USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: The Colonial and Revolutionary Periods 1584 1783, Volume I > Part 20
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The press was late in coming to North Carolina and until long after the Revolution its influence was negligible; indeed, except Georgia, North Carolina was the last of the thirteen
11 Knight: Public School Education in North Carolina, p. 11.
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colonies to receive the printing press. The absence of towns, the diffusion of the population over a vast territory, the lack of a regular post and means of communication, and, finally, the small demand for books and periodicals among the people generally made the maintenance of a press too precarious to invite capital. There was no popular demand for newspapers and except for the public printing there was not enough busi- ness in the colony to support a printing establishment. The first press in the colony, therefore, was set up and sustained by the patronage of the General Assembly. In 1749, in order to secure the printing of a revision of the laws, the Assembly chose James Davis public printer at an annual salary of £160 proclamation money, and gave him a copyright on all govern- ment publications. Accordingly Davis set up his press at New Bern and began work June 24, 1749. In 1751 he issued Swann's Revisal, so called because Samuel Swann was chair- man of the commission which prepared it, the first book pub- lished in North Carolina. Because of the yellowish hue of the parchment in which it was bound it became, popularly known as "The Yellow Jacket." During his career as public printer, which extended over a period of thirty-three years, Davis issued several other revisions of the laws. In 1753 he published Clement Hall's "Collection of Christian Experi- ences," which is "the first book or pamphlet so far as known to be compiled by a native of North Carolina." 12
Davis was also the father of journalism in North Carolina. There was, of course, no popular demand for newspapers in the colony. Among the planters along the Cape Fear, The South Carolina Gazette, which had a correspondent at Brunswick, had a small circulation, while The Virginia Gazette served those along the Roanoke. In 1755 appeared the first issue of The North Carolina Gazette. It was published on Thursdays and bore the imprint: "Newbern: Printed by James Davis, at the Printing-Office in Front-street; where all persons may be supplied with this paper at Sixteen shillings per Annum : And where Advertisements of moderate length are inserted for Three Shillings the first week, and Two shillings for every week after. And where also Book-binding is done reason- ably." The Gazette was published for six years when it was suspended. In 1764 Davis began to issue the North Carolina Magazine, or Universal Intelligencer. How long this new
12 Weeks: The Pre-Revolutionary Printers of North Carolina (N. C. Booklet, Vol. XV, No. 2, p. 112).
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venture continued is not known. In 1768 The Gazette was re- vived and continued for a decade. It was again suspended in 1778 because the printer's son, who was his chief reliance in the business, had been drafted into the army.
The right of appointment of a public printer was one of the political issues in dispute between the governor and the Assembly. In 1764, on account of charges of neglect of duty brought by Dobbs against Davis, the Assembly appointed a committee to secure another public printer, and this com- mittee induced Andrew Steuart of Philadelphia to come to North Carolina. But the bill to appoint a public printer was defeated in the Council, whereupon Governor Dobbs ap- pointed Steuart "his Majesty's printer." The House of Com- mons took umbrage at this exercise of prerogative, declared that it knew of "no such office as his Majesty's printer," and denounced the appointment of Steuart as an act "of a new and unusual nature unknown to our laws" and "a violent stretch of power." It accordingly voted £100 to Steuart as compen- sation for his trouble and expense in coming to North Caro- lina and re-appointed Davis public printer. Steuart, who was the second printer in the province, settled at Wilmington where in September, 1764, he began the publication of The North Carolina Gazette and Weekly Post Boy. It had but a brief existence being suspended in 1767. The chief incident of interest in its history occurred during the resistance to the Stamp Act on the Cape Fear when the Cape Fear patriots compelled Steuart to issue his paper without the stamps re- quired by the law, a skull and bones appearing in the margin with the legend, "This is the Place to affix the Stamp."
