USA > North Carolina > Historical sketches of North Carolina : from 1584 to 1851, Vol. I > Part 56
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Moreover there never was any intent to rescue the prisoners, but to beg the Governor to dissolve the Assembly ; and so far as we know the minds of the people, in general, this one step alone would at once stop every mouth and every complaint, but what would go throughi, and by way of such repre- sentatives as should then be chosen.
As the Governor may observe by the detail of all our proceedings that it was the representatives refusing us a conference, and threatening us for re- questing one, and frightening and deterring us from petitioning for redress, that first gave occasion for disorder; therefore as the stopping the free
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passage of this channel for redress, has occasioned the obstruction of good order, so the opening of which passage will as assuredly restore it again.
Signed in behalf of the Regulators by
JAMES HUNTER, PETER JULIAN, THOMAS WELBURN.
. It was false before that the Governor did not attempt to raise the militia, it was true now ; for finding he could not trust the militia of our country, he tried all over the province ; and with what pains and false representations of us, is best known to the inhabitants everywhere among whom he applied. It was said he represented us as a faction of Quakers and Baptists, who aimed to 'overset the Church of England, &c.
This caused us to view ourselves, when we found our body to consist pro- miscuously of all sects, and the men who we put most trust in were of the Church of England communion. In short, every honest man who was not deterred by fear and cowardice was on our side .- The formality of sub- scribing articles or swearing had never been in use since the Governor's Secretary met us; and to prevent mobs and riots was our chief study, as they were the only things we feared our enemies could get an advantage against us in, and what we believed they endeavored to drive the popu- lace, to.
All this preparation of the Governor's put us to it for a while to rule the inconsiderate, they looking on it as the Governor chose, the sword, that they were at liberty to defend themselves ; and the prisoners they were afraid to trust to a trial, lest they might hang them by an arbitrary power ; so it was at length agreed the prisoners should not appear, and every man to be left at his liberty to go to the court as well armed or not as he pleased ; but not to use them nor offer the least insult, unless an attempt was made to massacre us ; and that if they could not offer such terms as the Governor and country could come to an agreement in peace, to return home, and leave the Gover- nor to fight the air.
We had very little good opinion of the Governor now ; for when the Sec- retary agreed we should petition the Governor, and we had advertised it, and for them who had material grievances to get them attested before a magis- trate, yet the officers, when they found their mistake, as I mentioned before, soon scared all the magistrates but one, that they would give no person his qualification. And though, when Hunter mentioned this in the council at Brunswick, the reply was that it was a weak thing in them to act so ; yet this one who had served us was now so talked to by the Governor himself, that he refused also.
The Governor soon found he could not trust the militia, they were so gene- rally attached to our side. So he swore every man with an odd kind of an oath ; and in many places the inhabitants being so alarmed, took our me- thod, and assembled themselves together to consult one another what to do ; and some put their resolutions in writing, viz. :-
ORANGE COUNTY, August 19th, 1768.
" The critical affairs in public has caused us to meet to consult what is our duty. We have been warned to go against a set of people called Regulators, under the term of being enemies. We look on them as loyal subjects, acting for the good of our country. Until they are proved enemies, we don't think it our duty to go against them. We hear a rumor of being fined for not ap- pearing against these our brethren and neighbors, which we desire to oppose until it can be made appear it is our duty-and their articles are proved con- trary to law. And we design to apply to his Excellency, our Governor, to hear our grievances in case we are fined."
By the date and purport of this paper, it looks as though there had been truth in these alarms mentioned in our last letter dated this same day, which we have therein allowed to have been false. I never observed this before I was preparing it for the press.
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Morris Moore, one of our Associate Judges, having encouraged the Regu- lators to stand firm to the cause, in a manner I suppose. every honest man in the province would have desired to have done if they were not frightened out of it, as was attempted on Moore, as may be seen by his letter to Colonel Fanning.
SPRINGFIELD, August the 12th, 1768.
To COLONEL EDMOND FANING :
Dear Sir-" As much as I hate writing I am determined to scratch this side down, with a bad pen and worse ink, on the subject of the insurrection in your county, which I am sorry to hear has grown formidable, and much more so that it is ascribed to me as its author and encourager.
