USA > North Carolina > The history of North Carolina from the earliest period, Volume II > Part 4
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In opening the next session of the legislature, on the 2d day of April, in the town of Edenton, governor Johnston endeavored to impress upon the house the ne- cessity of making preparations, against the impending danger. His representations, however, were not of much avail: they intended, only to procure an act for erecting magazines, in the several counties.
The election of members of the legislature, was regu- lated at this session: the qualifications, required from the electors, were a freehold of fifty acres, and six months' residence in the county. Those of the elected were a freehold of one hundred acres, and twelve months' resi- dence. The suffrages were to be given by ballot.
The statute, allowing a bounty on the importation of naval stores, from the American provinces, being nearly expired, was, this year, continued for the term of seven years.
Three thousand families, at an immense chargé to government, were transported into Nova Scotia at once, and three regiments stationed there, to protect them from the Indians.
In the following year, John, lord Carteret, afterwards earl of Granville, presented a petition to the king, pray- ing that the eighth part of the original province of Caro-
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lina, reserved to him by the act of parliament, establish. ing an agreement with the other seven lords proprietors, for the surrender of their interest to the crown, might be set apart, offering to resign his interest in the govern- ment and his title to the other seven eighths. The pro- position being accepted by the crown, five commission- ers were appointed by each party, for making the divi- sion. The territory allotted to him was bounded on the north, by the line separating the provinces of Virgi- nia and North Carolina; on the east, by the Atlantic ocean; and on the south, by a line. drawn westward, to a point on the sea shore, in latitude thirty-five de- grees and thirty-four minutes, and, agreeably to the charter, on the west, by the Pacific ocean. Shortly after, a grant of the eighth part of Carolina, together with all yearly rents and profits arising from it, to John, lord Carteret, and his heirs, passed the great seal; but the power of making laws, calling and holding assem- blies, erecting courts of justice, appointing judges and justices, pardoning criminals, granting titles of honor, making ports and havens, taking customs and duties on goods, executing martial law, exercising the royal rights of a palatine, or any other prerogatives relating to the administration of government, were excepted, out of the grant; the whole was to be holden on the payment of thirty-three shillings, and four pence, yearly, forever, with one fourth of all the gold and silver ore.
With a view to encourage the colonists, to fit out privateers, the provincial courts of vice admiralty were authorized to take cognizance of prize causes, and con- demn vessels, by a statute of this year.
Chalmers-History of South Carolina-Records.
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CHAPTER III.
IN the summer of 1744, accounts were received that France had formally declared war against Great Britain. This was only the addition of a ceremony, and the French governor, at cape Bre- ton, having received previous information of the intention of his sovereign, took early measures to attack the British fishery at Canseau. The island was taken, and its garrison and inhabitants made prisoners of war, on the 13th of May. This suc- cess encouraged an attempt on Annapolis, but a timely reinforcement. from the province of Massa- chusetts, occasioned its failure.
An avowed state of war drew the attention of the legislature to the unprotected and defenceless condition of the ports. The river of Cape Fear, from its known depth of water, seemed to invite insult and invasion. This induced the legislature, which sat in Newbern, on the 2d of April, 1745, to order the erection of a fortification on the south bank of that river, near its mouth, sufficiently large to contain twenty-four pieces of cannon, with bar- racks and other conveniencies. This was soon af- ter effected, and the work was called Fort Johnston. in honor of the chief magistrate, with whom the proposition had originated.
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The protection thus afforded to this part of the country, and the trade of the river, which consisted chiefly in rice, naval stores and lumber. commodi- ties of great bulk, requiring larger vessels than could conveniently reach the wharves of Wilming- ton, the village of Brunswick, which lay nearer to the sea, was believed to be a spot, which in time, would become the site of a an important maritime town; with the view to aid its further settlement, it was by law, established as a town. The experi- ence of nearly half a century has not added its sanction, to the idea of its future grandeur.
