the individual sentiments were "that the cause of by absolve ourselves from allegiance to the British Boston was the cause of all; that their destinies crown, and abjure all political connection, contract, were indissolubly connected with those of their association with that nation, who have wantonly eastern fellow-citizens-and that they must either rampled on our right and liberties-and inhumanly submit to all the impositions which an unprinci-shed the innocent blood of American patriots at pled and to them an unrepresented parliament might Lexington. impose-or support their brethren who were doomed 3 Resolved, That we do hereby declare our. to sustain the first shock of that power, which, if suc-selves a free and independent people; are, and of cessful there, would ultimately overwhelm all in the right ought to be, a sovereign and self-governing common calamity. Conformably to these principles, association, under the control of no power other sol. Adam Alexander, through solicitation, issued than that of our God and the general government an order to each captains's company in the county of the congress: to the maintenance of which inde of Mecklenburg, (then comprising the present pendence, we solemnly pledge to each other our county of Cabarrus) directing each militia company mutual co-operation, our lives, our fortunes, and to elect two persons, and delegate to them amour most sacred honor. ple power to devise ways and means to aid and assist their suffering brethren in Boston, and also ge4. Resolved, That, as we now acknowledge the nerally to adopt measures to extricate themselves existence and control of no law or legal officer, cifrom the impending storm, and to secure, unim-vil or military, within this county, we do hereby paired, their inalienable rights, privileges and liberties, from the dominant grasp of British imposition and tyranny. ordain and adopt, as a rule of life, all, each, and every of our former laws--wherein, nevertheless, the crown of Great Britain never can be considered as holding rights, privileges, immunities, or aų- 、 thority therein. In conforming to said order, on the 19th of May, 1775, the said delegation met in Charlotte, vested 5. Resolved, That it is also further decreed, that with unlimited powers; at which time official news, by express, arrived of the battle of Lexing is hereby reinstated to his former command and all, each, and every military officer in this county ton on that day of the preceding month. Every authority, he acting conformably to these reguladelegate felt the value and importance of the prize, tions. And that every member present of this delegation shall benceforth be a civil officer, viz: a justice of the peace, in the character of a 'Committee man,' to issue process, hear and determine all matters of controversy, according to said adopted laws, and to preserve peace, and union, and har. mony, in said county; and to use every exertion to spread the love of country and fire of freedom throughout America, until a more general and organized government be established in this province. and the awful and solemn crisis which had arrived -every bosom swelled with indignation at the malice, inveteracy, and insatiable revenge developed in the late attack at Lexington. The universal Bentiment was-let us not flatter ourselves that popular harangues-or resolves; that popular vapour will avert the storm, or vanquish our common enemy-let us deliberate-let us calculate the is. sue-the probable result: and then let us act with energy as brethren leagued to preserve our property-our lives, and what is still more endearing, the liberties of America. Adam Alexander was then elected chairman, and John M' Knitt Alexander, clerk. After a free and full discussion of the va A number of by laws were also added, merely to protect the association from confusion, and to regulate their general conduct as citizens. After rious objects for which the delegation had been sitting in the court house all night, neither sleepy, convened, it was unanimously ordained hungry or fatigued, and after discussing every pa. ragraph, they were all passed, sanctioned, and decreed, unanimously, about 2 o'clock, A. M. May 20. In a few days, a deputation of said delegation convened, when capt. James Jack, of Charlotte, was deputed as express to the congress at Philadel. 