George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 6, 10th edition.

[186] five heated, unruly persons in the crowd discharged

Chap. XXXV.} 1768. Sept.

their guns into the roof of the house, making two or three holes, and breaking two panes of glass without further damage.¹ 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.²

Raising a clamor against the odiousness of rebellion, Fanning himself, as military Commander in Orange, called out seven companies of militia;³ 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.⁴ In Anson County⁵ on the twenty-first of April, a mob interrupted the inferior court; and, moreover,⁶ bound themselves by oath⁷ 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,⁸ 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.⁹ Meantime Tryon, who as the King's Representative, should have joined impartiality with lenity, made himself an open volunteer