ee ee - —

er

 
   

 

 

 

) 5
Fo acacia as tae ?
™ .
— A tN te oe — — se ae — = ee r wees Sees te
+ Ses en a ~ —— 5 1
* " —
a
°
i
“
.
~
-
" * : sy f
ees > Tie Eee ia ame _ — a i*
t Pied x at Fo eS |
. — 1
 

 

 

 

 

THE HISTORY

oF

NORTH CAROLINA.
 

 

 

 

a

eee 3 et

prelates:

rei

cle cet -

Kins a

 

Vi,

Ie Ke. D ge

HISTORY

NORTH CAROLINA.

 

BY

HUGH WILLIAMSON, M.D. LL.D.

Member of the Holland Society of Sciences, of the Society of Arts and Sciences

of Utrecht, of the American Philosophical Society, &e,

ete tenitenteee eT

 

IN TWO VOLUMES.

 

ee :

VOL. Il.

PHILADELPHIA:

PUBLISHED BY THOMAS DOBSON, AT THE STONE HOUSE
NO. 41, SOUTH SECOND STREET.

Fry and Kammerer, Printers.
1812.

Nees
 

 

 

 

 

a

Brine eon

vitempenegn

+ cage anaionen

cela

SS eee

 

CONTENTS.

.

CHAPTER VII.

Eden is made governor, and piracy prevails on the coast.
The secretary forms dishonorable connexions with
Theach a pirate—Theach is killed, and the governor’s
character does not escape censure.—The spirit - of
rioting prevails.—Pollock is again made president—
Reed succeeds Pollock.—Burrington is appointed go-
vernor.—He is imprudent and riotous.~Everard suc-

ceeds Burrington.—The dividing line is run between
Carolina and Virginia, - - Page 1

CHAPTER VIIL.

Carolina becomes a royal government.—Burrington is
again made governor.—Porter, the judge of admi-

ralty, distinguishes himself by the perversion of jus-
tice.—Burrington, involved in disputes, abdicates the

government.—Johnstone is appointed governor.—The
population of the province increases rapidly —Paper
money depreciated, is made a tender.—The conduct
of the assembly is very exceptionable—Smith, the
    
  
  
 
  
   
  

 

 

 

¥i CONTENTS.

chief justice, is accused of high crimes and misde-

run.—The dividing line between North and’South Ca-
rolina, is run to the river Peedee and is afterwards
extended.—Troops are raised to act against the nee
niards.—The large representation of the old counties
is disputed.—The representation is reduced bya re:
that is not constitutional—M‘Culloch speculates in
crown lands, - - - - - - 25

‘CHAPTER IX.

Emigrants from the north of Ireland settle in the west-
ern counties.—A moravian colony settle between Dan

eee

river and the Yadkin, and those people become excel-
{ . lent citizens.—A highland colony settle near Clarendon
4 river, about one hundred miles above Wilmington.—
Rice, president of the council, administers the govern-
ment.—Rowan succeeds Rice, and gratifies the assem-
bly by more paper money, = - - - - 67

, CHAPTER X.

Dobbs is appointed governor.—Treaties are made with
the Indians on the approach of war with France.—
The frontier inhabitants are distressed by the Indians.
—Troops are sent to the northward.—Forces are
marched against the Cherokees.—Peace is made with
the Indians.—The Indians break the péace and another

expedition becomes necessary.—The Indians sue for

/meanors.—Lord Carteret’s southern dividing line is .

a

err eeeng eer

tem

eres meee arab es oe

a

ee

ne to

CONTENTS. vii

peace.—The late laws for making counties are repeal-
ed by the king —The laws are renewed with a salvo in
favor of the royal prerogative—The assembly attempt
to make the judges independent—The governor dis-
putes with the assembly.—Lord Granville’s agents are
guilty of great impositions.—One of his agents is
» Sarried off by rioters—He sues the rioters, but
discontinues his suit—The demand of illegal fees is
countenanced by the governor—Paper money being
depreciated, dollars pass for eight shillings instead of

Se .
Six—New encroachments are made upon the reli-

gious rights of the people, - -

;

bd - 85

CHAPTER XI.

Tryon becomes governor.—Commotions are excited by

the stamp act.—The assembly vote money for build-
ing a government house in N ewbern.—New commo-
tions are excited by the revenue laws.—The demand
of illegal fees cause associations and complaints in
some of the northern counties.—The associators in-
crease in number and attempt to regulate the govern-
ment.—They refuse to pay taxes, or any debts.—
They beat the lawyers at court, and dissolve the
supreme court—The governor calls out the militia,
and the rioters promise amendment.—One of the riot-
ers is chosen a member of the assembly.—He is ex-
pelled the house and imprisoned.—The true object of
the rioters is explained by an intercepted letter.The
governor marches a body of volunteer militia into the
 

 

ae

 

viii CONTEN'Is, |

lina~—Martin ‘succeeds Tryon in the government. ;
He courts popularity among the rioters, but evades
granting a general pardon.—He maintains. a long dis-
pute with the assembly concerning the independence

of the judges, foreign attachments, &c., until the go-
vernment is dissolved, - - - - 157

7

‘ 3

ee ag Og

CHAPTER XIII.

Of the tlimate of Carolina —A view of the flat country

rer Freeney

near the coast.—The effects of time and cultivation
must be favorable to the health of the inhabitants.
The waters subside in the rivers.—They probably sub-.
side on the coast.—TRe cause, of that subsidence.—In-
termitting fevers prevail in the low country,

during
the summer and autumn.—Fevers with inflam

matory :
Symptoms prevail in the low country during the win-.

ter.—The means of preventing them.—The western
Parts of the state are remarkably healthy— The pro-
duce of the state is various and valuable, and is capable
of great improvement, Ree) - aah) 178

 

a a

NORTH CAROLINA.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNORS
EDEN, BURRINGTON, AND EVERARD.

CHARLES EDEN, who had been ap-
pointed governor of North Carolina, did
not arrive in the colony, before they had
overcome the most difficult and danger-
* ous part of the Indian war;* but his ad-
ministration was checkered by trouble,
and clouded by disgrace, that he might
eee

’ * He arrived in May 1714,

“ ¥G2. ©,

THE HISTORY

OF

CHAPTER VII.

A

 
1 i
)

1

Ss B48.

 

 

 

2 THE HISTORY OF

and should have prevented. His conduct,
when viewed in the most fayourable light,

was very imprudent; although his guilt
was not fully established.

The splendid adventures of certain

buccaniers, during the former century,
had thrown a veil over the criminal part

of their conduct; and piracy became a
fashionable vice. King Charles the Se-
cond, in a paroxysm of folly, conferred
the honour of knighthood upon Henry
Morgan, who had distinguished himself
at Panama and Porto Bello, by his. pi-
ratical adventures; but it never was sus-
pected that piracy had need of royal pa-
tronage. One of the governors of South
Carolina, Robert Quarry, was degraded*
for harboring pirates; and the character
of Fletcher, a governor of New York,
was stained with the same reproach, A

ship of considerable force had been fitted
tert ate i inci thc ag a

* 1685.

 

corer bengenneiininnd

i nes cu en te

seein ane aaron

Jn meecrmepagn

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 8

out, at the private expense of king Wil-
liam and sundry lords and gentlemen,

_ to cruise against pirates, who had long

infested the American seas. The com-
mand of the ship was given to one Kid,

a good pilot, and experienced mariner.
That officer, not finding much advantage

im cruising against pirates, adopted their
profession, and became the most danger-
ous robber on the coast. Fletcher, the
governor of: New York, had been sus-
pected of confederating with Kid and
his associates. He was succeeded in the
government, in the year 1698, by lord
Bellamont, by whose exertions, captain
Kid was brought to justice. It was then
discovered that Nicoll, a member of the
governor’s council, had received bribes,
for granting protections to pirates, who
frequented the sound, and received sup-
plies from Long Island. Lord Bellamont’s
council advised that Fletcher should be
sent to England, to be tried for piracy;
 

 

 

— sé

 

 

 

 

A. THE HISTORY OF

and that Nicoll should be tried in the
colony.*

Governor Eden and- Tobias Knight,
were not more fortunate than) Fletcher

and Nicoll. They were both suspected of

confederating with robbers. Theach, the
noted freebooter, who. was - surnamed

Black Beard, while he pursued. his. pira-
cies, used to retire to the mouth of Pamp-
tico river, in North Carolina, to-refit his
vessel. Bath county was thinly inhabited;
and Theach frequently went ashore, at
the town of that name, without restraint;
for guarded ashe was, he could not be
easily apprehended. He lived on terms
of familiarity with some of the inhabi-
tants, who did not count it dishonorable

to associate with a robber. Tobias Knight, _

a member of the council, secretary of the
province, and collector of the customs for

a Ne aan ESE OE Te
* Smith’s History of New York.

\dejerpiniscinansioonin . suasnamedaiahiaiamemediiinitaama ate

, NORTH CAROLINA. 5

the port of Bath, was unfortunately in the

number of his friends. King George the

First, in the year 1717, was pleased to
issue a proclamation, offering a pardon
to all pirates who should surrender them-

selves, within a limited time, to any of .

the colonial governors. This was deem-
ed to be the most expeditious method of
obtaining relief from a common pest.
Theach, and: twenty of his men, surren-
dered themselves to the governor of
North Carolina, and took the oath of al-
legiance. His associates dispersed them-

‘selves; and some of them went to work.

But Theach was an intemperate man,
and had been long in the habits of idle-
ness. In a short time his money was ex-
pended. Those treasures were of no use
to him, which vulgar credulity, prone to
believe a wonderful story, has passed to
his account. The man who is said, and
believed to have buried pots or chests

of money, in every deep creek along our

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6 THE HISTORY OF

coast, had not the means of supporting
himself on shore, when he left off
cruising; wherefore he resolved: to: risk
his life, by returning to his piracies.
For this purpose he fitted out a sloop,
enlisted a proper crew, and cleared, asa
common trader, for the island’ of Saint
Thomas. After a few weeks, he returned
to Carolina, and brought with him a
French ship laden with sugar, coffee, and
cotton. He made oath before the gover.
nor, with four of his people, that he
found the ship deserted at sea; upon
which he was allowed to enter at the
customhouse. He landed his sugar and
other goods, and hove down his sloop,
to give her a clean bottom, at the place
that is now called Theach’s Hole, within
Ocacoke inlet. Knight, who was collector
of the customs, lived on Pamlico river,
a few miles below the port of Bath.
Theach had been at his house during
those transactions; for he stored twenty

+ sapere

ane

te niin amildeeone aaa ee

FS MRR

Ne ee we

NORTH CAROLINA. q

barrels of sugar, and two bags of coffee,
in his barn. Whatever the governor ér
his secretary may haye thought of an
old pirate, who alleged that he had found
a tight ship, with a valuable cargo, de-
serted at sea; other people were disposed
to view it as a piratical adventure. The
assembly of Virginia offered a reward of
one hundred pounds for Theach, and ten
pounds for each of his associates. There
were two ships of war then at their
moorings in Hampton Road. Maynard, a
lieutenant in one of the ships, taking

with -him two small ceasters, and a suffi-

cient number of men, sailed in quest of
Theach, and found him at his usual ea-
reening place. When the action began,
Theach had only seventeen men with
him; but he fought like a desperado, who
was resolved to escape the gibbet. He
was killed in the action, and nine of
his men. Eight of them were taken.
Thirty of Maynard’s men were killed or
 

 

 

 

8 THE HISTORY OF

wounded. The pirates, who survived the

action, were tried in Virginia. One of

them, Basilica Hand, turned king’s evi-
dence; and four of them were executed,
after they had confessed the truth of
Hand’s deposition. It followed, as a ne-
Ccessary consequence, from the testimony
of Hand, that secretary Knight was privy
to the last act of piracy.* A copy of those

eXaminations was sent to the governor of |

North Carolina, by the court of admi-
ralty, who alleged, that Knight should be
tried, as an accomplice. When Knight

was summoned to appear before the
council, he exculpated himself by the

testimony of a young man, who lived
with him in his house. This testimony

was directly opposed to the evidence of

Hand; and the presumption in that case,
should have been in favour of Knight’s

Rl a

* See Proofs and Explanations R:

 

euinaahier sabautadhel denen er tee oe ital alt ciadiabeaiiebaaiadr ues

mnennanenien

Salant entienn Seneennaannamenneeern

.

er Be pen et ar

     

NORTH CAROLINA. >. |

innocence; for the testimony of a pirate,

who turned king’s evidence, supported
by the declaration of four negro pirates

who were condemned, could do little in-

jury to a fair character; but there was

other evidence more to be trusted than
such oaths. By. that evidence, Knight’s
character was destroyed; and the goyer-
nor’s did not escape suspicion. A letter
from Knight was found in Theach’s
pocket, dated a few days before he fell |
into the hands of Maynard. That letter
referred to a secret, not to be trusted to
paper.* It was proof of Knight’s friend-
ship for a freebooter, and a clear intima-
tion of the governor’s respect. There was
also a_ silver cup found in Theach’s
cabin, of which he had lately robbed a
boatman on the river, below Knight’s
house.

a ence ee

* See Proofs and Explanations, R r.
VoL. ID. B
 

 

 

 

16 THE HISTORY OF

By incidents of this kind, the bonds.
of civil government were relaxed, and a
general dissipation of manners took
place. Laws are made, in all countries,
for the restraint of bad men; but such
men cannot be expected to reverence
justice, or respect the laws, when they
perceive that civil magistrates are equally
Vitious and guilty with themselves, A”
few months after those transactions, four

or five gentlemen,* in a riotous manner,
broke into the office of John Lovick, the

deputy secretary, and took possession of
the public records. They were imme-

diately apprehended by an armed. posse,
and taken into custody of the marshal,

One of the rioters, Edward. Mosely, a
member of the council, was afterwards

prosecuted, by the governor, for defama-

apace

*
canes cntaaiis ata ee ee

 

‘NORTH CAROLINA. 1k

tion. He said “the governor could raise
‘ap armed posse to arrest honest men,
though he could not raise a similar force
to apprehend Theach, the noted pirate.”
From the frequency of such riots, we

infer the spirit of the times; and from
the occasion and manner in which the

governor was insulted, we discover that
his character had suffered by his reputed
intercourse with a pirate.

Upon the death of governor Eden,*
Thomas Pollock was again chosen pre-
sident: he died within six months, and
was succeeded by William Reed, who
was made president of the Gouncil, and
in that character administered the go-
vernment, until the arrival of George
Burrington, who was appointed governor,

%
airs eal oat pie

inet» is
* Colonel Mosely, colonel Maurice Moore, Thomas
i Luten, Joseph Meare, and Henry Clayton.

 

* March 1722,

ae eater een

 
“a

ce
»
2

erence

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12 THE HISTORY OF

upon the death of Eden, and came out
the next summer.* r

After the peace that was made in the
year 1715,} the Indians had caused some
disturbance. Two or three people were

killed below Bath the next year, The

alarm was great; troops were raised; and
the inhabitants, who smarted under the

late Indian war, feared the return of si-

milar calamities. But the Indians, few in —

number, were now surrounded by the
colonists, and they could not form any
powerful alliance; wherefore they. sued

for peace, which was concluded» in No-
vember 1717. -

ea

A tract of land, including their chief

town, had been reserved for the Chowan

——
* July 1723.

t In the year 1715, the law required that public roads _

should be ten feet wide. From the year 1764, they were

to be twenty feet wide.

4

 

te et ats en ne

temo papi ninnmntagiontes anseniainacegt
‘

a te ea RN a on dad cetacean, ennai meme seen ti one emreans cee ece e eo
“ /

NORTH CAROLINA. 13

Indians; and similar reservations had
been made for other tribes: but the Cho-
wan and Sapona Indians, being greatly
reduced, asked permission to join the
Tuskaroras. King Blount, who was a
faithful ally, obtained assistance, in the
year 1723, to fortify his town; for he had
discovered that the northern Indians
were preparing to make him a visit,
with the hope of persuading his young
men to strike the white inhabitants.

2

“When we observe that North Carolina,
in the year 1791, was the fourth* state
in the Union, though in the beginning of
that century, it did not contain one thou-
sand men, capable of bearing arms, we

a a . , *
——————

* In Virginia, the numbers were 747,610,
In Massachusetts and Maine, 475,327,
In Pennsylvania, 434,373.
In North Carolina, 398,753,
In New York, 340,120.

   
 

-
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14 THE HISTORY OF

look in vain for some external. means,
for some fostering hand, by which the
colony had been cherished, so as to ac-
quire its present growth. It is indebted

for its great increase to the goodness of

its soil, the variety of its produce, and
the general facility with which a family
may be supported there. It owes little to
the fostering care of its sovereign, or the
virtue and wisdom of its public officers.
Few men have been more unfit to dis-
charge the duties of a chief magistrate,
than governor Burrington. He is not
charged, nor was he chargeable, with
fraud or corruption; for he despised
rogues, whether they were small or
great. Nor could he be suspected of
cunning; a vice that is the more danger:
ous, because it personates a virtue; but
he sailed without ballast. His talents were
not above mediocrity, and he was seldom

guided by prudence. When there was a

 

ap A eo = na aon

par ae IE ge

‘
sania ieeedi thin naan nee EMEE dimeecone. amet
.

NORTH CAROLINA. 15

difficulty or a choice of measures, it was

commonly his lot to adopt the worst.

Considering him as a civil officer, who
should preserve the peace, his conduct
was a sarcasm upon his rank. In riots,

brawls, and breaches of the peace, there
was not in the colony, a more notorious,

or more frequent offender. It will readily
be perceived, that such an officer was
not appointed from an opinion of his
being (fit to govern. He was appointed,
like most of the colonial governors, be-
cause he needed a place. His father had
been active in the support of govern-
ment, when king George the First came
to the throne; and the son was to be re-
warded. Before he had been two years in
Carolina, so many complaints were made
of his imprudent, rash, and injurious mea-
sures, that the proprietors thought fit to
remove him from the goyernment, by

appointing sir Richard Everard in his
    
 
  
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
 
   

 

 

 

 

 

 

16 THE HISTORY OF

place.* The follies and intemperance of
Burrington involyed him in so many
prosecutions, within a few weeks of his

becoming a_priyate subject, that he

thought fit to evade justice by retiring
from the colony.+

-

The uncertain boundary had been the

subject of much altercation between:Vir- - -

ginia and North Carolina..'The Virgi-
nians, under titles from the crown, had
taken up lands to the southward of their
proper limits; and the Carolinians, under
warrants from the proprietors, were
charged with taking. up lands that. he-
longed to the crown. Commissioners had
been appointed, many years ago, in be-
half of each province, for running the
dividing line; and proclamations issued,

* His commission was dated April 1724, and he took
his seat the seventeenth of July 1725.

t See Proofs and Explanations S.

|

7
7
!
7
|

 

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 7

in consequence of an agreement, that no
settlements should be made, nor surveys
executed within the disputed limits, until
the line should be marked; but people
continued to take up lands and make set-

tlements, notwithstanding that agree-
ment. The governor of Virginia pre-sed

governor Hyde, with the utmost zeal, to
have the work finished; and threatened,
that if the North Carolina commissioners
did not proceed in good earnest, “ he
should order the Virginia commission-
ers to go on without them.’* The sur-
veyor general of North Carolina was one
of the commissioners; and he was sus.
pected, very improperly, of causing delay,
for the sake of getting fees, for executing
surveys within the disputed limits. The
North Carolina commissioners had a
more justifiable cause of delay. There

an eeeennemeenien aememmemense

* January 1711.
‘VOL. I. G
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MS THE HISTORY OF

was no money in the treasury: and when
the line was afterwards run, in the year
1728, they could not purchase thé ne-
Cessary stores, until the council had sold

hlank patents to individuals, who advan-
ced the money.*

When the commissioners met at Cur-

‘ :
rituck, notwithstanding the solicitude that

had been expressed, to settle the line,
the letter of their instructions was so
vague, and the difficulties in their pro-
gress were so numerous, that ‘they re-
turned home without doing any thing.
According to their instructions, and the
words of the charter, the dividing line

was “to begin at the north end of Cur-
rituck river or inlet.” Thence it was to

tun westerly to the mouth of Wyanoke

creek, or Chowan river; whence it was

RE aaa

* Some of those patents were sold to Pollock, a son of
the late president.

oo pat ee Rp me i

aT

Seen tala caiman Aer eee

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 1B

to be continued a due west course. But
there was not any water known by the
name of Currituck river; for Currituck is
the name of a bay, whose head is ten or
fifteen miles to the northward of the

inlet, where the line should begin; if the
word river had been used synonymous

with inlet. Wyanoke creek, to which the
line was to run, had also become the
subject of debate. It appears by the char-
ter, that Wyanoke was deemed to be near
the latitude thirty-six degrees, thirty
minutes. The Virginia commissioners
contended that it was a river now called
Wiccacon; and the Carolinians claimed
Nottoway as the intended river. Deposi-
tions were also taken by the commis-

sioners concerning the Wyanoke Indians
who had lived, at different times, upon

both rivers.* The result of observations

* Those Indians had formerly emigrated from Susque-
hanna river. .
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

39 THE HISTORY OF

- The Virginia commission-
ers made the latitude of Nottoway thirty-

seven degrees, or thirty-seven degrees

ten minutes, and. the latitude of Wieca-
con thirty-six degrees forty minutes. Ac-
cording to those observations, Wiccacon
itself was too far north. We are taught to
expect certainty in mathematies and ge-
ometry. An error of thirty or forty miles,
in taking the latitude, was too much. It
could hardly be the effect of ignorance.
This is not mentioned as a solitary proof
that we do not safely confide in a man’s

judgment, whose private interest is at
variance with the truth.

Governor Eden of North Carolina, and
Spotswood. of Virginia, in a conference at
Nansamond, fixed upon terms that were
explicit, and agreed to certain proposals

respecting the boundary line, which they

signed and transmitted to their superiors,

 

 

NORTH CAROLINA. _ 21

His majesty in council having approved
of the proposals,* and the lords proprie-
tors having agreed to the same, the go-
vernors of Virginia and Carolina, were
instructed to settle the line accordingly.
Commissioners being appointed to exe-
cute the service, sir Richard Everard, at
the request of his council, proposed that
the commissioners should be authorized
to give quiet possession to all settlers,
who had any titles to the land they sl
cupied. For this and other PETROS ey he
advised that they should have a meeting,
previous to their attending at oinerticiel,
to run the line. But the governor of Vir-

ginia could not discover that any favour

pe an oN Pie Att ARLE DEAT EB Rs.

* See Proofs and Explanations T.

The commissioners on the part of Virginia, were
colonel Bird, Richard Fitzwilliam, and William Dand-
ridge, ‘ .

On the part of Carolina, they were John Lovick,

Christopher Gale, Edward Maseley, and William Lit--
tle. .
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

22 THE HISTORY OF

was due.to men who had endangered the
public peace, by settling upon disputed

ground; and he alleged, that the com-

missioners might settle all the necessary
preliminaries, by letters.* The Carolina
commissioners, as we have seen, were

badly provided with money; but their
correspondence does: not exhibit any de-
feet in the knowledge of their business.+

When the commissioners met at Cur-
rituck inlet, the variation of the compass
was found to be three degrees west nearly,
and the latitude thirty-six degrees thirty-

one minutes. The dividing line struck
Black Water one hundred and seventy-

six poles above the mouth of Nottoway, to
the great. disappointment of many peo-
ple, who had been coyering Carolina

a
_* See Proofs and Explanations U.

+ See Proofs and Explanations V.

 

;
;
:

errata rte errr Re Ry = eer ener er

\y
a

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 23

lands by Virginia patents. The varia-
tion of the compass, at the mouth of
Nottoway, was two degrees thirty min- |
utes.* *

N

Sir Richard Everard was more cir-
cumspect in his general conduct thay

his predecessor; but his administration,
in many cases, was very exceptionable.
He did not protect the innocent, nor
correct the giilty with a steady hand.

 

* Surveyors in North Carolina, retracing the lines of
an old ‘patent, after the marks are lost, commonly allow

a certain increase or decrease of the variation of the
compass for every twenty years; but this allowance is
often made by pure conjecture, without any certain rule.
He must be a poor geometrician, who cannot find a true
meridian, by which he may fix the present. variation.
The above record fixes the variation for the year 1728,
on the northern boundary of Edenton district. From
those data he may discover how much it has altered
every twenty years.

If the legislature would cause the variation to be taken
and recorded in every county, once in ten, years, they
would prevent many disputes.
 

24 THE HISTORY, &c.

 

 

When the assembly had remonstrated
against the conduct of an oppressive
judge, he paid no attention to. their com-
plaints. He disputed with his council;
and they mutually criminated one an.
other to the lords proprietors,

 

 

CHAPTER VIII.

 

 

 

THE ADMINISTRATION OF COVERNOR
JOHNSTONE,

 

 

1 TT had long been suspected, that the
disorderly and turbulent spirit, which
appeared in both Carolinas, was cherish-

ed, in a great measure, by the nature of
. their government. Men had not so much
. respect for the worthless, intriguing
wee Masa, deputy of their fellow-subjects, as they

 

 

 

 

 

| might be expected to have for the re.
presentative of their sovereign. It had
been observed, more than once, that the
subject was encouraged to resist the
laws, by the want of power in the hands
of the proprietors. In South Carolina,
the inhabitants had expressed their con-
tempt of the proprietary government,
Vou. 1. D

edneieteeme dice ee

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

26 THE HISTORY OF :

in the strongest terms. They insulted
and deposed their governor, and had
chosen a governor for themselves, who
was to be considtred as his majesty’s
representative. In North Carolina, the
forms of obedience were observed; but

the people were discontented and dis-

erderly. The peace and safety of the
province demanded that the executive.

powers should be more respected: where-
fore his majesty was pleased to purchase
the soil and seigniory of Carolina, ex.
cept that one of the proprietors, lord Car-
teret, afterwards created earl of Granville,
thought fit to retain his eighth part of
the soil; he paying the king, his heirs
and successors, the annual rent of one
pound thirteen shillings and four pence,
on the Feast of All Saints, first of No-
vember, for eyer, and one fourth of the
gold and silver ore that should be found
.in such reseryation. Seven eighths of
the province were purchased in July

*

NORTH CAROLINA, 27

1729, for seventeen thousand. five hun-
dred pounds sterling; and the surrender
was confirmed by act of parliament.
Lord Carteret’s eighth part of the pro-
Vince was laid off for him adjoining the

Virginia line. But the commissioners, in
the year 1743, laid off for him above se-

venty-two miles, which was eight or nine
miles more than his eighth part of the
province. It is true, that the charter con-
veyed eight degrees and a half; viz. from
the beginning of the twenty-ninth de-
gree; but Saint Augustine, in East Flo-
rida, stands in twenty-nine degrees forty-
five minutes. The proprietors, as we
know, had no claim to East Florida.
Seven degrees and a half are more than
they ever possessed, or had a right to

convey.

Burrington had originally ‘been ap-
pointed governor by the proprietors, to

_ gratify the court. He had not acquitted

himself well; but it might be presumed,

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

28 THE HISTORY OF

that two years? experience, and five years’
retirement and reflection, had increased
his knowledge and prudence. The conduct
of sir Richard Everard had made. it pro-
per that he should be removed; and his
majesty thought fit to gratify a depen-
dent, by sending Burrington again to
North Carolina, to excite new commo-
tions and kindle a new flame, by mis-
ruling the province. When Burrington
was first appointed governor, the coun-
cil, according to his instructions, consist.
ed of twelve persons, who were no longer

1730. He arrived in February 1731

eet ee

er eee

NORTH CAROLINA. 29

a mark of royal attention, nor did he
begin his administration under fayor-

able auspices. He could neither agree

with the council nor the assembly. As
sir Richard Everard and his council had

mutually crimimated one another, gover-
nor Burrington had been instructed by

his majesty to inquire into the merits
of the dispute, that so the guilty might
be punished. He offered to examine some
members of the old council, touching the
conduct of sir Richard Everard; but his
new council refused to hear those gentle-
men, or any of them, because they were

parties.

The governor, in pursuance of his in-
structions, had appointed assistant judges.
The house of representatives desired to
know what were the powers of the assist-

- ant judges. The council replied, that the

assistant judges had no judicial powers;

but the governor alleged, that like the

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

30 THE HISTORY OF

judges in England, they had power in all
cases to sit and act as judges, else the
chief justice was the sole judge. The
council replied, that the chief justice,
being commissioned by his majesty with
full power to hold the superior courts,
No accession of power could be made,
Such trifling disputes, at the beginning,
did not augur a fortunate administration
to the goyernor.

The assembly, at their first session,
prepared and presented a bill for ascer-
taining the fees of public officers, and
making tobacco a tender, at ten shillings
the hundred, in payment of quit-rents,
As the governor could not give his as-
sent to such a bill, he thought fit to pro-
rogue the assembly. They were to have:
met, after that prorogation, the second
day of November; but the governor had
been at Wilmington, and did not return
before the third of that month: wherefore.

 

1
i

anaes me

;

3
|
.
..
|

NORTH CAROLINA. 3r

*

he once more prorogued the assembly to
meet the first Tuesday in April. His other
follies were sufficient; he might have
omitted this trifling mode of irritating
the people.

From the first séttlement of North
Carolina, our indignation and pity have
been alternately excited, by observing an
infant colony, that was planted in a happy
soil, depressed and kept down by the
constant recurrence of anarchy and op-

pression, insurrection and war. Among
the numerous offenders, by whom the co-

lony was oppressed, there was not one
more distinguished by the uniformity of
his conduct, than Edmund Porter, the
judge of admiralty. If that man’s oppor-
tunities and power had been equal to his
disposition, he would have rivalled the
most celebrated tyrants of the old conti-
nent, In the character of judge, he
greatly exceeded: chief justice Jeffries,

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

32 THE HISTORY OF

of infamous memory; nor do we find his
equal in the records of judiciary dis-
grace. This judge never had an opportu-
nity of hearing more than thirteen causes,
and, in every case, he was guilty of op-
pression and perversion of justice.* The
assembly had complained of his oppres-
sions to sir Richard Everard, but that
gentleman turned a deaf ear to their re-
monstrances. He was impeached before
governor Burrington and council, where
his crimes could not be palliated or de-
fended. After a full hearing, he was con-
victed of “ sundry notorious epimes:”?

upon which, he was suspended from his

office as judge, and from being a mem-
ber of the council.

Governor Burrington was remarkably
unfortunate, during the whole of his ad-
ministration; for it may be noted, that

Sa et I 8k ea in oa

* See Proofs and Explanations W.

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 33

whether he was guided by irregular pas-
sions, or by the honest contempt of vil-
lains, he conducted himself with such a
want of prudence, as to increase the
number of his enemies. During his visit
at Wilmington, the master of a yessel
came before him, with a complaint, that
a merchant in that place, to whom he
sold a valuable cargo, had refused to
make payment according to his contract.

