USA > North Carolina > The history of North Carolina from the earliest period, Volume II > Part 14
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provide a sufficient glebe and allow a salary of one hundred and thirty-three pounds eighteen shillings to a minister in each parish.
Rumours were prevailing through the continent, that the stamp act was passed by parliament, al- though it did not receive the king's assent till the 22d of March; a great ferment ensued: information reached the province, of great murmurs among the people, principally in New- York and Philadelphia; the lieutenant governor, apprehensive that the low- er house were about o enter into some resolutions, expressive of their sentiments on that subject, sud- denly prorogued the legislature on the 18th of May, until the 30th of November, to meet at Newbern.
A general consternation now pervaded the Amer- ican provinces. In the city of New-York, the act was printed and hawked about the streets, under the title of The folly of England and the ruin of America: in that of Philadelphia, the guns at the fort and the barracks were found spiked, to the great surprise and uneasiness of the inhabitants. The legislature of the province of Virginia, being in session when accounts of the passage of the bill, reached Williamsburg, the house of burgesses took this fatal measure into consideration. After pre- mising that the British house of commons had drawn into question, the power of the general as- sembly of the province, to enact laws for laying taxes and imposing duties on the inhabitants, they resolved, (in order to fix the true principle of the constitution) that the first settlers of the colony of Virginia brought with them, and transmitted to
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their posterity and all other subjects of the king, residing in the colony, all the rights and privileges enjoyed by the people of Great Britain, and their rights, in this very important respect, were after- wards acknowledged by two royal charters; that the colonists had enjoyed the right of being govern- ed by their own legislature, in the article of taxes and internal polity, a right which they never had forfeited or yielded up, but which had been con- stantly recognized by the king and people of Great Britain; that the general assem ly of the colony, together with the king's representative, had the ex- clusive right to levy taxes and impositions upon the inhabitants, and that every attempt to vest such a power in any other person or body of men, was ille- gal, unconstitutional and unjust, and had a tendency to destroy British, as well as American freedom.
Meetings of the inhabitants of the towns of Eden- ton, Newbern and Wilmington, were called, and in each, resolutions were entered, expressing their utter abhorence of the late measures of the British parlia- ment and a hearty concurrence with the sentiments expressed by the inhabitants of the northern provin- ces. The consternation, thus excited, was increas- ed by a renewal of the disturbances, in the county of Orange, which had now spread into the adjacent county of Granville. The great scarcity of a circu- lating medium was now severely felt in those parts of the province, distant from the commercial towns, and the distresses attending the recovery of com- paratively small sums, by the expensive process of a suit in the superior court, enhanced perhaps by
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the misconduct of some of the officers, had ex- cited murmurs, which were now succeeded by com- binations to seek relief and redress. On the 6th of June, a paper was circulated at Nutbush, in the county of Granville, entitled "a serious address to the inhabitants of the the county of Granville, con- taining a brief narrative of our deplorable situation and the wrongs we suffer and some necessary hints with respect to a reformation." It had for epigraph, this line of Pope, save my country, heavens, shall be my last. the writer was an illiterate man, but the sentiments were expressed with clearness, force and energy.
In the month of June, the house of representa- tives of the province of Massachusetts unanimous- ly agreed to propose a meeting of committees of the houses of representatives or burgesses of the sever- al British provinces, to consult together, on the circumstances of the colonies and the difficulties to which they were, or must be reduced, by the opera- tion of the acts of parliament, for levying duties and taxes on the colonies, and to consider of a general united, dutiful, loyal and humble representation of their condition to the king, and to implore relief. The speaker was directed to address the speakers of the respective assemblies and to inform them that the house proposed such a meeting to be held in the city of New-York, on the first Tuesday in Oc- tober, and had appointed their members to attend that service.
In the town of Providence, a meeting of the free- men was called early in August, "to confer on such
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measures, as should appear to them, necessary, relative to the stamp act, whereby the darling boast of the British North American subjects, which were once deemed in- defeasible, must be greatly abridged, if not totally anni- hilated." At this meeting, their representatives were instructed, strenuously to resist the incroachment.
