Immigration of Scotch Highlanders. The Rebellion of '45. Peril and Flight of The Pretender. Extinction of his Family. took place, which, though separate and dissimilar, tended, in a remarkable degree, toward a union of the provinces in political and social interest, and in fostering that spirit of civil and religious freedom which prevailed in the South, and particularly in North Carolina, where the oppressive measures of the first ten years of the reign of George the Third produced rebellion in America. I allude to the commencement of hostilities between France and England in 1745; and the immigration hither of a large number of Presbyterians from Scotland and the north of Ireland, the former on account of their participation in the famous rebellion of that year.1 The Scotch insurrection, known as The Rebellion of '45, was in favor of Charles Edward, the grandson of James II., who had been an exile in France. Claiming the throne of England as his right, and regarding George of Hanover as a usurper, he determined to make an effort for the crown. In June, 1745, he embarked in an eighteen-gun frigate, and landed at Borodale, in the southwest part of Scotland, with a few Scotch and Irish followers. His arms were chiefly on board another vessel, which had been obliged to put back to France. The Highlanders in the vicinity arose in his favor, and in a few days fifteen hundred strong men surrounded his standard—a piece of taffeta which he brought from France. The Pretender (as he was called) marched to Ferth, where he was joined by some Scotch lords and their retainers. With his increasing army, he entered Edinburgh in triumph, though the castle held out for King George. All England trembled with alarm. The premier (the king was in Hanover) offered a reward of $750,000 for the person of the PRETENDER. From Edinburgh the insurgents marched toward the border, and were every where successful, until encountered by the Duke of Cumberland, at Culloden, where, on the sixteenth of April, 1745, they were defeated and dispersed. The jails of England were soon filled with the prisoners. Lords Balmerino and Lovat, and Mr. Radcliffe, a brother of the Earl of Derwentwater, were beheaded, the last who suffered death, in that way, in England. Many others were executed, and a large number of the Highlanders were transported to America, and became settlers in North Carolina. The PRETENDER was the last to leave the field at Culloden. For almost five months he was a fugitive among the Highlands, closely scented by the officers of government. After various concealments by the people, he escaped to the Isle of Skye, in the character and disguise of Betty Bourke, an Irish servant to Miss Flora M'Donald, daughter of a Highlander. After several perilous adventures, he reached the Continent in September, 1746. He died at Rome in 1784. His brother, Cardinal York, the last representative of the house of Stuart, died in 1807, and the family became extinct. The Scotch-Irish and their Principles. Their Emigration to Carolina. Moravian Settlements. T CHAPTER XIV. "Carolina! Carolina! Heaven's blessings attend her; Though she envies not others this merited glory, Hurrah! hurrah! the Old North State forever! a 1776. HE settlement of the Scotch refugees at Cross Creek (now Fayetteville), at the head of navigation on the Cape Fear River, is an important point to be observed, in considering the history of the progress of free principles in North Carolina. These settlers formed a nucleus of more extensive immigrations subsequently. They brought with them the sturdy sentiments of the Covenanters, and planted deeply in the interior of that province the acorns of civil freedom, which had grown to unyielding oaks, strong and defiant, when the Revolution broke out. The sentiment of loyalty, kindred to that of patriotism, was an inherent principle in their character, and this was first displayed when Donald McDonald called upon his countrymen to remember their oath of allegiance to King George and his successors, and to assist the royal governor in quelling rebellion.a But as that. rebellion assumed the phase of righteous resistance to tyranny, many of those who followed their chief to Moore's Creek, under the banner of the house of Hanover, afterward fought nobly in defense of the principles of the Covenanters under the stars and stripes of the Continental Congress. Other immigrants, allied to them by ties of consanguinity and religious faith, had already planted settlements along the Cape Fear and its tributaries, and in the fertile domain between the Yadkin and Catawba; and in those isolated regions, far removed from the petty tyrannies of royal instruments, they inhaled the life of freedom from the pure mountain air, and learned lessons of independence from the works and creatures of God around them. These were chiefly Presbyterians from the north of Ireland, commonly called Scotch-Irish, or the descendants of that people already in Virginia. Their principles bore the same fruit in Carolina, as in Ulster two centuries earlier; and long before the Stamp Act aroused the Northern colonies to resistance, the people of Granville, Orange, Mecklenburg and vicinity, had