tumult and insurrections, dangerous to the peace of the king's government." It was then directed to be burned by the common hangman. They also provided for raising and equipping a military force of one thousand men for the defense of the liberties of the province. This force was divided into two regiments. The command of the first regiment was given to Colonel James Moore (one of Tryon's officers when he marched against the Regulators), of New Hanover; the second to Colonel Robert Howe, of Brunswick. In addition to this regular force, a battalion of ten companies, of fifty men each, was directed to be raised in each district, to be called minute-men, their uniform to be a hunting-shirt, leggings or spatterdashes, and black gaiters. To pay these troops and other expenses of the government, the Provincial Congress directed the emission of bills of credit to the amount of $150,000, for the redemption of which a poll tax was levied for nine years, commencing in 1777. The deputies closed their labors by agreeing to an address to the inhabitants of the British empire (which was drawn up by William Hooper), and in organizing a provisional government. * The Congress adjourned on the nineteenth of September.1775
The provincial council met for the first time on the eighteenth of October following, and appointed Cornelius Harnett, of Wilmington, president. ** Already the Continental Congress
* A provincial council was established, composed of two persons duly chosen by the delegates of each district, and one by the whole Congress. * A Committee of Safety, composed of a president and twelve members, were chosen for each district; the freeholders were also directed to choose a committee. The provincial council and the committees of safety exercised the functions of government in the management of civil and military affairs. Secret committees of correspondence were also organized. Premiums were voted for the manufacture of saltpetre, gunpowder, cotton and woolen cards, pins, needles, linen and woolen cloth, and for the erection of rolling and slitting mills, furnaces for the manufacture of steel and iron, paper-mills, salt-works, and for refining sulphur.
** In the Wilmington Chronicle, August 21, 1844, there appeared a very interesting memoir of Cornelius Harnett, which I have condensed. Mr. Harnett was a native of England, and was born on the twentieth of April, 1723. The precise time when he came to America is not known. He was a man of wealth and consideration, before circumstances brought him into public life. He was among the earliest in North Carolina in denouncing the Stamp Act and kindred measures, and from that period until his death he was extremely active in public affairs. He resided upon Hilton plantation, about one mile from the center of Wilmington, where he owned a large estate, and was a gentleman of leisure.