In 1769 Steuart was drowned in the Cape Fear River and his press was purchased by Adam Boyd. This "third and last of the pre-Revolutionary printers," says Doctor Weeks, "was not a printer at all. He was what we should call in this day a publisher." 13 In 1769 Boyd began the publication of The Cape Fear Mercury which he continued to issue until well into the year 1775. The Mercury is perhaps the most famous of the pre-Revolutionary papers of North Carolina because of its connection with the famous Mecklenburg Declaration con- troversy. On August 8, 1775, Governor Josiah Martin de- clared in his "Fiery Proclamation" that he had "seen a most infamous publication in The Cape Fear Mercury importing to
13 Pre-Revolutionary Printers of North Carolina (N. C. Booklet, Vol. XV, No. 2, p. 116).
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be resolves of a set of people stiling themselves a Committee for the County of Mecklenburg most traiterously declaring the entire dissolution of the Laws Government and Constitution of this country," and it was long thought that if a copy of this issue of The Mercury could be found it would settle the controversy by proving the authenticity of the Declaration of May 20th; but when a copy was finally discovered it was found to contain the Resolves of May 31st. The Mercury suspended publication soon after this issue.
Vol. 1-14
CHAPTER XIII POLITICAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL CONTRO- VERSIES
The transfer of Carolina from the Lords Proprietors to the Crown worked no important changes in the outward form of the machinery of government. Governor, Council, and As- sembly, as well as the systems for the administration of land, finance, defense, and justice, remained as they were. The Crown merely took the place of the Lords Proprietors as the immediate source of power. This meant that a single executive, capable of a sustained policy, had succeeded a many-headed executive, of constantly varying personnel and ever-changing policy ; that a tried and proven plan of admin- istration had displaced an experiment which had failed. The change made possible a stability of purpose, promptness of action, and vigor of administration of which the proprietary government was incapable. But while there was no change in the outward form of government, there was a marked change in its purpose and spirit. The interests of the Lords Proprietors centered in dividends, those of the Crown in the development of the British Empire. Financial returns, there- fore, inspired the spirit of the one, imperial interests that of the other. Imperial interests required the subordination of local interests; the Crown, accordingly, as the source of the former, acted upon the theory that its authority in colonial affairs rested solely upon the royal prerogative, and under- took to conduct the colonial government through instructions which it held to be binding upon both governor and Assembly. Such, however, was not the view of the colonists. They held that the purchase by the Crown carried with it only such pow- ers as the Lords Proprietors had enjoyed; that these powers were defined and limited by the charter of 1665 which guar- anteed to the people certain rights and privileges of which they could not be legally deprived; and that the Crown was bound to administer the affairs of the colony in accordance with those guarantees.
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These conflicting theories, together with conflicting im- perial and local interests, made harmony impossible. The Crown, on the one hand, intent upon the larger affairs of the Empire, was too prone to ignore the rights and interests of the colony; the colony, on the other hand, with its own af- fairs uppermost in its consideration, never really sought to understand and sympathize with the policy of the Crown. The result was inevitable. Controversies between the execu- tive department, which upheld the prerogative of the Crown, and the legislative department, which championed the rights and privileges of the people, characterize the political history of North Carolina as a crown colony. Was it the preroga- tive of the Crown, or the right of the Assembly to determine how quit rents should be paid? To fix the fees of public of- ficials? To control the expenditures of public funds? To erect precincts with the privilege of representation? To as- certain the quorum of the House of Commons? To determine the jurisdiction of the courts? Many of the controversies growing out of these questions were trivial in themselves, but behind them all lay the vital issue whether the colonial Assembly was to be a real legislative body, representative of the people, with the power of independent judgment and action, or whether it was to be reduced to a mere vehicle for registering the royal will, expressed through instructions to the governor, and unless these controversies are studied with this fundamental fact in view they lose most of their interest and all of their significance.