Burrington might have suspected the
consequence, and he should have refused

to interfere, because it was a subject not
cognizable by the governor; but he laid

the complaint before his council at Eden-
ton, and the merchant, who was a mem-

ber of the council, was summoned to
make his defence. He alleged, upon his
appearance, that the council was not a

court for taking cognizance of such
matters; at the same time he offered, in
Vou. U. 7)

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

34° THE HISTORY OF

defence of his character, to show that he

had not. departed from the spirit of his

contract. After a short hearing, his fraud
became yery conspicuous. From that pe-
riod, he was the governor’s implacable
enemy. Upon every occasion he placed
his follies and his foibles in the strongest
light; but they needed: no exaggeration.
As the governor was riding across the
country, he observed, that a tract of land
belonging to himself, had been occupied
by a poor man, who built a -cabin. on it.

He ordered his servant to burn the cabin, -

It was a place of little value, but it was
the poor man’s place of residence. This,
as he conceived, was the shortest method
of ejecting a tenant, for he never showed

much attention to the forms of law. By
such irregularities, he created a host. of
enemies, and he wanted the usual address
of worse men; he formed no party for his
own support. Knowing that Smith, the
late chief justice, had gone to England

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 35

with private instructions from the coun-
cil, to complain of his administration;
and finding himself in a troubled ocean,
a storm collecting on every side, he re-
tired from the helm,* under pretence of
making a visit to South Carolina; from
which he took ship for England.

Gabriel Johnstone was appointed go-
vernor upon the abdication of Burring-
ton, and arrived in the province the next
fall.t Under the prudent administration

of that magistrate, the colony began te
reap the benefit of industry, order, and

submission to the laws. New settlements

 

* April 1734. This imprudent and eccentric man, after
his return to London, sold a tract of Jand that he had
taken up, near the Haw Fields in Carolina. Having money

in his pocket on the following night, and rioting’ in his

usual manner, he fella sacrifice to his folly. He was
found murdered the next morning, in the Bird Cage
walk, in a corner of Saint James’ Park.

+ November 1734.

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

36 THE HISTORY OF

were formed, and the population, from
that period, continued to increase with a
Vigorous growth. It was obvious, that

men, who were to be governed by law,
had need of instruction: and men, who

had long been versed in riot and disor-
der,* had need of reformation and amend-
ment; wherefore governor Johnstone, at
every session, pressed the assembly to
make some provision for the education
of youth, the support of public worship,
and the amendment of their laws: Too
much time, as he alleged, had been taken

up in vain, unnecessary disputes. The
assembly attending to the letter, not to

the spirit of his advice, passed a law, —

that was in¢onsistent with religious liber-
ty, for the support of a particular church.
They also appropriated money, once and
again, for the support of a seminary of
learning; but these appropriations were
NR Weak Ae. OER ee Pas

* See Proofs and Explanations, W 2.

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 37

nugatory and vain. The money was con-
stantly applied to some other purpose.

The laws that were made to support a_
religious establishment, retained their

force; for they were supported by the
spirit of party. Learning was neglected,
because it was of no party; no troops en-
listed themselves under its banner. Pride
or passion were not ready to lend their
assistance, and reason, a cool auxiliary,
for many years gave ineffectual support.
Measures were taken, in the mean time,
for amending the laws, and reforming
the courts of justice. Every man disco-
vered the urgent necessity of preserving
good order, and protecting property by
the sanction of laws. It seems to have
escaped their notice, that money was a
species of property; for they had a con-
stant desire to injure their currency. Pa-
per money had been emitted, during the
Indian war, for defraying the necessary
expenses of the troops. It was provided

SS

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

38 THE HISTORY OF

that two thousand pounds per annum
should be sunk by taxes; but the curren-
cy could never be raised. to its original
value. Although every man in the colony,
saw that too much paper was in cireula-
tion, for it passed below the nominal
value, excuses were formed, once and
again, for making more. In the year
1729, bills of credit were issued, to the
amount of forty thousand pounds, by a
shameful collusion between the goyernor
and the assembly. The proprietors had
sold their government to the crown, and
sir Richard Everard could foresee that
he was soon to quit, the helm. He made
the most of his time. In the year 1734,
the people were gratified by anothér
emission of ten thousand pounds in bills
of credit. The baneful effeets could not
eseape general notice. In the year 1730,
current bills were depreciated at three
and a half for one. In the year 1735, they
were at five for one; and in 1739, they

:

 

 

NORTH CAROLINA. j 39

had sunk to seven and a half for one.
The bills of credit, issued in Carolina,
were supposed equal to the proclamation
value of silver. Six shillings, in those
bills, should have been equal to a Spanish
dollar, according to a proclamation of
queen Ann, fixing the rate of foreign
coins, in the British colonies. Of all the
varieties of fraud that have been practised
by men, who call themselves honest, and

wish to preserve a decent appearance,

none has been more frequent, in legisla-

tive bodies, than the attempt to pass
money for more than its proper value.
There are men who conceive, that crimes
lose their stain, when the offenders are
numerous; that in the character of legis-

lators, they cannot be rogues, “ defendit |

numerus.”? There are men, who would be
ashamed to acquire five shillings by steal-
ing, picking a pocket, or robbing on the
highway; but they would freely, and
without blushing, assist in passing a law

\

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

hie THE HISTORY OF

to defraud their creditor out of half his
just demand. There were instances of
men being banished from Carolina for
stealing a hog, not worth five dollars;
while the men who banished them, would

contend for paying a debt of seven
pounds with the value of twenty shil-

lings.* The moral sense is depraved by —

* It is not to be understood, from any thing above
stated, that the legislature of North Carolina were more
dishonest, or more desirous of depreciating the currency,
than people in the other colonies. Paper money was issu-
ed in most of the provinces, and it depreciated in every
case; in some of them much more than in North Caro-

lina. We have seen paper currency depreciate in some
of the states, since the revolution, to five or six for one,

while it continued to be a legal tender. The mind sickens

at such instances of human infirmity. Among the nume-
rous advantages the United States have gained by the
federal constitution, the prohibition of a depreciated cur-
rency is not the smallest. It is a prohibition that en-

eg
courages industry, by protecting the property of honest
men. 5

While the writer refers to a provision in the federal
constitution against a depreciated currency, he is not

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 41

tender laws, or laws that enable the
debtor to defraud his creditor, by offering ©
him a fictitious payment. By such laws
the mind is alienated from the love of jus-
tice, and is prepared for every species of
chicane and fraud.

In the fourth year of governor John-
stone’s administration, the assembly at-
tempted to give a circulation to their de-
preciated currency, by a process that was

altogether new. The annual quit-rents

were payable in sterling money, or in fo-
reign coins, at the proclamation value, and

 

without apprehension, that such provision may be de-
feated, by a deluge of Bank paper. The only state in the
union that had resisted a depreciated currency, while it
we province, is now infected with the banking mania.
Fictitious dollars are already depreciated, and since legis-
lative bodies have descended to raising a revenue by sell-
ing charters for banks, the next step in rounding the pro-

. cess, may be a law to promote the circulation of that

costly paper. An excuse will not be wanted for such a
law, when paper dollars shall have banished the specie:

VOL. It. F

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

42 THE HISTORY OF

the proprietors of Carolina had formerly
instructed their agents

to receive pay-
ments

for quit-rents in certain articles
of country produce, at the price fixed by
law, which was the true market value.
His majesty had also been ready to re-
ceive payment for the large arrears of
quit-rents in foreign coins, deer skins, or
bees wax. In passing laws for issuing bills
of credit, which were to be a legal ten-
der, an exception had always been made
in favour of quit-rents, or debts due to
the crown; for the governor could not
have assented to the law without that ex-

ception. The assembly nevertheless, en-

deayoured to pass their currency at par,

 

. NORTH CAROLINA. 43

extraordinary mode of paying debts. The
governor dissolved the assembly,* that
he might be relieved from the tyranny of
men, who had shown an equal contempt
of law and justice. In a short time, he
dissolved the next assembly also; for they
discovered, as he said, little disposition
to serve the public. It was not to be ex-

pected that men, who had grown up in a

government so long agitated by outrage,
violence and insurrection, should, in a

short time, become obedient subjects.

The disordered spirit of the times had.
affected the legislative body; who appear,
in some eases, to have.cherished lawless

i ich, i t time, pro-
oppression, which, in a shor »?P

in discharge of public debts. Money that duced a gross and rampant crop, that
was depreciated, at seven and a half

for checked the wheels of government.
one, was offered in payment of quit-rents,

The public officers refused to receive it,
and proceeded to distrain for the rents.
The assembly, then sitting, ordered those

officers to be imprisoned. This was an

 

 

 

 

 

 

The conduct of Smith, the chief jus-
tice, was, in many cases, very exception-

 

 

a EnEEn anne aaa ae
* Fourth of March 1739.

 

 

 

 
 

44, THE HISTORY OF - :

NORTH CAROLINA. AS

 

\ \
able; but he had the address to make
friends of one class,

 

 

jority was obtained, with much difficulty,
who might be trusted. The assembly
met,* and the chief justice was accused
of oppression, violence, and extortion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the general assembly, for having him im-
peached before the governor and council,

To avert the impending storm, the chief

justice persuaded some members of the
assembly to refuse attendance in the

house, though they were in town.+ While
those members were absent, a quorum}

for doing business could not be formed,
and the governor, availing himself of that
circumstance, dissolved the assembly. He
issued writs the next month, at the re.
quest of a grand jury, for a new election.
By industry and management, on the
part of Smith and his associates, a ma:-

 

2h PRN Were Pi em ee
_ * The fourth of March 1737. » +

_ + Fifteenth of November 1738,

+ Twenty-four members constituted a quorum.

 

Time was not given the prosecutors to
collect their evidence, for they were
ruled to come to trial immediately, as if
the majority of the assembly had known
that a public officer, and a judge of the
land, must be convicted of high crimes
and misdemeanors, if time should be
given to send for witnesses. Notwith-
standing those palpablé attempts to cover
injustice, some of the charges were clear-
ly established, by witnesses who chanced
to be in town; but the house would not
impeach the chief justice, because the
complainants had not established every
charge.} Yn this case we have an instance,

 

* February 1739.

+ See Proofs and Explanations X.

*
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A6 THE HISTORY OF

that claims our notice, of the first ma-
gistrate lending his aid to screen an ex.
ecutive officer, who was accused, and
strongly suspected, of corrupt practices.
The officer escaped punishment, as we
have reason to believe, in consequence
of the governor’s interference; but the

province groaned many years under the
pestilential effects of his impunity and

example. It is not improbable that the
members, or some of them, who prosecu-
ted the chief justice, might have been
warmed by personal resentment; but
their intemperate zeal could afford no
‘excuse to the governor, for protecting a
corrupt judge. Faults may be committed
by inattention; but the officer, who, in a
single instance, is guilty of deliberate
fraud or extortion, should be delivered
over to all the corrections of the law.
There are few instances on record, of an

did not, in the course of time, give his

*

 

officer of this class being proteeted, who —

 

NORTH CAROLINA. AZ

patron sufficient reason to repent of his
folly. It is not to be supposed that the
members of assembly, who supported a
corrupt or oppressive judge, by artifice
and evasion, could have foreseen, that by

future oppressions of the same kind, the
province was to be conyulsed; but they

ought to have known that bad example is
infectious, and yice requires no patron-

age.*

A bill was brought up from the lower
house, a short time after that dispute, for
establishing the town and port of Wil-
mington. Hithérto the legislature had met
occasionally at Brunswick, that was incor-

 

*

*® The reader, if he has attended to the proceedings of

legislative bodies, will admit that the conduct of the ma-
jority in the North Carolina assembly was not more ex-
ceptionable and wicked than the conduct of many other
Majorities, when they, suffer themselves to be guided
by the same spirit, that is to say, by the spirit of
Party.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* AS. THE HISTORY OF

porated. The council, eight members be- 7

- ing present, were equally divided, and
the opponents to the bill alleged that it
was lost, because the law maxim, “ sem-
per presumitur pro negante,? was on

their side; but the president of the coun-

cil was in favour of the bill, and though
his own vote had been required to pro-
~ duce an equality, he alleged, in contempt

of precedent, that he was also entitled to
a casting vote. The bill passing in this

suspicious form, received the governor’s
approbation. The incidents, which related
to that bill, became the source of much

invective. Some members of the council
‘

had property in Brunswick; they were
opposed to the bill: others of them had

lately been very active in support of the -

chief justice; they were in fayour of the
bill. The opponents were charged with
being blinded by private interest, and
the supporters of the bill were called the
partisans of a corrupt judge. Happily, the

 

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 49

people at large were not interested in
the law. About this time* it was enacted,
that the precincts should be called coun-
ties, and the proyost marshal should be

ealled sheriff.

Hitherto lord Carteret had been in.
some measure restrained from selling
land, because his part of the soil was not
ascertained. It was necessary that a divi-
ding line should be run; and the gover-
nor, according to his instructions, ap-
pointed Holton, Allen, Rowan and Forbes, |
who were members of the council, and
Gould the surveyor general, to execute
that service, in behalf of the crown.
Mosely, Moore, Rice and Abercombie,
were appointed commissioners, on the
part of lord Carteret, to run the line.t
Those gentlemen extended the line to

* Sixth of March 1738. t Anno 1743.
VOL. It. G
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

50 THE HISTORY OF ~

Pamlico river from the coast. Three of
the same commissioners were after-
wards appointed to continue the line.*
They ran to the west side of Saxapahaw
river, or the northwest branch of Claren-
don; the whole being one hundred and
three miles, and two hundred and. seyen-

teen poles. They were afterwards direct-
ed to finish the line. ;

_ North Carolina was. not distinguished
from the southern province by a natural

boundary, nor had it ever been designa.
ted by a line, or any other visible marks, -

The proprietors, in their commissions,

had occasionally described North Caro-
lina as that part of our province, which
lies to the northward and eastward of
Cape Fear. The settlers on Old Town
creek, by the second commission of sir
John Yeamans, had been attached, in
Tied indignities cdl

* April 1746,

 

. NORTH CAROLINA. 51

some measure, to South Carolina; but
the new settlements that were formed,
near the mouth of Clarendon river, after
the general Indian war, had been attach-
ed to North Carolina. The legislative as-
semblies had sometimes met in Bruns-
wick. Commissioners were now appoint-
ed,* in behalf of each province, to run
a dividing line. As it was clear, from the
depth of water, that one of the chief ports
of North Carolina would be on Claren-
don river, it was deemed proper that a
sufficient space, to the southward of Cape
Fear, should be allotted for a county
within the government.

With this view, the commissioners

began at a cedar stake, on the seashore,
by the mouth of Little river, and having

 

* The commissioners were Robert Holton, Matthew
Rowan, and Edward Mosely, on the part of Ni orth Caro-
lina,

    

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ce THE HISTORY OF

run a northwest line until they arrived,
as they conceived, at the beginning of
the thirty-fifth degree of latitude, they
altered their course “by mutual con-
sent,” and ran west to the river Pee
Dee.* At the termination of the north-

west line, they erected a lightwood stake, :

upon a mound of earth; at the river they
marked a pine tree. Governor Johnstone
afterwards pressed the lords commission-
ers of trade and plantations to have the
line finished; but it appeared to them
a subject of less importance than to peoy
ple who lived in that part of the coun-
try, whose peace was often disturbed by
riots near the boundary. The line was af-
terwards extended twenty miles, by pri-

vate persons, and that temporary line

was continued farther in the year 1764.

This was taken for the true line, accord-
ing to governor Tryon’s proclamation.+

 

* Anno 1737. Journals of Council.

+ Ninth of May 1765.

  

NORTH CAROLINA. 53

Governor Martin, after some years, in-
formed the assembly, that he was instruct-
ed by his majesty to appoint commis-
sioners, who should continue the boun-

dary line, lately run, as far as the
Salisbury road; then along the road to
where it enters the Catawba lands;
thence, leaving those lands to the south-
ward, by their boundary, to the Catawba
river; then up that river to the fork;
then due west.* The assembly refused

- to make provision for such commission-

ers. It is strange that any person should
have advised his majesty to order so

ridiculous’ a line, merely to gratify a
whim of the Catawba Indians. It was

doubtless the intention of government,
that the provinces should be separated
by a parallel of latitude. That parallel

was to begin at the termination of the
northwest line, that has been mentioned.

 

*December 1771.
io :
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

54 : THE HISTORY OF -

The commissioners found no difficulty in

running the first part of the line, and if

there had been any doubt concerning the
latitude, they knew that an error of two
or three minutes would be of little im-
portance, as the soil on both sides be-
longed to the crown. When the line was
afterwards to be extended, the ridiculous
zigzag, recommended by governor Mar-
tin, seems to have been the effect of pri-
vate intrigue. If it was an object to gra-
tify the Catawba Indians, the parallel
might have been continued to their lands,
and leaving those lands to the southward,

it could have been taken up in the same
latitude, at their western boundary. But

lands near the Catawba river were of a
better quality than lands adjoining the
boundary to the eastward of the river
Pee Dee; and numerous settlements were
already formed to the westward of the
Catawba reservation; wherefore those

lands had become the object of specula-

NORTH CAROLINA. 55

tion. From the correspondence of the
governor of South Carolina with gover-
nor Dobbs, and the subsequent proposi-
tion made by lord Charles 8. Montague
to governor Tryon, for running a line
very unfavourable to North Carolina,
which proposition he rejected with firm-
ness, it is not to be supposed, that any
instructions had then been received from
the king, for deviating from the original
course.

The currency of the province had
been rising for some years towards its
proper value. An expedition was project-
ed against the Spaniards at Carthagena,
and. North Carolina had raised four hun-
dred men, as her quota, to assist in the
enterprise.* A poll tax of three shillings
proclamation money was laid for defray-
ing the expenses of the troops; and that

 

 

«* Anno 174@.

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

' 56 THE HISTORY OF

tax, according to the law by which it was
haps cians might be discharged by a pay-
ment in specie, or by tobacco at ten 1 shil-
lings the hundred, rice at seven shillings
and six-pence, Indian dressed deer skins
at two shillings and six-pence the pound,
bees wax at ten-pence half-penny, tallow
at four-pence, pork at twenty-seven shil-
lings the barrel, or current paper money
at seven and an half for one. The paper
money had been scaled at different times,
by common agreement, or by the order
of court, and the tax of seven and an half
for one served to call in the greater part

of the current paper, which had never
been measured by a lower standard.

Attempts to fix the seat of goyern-
ment, in every country, where the people
have the right of suffrage, are marked
by the effects of passion and private in-
terest, The first attempt made in North
Carolina on that subject, was supported

 

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 57

by one party, in direct opposition to the
chartered rights of their fellow subjects.
Five members, as we have already seen,
had been chosen to represent each of the
eldest counties or precincts in the east-
ern district. Beaufort, Hyde, and Craven,
had also been authorized for a time, to

send five members. The other counties

were represented by two members. This

‘distinction, that was reasonable at first,

might be called by a different epithet,
when some of the new counties had be-
come equally populous with either of the
original precincts. But men, who have

more than a Proper degree of power, are
seldom known to surrender it freely. Al-
though the act of 1715 had been repeal-
ed by the king, the five eastern counties
continued to be represented, eachof them,
by five members; for they claimed the
privilege of sending that number, by vir-
tue of powers that were antecedent to the
act of 1715. The governor, in that doubt--

you. I. H

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

&

58 THE HISTORY OF :

ful case, Phaasindivertheiss to offend so many
people together, had issued writs of elec-

tion with great caution; so as neither to

countenance the claim of five representa-
tives nor directly to oppose it. In some

counties the sheriffs were directed to con-
vene the freeholders “to choose two re-
presentatives.” In other counties they
were directed to convene the freeholders
* to choose representatives.”

While the assembly was sitting in New
Bern, in June 1746, an attempt was made,

by the council, to fix the seat of govern-
ment in that town, or to
it; for a majority of the council lived to
the southward: but the house of repre-
sentatives preferred Bath, which was, at
that period, nearer the centre of popula-
tion. In that dispute, the large repre-
sentation of the eastern counties ‘had a
decisive ‘influence; wherefore the gover-

nor and council resolyed to reduce the

 

southward of |

 

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 59

representation, if possible. If all the
other counties had united, the repre-
sentation of the five eastern counties
might have been altered by law, in the
constitutional manner; for there were

fifty-nine members in the assembly when
the governor determined to reduce the

representation, as he expressed. himself,
by “ management.” The governor’s pro-
. ject required that the assémbly should
be prorogued, but a decent excuse as
necessary. The council in a short time
furnished an excuse. They contrived 4
dispute with the house of representa:
tives, by claiming to be adaronned in
the petitionary style, in the following
manner, “ May it please your honors,”
but the representatives, having no dispo-
sition to flatter the senate, pertinaciously
refused that humiliating form of address.
This trifling dispute was conducted in
such a manner, that it seemed to become
serious; whereupon the governor pro-

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

60 THE HISTORY OF

rogued the assembly, and called them
to meet him at Wilmington, the fifth of

December; at a season when deep waters
and bad bridges tendered a journey of
two hundred or two hundred and fifty
miles nearly impracticable. The issue
was such as had been expected. Few of
the eastern members attended; and the
governor assented to a law, by which the
five eastern counties were restrained
from being represented by more than
two members for each county. When the
law passed there was not a majority pre-

sent in the house of representatives.

The inhabitants of the eastern counties
petitioned the king, complaining of this
palpable violation of their privileges. The
governor, being required to make his de-
fence, alleged that the right of those
counties to send five representatives de-
pended upon an act of assembly, which
had beenrepealed by his majesty. That his
attempts to obtain a complete rent-roll,

 

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 61

and cause the arrears of rents to be paid,

had been opposed by the eastern mem-
bers; that frequent prorogations of the as-
sembly had been occasioned by their im-
punctuality in attending, and that some
management was proper and necessary to
deprive them of too much power, that
was badly used. The people replied, that
the right of sending five members for
each county, originated and depended
on the order of the court palatine, dated

1696, and not upon the act of the biennial
assembly in 1715. ‘That the governor’s
, scammed to the chief justice, and his de-

‘sire to screen him from disgrace, had oc-
easioned the prorogations of which he.
complained: and they observed that the
late act was a direct violation of the eon-
stitution; for the charter requires that
laws shall be made by the approbation of
the freemen “ or the greater part of them,
or of their delegates. » The meaning of
the charter is plain; but private interest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Set ayuda

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

62. THE HISTORY OF _

and faction are wonderful expositors of

written constitutions: by a little manage-
ment they find new meanings in old ex-
pressions The best security is ever found
in the virtue of the government. The act
in question was arbitrary, but no redress
was obtained; for the crown was not used
to favour a numerous representation.

Henry MCulloch. had lately made a

speculation in crown lands, that proved
the source of much disquiet, and con-

tributed not a little to retard the pro-

gress of settlement. In the year 1737,
Murray Crymble, James Huey, and their
associates, obtained .an order. from the

king for surveying one million two hun-
dred thousand acres of land on the heads
of Peedee, Clarendon and Neus rivers;

no tract to be less than one hundred
thousand acres. Henry -

same time, obtained an- order for sur-
veying seventy-two thousand acres on

 

ulloch, at the —

NORTH CAROLINA. 63

the northeast branch of Clarendon or
Cape Fear river. This M‘Culloch had
lately been appointed his majesty’s sur-
veyor, inspector, and comptroller of the
revenue and grants of land. Such, in

many cases, was the contempt of pro-
priety in the appointment to offices. The

surveyor general, having executed the

surveys, was obliged to bring suit for the

recovery of his fees. It was alleged by
M‘Culloch, in his defence, that the sur-
veyor had not done his duty, in laying
off the lands according to his locations.
In the course of this trial it appeared,
that Crymble and Huey had been little

more than nominal grantees; each of

‘them having one hundred thousand acres

for the use of his name, he paying his
proportion of the expense: M‘Culloch
was the real owner of the remaining
million of Scr y, It appeared: also, tliat
by evasions, in not taking out patents
when the land was surveyed, M‘Culloch

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

64 THE HISTORY OF

had defrauded his majesty of ten thou-
sand -pounds. His object was to pay for

the land by importing settlers.* His son, _

Henry Eustace M‘Culloch, when he had

obtained correct information concerning

those lands, and had selected a number
of small tracts that were excellent in

quality, thought fit to settle his accounts

with the crown, without paying a dollar.
He rendered a detail of three hundred
and twenty-two settlers, young and. old,

that he had brought into the province;

by which he saved sixty-four thousand
four hundred acres of land. He surren-

dered, by a deed to the croum,t all the

 

* About this time, viz. in October 1749, Beacon
island, near Ocacoke inlet, was destroyed It had for-
merly been inhabited, and Matthew Kelley, the only
pilot belonging to the inlet, lived there; but a furious
storm battered and broke down the island to such a de-

gree, that in a few years it disappeared
+ April 1767,

 

-
>

NORTH CAROLINA, ' 65

remainder of the large tracts run out for

himself, his father, his sister or Mr.
Selwin.

~The public attention, in the year 1744,
was turned to the defence of the seacoast;
for hostilities had commenced between
England and Spain. Fort Johnstone was
built near the mouth of Clarendon river,
and other forts were built at Ocacoke,
Old Topsail, and Bear inlets. A Spanish

privateer during that war, notwithstand-
ing the resistance made at fort John-
stone, landed part of her crew at Bruns-
wick, and began to plunder the town; but
the inhabitants brought some guns to
bear upon the ship, and she was blown

up.

The assembly, during the administra-
tion of governor Johnstone, in the usual
spirit, attempted new emissions of paper
money every year; but the governor had
_ VOL. Ik I

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

66 THE HISTORY, &c. }
little disposition to gratify their desires.
A detail of the disputes on that subject

cannot be interesting, for it exhibits
little more than repeated and disgusting

proofs of a desire to discharge debts by

fictitious payments.

 

CHAPTER IX.

SETTLERS ARRIVE FROM MORAVIA, FROM
THE NORTH OF IRELAND, AND FROM THE

. HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND.

THE rapid increase of inhabitants is,
the chief circumstance that claims our
attention during the administration of
governor Johnstone. By a chronological
table of the formation of counties, we
are enabled to trace the progress of set-
tlement, and to discover the periods in
which new branches sprang from the old
stock.* It is a remarkable circumstance
that one epoch should have produced
colonists, speaking different languages,
from the north of Ireland, the Marquis-

 

* See Proofs and Explanations, X x.

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

68 ‘THE HISTORY OF

ate of Moravia, and the Highlands of
Scotland,

The most numerous settlers, in the
northwestern part of Carolina, are pro-
testants, chiefly presbyterians, from the
north of Ireland. The greater number
of those people, or their ancestors, had
formerly migrated from Scotland. But
they were treated, after a short resi-
dence in Ireland, with much. ingrati-
tude and neglect; wherefore they sought
refuge in America. The earls of Tyrone
and Tyrconnel, in the province of Ul-
ster, having conspired against the go-
vernment in the reign of James the First,

fled from the kingdom, to escape punish-

ment. Some of their accomplices were
arrested, condemned and executed; but
the two earls were attainted by a process
of outlawry; upon which their vast estates,
about five hundred thousand acres of
land, escheated to the crown. King
James resolved, if possible, te improve

NORTH CAROLINA. _ 69

a country that was covered by woods, de-
solated by war, infested by robbers, or
inhabited by ignorant adherents to the
Romish church. For this purpose he di-
vided the escheated lands into smalb
tracts, and those he gave to adventurers,

- who were to settle them within four years,

with a certain number of subtenants.
According to his advice, the preference
was given, in distributing the lands, to
adventurers from the west of Scotland.
‘They were protestants from his own coun-
try. They were industrious people; and
the passage being very short, they might,
with the greater ease, settle the lands
according to their contracts. The estab-
lishment of prelacy in Scotland, in the
year. 1637, and afterwards in the year

1661, among people who had adopted the

more simple form of presbyterian wor-
ship, became the additional cause of nu-
merous emigrations from that kingdom
to the north of Ireland.

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

eo THE HISTORY OF

The superior knowledge, industry and
temperance of the Scotch farmers, in a
- short:time enabled them to supplant the
_ natives among whom they lived; and six

of the northern counties, by the end of
the seventeenth century were chiefly in-
habited by the descendants of Scottish
emigrants, or the remains of Cromwell’s
army. That protestant colony has. been
the chief support of government against
all attempts to establish a catholic prince,
by treason, insurrection and murder.
Those men have been the steady and ac-

tive supporters of the Hanover succes-

sion. Their faithful services and uniform |

attachment to government had placed
them in the rank of good and faithful
subjects; and their unshaken loyalty had
entitled them to confidence and public
favour. But they were treated, like aliens
and strangers, with-marks of distrust in
their civil capacity; and they were de-
pressed, in their religious capacity, by

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 71

the spirit of intolerance, because they
were not of the established church of
Treland.

Men, who were thus degraded and
vexed by incapacities and burdens, mi-
grated in thousands to Pennsylvania,
a province in which the principles of
civil and religious liberty had their full
operation; but land could not be obtained
in Pennsylvania without much difficulty,
for the proprietors of that province pur-
chased the soil by small parcels from
the natives, and those lands were soon
taken up. Lands were to be obtained on
moderate terms in Virginia; but the ad-
ministration of that province was in a
state of constant hostility with religious
liberty. Lord Carteret’s land in Carolina,
where the soil was cheap, presented a
tempting residence to people of every
denomination. Emigrants from the north —
of Treland, by the way of Pennsylvania,

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

72 THE HISTORY OF

flocked to that country; and a considera-

ble part of North Carolina, as above

stated, is inhabited by those people or -

their descendants.
There is not, in any part-of America,
a more industrious and temperate body
of men than the Morayians, who live be-
tween the Yadkin and Dan rivers. The
ancestors of those people who lived in
the Marquisate of Moravia, near the be-
ginning of the seventeenth century, had
for a time the good fortune to enjoy
liberty of conscience; but the emperor,
Ferdinand the Second, thought fit to es-
tablish the Roman catholic religion in
Moravia, after he had vanquished Frede-
rick, the elector palatine, who had taken
that society under his protection. The
Moravian protestants, in that case, were
greatly distressed by catholic intolerance;
being compelled to abstain from public
worship, or to perform their devotions in

 

NORTH CAROLINA. | 78

‘

woods, caves or other sequestered places,
A large society, being persecuted in that
manner, because they could not embrace
the doctrines of the church of Rome,
withdrew from Moravia, and many , of

them settled in England or took shelter
in the British colonies. The members of

this protestant church were, by an act of
parliament, anno1749, exempted from mi-
litary duties and the necessity of taking
oaths. As they were a zealous inoffensive
people, and like the quakers averse from
bearing arms, John earl of Granville, who
was then president of his majesty’s coun-
cil, very judiciously urged them to fix
a colony upon his Jands in Carolina. He
expected, by their means, to civilize the
Indians. The discipline of those peo- ~
ple required a large tract of land, in one
body. Six of the brethren came from
Bethlehem in Pennsylvania and travelled
westward with the surveyor general of
North Carolina until they had passed the
VOL. H. K

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~ Th THE HISTORY OF

settlements. They began their survey at
the place now called Trahovia, and laid
off seventy thousand acres of land in one
tract, to which thirty thousand acres

were afterwards added. This land was |

conveyed to James Hutton, who was se-
cretary to the Unitas Fratrum; and bya
separate deed, it was declared to be in
trust for the brethren.* Money was bor-
rowed from wealthy members of the
community, to pay for the land, and to

defray the necessary expenses of making

a settlement. The lenders were to re-

ceive part of the land in payment, or the
- value of such land in money. During
the late revolution, the land was conveyed

by Hutton, a British subject, to Marshal,

4 This sect of christians, who are usually called Mora-
vians, have also been called Hernhuters; because about the
year 1722, they associated for public worship, and built a
village at Berthelsdorf in Upper Lusatia, calling the place.
Huth des Hern, or Herrnhuth, Protection of the Lord.

