2. How did Governor Martin regard this matter? What did he determine to do?

3. What vas the result of the Governor's plan? What was done by John Harvey?

4. How was Governor Martin affected by Harvey's success?

5. What had the Governor begun to realize? What was done by the people?

6. What advice did the Governor seek? What was given?

7. When and where did the first Provincial Congress of North Carolina meet? Who was Moderator? Who were chosen as delegates to the Continental Congress?

8. What is said of this Provincial congress?

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE SECOND PROVINCIAL CONGRESS.

A. D. 1775.

After the meeting of the first Provincial Congress, at New Bern, there were, to all observers of intelligence throughout the world, evident signs of an approaching rupture between the Royal Government and the people of North Carolina. Each day widened the breach between them and rendered more difficult an arrangement of the troubles.

2. In the regular course of events, if North Carolina would continue to keep abreast of her sister colonies in the movement for the preservation of the inherent rights of British subjects, it was necessary that she should formally ratify and approve the action recently taken by the Continental Congress, and to elect delegates to that Congress for a new term. Accordingly, on the 11th of February, 1775, after the Governor had ordered an election to be held for a new Legislature to meet in New Bern on the 3d of April, Colonel Harvey also issued handbills for the election of another Congress to meet at the same time and place.

3. Both elections were held and both bodies met at the appointed time and place. Indeed the same individuals were members of both the House of Assembly and of the Congress. The records show that every member of the House of Assembly who was present was also present as a member of the Congress, with only three exceptions. Colonel Harvey was chosen to preside over both bodies. When sitting at the House of Assembly the members called him "Mr. Speaker," but when sitting as a Congress they called him "Mr. Moderator." According to the journals of their proceedings, the Congress met at nine o'clock and the Assembly at ten o'clock in the morning. Upon the face of the journals of the two bodies their proceedings seem to have been entirely separate and distinct; it is said, however, to have been otherwise in fact, and that at one moment the members would be sitting with Mr. Speaker Harvey as a House of Assembly, under the authority of the Crown, and at another with Mr. Moderator Harvey, as a Congress in defiance of the Crown.

4. As the two Houses of the Legislature met Governor Martin in the palace, according to the custom of that day, at the beginning of a session, he saluted them with indignant remonstrances, which were, the next day, most ably answered in an address prepared by Captain Robert Howe, of Brunswick. A chief ground of his complaint was that the Assembly would take no action against the Congress. He was aptly reminded, however, in reply, that as the Assembly had no control over its sessions, holding them at his will and pleasure only, and remembering how that will and pleasure had been exercised, a Congress that did have control over itself was absolutely necessary for the protection of the people. The result was a proclamation dissolving the Assembly on the 8th of April, that being the fourth day of its session.

5. The Congress, however, could neither be dissolved nor dispersed, and proceeded in its work with much deliberation. The same delegation was returned to Philadelphia; and articles of association, pledging the members to abstain from all commerce with British marts, were signed by all except Thomas McKnight, of Currituck.

6. It was seen that a crisis was near at hand. Boston had been held, for months past, in a state of siege. At length, on April 19th, came the encounter at Lexington. Accidents are constantly heard of wherein more lives are lost, but this little skirmish, small as it was, was enough, with its tidings, to fire the hearts of a continent.

7. The tidings of such an occurrence in our day outstrips the winds. In less than an hour it is known all over the Mississippi Valley, across the Rocky Mountains, and along the shores of the Pacific Ocean. But our ancestors of that day had no railways or telegraphs; so, it was fully two weeks after the militiamen slain at Lexington had stiffened in their blood that Richard Caswell heard of it in Petersburg, Virginia.

8. A courier was hurrying southward with the tidings, but it was not until May 19th that the people of Mecklenburg, in North Carolina, became aware of what had occurred. At the village of Charlotte upon that day a large concourse of the leading men of that county had assembled. Fired at the nature of the startling intelligence, they held a convention, and after remaining in session all night, on the morning of the 20th, passed resolutions of independence that will immortalize their names.

9. All America, while arming for the war, was still protesting loyalty to the King, but these men of Mecklenburg leaped to a conclusion, the expediency of which more than a year of blood was required to impress on the minds of their countrymen. Abraham Alexander presided in the meeting, and the famous "Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence" was drawn by Dr. Ephraim Breyard.

[NOTE--The men of Mecklenburg held another meeting on May 31st, and adopted a system of government and military commissions. These people publicly declared themselves free from English rule nearly fourteen months before the Declaration of Independence at Philadelphia.]

10. The news from Boston was speedily followed, in North Carolina, by mournful tidings from Perquimans county. Colonel John Harvey, after so many strenuous efforts to put North Carolina in readiness for the storm, sank under disease, and died at his place in "Harvey's Neck," on the Albemarle Sound. No braver or wiser man has ever borne a part in the conduct of affairs in North Carolina.

11. Apprehensive for his own safety and that of his family, Governor Martin at once made preparations for leaving New Bern. He sent his family to New York by sea, but went himself by land to Fort Johnston, at the mouth of the Cape Fear. * But even Fort Johnston proved unsafe as a place of refuge, and in July the Governor left it and went on board the war sloop Cruiser, then lying in the river before the fort. On the same day Colonel Ashe, with five hundred men, burned the fort to the ground.

*Governor Martin took advantage of this journey to visit the Scotch settlements on the upper Cape Fear, and set on foot the insurrection that culminated in the battle of Moore's Creek Bridge.

QUESTIONS.

1. What signs were observed after the first Provincial Congress?

2. What was necessary for North Carolina to do? What was done on February 11, 1775?

3. What is said of this election ? Describe the Legislature and Congress?

4. How was the Legislature received by the Governor? How did Captain Howe answer him?

5. What was done by the Congress?

6. What startling news was received on April 19th.

7. How did the circulation of news in 1775 differ from the present? Who was first to receive the news of Lexington?

8. When did the tidings reach Mecklenburg? What great event occurred at Charlotte? Find this city on the map.

9. What was the attitude of the American people at this time? By what name have the Charlotte resolutions always been known?

10. What sad news next thrilled North Carolina?

11. What was done by Governor Martin? What occurred at Fort Johnston?

CHAPTER XXV.

THE CONGRESS AT HILLSBORO.

A. D. 1775.

It had been seen at New Bern that Colonel Harvey's days were numbered, and Samuel Johnston had been empowered, in case of the Moderator's death, to order an election for another Congress to meet at Hillsboro whenever he should deem it necessary. Accordingly (Colonel Harvey having died) the Congress met, at the call of Mr. Johnston, in Hillsboro, on the 20th of August, 1775, and a memorable Congress it was. Samuel Johnston was its President.

2. When Governor Martin left New Bern royal authority was virtually at an end in North Carolina, but it was at Hillsboro, and by the Congress there assembled, that its last vestige was swept away. The time had come when, if North Carolina intended to stand with her sister colonies, she must take up arms and appeal to the God of battles. This she was ready to do without any hesitation, and this she did do at Hillsboro, giving publicly to the world her reasons for so doing.