Similar steps were, at the same time, taken in the pro- vince of South Carolina.
In the town of Boston, two effigies were found hang- ing, on a limb of a great tree, at the southern extrem- ity of the town, early in the morning of the 14th of Au- gust. By the label, fastened to one of them, it appear- ed designed to represent a stamp officer, the other was a jack boot, with a head and horns, peeping out at the top. A great concourse of people soon assembled, whose ar- dor was much inflamed by that sight. The images were taken down, placed on a bier, supported by six men and carried in procession, through the town, followed by a multitude of people of all ranks, in regular order, crying liberty, property, no stamp. They marched to a building, lately erected, which was supposed to be in- tended for a stamp office and razed it to the ground; then taking up the wood work of it, they carried it in procession, with the images, to Tree Hill, where they demolished the barn and fences: they were about return- ing, when the indiscretion of a person within inflamed them to such a degree that they entered the house and did considerable mischief.
On the following day, the person, who had been ap- pointed stamp master, resigned his office. The popu- lace assembled again, intending further mischief, but hearing of this circumstance, proceeded to his gate, gave three cheers and dispersed quietly.
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In the province of Connecticut, Jared Ingersol, the stamp master, was compelled to resign his office.
On the 27th of August, the people of the town of Newport, in the province of Rhode Island, brought forth three effigies in a cart, with halters about their necks, to a gallows, about twenty feet high, erected near the town house, where they were hanged, cut down and burnt, at the acclamations of thousand. On the next evening, they assembled again and beset the houses of Martin Howard and Thomas Mossat, which they burnt and destroyed, with the furniture, leaving them mere shells. They proceeded down to the house of Augus- tin Johnson, the stamp master, with the intention of de- stroying it also, but it being represented to them that it was the property of another person, they insisted on his furniture being surrendered to them: they were, how- ever, pacified on his resigning his office. Martin How- ard and Thomas Mossat, finding the resentment of the people highly risen against them, thought their persons in danger and sought shelter on board the Syren ship of war, in which they sailed for England.
Early in the month of September, the stamp paper, for the use of the provinces of New England, arrived at Boston, but governor Barnard, by the advice of the council, lodged them in Castle William. This mea- sure averted fresh tumults, for the populace had deter- mined on making a bonfire of them; and some individ- uals expressed great chagrin at the disappointment.
On the 20th, the lawyers, attending the supreme court of New Jersey, at South Amboy, had a meeting, at the request of the chief justice, and, after protesting against all kinds of riotous or indecent behavior, which they resolved to discountenance, by all means in their power,
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determined, by an absolute refusal to make use of the stamps and other quiet methods, to endeavor to procure the repeal of the act.
The legislature of the province of Maryland met in the latter part of the month of September, but the con- fused situation of the country prevented them from en- tering on business. The lower house appointed a com- mittee, according to the recommendation of the house of representatives of the province of Massachusetts, and entered into a number of resolutions, nearly in the same spirit as those of the house of burgesses, of the province of Virginia.
On the 5th of October, the stamps, for the use of the province of Pennsylvania, reached the port of Philadel- phia. The ship which brought them, had stopped for a while at New Castle, under the protection of a ship of war, which came up with her. As soon as these ships appeared round Gloucester point, all the vessels in the harbor hoisted their colors half staff high; the bells were muffled and kept tolling till the evening; every counte- nance adding to the appearance of sincere mourning. At four o'clock in the afternoon, several thousand citi- zens met round the state house, to consult on the means of preventing the execution of the stamp act. It was agreed to send a deputation of five persons, to John Hughes, the stamp master, who was confined to bed by sickness, to request he would resign his office. He rea- dily declared, that no act of his would assist in carrying the act into effect, till it was generally complied with. When the committee returned to the state house and made their report, the citizens were enraged and could, with great difficulty, be prevailed on not to proceed
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to violent measures, notwithstanding the committee represented the stamp master, as at the point of death. However. yielding to the compassion which this circumstance excited, they determined on mak- ing their application in writing and giving their townsman some time to determine on his reply. Accordingly, on the Monday following, the commit- tee, who had again called on him, brought his writ- ten declaration, that he had not hitherto, taken any step, tending to put the late act of parliament into effect within the province, or in any of the coun- ties of New Castle, Kent and Sussex, to which his commission extended, and that he would not, either by himself or his deputies, do any thing, that should have the least tendency to put the act into execu. tion, unless it was generally carried into effect in the neighboring colonies. On this, the people qui- etly dispersed.