"I have been calumniated before now, but never so capitally as in this case.
"I assure you it gives me much concern, in spight of the consolation a clear conscience affords me.
" I never knew or even saw, as I know of, in all my life, any man'or men concerned in this unlucky affair, except Hunter and Howell; and I made you fully acquainted with the advice I gave them : but I shall say no more on this head. I have blackened my page, and must conclude my letter with assuring you, I esteem you, and am
Your most obedient, &c.
M. MOORE.
On the first day of the Supream Court which was at Hillsborough, on the 22d day of September, 1768, we appeared about three thousand seven hun- dred, and took up about half a mile from the town, and sent our propo- sals to the Governor ; which was, that if he would' let us peaceably come into town to complain of our officers, and pardon all past breaches of the peace (except the two under bail, who would stand their trials), we would pay our levies as usual, &c.
Now we knew of no other concession he could want of us. But the next day he sent his answer that every man must give up his gun in pledge, till the prisoners were tried ; upon which we immediately returned, except about thirty, who carried him their guns. +
As to the proceedings of the court, we being debarred from being there, can give you no better information than that one of the prisoners drew up in vindication of his own case. Only, we may add, that a whole troop of Bomb Sheriffs came after us next day to take such as they had orders for back, and where they met with quiet peaceable men, they went along, but some of a. contrary disposition used some of them very rough. All those who went along the bills were all found ignoramus.
The case of Herman Husbands, prisoner aforesaid, is as follows :-
On the second day of May, a little after sunrise, ten or a dozen men, armed with guns and pistols, entered the back door of my house ; and Thomas Hart took hold of me, and said you are the king's prisoner.
I asked upon what account. He said on suspicion of having a hand in the mob.
They hurried me off without letting my wife fetch me some money, when I called to her for some. In about two miles they come up to where Colonel Faning was waiting for them. He asked me, stutteringly, and with visible confusion, why I did not come to see him in so long a time. I told him I knew no call'I had. He said, well you'll come along now. I said I sup- pose I must. He said ay ; well-and set off to town, where William Butler and I were put into a fort, mounted with two swivel guns, under a strong guard, and after some hours took me out before Thomas Lloyd, who read a paper of somebody having informed there was cause of suspicion that I had a hand in the mob.
I told him I had not. Then he swore Col. Faning, who said he formerly had received a paper, summoning him to appear at a mill, and he thought
.
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it was my hand-and he had received papers from the mob, which referred to that paper.
Then John Hogan was swore; who said I had confessed I had been at some meetings of the mob.
Thomas Lloyd then ordered me to prison, and William Butler was put in with me, where we lay till about midnight, when we were taken out and tied hand and foot, and many telling us we would be hanged, Butler especially, if I escaped. It came into my mind that if I made Col. Faning some pro- mises he would let me go. So on my motion he was sent for, who signified to me he had been asleep, and was called and told I wanted to see him, and he had come to see what I wanted with him.
Says I if I may go home, I will promise not to concern myself any more whether you take too large fees or not, &c. It took with him, and, after huming a little, he repeated over what I must promise, which, as near as I can re- member, was to this effect :-
"You promise never to give your opinion of the laws, nor frequent as- sembling yourself among people, nor show any jealousies of the officers taking extortionary fees; and if you hear any others speaking disrespect- fully, or hinting any jealousies of that nature of officers, that you reprove and caution them, and that you will tell the people you are satisfied all the taxes are agreeable to law, and do everything in your power to moderate and pacify them."
1. All which I promised, with a particular exception, that when any election was on hand, I reserved liberty to assemble myself among people, and to have liberty to converse, and to this he said, to be sure.
This was so barefaced, that as there was twenty or'thirty of the country peo- ple to guard us, I looked every minute for them to cry out and release us .*
But Faning went and walked to and fro a few minutes by himself, then came to us and said, we must enter into bail; so some of themselves bailed me, and took me for Butler's bail. They had exceeding hard work before Butler would consent, when they told him very seriously, that if he went to Newbern, he actually would be hanged. He paused awhile, and said, I have but one life, and I freely can give that up for this cause, for God above knows, our cause is just; and he did not consent at last, till Fanning promised to clear him at the court without cost.
