The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1857-05-26

i S',nc "a iauePenuence utterl II
and "a, that all the particulars abo.y. iaaa
cd having occurred here on the lon aS
2uth days of May, l775. the docnr@ III
now produce OF that date is the decIRentN
OF independence that was then pronoIaa
THE DOCUMENT OF Both oFs,,
! The speaker then, returning to, a..
jected it to a minute, SEARCHING SUI
and conclusively showed that !, uaySs
more than a temporary body of i.ssSS
as they expressed it in the ins.' o.
.certain rules and regulations for %aea
ternal government of htis Coantu.n mel
sary as they judged, .. for the beit.s neces
cation ofgood order" He showed Pr''e.
of the witnesses of the meeting of H. %
that, at that meeting, a committee SA
pointed for that very purpose. Asa
| meeting of the 3Oth was compossS u
! members of that committee; that thaI&
posed themselves to be without laws 9. SIP
or civil officers. because parliamen, tura
! preceding February had declared ttdmaa
be in rebellion. They proceeded ~
| fore, under the name of resoLces 10 %eie
laws. The meeting of May 10Th had I 5
no more than assert, as a general n,:N Os
pie, their voluntary adoption of the a T'Sel
! laws of the colony ''as rule of life.
an express disclaimer of any reco,n; s@
| thereby of the Crown or any of its osGoa@O
| The committee was now to prescr;Se@s
detail measures which would carry ON. ~
general principle, with its disclaimer, t
cordingly they passed twenty ,esor.'
| When we examine them we find that he@
| the Sd to the 10Th. they relate entir,ln =
matters purely ciUiL, in tho administers
of Justice in the county; and in the Ion
and Goth they put the military in Gt stay
| for service, and provide q proper authors
over them. Thus, they extemporize a spec;:,
of court in each military company's A.
trict, fix the extent of jurisdiction proy@
| officers to execute process, establish an "A
pellate tribunal, regulate tho duties of =,
collectors and other accounting Officer
and, Incidentally, to insure the WORKING i
the system thus devised, and to preye1,,
Conflict of authorities, they disallow the DOW.
ers of the former crown officials Of III,
county, and pledge themselves to SAY.
harmless their own officers whom they M,
appoint. AS 20 the meeting, they had /,
their action on the Goth, continued in com.
mand all officers who would conform to Il.
principles of the declaration; and they No,
give directions for providing the men with
arms and ammunition, with Instructions
hold themselves in readiness to execute In
orders received from them or from the pro-
vincial Congress. This sketch embods
all the laws they made, and constituh
nearly the whole document of the Bob
The only other particular not yet named
| is the declaration that these laws are TO h
| in force no longer than necessity absohtpv
demands; and this is made in these word.
THAT these resolves be in full force and
virtue until instructions from the provinces,
Congress, regulating the Jurisprudence Of
| the province shall provide otherwise or
| the legislative body of Great Britain resign
its unjust and arbitrary pretensions with
respect to America" The latter clause Of
this passage has been urged as proof that
they never made previous declaration re-
nouncing allegiance, or they never would,
as here, have implied willingness to sub.
NIT themselves again to British Legislation
DIR. II. remarked that had those VIII, have
thus interpreted this clause, been as well
acquainted as Mecklenburg men are, wit,
| the then existing facts, they would scarce.
ly have committed themselves to such con.
clusion. But without this knowledge Of
facts, they might have seen the fallacy Of
their inference. Very slight critical acu.
men might have shown them that men in
their senses would never have made the ces.
sation of their laws depend upon the hap.
pening of either one of two contingencies,
so utterly irreconcileable and inconsistent
as Legislative action by the provincial Con.
| gress, or similar action by the British Par.
lament. For this would be, in effect TO
make them say, ''our action shall cease
when either of two bodies now in a state Of
open antagcnisn and hostility shall act with
reference to, us; and as we are indifferent
on the subject, we will yield at once to that
body which acts first: and this declare
ton, too, must be made in the face of their
own positive assertion in the Cd resolve Of
the very same instrument, that the right 10
act was then in one of those antagonists
bodies only, viz: the provincial congress;
and further that they meant their resolves
to be mere temporary substitute for Laws
only until that congress did act.
1t might have been seen too, without any
extraordinary sagacity, that this supposed
state of indifference as to which body should
rule them. (contradicted as we know it to
have been by all concurrent history even
if real, implied no acknowledgement of ALE
glance, inconsistent with a previous decIa'
ration of independence: for these intcrpre'
tiers had but to look for a moment to it
practical working on the happening of one
of the contingencies. Suppose, for instance
the first action to proceed from the froUin'
ciaL congress: what must follow Why, OF
their hypothesis of an indifferent choice be-
tween the alternatives, the colonists would
necessarily submit to the congress; an
then, Of coarse, as submission could be yield
ed to but one authority, any action of par
Lament afterwards, no matter what, would
have been too late to induce obedience to it
and then, Of course again, the colonists mus
have been in open opposition to the Brltisi
government, refusing to acknowledge allie
glance to it; though the very hypothesis
which thus inevitably leads to this opposi
ton and refusal of allegiance to G.. Britain
assumes the willingness of the colonists t.
submit to G.. Britain.
He who would understand the action o
the Mecklenburg men, must inform himsel
accurately of the facts which were then ex
listing around them. A knowledge of thes
will show a0hy the clause was inserted, AM
what it meant; and will demonstrate the per
feet consistency of the actors. What wer
the facts! Briefly these: The British par
lament had short time before declared
these men TO ha in rehellion mt of thI