USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina V. I, Pt. 1 > Part 23
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1733
C. R., III,
C. R., III, 561
238 BURRINGTON'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION, 1731-34
1733
Majesty all they could do in regard to the payment of rents. As for the disuse of the Assembly, it said there were other matters requiring the attention of the governor than the quit rents ; among them not merely exorbitant fees taken by the officers, but the perversion of justice by evil and wicked officers, especially by Chief Justice Little and his associates on the bench.
Chief Justice Little arraigned C. R., III, 587
This grave charge against the chief justice at once brought a reply. Little in a long and caustic letter petitioned the governor and council that since they could not try him as a court, they would examine into any charges made against him and ascertain whether or not he were unfit to be a councillor ; for he admitted that if he were guilty of per- verting justice he ought to be removed from the council board. This paper being communicated to the house, it was referred to a committee, and the house temporarily pro- ceeded with its other business. There were several new points on which quarrels now arose with the governor. The house would not recognize the new precincts of Bladen, Onslow, and Edgecombe, erected by the governor and coun- cil, and would not admit the members elected in them. It had some of the officers appointed by the governor arrested and brought to its bar for misconduct ; and finally it cited several officers, among them the chief justice, before it to answer why they had exacted in payment of their fees four times the amount in currency which the law had fixed.
C. R., III, 562
The governor addresses the house C. R., III, 598, 603, 604
At length, on the fourteenth day of the session, the com- mittee on Little's petition reported that it contained scanda- lous expressions reflecting on the dignity of the house, and he was ordered into custody to answer for affronting the house. Matters had now reached a serious pass, and the governor intervened to protect his officer. He sent an address to the house sustaining Little, assuming that the particular charge against him was taking fees at four for one, which the governor himself had directed and which had been done by Chief Justice Smith prior to Little, and who, having just returned from England, had been grate- fully thanked by the Assembly for his services abroad.
This assumption of the governor that the only charge against Little was the taking of improper fees led to a fierce
239
BURRINGTON'S THIRD ASSEMBLY
arraignment of the judicial action of the chief justice while on the bench, and brought forward the governor's own conduct in regard to the imprisonment of Ashe and with reference to Porter. The governor in his turn gave a loose rein to his anger and vehemently defended himself and assailed the house ; and then. not a single law having been passed, he dissolved the Assembly.
The third Assembly dissolved
The regular election for an Assembly was held in Sep- Nov., 1733 tember, and in November the house met at Edenton: but there was no quorum of councillors to make another house, so after waiting several days, the governor had the mem- bers to attend him and dissolved the Assembly. But before parting with them, however, he read a long paper in vindi- cation of his conduct from the aspersions of his enemies. In June he had applied for leave to return to England, hav- ing doubtless heard that a successor had been appointed to his office, and feeling that there was no longer any occasion C. R., III, to fight the batties of a government that did not sustain him. 613-622 The address he now made was therefore couched in very Change of tone different terms from any of his former productions. It was a manly, sensible address, and his moderation must have disarmed enmity and won him friendly sympathy. It put many of the complaints against him in a different light from what the circumstances were made to bear when pressed by his adversaries; and it rather sustained his opinion that some at least among those whose bitter hostility and antag- onism he had aroused "were subtle and crafty to admiration."
For nearly a year ensuing Burrington conducted public affairs with neither an Assembly nor a council. He himself had a long and dangerous illness, some of the council died and others left the province. Rice, who at one time when Burrington was absent from the province, being the senior and ranking member of the council, was sworn in as presi- dent of the council. was suspended by the governor on his return, because of "villainies." as was also Montgomery, another "villain." Halton neglected to attend for two years, and Ashe, who died in the fall of 1734, had not attended for more than twelve months. Everard also was dead, and so
1733 -
July, 1733 C. R .. III, 608, 611
Oct., 1734 C. R., Ill, 627, 628
240 BURRINGTON'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION, 1731-34
1734 --- was Chief Justice Little. To succeed Little, Daniel Hanmer was appointed, notwithstanding Smith had returned from England and was ready to resume the functions of his office. At length a collision took place. the final result of which produced unexpected consequences. The details of it are obscure. Burrington claimed that Smith, Rice, Montgomery and some of their confederates attempted to assassinate him by shooting at him with pistols, and that he would have been murdered if some courageous men had not come to his assistance and rescued him. Bills of indictment were at once found against these councillors in Hanmer's court, and they fled by night to Virginia, where they continued until Gov- ernor Johnston landed in North Carolina. These proceed- ings threw the province into new confusion and disorder during the last months of Burrington's administration.