It was now daybreak, and about sunrise we got the recognizances done, and was hurried away to stop the people from coming after us.
Now, when the Governor and country fell out, and he got to enlisting and swearing men, and Morris Moore's letter was handed about to show he was scared, I concluded to sell my land, and raise money to clear my bail, and so ' leave the Province, for I was now left alone; the Regulators, some of them insulted me, that if I did not join now, they would let the Governor do as he pleased with me.
I was for my safety obliged to abscond from them as well as the Governor, and took the woods for two weeks, and had got fifteen miles from my habita- tion, and had sent for my horse, clothes, and money, to set off in a day or
* I was not so much mistaken here in the people as I was afterwards informed, for they had messengers coming and going all night, carrying, intelligence to the country be- low town, who were gathering in companies on every part of the road, to watch their motions, for there were people below town who had been led into the secret of their de- signs, which was absolutely to hang two or three of us, at all events, to scare the rest. And these plans were laid down below, and these orders sent up for our officers to bring down two or three of us. They had attempted this same thing before, while Faning was below, in a more formidable manner, for they had ordered several captains below town, to have companies under them on the road at several stages, and appointed a mus- ter above town, at which muster they were to pick out such a number as were suitable, and go and take two or three, and with all speed convey them below town, and deliver them to these fresh companies staged there, to prevent being overtaken. Nothing but the . baseness of their design could have given them such suspicions of being followed. How- ever, some cute fellows at the muster above town, raised a report that three hundred Regulators were seen to cross Haw River that morning, and the companies, officers and all, each took his own road, and made the best of their way home.
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two. This messenger, luckily for the Province, met John Wilcocks at my house, and my wife ventured to inform him where he might see me. He gave me encouragement to stand trial, by assuring me a great number of good honest gentlemen was coming up to see that justice should be done, and among the rest a lawyer.
Wilcocks left me at John Pyle's, while he and Pyle went to town to see if the lawyer, or any of them had come; but Faning could tell them the law- yer was not a coming, and ordered him and Pyle out of town.
Upon this, Wilcocks was almost outdone, but engaged me to stay till he rid down to Cross Creek, to meet or hear what had become of them. He never returned till the night before court, and heard nothing of his lawyer or friends ; but by fair promises from some of the council and head officers, and the king's attorney, that I should get justice, he would have me venture, and had orders from the Attorney-General for me not to come into town, but stay among the Regulators till he came out to us.
After the Attorney-General had come out, the Regulators would not let me go into town, unless everybody had liberty to go, as usual in all courts, and Wilcocks being discouraged, consented to let me go off, and when it was dark, he accompanied me some of the way, but as soon as we got from among the crowd, he rid on before very silent for some time, and clapped his hand on his thigh, and cried out aloud, "The Lord have mercy on me, the whole Pro- vince is undone ! Good God-that ever I was born !"
This, and the like, he repeated several times, after intervals of silence.
I wanted to hear if he would reflect anything on me, but when I found he had not, and being convinced his sight of the advantage my going away would give our enemies, I consulted in myself what to do ; I had no point to determine, but whether to risk my life or not; here was the ruin of the Province for certain put in' one scale, a risk of losing my life by false arbi- trary proceedings in the other; and the safety of the privileges, and the liberties of the people soon outweighed. So I rid up a little nearer to . Wil- cocks, and waited till he gave another cry to lament the case ; then I asked him if he was of the mind I had best stand trial yet ; he says yes, and I will go with you, and stand by you to the last-which I sincerely believe he was confident at that time to perform, as Peter ever was. And I also confided in him that I had one friend.
. But now again, after we took up Camp, and spent great part of the night in telling him how they had carried on matters, and he viewing, I suppose, what he had seen, got a sight that a snare was laid for my life, which he put to me to let him know if I had any apprehension that way, that he would by no means be the cause of persuading me into any danger of that kind.
