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Chapter 35:
The Regulators of
North Carolina.—Hillsborough's Ad-Ministration of the Colonies continued.
July—September, 1768.
The people of
Boston had gone out of favor with
almost every body in
England.
1 Even
Rockingham had lost all patience, saying the
Americans were determined to leave their friends on his side the water, without the power of advancing in their behalf a shadow of excuse.
2 This was the state of public feeling, when, on the nineteenth of July,
Hallowell arrived in
London with letters giving an exaggerated account of what had happened in
Boston on the tenth of June.
The news was received with general dismay;
London,
Liverpool and
Bristol grew anxious; stocks fell greatly, and continued falling.
Rumors came also of a suspension of commerce, and there was a debt due from
America to the merchants and manu facturers of
England of four millions sterling.
3
In the Ministry, anger expelled every other sentiment, and nearly all united in denouncing ‘vengeance,’
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as they expressed it, ‘against that insolent
town’ of
Boston.
4 The thought of gaining quiet by repealing or modifying the act, was utterly discountenanced.
‘If the
Government,’ said they, ‘now gives way as it did about the Stamp Act, it will be all over with its authority in
America.’
As
Grafton had escaped to the country,
5 Hallowell was examined at the
Treasury Chambers before Lord North and
Jenkinson.
6 He represented that the determination to break the revenue laws was not universal; that the revenue officers who remained there were not insulted; that the spirit displayed in
Boston, did not extend beyond its limits; that
Salem and
Marblehead made no opposition to the payment of the duties; that the people in the country would not join, if
Boston were actually to resist Government; and that the four Commissioners at the castle could not return to town, till measures were taken for their protection.
The Memorial of the
Commissioners themselves to the
Lords of the Treasury announced, that ‘there had been a long concerted and extensive plan of resistance to the authority of
Great Britain; that the people of
Boston had hastened to acts of violence sooner than was intended; that nothing but the immediate exertion of military power could prevent an open revolt of the town, which would probably spread throughout the Provinces.’
7 The counter memorial in behalf of
Boston, proving that the riot had been caused by the imprudent and violent proceedings
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of the officers of the
Romney8 met little
notice.
At the same time
9 letters arrived from
Virginia, with their petitions and memorial, ‘expressed,’ said
Blair, the
President of the Council, “with modesty and dutiful submission;” but under the calmest language, uttering a protest against the right of Parliament to tax America for a revenue.
The party of
Bedford, and the
Duke himself, spoke openly of the necessity of employing force to subdue the inhabitants of
Boston, and to make a striking example of the most seditious, in order to inspire the other Colonies with terror.
10 This policy, said
Weymouth, will be adopted.
Shelburne, on the contrary, observed, that people very much exaggerated the difficulty; that it was understood in its origin, its principles, and its consequences; that it would be absurd to wish to send to
America a single additional soldier, or vessel of war, to reduce Colonies, which would return to the mother country of themselves from affection and from interest, when once the form of their contributions should be agreed upon.
11 But his opinions had no effect, except that the
King became ‘daily’ more importunate with
Grafton, that Shelburne should be dismissed.
12
The Cabinet were also ‘much vexed’ at Shelburne's reluctance to engage in secret intrigues with
Corsica, which resisted its cession by
Genoa to
France.
The subject was, therefore, taken out of his
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hands and the act of bad faith conducted by his col-
leagues.
13 Unsolicited by
Paoli, the
General of the insurgents, they sent to him
Dunant, a Genevese, as a British emissary, with written
14 as well as verbal instructions.
Paoli was found wanting every thing, money, artillery, armed vessels, muskets with bayonets, and small field-pieces, such as could be carried on mules;
15 but he gave assurances of the fixed purpose of himself and of the Corsican people to defend their common liberty;
16 and persuaded the
British Ministry, that if supplied with what he needed, he could hold out for eighteen months.
17 ‘A moment was not lost in supplying most of the articles requested by the Corsicans’ ‘in the manner that would least risk a breach with
France;’ ‘and indeed many thousand stands of arms were furnished from the stock in the Tower, yet so as to give no indication that they were sent from Government.’