boldly told the governor upon the coast that he must not expect subservience to unjust laws upon the banks of the rivers in the upper country.' was another class of emigrants whose religious principles tended to civil freedom. These were the Unitas Fratrum-the Moravians-who planted settlements in North Carolina in the middle of the last century.b These, with other German Protestants, were b 1749. firmly attached, from the commencement, to the principles which gave vitality to our There 1In the upper part of the state, in the vicinity of the route traversed by the armies of Cornwallis and Greene during the memorable retreat of the latter, there were above twenty organized churches, with large congregations, and a great many preaching places. All of these congregations, where the principles of the Gospel independence had been faithfully preached by M'Aden, Patillo, Caldwell, M'Corkle, Hall, Craighead, Balch, M'Caule, Alexander, and Richardson, were famous during the struggle of the Revolution, for skirmishes, battles, loss of libraries, personal prowess, individual courage, and heroic women. no part of our republic was purer patriotism displayed, than there. In Origin of the Scotch-Irish. The Religious Element in our Government. First Printing-presses in North Carolina. Declaration of Independence a quarter of a century afterward.' We will not stop to examine the philosophy of religious influence in the formation of our civil government. It is a broad and interesting field of inquiry, but not within the scope of this work; yet so deeply are the principles of the various phases of Protestantism—the Puritans, the Scotch-Irish,* and the Huguenots-impressed upon the Constitutions of every state in our union, that we must not, we can not, lose sight of the fact that the whole superstructure of our laws and government has for its basis the broad postulate of religious freedom asserted by the Puritans and the Covenanters FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE IN MATTERS OF BELIEF-FREEDOM OF ACTION ACCORDING TO FAITH-FREEDOM TO CHOOSE TEACHERS AND RULERS IN CHURCH AND STATE. Two years after the settlement of the Highlanders under the general direction of Neil M'Neil, the first printing-press was brought into the province, from Virginia, by James Da vis, and set up at Newbern. This was an important event in the political history a 1749. of the province. Hitherto the laws had been in manuscript, and it was difficult for the people to obtain knowledge, even of the most essential enactments. In the course of 1751, the printing of the first revisal of the acts of the Assembly was accomplished, and by the multiplication of copies, the people generally became acquainted with the laws, and learned their rights and duties. It was not until 1764 that a periodical paper was published in North Carolina, and then the want of good postal arrangements, and, indeed, the character of the paper itself, made it of little service as a messenger with news. The same year another paper was commenced, much superior in its character, and from that time the influence of the press and popular education began to be felt in that state." In expectation of hostilities between the French and English in America, all of the colonies turned their attention to the subject of defenses, and pecuniary resources. Magazines were established in the different counties of North Carolina, two or three forts were erected, and emissions of bills of credit were authorized by the Legislature. When hostilities commenced, and Governor Dinwiddie asked the other colonies to assist in driving the French b March, 1754. from the Ohio, North Carolina was the only one that responded promptly, by voting a regiment of four hundred and fifty men,b and an emission of paper money where 1 The Moravians purchased a tract of one hundred thousand acres between the Dan and the Yadkin Rivers, about ten miles eastward of the Gold Mountain. They gave to their domain the name of Wachovia, the title of an estate belonging to Count Zinzendorf, in Austria.-See Martin, ii., 57. Much earlier than this (1709), a colony of Swiss and Germans, under Baron De Graffenreidt, settled on the Neuse and Cape Fear Rivers. They founded a city, and called it New Berne (at present Newbern), after Berne, in Switzerland. * Henry the Eighth of England forced the people of Ireland to accept the rituals of the Reformed Church. Elizabeth, his daughter, pursued the same policy, and reaped the abundant fruit of trouble brought forth by the discontents of the Irish people. In consequence of the failure of a rebellion against the authority of James the First, in the province of Ulster, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, nearly six counties, embracing half a million of acres, became the property of the king, by confiscation. Thither James sent Protestant colonies from England and Scotland (chiefly from the latter), hoping thereby to fix the principles of the reformation there, and thus to subdue the turbulence of the people. The Scotch settlers retained the characteristic traits of their native stock, but were somewhat molded by surrounding influences. They continued to call themselves Scotch, and, to distinguish them from the natives of Scotland, they received the name of Scotch-Irish. From the beginning they were Republicans. They demanded, and exercised the privilege of choosing their own ministers and spiritual directors, in opposition to all efforts of the hierarchy of England to make the choice and support of their clergy a state concern. From the descendants of these early Republicans came the Scotch-Irish immigrants who settled in the interior of North Carolina. See History of Religious Principles and Events in Ulster Province. 