I told him not to say a word on that head, for my resolutions were fixed, and had I more than one life to lose, they were unalterable.
When we came into town next morning, before an hour, I clearly dis- covered by Wilcocks' countenance that he was scared ; but death nor nothing else could now alter my resolutions to stand the test ; and Wilcocks made a motion to me to fee a lawyer. And when I went to them in this condition, for though my senses remained good, yet property felt to me of no value, for (it is a very true saying, that all a man has he will give for his life) they soon got all the money I had, and bonds and notes for £150 more.
But when Wilcocks came to know I had given so much, he called me fool, and seemed grieved, from which I was in hopes he had got over his fright.
But the next morning I received the following letter from him, by the hand of a ragged boy, whom I knew not, viz. :-
To Mr. Husband.
September 23, at Mr. CATE'S.
SIR-I have been ordered out of town under pretence of being concerned with the Regulators, which probably may surprise you again ; but I hope you will take resolution, and not be scared by our enemy, which is their only
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scheme to defeat us; but you may depend I shall send somebody in to be your security in case a bill should be found against you.
· Sir, your sincere friend and humble servant, JOHN WILCOCKS.
Now I had not one friend left, and I rid some miles out into the country to get some word sent to my own neighborhood, if possible, to get some of them to come and be evidences for me, as well as to prosecute officers ; for I equally saw our cause lost, if we did not make something appear this Court against them.
There I met with another letter from Wilcocks to the Attorney-General, by which I found I need look for no help from that quarter, for any trust that he put in the Attorney-General, I was now persuaded would fail. The letter was as follows :-
To Mr. M' Guire, Attorney-General. September, 1768 ..
SIR-This serves to inform you there was occasion for my leaving town in a few minutes warning. I must think I am very ill rewarded for all the fatigue and care, with the risk of my life and estate, in order, and for no other end but to accommodate so dangerous a dispute.
As I had no other occasion to be security for Husbands, but to prevent mis- chief, you, with the Court, cannot be unacquainted with my industry in the matter, and of their encouragement to me for that purpose, which I faithfully acted as far as capable. However envy and malice may represent me to the Governor or Court, I am ready to answer for when called on. That you wont let me suffer for my good intent, and encourage Husbands to stand his ground till I am released of his security; and if he is found guilty, that security may be found for him till trial.
Sir, your humble servant, JOHN WILCOCKS.
It was on a Sunday that I got this letter, having, as I said, rid out some miles to send to my own neighborhood, but was obliged to get a pass before I could get out of town. I could not even walk the streets about the Court- house without being insulted at every turn. The soldiers thrusting their , bayonets at me within a few inches of my body, and dragging me once into " a public house, setting me upon a table, and surrounding me with a ring, made sport of me, which, after a half or quarter of an hour at least, I observed John Ash, who was the commanding officer; reach forth his hand to push some of them from me, and says, " Hold, don't carry the joke too far."
I catched hold of his sleeve, and when he looked on me, I asked him if I was at liberty. Says he, "You have been under no confinement." Then I pushed my way through them; and to help Mr. Ash's memory, as I hear he denies this, he came to me in the street, and asked me why I had asked him if I. was at liberty. . Because, says I, John. Wilcocks had told me thou was the Commanding Officer.
The pass was as follows, viz. :-
SIR-Permit Mr. Herman Husbands to pass your guard and sentinels. I am, sir, your most humble servant, THOMAS LLOYD, Major- General.
To the Officer of the Guard at the West End of Hillsboro'. Saturday noon.
The following is the qualification of Peter Savory, who, at this campaign bore the title of Captain Savory, for I had observed him to look at some of the soldiers.
His evidence is as follows, viz :-
Orange County, ss :-
This day came Peter Savory before me, and made oath, that at last Septem-
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ber Superior Court, he saw several young men a pushing their bayonets towards Herman Husbands, but did not know them to touch him.
Certified under my hand, this 25th day of March, 1769.
JOHN PRYOR.
On Mondy morning two or three of my neighbors had come, and as soon as Court sat, Colonel Fanning accused me of crimes committed since I had entered into the recognizances, and signified they were of so high a nature as concerned my life.