While British Ministers were enjoying the thought of baffling
France, they had the vexation to find
Paoli himself obliged to retire by way of
Leghorn to
England.
But their notorious interference was treasured up in memory as a precedent.
When, on the twenty-seventh of July, the
Cabinet definitively agreed on the measures to be pursued towards
America, it sought to unite all
England by resting its policy on
Rockingham's Declaratory Act, and to divide America by proceeding severely only against
Boston.
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For
Virginia, it was most properly resolved that
the office of its Governor should no longer remain a sinecure, as it had been for three quarters of a century; and
Amherst,
18 who would not go out to reside there, was in consequence displaced, and ultimately indemnified.
In selecting a new Governor, the choice fell on Lord Botetourt; and it was a wise one, not merely because he had great affability and a pleasing address, and was attentive to business, but because he was ingenuous and frank, sure to write fearlessly and truly respecting
Virginia, and sure never to ask the
Secretary to conceal his reports.
He was to be conducted to his Government in a seventy-four, and to take with him a splendid coach of state.
He was to call a new Legislature, to closet its members, as well as those of the Council;
19 and, to humor them in almost any thing except the explicit denial of the authority of Parliament.
20 It would have been ill for American Independence, if a man like him had been sent to
Massachusetts.
But ‘with
Massachusetts,’ said
Camden,
21 ‘it will not be very difficult to deal, if that is the only disobedient Province.’
For
Boston his voice did not entreat mercy.
22 The cry was, it must be made to
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repent of its insolence; and its Town Meetings no
longer be suffered to threaten and defy the
Government of
Great Britain.
23 Two additional regiments of five hundred men each, and a frigate were at once to be sent there; the ship of the line, which was to take
Botetourt to
Virginia, might also remain in those seas.
A change in the
Charter of
Massachusetts was resolved on by Hillsborough; and he also sent over orders to inquire, ‘if any persons had committed acts which, under the authority of the statute of Henry the Eighth
24 against treason committed abroad, might justify their being brought to
England to be tried in the
King's Bench.’
25
Salem,
26 a town whose representatives, contrary, however, to the judgment of their constituents, voted in favor of rescinding, was indicated as the future capital of the Province.
Now
Boston must tremble, ‘for,’ said the
Secretary, ‘the Crown will support the laws and the subject must submit to them.’
At this time
Bernard received from
Gage, in consequence of the earlier orders from
England, an offer of troops, if he would make a requisition for them.
But the Council, after a just analysis of the late events, gave their opinion, that the civil power did
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not need the support of the troops, nor was it for his
Majesty's service or the peace of the Province, that any should be required.
Bernard dared not avow his own opinion;
27 but, in his spite, he wrote to Hillsborough for ‘positive orders’
28 not to call ‘a new Assembly until the people should get truer notions of their rights and interests.’
The advice of the Council was inspired by loy-
alty.
All attempts at a concert to cease importations had hitherto failed; the menace of the arrival of troops revived the design, and early in August, most of the merchants of the town of
Boston subscribed an agreement, that they would not send for any kind of merchandise from
Great Britain, some few articles of necessity excepted, during the year following the first day of January, 1769; and that they would not import any tea, paper, glass, paints or colors, until the act imposing duties upon them should be repealed.
29
On the anniversary of the fourteenth of August,
30 the streets of
Boston resounded with songs in praise of freedom; and its inhabitants promised themselves that all ages would applaud their courage.
Come, join hand in hand, brave
Americans all,
By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall;
To die we can bear, but to serve we disdain;
For shame is to Freedom more dreadful than pain.
In freedom we're born, in freedom we'll live;
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Our purses are ready,
Steady, boys, steady,
Not as slaves, but as freemen, our money we'll give.
The British administration was blind to its dangers, and believed union impossible.
31 ‘You will learn what transpires in
America infinitely better in the city than at court;’ wrote
Choiseul32 to the
French Minister in
England.
‘Never mind what Lord Hillsborough says;’ he wrote again; ‘the private accounts of American merchants to their correspondents in
London are more trustworthy.’
33
The obedient official sought information in every direction—especially of
Franklin, than whom no man in
England uttered more prophetic warnings, or in a more benign or more loyal spirit.
