MARYLAND. 



529 



equality is a heavy grievance, and is aggravated by 

 the lapse of time. 



The available assets of the Maryland Pen- 

 itentiary, according to its annual report, were 

 $6,269, and the entire debt $5,019, leaving a 

 surplus of $1,250. The expenses for the year 

 were $68,091, the average number of prisoners 

 having been 406, and the cost per head $167.71. 

 The highest number in confinement at any one 

 time was 432, and the lowest 380. Of 50 prison- 

 ers pardoned during the year, 12 were under- 

 going imprisonment for assisting in the escape 

 of slaves. There were received among the 

 prisoners during the year an extraordinary 

 number of colored women, boys, and men, for 

 short terms. 



From the first annual report of the "Balti- 

 more Association for the Moral and Educational 

 Improvement of the Colored People," it ap- 

 pears that on the 9th of January, 1865, the first 

 free school was opened in Baltimore, and that 

 since that time fifteen schools have been opened 

 in different parts of the city, employing sixteen 

 teachers, of whom thirteen were white and 

 three colored. The average number of pupils 

 in attendance was 1,206, and the total cost up 

 to the time of the report $8,878. Eighteen 

 schools had also been started in the county and 

 were in successful operation. The number of 

 pupils in attendance was 1,110, at a cost to the 

 association of only $788, the balance of the ex- 

 pense being defrayed by the neighborhoods. 

 The total receipts of the association were 

 f $14,960, and the total expenditures $13,492, 

 leaving a balance in the hands of the treasurer 

 on November 6th, of $1,468. To aid in the 

 maintenance of these schools and the establish- 

 ment of others, it is recommended that a com- 

 mittee be appointed to memorialize the Legis- 

 lature for an appropriation of $20,000, or that 

 the colored schools may be included in the gen- 

 eral school system of the State. 



The State colored convention held at Balti- 

 more, on the 29th of December, passed resolu- 

 tions to solicit aid to rebuild the seven colored 

 churches burned in the State " by rebels and 

 malicious persons," and if successful, to request 

 the Baltimore Association to establish day and 

 night schools therein. Resolutions in relation 

 to the death of President Lincoln were also 

 passed, including the following : 



Be it resolved, That the exalted public and private 

 character of the late President, his freedom from 

 selfish ambition, his fear of God, his devotion to the 

 eternal principles of liberty and justice, and the un- 

 surpassed wisdom and magnanimity which he evinced 

 in carrying out the principles of republican govern- 

 ment, will cause his memory to be cherished with 

 love and reverence by us as a people until the end of 

 time. 



An address to the u colored citizens of Mary- 

 land" was also agreed upon, containing the 

 following advice : 



Brethren and Fellow- Citizens ; "We, the delegates 

 of the State of Maryland, in convention assembled, 

 feel it to be our duty to address you on matters per- 

 taining to our best interests. A very important pc- 

 YOL. v. 34 A 



riod in our history has arrived. We have, by the 

 votes of the loyal citizens of Maryland, been lifted 

 from bondage to liberty, and thrown upon our own 

 resources as men. 



There are many things claiming-our attention which 

 heretofore we were unacquainted with, such as provid- 

 ing for ourselves and families, the education of our 

 children, and other duties of life. 



We would therefore advise you, 1st. To.feel that 

 you are free, and dependent upon yourselves for sop- 

 port. 



2d. We advise you to become men of virtuous 

 habits, disdaining to do any thing beneath the dig- 

 nity of men. 



3d. We advise you to be industrious in all the pur- 

 suits of life, purchase property and become men of 

 wealth, owning the soil, for there is no class of men 

 so independent as farmers. 



4th. We advise you to educate your children, give 

 them trades, and thereby qualify them for any posi- 

 tion in life. For if ever we are raised to that elevated 

 summit in life for which we are striving, it must be 

 done by our individual exertion ; no one can do it 

 for us. It is no longer a question whether our race 

 possess competency as soldiers ; all we asked for was 

 to give us a trial, and we have proven by many a 

 hard-fought battle, and brilliant victory, that we 

 were men of bravery. Now, we should show by fru- 

 gality, that all we want is a chance, and w will be- 

 come as good citizens as any are . 



5th. We advise you to use every exertion to con- 

 tradict the predictions of your enemies, which were 

 uttered previous to the emancipation of the State 

 that if the slaves were freed they would become a 

 pest to society, and paupers, dependent on public 

 charities. 



After instituting a "State league for the 

 proper and perfect enforcement of the rights 

 of the colored people of Maryland," the con- 

 vention adjourned sine die. 



Gov. Swann, in has message of January 11, 

 1866, on the subject of the laws relating to ne- 

 groes, said: 



The system of negro slavery having been abolished 

 throughout the country, it becomes a duty that the 

 status of the freedmen in Maryland should now be 

 distinctly and clearly defined under our laws. From 

 the origin of our State government slavery has been 

 more or less interwoven with our whole domestic 

 economy. The result has been that our statute books 

 are burdened with laws some long since obsolete, 

 but unrepealed and mostly all calculated to confuse 

 and lead to embarrassment, in the action of our 

 courts. The relations existing in the past between 

 master and slave being dissolved, the entire system 

 of laws relating to the colored population should be 

 carefully revised by some competent authority, and 

 such changes and modifications recommended as 

 may lead to the adoption of a defined and uniform 

 system for their protection and guidance in the 

 future. In proclaiming freedom to the colored race, 

 the State of Maryland designed to confer upon the 

 negro something more than a mere nominal benefit 

 she intended freedom in all that relates to person 

 and property. This would not be accomplished, if, 

 after being made free by the .provisions of your or- 

 ganic law, the freedmen are left without proper 

 direction under a system of just and equitable laws, 

 or denied the fullest protection in their new relation. 

 There should be entire conformity between these 

 laws and the principtes recognized and proclaimed 

 in your free Constitution. In connection with this 

 recommendation, I should hope that steps may be 

 taken, at an early day, to confer upon the freedman 

 the privilege of testifying in our courts a right 

 which has already been conceded in some of our 

 sister States of the South, and which is urged by the 

 strongest considerations of justice and fair dealing. 