The plot against his lite C. R., IV, 165
It was Burrington's misfortune to have been the first gov- ernor appointed to establish in the province those changes which the Board of Trade deemed necessary upon the pur- chase by the Crown. In an attempt to carry out their direc- tions any one would have met with embarrassment and been confronted with all the opposition that the popular leaders could lawfully make; but more than that, Burrington had troubles that another person of a different temperament might have avoided. He was embroiled personally with the Moores and their kindred, with Moseley, Porter and Swann, because of conflicting interests and disputes about land ; and many of his personal difficulties grew out of his antagonism with those men.
Without doubt there had been some abuses in regard to the issuing of patents and the location of blank warrants. For instance, Edmond Porter alleged that Burrington him- self in 1725 obtained a warrant issued in 1711 for six hun- dred and forty acres of land in Albemarle, charged with a quit rent of two shillings sixpence, and altered it to a Bath County purchase warrant for five thousand acres at six- pence quit rent, and located it at Burgaw. The grant, which is recorded at Beaufort, seems at least in part to sustain Porter's assertion, for it is based on a warrant issued in 1711, when grants for five thousand acres were not allowed. and when no entries were permitted on the Cape Fear at all.
Altered patents
C. R., III, 502
2.1I
BURRINGTON'S OPINION OF THE PEOPLE
Other such warrants. bearing internal evidence of having been issued in 1711, located on the Cape Fear, might well lead to an erroneous impression that there had been an attempted settlement on that river about that time. The use of blank patents had been general in all sections of Bath County, and any attempt to destroy the validity of titles based on them would necessarily lead to violent antagonism : and later Governor Burrington himself suc- cessfully argued before the Board of Trade that these grants were not to be disturbed.
As for the various affairs in which Burrington was made C. R., III, to appear at a disadvantage, there were probably two sides 617 to most of them-as in his conflict with Ashe about brand- ing the mares. which presents quite a different appearance when Burrington gives his version of the circumstances.
His own opinion of the people, expressed in a letter to the Board of Trade a year after his arrival, was that "the inhabitants of North Carolina are not industrious, but subtle and crafty to admiration ; always behaved insolently to their governors ; some they have imprisoned. drove others out of the country ; at other times, set up two or three supported by men under arms. All the governors that were ever in this province lived in fear of the people (except myself ) and dreaded their assemblies. The people are neither to be cajoled, nor outwitted. Whenever a governor attempts any- thing by these means he will lose his labor and show his ignorance. They never gave the governor any present ex- cept Sir Richard Everard. With him they agreed for £500 in bills to pass the pretended laws in 1729, in the name of the Proprietors, when he was shown the act of Parliament of the king's purchase. It must be allowed, were these acts valid, the assemblymen made a good bargain for the people they represented."
These ideas of the characteristics of the people furnish some key to Burrington's conduct. The crafty people seem to have withstood him, but he had the resolution not to quail before them. There was, indeed, no duplicity in his actions, either in his private quarrels or his public controversies ; and had it not been for his infirmity of temper. notwith- standing the zeal of the popular leaders to prevent unconsti-
1734
His opinion of the people C. R., III, 338
242 BURRINGTON'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION, 1731-34
1734 - tutional alterations in their government, his relations with them might have been on a more pleasant footing. Still, contests must have necessarily arisen, for he candidly avowed that the people should be curbed, and he urged a repeal of the biennial act, saying that "that act must be repealed before the people of this country can be brought into a good subjection"; and also the repeal of the act appointing treasurers to the precincts, who he claimed had the local influence to control the assemblymen ; and the neces- sity of taking the power of the purse away from the Assembly.