‘He has for years been predicting to the
Ministers the necessary consequences of their American measures,’ said the
French envoy;
34 ‘he is a man of rare intelligence and welldisposed to
England; but, fortunately, is very little consulted.’
While the
British Government neglected the opportunities of becoming well-informed respecting
America,
Choiseul collected newspapers, documents, resolves, instructions of towns, and even sermons of the
Puritan clergy, and with clear sagacity and candid diligence, proceeded to construct his theory.
‘The forces of the
English in
America are scarcely ten thousand men, and they have no cavalry;’ thus reasoned the dispassionate statesmen of
France; ‘but
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the militia of the Colonies numbers four hundred
thousand men, and among them several regiments of cavalry.
The people are enthusiastic for liberty, and have inherited a republican spirit, which the consciousness of strength and circumstances may push to extremities.
They will not be intimidated by the presence of troops, too insignificant to cause alarm.’
It was, therefore, inferred that it would be hazardous for
England to attempt reducing the Colonies by force.
‘But why,’ asked
Choiseul,
35 ‘are not deputies from each Colony admitted into Parliament as members’ And it was answered
36 that ‘the
Americans objected to such a solution, because they could not obtain a representation proportioned to their population, and so would be whelmed by superior numbers; because the distance made their regular attendance in Parliament impossible; and because they knew its venality and corruption too well to be willing to trust it with their affairs.
They had no other representatives than agents at
London, who kept them so well informed, that no project which would turn to their disadvantage could come upon them by surprise.’
By this reasoning
Choiseul was satisfied,
37 that an American representation in Parliament was not practicable; but also that ‘no other method of conciliation’ would prove less difficult, and that unanimity in
America would compel the
British Government to risk the most violent measures, or to yield.
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When, on the nineteenth of August,
England heard that
Massachusetts had, by a vast majority of its representatives, refused to rescind the resolutions of the preceding winter, Lord Mansfield was of the opinion that all the members of the late Legislative Assembly at
Boston should be sent for, to give an account of their conduct, and that all the rigors of the law should be exercised against those who should persist in refusing to submit to Parliament.
38 ‘Where rebellion begins,’ said he, ‘the laws cease, and they can invoke none in their favor.’
39
To the ambassador of
Spain, he expressed the
opinion that the affair of the Colonies was the gravest and most momentous that
England had had since 1688, and saw in
America the beginning of a long and even infinite series of revolutions.
‘The
Americans,’ he insisted, ‘must first be compelled to submit to the authority of Parliament; it is only after having reduced them to the most entire obedience that an inquiry can be made into their real or pretended grievances.’
40 The subject interested every court in
Europe, was watched in
Madrid, and was the general theme of conversation in
Paris, where Fuentes, the
Spanish Minister, expressed the hope that ‘the
English might master their Colonies, lest the
Spanish Colonies also should catch the flame.’
41
‘I dread the event,’ said
Camden; ‘because the Colonies are more sober and consequently more determined in their present opposition than they were upon the Stamp Act.’
‘What is to be done?’
asked
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Grafton; and
Camden answered, ‘Indeed, my dear
Lord, I do not know.
The Parliament cannot repeal the Act in question, because that would admit the
American principle to be right, and their own doctrine erroneous.
Therefore it must execute the law. How to execute it, I am at a loss.
Boston is the ringleading Province; and if any country is to be chastised, the punishment ought to be levelled there.’
42
But the system which made government subordinate to the gains of patronage, was every where producing its natural results.
In
South Carolina, the profits of the place of
Provost-Marshal were enjoyed under a patent as a sinecure by a resident in
England,
43 whose deputy had the monopoly of serving processes throughout the Province, and yet was bound to attend courts nowhere but at
Charleston.
As a consequence the herdsmen near the frontier adjudicated their own disputes and regulated their own police, even at the risk of a civil war.
44
The blood of ‘rebels’ against oppression was first shed among the settlers on the branches of the
Cape Fear River.
The emigrants to the upland glades of
North Carolina, though occupying rich lands, had little coin or currency; yet as the revenue of the Province was raised by a poll-tax,
45 the poorest laborer among them must contribute towards it as much as the richest merchant.