The Crown purchased Carolina in July, 1729, but sent out no governor until February, 1731. During this year and a half, Sir Richard Everard continued to hold office by author- ity of his commission from the Lords Proprietors. But a commission from the Lords Proprietors had lost most of its virtue in North Carolina and Sir Richard himself no longer commanded that personal respect which might have proved a substitute for it. Consequently during that period a condi- tion bordering upon anarchy prevailed in the colony. The governor was utterly discredited. The Assembly held but one session and the Crown afterwards declared that to be illegal. The Council was suspended. The General Court was suppressed. Many of the precinct courts ceased to func- tion. The Admiralty Court-a crown court-having no re- straint on its actions, took advantage of the situation "to draw all manner of Business" to it, proceeding "in such an Extraordinary Manner as occasioned a General Discontent
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and Ferment among the People." Laws were unenforced. The public revenues were not collected. Corruption was rife in official circles. The governor, who had no other notions of government, it was said, than as it gave him pover to act as he pleased, openly declared his contempt for the laws of the colony, enforced his will by arbitrary arrests and im- prisonments, demanded and took exorbitant fees, and ac- cepted from the Assembly "a present" of £500 for signing a bill emitting £40,000 of paper currency contrary to his in- structions. Nobody paid quit rents. Blank patents covering thousands of acres were issued and located for which no purchase money was paid. In a word, "the Province [ was] in the greatest Confusion, [and] the Government had sunk so low that neither Peace nor Order subsisted." The Lords Proprietors complained of the Crown's delay in setting up an efficient government, declaring that not only their own personal affairs, but also those of the people "greatly suffer from the present unsettled conditions," and begged that either the transfer be expedited or else they themselves be restored to "the full and free exercise of all the powers granted" them by King Charles II. The people, too, grew impatient; they urged the recall of Governor Everard and the prompt settle- ment of the government upon a firmer basis.
In seeking the removal of Governor Everard the people of North Carolina enacted the fable of the frogs who prayed for a king. They exchanged Sir Richard Everard for George Burrington. Burrington, it will be recalled, lost his place under the Lords Proprietors in 1725 because the Proprietors were persuaded that he contemplated stirring up a revolu- tion to compel them to transfer their property to the king. Where then should he be, when the transfer was actually made, but in London pressing upon the crown officials his claims to consideration. Success crowned his efforts. In January, 1730, he was notified of his appointment as first royal governor of North Carolina and a few days later re- ceived his commission. His commission was signed January 25, 1730, but Burrington remained in England awaiting his instructions which were not completed until December 30th. In January, 1731, he sailed for North Carolina, arrived at Edenton February 25th, summoned such of his councillors as were within reach, and in their presence took the oath of office.
Members of the popular party, with whom he had co- operated during his former administration, hastened to wel-
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come him. Some of them, notably John Baptista Ashe and Edmund Porter, he had selected as councillors. The Grand Jury "for the whole Province of North Carolina" declared that they accepted his appointment as "a very great in- stance" of the king's favor to the colony, and the General Assembly, in an address to the king, echoed the sentiment, declaring that they were in duty bound to acknowledge Bur- rington 's appointment "as a particular mark" of the king's indulgence. Burrington announced to the Assembly that in him they had a governor "that is entirely your Friend and Wellwisher;" and the Assembly expressing their "great pleasure" at his appointment felt "fully assured that we shall not want your best Endeavours to promote the lasting happiness of the People of the Province." But the leaders of the popular party soon found that the Burrington who needed their support in executing his designs against the Lords Proprietors was a different person from the Burring- ton who seeing his hopes fully realized was enjoying the fruits of his labors; and the echoes of their exchange of courtesies were almost immediately drowned in an explosion produced by irreconcilable differences.
The match to the powder was the governor's 19th instruc- tion, in which the Crown offered, upon two conditions, to re- mit to the people the back rents for which in the purchase of Carolina it had allowed the Lords Proprietors £5,000. These conditions were, first, that the Assembly pass an act requiring the registration of all landholdings in the colony, thus providing an accurate rent roll for the Crown; second, that all quit rents and officers' fees, which had previously been paid in "rated commodities," or in provincial currency, be paid in proclamation money.1 The importance of this pro- posal will be appreciated when it is remembered that the people did not hold their lands in fee but as tenants of the Crown paying annual quit rents for their holdings. Assum- ing the Assembly's prompt and unquestioning obedience, Bur- rington had had prepared a bill carrying out the Crown's in- structions as to quit rents, and with the advice of his Coun- cil, had already fixed the fees of colonial officials in proclama- tion money and put them into effect by executive order. But the Assembly proved unexpectedly independent. It asserted
1 "Current specie of foreign coinage the value of which was ascertained and fixed in sterling money by proclamation of the Crown."-Ashe, History of North Carolina. Vol. I, p. 229. At a later date provincial currency was also so called.