Controver- sial docu- ments C. R., III, 325, 356, 375, 450-457
His position on these subjects alone was quite sufficient to array the people strongly against him. As these and other such questions involved the constitution of the prov- ince, their discussion led to historical research of much interest, and the papers written on those subjects not only throw much light on the obscure history of the province, but are highly creditable to the authors. Particularly note- worthy is that of Rice and Ashe on the constitution of the province, while those that relate to Moseley and Porter, some written by Burrington himself, are often strong and full of interest.
If this first administration of a royal governor was a period of violent antagonism, it was also one of patriotic fervor, although the personal controversies were so inter- mixed with political action that it is difficult to separate them. The basis of it all was a resolute purpose on the part of the leading inhabitants to preserve the constitutional rights of the province ; and the contest then begun continued in one shape or another until the connection with the Crown was brought to a close by the Revolution of 1776.
Still, in many respects Burrington's career gives indis- putable proof that he sought to promote the progress of the province. He made journeys to every part of the inliab- ited country, examined the roads, urged the construction of bridges, sought to organize the militia on a good footing and to raise the standard of the precinct courts; and he urged an extension of the general courts. He explored the har- bors and caused charts to be made of Ocracoke, Beaufort, and Cape Fear inlets, the only ones of use to the commerce
Burring- ton's progressive action
C. R., III, 272, 435
2.43
THE SOUTH CAROLINA LINE
of the province. and he otherwise endeavored to render his administration serviceable to the inhabitants; but per- haps the best service he rendered was in deferring the C. R., III. running of the line as proposed between North and South Carolina, which, if once established, would have given to South Carolina a large part of our interior territory, which the South Carolinians coveted, for the directions at that time were to run the dividing line thirty miles distant from the Cape Fear River up to the head of that stream and then a due west course.
The South Carolina authorities claimed that the Cape Fear River itself was the dividing line, and in support of that view they asserted that grants issued by that gov- ernment had been located on that river. It does appear from a deed made by Schinking Moore to Richard Eagles, March 14. 1763. recorded in the register's office of New Hanover County, that a grant of 48,000 acres of land was issued May 13. 1601, to Landgrave Thomas Smith, and that said Smith and wife Mary conveyed to William Watters 700 acres thereof located on the northeast branch of the Cape Fear River, just above the dividing of said rivers; and on April 21. 1736, Maurice Moore conveyed to Colonel Thomas Merrick a tract of land lying at a place called the Haulover, on the east side of the Cape Fear River, "beginning at Landgrave Smith's corner tree," etc.
From these conveyances it would seem that Landgrave Smith's tract was located on the Cape Fear River, and its bounds were recognized after the permanent settlement. Roger Moore, who came to the Cape Fear about 1725, married a daughter of the Landgrave, and perhaps the fact that that particular grant was located on the Cape Fear may have in some degree influenced the removal of the Moores, resulting in the permanent settlement of the Cape Fear, which by some of the older residents was spoken of as the third attempt to settle that river.
Many of the questions raised by Burrington in the course of his administration were not settled at that time. At London they were referred to the law officers of the Crown. good lawyers and fair men, who made a thorough examina- tion before delivering an opinion ; and often there was long
1734
244, 372, 435
Landgrave Smith's grant C. R., III, 125, 154
Book F. New Han. Co. Records, 35, 313
Questions settled and unsettled
244 BURRINGTON'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION, 1731-34
1734 C. R., III, 292, 354
delay before the facts could be definitely ascertained war- ranting a decision. In regard to the validity of the Great Deed, the law office was apparently misled by Mr. Sheiton. the secretary of the Lords Proprietors, who declared that it had never been recognized at all by the Lords Proprietors, and it therefore held that the instrument was intended to have only a temporary effect. When this opinion was com- municated to Burrington he replied with considerable vigor, urging the same view which the Assembly enter- tained-that it was a valid grant and contract and could not lawfully be ignored.