In the meanwhile, prince Charles Edward, grand- son of James II., made an attempt to ascend the throne of his ancestors. He embarked on the 12th of June, on board of an eighteen gun frigate, with- out having acquainted the court of France, with his views, with no other preparations to conquer three kingdoms, than seven officers, eighteen hun- dred sabres, twelve hundred firelocks and twelve thousand louis d'or, which he had borrowed, and not one private soldier. He landed in the south- west of Scotland, where the inhabitants rose in his favor, and a piece of laffeta, which he had brought from France, serving for their royal standard, was shortly surrounded by fifteen hundred men. He led them to the town of Perth, of which he took possession: here a few Scotch lords joined him; and the army, a few days after, entered Edinburgh: from thence he proceeded to Pressonpans, where he obtained a signal victory over an army of English- men and made as many prisoners as he had sol- diers. Carrying all before him, as far as Carlisle.
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he advanced within ninety miles of London, his force being swollen to eight thousand: meeting a second British army at Falkirk, he gained a second victory, and a third on the next day: but at last he received a total overthrow at the battle of Cullo- den, within a few leagues of Inverness, and his whole army was dispersed. His subsequent adven- tures resembled those of his great grand father, Charles II. after his defeat at Worcester; wander- ing from place to place, destitute of all succour, skulking in forests, shifting from cavern to cavern, flying to desert islands, distressed for want of food and raiment, and closely pursued by those who thirsted after his blood, for the sake of a pecuniary reward, offered by the person who occupied his father's throne. He at last eluded their pursuits by a flight which added to his glory.
In the spring of this year, a trader of New Eng- land proposed to his countrymen, a plan for taking Louisburg, the chief city of the island of cape Bre- ton. The proposal was generally approved, and money was raised by a lottery, for the purpose of raising four thousand men. This force was armed, provisions and transports were obtained by volun- tary contributions: the command of it was given to colonel Pepperel, a merchant of Boston. The ex- pedition embarked on the 24th of March, and arriv- ed at Canseau on the 4th of April, where they were joined by a small reinforcement from New Hamp- shire. On the 23d, commodore Warren arrived with a smail squadron; soon after, the troops em- barked, and the naval force went to cruise off Lou- isburg. The landing was effected with some loss,
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and in the course of the night, Vaughan, with a bo- dy of four hundred men, marched round to the northwest part of the harbor, and set fire to a num- ber of warehouses. containing spiritous liquors and naval stores. The thick smoke, driven by the wind on the principal battery, disabling the defenders of it to distinguish objects, even at a small distance, favored the idea which they entertained, of the magnitude of the assailant force, induced them to abandon the fort, and seek refuge in the town. In the morning Vaughan, with thirteen men only, en- tering the battery. defended it until a reinforcement came to his support. While these approaches were making by land. the ships cruised off the har- bor, and captured a ship of war, having on board a reinforcement of men and stores, for the besieged garrison. Soon after. an unsuccessful attempt was made on the island battery, in which sixty men were killed and one hundred and sixteen made prisoners. Works were erected on a high cliff. at the light- house, which much annoyed the island battery: preparation were making for a general assault, when the town surrendered on the forty ninth day of the siege. On the 16th of June, the whole island was in the possession of the besiegers.
The legislature, in the course of this year, sat at Newbern in June, and at Wilmington in December; both sessions were short. Attempts were made to put the militia in a situation to be of some service; the counties of Craven and Edgecombe were divid- ed, the western part of the former was erected into a new county, to which the governor's name was given, and the northern part of the latter, into ano-
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ther, which, in compliment to the nobleman, owner of the soil, was called Granville. Hitherto, the northern counties had claimed and enjoyed the pri- vilege of sending five members to the lower house of assembly, while those of the other parts of the province, all of which were much larger, and many of them of a much greater population, sent but two. This distinction was abolished: every county was declared entitled to the latter number and no more. The right of the towns of Edenton, Bath, Newbern and Wilmington to one representative each, was re- cognized. The speaker and fourteen members were declared a quorum.
