[417] The following appeared in the Plantation Laws, printed in London in 1705: "Where any negro or slave, being in servitude or bondage, is or shall become Christian, and receive the sacrament of baptism, the same shall not nor ought not to be deemed, adjudged or construed to be a manumission or freeing of any such negro or slave, or his or her issue, from their servitude or bondage, but that notwithstanding they shall at all times hereafter be and remain in servitude and bondage as they were before baptism, any opinion, matter or thing to the contrary notwithstanding." [418] McSherry's Hist. of Maryland, p. 86. [419] Freedom and Bondage, vol. i. p. 249. [420] McMahon's Hist. of Maryland, vol. i. p. 274. [421] The following form was used for a long time in Maryland for binding out a servant. This Indenture _made the ---- day of ---- in the ---- yeere of our Soveraigne Lord King_ Charles,_&c betweene ---- of the one party_, and ---- on the _other party_, Witnesseth, _that the said ---- doth hereby covenant promise, and grant, to and with the said ---- his Executors and Assignes, to serve him from the day of the date hereof, untill his first and next arrivall in_ Maryland: _and after for and during the tearme of ---- yeeres, in such service and imployment, as the said ---- or his assignee shall there imploy him, according to the custome of the Countrey in the like kind. In consideration whereof, the said ---- doth promise and grant, to and with the said ---- to pay for his passing, and to find him with Meat, Drinke, Apparell and Lodging, with other necessaries during the said terme; and at the end of the said terme, to give him one whole yeeres provision of Corne, and fifty acres of Land, according to the order of the countrey. In witnesse whereof, the said ---- hath hereunto put his hand and seate, the day and yeere above written_. Sealed and delivered in the presence of ---- --_Relation of the state of Maryland_, pp. 62, 63. [422] Modern Traveller, vol. i. pp. 122, 123. [423] McMahon's Maryland, vol. i. p. 278. [424] 1st Pitkin's United States, p. 133. [425] McMahone says of this convict element: "The pride of this age revolts at the idea of going back to such as these, for the roots of a genealogical tree; and they, whose delight it would be, to trace their blood through many generations of stupid, sluggish, imbecile ancestors, with no claim to merit but the name they carry down, will even submit to be called '_novi homines_,' if a convict stand in the line of ancestry." [426] With perhaps the single exception of South Carolina, of which the reader will learn more farther on. [427] American Annals. [428] Dr. Holmes says, "The total number of mulattoes in Maryland amounted to 3,592," in 1755. CHAPTER XVII. THE COLONY OF DELAWARE. 1636-1775.