/

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 95

one of the brethren, who lived in the

. settlement; and the estate was secured

to the proper owners, in the year 1782,
by an act of assembly.

\

The first colony that settled on those
lands, consisted of twelve young men,

‘who came from Pennsylvania by Win-

chester, and the Upper Sawra 'Towns.*
They brought ‘a wagon, for which they
had many a road to cut, and bridges to
make. Their salt was brought from Vir-
ginia by crooked Indian paths, and their
first beehive from Taw river. Those peo-
ple were followed the next year by more
of the brethren, and they built a mill.
The place in which they first settled is
called Bethabara. This colony was, by an”
act of assembly, declared to be a separate
parish. Before they had surmounted the
difficulties that attend a new settlement,

 

* They arrived in November 1758.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

76 THE HISTORY OF

they were interrupted by an Indian war,
in which the neighboring Cherokees
were the most dangerous enemies. The
peaceable disposition of the Moravians
afforded no security against a merciless

savage; wherefore they surrounded their
village and mill by palisades, and kept
their station. Many people from a dis-

tance, took shelter in that place of de-.

fence. Their numbers increased during
the war, and Bethany was begun in the
year 1759, about three miles from Beth-
abara. By the year 1763 they had built a
church and provided themselves with a
stated teacher. Upon the arrival of the
first Moravian colony, directly from Eu-
rope, they began to build Salem, which
was intended for a manufacturing town.
When a sufficient number of houses were
finished, the trades were removed thither
from Bethabara. Since that time, the
joint economy in which they formerly
lived, is dissolved. That economy had no

 

    

NORTH CAROLINA. 17

 

reference to the private fortune of indi-
viduals, nor to the lands they lived on:
it referred only to their present united
labour. Whatever they earned was laid .
out for the general support of themselves.

and their families; nor was any person
constrained to remain longer than he

wished in that connexion. It was sup-
posed to be a necessary regulation for
poor adventurers, who could not imme-
diately begin on their own capital. At pre-
sent, every person works, earns and pays
for himself, as in other places. In the
mean time, there are some large build-
ings, intended for trades, that require
many laborers: those manufactories are
in the hands of trustees. The clear pro-
fit of those public works, after paying
the interest of a borrowed capital, is ex-
pended in other public buildings; main- -

taining ministers, schools, and Indian
- missionaries; and in the support of aged

widows, and the poor orphans of people

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

78 THE HISTORY OF

who have served the community: No
manufactures are found, in any part of

North Carolina, so complete as those in
Salem. A small colony, from Broad Bay
in New England, joined the society, and
erected their church and school-house
near the southeast corner of their lands.
_ Another colony joined them from Mary-
land, and erected their church and school-
house near the western boundary. Those
people preserve the most friendly inter-
course with one another. Their industry
and temperance secures them an abun
dance of the necessaries and accommo-
dations of life; and they seem to enjoy as
much happiness as usually falls to the
lot of humanity.

When we cast our eyes on the High-
lands of Scotland, and the small bleak
and barren islands that lie to the west-
ward, we are not surprised that a colony
should migrate from those inhospitable

 

 

  
  

NORTH CAROLINA. . 79

regions, to plant in a better soil and a
warmer climate. In the year 1747, Neal
M‘Neal arrived iy New York from. the
west of Scotland, and directed his course
to the southward, in quest of vacant land
for himself and his associates. After visit-
ing the western parts of Pennsylvania
and Virginia, he purchased lands in North
Carolina, in the vicinity of Fayetteville,
formerly called Cross Creek, for the seat
of a new colony. He was not determined
in his choice by the goodness of the soil,

- for there is not a more sandy and sterile

region in Carolina; but the land in that
quarter was chiefly vacant, it could be
approached by water, and it cost him
little. This adventurer could easily dis-
cover, that men, who were trained to in-
dustry and frugality, in a cold climate,
under heavy rents, upon a sterile soil,
would certainly prosper in. any part of
the southern colonies. M‘Neal arrived at
Wilmington, in the year 1749, with his

'
X

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

80 THE HISTORY OF °

family and five or six hundred colonists,
young and old. They settled chiefly in
Cumberland county; but some of them
settled in Anson, and others in Bloden.
There was asecond importation of High-

landers in the year 1754, and there was.

an annual importation, from that time,
of’ those hardy industrious people. They

came chiefly from Argyleshire; many of
them from Ila or Jura.

Upon the death of governor John.
stone,* the administration of the govern-
ment was committed to Nathaniel Rice.
Upon the death of Rice, which followed
in a short time, the administration de-
volved on Matthew Rowan as president
of the council. While that officer held
the reins of government, nothing occur-
red in the colony that claims our notice,
except the emission of forty thousand
a a

* Anno 1752.

ie
ne ©

NORTH CAROLINA. Ome .
poesia in bills of credit; an event that

conferred little honor upon the presi-—

dent, because it was alleged that he de-

‘parted from instructions, and stooped to

a bribe for assisting dishonest men to

already greatly depreciated. At this Sig
of success, the assembly put on the ap-
pearance of liberality. Lest they should

- seem not to have had occasion for ‘SO 4
large an emission of paper money, thay

appropriated thirteen thousand two hun- ©

hundred ‘pounds to the charitable and
pious uses of liberal education and pub-

lic worship; they also appropriated twelve

thousand pounds to the defence of the
frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Of the money that was appropriated to
charitable and pious objects, seven thou-
sand two hundred pounds were given to
the use of twenty-four parishes: three

| . ‘ hundred pounds to be paid to the chureh-

Vou. It. L

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

82. ; THE HISTORY OF

wardens of each parish, towards building
achurch and purchasing a glebe; the re-
‘maining six thousand pounds were de-
clared to be given “ for endowing a
public school.” The church-wardens _re-
ceived the money that was given to their
respective parishes, according to the let-
ter of the law; but learning continued. to
be friendless. The projected public school

had no pateannt whence it. t followed, that.

¥e

 

* We cannot account for the general inattention to.
learning in the province, for such a length of time.
Many of the inhabitants had been well educated, and
were men of respectable talents. They calculated badly,

if they presumed, that by sending some of their children
to England for instruction, the intellects of the commu-
nity would be sufficiently cultivated. They were not inat-
tentive to the culture of their farms; and they well knew
that no plant under the sun has more need of cultivation
than the human mind. It had not escaped their observa-
tion, that. man comes into the world the most helpless
and ignorant of all the creatures on the face of the earth,
biped or quadruped. He is deemed the most helpless,
because he requires to be longest nourished by his pa-

rents; and he is deemed the most ignorant, because he

NORTH CAROLINA. 83

the money, said to be given for the in-

crease of learning, was converted to other
uses. The honor of endowing a public

 

ott! : 4) 7 *
needs to be instructed in every thing. Other animals are

taught by nature what food is salutary, and what is poi-
Sonous; but man has no such instinct. It appears to have
been the will of heaven to subject our species, for many
years, to a state of helpless infancy, that we might ac-
quire the language of our parents, and be profited by
their instruction. Hence it is clear, that every person is
deaf to the voice of Nature and the voice of Heaven who
does not attend to the education of his children.

The assembly of North Carolina, i in the year 1789,
founded a university, in a healthy situation, near the cen-
tre of the state. They knew perfectly well that civil
liberty has always been supported by learning; that igno-
rance in the subjects, and despotism in the rulers, go
hand in hand: that there never has been a nation, who
preserved the semblance of freedom, without being en-
lightened by the rays of science. Convinced as they were
that liberal education is useful, and that it is absolutely
necessary to the safety of a republican government, they
determined’ to provide a proper seminary within the
state; for they knew that children, who are sent abroad
for their education, are apt to form sentiments concern-
ing their native soil, which do not consist with that de-
gree of patriotism or love of country that is necessary to

    

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

’

84. THE HISTORY, &e.

seminary of learning, instructing the ris-
ing generation, and training them up
in useful knowledge, was reserved for
men, who by suffering together, had ac-
quired mutual confidence and esteem;
for men, who by securing their indepen-
dence, had acquired a proper degree of
self respect and national spirit.

its prosperity, and which seems to be intended by the Pa- -

rent of nature, to render the human race, in every soil and
climate, contented and happy.

  

      

CHAPTER yi

“a4

‘THE ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR ~
DOBBS.

ARTHUR DOBBS was appointed go-
yernor upon the death of Johnstone, and
arrived in the province at a period when

the military and civil duties of a governor
required the display of considerable ta-
lents; but his, abilities hardly attained

the rank of mediocrity. The French had
erected a fort on the river Ohio, and hos-

tilities had already commenced in that

quarter; the certain presage of a general
war with that nation. The prosecution of

that war, seated in the colonies, and very
distressing to the frontier inhabitants of
Carolina, required constant attention and
Vigorous exertions. The assembly were

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

86 THE HISTORY OF

sufficiently disposed to cooperate with

the governor in the necessary means of
defence, but they differed from him great-
ly on other subjects. ‘The instructions,
lately given to the governors, and the
measures pursued by the crown, were
marked by a determination to extend the
royal prerogative, or to increase the in-
fluence of the court. This project was
firmly resisted by the people. To that
source many of their disputes are to be
traced.

As the French had extended their

claims from Canada to the river, Ohio,
and were known to have much influence

with the Indians, it became proper, at
an early period, to adopt measures for
securing the friendship or assistance of
_ the Indians who bordered on North Ca-
rolina. For this purpose, Hugh Waddel
of Rowan county, an officer. of great
firmness and integrity, was commission-

¢

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 87

ed to treat with the Catawba* and Che-
rokee Indians, He concluded a treaty of-

fensive and defensive with Atta Calla

Culla, the Little Carpenter, in behalf of
the Cherokee; and with Oraloswa, king
Higlar, and others, in behalf of the Ca-

-tawbas; after they had been duly inform-

ed, that some people had lately been
killed by the French in the western part

‘eee

 

* The Catawba Indians, at the treaty they made in the

+ year 1756 with captain Waddel, requested that a fort .

might be built upon their lands. But while the workmen

were employed, according to the treaty, in building the
fort, the following year, Oraloswa, their chief, sent a

speech to governor Littleton, requesting that North Ca-

- rolina should not proceed with the work, and that no fort

should be built except by South Carolina. Governor Lit-
tleton ‘informed governor Dobbs of that request, by.¢ ex-
press; and Dobbs on the next day, ‘eleventh of |

1757, ordered captain Waddel to discharge the men.

But he instructed him, at the same time, to inquire inte.

the true cause of that strange mark of versatility among
the Catawbas. He suspected that some traders, or other
people, from South Carolina, had been lowing the coals
for their own ends.

AR a . soe etal int ria

en ani

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

88 THE HISTORY OF

+ Fe Winged: ‘The chiefs of each nation |
required that a fort should be erected
within their several countries or settle-
ments,* for the defence of their women

and children, in case it should be neces-

sary for their warriors to march against
"the enemy. Treaties, in the mean. time,
were not regarded as a safe defence
against a jealous and cruel savage. Other
means were deemed proper for securing
the frontiers; and Waddel, who had the
rank of captain,t was directed to build a

fort.t near the Yadkin, about twenty miles —

to the westward of Salisbury. The garri-

son of that fort usually consisted of fifty
men. The. Cherokee Indians paid little

efi Mapegpiad 4b ds ee A
1 ek A AP ae ‘ Peas
* Governor Dobb’s letters in my hands. We have Seen
other reasons for believing that individuals in South Ca-
rolina prevailed on the Catawba Indians to make very
unreasonable requests; as in the case of the boundary”
line. Fei teas

+ He obtained the rank of colonel a the war.
}-Fort Deliba:: ,

NORTH CAROLINA. -. 89

attention to the treaty, for they killed
some people the next spring, near the
Catawba river. ' \

The assembly voted eight thousand
pounds for the public service, as soon as

it was intimated that a campaign was

projected against the French on the
Ohio, and troops were immediately for-
warded to the northward. General Brad-
dock, on his march to fort Duquesne,
was surprised and defeated in the year
1755, and the Indians, for three years,
continued to harass the frontiers of Ca-
rolina, and the adjacent provinces. The
Morayians, as we have seen, defended

their settlement by a private stockade,
and the same means of defence were af-
terwards adopted by many other people.

Although taxes were increased by the

war, and the frontier inhabitants greatly
incommoded, the settlements continued

VOL. II. M

~
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

90 . THE HISTORY OF

to increase in North Carolina; for people
in this province were not exposed to
more danger than in the neighboring
governments.

Tt was obvious that Indian depreda-
tions could not be prevented, while fort
Duquesne* remained in the hands of the
enemy, and many troops were required
for the defence of the frontiers, who
might otherwise be employed in offen-
sive operations. For these or similar
reasons, the British ministry determined,
if possible, to reduce-that post. The as-
sembly of North Carolina, their assist-

ance being required on the expedition —

against fort Duquesne, immediately rai-
sed other troops to defend the frontier,
while major Waddel was detached, with
the provincials then in service, upon the”

 

* Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania, stands upon the ground
that was formerly occupied by fort Duquesne. i

 

    

NORTH CAROLINA. 91

projected enterprise. The North Carolina
troops were accompanied, on that expe-

dition, by some of the Tuskarora Indians,

and had the. good fortune to render es-
sential service.* row:

~ As the Cherokees continued to vex the
frontier inhabitants, governor Littleton,
of South Carolina, proposed to undertake
an expedition against them, on the fol-_
lowing summer, with the assistance of
North Carolina. He marched on that oc-

a te E eee bo

 

* The army had forty miles to march, through a per-
fect wilderness, when the winter set in. A regular siege

- could not be attempted, and the possibility of taking the

fort by storm was not ascertained. In that desperate state
of his affairs, general Forbes offered a reward of five
hundred pounds to any person who would take a hostile
Indian prisoner. John Rogers, a sergeant in major Wad-
del’s company, brought in the prisoner, from whom the

“necessary information was obtained. The light troops

made a forced march, and the enemy abandoned the fort.

That soldier obtained.a reward from the assembly of
North Carolina, for his meritorious services.

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

92 |= HEHISTORY.oF

casion with twelve hundred men, consist-
ing of the South Carolina provincials,
drafts from their militia, and a few regu-
lar troops. Fort Prince George was the
place of rendezvous with the North’ Ca-
rolina forces. Colonel Waddel, according
to his instructions, took with him all the
provincials, and all the militia of Orange,
Anson, and Rowan counties, who could
be properly armed. The Little Carpenter
and other chiefs of the Cherokee nation,
terrified at the approach of so numerous
an army, sued for peace. In pursuance of
the treaty, that was concluded at fort
Prince George, the Cherokees left twen-
ty-four of their nation hostages for de-

livering twenty-four Indians, who had |

murdered the like number of white peo-
ple in North or South Carolina since the

former treaty.* The hostages were lodg-
ed in fort Prince George, under a small

* Governor Littleton’s letter, in my possession.

   

NORTH CAROLINA. 93

guard, and governor Littleton, very im-
prudently trusting the faith of a savage,
who had lately given fatal proofs of per-
fidy, dismissed the South Carolina mi-
litia, and withdrew the regular troops.
The Indians, knowing the weakness of
the garrison, attempted to surprise the
fort and rescue the hostages.* ‘Their
project was defeated; but they robbed and
murdered eight or ten traders, who had
ventured among them, and held the fort
under a close blockade. Orders had been
given for reducing the North Carolina
provincials, after the treaty of Keowee,
except the garrison of fort Johnstone;
but governor Dobbs, hearing of fresh
hostilities by the Indians, ordered the

garrison of fort Dobbs to resume that

station, Colonel Waddel was also in-
structed to draw out five hundred militia,
and keep them in constant servicé for

\

 

" * Twenty-seventh of January, 1760.

   
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

é

94 -. THE HISTORY OF

_ the protection of the frontiers, until re-
gular troops should arrive from New

York.* The Upper Creeks, in a short —

time, joined the Cherokees; and the’ sa-
vage enemy becoming more numerous, the
frontier inhabitants in general were com-
pelled to protect themselves by forts. Co-
lonel Montgomery arriving at the Con-
garees with four hundred regulars, pa-
_ troled the frontiers in concert with Co-
lonel Waddel, and the Indians were held
in check by their activity. In the fall of
the year, colonel Waddel was ordered. to
join colonel Bird, from Virginia, who
was to strike the upper Cherokee nation,
while the regular forces under colonel
Grant were to strike the lower towns;

* In the year 1760 it was provided by law, that enemy
Indians taken prisoners, should be slaves to the captors.

_ Thatra premium of ten pounds should be paid for every
scalp of an enemy Indian, taken by any person not in

public service; a premium of five pounds for tes scalp |

taken by any person in service. ,

‘

NORTH CAROLINA. 95

The Indians once:more sued for peace,

andcolonel Waddel was” igrtepes: to dis-
charge his troops. — .

‘The assembly made provision the next
spring for raising five hundred men, who
Were to serve seven months, on such

duty as the governor or commander in
chief of his majesty’s forces might di-
rect. They were not called for.

‘Governor Dobbs, as we have already |

observed, met with little opposition from
the assembly in raising troops when
they were necessary; but other questions,
that respected the civil government of
the colony, were agitated with great acri-
mony. The arbitrary measures: that were
attempted by the crown, and seem to

have been recommended by the gover-
nor, do little honor to the character of
that magistrate. We noted an attempt,
during the administration \of governor

\

»

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

96 THE HISTORY OF

Johnstone, to reduce the representation

‘of the people, by means that could, not
be justified; other attempts were made,

by governor Dobbs, to reduce the repre-—

sentation, or to model it’ in such a man-
ner, as to have the power of directing
their votes. There were ten or eleven
counties in North Carolina when. the
king purchased the government from the
lords proprietors. ‘The number had been
doubled since that time, by the forma-
tion of new counties. None of them any
longer claimed the right of sending five

. members; but it was obvious, that in a

short time, the representation, would be

very numerous, unless the people could
be restrained in the exercise of making

counties and boroughs. To check the in-
erease of representatives, not easily ma-

naged, the king was pleased to repeal »

the several laws by which Bertil, Tyr-
nel, Onslow, Bladen, Edgecomb, North-
ampton, Johnstone, Granville, Duplin,

 

  

f

ya

Pi

io!

NORTH CAROLINA. 97

 

Anson, Orange, Rowan, and Cumberland
counties, had been erected, and the acts
by which the boroughs of Beaufort, Bath,

_ Edenton, Brunswick, and Wilmington,

had been formed.* ‘He claimed the right
of making counties and boroughs, as a

branch of the royal prerogative. The

counties thus reduced, would have been
formed anew by royal charters, with the
privilege of sending two members, per-
haps one. The process being thus fixed,
other counties would have sprung up tar-
dily, and boroughs would have been char-

tered, where the inhabitants were suppo-

sed to be most flexible. It appears from
the private correspondence of governor
Dobbs, that the inhabitants of the east.

* trusted in support of court measures;

but many difficulties presented them-
selves, in his attempts to enforce the

Piles

 

* Anno 1754, April 8.
VOL. ID. N

sein a Ep I er staat news ROT RS

 
98: THE HISTORY OF
new regulations, which neither he, nor

his majesty’s ministers had foreseen. By

repealing the several laws for erecting

county towns, the property in town lots
and houses returned to the original own-

ers of the land; a measure that excited —

the utmost indignation, and might have

produced a serious revolt; but the go-.
vernor, upon the prayer and remon-

strance of the assembly, was instructed
to give his assent to a law for reesta-
blishing the several counties and bo-
roughs, “ saving to his majesty his royal:
prerogative of granting his letters of ine
corporation to such counties and towns,
ordering elections, and appointing the

number of members, by whom. such é
counties and towns should be represented i

in the assembly, as if that act had not
passed.”” Many charters were afterwards
taken out, and the measure became: pro-
fitable. to the governor, though it had
little tendency to. gain the. affection of

NORTH CAROLINA. 99
the people. Unfortunate indeed was the
condition of those people, whose peace
and prosperity might be sacrificed to the

contemptible object of throwing perqui-
- sites into the hands of the chief magis-

traten ies: tinea cs ie

REE NS 8G i RFE REARING OT ETS pst

The governor had been instructed,
when the new measures were adopted,

to cause fifteen members of the lower

house to be a quorum for making laws.

Ifthe people had submitted to that regu-

lation, the governor could not have failed
to obtain such laws as he pleased, since
he had the power of convening the as-
sembly, ‘at any time and place that he
thought fit. But the representatives were
refractory; they would not proceed to
business before a majority of the whole
house had taken their seats. They ad-
hered on that occasion to the plain
meaning of the constitution. Some of the
counties, reestablished by act of assem-

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

100 THE HISTORY OF

bly, had been tardy in taking out char-

ters, whereupon the governor gave no-
tice, by proclamation, that writs for

electing members would not be granted ,
to any county or town, except to such

as had charters. The fees demanded
for charters were thought to be exorbi-
tant. oe Aaa a adv tvieti GBI ES

“The ‘dpinaiia duniens sildeathe i which

courts of justice were. established, the
house of representatives brought up a

superior. court bill, in which it was pro-
vided that the judges should hold their
commissions guamdiu bene se gesserint.
That is to'say, “ as long as they shall
conduct themselves well.?* They also

 

-* To sécure the faithful administration | of justice, fias
ever been a favorite object with men who. chad any pre-
tences to liberty. The e bench in England had long been
filled with learned judges, but ‘their dependence on the .
crown, while they could be removed at pleasure, caused

them, in many cases, as in that of sir Walter Raleigh, to

 

_ NORTH CAROLINA. 101

rn and brought up an inferior

court bill, by which the jurisdiction of

those courts was to be extended to fifty
pounds,* The governor had been in-
structed not to grant any commissions,
except during pleasure, nor to agree to
any laws that might affect the royal pre-
rogative. He nevertheless consulted the

 

gratify the prince at the expense of justice. One of the
many great objects gained by the revolution in England,

was an act of William the Third, providing, that the
indges should hold their commissions during, good bebe.

es SY i
What But the cominlastons of hove ve very ry judges were to

cease with the life of the sovereign. By an act of first
George III. it was provided, that the commission and
pay. of a judge should continue, notwithstanding the de-

tales of the prince. It was natural for men in North Caro-
lina, who were subjects of the same prince, to think that

they had equal claims with the people in England to the
impartial administration of justice. They wished to have
og s who had nothing to fear while they discharged

their > duty faithfully. Judges of this description they have
at length obtained, and while they deserve to be free,

_ they will protect the independence of their judges.

* Anno 1760, May session.

 
 

 

 

102 THE HISTORY QF

chief justice and attorney general, who
advised him to assent to the laws, be-

cause ‘they would restore life to the
government, and protection to the sub-

ject.. This was at all times a primary

duty, and the province had been eight —

months without courts of law. They add-

ed that competent salaries being pro-
vided for judges by that law, suitable per-
sons might be prevailed on to accept the
appointment, which could not. be expect-
ed while they held their commissions
during the governor’s pleasure. That an

appeal, in all cases, being allowed from

the inferior courts, their jurisdiction
might safely be extended. The laws

should therefore pass; especially as the
king might repeal them at pleasure. The.
governor, notwithstanding this advice,
refused his assent and dissolved the as-
sembly;

 

* December 1760.

 

 

* entering on the journals of

‘ -

NORTH CAROLINA. 103

council, some. trifling reasons for his
conduct. He was influenced by reasons
that were more conclusive, which he did
not think fit to mention. The assembly
during their last session,* in a committee

of the whole, had passed some resolves
_ that were not favorable to the character

of the governor. A copy of those resolves’
had been transmitted to their agent in

London, to be laid before his majesty.+

Whenever we observe heavy charges and
mutual eriminations between contending
parties, we are apt to suspect that part
of the coloring must arise from passion
or prejudice; but the governor in his dis-
pute with the assembly, gave at least one

proof that he was conscious of malversa-
tion in office, or that he wanted common’
prudence. The assembly wished to ap-

point a standing agent in London, and

 

1 ee
* May twenty-third, 1760.
+ See Proofs and-Explanations-¥.

 
 

 

 

 

 

104 THE HISTORY OF

they inserted a clause for that purpose
in the supply bill, naming the man. The

governor would not agree to their having
an agent unless they would authorize

one Smith, who was his own attorney in

‘London, to discharge the duties of their

agency. In a future bill, providing for
the appointment of an agent, the council,
by an amendment, proposed that one of
their own number should always be of the

‘committee of correspondence, and should

have a negative on their proceedings.
This amendment, in perfect unison with
the governor’s proposition, was rejected
with indignation by the house‘of repre-
sentatives, and the bill was lost.* The as.
sembly had appointed an agent, and they
were obliged to continue him by their

Own vote. ie ollie e > sks eee ee

The fuitadallblinibdes of shegilllasy,

from the beginning of the war, had never

 

* February 1764.

‘NORTH CAROLINA. 105

been represented to his majesty in a fa-
vorable or a proper point of light. If the
exertions of the people, as the assembly
conceived, had been fully explained, they
must have received more substantial
marks of his tonsa eseieietint Mes.

igtey pat Hires te Lfdiesds sie a ad

The Sa saaslin of Virginia was more
numerous than that of Carolina, and they

were near the seat of war; but it was not
‘to be supposed that Virginia had render-

ed eight times the service that was per-

formed by North Carolina, although ~

ea was in that site

~The inhabitants of this province, who
lived on lord Granville’s reservation,
about two thirds of the whole, were not
less harassed by the chicane and frauds
of his lordship’s agents, than by the im-

"positions of the governor, and the spi-

 

oe See Proofs and Explanations Y 2.
VOL, II. ch)

 
 

 

 

 

106 _ THE HISTORY OF

rit of royal instructions. Mosely and *

Holten, who had been agents a consider-
able time, were succeeded by Childs and
Corbin. Before the year 1752, the agents

had been allowed ten per cent. on all the |

money or produce they should receive,
and ten per cent. on all they should re-

mit. The allowance was then altered, and

five per cent. was given to the receiving,
and five per cent. to the remitting agent,
beside a salary of two hundred pounds

sterling per annum to each of them,

Those agents, not satisfied with their
respective salaries and commissions, con-
trived to extort money from ‘the tenants
or landholders, who had already paid for
their farms, by the most villanous alle-
gations. The former agents, when they

issued patents, used to sign Granville, by

his attorneys, Mosely and Holton. One of
their successors being a lawyer, pretend-
ed to haye discovered a fatal defect in

those patents. Lord Granyille’s titles of

- *

 

NORTHCAROLINA. | 107

honor had been omitted. The patents
should have been signed, as he alleged,

in the following manner, “The right

honorable earl Granville,” by his attor-

-neys, &c. In consequence of this alarm-

ing discovery, people were induced to,se-
cure their lands by taking out new. pa-
tents; in which case they had all the fees

to pay a second time. As this fraud did

~ not reach the grants that were to be is-

sued by themselves, those grants were
taxed by a different process. Two pis-
toles were demanded for an entry, in-

3 stead of one pistole, the regulated fee.

Six dollars were charged for a cipher,*
which without authority, they were pleas-

 

* One of those agents, in a letter he received from

his predecessor, a short time after he came into office,

was advised to remember the old proverb of a new broom,
and not remit too much money on the first year, lest si-
milar remittances should be expected afterwards. Those
men were not inattentive tojsuch advice, for they improved
on the villany of their predecessors.

 
 

 

 

108 THE HISTORY OF

ed to affix to a warrant of survey, and
they charged one dollar too much for the
grant. They frequently induced people
to enter lands, which, as: they knew, had.
already been taken up; and they refused
to return the fees when the imposition
was discovered.

The deputy surveyors, entry takers,
and other officers of inferior grades,
were not inattentive to the example of
their leaders. In the practice of chicane
and extortion, they were by no means
their inferiors. The assembly remonstra-
ted to lord Granville, and he was convine-
ed, by a torrent of complaints, that his
chief agents could not be innocent.* But
complaints did not avail; for the laws did
not reach the offenders, and the abuses

’ continued until the land office was. shut.} —

* See Proofs and Explanations ¥.°3,
t+ Anno 1765.

. a a

Eh soul

Beal £5
“¢

s

NORTH CAROLINA. 109

As the fees of lord Granville’s officers
were not regulated by laws of the pro-
vince, and complaints were breathed in
vain to his lordship, a number of people,
in the vicinity of Halifax, resolved to seek
justice, by a summary process, with their
own hands: a dangerous expedient, for it
teaches men to despise the regular forms
of law. Corbin, who had the chief direc-
tion of the land office, had increased his
fees from time to time without authority.

_ His frauds and extortions were not cloak-

ed or concealed; but he turned a deaf ear
to all complaints. Ten or fifteen men
from Halifax county, well mounted, cross-
ed Chowan river afew miles above Eden-
ton, by night, and seized Corbin, who
lived a few miles below that town. They
brought him to Enfield, where he was
detained some days, until he gave them
a bond with eight sureties, by which he
engaged, under the penalty of eight thou-

_ Sand pounds, to produce his books within

 
 

 

 

110 THE HISTORY OF ©

three weeks, and return all the money — }
he had received above his regulated fees.

He did not produce his books as he pro-

mised, but he commenced a suit against

four of the rioters. They refused to give
security, and were committed to Enfield
prison. On the next day, the prison door
was cut down by an armed posse, and
the prisoners were liberated. In a short

time, Corbin thought fit to discontinue

his suit, and pay costs. Justice about
this time was halting upon both her
feet, and lawless oppression was stalking
abroad at noon-day. It would have been
a happy circumstance for North Caroli-
na, if this outrage against civil authority,
had roused the magistrate and produced
a general reform in the article of fees;
but the head was diseased,* and the

* Within a few months of the Enfield riot, the Magis-
trates of Halifax county, having neglected to recommend
a sheriff, the governor ¢ommissioned one of the most ac-

!
>

NORTH CAROLINA. lll

limbs, too many of them, were infected.
Governor Dobbs, reviewing the old laws,

_ discovered an act of the biennial assem->

bly,* by which masters of vessels were
prohibited, under a certain penalty, from

_ Carrying debtors out of the province.

