1858.] OF THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES.           455

adjustment of the western boundary line between Maryland
and Virginia;

Which was referred to the special committee already ap-
pointed on that subject.

Mr. Ford, of Cecil, presented a petition from G. H. Thomp-
son and thirty other citizens of Cecil county, in favor of the
passage of an act to incorporate the common schools in said
county;

Which was referred to the committee on Education.
Mr. Kilgour offered the following ordered :

Ordered, That the committee on grievances and courts of
justice, enquire into the expediency of so amending the crim-
inal law of this State, so as to punish Free Negroes who shall
steal property of the value of fifty dollars or under, by im-
prisonment in the county jail for six months, and they to be
transported beyond the limits of the State ;

Which was adopted.

Mr. Kilgour offered the following order:

Ordered, That the warden of the Penitentiary furnish the
House with a statement of the number of negro slaves and
free negroes now in confinement in the Penitentiary;

Which was adopted.

Mr. Wickes offered the following order:

Ordered, That one Delegate from Kent county be added to
the joint special committee, for the purpose of enquiring into
the fisheries and productions of Chesapeake bay and its tribu-
taries;

Which was adopted, and

Mr. Wickes was added to said committee.

Mr. Ford, of Cecil, offered the following order:

Ordered, That if Mr. Alexander, the chairman of the com-
mittee on Judiciary, had been present last evening when the
vote was taken to incorporate the Port Deposit and Columbia
Railroad Company, he would have voted in the affirmative;

Which was adopted.

The Secretary of the Senate returned the following bills:

A bill entitled, an act further supplemental to the act of
1852, chapter 317, entitled, an act to incorporate the Santa
Clara Mining Association of Baltimore, and to amend the
said act of incorporation so as to allow the President and Di-
rectors of said Association to assess the shares of capital
stock in said Association;

Endorsed, "passed by yeas and nays, with proposed amend-
ment."