While the Regulator movement planted deep the seeds of resistance to tyranny, the result of the battle on the Allamance was disastrous in its subsequent effects. The people, from whom Tryon wrung an oath of allegiance, were conscientious, and held a vow in deep reverence. Nothing could make them swerve from the line of duty; and when the hostilities of the Revolution fully commenced, hundreds, whose sympathies were with the patriots, felt bound by that oath to remain passive. Hundreds of men, with strong hearts and hands, would have flocked around the standards of Gates and Greene, in Guilford, Orange, and the neighboring counties, had not their oath been held too sacred to be violated, even when it was evident that the king could no longer protect them. Loyalty to conscience, not opposition to the principles of the Revolutionists, made these men passive; for their friends and neighbors on the other side of the Yadkin, where Tryon's oath was not exacted, were among those who earliest cast off their allegiance to the British crown.
The course of Governor Martin was generally so judicious, that the people of North Car-
* Husband fled to Pennsylvania, and settled near Pittsburgh. He went to North Carolina on business soon after the close of the war, but did not remain long. In 1794 he was concerned in the "Whisky Insurrection," in Western Pennsylvania, and was appointed on the Committee of Safety with Brackenridge, Bradford, and Gallatin. Husband was arrested, and taken a prisoner to Philadelphia, where he was pardoned, through the interposition of Dr. Caldwell who happened to be there, Dr. Rush, and the North Carolina senators. He met his wife on his return home, and died at an inn before he reached his own neighborhood. Husband was a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature for some years.
Committees of Correspondence.—Difficulties between the Governor and People.—Conventions of the Patriots.
olina were not very restive, while the Northern colonies were all on fire with rebellion in 1774. Yet sympathy for the people of Boston, suffering from the effects of the Port Bill, was general and sincere, and the inhabitants of Wilmington and other towns made large contributions for their relief. When the final decision was to be made respecting allegiance to, or independence of the British crown, very many remained loyal, and the ardent Whigs required the full exercise of all their zeal to leaven the inactive population of the state. The efficient machinery of corresponding committees was put in operation early In December, 1773, the resolution of the House of Burgesses, of Virginia, recommending the appointment of committees of correspondence, was received by the Assembly of North Carolina and approved of. A committee was appointed, and instructed to be vigilant and industrious in the performance of their duties. * Governor Martin was then in New York, and the duties of his office devolved upon James Hasell, the president of the council. Hasell was rather favorably inclined toward republicanism, and opposed the patriots only so far as his official duty demanded action.
The proceedings of that short session were quite offensive to the governor and most of his council, as representatives of the imperial government, and the amity of the provincial legislation was disturbed. The governor soon returned home, and prorogued the Assembly until March following,1774 that the members might "reflect upon their proceedings, learn the sentiments of their constituents, and adopt a more loyal course." When they again met, strengthened by the approval of their constituents, they were firmer than ever in their opposition to some of the measures of government; and that the sincerity and courage of those who professed patriotic proclivities might be tested, the Yeas and Nays were taken upon the adoption of an important bill. ** A committee was appointed to address the king, and on the twenty-fifth of March the Assembly was again prorogued. Four days afterward, it was dissolved by the governor's proclamation; an act considered unconstitutional, and which highly offended the people.
During the summer of 1774, a majority of the inhabitants, in primary meetings assembled, openly avowed their approval of a Continental Congress, as proposed by Massachusetts. A general meeting of delegates from the several towns was proposed to be held at Newbern on the twenty-fifth of August. On the thirteenth of that month, the governor issued his proclamation, disapproving of the district meetings, and requiring the people to forbear sending delegates to the general convention. The people did not heed his proclamation, and the delegates met on that day. John Harvey, of Perquimans, the late speaker of the Assembly, was chosen moderator. The council convened by the governor, seeing the gathering of the people's representatives, decided that "nothing could be done." The convention expressed its firm loyalty to the king; claimed only the common rights of Englishmen; asserted the doctrine that they ought not to be taxed without their own consent; reprobated the tea and other duties; expressed great sympathy for the people of Massachusetts; condemned the Boston Port Bill, as a "cruel infringement of the rights and privileges of the people," and other measures of government as unrighteous; signed a non-importation