3 The first periodical paper, called The North Carolina Magazine, or Universal Intelligencer, was published by Davis, at Newbern, on a demi sheet, in quarto pages. It was filled with long extracts from the works of theological writers, or selections from British magazines. The second newspaper was called the North Carolina Gazette and Weekly Post Boy. It was printed at Wilmington, by Andrew Stewart, a Scotchman, and contained intelligence of current events. The first number was published in September, 1764. The Assembly that year passed an act for the erection of a school-house at Newbern; the firs! legislative movement in the province in favor of popular education. The Cape Fear Mercury was established by Adam Boyd, in October, 1767. Boyd was a zealous patriot, and was an active member of the Committee of Safety, of Wilmington. Carolina Troops in Virginia. Governors Dobbs and Tryon. Opposition to the Stamp Act. The Enfield Riot with to pay them. This movement was made at the instigation of Governor Rowan. These troops marched to Virginia under Colonel James Innes, of Hanover; but by the time they reached Winchester, the appropriation for their pay being exhausted, they were disbanded, and only a few of them followed Washington toward the Monongahela. a 1755. The following year, a North Carolina voted forty thousand dollars as further aid toward "repelling the encroachments of the French." Arthur Dobbs, an aged Irishman of "eminent abilities," was then governor, but his usefulness was impaired by attempting to exercise undue authority, and in too freely bestowing offices upon his relatives and countrymen. He was a thorough aristocrat, but his feelings became much softened by sur. rounding democratic influences, and he held the office until succeeded by William Tryon, in 1766. Dobbs attended the meeting of colonial governors convened at Alexandria by Braddock, in April, 1755. Impressed with the importance of frontier defenses against the Indians, he recommended the erection of forts on the Yadkin. Governor Glenn, of South Carolina, at the same time caused forts to be erected on the borders of the Cherokee country along the Savannah River. With the exception of occasional Indian hostilities, and a sort of anti-rent" outbreak,' nothing disturbed the tranquillity of the province from that period, until two or three years after the signing of the treaty of peace at Paris, in 1763. The passage of the Stamp Act produced great uneasiness in the public mind in North Carolina, as well as in the other provinces. Already the extortions of public officers in the exaction of fees for legal services had greatly irritated the people, and they regarded the requirements of the Stamp Act as a more gigantic scheme for legal plunder. The first published murmurs, as we have seen, was at Nut Bushb (see page 350), then in Granville county. At about the same time, the inhabitants of Edenton, Newbern, and 1765. Wilmington, assembled in their respective towns, and asserted their hearty concurrence in the sentiments expressed by the people of the Northern colonies unfavorable to the Stamp Act. During the summer and autumn, denunciations of the measure were boldly expressed at public meetings, notwithstanding the presence of Tryon, the lieutenant governor. Tryon had been acting governor and commander-in-chief of the province from the death of Governor Dobbs, on the first of April of that year, and now began his career of misrule in America. He was appointed governor toward Pryon b June. John Hauke the close of the year. This was the same Tryon, afterward governor of The outbreak alluded to is known as the Enfield Riot. It occurred in 1759. Extortion had become rife in every department of government. Deputy-surveyors, entry-takers, and other officers of inferior grade, became adepts in the chicanery of their superiors. The people finding their complaints unavailing, and that Corbin, who had the chief direction of the land-office, was increasing his fees without authority, resolved to redress their grievances themselves. Fourteen well-mounted men crossed the Chowan, a few miles above Edenton, by night, seized Corbin, took him to Enfield, and kept him there until he gave a bond in forty thousand dollars, with eight sureties, that he would produce his books within three weeks and return all his illegal fees. As soon as released, he commenced suits against four of the men who seized him, and they were committed to Enfield jail. The next day an armed posse cut down the prison doors, and released them. Corbin was obliged to discontinue his suits and pay the costs. In Mecklenburg county, in May, 1765, a number