Hereupon I was committed to prison. And the first salutation I received from the prisoners, was their pointing to a gallows, erected between two joyces of the prison, right over the middle of the floor ; and the prison was new built, of a higher pitch than usual, and forted round.
Here were nine or ten prisoners. Most on account of the regulation, and the prison so little, that we could not all lay down at once. The remembrance of what I had read of Inquisitions, East India Imprisonments, &c., was now very fresh in my mind.
At night, William Butler and me was sent for, and there were some men procured to be our bail; but when I got out I found my neighbors and evidences were all gone. If property was of no value to me before, it was less now ; I looked on myself as a captive among enemy Indians, Nabobs or Lord Inquisitors. I tried the lawyers whether they were fond of greater obligations, and, as I hinted before, my senses was good enough ; and I re- membered the story of the beaver, that when he was chased for his stones, cut them out, and threw them away. So I gave them what notes or bonds they pleased to write, for I never read or examined a word in them.
At next Superior Court, before my trial came on, these obligations were demanded of me ; but I denied payment of them, as I looked on them to be of no force, and the lawyers urged honor in the case.
Upon which I told them to quit the obligations, and I would pay them as much as I could do with honor, and without being laughed at for a fool.
However, they have sued for the obligations; and for the information of the public, and all concerned for justice, I would inform them that our Law, by Chap. IV. in Section the 2d, of volum'e i. page 3, allows an attorney thirty shillings for a suit in the General Court, and fifteen shillings in the County Courts, which, as by the preamble to the said law, may be seen, was thought sufficient to compensate an attorney for his trouble for prosecuting or defend- ing any suit or cause in any of the said Courts in this Province.
And in page the 10th, of volume iii. in '44th section, a lawyer's fee is de- clared to be thirty shillings in the Superior Court; 'and in the Fee Bill, Attorney-General's fee is to be in common suits the same as another attorney, which implies other attorneys' fees were ascertained. Neither are they author- ized by any law to take more; nor is there any other larger fees anywhere established.
And by the Law, in page 140, section 2, any person or persons whatsoever, are debarred from creating, making, demanding or receiving any other fees than such as shall be established by the Governor, Council, and General Assembly.
Here is no exception made of lawyers. The lawyers will attempt to urge that any tradesman has a liberty to make a bargain, and set a price on his own work, according as he does his work; for, say they, if we must be con- fined to the lawful fee, we 'will do no more for that fee than the law obliges us to do.
To the first I say, no tradesman could be at such liberty were there the same laws prohibiting them, and setting bounds to the prices of their work as there is to lawyers' fees. Neither is there the same reason to set bounds to the one as there is to the other; for if one man will have finery and super- fluity on a piece of work, and pay a high price for it, this does not oblige his neighbor to do so too. Whereas, by giving a larger fee to a lawyer than is sufficient to compensate him, taking one action with another for his trouble and expense in prosecuting or defending any suit or cause, so far as is neces-
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sary and just, so far the law obliges him to: (in answer to the last part of the objection.) I say, by one man's giving more, it is attended with this evil ; such attorney can afford, and will study so much sophistry and false arguments and glosses, that will blind influence and confuse the jury, as makes it necessary for the other honest man to run to the same expense, just to unravel and undo the false unnecessary work the other has done ; and in all this cost and expense (which is not only their fees) there is not the least benefit, nor is it in the least conducive to come at truth and justice, but quite contrarily renders it obscure and dark. And at best, where the parties are equally yoked, it makes the same justice costly and hard to be come at, and serves to increase an unnecessary number of men as lawyers, who might be useful members of society, in following other necessary business. And this evil has always been foreseen by all legislative bodies, who have bounded their fees by the laws. But man's ambition, who are contentious one against another, has prompted them to such a willing compliance to the lawyer's avarice, in violation of those laws, that in this Province, and perhaps all others, this evil has grown so that it affects the peaceable, honest man so much, that the lawyers has become the greatest burden and bane of society that we have to struggle under; which instances are so numerous, it would be tedious to mention more than a few instances.
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