1. Resolved, That whosoever directly or indirectly abetted, or in any way, form, or manner, countenanced the unchartered and dangerous invasion of our rights, as claimed by Great Britain, is an enemy to this country-to America-and to phia, with a copy of said resolves and proceedings, the inherent and inalienable rights of man. together with a letter addressed to our three re 2. Resolved, That we, the citizens of Mecklenburg presentatives, viz: Richard Caswell, Wm. Hooper, county, do hereby dissolve the political bands which and Joseph Hughes, under express injunction, per. have connected us to the mother country, and here-sonally, and through the state representation, to use all possible means to have said proceedings and happiness of all his people, and sensible to the sanctioned and approved by the general congress. representations which have been constantly made On the return of capt. Jack, the delegation learned that their proceedings were individually approved by the members of congress, but that it was deem ed premature to lay them before the house. A joint letter from said three members of congress was also received, complimentary of the zeal in the common cause, and recommending perseverance, order, and energy. to him of the steady and unshaken loyalty, and of the inviolable fidelity and attachment of his faithful subjects in this province to his person and go. vernment, and confiding entirely in their repeated assurances to his majesty of their own utmost exertions in co-operation with his arms whenever they should be directed to their support: And whereas his majesty, moved by these considerations, by every the most tender and paternal feel. ing of concern and regard for the sufferings and misery of his faithful people, under the intolerable yoke of arbitrary power, which his majesty, with indignation, sees imposed by the tyranny of the rebel congress upon his free-born subjects, bath been pleased to send an army to their aid and relief-I have, therefore, thought it proper, by this The subsequent harmony, unanimity, and exertion, in the cause of liberty and independence, evidently resulting from these regulations, and the continued exertion of said delegation, apparently tranquilized this section of the state, and met with the concurrence and high approbation of the council of safety, who held their sessions at Newbern and Wilmington, alternately, and who confirmed the nomination and acts of the delegation in their proclamation, to inform his majesty's loyal and official capacity. faithful subjects in this province, of this great proof and instance of his majesty's gracious attenFrom this delegation originated the court of en-tion to them, and at the same time to advertise quiry of this county, who constituted and held their them that the royal army, under the command of first session in Charlotte; they then held their lieut. gen. earl Cornwallis, is thus far advanced to meetings regularly at Charlotte, at col. James Har their support, leaving it to themselves to compute ris's, and at col. Phifer's, alternately, one week at its power and superiority from the great, signal, each place; It was a civil court founded on milita-and complete victory which it obtained when in ry process. Before this judicature all suspicious force very interior to its present strength, over the persons were made to appear, who were formally rebel army on the 16th of August: And whereas, tried, and banished or continued under guard. Its jurisdiction was as unlimited as toryism, and its decrees as final as the confidence and patriotism of the county. Several were arrested and brought before them from Lincoln, Rowan, and the adja. cent counties. while his majesty, on the one hand, holds furth immediately, and with good faith, return to their grace and mercy to his deluded subjects who shall duty, to which they have been invited, in vain, by every reason and argument, and by every consideration of interest, of freedom, and happiness, he is [The foregoing is a true copy of the papers on determined, on the other, to employ, in the most vithe above subject, left in my hands by John Matgorous and effectual manner, the force of his arms, thew Alexander, deceased. I find it mentioned on and the united strength of his faithful people, to file, that the original book was burned in April, restore and maintain to them that genuine liberty, 1800; that a copy of the proceedings was sent to peace, and prosperity, which they formerly enjoyed Hugh Williamson, in New York, then writing a in such full security, under the mild government a history of North Carolina, and that a copy was and protection of Great Britain, and to compel the sent to gen. W. R Davie. disobedient to submission to the laws, and to a participation of those blessings of a free constitution, which, through ignorance, infatuation, deluThe following ROYAL PROCLAMATION was com- sion, blindness, and fraud, they have been hitherto municated at the same time, and is published as a led to resist, notwithstanding his majesty's most curiosity J. M'KNITT.] NORTH CAROLINA. gracious and merciful endeavors to reclaim them. Having thus signified to the king's loyal and faith By his excellency Josiah Martin, his majesty's cap-ful subjects the arrival and progress of his majestain general, and governor in chief of the said pro-ty's army to their aid and support, which they have vince, &c. &c. &c. A PROCLAMATION. so long and eagerly wished for, it becomes my duty to remind them that the time is now arrived in Whereas the king, ever anxious for the welfare which they are to evince