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that the arrears of quit rents in North Carolina were too small to be a matter of any importance; resolved that, since there was not enough specie in the province with which to pay quit rents and fees, "all such payments be made in some valuable commoditys, or in the Bills now currant in this Province at proper Rates;" and declared that the regulation of officers' fees was a matter for the legislative, and not the executive power. "For nearly twenty years," it said, "the Officers' fees have been paid in Paper Currancy at the Rates mentioned in the Acts of Assembly." But Burrington insisted that the king's instructions gave "the Governour and Council Power to regulate and Settle Fees" in proclamation money, thereby "repealing all Laws that declare Fees shall be received other- ways." This direct blow at the legislative power alarmed the House which resolved that by the charter of Charles II, the people of North Carolina were to "have, possess [and] en- joy all Libertys, Franchises, and Privileges" enjoyed by the people of England, among which was the guarantee "that they shall not be taxed or made lyable to pay any sum or sums of money or Fees other than such as are by Law estab- lished;" it therefore requested the governor to forbid the payment of fees in proclamation money "until such time as the Officers' Fees shall be regulated by Authority of As- sembly." This resolution was as a red flag to a bull. The Council condemned it as "a great invasion of his Majesties Prerogative;" Burrington declared it an "unreasonable com- plaint," and denounced its author as "a Thief that hides himself in a house to rob it and fearing to be discovered, fires the house to make his escape in the smoak."
Burrington attributed the opposition to his course to Ed- ward Moseley, who was not only speaker of the House but also public treasurer, and determined to destroy him. For this purpose, he brought out two more instructions, one for- bidding the paying out of any public money except upon warrant of the governor, thus depriving the Assembly of all control over the public funds, except the privilege of being "permitted from time to time to view and examine all ac- counts of money" disposed of "by virtue of laws made by them;" the other directing that all commissions issued by the Lords Proprietors be withdrawn and no public office be held except by a commission from the king. Burrington laid these instructions before the Assembly accompanied by a declaration of his purpose to appoint "a fitt person" as public treasurer. The Assembly resented this fresh encroach-
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ment upon its rights and privileges, declared that no public money ought to be disbursed except as directed by the Gen- eral Assembly, i. e., the governor, Council, and House of Commons, and asserted that in fiscal affairs the Commons, "in Conjunction with the Governor and Council, hath a larger right than only to view and Examine Publick Accounts." Furthermore, it expressed the opinion that the other in- struction "doth not extend to officers appointed by Act of Assembly," as was the public treasurer, but only to those who held commissions from the Lords Proprietors; the governor, therefore, need not trouble himself to appoint a public treas- urer because that office was already filled by a person with whose "ability and integrity" the House was "very well sat- isfied," one, moreover, "who was appointed to that office in an Act of Assembly by the Governor, Council and Assembly and such an officer so appointed is not to be removed but by the like Power." To this open defiance of the king's instruc- tions the governor and his supporters in the Council could think of no better answer than to charge the House with try- ing "to create animositys and ferment divisions;" nor could they resist the temptation to take a fling at Moseley. They admitted that Moseley was "a person of sufficient ability" to be treasurer, and "heartily wished his integrity was equal to it." This insult to its leader drew a sharp reply from the House, which stood loyally by him, and Burrington's attack resulted merely in widening the breach between the two branches of the government.
After his first Assembly, the governor determined not to hold another session until he could secure from his superiors in England confirmation of his instructions on the questions at issue. By successive prorogations, therefore, he prevented a session until July, 1733, when he was able to announce that the Crown adhered to its original instructions, and especially forbade his accepting quit rents and fees "in any other specie but in proclamation money." The Assembly countered with the rejoinder that they too had consulted their "principals" who had "recommended nothing more earnestly to us than that we should not consent to burthen them with such pay- ments." So the quarrel flared up anew. The Assembly, in support of their contentions, having appealed to the Great Deed of Grant, were greatly perturbed to find its validity denied by the crown officials. But this merely added fuel to the flames. Neither side would yield. The representatives of the people would not obey the king's instructions; the rep-
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resentative of the Crown would not assent to anything short of complete submission. Round and round the circle both sides pursued the old arguments with wearisome iteration and reiteration, but with no results.