The extension of population, towards the south- ern and western parts of the province, leaving the town of Edenton at a considerable distance from the center of the settled part of the province, the supreme court of judicature, was removed from thence to the town of Newhern. A new court law was passed: the general court was composed of a chief and three associate justices. Courts of oyer and terminer, assizes and nisi prius were to be hol- den at Edenton, Newbern, Wilmington and at the court house of the county of Edgecombe. The court of chancery was also directed to be holden at Newbern, and the secretary of the province to remove his office thither.
In the latter part of the year, the leaders of the adherents of the unfortunate prince Charles Ed- ward, having perished on the scaffold, a general pardon passed the great seal, exempting from trial and punishment nineteen individuals out of twenty among the rest, on their being transported to Ame-
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rica: they drew lots for this purpose. They were ac- companied by a number of others, who, though they had not taken up arms, favored the prince's cause, and voluntarily shared the exile of their countrymen. A cons: derable number of them came to North Car- olina, settled on Cape Fear river and formed the settlement in the middle of which the present town of Fayetteville now stands.
The provincial laws were in the hands of the in- habitants, on loose manuscript sheets, forming a chaos, from which information could only be obtain- ed at the expense of much time and drudgery. To remedy this evil, the legislature, at their next ses- sion, appointed four commissioners to revise the code and print such acts, as were in form and use. This measure had been hitherto recommended in vain by governor Johnston, since his arrival, and had been long and earnestly desired by the friends of order. The commissioners, appointed, were chief justice Hall, Edward Moseley, Samuel Swann, the speaker of assembly and Thomas Barker, an eminent attorney. The contingent fund being in- sufficient to meet the expense of this publication, a duty of three pence was laid on every gallon of wine and distilled liquor, and four pence on every hundred weight of rice, imported from any place out of Great Britain, and so scarce was the circu- lating medium, that. although bills of credit were receivable in payment of this duty, it was thought necessary for the collection of it, to authorize the receipt of the articles on which it was laid, in pay ment.
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The statute for the encouragement of the manu- facture of British sail cloth, and that allowing the direct exportation of rice from the Carolinas and Georgia, to the ports to the southward of cape Finis- terre, which were now expiring, were continued for seven years longer.
The importation of tea into the American pro- vince, without paying the inland duty, was allowed; and it being judged, that the cultivation of indigo, in the colonies, might be greatly advantageous to the trade of the nation, as great quantities were used in dying the manufactures of the kingdom, the supply of which, being obtained from foreign coun- tries, was at all times uncertain and the price fre- quently exorbitant, and the plant appearing to thrive in the Carolinas, there was room to hope the raising of it might, by proper encouragement, be increased and improved to such a degree, as not only to an- swer all the demands of the king's subjects, but considerable quantities might also be exported to foreign markets; a bounty of six pence per pound was granted on all indigo, exported therefrom to Great Britain.
The attention of the legislature, at their next session, on the 6th of April, at Newbern, was directed to some depredations and insults, committed by the privateers of the enemy, in the inlets and such ports of the province, as were of easy access: sometimes cutting out vessels and carrying them away, at others, running up the rivers, landing and plundering the plantations. A law was passed for erecting fortifications at Ocracock, Topsail and Bear inlet! and for finishing fort Johnston. To defray the expenses of their construction, a grant of
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twenty-one thousand three hundred and fifty pounds was made to the king, and an emission of bills of credit, to the same amount, was directed. The paper currency in circulation, denominated Old Proc. was so depreci- ated, that it passed at the rate of seven and a half for one; it was directed to be exchanged on these terms, and the exchange between proclamation money and sterling was fixed at four for three. A poll tax of one shilling was laid for the redemption of the bills issued, to con- tinue until they were absorbed. Hitherto, the sheriff's and all collectors of the public money accounted and paid the balances in their hands, to a committee of the legislature: during the bustle of the session, there was seldom time for a minute investigation of the accounts of the officers who attended; never any to send for those who kept away. The consequence of so loose a prac- tice, caused the utmost confusion in the fiscal affairs of of the colony; a remedy was now attempted to be ap- plied to the growing evil. The province was divided into two districts, treasurers were appointed, before whom, it was made the duty of holders of public money, semi-annually to appear, exhibit their vouchers and close their accounts.
