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tation of too great a Number of them into this Province; and
also the additional Duty of Twenty Shillings Current Money
per Poll on all Negroes, for raising a Fund for the Use of the
Public Schools within the several Counties of this Province,
an Imposition was laid of Twenty Shillings Current Money
per Poll on all Negroes imported into this Province. But
forasmuch as it hath been represented to this General Assem-
bly as an Aggrievance and Hardship, that any the Inhabitants
within this Province, having Estates in any of the neighbour-
ing Colonies, cannot have the Liberty of removing their
Negroes from their Plantations in any the neighbouring
Colonies, to work upon their Lands and Plantations in this
Province, without paying the Impositions mentioned in the
aforementioned Acts; and likewise that it very much tends
to the hinderance and preventing of many considerable Fam-
ilies from coming into and settling in this Province, that upon
their coming they must be obliged to pay the Impositions
as aforesaid, for all their domestic Slaves: For Remedy
whereof, it is prayed that it may be Enacted ;
II. And be it Enacted, by the Right Honourable the Lord
Proprietary, by and with the Advice and Consent of his Lord-
ship's Governor, and the Upper and Lower Houses of As-
sembly, and by the Authority of the same, That from and after
the End of this present Session of Assembly, no Person or
Persons now inhabiting, or that shall hereafter import them-
selves with their Families to settle and inhabit within this
Province, and shall have Occasion to Bring into, or import
with them, any Negro or Negroes, being their own proper and
domestic Slaves, and designed to be kept and employed by them
in their own Service, shall be liable to pay the Imposition
Money laid on all Negroes imported into this Province by the
aforementioned Acts: Provided the Owner of such Negroes,
shall, within two Days after the Importation of such Negro
or Negroes, repair to the Naval Officer of the respective Port
whereunto such Negroes shall be imported into this Province,
and make due Entry of such Negro or Negroes by their proper
Names, as their proper domestic Slaves; and likewise give
Bond, with one good Security, to be taken in his Lordship's
Name, by such Naval Officer, in the Sum of Five Hundred
Pounds Current Money, that such Owners shall not sell or
dispose of any such Negro or Negroes, for and during the
Space of Three Years after such Entry made as aforesaid:
And the Naval Officer, upon making such Entry and taking
Bond as aforesaid, is hereby enjoined to give such Owners a
Certificate of their having made due Entry of such Negroes,
and giving Bond. Which Certificate shall be a sufficient Justifi-
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