In the "several hot debates and messages" which passed between the Assembly and the governor, the Assembly was firm, but always calm and respectful. Burrington on the other hand was insolent, dictatorial, and abusive. "If the Kings Instructions are contrary to some Laws of this Prov- ince," he said, "the Governor must act in Obedience to the Kings Commands, therefore you must not be Surprized that whatever Your Law directs contrary to my Instructions is not taken Notice of [by] Me." The violence of the language in which he commanded a like obedience from the Assembly, and denounced all who opposed him, passed all bounds of reason and decency. Quit rents and fees, control of the pub- lic purse, the selection of a treasurer, the character of the present incumbent, and all other causes of controversy, dwin- dled into issues of secondary importance; the rights, the privileges and the dignity of the Assembly as a representa- tive body were at stake and the House resolved to maintain them at all costs. When the governor denounced the author of its resolution against the payment of fees in proclamation . money as a thief, the House replied that the resolution "was the Unanimous Voice of the whole House, no one member dis- senting thereto," and resolved that the governor's message was a "great indignity and contempt put on the whole House, a Breach of Privilege, and tended to the deterring the mem- bers from doing their Duty."
At the very beginning of the controversy, the popular party gained a point by creating a division in the Council. "I endeavoured all I could to prevent this madness," wrote Burrington, "but I cannot answer for the Follys and Pas- sions of Men." John Baptista Ashe led the way, and by "false reasoning and fallacious arguments," won over Ed- mund Porter and William Smith, the chief justice. About the same time two other councillors, Nathaniel Rice and Jo- seph Jenoure, were called out of the province. Only Cor- nelius Harnett 1 and Robert Halton were left upon whom the governor could depend. "By this," Burrington complained, "Ashe, Smith and Porter gained their end for then my own vote made but an equality in the Council which obliged me to put an end to the session." This division in the Council was never cemented; indeed, it grew wider for Harnett, too,
1 Father of the Revolutionary patriot of the same name.
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soon joined the governor's enemies. From that time until his recall, Burrington poured upon the heads of Ashe, Porter, Harnett and Smith such a flood of abuse and billingsgate as probably never before or since disgraced the official dis- patches of a public officer. Ashe was an "ungrateful" vil- lain, "altogether bent on mischief;" Porter "a man of most infamous character ;" Harnett "a disgrace to the Council;" and "Baby" Smith, "a silly, rash boy, a busy fool and egre- gious sot, to which," continued the irate governor, "I must add that I know him to be an ungrateful perfidious scoun- drel." Smith resigned from the Council; Porter was sus- pend'ed; Harnett was driven out by the governor's abuse; and Burrington, in clear violation of his instructions, replaced them with two new councillors, John Lovick and Edmund Gale, whose votes were at his command.
Burrington's enemies refused to remain quiet under his attacks. They poured complaints in rapid succession upon the Board of Trade. They even raised funds to send Chief Justice Smith to England to prefer charges against the gov- ernor. But neither written complaints nor personal appeals contributed so much to Burrington's downfall as his own dis- patches, which revealed but too plainly his unfitness for his office. The Board of Trade in replying to them, began with advice and ended with censure. They demanded that he ex- plain the opprobrious epithet which he had applied to Chief Justice Smith. They declared that while they would not ven- ture to pass judgment between him and Porter, they could not but observe that Porter had been "acquitted by the old Councillors and only condemned by those whom you have nominated for new ones." They disapproved his appoint- ment of the new councillors; condemned his practice of voting on bills pending before the upper house, and censured his domineering attitude toward the Assembly. Smarting under their strictures, Burrington flung policy to the winds, and gave full vent to his temper. More and more bitter grew his quarrels, more outrageous his conduct. Public business halted in the face of his private feuds. Three times he con- vened the Assembly, and three times prorogued it without securing the passage of a single act. Finally, in the summer of 1734, the Board of Trade determined to bear with him no longer, order his recall, and sent Gabriel Johnston to succeed him.
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