The casual emoluments of officers were fixed by a new fee-bill.
With a view to give some encouragement to the tan- ning of leather, which was attempted in several parts of the province, a law was passed, prohibiting the exporta- tion of raw hides and skins.
At the request of the Tuscarora Indians, who had re- mained behind, when the main body of the nation, early in the century, emigrated towards the northern lakes, the lands allotted them by the treaty of 1719 were laid
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out and marked off. All persons were prohibited from purchasing any part of them, and the enjoyment of the rights of the white owners was postponed until the lands were abandoned by the Indians; settlers were re- moved and all persons inhibited from ranging stock on these lands.
A rent roll was directed to be made of all the lands, holden in the province : such persons, whose convey- ances were not already recorded. were required to regis- ter them within twelve months, in the office of lord Granville, at Edenton, for the northern part of the pro- vince, and in that of the auditor general, in the rest of the province, or in the office of the register of the county in which the land lay ; and all conveyances, in regard to which this formality was neglected, were declared void. But all persons who had lost the evidence of their titles, having had possession for twenty-one years, on due proof, were declared to have a good title against the king or earl, paying the highest quit rent in the country : in- digo and tobacco were declared a tender, in payment of quit rents.
The fate of the provincial laws, after copies of them were transmitted by the governor to England, depending much on the report of the king's counsel, appointed for the special service of the board of the lords commis- sioners of trade and plantation, and the opinion of this gentleman being naturally much influenced by the idea and information he received of the reasons, circumstances and views, with which the act had been passed, most of the provinces had found it their interest to have an agent in London, whose duty it was to attend the reporting council, make such explanations and give such in-
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formation, as would lead his opinion to a favorable re- port, and wait on the board after it was delivered.
The success of the affairs of a province often materi- ally depended on the ability and industry of this agent, for the great officers of state would not take the vague information of individuals, but transacted all business with the provinces, by asking and knowing their senti- ments, through the means of their agents. Without some person of this character in England, their business there slept : memorials, addresses and petitions passed through his hands : it was his duty to improve every opening for the encouragement of the trade of the pro- vince that employed him, and to obviate any scheme that might hurt it. For this purpose, he was to watch the intentions of parliament and transmit early and accu- rate information of them to his constituents. The pro- vince having hitherto suffered from the want of an offi- cer of this kind, the trust was now committed to James Abercrombie of London.
Towards the middle of April, the preliminary articles of a treaty for a general pacification were signed at Aix- la-Chapelle, by the British, French and Dutch plenipo- tentiaries ; in the following month, the empress queen, king of Sardinia, and duke of Modena acceded to them, and soon after, the king of Spain, the republic of Genoa, and the rest of the contending powers. The definitive treaty was signed in the month of October : by this in- strument the island of cape Breton was restored to France.
Early in November, a number of Spanish privateers came up a considerable distance in Cape Fear river, and committed great depredations; one of them was blown up, and a number of negroes and some valu-
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able effects were taken out of the wreck : the proceeds of the sales of this property were afterwards applied to the building or repair of the churches in the towns of Brunswick and Wilmington, in the neighborhood of which the injury had been sustained.
The people, known by the appellation of the Unitas Fratrum, or the United Brethren, obtained in the follow- ing year, a statute of the British parliament, authorizing them to establish settlements in the American pro- vinces.
A printing press was this year imported into the pro- . vince and set up at Newbern, by James Davis, from Virginia : this was a valuable acquisition, for, hitherto the want of an establishment of this kind was severely felt : the copies of the laws, being all manuscript, were necessarily very scarce and it is likely faulty and inac- curate.