A congress, formed of a committee from the dif- ferent provinces, except those of New Hampshire, Rhode Island, North Carolina and Georgia, met, ac- cording to the recommendation of the house of re- presentatives of the province of Massachusetts: that of North Carolina was not represented, the lower house not having had an opportunity of choosing members; and, most likely. the absence of gentle- men from the other provinces, unrepresented, was owing to the same cause.
The congress, consisting of twenty-seven mem- bers, prepared and forwarded addresses to the king and each of the houses of parliament, and formed and subscribed an instrument, which they dignified
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with the appellation of "a declaration of the rights and grievances of their constituents."
In the preamble, the congress stated, that. sin- cerely devoted, with the warmest sentiments of af- fection and duty, to the king's person and govern- ment and inviolably attached to the actual estab- lishment of the protestant succession, and, with minds, deeply impressed by a sense of the present and impending misfortunes of the British colonies on the continent, having considered as maturely as time would permit, the circumstance of the colonies, they esteemed it their indispensable duty, to make a humble declaration of their opinions, respecting the most essential rights and liberties of the colonists and of the grievances they labored under, by reason of several late acts of parliament.
They declared, that the colonists owed allegiance to the crown, and all due submission to the two houses of parliament, and were entitled to all the rights of sub- jects born within the realm ; that it was essential to the freedom of a people, to be taxed only with their own con- sent ; that the colonies neither were, nor could, from their local circumstances, be represented in the British house of commons, and, consequently, their only repre- sentatives were in the colony legislatures ; and, except by them, no tax had ever been, nor ever could be impo- sed on them; that supplies being gifts, the commons of Great Britain could not, constitutionally, grant away the property of the colonists; that the trial by jury, was a right of the subject ; that the stamp act, and the other late acts of parliament, tended to subvert that right; that the duties lately imposed were grievances, and the pay-
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ment of them impracticable; that the profits of the commerce of the colonies centering in Great Britain, they, thereby, largely contributed to all supplies; that the late parliamentary restrictions, prevented them from purchasing the manufactures of Great Britain ; that the prosperity of the colonies depended on the enjoyment of their rights, and a mutual beneficial intercourse, with the mother country; that it was the right of the subject, to petition king, lords and commons, and the duty of the congress, by a loyal and dutiful address to the king, and a humble application to both houses of parliament, to procure the repeal of the stamp act, and others re- stricting trade, and extending the jurisdiction of the admiralty.
On the 22d of October, the stamp paper, for the pro- vince of New York, was received : the same demon- strations of grief and mourning were exhibited on this occasion, as in the other provinces. Lieutenant gover- nor Colden sent to Mr. M'Ever, to take care of the papers; but he declined having any thing to do with them: they were lodged in Fort George.
In the last week of October, George Mercer, distri- buter of the stamps, for the province of Virginia, landed at Hampton. He met with some rude treatment from the mob, who, by the interposition of some influential gentlemen, were prevailed on to disperse without any ill consequences following. When he arrived in Wil- liamsburg, as he was waking towards the capitol, on his way to the governor's, he was accosted by a number of gentlemen from different parts of the province, (the general court being then sitting) who insisted on his immediately satisfving the company, which was con- stantly increasing, whether he intended to enter on the
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duties of his office. Seeing himself completely sur- rounded, he answered, that any reply he might then make would be attributed to fear, and begged to be al- lowed to wait on the governor and council, in order to obtain correct information of the sentiments of the col- ony, and afterwards meet his countrymen and give them an answer. This seemed to give satisfaction, and he was accompanied to the coffee-house, where the gover- nor, most of the council and a great number of other gentlemen, were assembled. The crowd, in the mean while, increased, and growing impatient, insisted on a more speedy and satisfactory answer, declaring they would not disperse till it was obtained : upon which, George Mercer coming forward, and promising a cate- gorical answer, by five o'clock the next evening : he met with no further molestation.
