passed an act in 1830, forbidding free Negroes to enter the State. It provided also, that whoever should "write, print, publish, or distribute any thing having a tendency to produce discontent among the free colored population, or insubordination among the slaves," should, on conviction thereof, be imprisoned "_at hard labor for life, or suffer death_, at the discretion of the court." And whoever used language calculated to produce discontent among the free or slave population, or was "instrumental in bringing into the State any paper, book, or pamphlet having such tendency," was to "suffer imprisonment at hard labor, not less than three years nor more than twenty-one years, or death, at the discretion of the court." "All persons," continues the act, "who shall teach, or permit, or cause to be taught, any slave to read or write, shall be imprisoned not less than one month nor more than twelve months." In 1847, a system of common schools for "the education of white youth was established." It was provided that "one mill on the dollar, upon the _ad valorem_ amount of the general list of taxable property," should be levied for the support of the schools. MAINE gave the elective franchise and ample school privileges to all her citizens, without regard to race or color, by her constitution of 1820. MARYLAND always restricted the right of suffrage to her "white male inhabitants," and, therefore, always refused to make any provisions for the education of her Negro population. There is nothing upon her statute-books prohibiting the instruction of Negroes, but the law that designates her schools for "white children" is sufficient proof that Negro children were purposely omitted and excluded from the benefits of the schools.