the sincerity of their pre Given under my hand, and the great seal of the said province at head quarters, in Charlottetown, this third day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand se ven hundred and eighty, and in the twentieth year of his majesty's reign. JO. MARTIN. fessions of loyalty and attachment to his majesty's, they shall choose to enlist, from a just sense of the person and government; they are to consider them-merit and applause that will be due to such as are selves in this hour most seriously and solemnly cal-soonest completed. led upon by every duty of the subject to the sovereign, and by every tie and consideration of family, liberty, and property, of present and future wel. fare and interest, with heart and hand, to join and unite their strength with that of his majesty's forces, in order to deliver themselves from that intolerable yoke of slavery and arbitrary power, (which the tyranny of the rebel congress, lost to By his excellency's command: every sense of truth and virtue, is evidently aiming to rivet upon them, by calling in the aid of the two Roman Catholic powers of France and Spain, whose policy and incessant labor it has been for ages to subvert the civil and religious liber. ties of mankind,) and to restore themselves to that state of perfect freedom which is acknowledged (ragraph appears in the Essex Register of the 24th throughout the world to be found only in the enult. in relation to the declaration of independence vied rights and condition of British subjects: RIGDON BRICE, P. Sec'y. God save the king! THE MECKLENBURG RESOLUTIONS. Declaration of independence -The following pa made by the citizens of Mecklenburg county, in this state, as early as May, 1775, which was originally published in this paper on the 30th ofApril, 1818, and which has been copied into most of the newspapers printed in the United States. And whereas I have the entire confidence, that it is the wish, inclination, and ardent desire of his majesty's faithful and loyal subjects in this province, to employ their strength on this great occa. sion for the redemption of every thing that can "The Mecklenburg resolutions, as copied from be dear to men, in the way that is likely most effec- the Raleigh Register, have not had universal credit. tually and certainly to accomplish the great objects It has been surprising that they had been so long of peace and happiness which they have in view: unknown. Though the publisher says they rest I do hereby exhort and invite allthe young and able-upon high authority, the public would be pleased bodied men to testify the reality of their loyalty to know more about them. If they are forgeries, and spirit, by enlisting in the provincial corps, they are highly criminal, and we agree, that "ficwhich are forthwith to be raised and put under my tions of this kind, five and forty years after the precommand, as his majesty's governor of the protended fact, ought to be discountenanced by every vince, hereby informing and assuring them that man of honor, and this in particular ought to be they are and will be required to serve only during hunted from the dark cavern from which it origi the rebellion, and within the provinces of Northnated. The more ingenious the invention, the and South Carolina and Virginia, under officers of more detestable." We can only say that, from their own recommendation; that each man will re- the specious form in which they appeared, we were ceive the bounty of three guineas at the time of induced to copy them. They had so many cirenlisting, and all the pay, clothing, appointments, cumstances that they could easily be exposed, if allowances, and encouragements of soldiers of his fictions; and, being printed in the state in which majesty's army; and will be entitled, at the end of the resolutions are said to have been taken, they the rebellion, when they are to be discharged, to originated where these circumstances might be exfree grants of land. And I have such full assu-plained. We know not what part the representarance that his majesty's loyal and faithful subjects tives of North Carolina took in congress, and how of this province will so clearly see the propriety far they availed themselves of the spirit they found and necessity of forming their strength upon this in their constituents. With us, it was no objection plan, which experience hath proved can alone ren that they were not published. We knew the state der it useful and effectual, to the speedy suppres of the press at that time, and the general inability sion of the tyranny which has for years past de- to take a fair estimate of local opinions. As some prived them of every blessing, right, and enjoy- doubts have arisen respecting the documents, it is joyment of life, that I am confident their honest of the greatest importance that the documents be zeal will lead them to contend and vie with each examined and traced to their true history. These other in filling the