At the time appointed, he was met at the capitol by a vast concourse of people, among whom were the. principal merchants in the colony, when a committee, chosen for the purpose, informed him, he was then to look upon himself as in the presence of the colony, and demanded the answer he had, on the preceding day, pro- mised them. He then addressed the meeting, in a speech of considerable length, and concluded he would have been glad, to have had it in his power to have acted in such a manner, as would have justified him to his friends and countrymen, in the province, and to the per- sons from whom he derived his appointment ; but the time allowed to him was so short, that he had not been able to discover that happy medium. He therefore, en- treated the gentlemen present, to be referred to his fu- ture conduct, with this assurance, that he would not, directly or indirectly, by himself or his deputies, pro-
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ceed in the execution of the act, until he received fur. ther orders from England, and not then, without the as- sent of the general assembly of the province. This de- claration gave so general a satisfaction, that he was im- mediately born out of the capitol gate, amid the accla- mations of all persons present, and carried to the coffee- house, where an elegant entertainment was provided. On his arrival, the acclamations redoubled, drums beat, French horns and other musical instruments sounding. At night the bells were set a ringing, and the whole town illuminated.
In the despatches of general Conway, the secretary of state to governor Fanquin, in answer to the commu- nication which caused the resolutions, of the 29th of May, the general observed, that the nature of the thing induced a persuasion, that these ill advised resolutions, owed their birth to the violence of some individuals, who, taking advantage of a thin assembly, so far pre- vailed, as to publish their own uninformed opinion to the world, as the sentiments of the colony : and the king's servants persuaded themselves, that, when a full assembly should calmly and maturely deliberate upon these resolutions, they would see, and be themselves alarmed at the dangerous tendency and mischievous con- sequences, both to the mother country and the colonies.
In the province of North Carolina, the people, at all their public meetings, manifested their high approbation of the proceedings of the inhabitants of the other pro- vinces; and lieutenant governor Tryon, judging from the temper of the people that it would be unsafe and dangerous, to allow them the opportunity of expressing their feelings, by allowing a session of the legislative body, in these days of ferment, on the 25th of October,
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issued his proclamation to prorogue the general assem- bly, which was to have met on the 30th of November, till the 12th of March, assigning as a reason for this stop, that there appeared to be no immediate necessity for their meeting at that time.
On the 21st of October, the merchants of the city of New York, came to a resolution, that in all the orders they should send to Great Britain, for any goods what- ever, they would direct them not to be shipped, unless the stamp act was repealed : to countermand all orders already sent out, except on the above contingency: not to sell any goods, sent on commission, after the 1st of January, 1766, except on the same contingency. These resolutions were to be binding, until abrogated at a future general meeting. Two hundred of the prin- cipal persons in trade subscribed them. In conse- quence of this, the shop keepers and retailers, subscri- bed an obligation, not to purchase any goods shipped from Great Britain, after the first day of January, 1766, unless the stamp act was repealed.
At Portsmouth, in the province of New Hampshire, the inhabitants being informed, that Messerne, the stamp master, intended, notwithstanding a verbal resig- nation of the office, to proceed to the distribution of the stamps, went to him to the plains, a place at the distance of about two miles from the town, where he had met the king's council, and there judge Warren, one of the council, administered an oath to him, that he would not execute his office in any part of the province. This measure, and the assurances, given by the council, that the stamps would remain unopened, satisfied the peo- ple, who dispersed quietly.
