5v Letter of Transmission.

as to conditions in Maryland outside of the records here published. There
are a few waifs and strays in print or in manuscript. The Sloane Papers the
British Museum (Andrews I 68) contains a letter from A. Scott about
a rattlesnake in 1739, and one from Edward Lloyd about an oyster with a
pearl in 1740. On December 13, 1738 (14 Va. Mag. 236), John Tayloe was
permitted by the Virginia Council to import free of duty into that Province
iron ore from Maryland for the more easy fluxing of ores from the Virginia
mines. A curious document dated Blackwall, March 22, 1739/40, was recently
offered for sale by Maggs Brothers of London in their catalogue No. 242,

giving the names of 114 convicts from Newgate Prison to he transported to
Maryland (see on this general subject, McCormac, White Servitude in Mary-
land in J. H. U. Studies Series XXII).

Since the appearance of earlier volumes of the Archives, Professor Beverly
W. Bond, Jr., has written an elaborate study of the " Quit Rent System in the
American Colonies." His conclusions as to Maryland are as follows:

" At the outbreak of the Revolution, the revenue from the quit-rents of
Maryland was fully twice as large as the returns from this source in any other
colony. This result, which was a tribute to the able management of the
proprietaries and their officials, had been secured by a consistent and moderate
policy. In the beginnings of settlement the proprietary of Maryland had
established for all grants a uniform quit-rent that was increased only once.
Consequently, the exorbitant and confusing rates found on the Pennsylvania
rolls were avoided. Moreover, unlike the Penns, the Calverts developed an

excellent system of collection, being sufficiently broad-minded to see the neces-
sity of ample allowances in order to secure a force of competent collectors.
Other excellent features of the general proprietary administration of the quit-
rents in Maryland were the readiness with which exemptions or special rates
were granted and the general disposition to be moderate in the method of
enforcement and the medium of payment."

" The effective quit-rent system worked out in Maryland under the Calverts
is a proof of what could be accomplished. Its most noticeable feature is the
organization of a special group of officials whose sole business was the super-
vision and collection of the quit-rents and other dues from the land. Not
having their attention diverted by a multitude of other duties, and with a fair
recompense, these officials turned their attention to the quit-rents with gratify-
ing results. Then, too, under such a system it was possible to keep closely in
touch with local needs and to meet each crisis as it arose. To this close super-
vision, in connection with the tactful and broad-minded policy of the proprie-
taries, the success of the quit-rent system in Maryland was due."