That law did not impose any duty upon
the governor, but he contrived an office
for himself under the law. He ordered
that no vessel should be suffered to sail
without a license from himself, lest there

should be a @ebtor on board; and the

owner or master of the vessel was re-

- quired to pay half a pistole for the li-

ts

tive rioters. and, strange as it may seem, he could not be
prevailed on by the assembly to take any measures
against those people. It was believed, that one M‘Cul-
loch, who was a favorite of the governor, and one of
his counsellors, had been privy to the riot. He was allied
to a gentleman who wished to have Corbin disgraced,
that he might get his lucrative employment. He got the
Place eventually.

* Anno 1715.

“a?

 
 

 

 

 

 

    
 

112 ‘ ‘PHE HISTORY OF

cense.* Officers of inferior rank were
encouraged by such examples, in their
demand of arbitrary and illegal fees.

While the public attention was enga-
ged by a general war with France, or by
the more imminent danger of an Indian
war on the frontiers, business had been
transacted as we have seen between the
governor and the assembly, with some
degree of decency; but the governor did
not possess the confidence or respect of the
~ people. Every year produced new causes
of discontent; and the assembly, through
their agent in London, transmitted nu-
merous and bitter complaints against
the governor, who gave new proofs of in-
capacity, by the peevish and trifling man-
‘ner in which he resented those com-
plaints. The seat of government, the ap-
pointment of a printer, and the very

 

+ Journals of Council, anno 1764.

a a _ cee - oa -
hs EO MS AEM APOE REN TERNS OL FURR SERN AR i igh far cS, <iaomtas de ae pay am

“Te

NORTH CAROLINA. 118

circumstance of correcting a private bill,
became the subjects of altercation be-
‘tween the chief magistrate and the as-
sembly. It followed that the dignified |
officer was sunk into a peevish dispu-
tant.* It was high time that Mr. Dobbs
should be permitted to retire for the
benefit of his health. This observation —
had not escaped the minister of state
for the American saiibsnn. William
Tryon, a military officer, was sent out
with the appointment of lieutenant vad
vernor,t that he might be ready to take

the reins whenever Dobbs should. be
pleased to retire. He was not in haste to
quit the government; but he died the
next spring.} vant

3 : :
ee : 3 mi %
: ae +e

 

7 * » See. Peogingnt Fanlasasions Y4 Cees
+ He arrived 1764, October twenty-seventh.

$ He died April ‘ 1765, upon which Tryon. Misetvea

the appointment of governor.
am
VOL. I. a.

oe |

ss inst Racal Dil aS a Da A eid, RIE) OSE

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

\

il4 THE HISTORY OF

The old currency of the province, as

we have seen, was redeemed at seven —

and a half for one; but the new emission,
that was called proc, could never obtain
a currency at the nominal value. At the
beginning of the French war, the gover-
nor would not consent to issue more pa-

per money in the usual form; but trea-

surer’s notes were issued, from: year to
year, bearing anliniterest of six per cent.
Those notes, in time, depreciated, not-
withstanding the interest they bore; and
- recourse was had to other emissions of
paper money, in the usual ‘manner. In
the year 1764, the bills and notes in cir-
culation amounted to little more than se-
venty-five thousand pounds;* and though
there was a tax of four shillings per poll
on all tythables, and four pence per’ gal-

Jon upon all imported spirits, to be con-
tinued until the whole agi: be sunk;

be

 

* See Proofs and Explanations Z.

 

 

NORTHCAROLINA. = 4115

the exchange, between that nominal pro-

Clamation money and sterling, was not

less than eighty-eight. per cent. advance,
instead of thirty-three and one third,
the true proclamation standard. Hence
it is, that a Spanish dollar, by long usage,
has been rated, in North Carolina, at
eight shillings instead of six shillings;
and this depreciated currency is, very

‘improperly, called proe; a name that

should rather be applied to the currency
of Virginia, where the dollar passes for
six shillings, according to the proclama-
tion of queen Ann. Aste
Carolina had been settled many years,
as we haye seen, before bigotry or pride,
under the venerable cloak of religion,
began to vex the inhabitants. Provision
was made near the beginning of the
eighteenth century for the clergy of the —
church of England. Magistrates were au-
thorized to join people in marriage, in

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

it

116 THE HISTORY OF

parishes that had no minister, and dis-

senters from the established church
were permitted to worship in public.
In the year 1741, it was enacted, that the
freeholders in every parish should choose
twelve vestry men, on Easter Monday,
who were authorized to lay a poll tax
not exceeding five shillings per poll, for
building churches, buying glebes, and

maintaining the elergy, whose respective |

salaries was not to be Jess than fifty

pounds proc, per annum.: It was increas.

ed by a subsequent law to one hundred

and thirty-three pounds six shillings and
eight pence. By another law it was pro-.

vided, that the fee of a clergyman, for
marrying with license, should be ten

shillings, or five shillings for marrying

by publication. The license was a device

for increasing the perquisites of the go-

- vernor. It will readily be conceived, that
in-a parish, were a great majority of the
people were dissenters, they would choose

 

NORTH CAROLINA. . ae

vestry men, who had no disposition to

lay taxes for the support of a chureh, in

which they did not worship. But when it

was found that the majority were not

disposed to tax themselves for the con-
venience of other people, a law was de-—

‘vised for compelling them, under the

sanction of an oath, to do what they ac-
counted wrong. Every yestry man was
to swear that he “ would not oppose
the doctrine, discipline, and liturgy of
the church of England.” Every person
chosen to be a vestry man, and refu-
sing to serve, was to pay a fine of three
pounds; and another member was to be
chosen by the vestry in his place. It was
presumed, that twelve episcopalians, or
men who were ready to take the oath,
would be found in every parish, and it
would follow that taxes would be laid for
the episcopal church. That law, unjust
and artful as it was, did not serve the in-
tended purpose: for there were parishes,

ae ve ee i. * Fatma ta va ion

 
 

118 THE HISTORY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 119. j

in which no yestry men were chosen, ex- 4 ed up with an approving heart. At the :
cept men who were called dissenters; 4 first sitting of the assembly, after he
and none, of them tendered the oath to | | . came to the government, an act passed
hig, associates, Hence, it..was,,,.that . in, for legalizing marriages that had been
many of, the, western, parishes,,no.provin . | illegally celebrated by presbyterian min-
sion was made for ministers of the: epis- isters; and authorizing presbyterian, wid
or - copal church. As an assembly had been other dissenting ministers, to celebrate

found, during the administration of go- the rights of marriage, by license or pub-
vernor Dobbs, capable of passing the iation

shameful law, ae we haye referred; Pn eee i Pe *
: there were people, at a future sitting ct a. ‘: :

; _, the assembly, ready to assist in: making | his ve
that law a more perfect system of eccle-. ‘ Be. Lp pee pesca
siastical tyranny.* It was fortunate for | ssa oth as! tet . baste ie
the dissenters, that governor Tryon was
not a bigot. He did not conceive, that a
vicious life could be expiated by persecu- . pide thine 1 eats
tions in favor of an established chureh; 4 sven pnt Wa fics ce Mh Seabee

» nor did he believe, that any worship, in a err ee ee :
form or substance,. could be acceptable 4 valet ;
to the Supreme Being, that was not offer- .

 

 

 

‘

* See Proofs and Explanations Z 2,

 

 
 

 

ih EAE AIRE }

PIES ESAS ES BAIS BIS ik

¢

be

oo eee | oul a its
7 FF Hs SPREE? Sa
tg CLEP Pp ag pe 2 } ;

wi Pee ay. hy" Eees

‘£2: 7 : £5 Pega ‘Tei ee Resi, ret
az ire te CHAPTER Nv Hegsowey eB
THE ) ; ‘ ray is: anal

_ THE ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR TRYON,
_ AND THE INSURRECTION OF THE REGU-
 LATORS, | ES ASE te. 2c ergmsenge

Te ES Sh ey this ney

. THE administration of governor Try-
on was chiefly distinguished by his ad-
dress in persuading the assembly to build
a palace, and by the fatal insurrection of
weak and deluded people, who called
themselves Regulators. The public mind
was greatly agitated, at an early period of
this administration, by certain acts and
regulations of the British parliament;
but he directed his course in such a
manner, during the tempest, as to shun

any dispute with the assembly. The par-

liament of Great Britain, for the first

time, in the year 1764, thought fit to

‘

‘1653,

 

THE HISTORY, &c. 121

give apd grant to his majesty some part
of the property of their fellow-subjects
in America. They imposed a duty upon
sugar, coffee, wine, and other articles of
foreign growth, which should be import-

ed into the colonies. This measure alone
could not produce an effective revenue;

wherefore, according to the new system,
recourse was had, the next year, to ob-
jects of internal taxation, and a stamp
was imposed * on paper and vellum. The
effect of those measures was universal
discontent. through the colonies. It was
alleged that parliament, claiming a right
to take a part of the property of other
men, whom they did not represent, might,
for the same reason, take the whole of it;
and legislators, who could relieve their
own burdens by increasing those of

other people, might be expected to con-

 

“* Twenty-second of March 1765. It was to operate
from the first of November 1765.
VOL. It. Q

pas

 
 

 

122 _ THE HISTORY OF

tinue their oppressions without end or
measure. Such were the conclusions that
presented themselves to every American.
The assembly of North Carolina had al-
. ready complained to governor Dobbs,*
that their commerce was circumscribed
in its most beneficial branches; diverted
from its natural channel, and burdened
with new taxes and impbsitions, laid on
without their ‘privity or consent; and
against what they esteemed their ‘inhe-
rent right, and exclusive privilege of im-
posing their own taxes. They had also
corresponded with the assembly of Mas-
sachusetts on the subject of the first re-
venue law,—the duty on imposts. The
northern and middle colonies had ap-
pointed delegates to meet in congress,
in New York, to concert measures for
obtaining relief, if possible, from the im-
pending burdens. ‘The assembly of North

 

_* Twenty-fourth October 1764.

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 123

Carolina was not suffered to meet, while —
the stamp act was a subject of dispute.
They were dissolved by proclamation, in
December 1765, and writs were issued
for a new election; but the members
were not convened until the governor

could gratify them with the act of par-—

liament by which the stamp act had
been repealed. When the stamp paper
had arrived at Brunswick in a sloop of
war, the governor gave notice, by procla-
mation,* that it was ready to be deliver-
ed to the distributing officer; but he knew
that measures had. been taken to prevent
it from being landed.

_ The repeal of the stamp actt diffused
universal joy through the colonies; and
the assembly of North Carolina, under
the recent impressions of gratitude, voted
five thousand pounds towards building a

 

* Sixth of January 1766. t March 1766.

 
 

 

 

 

124 THE HISTORY OF

government house in Newbern,* to which —

they added ten thousand pounds the next

year. 4 —

The pleasure that arose from the re-
peal of the stamp act, was of short con-
tinuance; for the British parliament, in
steady pursuit of a revenue from the co-
lonies, imposed a duty, the next year,
upon all teas, glass, paper or paints that

should be imported into the colonies; and

they advised the king;t with the hope of
preventing resistance, to cause such per-
sons as might be charged with treason,
or misprision of treason, to be transport-
ed to England, there to be tried, accord-

ing to a statute of Henry the Eighth. |

This revenue law was opposed, as the
second had been, by resolutions, peti-
tions, and remonstrances. The British
ministry, in the mean time, used their

 

* November 1766. + February 1769, |

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 125

utmost endeavors to prevent a general
association of the colonies. For this pur-
pose, governor: Tryon, according to his
instructions, assured the assembly* that
“ notwithstanding cruel reports, his ma-

jesty had no desire to lay further bur-

dens on America, for, the purpose of

raising a revenue; and that he would.

propose to parliament, next session, to

take off the duties upon glass, paper, and

colors, as laid contrary to the principles
of commerce.” Sy Ayre att

owls the » right of imposing taxes by par-
liament was generally denied in the co-
lonies, the assembly were little gratified
by a ministerial declaration, which re-

tained the right of taxing, while it tem.

porised, by shifting the objects. With

_ this view they were unanimous, eighty

members being present, in resolving;

 

* Twenty-third October 1769.

 
 

 

126 THE HISTORY OF

_ That the sole right of imposing taxes

on the inhabitants of North Carolina

has ever been vested in the house of as-

sembly. USSR pest.)
That the inhabitants have pee bilteadi:

ed right of petitioning for a redress of
grievances.

- That trials for treason, committed in —

the colony, ought to be had here; and
removing suspected persons, to be tried

beyond the sea, is ~ derogatory to. ‘the
rights of a British subject. ies elle

The assembly at the same time pre-
pared a petition of similar import, to be
forwarded to the king nag ai their
agent in London. Bi tN
The governor next day informed the
house,* that looking over their journals,
he found resolutions that “ had sapped
ES eT th NE Ee

_ * Fourth of November 1769.

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 127

the fosndssion of confidence and. grati-

tude,” wherefore it became his duty to
dissolve the assembly. He dissolved them
> ial

The custom sali rimanscentin exorbitant
fees prevailed to such a degree in North

Carolina, that the governors had been
instructed, once and again, to restrain
that shameful contempt of law and abuse
of power. Governor Dobbs, in conse-

quence of his instructions, had ordered* -

that a table of fees should be set up in
every public office. Governor Tryon, in
consequence of his instructions, issued a
proclamation, forbidding the demand of
illegal fees. It is clear, that neither of
those gentlemen could have been in

earnest about checking that dishonest
practice. One effectual prosecution would

have availed more to prevent the breach

 

* 1764.

 
 

~ an THE HISTORY OF
of law, than twenty such farcical procla-
mations. The magistrate, who wishes to

have a law respected, must be prompt
and resolute in punishing offenders, else

he will soon discover that the law and

himself are equally despised. i

The insurgents in North Carolina, who
called themselves Regulators, lest they
should be called a mob, were in general
of the poorest class of citizens. Three or
four of their leaders had some informa-
tion, and a considerable degree of cun-
ning; but the great body of those people
were unacquainted with the laws, and
very deficient in every kind of know-
‘ledge. They lived chiefly in new set-
tlements upon poor land. They had
also been culpably neglectful of private
schools, and all other means of instruc-
tion. The Regulation began in the north-
ern part of the colony, at an equal dis-
tance from either extremity. People in

 

we

NORTH CAROLINA. 129

the older settlements, near the coast, had
better means, of acquiring knowledge;
and people in the western settlements,
who were chiefly descended from Scot-
tish ancestors, had retained the general
respect for learning that prevails in Scot-
land. When it was said that fifteen thou-
sand pounds had been expended in build-
ing a palace; when taxes were collected
every year, from men who had never
seen a law, and from men who Jhad been
accustomed to regard every public officer
as a rogue; (for they were defrauded by
the clerks of the several courts, by the re-

_eorders of deeds, by entry takers, by sur-

veyors, and by the lawyers, every man
demanding twice or three times his legal
fees;) at such a period men were too apt
to believe, that the money that might be
collected in taxes would not be properly
expended. From murmurs and com-

plaints, they advanced, in a short time,

to riot and rebellion. The first symptoms,

VOL. H. R

 
 

 

 

130 THE HISTORY OF

of a turbulent spirit, appeared in Orange
county, when people were assembled at
court.* It was then proposed to have a
meeting of delegates, chosen from every
neighborhood in the county, “ to jin-
quire into the abuse of power, and take
proper measures for amendment.”? A
copy of this proposition was shown. to
the representatives and vestry men, who
were requested to attend the meeting,
the time and place being fixed. The peo-
ple, called delegates, from Deep river,
_who attended that meeting, produced in-
structions, hy which they were required
“ to examine into the public tax, and in-
form themselyes by what law and for
what use it was laid, in order to remove

jealousies.” It was resolved among other

things, at the same meeting, “ that by

reason of the extent of the county, such a
* See Proofs and Explanations B B.
_t At Madox’s mill, tenth of April 1766.

a

~

NORTH CAROLINA. 131 |

meeting, for public. and free conference,
would be necessary every year; to con-
sider of proper persons to be chosen re-
presentatives, and know for what uses
money was required.””* The representa-

tives or vestry men, as ‘might be expect-
ed, had not attended this extraordinary

meeting; but they were invited to pro-
pose such other place and time, as they
should prefer, for a public conference.
The next year passed without any re-
markable occurrence, except that one of
the Regulators had purchased a copy of
the laws, by which it was clear, that some

- public officers demanded illegal fees.

The discontented and factious associa-
ted themselves the following spring, un-

_ der the title of Regulators, and engaged

«'To pay no taxes, until they knew that
the taxes were legal, and the purpose for

 

* See Proofs and Explanations, B B 2.

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

132 THE HISTORY or

which they were collected. To pay no offi-

. cer more than legal fees. To attend meet-
ings of conference for amending laws,

choosing » proper burgosses.. and vestry
men, and petitioning for redress of griey-

ances. ‘To raise a fund for defraying ne-
cessary expenses, and to support one an-
other.” They bound themselves by an
oath to the observance of this agree-

ment.* ‘The public officers, in a short a

time, smarted under the effects of this
new association. The sheriff of Orange
county took a horse and saddle, in dis-
tress, for payment of a tax that had been

refused. Fifty or sixty of the Regulators
followed him to Hillsborough, rescued

the horse, and insulted many of the in- 3

habitants. Edmund Fanning, an attorney
in Hillsborough; was very obnoxious to
those people. He was recorder of deeds,
colonel of the county, and member of the
oe

* See Proofs and Explanations B B 3.

. NORTH CAROLINA. 135

assembly. In the character of register,
he had been guilty of numerous extor-
tions, and his general conduct was mark-
ed by disgusting hauteur. Instead of in-
forming those people concerning the dis-

position of the public money, he had
been provoking them with the charge of

treason and rebellion. The superior court
was to sit in Hillsborough in March 1768,
and the Regulators, on that occasion,
threw off the mask entirely. One of the
associates accosted J. Williams, a lawyer,

as he was going to the court-house, un-

der the pretence of business. Williams
was instantly surrounded by a crowd,
armed with bludgeons; they knocked him

down, and continued to beat hin, until
he found shelter in a store. Colonel Fan-

ning was the next object of their resent-

ment. They dragged him by the heels
out of the court-house, whipped him se-
verely, and held him all day in close
confinement. Henderson was the only

 
 

 

134 THE HISTORY OF

judge in town, and he caused the Regu-
lators to believe, that he would hold a
court the next day; but he escaped in
the night. Being informed the next morn-
ing, that Henderson had fled, those peo-
ple gave Fanning another whipping,
broke his furniture, and destroyed his
house. Having satiated their fury against
Fanning, they dressed up a mock judge,

whom they placed on the bench, and
cleared the docket, by making such en-

tries as they thought proper. The gover-.

nor, being informed of this riot, des-

patched Edwards, his secretary, to Hills.
borough with a proclamation,* ordering

_ the insurgents to disperse, and requiring:
the civil and military officers in Orange
and the adjacent counties, in case of ne-
cessity, to give their assistance in. re-
storing peace. Two of the rioters+ were
eee

* Twenty-seventh of April 1768.

+ William Butler, and Herman Husbands.

   

 

    
 

NORTH CAROLINA. 185

apprehended and committed to prison,
on the next day after the proclamation
was made; but they gave security and
were liberated on the following day. 'This
was a necessary measure, for six or seven —

hundred Regulators had assembled in the
neighborhood of Hillsborough. The se-

cretary had an interview with those peo-
ple,* and assured them of the governor's
protection against extortion, in case they
would forward their petitions in a decent
and respectful manner. At a subsequent
meeting, those people prepared a peti-
tion, which they sent to the governor,
with a copy of their regulations and reso-
lutions. The governor replied to their
address and petition, and promised.to be
at Hillsborough the next month.+ While’
he was at Hillsborough, he wrote them
that the attorney general had received

 

* Phird of May. —
+ See Proofs and Explanations B B 4.

 
 

 

 

 

 

        

136 _THE HISTORY OF

his orders to prosecute offenders in office,
upon their application. He informed them
also, that the sheriff would call upon
them for the public taxes, which he ex-
pected they would pay.* The sheriff ac-
cordingly demanded the taxes, but the
Regulators, to a man, refused to pay. The
governor wrote them another letter, re-
quiring that twelve of their chiefs sheuld
execute a bond for one thousand pounds,
as a security that no rescue should be at-
tempted of Butler and Husbands, who
were under recognizance to take their
trial at the next superior court. The Re-
gulators refused to give security, and the

governor called out fifteen hundred of

the militia to protect the court. Butler

and two others were tried, found guilty,

and sentenced to be imprisoned two
months, and pay a considerable fine.

 

* See Proofs and Explanations B B 5.

hope.
Be we FAM - . 2 A
private. Combinations were formed in

NORTH CAROLINA. 137

"Fanning was indicted in six cases for _
gach and. found guilty. In every case
was a bad peso of a serious Satine to
punish offenders. After the sitting of the

court, some of the Heelan near Hills

ess “governor, > reclamation. gave ¢ a
general pardon to all the late insurgents,

except thirteen, who had not been tried.
‘The fear of an armed force, the Jenity of

und the prospect of being
ee s of

    

officers, ‘proved equally w unavailing with

the great body of those deluded people.
Their imaginations, that were heated in
She \iprogness. of. nioting, conceived the

 

Anson, and sundry other counties, and
they became a nuisance to orderly citi-
zens. The sheriff of Orange was severely

whipped by five of the Regulators, for

VOL. 11. s

  
  

La

  
 

138 THE HISTORY OF

 

  

NORTH CAROLINA. 139

serving a capias upon one of their asso-  & name and color, They prevented the su-
ciates.* The governor having dissolved — perior court from. sitting in Hillsbo-
the assembly, as we haye seen,} Herman | rough, insulted the judges, and maltreat-
Husbands was chosen one of the repre- | ed the inhabitants. Not satisfied with
sentatives for Orange county, at the next ee * abusing judge Henderson at court, they
general election.t If the true object of < burnt his stables and corn on the twelfth
the Regulators, as they pretended, had of ' Noyember, and they burnt his dwell-

 

——— ae ee =
SOLA a ee MMe a 2 cae = wae ==

 

— -
peer

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

been to know in what manner the taxes a g

were expended, or to have certain g riey-
ances fully stated to the legislature, 1 hey

should have preseryed the “peace, afar

that election; for Husbands was certainly

one of their chief conductors. But their —

demands and their violence increased at

every meeting. Their success produced

no reformation. They. broke» and tram-
pled under foot all the bands of civilized

society, and gave the reins to every dis-—

ordered passion; for vice itself, by re-
peated acts of violence, had changed its

eS eee

 

* April 1769. + November 1769.
} Twelfth of March 1770. - .

#

-house the fourteenth. It was no

 

longer a question whether clerks, regis-

ters, or lawyers, should be permitted to
receive more than legal fees, and sheriffs
be compelled to account for all the taxes
they had ‘collected. It was now to be
determined whether civil government
should prevail, or every man’s property

be exposed, without redress, to the avarice

or resentment of a lawless mob. When

assembly met in November, for the
sickly season had preventedan earlier ses-
sion, the misconduct of Herman Hus-
bands, one of the members, claimed their

attention. Maurice Moore, one of the as-

 

Sociate judges, had expressed a desire to

 
 

    

140 THE HISTORY OF

relieve the Regulators, when they first
complained of arbitrary and illegal fees;
but when he discovered, in the pegs
of their measures, the same opposition —
to legal taxes and private debts, which
they had formerly expressed to rn
fees, he declared his opinion freely con

cerning those people in a letter to, the,
governor. Judge Moore lived at ¢ col

siderable distance from the Regulators,
therefore his housé could “not be destroy-

ed; but his character, as they supposed
might be wounded, and they made the
attempt. Herman Husbands, in pursu-
ance of this design, ‘published’ a most
seditious libel, addressed to Maurice

   

Moore.* It was signed by James Hunter, “4

who was also a leader of the insurgents.
The import of the recent libel, the gene-

ral conduct of ‘Husbands, who was an
active and confidential spied of the riot. i

 

b | 4
* Fourteenth of December 1770.

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 141

ers, and his threats of opposing the go-
vernment by an armed force if any at-
tempt should be made against his person,
were duly considered by the assembly,
and he was expelled the house.* Infor-

mation being made upon oath, that Hus-
bands - published | spe 1 req

 

 

The assembly passed a law for bicveas

ing tumultuous ‘and riotous assemblies:

and a special court of oyer and terminer

 

pected from Hillsborough, did not attend
the court; for the Regulators, entering
that town: in large bodies, terrified the
inhabitants | ‘to such a degree, that many
of them fled to the woods for shelter.
Husbands was liberated we the court, but

 

 

* Twentieth of December 1770,
+ February 1771.

 
 

 

 

 

 

142 THE HISTORY OF _

his confinement had been the source of —

much terror.to the inhabitants of New-

bern. The ‘erown militia were called out,

the town. was fortified

 

1 ichments,

and eannon were provided; but. the in-

habitants had little confidence in those

resources, when oppesed to a fora

n- t

 

multitude, who h

in fire. While the trembling eitizens ere

looking around
hensions of pillage { fears
were suddenly relieved by an in ercepted
letter from a leader of the_ party. ae
that letter we have Me full exposition of
the souree of clamor, and object, of i f insur-

rection.* One of the demagogues had —
already made his way into the assembly;

and it appears, that. others. of them w >
looking out for. _clerkships of | county _

courts, or other places of profit and trust.
While those men were complaining of

 

 

 

* See Proofs and Explanations B B 6.

eatin set ty Pee ee ee ee

 
   
  

NORTHCAROLINA. _ 145

numberless oppressions, and moying hea-
ven and earth to obtain “justice for poor

Carolina,” while they were followed and
supported, at the risk of life, by the ig-
norant multitude; their true object was

_ to seize the reins of government, and ac-

quire wealth by profitable employments.
It would appear strange and incredible,
that the multitude should suffer them-

selyes to be deluded by the artifice of
such demagogues, if history was not full
of similar examples. The greatest villain
tells the greatest lie: he pretends that
the happiness of the people is the sole.
object of his ambition. He flatters them,

and he is believed; for the crowd are
s, and easily deceived. Such were
e citizens of Rome, when Cataline
conspired against the — commonwealth: :

  

~ and sueh. they were when Cesar flattered
them, and made them slaves.
 

 

144 THE HISTORY OF

The ‘question was now at issue in Ca-
rolina,—who i is to rule the colony? It was
rather a question whether civil govern-

ment should be exchanged _ for a state of
anarchy and violence. With this view of

the subject, governor Tryon determined
to march a body of men, as soon as the
season would permit, into the chief set-
tlement of the Regulators; and support

the sheriffs _in collecting the taxes. That

he might obtain troops” on whom - he
could depend, he wrote to the ‘command.

ing officer in eyery county, that was not

in a state of rebellion, instructing them

to draw. @ company of volunteers from

their several. regiments, and hold them

in readiness for the service.* Hugh Wad-
del was appointed general of the forces,
and he was instructed to march with the
division from Bladen, ‘Cumberland, and

ars
the western counties, Those troops were

 

* See Proofs and Explanations B B 7.

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 145

to rendezvous at Salisbury the second of
May, and join the militia from the south-
ward and eastward in Guilford county.
The general was ordered not to court an
engagement with the insurgents, but in
case they should obstruct his march, he
was to force his way. The governor arri-
ved at Bryant's, in Johnstone county, the

first of May, with eight hundred men.

He was detained there some days, ex-
pecting two pieces of brass artillery. He
p sed to. re the place of rendezvous
the thirteenth, and general Waddel
was to ee his march accordingly.
The general had been waiting for a sup-
ply of powder from Charleston; but the

; fell v upon the convoy, and de-

    

  

stroy the powder. -Waddel took up his _

march from Salisbury, according to his

instructions; but he received a message

from the insurgents, the next day after

he crossed the Yadkin, ordering him not

to advance. To this order he replied, that
VOL, I. T

  
 
 

      
 

 

146 ‘THE HISTORY OF
he should take the liberty of using the

public highway; but he discovered, the ; F
next morning, that the Regulators were =|

before him, at a small distance, in great
foree. The militia having a scanty sup-_
ply of powder, being also without cannon,

not desirous of action, and greatly infe-
rior to the insurgents in number, the —_ |

general resolyed, by the advice of his = | |

officers, to retreat across the river.* The

governor had crossed Haw river, when
he was informed of Waddel’s retreat. His a)

situation had. become very critical. The |
troops on whom he depended were con. by
‘siderably reduced in number. The ine 4
surgents, elated by Sieh atobcait Were a
‘increasing every hour. Nothing but a Pa)
- bold and expeditious stroke could save the Bs |
country, To hesitate was to suffer a de- _ 7)
feat. He suddenly altered his route, and a
crossed Little Almance. On the fifteenth
* See Proofs and Explanations B B 8.

‘

Be ty
Sect

 

 

 

NORTH CAROLINA. a 147

he crossed Great Almance, and encamped
within six miles of the Regulators. The
next morning he advanced until he came

_ within sight of those people. They were

about three thousand in number; his mi-
litia hardly exceeded one thousand.* Ci-
tizen against citizen, the difference was
great in favour of the Regulators; but

_ they were called together in haste, to risk
their lives for a nameless something, that

was hardly described or understood. The

object was painted in different shapes
and. colors, according to the craft or ima-
gination of different leaders. The militia,
well appointed, were commanded by an

experienced officer. They resented the

turbulence of men, who had compelled

them to leave their homes, at a critical
season of the year; and they were con-
tending for the security of their posses-

_ sions. The governor sent Philemon Haw-

 

a See Proofs and Explanations B B 9,
 

 

 

ae ee he Rs

148 THE HISTORY OF |

kins, one of his aids, to inform the
Regulators, that unless they should de-
liver Husbands, Hunter, Howel, and some
others whom he named into his hands,
and disperse, he would fire upon them
immediately. They answered, with a
curse, “he might fire.” The militia, by
general orders, were to form the line of
battle upon the dischargeof two cannon.
And the discharge of five cannon was to
be the signal for action. But the line had
been formed before Hawkins returned; —
and the Regulators began to advance as
soon as they heard the report of the first

cannon. 'The militia immediately began

to fire; and the action, for a few minutes,

“was warm. Colonel Fanning, who com-

manded the left wing, unused to action
and deficient in courage, fell back with

the whole of his regiment, except captain

Nash* and his company. In the. mean
_ eee

* That gentleman, a brigadier general, was killed in
the battle of Germantown, anno 1777.