The
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sheriffs were grown insolent and arbitrary; often
distraining even quadruple the value of the tax, and avoiding the owner, till it was too late for him to redeem his property.
All this was the more hateful, as a part of the amount was expended by the
Governor in building himself an extravagantly costly palace; and a part was notoriously embezzled.
The collecting officers and all others, encouraged by the imperious example of
Fanning,
46 who loaded the titles to estates with doubts,
47 and charged illegal fees for recording new deeds, continued their extortions;
48 sure of support from the whole hierarchy of men in place.
Juries were packed; and the
Grand Jury was almost the agent of the extortioners.
The cost of suits at law, under any circumstances exorbitant, was enhanced by an unprecedented extent of the right of appeal from the county court to the remote superior court; where a farmer of small means would be ruined by the expense of attendance with his witnesses.
‘We tell you in the anguish of our souls,’ said they to the
Governor, ‘we cannot, dare not go to law with our powerful antagonists; that step, whenever taken, will terminate in the ruin of ourselves and families.’
49 Besides, the
Chief Justice was
Martin Howard,
50 a profligate time-server, raised to the bench as a convenient reward for having suffered in the time of the Stamp Act, and ever ready to use his place as a screen for the dishonest profits of men in office, and
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the instrument of political power.
Never yet had
the tribunal of justice been so mocked.
Goaded
51 by oppression and an intuitive jealousy of frauds, men associated as ‘Regulators,’
52 binding themselves to avoid if possible all payment of taxes,
53 except such as were levied, and were to be applied according to law; and ‘to pay no more fees than the law allows, unless under compulsion, and then to bear open testimony against it.’
They proposed to hold a
General Meeting quarterly;
54 but they rested their hopes of redress on the independent use of their elective franchise; being resolved to know and enjoy the liberties which they had inherited, without turning pale at the name of ‘rebellion.’
‘An officer,’ said the inhabitants of the west side of
Haw River,
55 ‘is a servant to the public; and we are determined to have the officers of this country under a better and honester regulation.’
It was easy to foresee that the rashness of ignorant, though well-meaning husbandmen, maddened by oppression, would soon expose them to the inexorable vengeance of their adversaries.
As one of the Regulators rode to
Hillsborough, his horse was, in mere wantonness, seized for his levy, but was soon rescued by a party, armed with clubs and eleven muskets.
Some one at
Fanning's door showed pistols, and threatened to fire among them; upon which four or
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five heated, unruly persons in the crowd discharged
their guns into the roof of the house, making two or three holes, and breaking two panes of glass without further damage.
56 At
Fanning's instance, a warrant was issued by the
Chief Justice to arrest three of the rioters, and bring them all the way to
Halifax.
57
Raising a clamor against the odiousness of rebellion,
Fanning himself, as military
Commander in
Orange, called out seven companies of militia;
58 but not above one hundred and twenty men appeared with arms, and of these, all but a few stood neutral or declared in favor of the Regulators.
59 In
Anson County60 on the twenty-first of April, a mob interrupted the inferior court; and, moreover,
61 bound themselves by oath
62 to pay no taxes, and to protect each other against warrants of distress or imprisonment.
In Orange County the discontented did not harbor a thought of violence,
63 and were only preparing a Petition to the
Governor and Council.
‘They call themselves Regulators,’ said
Fanning, ‘but by lawyers they must be termed rebels and traitors;’ and he calumniated them as plotting to take his life, and lay
Hillsborough in ashes.
64 Meantime
Tryon, who as the
King's Representative, should have joined impartiality with lenity, made himself an open volunteer
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on the side of
Fanning,
65 and while he advised the
people to petition the
Provincial Legislature,
66 he empowered
Fanning to call out the militia of eight counties besides
Orange, and suppress insurrections by force.
The people of
Orange, and equally of Anson,
Rowan and
Mecklenburg, were unanimous in their resolution to claim relief of the
Governor.
Flattery was, therefore, mixed with menaces, to allure the Regulators to sign a Petition which
Fanning had artfully drafted,
67 and which rather invoked pardon than demanded redress.
68 ‘You may assure yourself from my knowledge of things,’ wrote
Fanning's agent to Herman Husbands, ‘one couched in any other terms cannot go down with the
Governor.