of people, with their faces blackened, forcibly compelled John Frohock, a surveyor, to leave the lands of George A. Selwyn, who possessed large tracts in that county, and who had sent him there to survey them. William Tryon was a native of Ireland, and was educated to the profession of a soldier. He was an officer in the British service. He married Miss Wake, a relative of the Earl of Hillsborough, secretary for the colonies. Thus connected, he was a favorite of government, and was appointed lieutenant governor of * Oct. 25. Ruins of St. Philip's Church at Brunswick. Revolutionary Proceedings at Wilmington. New York, whom we have already met at the conflagrations of Danbury, Continental Village, and other places. Haughty, innately cruel, fond of show, obsequious when wishing favors, and tyrannical when independent, he was entirely incompetent to govern a people like the free, outspoken colonists of the Upper Carolinas. Fearing a general expression of the sentiments of the people, through their representatives, on the subject of the odious act, Tryon issued a proclamation in Octobera proroguing the Assembly, which was to meet on the thirtieth of November, until the following March. This act incurred the indignation of the people; and when, early in January, the sloop of war Diligence arrived in Cape Fear River, having stamps on board for the use of the province, the militia of New Hanover and Brunswick, under Colonels Ashe and Waddell, marched to the village of Brunswick,' and notified the commander of their determination to resist the landing of the stamps. Earlier than this, Colonel Ashe, who was the speaker of the Lower House, had informed Tryon that the law would be resisted to the last. Tryon had issued his proclamation,b directing the stamp distributors to make application for them, but the 1766. people were too vigilant to allow these officials to approach the vessel. Taking one of the boats of the Diligence, and leaving a small party to watch the movements of the Jan. 6, Moses sloop, the remainder of the little army of volunteers proceeded to Wilmington. Hav ing placed a flag in the boat, they hoisted it upon a cart, and with the mayor (Moses John De Rosset, Esq.) and principal inhabitants, paraded it through the streets. At night the town was illuminated, and the next day a great conccurse of people, headed by Colonel North Carolina, in 1765. On the death of Governor Dobbs, he succeeded him in office, and exercised its functions until called to fill the same office in New York, in 1771. The history of his administration in North Carolina is a record of extortion, folly, and crime. During his administration in New York, the Revolution broke out, and he was the last royal governor of that state, though nominally succeeded in office in 1780 by General Robertson, when he returned to England. His property in North Carolina and in New York was confiscated. The public acts of Governor Tryon, while in America, are recorded upon various pages of these volumes. The seal and signature on the preceding page are referred to on page 364. The village of Brunswick, once a flourishing town, but now a desolation, was situated upon a sandy plain on the western side of the Cape Fear, on New Inlet, in full view of the sea, fifteen miles below Wilmington. It enjoyed considerable commerce; but Wilmington, more eligibly situated, became first its rival, and then its grave-digger. Little now remains to denote the former existence of population there, but the grand old walls of "St. Philip's Church, of Brunswick," which was doubtless the finest sacred edifice in the province at the time of its erection, about one hundred years ago. I am indebted to Frederick Kidder, Esq., of Boston, who visited the ruins in 1851, for the accompanying drawing and general description of the present appearance of the church. It is situated within a thick grove of trees, chiefly pines, about an eighth of a mile from the river bank, and its massive walls, built of large English bricks, seem to have been but little effected by time. They exhibit "honorable scars" made by cannon-balls hurled from British ships in the Cape Fear to cover the landing of Cornwallis, when, in the spring of 1776, he desolated the plantation of Colonel Robert Howe, and other Whigs in the neighborhood of that patriot's estate. The edifice is seventy-five feet in length from east to west, and fifty-four feet in width. The walls are about three feet in thickness, and average about twenty-eight feet in height. The roof, floor, and windows have long since perished; and where the pulpit stood, upon its eastern end, a vigorous cedar spreads its branches. Nine of these green trees are within its walls, and give peculiar picturesqueness to the scene. On the top of the walls is flourishing shrubbery, the product of seeds planted by the winds and the birds. Around the church are strewn the graves of many of the early settlers, the names of some of whom live in the annals of the state. The view here given is from the east. About a quarter of a mile northeast from the church, are remains of the residence of Governor Tryon at the time of the Stamp Act excitement. RUINS OF ST. PHILIP'S CHURCH. |