 

 

NORTH CAROLINA. Sas

time the cannon did great execution, and

some of the militia behaved like veter-
ans.* The insurgents were thrown into
confusion. ‘Their leaders, more factious
than brave, escaped at the beginning of
the action. Some of their officers who
made a good defence were taken prison-
ers; but the greater number found safety
in flight. Seventy of the militia were kill-
ed or wounded in battle. The insurgents
lost above two hundred. One of the Regu-
lators named Few, was hung the next day,
by sentence of a court martial: that man
had better claims on a mad house.t Mer-
ril and five others were executed at Hills-

borough, by sentence of a special court

ae
3 % ay oe

 

*“%<#/See Proofs and Explanations BB 10.
“+ After the battle, Mr. Wiley Jones was sent by the
governor, to seize the papers of Herman Husbands.
Among those papers, he found a letter from one of the
insurgents named Few, who alleged, that he was sent by

heaven to relieve the world from wpptention; and that he
. Was to begin in North Carolina.

 
150 THE HISTORY OF.

of oyer and terminer. General Waddel,
who joined the governor a few days after
the action, was detached* with twenty.
five light horse, one field-piece, and a
respectable corps of militia, to the south-
ward and westward, to reduce the Regie
lators to submission. The governor, by
his proclamation,+ offered pardon for
treason, insurrection, and rebellion, to
all persons who should come to his camp,
or to that of general Waddel, before the
tenth of July, lay down their arms, take

the oath of allegiance, and promise to a

submit to the Laws; excepting outlaws,
prisoners, those who blew up general
Waddel’s ammunition, and fifteen other
persons whom he named. A reward: of
one hundred pounds, and one thousand

acres of land was promised. to any person
who should bring in Howel, Husbands,

Hunter or ‘Butler, nt de ad or r alive, ‘they

* Seventh of June. ~ + Eleventh of June. :

a.
|
q
q
bd

NORTHCAROLINA. ~~ 151

being outlawed. The insurgents in gene-
ral delivered up their arms, and took the
oath of allegiance. Husbands fled to
Pennsylvania, and séttled to the west-
ward of the Appalachian mountains, -

where, after an interval of twenty-three
years, , he was believed to have taken an

‘ active. part in what is called the whiskey
_ Insurrection:* one of the most inexcusa-

spines pire Ati ORS
* We canhot observe the increasing thirst, and grow-

itig demand ‘for ardent ber ae beheld in every part
optic Oullea” Seaton; without Seithey painful anticipa-

tions etncerning this dangerous appetite. The experience
of the world in former ages is not a rule by which we .

can estimate the deadly effects of strong drink.
~The process of distillation, and the use of ardent spi-

rits, were altogether: unknown to the antients. In their
devotions bow the ¢ en Saab (is mie confined to the

use of wine, or oth othiér Ferien uors; but grapes or
apples are not the produce of every climate, neither are
fermented liquors half so destructive as ardent spirits.
They never were the morning cordial, the noon-day beve-
rage, and the evening anodyne. They were the luxary of
the rich, but they were not the bane of the multitude. In the
present age, some nations are prohibited the use of strong

P:
\ “ie
Be

Me P

 
 

 

#

‘

>

152 sae THE HISTORY OF —

ble riots that’ ‘ever disgraced a civilized
_ A nia: ccapamnen iets was coun-

rab ua Rages

  
 

drink, by the precepts i of thir eligion and people with-
out number; are yet unacquainted with the- -method of
preparing ardent spirits. In Europe and America, the
fatal art is fully understood, and the inhabitants claim
the privilege of drinking, provided they do'not exceed
the bounds of moderation. Yes, moderation is the rule by
which every man is guided in the use of ‘strong drink.
I have seen a man contend for this virtue, who was usu-

ally intoxicated seven’ times in the eek..The most ha-
bitual sot is not intemperate in his own estimation, for he

does not exceed the bounds of his own desires. The vidi.

  

ted love of strong drink appears to be one of the most ,

common infirmities of human nature, To the savage it is
a deadly passion; for he is not restrained by education, or

the precepts of morality. The. ‘Indians of America, who

-have cultivated an acquaintance with ardent spirits, have

been consumed by it, as grass or straw are consumed by
fire. Pestilence and famine, its fellow-labourers i in the
work of death, are less, far less, destructive. Those ene-
mies of our species are universally marked as ‘such,

They ‘excite general apprehension of danger, and people
fly from the enen ly, omthey. endeavor to guard themaglves

against him. But strong drink has nothing terrible in its . :

‘approach. Likea treacherous friend, or insidious flatter-

er; it is admitted into all societies, while it is secretly

 

Pe ee ed

 

_ NORTH CAROLINA. 153

tenanced and promoted to the reproach
of learning and talents, and the disgrace

 

"cutting down the weak and the strong. The fabled voice

of the syren was not so delusive; the poison of serpents
has never been so destructive. What have the white in-
habitants of America to expect from a beverage, that has
confessedly destroyed the Indian natives? Our bodies are
not formed of different materials. The hope of posterity
rests at present on the virtuous pride of the other sex.
Our women are not less distinguished by their temper-
ance, than by their other virtues; for it is admitted, that
women, of the poorest class in society, who were born in
America, will not debase themselves by intoxication, as
women in like circumstances, in sundry parts of Eu-
Tope. , ‘
There is not a nation on the face of the earth, nor ever
was there a nation, so much endangered by the use of
strong drink, as the citizens of the United States of
America. As the passion for strong drink is found to be
nearly alike among all varieties of men, it must follow
that ‘drunkenness will prevail among the multitude in
every nation, not restrained by religion, according to the
abundance of strong liquor, or the ease with which it may
be obtained. But it must be admitted, that strong drink,
compared with the price of labour, is cheaper, or it is
more easily obtained in the United States, than in any
ether part of the world. Let us compare the prices in

VOR. Til. U

 
 

 

154 ’ THE HISTORY OF

of humanity, by men who knew their

duty; by men whose sole object was

England alone with those in the United States; for it is
believed, that no part of the old continent produces more
intemperate drinkers, than some parts of the British do-
minions. In London, the price of rum, the duties paid,
may be stated at twelve shillings the gallon; Holland gin
at twelve shillings and nine pence; Spanish brandy at
eleven shillings and nine pence. The average price of
those liquors reduced to our currency, is two hundred
and seventy cents per. gallon. In the city of New York,
(anno 1801,) West India rum, the duties paid, may be
stated at peer cents; New England rum at seventy;
Holland gin at one hundred and eighteen; American. gin
at seventy-five; Spanish brandy at one hundred and ten;
and American brandy or whiskey, at sixty cents per gal-

lon. The average price is eighty-nine cents. It follows,
that one gallon of ardent ‘spirits in London, costs as much
as three gallons in New York. But the mechanic or day

laborer in New York, receives double the wages that si- —

milar persons receive in London; viz. A j journeyman car-
penter or mason receives in New York from one hundred
and twenty-five, to one hundred and thirty-seven cents the
the day: in London, he receives sixty. The day laborer
in New York, receives from eighty-eight to one hundred
cents the day: in London he receives forty-five cents.
That is to say, the price of one day’s labor in New York

eS eine ne MER 0: RGA OY WE ek

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 155 .

popularity, that they might be elected to
honorable employments. It was a riot to

 

will buy six timés the quantity of ardent spirits that it
will buy in London. Six to one is a terrible difference. Is
it not to be feared, that our fellow-citizens will destroy
themselves with ardent spirits, in proportion to the ease
with which they may be purchased? Where is the man so
inattentive, as not to have discovered the increase of
drunkenness within the last ten years? For in that time,
the price of labor and the means of obtaining rum have
greatly increased. Has the laborer become more wealthy
by his increase of wages? Are his wife and children better
fed, better clothed, or better instructed? I think they are

not. His debts have increased, for his increased wages are ~

expended in rum or brandy, those parents of idleness
aid vice. In this happy country, where employment of
every kind is to be had, and where every man, if he
pleases, may cultivate his own soil, there are few instan-
ces of extreme poverty that may not be traced to the
thirst for strong drink. By a culpable neglect of duty on
the part of the civil magistrates; by a contempt of law,
and a shameful prostration of morals on the part of small
traders; our stores for dry goods in the country, are con,
verted intotippling houses; and our'grocery stores are con-
verted into grog-shops, and beggar-makers. Thus it is,
that our fellow-citizens are tempted to destroy the en-

Pe

Semi

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

156 THE HISTORY OF, &c.

‘prevent a tax upon ardent spirits. A riot

for the protection and promotion of.

drunkenness,—that bane of society, that

parent of idleness, poverty, and disease.
Is it probable, can it be supposed, that
the rioters were sober!

‘ergy of body and mind; to sink themselves i into 0 idlediess,
poverty, and death.

The national legislature, the legislatures of the several
states, and the civil Magistrates, will answer to their con-
sciences, their country, and their God, for the manner in
which they guard the morals, the health, and the lives of
their fellow-citizens.

ng

,

    

CHAPTER XII.

’ ee ‘css ‘

THE GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE INHA-
_ BITANTS, AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF
GOVERNOR MARTIN.

WE have seen the government con-
_vulsed at different periods by riots and

- insurrections; but the general character
of the inhabitants of North Carolina is

not to be deduced from those incidents.
The civil authority has been resisted
once and again; but we are not to infer
that the great body of citizens are more
turbulent, or more séditious than other
people. Culpepper excited commotions
in a young colony, that had been little ac-
customed to the government of laws.
Cary had presided over the colony for

several years, and he could the more
 

 

 

158 THE HISTORY OF

easily persuade the inhabitants that his
_ authority was not rightfully superseded.
The Regulating insurrection had its ori-
gin in the abuse of power, and the de-
pravity of civil officers. The laws had not
been respected by men, whose duty it

was to see them executed. Sheriffs who

collected the taxes, in many cases, were
greatly in arrears; and the public accounts
were in a state of shameful disorder.*
In that situation of public affairs, it was
not difficult to persuade illiterate and ig.
norant men, that taxes should not. be
paid, which probably would never be
conyerted to the public use. The subject
once and again had been seduced from
the path of duty, by the pernicious ex-
ample of rioters, weak or wicked. rulers,

while the lords proprietors retained the -
government; and the rapid increase of  .

the colony, from the time it became a re-
* See Proofs and Explanations c¢G*

-

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 159

gal government, had prevented that ge-
neral knowledge of the laws, and that
decent submission among the new set-
tlers, which is to be expected in old es-
tablishments. The more ignorant class of
people were deceived by factious leaders.
Those demagogues, as in other countries,
were consulting private emolument, and
not the redress of real or pretended
grievances, of which they complained.
The true character of the inhabitants
will be more accurately determined from
their conduct in dangerous and difii-
eult cases; from their submission to
the laws, in cases where submission was
expensive and hazardous; and in cases
where evasion was practicable and safe.
The operations of law were suspended
for a considerable time before the reyo-
lution; for there was not any law for hold-
ing courts;* but people, in the mean time,

 

* Mr. Quinsey, an eminent lawyer, and respectable
citizen of Massachusetts, passing through North Care-

 
 

 

 

 

 

160 THE HISTORY OF

discharged their social obligations. ‘That
suspension of law was followed by a cri-
sis, in which it was doubtful who was to
execute the powers of government. The
utmost decency and good order was ob-
served during that eventful epoch. In the
progress of the revolution, the militia
suffered greatly in the discharge of mili-
tary duty. I speak of men, whose services
and sufferings I witnessed. They were
called to serve, and they only were called

to serve, once and again, far from home, |

in the most siekly parts of the United

 

lina i in April 1773, made the following remark in his :

journal. “ The present state of North Carolina i is really
curious; there are but seven provincial laws in force
throughout the colony, and no courts at all in being.
~ None can recover their debts except before a single ma-
gistrate, and where the sums are within his jurisdiction;
and offenders escape with impunity. The people are in
great consternation about this matter. What will be the

"consequence, is problematical. Many people, as lord Bot-
tetourt says, augur ill on the occasion.”

sae
Oe ee rome .

NORTH CAROLINA. 161

States,* and in the most sickly seasons
of the year; but they were patient and
obedient. Taxes were heavy, impress-
ments were grieyous, and the treasury
was badly managed and badly supplied;
but the great body of well-informed yeo-
manry submitted to the laws with a de-
gree of unanimity, that has few exam-
ples. From those facts, and from a stea-
dy attention to the conduct of our fellow-
citizens in that state, for a series of years,
I am induced to believe, that there is
not, in the United States, nor in any
other country, a body of men who are
more generally willing and desirous to
discharge their social obligations; or a
body of men who are more tractable and

observant of the laws, than the citizens
of North Carolina, A mild disposition

may be the effect of a temperate climate
and easy circumstances, as a fretful or

 

*In “ewe and South Carolina.
you. H. a

——
 

 

162 THE HISTORY OF

ferocious temper is usually produced by
difficulties: whatever the cause may be,

there are instances of philanthropy and

civilization among the oldest settlers in

Carolina, that can hardly be equalled by

a similar class of men in any other coun-

try.* wi tin

Tryon was succeeded by Josiah Martin
in the government of North Carolina.t
By attending in person to running’ a line
between the Cherokee Indians and the
white inhabitants; by opposing a propo- ,
sition of lord Charles Gr. Montague, the '

governor of South Carolina, for running a
boundary line, very unfavorable to the

northern province; by showing a general

desire to prevent the infraction of laws,
and by shunning disputes with the as-
sembly, Tryon had acquired some degree

tg EE
* See Proofs and Explanations D D.

t Second of August 1771,

     
 

 
 

NORTH CAROLIN A. 168

ef popularity. Martin sickened at the
praises of Tryon. He had little reason to
expect that his own achievements would
ever swell the trump of fame. He could
hardly rise to the standard of Tryon, but
he might possibly reduce the character
of Tryon, ‘in the province, to his own
level. The man who scatters censure
is sure to please the ignorant and the
disappointed. He takes the beaten road
to popularity. It may be trodden without
the aid of virtue or talents. Governor
Martin pursued that course. In a-short

a time after his arrival, he paid a visit to |

4 ‘ the upper country, during the sickly sea-
son. When he passed through the settle-

Bi, A ments of the Regulators, he was liberal in

his censure of the late administration.
When he blamed freely he was admired,

for those people had suffered and were

nd

angry. By such means he acquired the
esteem and confidence of the Regulators.

\

 
 

 

164 THE HISTORY OF

The assembly advised the governor* -

to proclaim a general pardon to all the
Jate insurgents, except Husbands, Howel
and Butler. The governor alleged that
his power did not extend to a ‘general
pardon, but he would submit the propo-
sition to the king. In the year 1773, the
governor informed the assembly that the
king had recommended an act of indem-
nity to the Regulatérs, with a few excep-
tions; the operation of the law to be suspen-
ded for the royal assent. The act of pardon
was not ratified, or it was not published;
and those unfortunate people, looking to
Martin as their friend and patron, and-
listening to his advice, pursued a course,

during the reyolution war, that proved
hurtful to the community, and ruinous

to themselves.+ There had been a poll-tax,

San EEE ;
* November 1771.

t The Regulators in North Carolina were universally
royalists, commonly called tories, during the revolution

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 165

for many years, of one shilling, and a
duty of four pence, per gallon, upon im-
ported spirits, for sinking the paper cur-
rency. The law was not repealed nor had
the money risen to its nominal value. The

assembly, nevertheless, advised the pub-
lic treasurers not to insert the shilling

tax nor the duty on spirits in the lists

they should deliver the sheriffs for regu-
lating their collections.* The tax as they
alleged, had already produced its intend-

 

war. Many people of rank and fortunein the other colonies,
who held public employments or chanced to be otherwise
connected with government, adhered to the royal cause;
but in North Carolina we could hardly discover among
the royalists a man who might be deemed respectable
from his fortune, his learning or his influence in society;
hardly a man who had ever sustained a commission civil
Rs: military. The tories were a poor, ignorant race. A regi-
ment of those people was commanded by a colonel who
could not read. He was called Fanning the unlearned.

_ Their politics were founded on hatred of the people whe

had corrected them, not on principle.

* Anno 1772.

 
 

 

 

~~

 

166 THE HISTORY OF

ed effect. The governor, by his procla-
mation, ordered the sheriffs to collect the

tax under the penalty of being sued on
their bonds. The assembly, at a subse-

quent meeting, advised the sheriffs not

to collect the tax or duty, under the pain of

censure, and engaged to indemnify them
for such inobservance of the law. When
the assembly advised a public officer. to
break, or disregard a law that was in
force, they were setting a pernicious ex-

ample. They were sapping the founda-

tions of civil government and preparing
an excuse for every little rogue to break

a law that did not accord with his in-
terest. Ten years had not elapsed before
North Carolina suffered a loss that was

computed at one hundred thousand dol-
lars nearly, by private individuals adyi-

sing the sheriffs not to collect taxes
according to law.*

\
+

* See Proofs and Explanations E E.

;
B

}
|

a

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 167

A clause in the court bill, respecting

foreign attachments, became the subject

of long and obstinate debate between the
governor and house of representatives.
The governor had rejected one bill on

account of that clause, but courts of law
were indispensable, and the old law had

nearly expired, therefore a new bill was
brought in. While the second bill was on
its passage, the parties gave their reasons
for and against the policy of foreign at-

tachments.* The bill passed with a sus-
pending clause and it was disallowed by

the: king. The governor, at their next
session, informed the assembly what the
eases were in which the property of ab-
sentees might be attached by his majes-

ty’s approbation. He would agree, that in
future, the estates of persons who had

never resided in the province, might be
attached, “ according to the laws and

 

* See Proofs and Explanations F F.
 

 

 

168 THE HISTORY OF

statutes of England. in like cases, but
not otherwise.’? This was an instance of
mean dissimulation, not becoming his
majesty’s representative or the minister

-who gave the instructions. The law was

to bear, on its face, an intimation that
attachments would be permitted in cer-
tain cases; though the governor must
have known, that they could not hold in
any case, since they are not provided for by
any of the laws or statutes of Great Britain,
to which reference was had. It was known
at the same time that foreign attachments _
were sanctioned by the laws of many of
the colonies; but the amendment propo-
sed by the governor, was designed to
screen from attachment any property in
Carolina, whether it belonged to the in-

habitants of Great Britain or to subjects —
in the other colonies. This would have

made an invidious distinction between
subjects; a distinction to which the repre-
sentatives of North Carolina were not dis-

 

NORTH CAROLINA. | 169

posed to submit. The council, in support,
of the governor’s proposition, observed,
not very modestly, that since the go-
vernor and themselves, making two legal
branches of the legislature, were agreed,
the house of representatives, the third
branch, ought to accede “ lest the pro-
vince should be without a court law, be
deserted by its inhabitants, and an end

put to its name and political existence.”

Whatever the object of government may
have been, the effect of those measures
was to leave the province, more than
twelye months, without any courts of law.
A circumstance that did not tend to
strengthen the attachment of the people
to their sovereign. No business of any
importance was despatched during that
session; for the governor, in a bad tem-
per, thought fit to prorogue the assem.
Dly.
Vou. Il. Y

 
 

 

 

 

170 THE HISTORY OF

The political situation of North Caro-
lina, about this time, was very unpleasant.
They had been long and often neglected
or insulted, and had much reason to wish
for some amendment of their condition.

The earth has been peopled, from the

earliest ages, by swarms who migrated.

from older hives; but the cases were few,

_ in which the new colonies professed their |

allegiance to the parent state. They claim-
ed, in general, and exercised the right of
self-government. When people are sepa-
rated by nature from other nations and.
other governments, the desire of inde-

pendence and self-government, seems to
be inseparable from the human breast.

There is something in the very idea of a
subordinate, dependent state, that is not
accommodated to the general feelings of
men. However light the task, or gentle
the discipline of distant rulers may be,
they never fail to convey the humiliating
ideas of inferiority. Such ideas, like those

NORTH CAROLINA. 171

of servitude, tend to depress the soul,
and check its native energies. They pre-
vent that industry, ambition, and spirit
of enterprise which are essential to the
prosperity of a state. If the very idea of

being an inferior and dependent colonist,
may be supposed to produce such un-

_» favorable effects, even in the case of a

prudent administration, what estimate
are we to form of the sufferings of North
Carolina, during the space of one hun-

dred years; especially when we consider
that the inhabitants of the province, for a

- considerable part of that time, had been
insulted and depressed by the weak or

vicious administration of wicked judges

‘and worthless governors. They had suf-

fered much, and they had much to appre-
hend, for the horizon was darkened. The

questions concerning the jurisdiction of

_ the county courts, and the independence

of the judges, were like to be the sub-
jects of long and obstinate dispute; but

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

172

their attention was called off by a ques-
tion of greater magnitude. It was a ques-
tion that involved property, liberty, and
life. In the progress of that dispute,

North Carolina became an independent
state. ;

THE HISTORY, &e.

OT

CHAPTER XII.

‘
Las) rs

OF THE SOIL AND PRODUCE, AND THE GE-
NERAL STATE OF HEALTH IN DIFFERENT
_ PARTS OF THE COUNTRY.

THE climate of North Carolina is usu-
ally thought to be unhealthy; but this
character is not applicable, except to the
eastern part of the state; the part that is
best known by strangers and most fre-
quented, because it is intersected by na-

: vigable rivers, and is the general seat of

commerce. Other parts of the state are
exceedingly healthy. By taking a short
view of the face of the country, we shall
immediately perceive the cause of this
remarkable difference.

 
 

 

 

 

 

ae

174 THE HISTORY OF

Carolina is a perfect plain for. sixty
miles from the Atlantic: ocean, without

hills or stones. It has been covered by.
water, at no great distance of time. Beds
of oyster shells and other marine exuviz,
are found near the surface, in many parts
of the flat country. Those concretions of
shells are burnt for making lime. The

gulf stream runs along the coast, within

six or seven leagues of the shore. The
soundings change suddenly at the edge
of the gulf stream, for the margin is

nearly a perpendicular bank. A great fis-
sure, nearly in the direction of northeast

and southwest, has been made in the bot-
tom of the ocean, by some convulsion of
nature.* Such at least appears to have

“* The Jacerated and irregular state of the different
strata that are found to the eastward of the Appalachian
mountains, is in proof that earthquakes or volcanic erup-
tions have been frequent there. The strata of limestone,
for instance, are observed, in every case, to dip or make
an angle of thirty-five to forty-five degrees with the plane

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 175

been the case, The ground rose to the
northwestward of the chasm, and sunk

 

of the horizon. In the western country, the case is differ-
ent. The strata in those regions, are generally unbroken,

and they lie parallel to the plain of the horizon. Hence .
it is, that rivers in the western country are observed to
increase more by a moderate fall of rain, than on the hither
side of the mountains: the greater part of the rain is there
prevented, by the unbroken strata, from sinking into the
earth. It seems probable, that the abundance of salt
springs that are found on the western side of the moun-
tains, is also to be accounted for by keeping in mind the
cause of this remarkable difference in the texture of the
earth, | ee 7

A small explosion of a yolcanic nature, was observed
about the year 1793, in Anson county. j

In the year 1794, a remarkable subterranean wall was
discovered, about twelve miles from Salisbury, in Rowan
county. This wall is nearly parallel to a small.rivulet, at
the distance of thirty or forty feet, from which the ground
Ties on both sides by a moderate slope. There is a clear
field adjoining the rivulet, and the water that ran across
the field in heavy rains, caused a gully, by which the top

’ of the wall was exposed to view. People have traced the

wall about three hundred feet. It is twenty-two inches
thick, and the top of it is, in most places, from two to
six feet below the surface of the ground. But as the ground

 
 

 

2y

176 THE HISTORY OF

to the southeastward. 'The sandy bottom

of the sea, by this elevation to the west.

eerste tenia se
rises considerably in one place, the wall rises at the same
place, so that one part of it is fifteen or twenty feet above
the level of another part. It is perfectly straight, except
that in one place there is a circular offset of about six
feet; after which, it is continued in its former direction.
Some people have dug ten or twelve feet by the side of
the wall, without finding its bottom or any alteration in
its form. The stones of which it is composed, are all of

one kind, of a dark colour, containing iron. They are fu-
sible without addition. In the formation of this wall, there

are not any large stones. Few of them weigh so much as
twelve pounds. The outside stones are mostly of an ob-
long figure; seven or eight inches in length. In all cases
they lie across the wall. The inside of the wall is com-
posed of stones of every shape. All the stones seem to be
bedded in mortar; and the outside stones, that are flattish,
are laid upon one another with much apparent care,
When they do not exactly fit, there seems to be a small
fragment of a stone wedged in, so as to fill the space.
The mortar resembles putty to the touch, having no mix-
ture of sand. In some places the mortar is found to be an
inch thick, where the stones do not exactly fit one an-
other. The wall seems to be plastered on both sides

with the same kind of mortar. The earth on both sides of
the wall seems to be factitious, being composed of sand

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 177

ward, was converted into dry land. In .
this case, the rivers coming down from

 

and pebbles. It becomes harder the further down: they
dig. fie.
Is this wall natural or artificial? Some gentlemen pre-

"sume that it is a basaltic eruption, and their opinion is

founded on the quality of the stones, and on the circum-
stance of its being ‘a great work of no use. But if it is ba-
saltic, it differs from every thing of the kind we have seen
recorded. Instead of perpendicular columns, as in the Gi-
ant’s Causeway, and many other productions of the kind,
it chiefly consists of flat stones parallel to the horizon.
Instead of parts that fit one another exactly, with a sim-
ple intervening crack; here are pieces that seldom fit,
the intervening space being filled up by a soft substance.
The thickness of that cement does not suffer us to call it

a rust, although from its chemical qualities it might pass
for a spontaneous decomposition of the stones. The uni-
form thickness of the wall has also been deemed unfavor-

“able to the idea of its being the work of nature. But we

gain little in shunning a difficulty, when we allege that
the wall is the work of art. To suppose that any body of
men performed a toilsome and difficult work, that could
be of no possible use, would be to charge them with pure
madness. And the folly of building a naked straight
wall, in a low piece of uneven ground»seems to beggar
description. A lesser wall has since been discovered, at

VOL. IT. , Z

 
 

178 THE HISTORY OF

the original dry land, made a crooked
path for themselves through the sandy
plain. Those rivers had little descent;
wherefore,-in their tardy course, they
deposited the vegetable mould that came’
down from the higher grounds. In some

cases, the sandy plain had been depressed _

five or six feet below the level of the
common surface, In those parts, it must
have happened that ponds of stagnant
water were formed, until the sunken

ground was filled up by vegetable mould,
By this hypothesis we are enabled to ex-
plain all the present phenomena of the

 

the distance of five or six miles. It has been traced fifty
or sixty feet. It is only seven inches thick, and all the
stones reach quite across the wall. Those walls are pro-
bably of the same date.

We are not allowed to deny the existence of those

walls, although we find some difficulty in accounting for j

some of the present phenomena. But the use of Stone-
henge in Salisbury is luminous, compared to the Salis-

bury walls, when they are ranked among the works of
art. ’

*

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 179

flat country. In some parts we find. large
sandy tracts, perfectly level, that hardly
contain any mixture of clay or vegetable

soil. The growth is pine or black jack.

‘In other parts the land is of an excellent

quality, with a stiff clay bottom. Those
lands are low; and in many places they
require draining. The rivers are border-
ed by a strip of land that is lower than
the common surface of the country.
Those river lands are exceedingly rich;

for they consist of yegetable mould, three
or four feet deep, with a small mixture

of sand or clay. In many places those
river lands are three or four times the

breadth of the river. There are other

large tracts detached from the rivers in ~
which the soil is nearly of the same
quality with that of the river lands. But

it is seldom mixed with sand or clay. In
those tracts the vegetable soil is com-
monly five or six feet deep, and the whole
of it is saturated with water. Such are

 
 

{

180 THE HISTORY OF |

the Dismals, so called, and the other |

great swamps that are numerous in the
flat country. Supposing as above, that
the original surface, where the swamps
are found, had been covered for many
years with stagnant water, because it
was somewhat depressed; it would follow,
that the chief rivers at every great fall of
rain must have thrown part of their.tur-
bid stream into those stagnant ponds,
until they were so filled with adventitious

soil,as to produce reeds and other aqua. -

tic plants. The luxuriant growth in those
swamps, in the progress of time, caused
the surface to rise; so that in many cases it
is higher than the adjacent sandy and dry
plain. Some of those swamps are fifteen
or twenty miles in diameter, and they are

chiefly covered, at present, with a thick.

growth of cypres* or Juniper.; In some
ea eee
* Cupressus disticha, foliis disticis patentibus.

t+ Cupressus tryoides, foliis imbricatis frondibus anci-
pitibus.

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 18}

parts they are covered with maple,* Pop-
lar,t and white oak,t intermixed with tall
reeds, magnolia,? and green briars.

The soil increases every year by the
addition of decayed vegetables; but the
water is detained by the leaves and the
roots of trees, so as to have little motion,
though the surface has become much
higher than the water in the adjacent ri-
vers.

_ Some years ago, Mr. Josiah Collins of
Edenton, and one or two other gentle-
men, projected a canal, about five miles
long, through a swamp of this kind, in
Tyrrel county, that was chiefly covered

5

 

 

* Acer rubrum.
7 Arbor tulipifera Virginiana.
¢ Quercus alba Virginiana.

§ Magnolia glauca, foliis oblato oblongis, subtus glau-
cis,

 
 

 

 

182 THE HISTORY OF

with Stagnant water. Their original ob-
ject was to drain a lake that is eight or
nine miles long, and nearly of the same
breadth. Upon making a survey, it ap-
peared that the water in the lake was

three feet higher than the richest part of

the swamp, and the surface of that swamp ©
was seven feet higher than the water in
the nearest river. By that survey it was
discovered that. they were in possession
of an excellent rice swamp; above ten

thousand acres in one body, that may be
covered at pleasure with fresh water,
eighteen inches or two feet deep. By

finishing the canal, and erecting three
or four mills, that are turned by the

waters of the lake, and by raising a few
crops of rice and wheat, they have shown
that lands, formerly of little value, may
be made the most profitable lands in
the ‘state. The rice produced on those
lands is not exceeded in quality by any
rice in Georgia or South Carolina, Mr,

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 183

Collins, to vary the crop, has occasionally
sown part of those lands with wheat, and
they produce thirty-four to thirty-five
bushels per acre. .

In digging the canal from the lake to
the river, many large trees were found
in a state of good preservation, though
they had been covered, four or five feet
deep by vegetable soil. A clear indication

of the manner in which the soil has been
formed. _

‘It is conjectured that the swamps,

_ within forty miles of the coast, do not

oecupy less than a fifth part of the sur-
face. It will readily be perceived, that so

large a quantity of stagnant water among
putrescent vegetables, must be unfriendly

to the health of the inhabitants. Inter.

mitting fevers are very frequent in the _
summer and autumn; but fevers with in-
flammatory symptoms, that have a putrid

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

184 THE HISTORY OF

tendency, prevail in the winter. The pro-
gress of time and cultivation of the soil,
cannot fail to make a considerable change
in the climate, in the flat lands of Caro-

lina. And the effect of that change must —

be favorable to the health of the inhabi-

tants. The natural operations of time
would reduce those extensive and nume-
rous swamps, to the condition of firm
and dry land; but this event must be

greatly accelerated by the progress of

cultivation. The subsidence of water, is
very observable, in many parts along our
coast. Where the lands are high, this cir-

cumstance has been little observed; but
im flat countries, where the water is trou-
—blesome, it claims more attention. There

are considerable tracts, now planted with

corn, that, in the beginning of the eigh-
teenth century, were covered by water.
This was not the effect of drains or
ditches; it was caused by the waters
sinking in the adjacent rivers or sounds.