The hands and the feet, should not run in mutiny against the head.’
But he vainly sought to terrify the rustic patriot by threats of confiscation of property, perpetual imprisonment, and even the penalties for High Treason.
69
On the last day of April, the Regulators of
Orange County, peacefully assembled on
Rocky River, appointed twelve men on their behalf, “to settle the several matters of which they complained;”
70 instructed ‘the Settlers’ to procure a table of the taxables, taxes, and legal fees of public officers;
71
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and framed a Petition to the General Assembly,
to secure them a fair hearing, and redress where they had been wronged.
72
Fanning, on his side, unable to induce the Regulators to heed the offer
73 of his services, advertised their union as a daring insurrection, announced his authority to employ against them the militia of eight counties, and bade them expect ‘no mitigation of punishment for their crimes;’ at the same time twenty-seven armed men of his procuring, chiefly Sheriffs and their dependents, and officers, were suddenly despatched on secret service, and after travelling all night, arrived near break of day, on Monday the second of May, at
Sandy Creek, where they made prisoners of Herman Husbands and
William Butler.
74
Against Husbands there was no just charge whatever.
He had never so much as joined ‘the Regulation;’ had never been concerned in any tumult; and was seized at home on his own land.
The ‘astonishing news,’ therefore, of his captivity, set the
County in a ferment.
Regulators and their opponents, judging that none were safe, prepared alike to go down to his rescue, but were turned back
75 by ‘the glad tidings,’ that the
Governor himself had promised to receive their complaints.
Hurried to gaol, insulted, tied with cords, and threatened with the gallows, Husbands succeeded by partial concessions, the use of money, and by giving bonds, to obtain his liberty.
But it seemed to him,
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that ‘he was left alone;’ and how could an unlet-
tered farmer contend against so many?
In his despair he thought to leave his home and every thing he loved most dearly, and exile himself into some new land.
With this purpose he ‘took the woods;’
76 but hearing that the
Governor had promised that the extortioners might be brought to trial, he resolved to impeach
Fanning, and to show before the world whether he was a principal in riots, or whether he had done no more than prosecute every lawful method for justice and redress.
77
The Regulators, on their part, prepared their Petition, which was signed by about five hundred men; fortified it with a precise specification of acts of extortion, confirmed in each instance by oath; and presented
78 it to the
Governor with their plain and simple Narrative, in the hope that ‘naked truth,’ though offered by the ignorant, might weigh as much as the artful representations of their ‘powerful adversary.’
Their language was that of loyalty to the
King, and, with a rankling sense of their wrongs, breathed affection to the
British Government, ‘as the wholesomest Constitution in being.’
79 It is
Tryon himself who relates that ‘in their commotions no mischief had been done,’ and that ‘the disturbances in Anson and
Orange had subsided.’
80 The Regulators awaited the result of the suits at law. But
Tryon would not wait.
81 He repaired to
Hillsborough,
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threw himself entirely against the Regulators,
and demanded of them unconditional and immediate submission,
82 and that twelve of them should give bonds in a thousand pounds each, for the peaceful conduct of them all. An alarm went abroad, the first of the kind, that Indians
83 as well as men from the lower counties, were to be raised to cut off the inhabitants of
Orange County as ‘Rebels.’
About fifteen hundred men
84 were actually in arms; and yet when in September, the causes came on for trial in the presence of
Tryon, and with such a display of troops, Husbands was acquitted on every charge; and
Fanning who had been a volunteer witness against him, was convicted on six several indictments.
85 A verdict was also given against three Regulators.
The court punished
Fanning by a fine of one penny on each of his convictions; the Regulators were sentenced to pay fifty pounds each, and be imprisoned for six months.
Tryon would have sent troops to reduce the Regulators to submission by fire and sword; but his sanguinary disposition was overruled by the Council of War.
86 The Regulators remained quiet at their own homes, brooding over the failure of their efforts for redress.
They resolved at the next election to
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choose trustworthy men for their representatives;
and when the time came, so general was the discontent,
North Carolina changed thirty
87 of its delegates.
Yet its people desponded, and saw no way for their extrication.