C. R., III, 621
In regard to the validity of the currency act passed in 1729. it was held that all acts passed before Governor Everard had notice of the sale to the king were valid; any passed after such notice were null. But that act being in operation, it was never disallowed or annulled, and the paper currency authorized by it continued to be the chief money used in the province. Other questions remained undeter- mined : but it appearing that the governor had sat with the councillors when the legislature was in session and had taken part in the discussion and in the consideration of bills, he was rebuked and reminded that as he represented the king, his sole function was to allow or disallow bills that passed the two houses, and that he must not meddle with the Assembly. Such was the custom in England, and the purpose was to conform the province to the customs at home. One of his instructions was, "You shall take care that the mem- bers of the Assembly be elected only by freeholders, as being more agreeable to the custom of the kingdom, to which you are as near as may be to conform yourself in all particulars." That idea eventually commended itself to the people, and subsequently they sought to model their legislature after Parliament.
The province grows C. R., III. 344, 432, 433
In the meantime the province received accessions in popu- lation and made progress in importance. While the northern section had grown more populous, requiring the erection of Edgecombe Precinct, there being twenty families on the Tar River alone, the opening up of the Cape Fear proved of still greater consequence. Settlers were locating on both branches of the river ; the wealthy South Carolina planters,
245
THE PROVINCE GROWS
who had removed to the lower portions of the river, had begun the cultivation of rice, while saw-mills were erected and the forests yielded for export tar, pitch, turpentine, staves and plank. Bladen was being settled as well as Onslow. John Maultsby had taken out. about 1731, a warrant for six hundred and forty acres of land opposite the confluence of the two branches of the Cape Fear ; and John Watson located a similar warrant adjoining and below that tract; and in 1732 a few enterprising men had for trade settled on Maultsby's entry and called the place New Liverpool, and the next spring Michael Higgins, Joshua Granger, James Wimble and John Watson joined in laying off a town, called New Town or Newton, on the Watson entry, which soon became a rival of Brunswick. Roads had been opened from the Cape Fear to South Carolina, and two roads led to the northward, one by the coast to New Bern and one by Rocky Point to Edenton ; while there was easy communication by water with Charleston, with the great sounds and with Nor- folk. During one year forty-two vessels had sailed from Brunswick well laden with valuable cargoes. The products had so increased that in addition to those of the forests, and of grain and tobacco, much live stock was sold abroad, many cattle and at least fifty thousand fat hogs being yearly driven to Virginia. Although there had been no great change in the way of church privileges. yet there had been some im- portant ones. John La Pierre, a Frenchman, who had come to South Carolina in 1708, and had officiated on the Santee, had about the year 1727 come to the Cape Fear, where he remained several years. In 1732 Dr. Richard Marsden, who had cast his fortune with the Cape Fear people some four years earlier, had a charge at New River, which Burrington was seeking to promote and develop. and where about one hundred families had settled. For a time Rev. Bevin Gran- ville officiated at Edenton and the surrounding country, where he baptized over one thousand children. In Albemarle there was one Presbyterian minister with a congregation and there were four meeting houses of the Friends. In 1735 John Boyd was employed in the Northwest parish, where he claims to have likewise baptized one thousand infants. In that section he reported "no sects," but lower down the C. R., ILI
1734
Religious conditions
246 BURRINGTON'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION, 1731-34
Nov., 1734 country there were a great many Quakers and Baptists : for Paul Palmner's work was indeed progressing.
C. R., III, 634
Burrington had applied for permission to return to Eng- land, and in expectation of receiving it in October, he filled up the council board by the appointment of a number of new members and called an Assembly to meet him at Eden- ton on November 6th. When the Assembly met Moseley was again chosen speaker ; but former antagonisms seem to have largely subsided.
The last Assembly to meet Burrington
The governor addressed the Assembly in a conciliatory speech complimenting the members, and "not doubting that they would promote the passing of such acts as are recom- mended or required in the king's instructions." Moseley, as speaker, returned hearty thanks for his kind speech, and added : "That we are very glad you have conceived so good an opinion of our understanding and capacity to serve this province." In his reply the governor accepted "your answer to my speech very kindly," and assured them that the good opinion he entertained of the wisdom and good intentions of the members was grounded on the real merit he knew they were possessed of ; and he wanted them to so act that "this country may have reason to thank us at the end of this session, and their posterity not only to remember us with gratitude, but to bless our memories." As the temper of the governor seemed to be not so arbitrary, the house itself became more complacent. On the second day of the session it ordered a bill to be prepared declaring that only free- holders should vote, agreeably to the king's directions ; and they ordered other bills to be brought in establishing the three new precincts, Edgecombe, Onslow, and Bladen ; and were proceeding on a line that must have been very accept- able to Governor Burrington when, on November 13th, it was certified by proclamation that Governor Johnston had pub- lished his commission on the Cape Fear in open council. Burrington's administration immediately closed. The house proceeded no further in business, but stood dissolved, there having been no act of Assembly passed during the whole period that Burrington was governor.