    

  

NORTH CAROLINA. 188

There are two causes that equally con-

tribute to the failure of water in the’ low
country;—the cultivation of the interior
lands, and the regular subsidence of wa-
ter in the ocean. Most of the large rivers
jin Carolina discharge themselves into a
sound, that communicates with the At-_
lantic by small inlets. The water in the
sound is nearly fresh; it is “perfectly
fresh in the rivers. These rivers have no
tide, and they have little motion through.
the whole of the flat country. The waters
are observed to swell in the rivers and in
the ‘sound by a heavy fall of rain. From
this circumstance we infer, that every
decrease of rain will be attended by a
decrease of water in the rivers, and by

a consequent decrease of water in the
sound. The general decrease of rain is-

easily accounted for by the progress of
cultivation. We aceount, in the same
manner, for the decrease of fresh water
in all our rivers. As the waters de-
YR mS “as

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(186 THEHISTORY OF

crease or sink, the lands appear to rise,
and the marshes, that communicate with
the rivers, become dry land; except in
cases etic a level surface and thick

 

great swamps to the condition of arable
land. But there is another cause that co-
operates with the decrease of river water,

The waters on the coast are supposed to —

sink. We have no solid marks on our

coast, by which we can estimate the ac-

cidents of ocean water; but we allege the
general subsidence of the ocean here,
from what is observed in other countries.
The inhabitants of West Bothnia have
observed, by marks on the rocks, that the

sea decreases four inches five lines every

ten years, ‘or forty-four inches and two

lines every century. Dalen calculates,

that the waters in Sweden sink thirty-

z ‘s the rain-waterfrom run- _
“ning off. The decrease of the rivers, from

this cause alone, with the aid of ditching
and draining, would soon reduce all the

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 187

seven inches in one hundred years. Ra-
venna, in Italy, is no longer a sea-port.
There seems to be good evidence, that
a direct communication by water for-
merly existed between the Baltic and
the Euxine tie ae sisi ae aecsiii

1h) BARES Lis! Be oR SPA s pS, aeS Fey

_ Herodotus ieee aie pate ‘ali of
Poland and. Russia had been covered by
water. And Orpheus, in his Argonauts,
supposes that one might sail from) the
Kuxine to the Baltic. There must have
been a tradition, that such a passage had
formerly been effected. Ptolemy speaks
of Scandinavia as an island. Homer de-

seribes the island of Pharos as a day’s

sail ‘from Egypt; and we know, that the
present city of Alexandria, is built on
the very spot that was the original har-
bor of the old city. This remarkable sub-

sidence of the ocean has been accounted
for by different: theories; none of them,
as I think, satisfactory. It is not to be

\

'
|
wa
j

 
 

 

188 THE HISTORY OF

supposed, that the bed of the ocean is

deepened. by the attrition of the water;
for more earth or clay is doubtless
brought into the ocean by rivers, than is

taken out of it by other means.

There may be caverns in the earth by
which water is occasionally absorbed.
- Islands have been raised: inthe ocean by
the help of subterranean fire. A small one
- has lately been added to the Azores; but
the space, they formerly occupied, does
not contain much water. When we con-
sider the numerous and frequent volcanic

eruptions that have appeared in the

great chain of islands that extend through
the Pacific ocean, near the equator; the’

numerous eruptions that have appeared
im the Cordillera of the Andes; and the |

constant flames that appeared in Green-
land and other high latitudes, . giving
light and heat | ‘to those frozen regions;
we Tmaust suppose that the earth abounds ~

eee ee Os hee OE A lS Rt ie.

 

ray

NORTH CAROLINA. 189

3 in caverns whereby water has been absor-

bed. But we are also to consider that dry
land has disappeared or sunk in different

parts of the world; and the absorption of
water by volcanic: enact aadneiellen

esi nor regular. hats

em cared + emia artabis te ter a two 3 5
There i is another process by which, as
I conceive, the decrease of water may be
accounted for. It is the regular and con- —
stant conversion of water into shells,
madrepores, and corals. Fixable air
abounds in water, by means of which it _
unites with calcareous bodies. Corals and —
other substances, formed by this union,
are specifically heavier than water, nearly
astwoandahalftoone.  — |
SOUTER ERE: t ~ Oe pi ere Meat tase OY
We do not penta to know, by what
process certain animals or insects in the
ecean cause the formation of shells, mad-
repores and corals from water, or from
earth and air that are attached to water

 
 

 

190 THE HISTORY OF

and seem to be part of that fluid; for they
increase its bulk; but the process is con-
stant. The shells that appear in shallow
water, on our coast, are of little impor-
tance; but the madrepores and corals,
formed in the ocean, are of prodigious
magnitude. We are toldy by late naviga-
tors, that in some parts of the South Sea
navigation is become dangerous; and in
other parts itis absolutely impracticable,
by the formation of great ledges of mad-
repores or corals, where the water had
been very deep. When we consider that
more than two inches of water are requi-

red to form one inch of those weighty
substances, we shall discover a probable

cause for the subsidence of ocean water.
Whatever the cause may be, it can hardly
be doubted, that the ocean is retiring from
the land, or decreasing in depth, Nor is
it to be doubted, that the quantity of
water discharged by the rivers in Caro-
lina, and in eyery new country, is de-

NORTH CAROLINA. 191

ereasing every year. It must inevitably
follow, from one or both of these causes,
that the marshes or swamps in Carolina
will soon disappear, The progress of
agriculture is a steady auxiliary to the
operations of nature in producing this
desirable change. It is already discoyver-
ed, as we have seen, that marshes are
drainable; and the soil, when. fitted to the
plow, is excellent in quality. In process
of time all those swamps will be cultiva-

ted.

-

-Intermitting fevers are the usual com-
plaints in the eastern part of Carolina.
Those fevers seem to arise, as we have

already observed, from the exhalations of
stagnant water or putrid vegetables. They
prevail more or less, according to the

quantity of water that is exhaled impreg-

- nated with putrescent vegetables. All our

observations tend to confirm this opinion.
When stagnant water is not exhaled, in-

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

192 THE HISTORY OF

termitting fevers are less_ prevalent.

ee putrescent vegetables are exposed

0 the action of the sun, intermittents
are frequent. In the midst of great for-
ests, the sun never visits the surface; his
rays being fully intercepted by a thick

growth of cypres, juniper, magnolia, and

reeds. Intermitting fevers do not prevail —

in such places. Families who live in the
Dismals, employed in making shingles,

without a perch of clear or dry ground, |

enjoy more health than people who live
on their new plantations, near the rivers

or swamps. The bad effect of recent cul- |

tivation, by which decaying - vegetables

are exposed to the sun, is severely felt

’ in flat countries - and warm climates.
Carolina was less sickly. before the coun-
try was opened. The second colony of
adventurers remained twelve months i in

the country, and they lost only five men
out of one hundred and. seyen, though

they were. unig sheltered, and suffered

ee Rr ia tte sae Age os

 

“4 NORTH CAROLINA. 193

much by the scarcity of provisions. A gen-
tleman in Craven county lived on his
farm above forty years, without suffering
by intermitting fevers, though his family
consisted of fifty or sixty persons. There

were about one hundred acres of clear
ground in front of his house that had

been cultivated many years: but ‘there
was a thick wood behind the house. In
the beginning of the year 1785 he caused
all the timber and shrubs that were be-

hind his house; ‘within: four or five hun- |

dred yards, to be cut down. His object
was pasture and a free circulation of air.
One third of his family, on the next
summer, was taken down by intermit-
ting fevers. Such complaints were not |
more prevalent than usual, during that
summer, in other parts of the flat coun-
try. Those fevers were certainly caused
by exposing to the sun a large surface

‘of fresh land, covered with putrescent |

vegetables. Similar effects are very com-
VOL, I. 2B

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ta

194 THE HISTORY OF,

mon in the West. Indies, where they are
fatal to such a degree, that soil, newly
turned up, is supposed by the planters to

contain some pestilential quality, Putrid
exhalations are the general cause of those
bilious intermittents; but in tropical cli-

mates, where the sun is vertical, and the

tendency to putrefaction great, and where

the influence of heat on the living body

_inereases» the malignancy of the com-

plaint, those fevers become most fatal.
The simple intermitting fever that, pre-
vails during the summer season, in Caro-

lina, is seldom fatal to the natives, except .

in cases where the frequent recurrence
of such fevers may occasion an indurated
spleen and other visceral obstructions,
The consequence of such obstructions is
a dropsy or other cachectical complaint,
of which the patient dies. Fevers of the
warm season sometimes become dange-
rous, especially to strangers, by the im-
prudent conduct of the patient. Upon the

 

 

\

NORTH CAROLINA. 195

approach of febrile symptoms, strangers
are apt, as they express themselves, to
brave the fever. In this case, by taking
exercise, increasing the muscular motion,
and not unfrequently by the use of ardent
spirits or other stimulating drinks, they
bring on a typhus or other constant
fever, instead of a simple intermittent. A
warm season, followed by a considerable
drought, often produces an endemiecal
flux or dysentery. Those complaints

are doubtless of the putrid kind, and
should be treated igi estan ate eer)

af kee - ett

- People on the soni ronal of Cond:
“sal are frequently attacked by fevers
in the winter, which are called inflam-
matory; for they are attended by pain in
some part of the head or the breast.
These fevers, in many cases, prove fatal
im three or four days. By the general

‘symptoms, compared. with the circum-

stances and places in which those fevers

‘

 
 

 

 

196 ’ ‘THE HISTORY OF:

prevail, they seem to be of the putrid.
kind. They prevail in districts that are
subject to intermitting fevers; whence
they may be presumed to arise, in some
measure, from the same cause; but they
prevail in a different season of the year;
whence it may he inferred, that there is
a combination of causes in one fever. that
does not eccur in the other. It has al-
ready. been observed, that intermitting
fevers are more or less frequent: in the
lowlands of Carolina, according to the
quantity of putrescent vegetable. sub-
stance that is exposed to the action of
the sun. From this circumstance it. is
conjectured, that the most simple spe-
cies of intermitting fevers are, in some
measure, the effect of putrefaction; but
the most dangerous putrid fevers arise
from the same cause. The difference then
between the appearance or the effects of
those fevers must depend on the state of
the solids or the fluids of the person af.

\

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 197

fected, or upon the acrimony or virulence
which the putrescent matter may have
acquired before it is absorbed. The ap-
pearance of those fevers in the. summer,
when putrescent matter is plentifully di-
luted by rain, seems to be determined, in
some measure, by the constitutions of the
several patients. Strangers, from anorth-

ern climate, who have a vigorous consti-
tution, whose muscular system is well
braced, instead of having a moderate fe-
ver, in the summer or autumn, “that will
duly intermit after the first or second
day, in many cases have an ardent feyer,
with full pulse. Instead of intermitting,
it puts on the appearance of a typhus, or
a nervous feyer, in a few days, and termi-

“nates fatally. ‘The same cause should.

produce the same effect upon similar ;
bodies; but the effects upon the native
and stranger are not alike; hence we |
infer, that a tense fibre or vigorous ‘Con-
stitution, which naturally excites more

 
 

 

 

198 THE HISTORY OF

heat, or causes the fever tojbe more ar-
dent, produces, at the same time, a dif-
ferent and dangerous type. According to
this theory, we observe, that by taking
violent exercise, when the symptoms of _
an intermitting fever are coming on, the

fever becomes ardent, and in many cases

it. is attended with danger. From these
facts. it would appear, that. the. affecting
cause remaining the same, the fever is
more or less dangerous according to the
constitution of the patient, or any other
circumstance that tends more or less to

brace the system, or produce Pll

of inflammation. eek es tga aabliy Pe

Sy eure sp: ie aay CE ATES OT ee hy

 

act Rss Fi

_ * A young man, near ‘asictieate heated himself by.
dancing, after he had been affected some hours by a
slight pain in the brow. This happened in the winter sea-
son, during the prevalence of a complaint, that is called,
however improperly, “a pleurisy in the head.” He died
within two days. This disease having obtained the name

of an inflammatory fever, is usually treated like such -

complaints, by copious blood-letting. Though the pa-

ee at a lg teil

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 199

_ Though the fevers that appear in win-
ter are not usually called intermittents,
they are not less effected by putrescent
vegetable matter than the autumnal fe-
vers. Those winter fevers have been
deemed inflammatory, because they are
usually attended by a pain in the head,
or by a pain in the breast that resembles
pleurisy. They prevail; not only in the
same districts in which intermittents
are common, but they are most likely to
attack people who on the preceding au-
tumn had suffered by intermitting fevers.
These circumstances make it probable,
but there are other circumstances from

which it is certain, that the fevers to

which cyan ‘arise from a. pate ones

i i: Say rs Fk Fa “ ae eR ae re be

 

pei t

sents, most of them, die, the lancet a i to-be used
with too much freedom; because it seems to give tempo-

rary relief, and it can be used by men who have never

taken the trouble to learn the nature of the disease, nor
its proper remedy,

 
 

 

 

 

200 THE HISTORY OF
In differe nt years they prevail in differ

ent neighborhoods, affecting one or more

persons in every family. When this disease
is most prevalent, it may generally be
traced to the vicinity of a marsh or the bed
of a.river, where mud or other putrescent
vegetable substance has been exposed to
the sun, in dry weather. The effects of
dry weather on similar grounds, in the
summer season, is frequently a flux or
_ dysentery, which are’ also of the putrid
kind. If the same cause, that would pro-
duce a simple intermittent, may also be
found to produce an ardent fever, tending
to putrefaction, by: the sole concurrence
of muscular motion, or the direct opera-
tion of the sun, whereby heat is excited,
we are to presume that winter colds
would produce remarkable effects on the
appearance of that fever. The common ef-
fect of cold is to brace the solids and
check the perspiration. In the case be:
fore us, the perspiration being obstructed,

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 201

‘the offending matter, that has been ab-

sorbed, is retained in the system and
gives a septic disposition to the fluids, by

the increased action of the muscles.* It

 

Pot Mav ied alleged, that the endemic fevers of sum-

heb winter are equally caused by the absorption of
putrid matter into the system. In support of this. opinion

we observe, that being exposed | toa heavy shower in
summer or autumn, in warm climates, is usually fol-
lowed by ‘intermitting fevers; but people at sea, in the
same latitude and season of the year, expose themselves
to. showers without danger, b because. the atmosphere, at

sea, ‘isn not charged ‘with putrescent ‘exbalations. It may
also be observed, that ‘people who use unguents, in warm

climates, are less endangered by those fevers. Black peo-
ple, and white people, who have a copious. perspiration,
are also less subject to those complaints. Cold evenings
in the autumn, and rain, by shutting the pores of the
skin, are known to be the cause of innumerable fevers.
While the perspiration is free, the putrid matter, that

may be taken in by the absorbing vessels, i is immediately
discharged from the system; but in the case of obstruc-

ted perspiration, it is retained among the circulating

fluids and becomes the seed of mortal disease. In cold
weather, the complaint is usually thrown upon the head
or breast.

Bh : *

VOL. I. oC

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

202 THE HISTORY OF
is generally observed that men suffer
more than women or children by this
disease. In the months of December and
January 1794, 5, eight or nine men, the
heads of families, who lived. near the
river Neus, were taken off by a fever such
as I have mentioned; but no other people
in that vicinity suffered by the disease.
Some cause must have existed for this,
remarkable difference. ‘The complaints of

those men were not produced by intem:-
perance alone; for though ardent spirits
injure the system not only by destroying
the powers of the solids, but also by vitia-
ting the fluids, whence they bring on death

in various forms, some of the men who |

fell under that bilious pleurisy, were not
intemperate. In this ease the disease
seems to have arisen from obstructed
perspiration. It cannot escape notice that
men in Carolina. are chiefly exposed
to complaints which arise from that
source. The temperature of the weather,

*
aaa telat

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 208
in the eastern part of the state, is very
changeable. When the wind is at north-
west, there is oceasional hard frost;
but the weather at other times is mode-

rate and soft. As there are not many cold
days, nor many days in whieh | flannels

or thick woollen garments are necessary,
people fit their dress for the temperate

weather and not for the few days of inci-
dental cold. They do not consider that
warm clothes may be worn, in temperate
weather, without danger; but thin clothes,
in cold weather, expose the wearer to
mortal disease. Women and children are
not only more temperate than men, but
they are usually at home; and they can

inerease their clothes. upon a sudden ap-
proach of cold, or they can sit.by-she: fire.
Men are frequently surprised by rain or
sudden cold, when they are abroad, and
are not provided with a suitable dress.
Prudence is the child of experience, but
heedless men are seldom taught by the

i
18]
au
ie
#
oo

:

 
 

 

 

204 THE HISTORY OF .

experience of other people. Personal ex-
perience in this as in many other cases —

frequently comes too late. When the
planters, they especially who have been
visited by intermitting fevers during the
summer or autumn, and those who live
in the flat country, shall haye. the pru-
dence to keep themselves. dry, and shall
be provided, in all their excursions, dur-
ring the winter, with clothing fitted to

cold weather;*, when they shall exchange
the use of grog and ardent spirits for

* Such is the commendable industry of women in Ca-
rolina, that two thirds of the inhabitants are clothed in
cotton that is raised, spun, and ‘woven by themselves,
This is an excellent dress for warm or temperate
weather; but & garment of soft wool to be worn next the
skin, is greatly to be preferred by valetudinarians, It is
found that sheep thrive yery well in Carolina, and their
wool is good in quality. Planters, such of them especially
as are invalids, and they who live in sickly districts, should
never go abroad in the winter season, without a flannel
Waistcoat under the shirt, and a substantial greatcoat to
be worn in case of a sudden change of weather.

\

‘

. NORTHCAROLINA.  ——.205

beer well seasoned with hops, or water

that is less dangerous than either, we may
be assured that many useful lives will

be saved to the community.

=

_ When the country shall be sufficiently
cleared, and the lands perfectly drained,
there is much reason to believe, that
people near the seacoast will enjoy a desi-
rable state of health through the latter
part of the summer, which is now called

‘the sickly season. * The weather will

also be less variable during the winter
season, for reasons that haye been stated;
and a free circulation of air will diminish

the summer’s heat.
x i 3 is

oi ia io i ein ye
Ther

£-DDif

are not many countries, in which
the state of health differs so much as it

4

 

a Instances of longevity are not wapting in Carolina in
the flat country. See Proofs and Explanations G G.

*
a a |

 
 

 

 

206 THE HISTORY OF

does at present in the different parts of
North Carolina. At the distance of sixty
or seventy miles from the coast the land

begins to rise into small hills, stones ap- |

pear on the surface, and the streams rip-
ple in their course. As we advance a

little further to the westward, we find all —

the variety of hills and dales that may
consist with a fertile country, fit for cul-
tivation. In that happy climate, where
the soil is good, and the water. pure;
where the inhabitants enjoy the desirable
effects of winter, without suffering by the
rigorous severity of cold; there are few
of the diseases which are most painful
and destructive in cold climates: neither
are the inhabitants wasted by the more

fatal diseases of warm climates. There

are not many parts in the United States, ©

perhaps there is not any part of the
world, in which families increase faster

than in the western part of Carolina.

When we consider, that the inhabitants

et iis Rad gee

 

~

NORTH CAROLINA. 207

are seldom affected by coughs, consump-
tions, or inflammatory complaints, for
the winters are temperate; that inter-
mitting, bilious, or putrid fevers are sel-
dom found among them; we naturally
infer, that the climate must be healthy.
It is not denied, that people, in many
other climates or countries, are equally
healthy with those in the western part of
Carolina; but the winters in other regions,
that are deemed healthy, are more se-
vere, or the land is less fertile, or it is
not so cheap, or the means of supporting
a family, from one cause and another,
are more difficult than in Carolina;
whence it follows, that early marriages
are not so frequent, and the increase of
families is not so great. We have not the
means of comparing the increase of peo-
ple in Carolina with that in foreign eoun-
tries, but it has been compared with the
increase in other states. It appears by
the census taken in the year 1791, that

 
 

 

 

  

208 ° THE HISTORY OF

the number of inhabitants above sixteen
years old, exceeded the number under
sixteen in all the northern and middle
‘states, including Maryland. In the south-
ern states there was a difference in fa-
your of those under sixteen, and this dif-
ference was greater in North Carolina
than in any other state, except Kentucky.
This difference might be explained by
supposing that the duration of human
life is shorter in the southern states, and :
that sixteen years is nearer the middle
of the general extent; but this solution
cannot be admitted, because in the most
healthy parts of the southern states, the
difference was greatest in favour of the
class under sixteen. The greater propor-
tion of people below sixteen must be the
combined effect of early marriage and a
good climate. Families are easily sup-
ported where the lands are good, and
the winters mild. In this ¢ase people
marry young, and haye many children;

+ Z
hee ; F
! > ‘ DD
4 ; Expl ‘ jell tentin eaten ne ge a tie ell

  

- 4 5

-NORTHCAROLINA. —-_209

_ but early marriage alone will not pro-
duce a great proportion of children when
eause sickly climates are not less fatal to
infants than to those who are more ad-
vanced in years. This distinction is

x fully supported by the census in North

Carolina. The number of males. in the
whole state, below sixteen, was to that
above sixteen, nearly as eleven to ten;
but this difference cannot be the effect
of early marriage alone, or the facility of
maintaining a family; it depends very
much on the salubrity of. the climate.
People live in ‘the’ district of Edenton
with more ease than in the district of
Salisbury; for their cattle require less
— moe cose: ee ga

 

© ®* The flat lands near ne edat? ‘except such of them as
are composed of sand, are generally covered by a thick
growth of canes. The leaves of this plant are green all
winter. _They are long and succulent, and cattle i in ge-
neral are greatly attached to them.

VOL, I. 2p

 
 

 

210 THE HISTORY OF

tiful supply of fish; but. the proportion of
persons under sixteen, was to that above —
sixteen, in Salisbury district, compared
to that in Edenton . district, nearly as
three to one. In Salisbury district there
were fifteen thousand eight hundred and
twenty-six males under sixteen, and thir-
teen thousand nine hundred and eight
above sixteen. The difference is nearly
equal to a seventh part of the whole
number of the older elass. In Edenton
district, the number of males under six.
"teen, was eight thousand six hundred. and
- ninety-six, and the number above. six-
teen, was eight thousand three hundred
- and ninety-four. The difference being less
than a twenty-seventh part of the num-

ber of the older class. This remarkable
excess, in favour of Salisbury district,
can only be explained by the greater sa-

lubrity of the climate. There are some

very old people in the western parts of
Carolina, but they were not born in that

 

NORTHCAROLINA. =—s_-Q111

country; they are older than the settle-
ment. After the country shall have been —
planted two or three centuries, and the
natives shall have attained the length of
years that corresponds with the climate,
a greater proportion of the inhabitants
above sixteen years will doubtless be

There is not a state in the Union so
fortunate as North Carolina in the variety
of its” staple. ‘Wheat, barley, rye, and
every other grain that is produced in
the northern states, grow here in great
perfection. The rice of this state is also
of the best quality. The Indian corn, in:
this state, is not so heavy as that which

grows to the northward, but it is much
sweeter: it is eultivated with more ease,
and in greater abundance.* White oak

 

* There are. poy ports Pe entry in North Carolina, viz.
Edenton, scien Washington, ‘Newbern, and Wil-

 
 

 

 

 

ek SN eb 5S eee

212. : THE HISTORY OF

- trees, for making pipe and. hogshead.

staves, are much taller and clearer from
knots than what are usually found to the
northward; and the thick extensive forests
of juniper and cypress for making shin-
gles, can hardly be exhausted. The large
tracts of sandy barren land, that in other

countries would be deemed worthless, if

are covered in Carolina with trees of
pitch pine, (pinus echenata) fit for boards;
or trees of a smaller size, that yield a

 

mington; formerly called Port Roanoke; Currituck, Bath,
Beaufort, and Brunswick. The average exports for the
years 1785, 6, 7, and 8, were mer as fallen

_ 20 millions of shingles, ee
2 millions of staves and heading,

5 millions feet of boards and scantling,
100,600 barrels of tar, pitch, and turpentine.

The exports from the port of Edenton alone for the
"year 1787, beside pork, bacon, wheat, flaxseed, hides, deer
skins, snake root, beeswax, furs, and tobacco, ‘were

134,107 bushels of Indian corn,
8,924 bushels of pease,
5,328 barrels of herrings.

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 213

plentiful crop of tar.* While we eontem-
plate the advantages that are enjoyed by
9 Gy PAB eae res hist Aig 4 , is

Peetis

 

eee : be en
Bs * It is well known that Carolina tar is in great disre-

pute in foreign countries. Pipe and hogshead staves are
in the same predicament. They bring little more than
half price. This does not proceed from any fault in the
materials of which they are made, but from a defect in

the inspection laws, and a culpable negligence in the

“makers. White oak trees, that abound in the flat lands,

are remarkably tall and free from knots. The skeletons
of decayed pine trees are fitted to produce tar at least
¢qual to any that comes from Russia or Sweden. But mén
who begin to work in a careless manner are not easily
reformed. Hence it is, that the exports of a country have
seldom acquired a good character, except by the diligent.
attention of government. The inspection laws are little
regarded in Carolina; for the inspectors, instead of bein
broke by giving their sanction to imperfect produce, are
apt to court popularity by passing the worst that comes.
A small defect in the length or thickness of a stave is not
regarded, although they know that ‘such. defect must be
fatalina foreign market.

When Carolina tar is landed in cian: the external
appearance of the barrel is disgusting, but the contents
are supposed to be worse. A barrel of tar from the Baltic
is delivered in England or France as neat and clean as a
barrel of beef or pork; but the Carolina barrel is covered .

 
 

 

 

214 THE HISTORY OF

the citizens of this state, and the facility
with which the planter may support his

4 ex
zt

 

and colored ith tar. . The ps however is: not the only
tax on the shipper, for it is supposed to contain some gal-
Ions of sand, chips, pine leaves, and water. This may not
be true of every barrel; but the inspectors in England es-
timate and mark the sufposed quantity in each barrel, ac-
cording to the rule they have taken from the general de-
fects; and nothing but a complete reformation in our tar
burners, will compel them to do otherwise. In France our
tar is generally condemned. An attempt was made, after
the American revolution, under the patronage of a French
nobleman, to introduce American tar into France. But the
tar shipped on that experiment, was so filthy that it did
_ not pay expenses. The tar burner in Carolina performs
every operation in the most hasty and slovenly manner.
He works now, as he formerly did, when there was a
bounty on tar; a bounty that respected the number of bar-
rels, not the quality of the tar. His tar kiln is usually
built upon light sandy land. The builder will not line the
trench with tempered mortar, that conveys the tar to the
external cistern. And the cistern itself, instead of being
a tight wooden vessel, is nothing more than a large hole

dug in the sandy ground. The operator is aware that he

loses much tar by his negligence, but he supplies the

loss by the addition of sand. A poor expedient, for every

pint of sand will condemn a gallon of tar. Clean tar should

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 215

family and become independent, it is not
to be dissembled that i in many cases the
industry or prudence of individuals is not
proportioned to their means of acquiring
property. The first settlers availed them-

selves of a temperate climate and luxuri-
ous range; they had little occasion to feed

 

be shipped in tight barrels; but the Carolina tar barrels
‘are extremely defective. They are always made of soft
wood, and that wood, in many cases, is not seasoned. The
heading is badly fitted, and the barrel leaks at every
joint. Let us calculate the loss of tar at the first cooper-
age, when it is shipped in Carolina; the second loss be-
fore it is shipped in a northern port, and the subsequent
: leakage on its passage to Europe. To this we must add
f the owner’s loss, by paying freight for barrels that are
not full, and the subsequent deduction, perhaps twenty per
cent., from the apparent remainder, upon the supposition
that it is not clean. All these deductions being made, it
- will appear, that Carolina tar, by obstinate perseverance
in bad habits, is more than half of it lost.
Defects in the barreling of pork, are also very injurious
‘to the North Carolina planter. He suffers by bad habits
and a bad inspection; for mast and corn being very abun-
dant in Carolina, their pork ought to bring the best ‘in-
stead of the worst price.

 
 

 

‘not a planter in ten who provides shelters for “his neat

216 THE HISTORY OF

or shelter their stock. By the. wane™Or

constant employment they become inat-—
tentive to their farms or their cattle. As
the settlements increase the range de-

creases and the soil is exhausted.* But
old customs prevail, and the present race
of planters are not sufficiently careful to
obviate the effects that naturally arise

‘egg

. 2 Re Nee IRE Sere = d 2% ‘ ; i‘

Pa Re a AP ERT

* While new lands pee tie taken i in at Pose the

planter never took the trouble °
While food for his stock was plenty in the eis? hy

never thought of sowing his fields with clover or other
succulent grass for pasture. He did, not _consider that
such ¢ grass is equally profitable to the soil and the stock.
‘His labor is now increased in cultivating more land, than
otherwise would have been sufficient. |The first planters
never housed their cattle. “And though cattle at present,

are not raised with so much ease as formerly, there is

ag

cattle; and a great proportion of them do not provide dry

stables for their horses. They are not SARE, that by —
sheltering their stock from, _stormy weather and cold rains, t

artis

they would have larger cattle, and those cattle. would —
thrive upon two thirds of the food they how ct coniime.
They would gain much by a little care,

ae er . an
ey

|

‘

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 217

‘

from the increase of settlers and decrease
of range.