With a view to offer employment and an asylum to the great number of soldiers and seamen, who were discharged from the king's service at the peace, and to promote the settlement of the province of Nova Scotia, the lords commissioners of trade and plantations offered land to them, free from quit rent for ten years, and sub- ject afterwards to a yearly rent of one shilling on every fifty acres : those who availed themselves of this offer, were offered their subsistence during the passage and one year after their arrival. The same offers were also held out to artificers, useful in building and husbandry. A number of people, impelled by this encouragement, emi- grated and the town of Halifax was established.
The legislature, which sat at Newbern this year, held three sessions: the calm of peace was improved and several important laws were passed : the revisal of the
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acts of the general assembly, completed by Samuel Swann, was offered to the legislature, examined and ap- proved. The judges having hitherto often differed in opinion, with regard to such acts of the parliament of the mother country, which were in force in the colony, the question was settled by the authority of the legisla- ture, who passed an act containing the title of every statute that was recognized as in force and use, and all others were declared of no validity ; but, as the mother country was not prepared to allow the colonies to shake the authority of her parliament over them, the law re- ceived the royal disallowance. Provision was made for the relief of insolvent debtors, for docking entails of small estates.
The counties of New Hanover and Bladen were di- vided, and the western part of the former was erected into a new county by the name of Duplin, and that of the latter into another called Ansa, in honor of the late circumnavigator of the world.
A town was established on the north side of Roanoke river, in the county of North Hampton, to which the name of Hawns was given, from an English barony of that name, owned by lord Granville; the law, authori- zing the first erection of a toll bridge, was passed this session, and the bridge was soon after built over the river Trent; the grantee's interest was extended to twenty-five years.
The culture of raw silk, in the British American colo- nies, was encouraged by an exemption from duty on its importation into Great Britain ; the same immunity was extended to bar iron, imported into the port of London, and pig iron into any port of Great Britain. These ad-
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vantages were, however, far from being gratuitous ; they were,more than counterbalanced by severe restrictions. The erection of slit mills and iron furnaces, in any part of the provinces, was strictly prohibited ; they were declared public nuisances, and the governors were spe- cially charged to cause them to be destroyed ; the colo- nists were not suffered to extend their works in these manufactures even for their own use ; slit mills and steel furnaces, heretofore erected, were however permitted to stand and be employed.
The boundary line between the provinces of Virginia and North Carolina, had been run from the sea shore to Peter's creek, which falls into Dan river, a little below the Saura towns : it was now continued, by commission- ers appointed by the legislatures of the respective pro- vinces, to Holstein river, directly opposite to a place called the Steep Rock, a distance of ninety miles and two hundred and eighty poles. The commissioners of Vir- ginia were Joshua Fay and Peter Jefferson; those of North Carolina, William Churton and Daniel Weldon.
The greatest injury which France had sustained du- ring the war, had fallen on her navy ; she applied herself in the calm of peace to repair her loss ; her activity ex- cited the apprehension of Great Britain for her com- merce and her colonies. There existed, however, be- tween these powers, differences in regard to their Ame- rican possessions, to which the treaty of Aix la Chapelle had not put an end : the boundaries of Nova Sco- tia, which the British extended far into Canada, and the French restricted to the peninsula between New- foundland and New England, and the islands of St. Lu- cia, Dominique, St. Vincent and Tobago, of which the two nations claimed the property.
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Commissioners were appointed on both sides, who met at Paris in the latter part of September, 1750.
The Moravians or United Brethren, purchased from lord Granville a tract of one hundred thousand acres, between Dan and Yadkin river, about ten miles to the east of the Gold mountain : they gave it the name of Wachovia, after an estate of count Zizendorff, in Austria.
The legislature met in the town of Newbern, in the month of June. Objects of improvement, in the inter- nal polity of the province, appear to have engrossed their whole attention : inspectors of commodities intended for exportation, were now first appointed for the ports of Brunswick and Wilmington : rice, beef, pork and naval stores, were the articles made liable to inspection. The pilotage of Cape Fear, which was not yet under any re- gulation by law, became this session an object of legis- lative improvement.
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