1734 C. R., III, 621 The province grows delay before the facts could be definitely ascertained warranting a decision. In regard to the validity of the Great Deed, the law office was apparently misled by Mr. Shelton, 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 communicated to Burrington he replied with considerable vigor, urging the same view which the Assembly entertained—that it was a valid grant and contract and could not lawfully be ignored. 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 undetermined; 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 members 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. In the meantime the province received accessions in population and made progress in importance. While the northern 344, 432, 433 section had grown more populous, requiring the erection of C. R., III, 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, THE PROVINCE GROWS 245 Religious 1734 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 Norfolk. During one year forty-two vessels had sailed from Brunswick well laden with valuable cargoes. The products conditions 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 important 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 Granville 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., III 48 Nov., 1734 C. R., III, 634 C. R., III, 641 No act passed during his administration country there were a great many Quakers and Baptists; for Paul Palmer's work was indeed progressing. Burrington had applied for permission to return to England, 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 Edenton 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 recommended 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 freeholders 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 acceptable to Governor Burrington when, on November 13th, it was certified by proclamation that Governor Johnston had published 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. CHAPTER XIX JOHNSTON'S ADMINISTRATION, 1734-52 Governor Johnston arrives.-Burrington's enemies in the ascendant.-Johnston cordially received.-The Assembly and the governor. -Disagreements.-Wilmington incorporated.-Immigrants.-McCulloh'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 dispute settled.—Granville, Johnston, and Duplin counties.-The Scotch migration.-Anson County.-Granville's territory. The unarmed rebellion. 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.-Explorations 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 councillors 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 Burrington 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 1754 of councillors Robert Halton, Eleazar Allen and Roger Moore, who had not attended Burrington's board then in C. R., IV, session with the Assembly at Edenton. Being informed that Burrington had supplanted many officers illegally, the governor on the day he qualified issued a proclamation commanding 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. Burrington's enemies in the ascendant 77, 81 Burrington goes to England C. R., IV, 45 Johnston cordially received Jan., 1735 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 deserving gentlemen who had the manhood to disagree with him. The tables were indeed completely turned; and the late governor'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. Adverting to the disorders that prevailed, Governor Johnston ordered a court of oyer 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 humiliation to Burrington, who now left the province with his family and returned to England, where he, however, continued to interest himself in North Carolina affairs. About the middle of January the governor in great state made his journey through the counties from Brunswick to Edenton, where he met the Assembly, being received with every manifestation of cordial approbation; and, indeed, the Assembly, generally so parsimonious, made an appropriation of £1,300 to pay the expenses of his equipage on that occasion. Moseley being in the upper house, as the council was now called when acting as a part of a law-making power, in conformity with the disposition to assimilate the Assembly to Parliament, William Downing was chosen speaker of the lower house; and there was a continuation of the same influ |