Navigable rivers are so numerous
through all the flat country, that vessels
are tempted to load in a hundred places;

and the want of any port, that can be ap-

proached by vessels of a large burden, has ~
prevented the commerce of the state from.
being drawn to a particular point. Hence
it is that no large city has ever risen nor

is ever likely to obtain celebrity in the
state: a circumstance that is balanced by

some advantages. It retards the increase
of luxury and the rivalship in folly. The
smaller vessels that enter the inlets on

the coast are fitted for the West India
commerce; and the produce of the flat
country, the naval stores excepted, is

generally fitted for the same market.
By the want of large towns, and by the
sparse settlements along the public roads,
that are usually conducted along the high-

VOL. I. : QE

 
 

 

 

218 THE HISTORY.OF .

est and poorest land, strangers are usu-
ally deceived concerning the population,
wealth and importance of the state.
Although it appears, by the face of
the map, that Carolina is well watered

by numerous rivers that run through .

the state, yet those rivers are of little
use in promoting the commerce of the
greater number of the inhabitants. The

Yadkin, Catawba and Broad rivers, that — :

originate in the mountains, pass into
South Carolina, and are of little use for
transporting produce. Clarendon, Neus

and Tar rivers have their sources near
the borders of Virginia; Roanoke origi-

nates in the mountains. This river is na-—

vigated by boats that carry one hundred
and fifty or two hundred barrels from
Albemarle sound to Halifax. Clarendon
is navigated by similar boats from tide
water to Fayetteville; Neus to Kingston;
and Tar river to Tarborough. The delays

 

NORTH CAROLINA. 219

however of this tedious river naviga-
tion, which terminates in small towns,
of little trade, interferes exceedingly with
the objects of the planter. Hence it fol-
lows, that the greater part of the tobacco,
flour, and pork from the high grounds,
in the eastern part of the state, are sent
to Virginia; and the produce from the
western part of the state, is sent to

Charleston in South Carolina. Hence too

it follows, that the customhouse books, in
North Carolina, give a very imperfect
account of the produce and exports of the
state. —

From this short account of the imper-
fect state of commerce, in the most

healthy and fertile part of the country,
the reader will discover how probable it

is that the citizens of North Carolina, in
a short time, will turn their attention to
domestic manufactures. ‘There is not, as
we conceive, a state in the Union better ©

 
 

 

 

920 THE HISTORY OF

calculated, few of them are so well calcu-
lated, as North Carolina for increasing
their wealth by extensive manufactures.
All the necessary materials for manu-
factures are found in the state; and pro-
visions are remarkably cheap. In the flat
country, near the coast, there is a want of
running streams, and machinery, for say-
ing labor, cannot be wrought by water;
but people who live in the middle and

upper part of the state have a plentiful :

supply of small streams, fit for mills and
for machinery of every kind. Those peo-
ple can support their laborers at a ‘small

expense; for many of them liye above
one hundred miles from a shipping port.

Hence it follows, that Indian corn, of
which they raise large erops with little
labor, and other provisions, may be pur-
chased among them for little more than
half their value on the coast. The raw
materials that are used in the chief manu-
factures are produced in the state. They

 

sic eas ee sic

NORTH CAROLINA. 221

have iron ore in abundance, and the iron
is excellent in quality. Flax grows well
in the state, and the wool of their sheep
is of a good quality. It is hardly necessa-
ry to observe, that they raise, or can
raise, in every part of the state, all the’ —
cotton they can use in the most exten-
sive manufactories. It is certainly to be
presumed, that people who live in a
healthy climate where provisions are re-
markably cheap, who are well supplied
with good streams of water that are
easily managed, and who have an ample
supply of all the raw materials, will avail
themselves of those advantages. It is to
be presumed, we say; for the Moravians,
who are remarkably prudent and indus-
trious, have lately made considerable pro-
gress in the manufacture of cotton; and

in the course of the last year, (1811)
several gentlemen in the low country,
where they work under great disadyan-
tages, haye introduced machines for

 
 

 

222 THE HISTORY OF, &c.

spinning cotton. This spirit, as we infer

from the manner in which it spreads,

will soon pervade the community: a cir-
cumstance that must produce a balance
of trade in favor of the state. |

Lime stone is not found in any part of ,

North Carolina near the coast, but there
is a belt of lime stone that crosses the

state, a few miles to the northward of
the Moravian settlement. It runs “near.

ly parallel to the mountains.

Ee eet

 

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS.

* R.
PAGE 8.

“

Extract from Déjisitione taken before the court of Ad-
- miralty, for hearing and determining Piracy, for the
colony of Virginia; for the tritl of James Blake and

, others, late of the crew of Edward Theach.

Basilica Hand, late master of the sloop Adventure,
commanded by Edward Theach, sworn, says: That in

the month of August 1717, he was on board when they

took two French ships; all the prisoners were put on

board of one of the ships, which was plundered of some

cocoa and sent off. The other ship was brought into
North Carolina, called a wreck. That soon after

Theach’s arrival at Ocacoke inlet, he went ina peri-

_ auger with four of the prisoners to Mr. Tobias Knight’s,

secretary of North Carolina, carrying with him a pre-
sent of chocolate, loaf sugar and sweetmeats; being part

of what they had taken from on board the French ships.

And that upon Theach’s return from Mr. Knight’s the
deponent saw divers goods brought in the periauger,
which Theach said he bought in the country, but which

he since understands he had taken by robbery from

 
 

= rs bi i | f
ee
Wi
ra '
, 1
294 PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. . 225
* f d : 4 | :
Willian Bell, The four prisoners being interrogated, say ye returning from, as he did in going to, Mr. Knight’s, ;
\ e 5 id t
that they went as alleged to the house of Tobias = without concerning himself with the periauger. t
Knight, with three or four kegs of loaf sugar, &c. | . ‘ 4

N. B. William Bell’s oath should be susfiected. He could
not know that Theach had been at Knight’s.

That three miles below Knight’s, at Chester’s landing,

they boarded a periauger, which they robbed of a cask

of brandy or rum, some linen, &c. ‘

N. B. Those four prisoners were all negroes. q a t

’ William Bell, of the precinct of Currituck, swore,
‘ That being on board his periauger at Chester’s landing,

 

in Pamlico river, 14th of September last, a periauger ‘ “y : ‘

passed him standing up the river; that a little before

day thé same periauger returned and rowed: on board. i - ;

That a white man, whom he since learned was Edward ar Yous es ip a =

 

=

Theach, boarded him and commanded him to tell him
where his money was. That the deponent asked who a.
he was, and whence he came? He replied, he came | i } lia
‘ from hell, where he would carry him presently. That. a
‘ ‘Theach called for his sword, and the ‘deponent laid hold
of him. Theach called for assistance; and having opened di
his chest he took from it his pistols, and sixty-six |
pounds in cash; robbed him also of a piece of crape, a box ‘y |
of pipes, a barrel of brandy, and several other things, and
a remarkable silver cup, since found in Theach’s ves-
sel, The robber towed his periauger into the middle of
the river, threw over his sails and oars, and proceeded.
That he verily believes Theach had intelligence of his |
having money, otherwise he would have passed by in 4 i

 

|
}
|
1}
ha
4)
 

226 PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS.

Bry

{

; R. r.
PAGE 9.

Copy of a letter found in Theach’s possession when he
was killed,

MY FRIEND, November 17, 1717.
If this finds you in the harbor, I would have you
make the best of your way up as soon as possible your
affairs will let you. I have something more to say te

you than at present I can write. The bearer will tell you
the end of our Indian war, and Ganet can tell you in
part what I have to say to you, so refer you in some

measure to him.

;

I really think those three men are heartily sorry at
their difference with you, and will be very willing to
_ ask your pardon. If I may advise, be friends again; its
better so than falling out among yourselves. I expect

the governor this night or to-morrow, who I believe
would be likewise glad to see you before you go. I have
not time to add, save my hearty respects to you, and

am your real friend,
T. KNIGHT.

Edward Chamberlain, being examined before the
governor and council of North Carolina, concerning

See ite Sa Pa

Cn nee

rk

 

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. 927

the visit Theach was supposed to have made to Knight,

swore:

That he had constantly resided at the house of Tobias
Knight since the latter end of August last. He was
there the fourteenth of September, and for several days
before and after. Is positive that no person came into
Knight’s house that night; and that Knight was in too
bad a state of health to go out. That he was then par-
ticularly watchful on account of an alarm from the
Indians. That he heard Bell examined before Knight,
who then suspected Thomas Udney and Richard Snel-

ling for two of the company, all the others being negroes —
or disguised like negroes. He never knew that Knight

or any of his family received any presents from Theach,
except a gun worth about forty shillings.

N. B. This man appears also to have sworn to an un-
truth, for Theach must have been frequently at Knight's,

and made him other presents than a small gun.

 

We
)
i)!
 

 

-

228 PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS.

Ss.
PAGE 16. ‘
L£xtracts from the Docket of the General Court.
1724, March 31st. Court sitting at Edenton,

vernor Burrington, saying, “ He was a damned rogue
and villain, and that he had beat and abused a man who.
came to him for justice.”
7 > e :
1726, March 29th. Court sitting at Edenton, —

“George Burrington was indicted, for that on the
fifteenth of November 1725, he seditiously and mali-
ciously aspersed governor Everard, at Edenton, saying,
that “He was no more fit for a governor than a hog,”
and that, “‘ he was a noodle and an ape.”

Also, that on the second of December 1725, he riot-
ously with others knocked at the door of sir Richard
Everard in the night time, bidding him, “ come out for
a calf-head,” and threatening to scalp his “ damned

thick skull,” saying also, that “he was no more fit for
a governor than Sancho Pansa.”

 

Joseph Castleton was indicted for defamation of go- ©

ee rm Fs

 

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. 229

x

At the same Court.

George Burrington was indicted, for that on the fourth
of January 1725, in the night, he assaulted Thomas
Parris, of Edenton, breaking his windows, and threaten-
ing to kill Adam Cockburn, a lodger in his house.

At the same Court.

George Burrington was indicted, for that about the
second of December 1725, with Cornelius Harnet of
Chowan and others, in the night he assaulted the house
of sir Richard Everard and also the house of Joseph
Young, constable; broke open the doors and beat him,
affrighted his wife (so as to endanger her life), and as-
saulted James Porter who came to the relief of Joseph
Young; also assaulted and broke into the house of
Thomas Parrish and abused him.

At the same Court.

George Burrington was indicted, for that about the

fourth of March 1725, at Bath, he did assault Robert.

Kenyon and threaten to burn his house; and did assault
and beat Robert Rawle esq. the provost marshal, who
attempted to preserve the peace, and afterwards sent
him a challenge.

' Burrington being bound by recognizance, appears by

James B. Ashe, his attorney, and prayed day till next -

 
 

 

230 PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS.

court to answer; and it is ordered that he have a copy
of his several indictments.

At a Court, &c. October 25th, 1726.

George Burrington did not appear to take his trial.

James B. Ashe offering to plead for him, was refused by

the court unless he entered special bail.

s

Alias and Pluries writs issued to compel the appear-
ance of George Burrington. :

pr)
. 1728, October 29th. At a Court, &c.
An order was received from the governor and. coun-
cil, by the attorney general, to enter a “ noli prosequi,”
‘in the cases of prosecutions pending against George

Burrington, Cornelius Harnet, Edmd. Porter, Thomas
Blount, &c.

 

 

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. 231

ya

; : PAGE 21.

Proposals for adjusting the Dispute between the Colony
“y of Virginia and North Carolina; concerning their true

: boundary. Approved of by his Majesty in Council,
28¢h March 1727. ;

‘That from the mouth of Currituck river, setting the
compass on the north shore thereof, a due west line shall

be run and fairly marked; and if it happens to cut Cho-
hc ’ wan river between the mouths of Nottoway river and

i, Wiccacon’s creek, then shall the same direct course be
Ae continued towards the mountains, and be ever deemed
pit the dividing line between Virginia and Carolina.

That if the said west line cuts Chowan river to the
southward of Wiccacon’s creek, then from that point of
: intersection the bounds shall be allowed to continue up
the middle of Chowan river to the middle of the entrance

into said Wiccacon’s creek, and from thence a due west

line shall divide the two governments.

That if said west line cuts Black Water river to the
northward of Nottoway river, then from the point of
intersection the bounds shall be allowed to continue

 

oy
 

 

 

282 -PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. ‘

.

down the middle of said Black Water river tothe middle |

of the entrance into said Nottoway river, and from thence
a due west line shall divide the two governments.

That if a due west line shall be found to pass through
islands, or to cut out small slips of land, which might
much more conveniently be included in the one province
or other by natural water bounds, in such case the per-
sons appointed for running the line shall have power to”
settle natural bounds, provided the commissioners. on
both sides agree thereto; and that all variations from the
west line be punctually noted in the maps and plots which
they shall return to be put upon the records of both go-
_vernments. :

 

 

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. 233

Uw.
PAGE 22,

Extract of a Letter from the Governor of Virginia to the
Governor of North Carolina.

Williamsburg, 15th December, 1727.

“J should sooner have despatched your messenger and
acknowledged the favour of your’s of the sixth instant,
had not the court of oyer and terminer which met on
Monday last prevented till yesterday the meeting of the
council, to whom I found it necessary to communicate
the proposals you was pleased to mention. In answer
to which I am now to tell you that we don’t think a pre-
vious conference needful; since the proposals for deter-
mining the boundaries, approved by his majesty and
agreed to by the lords proprietors, are so plain as to
admit of no ground for dispute, nor the commissioners
any room for altering the rules therein prescribed; but
it is agreed that whatever shall be necessary for enabling
the commissioners to proceed on their business may be
concerted by letter, to which purpose your commission-
ers will receive by this conveyance from ours what they
judge fit to be agreed on for the better carrying on the

service.”
Vor. Il. 2G

 
 

234 PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS.

V.

PAGE 22.

_ Extract of a Letter from the Virginia Commissioners to

the North Carolina Commissioners.

» © Virginia, 16th December, 1727.

_. “GENTLEMEN,

“We are sorry we can’t have the pleasure of meeting
you in January next, as it was desired by your gover-
nor’s letter; the season of the year in which that was pro-

: posed to be done, and the distance of our habitations from
your frontiers will make our excuse reasonable; besides, .
his majesty’s orders mark our business so plainly that
we are persuaded there can be no difficulty about the
construction of it. After this what imaginable dispute

can arise among gentlemen who meet together with
minds averse to chicane, and with inclinations to do
~ equal justice, both to his majesty and the lords proprie-
tors, in which disposition we make no doubt the com-
missioners on each side will find one another. We are
fully impowered to agree at our first meeting on what
preliminaries shall be thought necessary, which we hope
you will likewise be, that an affair of so great conse-
quence may meet with no delay or disappointment.

‘
4

 

Peterman

2a

Sm Se.

 

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. 235

« We think it very proper to acquaint you in what
manner we intend to come provided, that so you being —
appointed in the same station may, if you please, do the
same honour to your country. We shall bring with us
about twenty men furnished with provisions for thirty
days; we shall have with us a tent and marquees for the
convenience of ourselves and our servants. We bring
as much wine and rum as will enable us and our men to
drink every night to the good success of thé following
day; and because we understand there are gentiles on
the frontiers, who never had an opportunity of being
baptized, we shall have a chaplain with us to make them
christians. For this purpose we intend to rest in our
camp every Sunday that there may be leisure for so good
a work. And whoever in that neighborhood is desirous
of novelty may come and hear a good sermon. Of this
you will please to give notice that the charitable inten-

tions of this government may meet with the happier

success.”

The North Carolina commissioners, in their answer,
take notice of the governor’s letter proposing a confer-
ence by letter; and they ask the opinion of the Virginia
commissioners whether they will run through the Great
Dismal, supposed near thirty miles, or take the latitude

on each side of it—and they go on to say:

« We shall also be glad to know what instruments you
tntend to use to observe the latitude and find the varia-

Hh ¥

I}
f
:

 

& er

Peg ee

 
  

236 PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS:

tion of the compass with, in order to fix a due west line;
for we are told the last time the commissioners met,
their instruments varied several minutes, which we hope

will not happen again, nor any other difficulty that may
“occasion any disappointment or delay, after we have

been at the trouble of meeting in so remote a place, and
with such attendance and equipage as you inform us you
intend on your parts; though we are at a loss gentlemen
whether to thank you for the particulars you give us of
your tent stores and the manner you design to meet us.
Had you been silent about it we had not wanted an ex-
cuse for not meeting you in the same manner; but now

you force us to expose the nakedness of our country, and
totell you we cannot possibly meet you in the manner our

great respect to you would make us glad to do, whom we
are not emulous of outdoing unless in care and diligence
in the affair we come to meet you about. So all we an-
swer to that article is, that we will endeavor to provide as

well as the circumstances of things will admit us; and
what we may want in necessaries will we hope be made

upin the spiritual comfort we expect from your chaplain,
of whom we shall give notice as you desire to all lovers
of novelty, and doubt not of a great many boundary
christians.”

Hi

aa

 

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. 237

Boundary Line.

Miles.
' From the coast to the Great Dismal 232
Through the Dismal - - - 15

To Black Water - - - - 21%

60

 
 

 

 

 

238 PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS.

Ww.
PAGE 32.

Abstract of Cases determined in the Court of Admiralty,
by Edmond Porter, Esquire, Judge.

1, Trotter versus Northey. This was a suit to recover
fifteen shillings and six pence, bill money, about three
shillings sterling; it being a tavern account in Edenton.

A prohibition was obtained, but the judge proceeded :

to decree the debt and costs, and taxed the costs twelve
pounds, for which Northey was put into prison.

N. B. This was made a maritime cause because
Northey was master of a small vessel.

-

2. The case of three masters of vessels from New
England who entered at Port Beaufort. A new naval

officer had lately been appointed at that port, but the old
officer refused to deliver up the office without orders
from the governor, and continued to act. The captains,
ignorant of this matter, entered their vessels with the
old officer: the vessels and cargoes were seized and
libelled on the statute of fifteenth Charles the second,
for not having entered. On trial the thing was so palpably
cruel, as there had been no color of fraud, that the judge
acquitted the vessels; but the masters were condemned

 

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. 239

in excessive costs and charges, amounting to several
hundred pounds, to satisfy which their sails and rigging
as well as their cargoes were sold.

Ld

The assembly voted this a grievance, and addressed
the governor, sir Richard Everard, thereon; but he

thought fit to pass it over.

3. Otteval against the Executors of the late judge
Harvey.

| Same against Little, the Treasurer.
“Otteval, the collector of Bath, had some years ago,
seized some goods for which the captain had no cocket.

The captain alleged some accident and prayed time to
produce the cocket. Judge Harvey, before whom the

case ‘was tried, ordered the goods to be appraised and to.
be returned to the captain, he depositing their value in

money with Little, the treasurer: the money to be for-
feited if the cocket was not produced at a certain time.
The goods were appraised at fifty pounds sterling..The

legal advance was fifty per cent. Seventy-five pounds
were deposited in the hands of the treasurer, and the

cocket not being produced in time, Little paid over the

money according to law.

‘Harvey, the judge of admiralty, died, and Porter
persuaded Otteval to inquire concerning the proceeds
of the seizure. The thing grew upon inquiry, and sun-

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

240 PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. ‘

dry suits were made out of it. The executors of judge
Harvey were sued, and condemned in several hundred
pounds damages and costs, to make good the sum that

the judge ought to have decreed to be paid for the goods. |

And Little, the treasurer, was sued and condemned to

pay another exorbitant sum, to make good the sum that

he ought to have received and paid over for those goods.

Little complained, and excepted against Porter being
judge in this case, for the enmity he was known to bear
him, and put in his plea recusation, drawn in the form
and manner directed in the ‘civil law books, For this
complaint he was fined one hundred pounds and execu-
tion made out against his body.

The other ten cases were of the same kind.

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. 241

W. 2.
PAGE 36.

Extracts from the Docket of the General Court.
1726, July 26th, at a Court, We.

Edmond Porter was indicted for assaulting the gover-
nor, the attorney general, &c. in the street of Edenton.

, 1728, July 28th, at a Court, ic.

The jury present sir Richard Everard (the governor)

for having with his cane twice or thrice struck George
Allen. i

Edmond Porter is indicted for assaulting the gover-

nor and attorney general.

Edmond Porter is indicted for slandering the chief

justice.
' George Allen is indicted for insulting the court.

Edward Mazely is bound over for striking chief justice
. Smith in presence of the general assembly.

Vor. II. 2H

he ed

  

mnie
 

 

242 PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS.

2%
PAGE) 45.

Case of Chief Justice Smith.

‘The assembly was to have met at Newbern the sixth
of November 1738. There were twenty-six members in
town on that day, but twenty-four members constituted a

quorum. Four of the members being particular friends |

of the chief justice and knowing that he was to be ac-
cused of malversation in office absented themselves from
the house. Business could not be done. The governor
prorogued the assembly from day to day. The four absent
members were sent for, but they refused to attend; upon
which the governor by the advice of his council, of which
the chief justice was a member, dissolved the assembly.

The new assembly met the first of February 1739, in -

which a motion was made eleventh of February, to
declare “ The chief justice a just and upright judge, and
to give him the thanks of the house,” The reason given
for this motion was that the last assembly had threatened
to accuse him. Sir Richard Everard, a son of the late
governor, obyiated a vote of thanks by a direct charge
of high crimes and misdemeanors. He prayed for time
_ to prepare, articles of complaint, and that a warrant

 

 

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. 943

should be issued by the speaker to bring vp persons,
papers, and records, according to a list that they should
hand him.

Two days only were allowed to prepare the articles,
although he required six; and he was compelled to enter
upon the trial upon the very hour in which he produced
the articles; that is to say, within forty-eight hours of
the time in which the speaker should have issued his
warrant I say he should have issued it; for, in fact, he
did not issue the warrant before the morning of the thir-

. teenth, the very day upon which the trial came on. He

pretended that the complainants had given a list of too

many papers, and that he must consult the house on the
subject. The chief witnesses and records were to come
from Wilmington and Edenton: the distance to neither
town was less than one hundred miles, but the trial

must commence within forty-eight hours. Could any

thing be more completely farcical? It was clear as light
from this very circumstance, that the supporters of the
chief justice knew that he was guilty.

Seventeen articles of complaint were exhibited; in
which it was among other things alleged,

That, although jurors according to the existing law
should be drawn by balloting, the chief justice caused

_the jurors to be summoned by yenire, and to serve with-

out drawing any lot.

 
 

 

 

24.4 PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS.

- That he held courts without taking the oaths required
by law. .

Y

That he caused criminals capitally convicted to be

executed, not waiting for the governor’s warrant: and |

in a particular case he had pardoned a murderer.

That he frequently fined men for supposed misde-
meanors, without sending for them or hearing counsel
in their’ behalf.

That upon the allegation of a small offence, no infor-
mation being filed by the attorney general, nor bill of
indictment nor trial at law, he had inflicted enormous

fines and caused the parties to be imprisoned until the
fines were paid.

That in many cases he had extorted exorbitant fees
where no fees were due.

That in cases where fees were due he was in the prac-
tice of demanding six, eight, or ten times the legal fee-

They instanced twenty-two pounds ten shillings proc. in-
stead of one pound thirteen shillings and sixpence; and
eight pounds seventeen shillings and sixpence instead of
ten shillings. :

It is to be understood that in all cases he compelled

the parties to pay the actual depreciation. It was from

four to seven for one, by which the above sums were
tobe multiplied.

Some of the charges were fully and clearly established
by witnesses who chanced to be in Newbern, viz. That
the chief justice had demanded and compelled the pay-
ment of illegal, arbitrary and exorbitant fees. But some

Peas ne a Tim ths

ee

————
Y

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. 945

of the charges were to be established by papers and re-
cords from the distance of one hundred miles. It was
known that those papers could not arrive in time, and
the assembly by a majority of one vote refused totake a

- question upon any charge until the whole should be gone

through and every article considered. It followed that
some of the articles were not proven nor attempted to be
proven, because the papers and witnesses had not arri-
ved; therefore it was resolved,

« That the proofs produced and heard to support the
articles were not sufficient for the house to impeach the

chief justice.”

— Fear =
7 ORGY -nerEg vcr REET EEE:

   
  

‘on
 

yw

246 PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS.

X x.
PAGE 67.

Anno 1728, The precincts were, Currituck, Pasque- -

tank, Perquimans, Chowan, Craven, Beaufort, Bertie,
Hyde, Carteret.

1729, Tyrrel, New-Hanover.
1731, Onslow, Bladen.

‘Counties were made as follows:

1741, Edgecomb, Northampton.

1746, Johnstone, Granville, Duplin.

1749, Anson.

1752, Orange, Rowan.

1754, Cumberland. :
1758, Halifax, (Dobbs) now Glasgow Lenoir.
1759, Hartford.

1760, Pitt.

1762, Mecklenburg.

1764, Brunswick, (Bute) now Warren, &c.
1768, Tryon, now Lincoln, &e. .

1770, Surry, Guilford, Wake, Chatham.

 

me agi

it ew. ‘

 

 

eee

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS.

’

Y.

PAGE 103.

Assembly at Newbern. 1760, May 23d.

The house in a committee of the whole,—

Resolve, that they have given seventy-four thousand
pounds to his majesty’s service, which has been ill ap-
plied. Persons, who are favorites, of little weight have
got military commissions. Recruiting service has been
retarded. A paymaster, a relation of the governor, has

been appointed without law for the sake of drawing a
commission.

The governor has sold charters to counties, impower-
ing them to send representatives to the assembly, at a
great price, under the name of fees to the governor and
secretary.

\

The governor grants licenses to ignorant persons to
practise law for the fee of four pistoles.

The governor issues writs in different forms to diffe-
rent counties. In some they are directed only to the
freeholders; in others they are directed to the inhabi-

~

   

 
 

248 PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS.

tants to choose representatives, &c.; by which servants

may vote contrary to the charter of king Charles the
second. 5

The governor, instead of punishing rioters, as advised
by the assembly, has promoted some by giving them
commissions in, the magistracy.

N. B. The assembly had advised the governor to cause
the rioters who seized Corbin to be frunished; but in two

or three months he sent a sheriff’s commission to one of —

1

them.

cad

 

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. - 249

Y.2.
PAGE 105.

1760, Movember 7th, Assembly at Newbern.

The assembly complain, that of the first two hundred
thousand pounds granted by parliament, they did not re-
ceive any part, from the wantof an agent as they conceive.

. Virginia received twenty thousand five hundred and for-

ty-six pounds of that grant, and they received thirty-two
thousand two hundred and sixty-eight pounds nineteen

shillings of the next grant of five hundred thousand
pounds; whereas North Carolina, received only seven
thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine pounds one
shilling and one pence sterling; out of which one thou-
sand pounds was deducted to pay the troops at New-

York.

6»
—_

Vor Il.

 

EE GEIS. ee RRP aE 5,

=

 
 

 

250 _ PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS.

WM ods
PAGE 108.

Extract of a Letter from Lord Granville to Fr.
Corbin his agent, April 18th, 1756.

“Great and frequent complaints are transmitted to me
of those persons you employ to receive entries and
make surveys in the back counties. It is their extor-

tions and not the regular fees of office which is the cause
of clamor from my tenants. Insinuations are made too

as if those extortions were connived at by my agents;
for otherwise it is said, they could not be committed
so repeatedly and barefacedly.”

 

 

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. 951
]

Y. 4.
PAGE 113.

Anno 1762, April 13th. The Assembly met at Wil-
mington. *

The governor pressed the assembly to raise more
troops. They allege that they could only provide for the
defence of the province, and they insinuate that “to
judge of ‘the future by what is past,” money raised for
his majesty’s use would not be well applied.

The governor charged them with sending numerous
complaints of his administration to their agent in Lon-

don.

After proroguing the assembly from day to day to the
twenty-eighth of the month, he dissolved them without

suffering that meeting to be a session. By that process
he cut off their claim to pay; telling them that for the
present they should not complain of his putting the pro-

vince to needless expense.

The assembly had passed a law for erecting public
buildings and fixing the seat of government at Tower
Hill on the river Neus below Kingston. The heavy ex-

 

eb
Hilf
‘

a
252 PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. 3 PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. 253
penses of the war and other circumstances induced senate, the house of assembly having read ita third time,
them afterwards to attempt a repeal of the law, but the afterwards discovered that their clerk, in transcribing the
governor would not consent. 1: ‘pill, had omitteda very material clause, although the whole
* clause was inserted in the caption of the bill. They propo-
N. B. The governor owned the land at Tower Hill. a * sed to the senate to have the clerical omission corrected.

The senate refused to admit the correction. The house

addressed the governor, praying that he would not assent
* Wilmington. i to the bill in that ridiculous form. The governor return-

Anno. 1764, November 19th. The Assembly sitting at

Davis, the public printer, had lately incurred the dis- ed'them no answer. They voted, for the sake of decen-

pleasure of governor Dobbs, and he imported one cy, that their speaker should not present the rickety

bill to the governor for acceptance; but they were in-
formed that unless that very bill should be presented to

Stewart, a printer, from Philadelphia. The house of

assembly would not, agree to,give Stewart a salary; but
they voted him one hundred pounds for hits expenses the governor he would not assent to any other bill. So

in coming to the province and returning. To this vote , willing was the governor to do a ridiculous thing for the

the council and the governor assented; but they immedi- a sake of exposing the assembly. ,

ately rejected a vote of the assembly for appointing

Davis their printer. The governor informed the house Mr. Dobbs had purchased lands in Anson county

that printing the laws appertained to the royal preroga- from M‘Culloch, before he was appointed governor of

tive, and he appointed Stewart to print the laws lately : North Carolina.
patented as part of North Carolina, but they were after-

any money upon an order of the governor and council; ; wards taken up and settled under South Carolina titles.

These lands had long since been

enacted. The assembly ordered the treasurer not to pay

and they instructed their speaker to send a copy of the — ‘ The governor went to see the lands, accompanied by the

 

laws to Davis, to be printed according to their vote of sheriff of Anson, who had a process of ejectment against

the twenty-sixth of November, which had been rejected ' the settlers. The sheriff was resisted by a justice of the

by the governor’s council. peace of South Carolina and an armed posse. The

governor did not escape personal insults; for the justice

A bill for regulating proceedings in the borough shook his cane over the governor’s head. The gover-

court. of Wilmingtoa being on its passage before the i nor complained to the governor of South Carolina of the

 

 
 

254 PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. POOR AD ERE ARIF 255

treatment he had received. That gentleman ‘replied
that he was sorry for the incident, but he could not ‘say
that the justice was to blame. As for the ejectments, Z.
he added, that he “ had ordered them to be treated with

PAGE 114,
the contempt they deserved.”’*

1 pee t am} * Account of Bills of Credit and Treasurer’s Notes issued
Original letters in my hands. .

. at different times, as it stood Anno 1764.