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On the 1st of November, the day on which the stamp act was to be in operation, the inhabitants of the city of New-York, observing unusual movements in the fort, were much displeased and alarmed. In the evening they assembled in great numbers, and, preceded by men bearing lighted torches, marched to the fort, where they broke open the stables and took out lieuten- ant governor Colden's carriage, and drove it through the city in triumph, to the commons, where a gallows had been erected; and an effigy of the lieutenant go- vernor, with a label on its breast and a drum on its back, was hung at one end, and a figure of the devil at the other. They then marched with the carriage, gal- lows and effigies, in grand procession, to the gate of the fort, and thence to the bowling green, under the muzzle of the cannons, where all was consumed in a bonfire, amidst the acclamations of several thousands.
On the next evening, it being reported that the lieu- tenant governor had qualified as stamp master, the peo- ple assembled again, determined to march to the fort and obtain, either a declaration, that he would not distribute the stamps, or that they should be delivered into their hands. Lieutenant governor Colden, having received information of this, published a declaration, that he would have nothing to do with the stamps; but leave it to Sir Henry Moore, who had lately been appointed governor of the province, to act as he pleased, on his arrival. Still the people remained unsatisfied, and, gathering before the lieutenant governor's house, insisted on the stamps being delivered out of the fort, threatening, in case of his refusal, to go and take them out by force. On this, captain Kennedy, of the king's ship Coventry, was ap- plied to, on the part of the lieutenant governor, to re-
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ceive them on board; but he absolutely refused. At length, after much negotiation, on the 5th, they were de- livered to the corporation, and lodged in the city hall, to the great joy of the people, During this commotion, which lasted for several days, all the cannons on Copsey battery, the king's yard, and all others belonging to the merchants, were spiked, to prevent the populace making use of them to obtain the stamps.
On the 7th of November, the merchants and shop- keepers, of the city of Philadelphia, entered into an as- sociation, with regard to a commercial non intercourse, as had been done a few days before at New-York. The example of the two principal trading cities was pretty generally followed throughout the provinces.
During the months of November and December, days of general thanksgiving and prayer for the success of the opposition to the stamp act, through the colonies, were observed in most of the provinces.
Towards Christmas, lieutenant governor Tryon re- ceived a commission of governor, captain general and commander in chief. This circumstance afforded an opportunity of preventing an early meeting of the legis- lative body. This was done by a dissolution of the general assembly, by proclamation on the 21st. The qualification of the chief magistrate, under his new commission, was laid in this instrument, to make it ne- cessary that the present assembly should be dissolved.
The governor received, with the testimonial of his promotion, a circular despatch from general Conway, in which the secretary, after expressing the great con- cern with which government had heard of the distur- bances in America, expressed his hope, that the want of confidence in the justice and tenderness of the mother
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country, manifested by the colonies in their open- re- sistance to her authority, could only have found place among the lower and more ignorant part of the people, and the better and wiser would know, that decency and submission might prevail, not only to redress griev- ances, but to obtain grace and favor, while the out- rage of public violence could expect nothing but severity and chastisement. These sentiments, the governor and other servants of the king, were instructed to excite and encourage. They were directed to call on the people, not to render their case desperate, and, in the strongest colours, to represent to them the dreadful consequences that must inevitably attend the forcible and violent re- sistance to acts of the British parliament, and the scenes of calamity among themselves and of mutual weakness and dissatisfaction to both countries, inseparable from such a conduct. The secretary added, that if by lenient and persuasive methods, the governors could contribute to restore peace and tranquility to the provinces over which they presided, they would do an acceptable ser- vice to their country; but, having taken every step, which the utmost prudence and lenity could dictate, in com- passion to the folly and ignorance of some misguided people, they ought not to fail, on the other hand, in using their utmost power for repelling all acts of violence and outrage, and to provide for the maintenance of peace and good order in the province, by such timely exertion of force, as the occasion might require. For that pur- pose the secretary added, that early application should be made to general Gage or lord Colville, the comman- ders in chief of the land and naval forces in North Ame- rica.
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