respective battalions in which doubts involve some serious questions. We copied received by Mr. Davidson from J. M'Knitt, (brother of Mr. Alexander, the writer of the above letter) accompanied with the following certifi cate: them from the press, and they have no object in The declaration and resolutions published, vere northern policy. They are, if true, favorable to the south, in which they appear. As they re gard a period of our history in which every thing should be clear and certain, we hope the publisher will assist to more satisfactory knowledge of their true character." For the satisfaction of the respectable editor of the Essex Register, we are desirous of giving him, and others, who may have doubts as to the correct ness of these documents, all the information in our power; and we feel confident, after we shall have done so, no longer doubt will remain as to the truth and reality of the proceedings in question. It appears, this Mecklenburg declaration of independence had, during last winter, been the subject of conversation at Washington, amongst members of congress; and that, in order to put the mat. ter out of dispute, one of our senators, and the répresentative from the Mecklenburg district, in congress, wrote to gentlemen in that part of the country, most likely to give it, for satisfactory in formation in relation to this matter. "The foregoing is a true copy of the papers on the above subject, left in the hands of John M'Knitt Alexander, deceased. I find it mentioned on file, that the original book was burned, April, 1800; that a copy of the proceedings was sent to Hugh Williamson, in New York, then writing the history of North Carolina, and that a copy was sent to gen. W. R. Davie. "J. M'KNITT." And the papers, thus certified, were sent to us for publication, by the senator who had collected the information. We trust, therefore, that the most sceptical will no longer entertain a doubt of the authenticity of this declaration of indepen. dence of Mecklenburg county. If further evi dence of these facts were wanting, it is believed, the testimony of one the most respectable inhabitants of this city, who was present when the de Our senator received the following answer to the claration was resolved upon might, be added. letter which he wrote on this occasion: "Alexandriana, Mecklenburg county, N. C. February 7, 1819. Revolutionary Document. arms and return to their duty," with the exception of SAMUEL ADAMS and JOHN HANCOCK. We find by the introduction, that it was published by the Whigs, from the British original. It is in the hand bill form, and we believe has never before ap peared in a news-paper.-Ed. Boston Patriot. We have recently procured a copy of the instru. "SIR-Your application to gen. Joseph Graham, ment by which GAGE, in 1775, proclaimed a parof Lincoln county for information respecting the de.don to all Americans who should "lay down their claration of independence by the county of Meck lenburg, previous to the declaration by the United States, induced him to forward your letter to me for the like purpose, with a request to furnish you. from my father's old papers, every thing on that subject that could be found; but, previous to the reception of your letter, William Davidson* had addressed my brother on the same subject, and he has furnished all that could be found amongst my father's papers on that subject. But, on looking again, I found an old proclamation,† which I herein enclose to you-if it should be of any service, you can use it. "Nearly all my father's papers were burned in the spring of 1800; which destroyed the papers now wanting, as I believe he acted as secretary to the the committee that declared independence for this county in 1775. "I am, sir, with respect and esteem, your, &c. "WM. B. ALEXANDER. "Hon. NATHANIEL MACON." Mr. Davidson is the representative in congress from that district. This was the proclamation of George 3d. published with the declaration. CAMBRIDGE, June 14, 1775. The following is a copy of an infamous thing handed about here yesterday, and now-reprinted to satisfy the curiosity of the public. As it is replete with consummate impudence, the most abominable lies, and stuffed with daring expressions of tyranny, as well as rebellion against the established constitutional authority of the AMERICAN STATES, no one will hesitate in pronoun. cing it to be the genuine production of that perfidious, petty tyrant, THOMAS GAGE. BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE HON. THOMAS GAGE, ESQ. Governor and commander in chief in and over his majesty's Province of Massachusetts-Bay, and viceadmiral of the same. A PROCLAMATION. WHEREAS the infatuated multitudes, who have long suffered themselves to be conducted by cer tain well-known incendiaries and traitors, in a fatal armed persons, to the amount of many thousands, progression of crimes, against the constitutional assembled on the 19th of April last, and from authority of the