; 1748. Issued, to be a tender at thirty
three and one-third per cent. ad-

vanceon sterling, and to be redeem- d. ad

ed by a tax of one-shilling per poll, 21,350 00 00
1754. Issued, to be a tender as above,
and redeemed by a tax of one shil-
ling per poll, and a tax of four
pence per gallon on imported spir-

its, » - -= © © += + 40,000 0 00
1760. Issued, as above, and to be re-
deemed by an additional poll tax of

A i) one shilling, from 1763, - = 12,000 00 00
| 1761, Issued, as above, to be redeem-
ed by an additional poll tax of two

| shillings, from 1764, - - 20,000 00 00

 

< Tt | cs

Amount - - - - - 93,350 00 00
i Of those bills there has been burnt 25,286 12 00:

 

| Balance in circulation, = - : 68,063 8 00

 

 
  

256 PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS.

1756. Issued, in Treasurer’s notes at six
' per cent. interest for one year, redeem-
able by a poll tax of two shillings.and an
‘additional two pence per gallon on im-

ported spirits, for 1756, - %
1757. Issued, in similar notes, redeemable

by a poll tax of four shillings and six

pence, for 1757, and a tax on law suits

for two years, - ates - 5306 00 00

1757. Issued, in similar notes, and redeem-
able by a poll tax of’six shillings and six —

pence, for 1758, - - - - 9500 00 00

1758. Issued, in similar notes, and redeem-
able by a poll tax of four shillings and

six pence, for 1759, and two pence per

gallon on imported spirits for four years, 7000 00 00

1758.Issued, in similar notes, and redeem-
able by a poll tax of three shillings.and ~
one pence, for 1760, + Fete -

1759. Re-issued, in similar notes, borrowed
and to be replaced without interest by
a tax of one shilling and eight pence per
poll, for three years, - 55001,
N. B. This gave no addition to the cir-

a

8.

d.
3600 00 00

4000 00 00

 

culating notes.
Amount of the principal of the notes
Interest on the several sums -

Amount of principal and interest

ee a

29,406 00 00
1,370 00 00

30,776 00 00

lta a eag mee
acne

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS, 257

faved Sita}

_ Amount brought forward, 80,774 00 00
There has been collected and burnt of

those notes, including interest, - 23,807 3 10

 

-——__—_—_

Balance in circulation, interest included, 6,968 16 2
‘

Hence it appears that there has been’
emitted, since the beginning of the ‘
year 1748, in bills of credit at pro-
clamation standard - - - 93,350 00 00
In notes on interest, - “ - 30,776 00 00

 

 

124,126 00 00

Bills and Notes burnt A am

49,093 15 10

 

There remains in circulation, - 75,032 4 2

For sinking of which there is a poll tax of four shil-
lings per poll in future, and a duty of four pence per gal-
lon on imported spirits, until the whole shall be sunk.

coe]
ra

Vor. IT.

STARS Ty MRE RAE ERNE sy

  
 
  
   

.

258 _ PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS.

Bog
PAGE 118.

Extract of a Petition from sundry Inhabitants of the

county of Rowan.

To the Governor, his Majesty’s honourable Council and
the House of Burgesses of North Carolina.

The petitioners complain, “ That his majesty’s most
dutiful and loyal subjects in this county, who adhere to
the liturgy and profess the doctrines of the church of
England, as by law established, have not the privileges
and advantages which the rubrick and canons of the
church allow and enjoin on all its members. That the
acts of assembly calculated to forming a regular vestry
in all the counties have never in this county produced
their happy fruits. That the county of Rowan above all
counties in the province, lies under great disadvantages;
as her inhabitants are composed almost of all nations of
Europe; and instead of uniformity in doctrine and wor-

ship they have a medley of most of the religious tenets

that have lately appeared in the world; who from dread of

submitting to the national church should a lawful vestry
be established, elect such of their own community as
evade the acts of assembly and refuse the oaths, whence
we can never expect the regular enlivening beams of

the holy gospel to shine upon us.”

’

sa _

 

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. 259

They go on to pray that means be taken for compel-
ling persons chosen vestry men to take the oaths pre-
scribed, or such other means as may produce a regular

‘lawful vestry.

There were thirty-four subscribers to the petition; six

of them made their marks, and some of the other sig-
natures are hardly legible. When thirty-four such per-
sons could propose that six or seven hundred should be
taxed for their accommodation, they certainly had need

of the gospel that teaches humility.

CORE SD HET EMIT Ge

  
 
  
 

 

260 PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS.

BB:
PAGE 130.

« Ata meeting in the neighborhood of Deep River,
twentieth of August 1766, unanimously agreed to ap-
point W. C. and W. M., to attend at a geheral meeting
on the tenth of October, at Maddock’s mill, where they
ate judiciously to examine whether the freemen in this
county labor under any abuses of power; and in par-
ticular to examine into the fudlic tax, and inform them-
selves of every particular thereof, dy what laws and for
what uses it is laid, in order to remove some jealousies

out of our minds.”

‘

“ And the representatives, vestry-men and other
officers, are requested to give the members of the said

meeting what information and satisfaction they can,.

so far as they value the good will of every honest free-

holder, and the executing public offices pleasant and ~

delightsome.”

 

 

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. 261

BB. 2.
PAGE 131.

i
4
i

Ata meeting of the Inhabitants of Orange County, on the
10th of October 1766, for conference on frublic affairs
with our Refiresentatives, Vestry-men, &c.

“It was the judgment of the said meeting, that by

; , reason of the extent of the county no one man in it ina

ieee none

general way was known by above one tenth man of the
inhabitants; for which reason, such a meeting for a public
and free conference, yearly and as often as the case may
require, was absolutely necessary, in order to reap the
benefit designed us in that part of our constitution of
choosing representatives and knowing for what uses our
money is called for.”

ete Gag ey TRS ERAT Ge

   
 

 

 

262 PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. ,

B B.3.
PAGE 132.’

“ We the subscribers do voluntarily agree to form
ourselves into an association, to assemble ourselves for
conference for regulating public grievances and abuses
of power, in the following particulars, with others of the
like nature that may occur.

“1, That we will pay no more taxes until we are satis-
fied they are agreeable to law, and applied to the pur-

poses therein mentioned; unless we cannot help it, or

are forced.

‘2, That we will pay no officer any more fees than.
the law allows, unless we are obliged to it; and then te

show our dislike, and bear an open testimony against it.
U

“ 3, That we will attend our meetings of conference
as often as we conveniently can, and is necessary, in
order to consult our representatives on the amendment
of such laws as may be found grievous or unnecessary;
and to choose more suitable men than we have done
heretofore for burgesses and vestry-men; and to petition
the houses of assembly, governor, council, king and
parliament, &c. for redress in such grievances as in the

course of the undertaking may occur; and to inform one

 

 

See ae Wee ren ee

<0 iris Saat Sect Rc:

 

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. 263

another, learn, know, and enjoy all the privileges and
liberties that are allowed and were settled on us by our
worthy ancestors, the founders of our present constitu-

* tion, in order to preserve it on its ancient foundation,

that it may stand firm and unshaken.

‘4, That we will contribute to collections for defray-

ing necessary expenses attending the work, accordipg
to our abilities. — 4 ;

“5, That in case of difference in judgment, we will
submit to the judgment of the majority of our body.
” «To all which we solemnly swear, or being a quaker,

or otherwise scrupulous in conscience of the common
‘ .
oath, do solemnly affirm, that we will stand true “and

faithful to this cause, till we bring things to a true regu-
lation, according to the true intent and meaning hereof,
in the judgment of the majority of us.”

 
  

SERN. Tay ANY RAE MSR Ga
 

 

 

264 PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS.

B B. 4.
PAGE 134.

GENTLEMEN,
I receiyed by the hands of Messrs. Hunter and How-
ell a petition, and other papers, subscribed by several of

the inhabitants on the south side of Haw river, in the’

county of Orange, under.the borrowed title of Regula-
tors, assuming to themselves power and authorities
(unknown to the constitution) of calling public officers
to a settlement; together with a narrative of their con-
duct, and.detail of the grievances and complaints against

the clerk of the county register, and other other public

officers, whose exactions and oppressions it is pretended —

has been the cause of the late insurrections which have
disturbed the peace of that part of the county.

These papers I have, agreeably to you desire, com-
municated to the members of his majesty’s council, who
having taking the same into their deliberate considera-
tion, unanimously concur with me in opinion, that the
grievances complained of by no means warrant the ex-
traordinary steps you have taken in assembling your-
selves together in arms, to the obstruction of the course
of justice, to the insult of public officers, and to the in-
jury of private property; measures, as they manifestly

*

_ PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. 265

tend to the subversion of the constitution of this govern-
ment, would inevitably, if carried but a little further,
have been denominated, and must have been treated, as
high treasons and consequently have involved the abettors;
most of whom I am satisfied were actuated by honest

motives, though incautiously drawn in to concur in acts
that might have terminated in the ruin and destruction
of their families, while by illegal means they are intent
on exempting themselves from evils, within the remedy
of the laws of their country.

i

These calamities, I trust, are now removed by the

_timely proclamation I sent up to you by my secretary,

and your own prudent determination to petition me in
council for the redress of the grievances complained of.
The discreet and steady behaviour of colonel Fanning,

and the officers and men under his command, met not
only with the entire approbation of myself and his
majesty’s council, but will ever be acknowledged with
gratitude by every well wisher to this province.

I take this opportunity to acquaint all those whose
understandings have been run away with, and whose
passions have been led in captivity by some evil design-
ing men, who, actuated by cowardice and a sense of that
public justice which is due to their crimes, have obscur-
ed themselves from public view;—that in consideration
of a determination to abide by my decision in council, it

is my direction, by the unanimous advice of that board,
Vou II. 2L

’

ie
i
2
F
4
g
f

 
 

 

266 PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS.

that you do, from henceforward, desist from any further

meetings, either by verbal appointment or advertise-
ment. That all titles of Regulators or Associators cease
among you. That the sheriff and other officers of the
government are permitted, without molestation, to exe-
cute the duties of their respective offices. And that alk
breaches of the peace against his majesty’s government

may be determined and examined in a due course of law.

It is by your strict and punctual adherence to these
directions, that any further clemency, on my part, may
be looked for. ;

This wasthe extent of what I authorized Mr. Edwards
to declare on my behalf. And now, that I have signified to
you the sense his majesty’s council entertain of the
nature of your proceedings, and the requisition I point
out, by their advice, for your future conduct,—

I am to assure you, willing as Iam to listen to the
voice of distress, the just complaints of his majesty’s
subjects, and the hardships they may groan under, that
I shall give his majesty’s attorney general orders to
prosecute every officer who has been guilty of extortion
or illegal practices in his office, upon any application or
iiformation lodged with him by the parties injured, or
any others who shall be authorized to prosecute on their
behalf. As also, set up a proclamation on my arrival at
Hillsborough, forbidding all such dishonorable and ille-
gal proceedings.

-

 

 

f

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. 267

You may further depend upon it, I shall, at all times,
endeavor to redress every other grievance in my pow-
er, that his majesty’s subjects may labor under.

As you want to be satisfied what is the amount of the
tax) for ‘the public service for 1767, I am to inform
you, it is seven shillings a taxable, besides the county
and parish taxes, the particulars of which I will give to
Mr. Hunter. ~

I have only to add, I shall be up at Hillsborough the

beginning of next month. In the mean time I rest

in full confidence I shall again be made happy by seeing
industry prevailing over faction, and peace and harmony

triumphing over jealousies and murmuring, in a soil
and climate ‘the most fertile in the world, and among a

people, who, by a well directed industry, may draw down

blessings and prosperity to their families, and greatly

contribute to the honor of his majesty’s government,

and the happiness of my administration.

. } WILLIAM TRYON.

At the council chamber, ‘
Brunswick, the 21st
June, 1768.

}
}

siti 7

 
  

cE SER AREER Se
 

268 . PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. —

BB. 5.
PAGE 136,

“ GENTLEMEN,
“Jn strict: conformity to the promise I made you in
my Jetter,dated from the council-chamber, at Brunswick,
I issued a proclamation on my arrival at Hillsborough, a

copy of which I herewith transmit to you.

— & Tralso gave Mr. attorney general orders to prose-
cute at law all public officers in your county, for abuses
in their offices, on application made to him by or in be-

half of the parties injured.

“It is now therefore by my advice and consent, that
Mr. Tyree Harris waits on you to proceed in the collec-
tion of the public county and parochial taxes of Orange
county, for the year 1767.

“have the fullest confidence that you will, agreeably
to the direction of the above mentioned letter toyou, and’
in justice to the principles of your engagement to abide
my decision in council, make it a matter of honor and
conscience among yourselves, that Mr. Harris and his
deputies shall not meet with any interruption in so
essential and an immediately necessary a discharge of

his duty, in obedience to the laws of this country.

WILLIAM TRYON.”
Hillsborough, August 1, 1768,

 

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. 269

B B. 6.
PAGE 142.

“Extract of aletter from Rednap: Howell to James Hunter,
dated at Halifax, 16th February, 1771.

' “© RespEcTED FRIEND,

‘« On my arrival here I had certain information that
Herman was at liberty, so that I found it needless to
raise the country; but I am satisfied it would easily be
done if occasion required.‘ However, I have animated
the people here to join the Regulators. On Saturday

come two weeks they are to have a meeting for that
purpose. If it once takes a start here it will run into the

neighboring counties of Edgecomb, Bute and North-
ampton, and this will undoubtedly facilitate justice to
poor Carolina. 1 will now inform you of such things as

I have learnt since I left home.

« At Newbern the governor called a general muster
of eleven hundred men. After treating them at my and
your expense, he tried to prevail on them to march
against the rebels; but on one man’s absolute refusal, he
ordered him to turn out of the ranks for a traitor, which
he very readily did, and all the regiment followed or
were following him. The governor perceiving his mis-
take, says, Gentlemen, you mistook me; I only meant

 
 

270. PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS.

t

should they come down andedestroy all your livings
would you not fight them. They answered, Yes; on

‘which he dismissed them. They then gathered in com-

panies of six, eight, ten, or twelve, growling and swear-
ing would the mob come down they would join them.

“In Dobbs a general muster was called for the same
purpose; but only seven men attended. I am informed
the clerks’ places in new counties are parcelled among
the quality. One Cooper is designed for your county;
but if you suffer any rascal to come there, may eternal

oppression be your lot. As I cannot safely depend on
the Irish ahead, pray you will reserve that. morsel for
yours to serve; for as the whole province is in your

fayor you may do as you list in that respect. I under-
stand Butler and you are to be outlawed. Despise it;
laugh at it. We hear that the governor has sent a pro-
clamation to you, importing as the French and Spaniards
are now at war with us, it is a pity to breed a civil war
among ourselves. That the chief cause of the troubles
was the counterfeit money, for which the great men
were to blame. Artful villain! If he could have raised
the province on us he would soon have told another tale;
however if this be true, the day is ours in spite of Luci-
fer. I give out here that the Regulators are determined
to whip every one who goes to law, or will not pay his
just debts, or will not agree to leave his cause to men,
where disputed. That they will choose representatives,

ei AS

noida %.

]

 

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. Q71

but not send them to be put in jail. In short, to stand
in defence; and as to thieves, to drive them out of the
country. I leave the plan to your consideration. From
your sincere friend, : ; ;
REDNAP HOWELL.”

3
7
ty
int

Fj
He

i
if

 
 

272 PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS.

BB. 7.
PAGE 144,

Crrcutar Orpers. March 19th, 1771; |
To Col.

 

» or to the Commanding officer of the
Regiment of Militia.

 

‘“‘ The council determined yesterday to march a body
of troops, taken from the several regiments of militia,
into the settlements of the insurgents, who have set
government at defiance and shut up the courts of law,
to reduce them to obedience. You are to take fifty
volunteers from your regiment, to form one company,
officered by one captain, one lieutenant, one ensign,
two sergeants, two corporals, one drummer, one clerk.
Volunteer supernumerary officers may draw rations
and the pay of privates. Privates to be allowed two shil-
lings per day, the other eight pence to go for provisions;
to receive forty shillings bounty, a pair of ieggings, a
cockade and. haversack; the forty shillings to be ad-
vanced.

“ Rations, one pound of pickled pork, or one pound
and a half of fresh beef; one pound of flour, or one pound
and a half corn meal. Each company to have a cart and

two horses to carry baggage. The owner of cart and

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. 273

horses to be allowed seven shillings and six pence per

day, and a ration of provisions: he to find corn for his
horses.”

“ The time of march and route will be fixed.”,

“Printed warrants shall be issued payable to bearer
for all expenditures. Those warrants to be negotiable
until the tredsurer can pay them out of the contigent
fund, in case the money in the treasury does not prove
sufficient.”

Vor. IT. “2M

 

 

 

 
 

 

274 PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS.

«<
1

BB. 8.
PAGE 146.

General Waddell’s Camp, Pott’s Creek, \0th May 1771.

By a council of officers of the western detachment—
Considering the great superiority of the insurgents in
number, and the resolution of a great part of their own
men not to fight, it was resolved that they should retreat
across the Yadkin.

~Wm. Lindsay ¢ Griffith Rutherford

Ad. Alexander Saml. Spencer
Thos. Neel Robert Harris
Fr. Ross - Saml. Snead

Robt. Schaw Wm. Luckie.

May 11th. Captain Alexander made oath before Griffith
Rutherford that he had passed along the lines of the
Regulators in arms, drawn up on ground he was acquaint~
ed with. The foot appeared to him to extend a quarter of
a mile, seven or eight deep; and the horse to extend one

hundred and twenty yards, twelve or fourteen deep.

 

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. 275

BB.9.
PAGE 147,

_ Governor Tryon’s army consisted of four companies
from Craven, two from Dobbs, one from Carteret, one
from Johnstone, one from Beaufort, one from Wake,
one from Pitt, one from Orange,—forming the first Bri-

gade.
From New Hanover; and the adjacent counties nearly

the same number, forming the second Brigade; and a
company of artillery from Craven.

John Ashe the treasurer issued notes that passed as
money on the expedition. They were exchanged by the

assembly for money. The militia were seventy-seven
days on duty. This insurrection cost the province sixty-

thousand pounds.

 

.
}
‘a
4
f
¥
€
‘

 

 
 

 

276 PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS,

BB. 10. |
PAGE 149.

Captain Potter commanded a company of thirty men
from Beaufort: fifteen of these men were killed or
wounded in the action.

The Regulators were chiefly from the country between
the river Eno and the Yadkin. They were from Orange,

Randolph, Anson, Montgomery, Guilford, Chatham; and
some were from Rowan and Surry. —

 

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS.

aw
ss
tT

cc.
PAGE 158.

No regular system had ever been adopted in the pro-
vince for keeping the public accounts. Great sums of
public money had been lost by the negligence or insol-
vency of collectors, and it was presumed that consider-
able sums lodged in the treasury had never been
accounted for. (Tryon’s speech, October 31st, 1769.)

The same want of attention to delinquent collectors,

and the same want of system in keeping public accounts,
prevailed in the state during the greater part of the

revolution war. The legislature being sensible of the
great loss they had sustained by this want of system, or
rather by the absolute want of accounts, instituted a
comptrollership in the year 1782; and that office was very
properly given to Richard Caswell, a gentleman who
had acquired military reputation, in the year 1775, by
the action at Moor’s creek, in which seventeen or eigh-
teen hundred royalists, highlanders and regulators, were
defeated, cut off, or dispersed, by the militia under his
command. By his talents and application to business he
had become a popular chief magistrate. Under his care
the public accounts, so far as vouchers or documents had
been taken or preserved, assumed a regular form; but

 

 

 
 

278 PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS.

there continued to be as many treasurers as there were
judiciary districts. In the year 1785, Caswell being chosen
governor, the office of comptroller passed into other
hands; and the assembly on the next year having discov-
ered the impropriety of having so many treasurers,
determined to have a single treasurer, who should be
_ vested with sufficient power to call delinquents to an
account.’ That office, with the utmost propriety, was
committed to John Haywood, Esq.; a gentleman, who to
gentle manners and the most obliging disposition, has
joined the utmost diligence and the most inflexible
virtue. The public are well assured that delinquents do
not escape, and that every man shall be compelled to
account for the money he receives; hence it is that no
complaints are heard at present concerning the abuse of
public trust, or misapplication of money. ’

xsd

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. 279

DD.

PAGE 162.

cd
The main land of North Carolina is separated in most

parts from the ocean by a Sound, of different breadths,
and a sandy bank, that is about one mile broad and one
hundred miles long. This bank is chiefly settled; and
the inhabitants, some hundreds in number, are employ-
ed in fishing, piloting, or navigating small coasting ves-
sels. North Carolina has been long noted for the num-
ber of ships that are wrecked upon its coast in the
vicinity of Cape Hatterass. There is hardly any other
coast on which a ship may be cast away with so little

danger to the lives of mariners: a circumstance that is
fully understood by the masters of old vessels that are
well insured. It is known that on the coast of Cornwall
in England, on the coast of Ireland, of France, and on
every other coast where ships are frequently wrecked,
the mariners and passengers are in much danger of
being murdered by the inhabitants for the sake of get-
ting their property. The laws of England, where the
police is well regulated, have not been able fully to pre-
vent those abominable outrages upon humanity. On the
coast of Carolina there has not been an instance of mur-
der. The mariner or passenger, who may have the misfor-
tune to be shipwrecked, is hospitably received. The

i
ti
t
E

 

 
 

280 — PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS.

bankers lend their active assistance in saving the cargo.
Force or violence has not been offered in a single instance
that is recollected: The writer has seen the bankers in
the act of saving cargoes, and he has conversed with
the masters of many vessels that have been wrecked
on that coast. Their reports have been uniform, and
they have accorded with his own observations. This re-
markable difference in the manners of men who are
placed in similar circumstances, a difference so honor-
able to the bankers of Carolina, cannot be the effect of
accident—it must be founded in nature.

The patriotism and fidelity of those bankers is not less
conspicuous than their humanity. During the whole of
the revolution war there was not a single case in which
an inhabitant of the banks could be prevailed on by
threats or bribes'to pilot a ship of the enemy. There
was a case in which a privateer of the enemy took four
young men by stratagem from Roanoke Island, and two
small schooners. The schooners were armed as tenders
to cruize along the coast, and two of the young men were
put into each of the small vessels to serve as pilots. With-
in six days the pilots had the address and courage to be-
come masters of both the tenders, and to bring them

with their guns and people to Edenton.

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. 281

EE.

PAGE 166.

The congress of the United States, in the year 1779,
called upon the several states to pay into the treasury

_in the course of that year their respective quotas of sixty

millions of the paper money then in circulation. The
quota of North Carolina was four millions three hundred
and sixty thousand.

The assembly during their session at Wake, on the

following year, laid a tax, of which one half was to be
paid in state currency, and the other half was to be paid

in money of the United States, usually called continental
money. This would have discharged a considerable part

_ of their debt. The taxes were duly collected in the dis-

tricts of Edenton, Newbern and Wilmington; but the
current value of continental bills of credit was to those
of North Carolina as two to one. A saving of one half
was an object to men who were not disposed to rever-
ence the laws. An old member of assembly in Hills-
borough district was not ashamed to advise some of the
sheriffs not to collect the taxes according to law, and he
advised the people not to pay any part of the tax in con-
tinental money. Bad exampie is infectious, and bad

advice is frequently pleasant.
Vou. If. 2N

 

a

 
 

282 PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS,

The taxes in the four northern and western districts,
Halifax, Hillsborough, Salisborough and Morgan, were
chiefly collected in state currency. There were five
millions three hundred and twenty thousand one hundred
and eighty-eight dollars, in continental money, collected
chiefly in the three lower districts, and paid into the
treasury of the United States. The value of that payment

at forty for one, the scale by which it was rated by con- ~

gress, is one hyndred and thirty-three thousand and four
dollars. It is alleged, that the tax that should have been
collected in the four upper districts was at least equal to
three fourths of that sum; whence it follows that North
Carolina suffered a loss of ninety-nine thousand dollars,
by the interference of short sighted individuals, who
presumed to insult the civil government and abrogate a

law of the state.

—yeveb be ei

 

\

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. 283

a
PAGE 167.

Extracts form the Journals of the House of Re-

presentatives.

Assembly at Newbern, January 25th, 1775.

A bill to amend and continue an act, &c. entitled
an act for dividing the province into six several dis-
tricts, &c. was presented to the governor and rejected.

Mr. Caswell moved for leave to present a bill with
nearly the same title.

March Ist. The house received this message from

the senate:
“ Upon reading the third time the bill continuing an

act for dividing the province into six several districts,
&c. we observe that you’ have deleed the following

elause:”

And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid,
that for the future the estate of no person whatso-
ever who hath never resided in this province shall
be, liable to ail attachment otherwise than accord-
ing to the laws and statutes of England in like cases,
and that every clause and section in the before

 

  
    
 
  
   
 
 
 
 
 
   
 

284 PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS,

recited , act contrary thereto shall thenceforth be

repealed.
“ Restore this clause and the bill may pass.”

March 2d.

GentLEmen of his majesty’s honorable council,
In answer to your message of the Ist inst. upon your
reading for the third time the bill continuing an act for
dividing this province, &c.—

We can by no means admit the clause which you in-
serted upon a former reading, and which upon the’ most
mature deliberation has been deleed in our house, viz.

« And be it further enacted,” (as above) —

We are of opinion it would be highly inconsistent
with the commercial policy of this province to relin-
_ quish the benefit of the attachment of the effects of those

who are not resident here; as from the absence of their
persons, creditors have no security but what is derived
from their property in the province, upon the faith of
which those debtors have in many instances obtained

credit.

‘

We conceive that the privilege we claim is exercised ©
by many, if not all our sister colonies, varied, agreeably
to the particular circumstances of each particular place,
and regulated by provincial laws; and in some instances
by the municipal customs, in certain liberties and fran-

sill ~ - ok

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. 285

chises of Great Britain. And as we can discover nothing
in our constitution that can validate a distinction so in-
jurious to this country, we cannot in justice to ourselves

and constituents assent to it. es

'~We notice that the clause proposed by you is not

confined to the inhabitants of Great Britain, but extends
its influence to persons resident in the other colonies,
whose effects are thereby guarded from attachment for
any debts they may owe us, while ours may at any time
be made the subject of attachments at their suits, for any
debt-we may have contracted with them.

It is the sense of this house that by the laws and statutes
of Great Britain no provision whatever is made for at-
tachments. That as far as they are known in Great

Britain, they exist by municipal customs and are confined
to liberties and franchises, governed by the particular
circumstances of the place and people, so essentially
local in the application of them as not to admit of being
extended by any analogy to this province. And as we
must be referred, in case of your amendments taking
place, to the laws and statutes of Great Britain for our
remedy by attachment, such application must from what
we have observed, be altogether nugatory and fruitless.
We doubt not but the judges of our courts of law, zeal-
ous for the welfare of this province, would give a liberal
construction to the clause proposed; but by the laws in
force must their decisions be confined and fettered: with

 
 

286 PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS.

this restriction, we think that no legal just interpretation
could be formed but what must operate as a denial of
the benefits we seek from the attachment law. To secure
a privilege so important, the mode of obtaining it should
be grounded on certainty; the law positive and express,
and nothing left for the exercise of doubt or discretion,

N. B. The bill passed with a suspending clause, and
was disallowed of by the king. It was only to have con-

tinued in force six months, and thence to the end of the -

hext sitting of the assembly; and it was so framed that
it became incumbent on the creditor to give the foreign
debtor twelve months’ notice before he could bind his

effects by a judgment.

1773, December 4th. Assembly at Newbern.

By THE GoveRNoR,

& With respect to the law of attachments which was.
unhappily the source of so much embarrassment at the last
session, his majesty having the most tender and paren-
tal solicitude for the welfare and happiness of all his
people, continues disposed to indulge the desires of his
subjects in this colony, as far as it may be done without
violation of the constitution; and is graciously pleased
to allow that provision be made here by law for attach-
ments in cases where the cause of action arises within
the colony; due proof being made upon oath before such

attachment issues, whether original or judicial, that the .

defendant in the suit has absconded to avoid payment of

a Re ee eT Se MT Ee TO Te ee Pe

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. 287

his debts, and that the ordinary process of law cannot be
served upon him.”

Extract from the Answer of the House, &'c.

“ The idea of foreign attachments is inseparable from
a trading people, and under the former happy constitu-
tion of our courts it gave credit to the province and
secured the confidence of our neighbors. The altera-

_ tion which your excellency has thought fit to communi-

cate with the utmost candor to us, we humbly conceive
to be by no means an adequate remedy for the mischiefs
which it is the purpose of that process to obviate, and
such as we cannot in duty to ourselves or our constitu-
ents adopt.

“ We have been ready upon all occasions to testify
our obedience to every salutary measure which his ma-
jesty, through his governor, has been pleased to recom-
mend to us. Ruled by the same sovereign and equally
entitled to the blessings of the British constitution with
‘the rest of his subjects, we claim a security for our pro-

~ perties, essential to our commercial interests and uni-

formly enjoyed by the mote favored inhabitants of our
sister colonies.”

   

     
  
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    

Se ee ee
 

288 PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS.
GG.
P PAGE 205.

The following list was handed the author a few years
ago by Mr. Grove, a member of congress, who lives’ in
Fayetteville. It gives the age of people then living, and
of others who lately died in that, neighborhood. He
alleges that he was personally acquainted with many of

those people, and had taken much pains to know the
truth of the statement. None of those people were
natives of Cumberland county, for they were pretty well

advanced in life before any settlements were formed in
that part of the country; but the age of the several per-
sons, the place of their nativity, and the length of their
residence in or near Cumberland county, in most cases,

are stated.
Persons living anno 1798.

Names. Nativity. Residence. Age.
Mrs. Turner, Virginia, omitted 106
Mrs. Fry, Maryland, omitted ° 90
Mrs. Meadows, Pennsylvania, 60 years 103
Mrs. Graham, | Scotland, 60 90
Owen Carpenter, Treland, 56 100
A. M‘Gill, Scotland, 56 4590
Daniel Grimes, do. 50 92

te

PROOFS AND EXPLANATIONS. 289

* The following persons lately died.
Years of Residence. Age.

Mrs. Tommie, aPalatine, ~~ 55 106
Mrs. M‘Alister, Scotland, 58 4, 112
Mrs. Cruise, 105
Duncan Campbell, Scotland, 56 108
James Mears, Ireland, 60 106
Ab. Grimes, Scotland, 56 104
Arch. Patterson, do. 40 90

It cannot escape the reader’s notice that the most

aged persons were women. By living chiefly within
doors they escaped the diseases that are caused bya
sudden change of weather and obstructed perspiration.

There were living in Pitt county in the year 1794,

William Taylor, aged one hundred and fourteen; Lan-

celot James and John Banks, each of them above one
hundred years old. William Haward, of Acacoke island,

aged one hundred and eight, had lived seventy-seven
years on the banks.

THE END.

Vou. If. 2.0

  

 
 

 

FERRE ACT SR NS 9 ty ERP gy, FSET Te

casi

 
 

 

 

a, * ‘
4
¥
-
a
‘
a
; c
*
‘
ie ta me
Reem aie gg 2g <i sian - ~~ “ eaten amelinametent Se SSR enteate . ee. os

 
 

 

 

’
”. .
'
.
f
. j ;
‘ Ree ee snes cists mnnenerensien ieee Scie apg satiny
x i las i ia Re as a SRR cd a ae Ory ws be ta sip
ig x . , = S :
‘ ? ‘ \ i 3 ; <a
i : /
:
. r + j
1
j
}
‘ 7
. 4
4
a rs
~. oe
« 1
*
: .
&
-
s
:
¢
\ “a

 
 

 
Sot, ee es ET Fe ES ie EO