all the rest of the consignees and dealers in imported servants stood forth as a champion in so bad a cause." 2

In 1769 an additional supplementary Act to the Act entitled "An Act to prevent the abuses of concealing convicted felons and other offenders imported into this province, and for the better discovery of them," was passed, which, after stating that "notwithstanding the provisions already made, convicted felons are often imported into this province," and pass as persons of character, and many of them are received as witnesses, to the great vexation and prejudice of the inhabitants of this province, made more stringent provisions concerning the bringing by the masters of vessels and the recording by the county clerks, of a full transcript of the conviction of each convict transported. The record kept by the clerk of Baltimore County under the provisions of this Act is now in the office of the Clerk of the Superior Court of Baltimore City. I will refer to it later.3

Having followed the course of legislation, I shall try to ascertain, as far as it may be ascertained from record, the number of convicts transported to Maryland, and give the circumstances

1 Description of a convict's situation on a ship belonging to the contractor, Mr. Steuart and bound for Maryland by a correspondent of George Selwyn: "I went on board, and, to be sure, all the states of horror I ever had an idea of are much short of what I saw this poor man in; chained to a board in a hole not above sixteen feet long, more than fifty with him; a collar and padlock about his neck, and chained to five of the most dreadful creatures I ever looked on."

2 Archives of Maryland, IX.

3 Bacon's Laws of Maryland.

which make it certain that the number so ascertained is short of the number transported. I shall make no estimates or guesses, leaving that to each of my hearers to do for himself.

1

First, however, it will be well to see what others have to say on the subject. Scharf says: "The number of Convicts imported into Maryland before the Revolution of 1776 must have amounted to at least twenty thousand. From the year 1750 to 1770 not less than four or five hundred were annually brought into the Province." He gives no reference to authorities for this statement, but from the context it is evident that he had before him McMahon, who states that "at this period (about 1754) there were not less than three or four hundred annually transported to Maryland" and gives Pitkin's United States as reference. He quotes at length from the controversy in the Maryland Gazette of 1767, in which one writer, and he an agent for the contractors, places the number, without contradiction by his adversaries, at 600 per annum for thirty years. Pitkin says: "It was calculated that, about the year 1750 not less than from three to four hundred felons were annually brought into the Province of Maryland," and gives as his authority "British Empire in America, Vol. 3, p. 23," which from an earlier reference I find named as "Entick's History of the British Empire in America." Anxious to find the first authority for this calculation, and if possible the grounds upon which it was based, I have diligently sought this work of Entick's in the libraries of Baltimore and the Congressional Library, but without success. However, three or four hundred annually about the year 1750 is too indefinite to give us the means of calculating the total number. The writer in the Gazette of 1767 gives 18,000 before that date. If this be true, Scharf's estimate of 20,000 before 1776 is conservative, for considerably more than 2,000 are on record after 1767. If five hundred a year were bought in between 1750 and 1770, which comes to 10,000 in 20 years, an additional 10,000 must have come partly before 1750 and partly after 1770 to make Scharf's 20,000 before the Revolution. All

1 History of Maryland, 1, p. 392.

'Ibid., p. 133.

these numbers, for ought I have been able to discover, are the result of "estimating," which, however valuable it may be to a fisherman in describing the weight and size of his catch, is not considered a reliable means of determining the figures of the

census.

We will now see what remains upon record :

On the records of the Provincial Court we find six consignments of convicts to Maryland merchants during 1719, 1720, and 1721, and one in 1725. These I have tabulated. In the three first mentioned years they amounted to 424, of which 256 were men and 158 women, 373 were sentenced to serve 7 years, and 51 to serve 14 years. We have already seen that the latter were those who were excluded the benefit of clergy, and reprieved from death by the King's pardon. The consignment of 1725 brings the total to 558. These entries in the Court Records were made because of the special business relations between the consignor and consignees, and do not indicate that no other convicts were sent in these years, or in other years when no entries are found.

In the Treasury Series of the Calendars of English State Papers are recorded the payments to the Contractors for Transporting Convicts from Newgate and the gaols of the home counties, as they are called, viz., Hertford, Essex, Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Bucks. Payments for transportation from other counties are not found on these records. I have tabulated these entries, which extend from 1729 to 1745, with the following result:

From 1729 to 1735 inclusive there were sent: 444 to Maryland, 518 to Virginia, 163 to Maryland or Virginia, 613 to America, place not mentioned.

From 1735 to 1745 inclusive there were sent: 792 to Maryland, 763 to Virginia, 737 to Maryland or Virginia, 675 to America, place not mentioned.

The total number sent by the Contractors for Newgate and the home counties from 1729 to 1745, a period of seventeen years, was 4704, viz., 1236 to Maryland, 1281 to Virginia, 899 to Maryland or Virginia, and 1288 to America with no place named.

Two Entry Books for the Patuxent District, or Port of Annapolis, the one in the Land Office, and the other in the Maryland

Historical Society's vault, give the numbers of those entered as convicts in this District for the thirty years from 1746 to 1775 with the exception of a number, doubtless small, to be added where the word "convicts" in a few places is entered with no number prefixed. It must not be forgotten that there were two or three other districts of which we have no books of entry.

I have tabulated by years these Entry Books, not only as to Convicts but as to passengers, indentured servants and negroes, and added the results for each period of ten years, and for the entire thirty years. The total number of convicts entered as such in this district for the thirty years before the Revolution is 8846, or a little less than 300 per annum (more exact 295). In the same period there are entered 2142 German and Irish passengers, 9035 indentured servants, 3324 negroes; a total immigration of 23,347 at this port, of which 9% were passengers, 39% indentured servants, 38% convicts and 14% negroes.

To sum up, we have between 1717 and 1729 seven consignments which found their way to the Provincial Court records, amounting to 558.

From 1729 to 1745 we have 1236 sent expressly to Maryland by the Contractors for Newgate and the home counties, plus some unknown portion of 899 sent to Maryland or Virginia, and of 1288 sent to America; with no report from the other parts of England. From 1745 to 1775 we have entered in the Patuxent district, of which Annapolis was the principal port, 8846 convicts. This gives us 10,640 from that part of the records that remains and is accessible to us.1

Our table of the entries at Annapolis gives for the period from 1750 to 1770, when according to Scharf not less than four or five hundred were annually imported, 310 per annum.

'The returns from Taxes laid by the Act of 1754 in which convicts imported are taxed 20s. give: "By the Naval officer of Oxford for seven years servants 10£ 14s. 6d." "By Ditto of Patowmack 96£ 10s. 6d." The Report of a Committee of both Houses, 1757, says: "By the Account of Richard Lee, Esq., Naval Officer of Patowmack, it likewise appears that the Snow Trail, William McCoghin, Master, Entered in the said Port of Patowmack Ninety-one Convicts, and cleared out thence without paying the Duty of Twenty Shillings currency per Head on the same Ninety-one Convicts."