C. R., III, 641
No act passed during his administra- tion
CHAPTER XIX
JOHNSTON'S ADMINISTRATION, 1734-52
Governor Johnston arrives .- Burrington's enemies in the ascend- ant .- Johnston cordially received .- The Assembly and the governor .. -Disagreements .- Wilmington incorporated .- Immigrants .- McCul- loh's grants .- Swiss. Irish and Scotch .- The South Carolina dividing line .- Clashing between the governor and the people .- The new Assembly .- The governor appeals for instructions .- Precincts converted into counties .- The compromise .- Progress in the colony. -- The chief justice impeached .- He dies .- Edward Moseley chief justice .- The Spanish War .- Expedition to Cartagena .- The decision of the Board of Trade .- The quit rents .- Body of laws .- Blank patents .- The currency .- Governor's salary unpaid .- Matters in dis- pute settled .- Granville. Johnston. and Duplin counties .- The Scotch migration .- Anson County .- Granville's territory .- The unarmed re- bellion .- The two repudiated acts .- The Assembly of 1747 .- Northern counties not represented .- They refuse obedience .- Spanish invasion. -Brunswick attacked .-- New currency act .- Efforts to displace Johnston .- Local differences .- First printing press .- Yellow Jacket .- The Palatines .- Wreck of Spanish fleet .- The contest between the new and the old counties .- The cessation of courts in Albemarle .- The end of Johnston's administration .- Two treasurers .- Growth at the west .- The Germans and Scotch-Irish .- Orange County .- Ex- plorations by Spangenberg.
Governor Johnston arrives
On the arrival of Governor Gabriel Johnston at Cape Nov., 1734 Fear he was met with great cordiality by the gentlemen of the vicinity, and he lost no time in assuming the reins of government. There had been no change in the list of coun- cillors originally appointed by Governor Burrington, except that on Burrington's recommendation Roger Moore and Cullen Pollock had been selected to fill vacancies, and now Edward Moseley and Matthew Rowan were added to the board. The suspensions and appointments made by Bur- rington a few months earlier were unknown in London, and were a surprise to Johnston when informed of them. On November 2, 1734. Johnston opened his commission at Brunswick in the presence of the gentlemen of the town and
.
2.18
JOHNSTON'S ADMINISTRATION, 1734-52
1754 -- of councillors Robert Halton, Eleazar Allen and Roger Moore, who had not attended Burrington's board then in C. R., IV, I session with the Assembly at Edenton. Being informed that Burrington had supplanted many officers illegally, the gov- ernor on the day he qualified issued a proclamation com- manding all officers, civil or military, who had been removed or suspended to resume their offices and enter again on the discharge of their duties : and Smith, the chief justice : Rice, the secretary ; Halton and Edmond Porter at once took their places at the council board.
Burring- ton's enemies in the ascendant C. R., IV, 77, 81
Hanmer, lately appointed chief justice, and Burrington's other appointees were now roundly and freely characterized as base tools to work Burrington's arbitrary will on desery- ing gentlemen who had the manhood to disagree with him. The tables were indeed completely turned ; and the late gov- ernor's enemies being in control of the Assembly as well as of the council, those who had fled the province, ostensibly in fear of their lives, returned in triumph.
Burrington goes to England
C. R., IV, 45
Adverting to the disorders that prevailed, Governor Johnston ordered a court of over and terminer to be held at Edenton on December 2d. and issued writs for the election of an Assembly, which was to meet on January 15th. His prompt and strenuous action, at once ignoring all courtesy that might have been due to his predecessor and reversing the whole course of the administration, was a bitter humilia- tion to Burrington, who now left the province with his family and returned to England, where he, however, con- tinued to interest himself in North Carolina affairs.
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