whose sorrow at parting admitted no consolation. Those who went first reported favorably of the clear, sunny clime, where every man might have land of his own; the distance and the voyage lost their terrors; and from the isles of Rasay and Skye whole neighborhoods formed parties for removal, sweetening their exile by carrying with them their costume and opinions, their Celtic language and songs. Distinguished above them all was Allan Macdonald of Kingsborough, and his wife Flora Macdonald, the same who, in the midsummer of 1746, had rescued Prince Charles Edward from his pursuers. Compelled by poverty, they had removed to North Carolina in 1774, and made their new home in the west of Cumberland county. She was now about fifty-five, mother of many children, of middle stature, soft features, "uncommonly mild and gentle manners, and elegant presence." Her husband was aged, but still with hair jet black, of a stately figure, and a countenance that expressed intelligence and steadfastness. On the third of July he came down to Fort John- July to ston, and concerted with Martin the raising a battalion of "the good and faithful Highlanders," in which he was himself to be major, and Alexander Macleod, an officer of marines on half-pay, was to be the first captain. They were to wait the proper moment to take the field; but the design, though secretly devised, did not remain concealed; and rumor added a purpose of inviting the negroes to rise. 1775. Oct. The spirit of resistance, quickened by the tidings which came in from Bunker Hill, extended itself more and more widely and deeply. On the waters of Albemarle Sound, over which the adventurous skiffs of the first settlers of Carolina had glided before the waters of the Chesapeake were known to Englishmen, the movement was assisted by the writings of young James Iredell, from England; by the letters and counsels of Joseph Hewes; and by the calm wisdom of Samuel Johnston of Edenton, a native of Dundee in Scotland, a man revered for his integrity, thoroughly opposed to disorder and to revolution, if revolution could be avoided without yielding to oppression. The last provincial congress had invested him contingently with power to call a new one; on the tenth of July, he issued his summons to the people of North Carolina to elect their delegates. But, two days later, Dartmouth wrote from the king: "I hope that in North Carolina the governor may not be reduced to the disgraceful necessity of seeking protection on board the king's ships;" and just then Martin July to slunk away from land, and took refuge on board the "Cruiser." On the eighteenth, a party, encouraged by the presence of John Ashe and Cornelius Harnett, set the fort on fire before his face, and within reach of the guns of the man-of-war. 1775. Oct. As soon as the deliberations at Philadelphia would per. mit, Richard Caswell, a delegate to the general congress, hastened home to promote a convention, and to quicken the daring spirit of his constituents. He had with reluc tance admitted the necessity of American resistance; but, having once chosen his part, he advocated the most resolute conduct, and even censured the Newbern committee for allowing the governor to escape. On the twenty-first of August, the people of North Carolina assembled at Hillsborough in a convention, composed of more than one hundred and eighty members. A spirit of moderation controlled and guided their zeal; Caswell proposed Samuel Johnston as president, and he was unanimously elected. In a vituperative, incoherent proclamation, Martin had warned them against their assembling, as tending to unnatural rebellion; they, in their reply, voted his proclamation" a false and seditious libel," and ordered it to be burnt by the common hangman. They professed allegiance to the king, but in the plainest words avowed the purpose to resist parliamentary taxation "to the ut most." They resolved that the people of the province, singly and collectively, were bound by the acts of the continental and provincial congresses, because in both they were represented by persons chosen by themselves. The religious and political scruples of the regulators were removed by a conference. The intrigue of Martin with the Highlanders was divulged by Farquhard Campbell; and a committee, on which were many Scots, urged them, not wholly without success, to unite with the other inhabitants of America in defence of rights derived from God and the constitution. The meditated resistance involved the institution of government; a treasury, which for the time was supplied by an emission of paper money; the purchase of ammunition and arms; an imbodying of a regular force of one thousand men; an organization of the militia of the colony; an annual provincial congress to be elected by all freeholders; a committee of safety for each of the six districts into which the province was divided; a provincial council, consisting of the president of the convention and two members from each of the six divisions, as the great executive power. Richard Caswell, who, for the combined powers of wisdom and action, stands high among the patriots of North Carolina, was detained by the people for service at home; and John Penn, a Virginian by birth, became his successor in the general congress. 1775. July to The most remarkable subject brought before the convention was Franklin's plan of a confederacy, Oct. which, on the twenty-fourth of August, was introduced by William Hooper; like Franklin, a native of Boston; trained under James Otis to the profession of the law; now a resident in Wilmington, "the region of politeness and hospitality," of commerce, wealth, and culture. The convention listened with ready sympathy to the proposition, though it included a system of independence and government, and it was about to be adopted; but, in the committee of the whole house, the moderating prudence of Johnston interposed, and persuaded North Carolina to forego the honor of being the first to declare for a permanent federal union. On Monday the fourth of September, it was voted, but not unanimously, that a general confederation ought only to be adopted in the last necessity, and then only after consultation with the provincial congress. Hooper acquiesced; and the house adopted unanimously his draft of an address to the inhabitants of the British empire, disavowing the desire of independence, consenting to the continuance of the old regulation of trade, and asking only to be restored to the state existing before 1763. On the eighteenth of October, the provincial council held its first meeting. Among its members were Samuel Johnston; Samuel Ashe, a man whose integrity even his enemies never questioned, whose name a mountain county and the fairest town in the western part of the commonwealth keep in memory; Abner Nash, an eminent lawyer, described by Martin as "the oracle of the committee of Newbern, and a principal promoter of sedition;" but on neither of these three did the choice of president fall; that office of peril and power was bestowed unanimously on Cornelius Harnett of New Hanover, whose disinterested zeal had made him honored as the Samuel Adams of North Carolina Thus prepared, the people of that colony looked July to towards the future with dignity and fearlessness. Oct. The continent, still refusing to perceive the impending necessity of independence, awaited the answer to its last petition to the king. 1775. CHAPTER XLVII. EFFECT OF BUNKER HILL BATTLE IN EUROPE. JULY 25-August, 1775. 1775. July. DURING the first weeks of July, the king contemplated America with complacency; assured that, in New York, his loyal subjects formed the majority, that in Virginia the rebels could be held in check by setting upon them savages and slaves. Ships were to be sent at once; and, if they did not reduce the country, the soldiery would finish the work at the very worst in one more campaign. Alone of the ministers, Lord North was ill at ease. Neither the court, nor the ministers, nor the people at large had as yet taken a real alarm. Even Edmund Burke, who, as the agent of New York, had access to exact information and foresaw an engagement at Boston, believed that Gage, from his discipline and artillery as well as his considerable numbers, would beat "the raw American troops," and succeed. An hour before noon of the twenty-fifth, tidings of the Bunker Hill battle reached the cabinet, and spread rap idly through the kingdom and through Europe. "Two more such victories," said Vergennes, "and England will have no army left in America." The great loss of officers in the battle saddened the anticipations of future triumphs; the ministry confessed the unexampled intrepidity of the rebels; many persons from that time believed that the contest would end in their independence; but difficulties only animated the king; no one equalled him in ease, composure, and even gayety. He would have twenty thousand regular soldiers in America by the next spring. Barrington, the secretary at war, entreated the secretary of state to give "no expectation of the kind in the despatches going out to the colonies;" and he wrote plainly to his sovereign: "The proposed augmentation cannot possibly be raised, and ought |