state, have at length proceeded behind walls and lurking holes, attacked a detachto avowed rebellion; and the good effects which ment of the king's troops, who, not expecting so were expected to arise from the patience and consummate an act of frenzy, unprepared for venlenity of the king's government, have been often geance and willing to decline it, made use of their fsustrated, and are now rendered hopeless, by the arms only in their own defence. Since that period influence of the same evil counsels; it only re- the rebels, deriving confidence from impunity, have mains for those who are entrusted with supreme added insult to outrage; have repeatedly fired uprule, as well for the punishment of the guilty, as on the king's ships and subjects, with cannon and the protection of the well affected, to prove they small arms; have possessed the roads and other do not bear the sword in vain. communications by which the town of Boston was the incident to lawless tumult, carry depredation and distress wherever they turn their steps. The actions of the 19th of April are of such notoriety, as must baffle all attempts to contradict them, and the flames of buildings and other property, from the islands and adjacent country, for some weeks past, assertions. The infringements which have been committed supplied with provisions; and, with a preposterous upon the most sacred rights of the crown and peo- parade of military arrangement, they affect to hold ple of Great Britain, are too many to enumerate on army besieged; while part of their body make one side, and are all too atrocious to be palliated daily and indiscriminate invasions upon private proon the other. All unprejudiced people who have perty, and, with a wantonness of cruelty ever been witnesses of the late transactions, in this and the neighboring provinces, will find, upon a transient review, marks of premeditation and conspiracy that would justify the fulness of chastise. ment: And even those who are least acquainted! with facts, cannot fail to receive a just impression of their enormity, in proportion as they discover spread a melancholy confirmation of the subsequent the arts and assiduity by which they have been falsified or concealed. The authors of the present In this exigency of complicated calamities. I unnatural revolt, never daring to trust their cause avail myself of the last effort within the bounds of or their actions, to the judgment of an impartial my duty to spare the effusion of blood; to offer, public, or even to the dispassionate reflection of and I do hereby in his majesty's name, offer and their followers, have uniformly placed their chief confidence in the suppression of truth: And while who shall forthwith lay down their arms, and repromise his most gracious pardon, to all persons indefatigable and shameless pains have been taken turn to the duties of peaceable subjects, excepting to obstruct every appeal to the real interest of only from the benefit of such pardon, SAMUEL the people of America, the grossest forgeries, ADAMS and JOHN HANCOCK, whose offences calumnies and absurdities that ever insulted hu- are of too flagitious a nature to admit of any other man understanding, have been imposed upon their consideration than that of condign punishment. credulity. The press, that distinguished appendage of public liberty, and when fairly and im- And to the end that no person within the limits partially employed, its best support, has been of this proffered mercy may plead ignorance of the invariably prostituted to the most contrary pur consequences of refusing it, I by these presents poses: the animated language of ancient and viru-proclaim, not only the persons above-named and ous times, calculated to vindicate and promote excepted, but also all their adherents, associates the just rights and interests of mankind, have been and abettors, meaning to comprehend in those applied to countenance the most abandoned viola- terms all and every person, and persons of what tion of those sacred blessings; and not only from class, denomination or description soever, who the flagitious prints, but from the popular barangues have appeared in arms against the king's governof the times, men have been taught to depend up-ment, and shall not lay down the same as afore. on activity in treason for the security of their per- mentioned; and likewise all such as shall so take sons and properties; till, to complete the horrid pro- arms after the date hereof, or who shall in any-wise fanation of terms and of ideas, the name of God has protect or conceal such offenders, or assist them been introduced in the pulpits to excite and justify with money, provision, cattle, arms, ammunition, devastation and massacre. carriages, or any other necessary for subsistence The minds of men having been thus gradually or offence; or shall hold secret correspondence Frepared for the worst extremities, a number of, with them by letter, message, sigual, or other 16. |