The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1859-10-04
THE WAR OF THE REGULATION.
An Historical Sketch by the Hon. ID. L. .Stoatn,
being the substance of has address before the
n ~ E,IucufinnnI A ssoci0fiou an June last.

1t is about a century since the causes Whfch gave
rise to the War of the Regulation excited commo-
tons in the northern district and especially IN the
interior portions of North Carolina. In September,
ITO, the Regulators expelled the bench and the
bar from Hillsborough, occupied the courthouse,
Possessed themselves of the records, organized
mock tribunal demolished the house. and inflicted
merited chastisement upon the register OF the
county of Orange, committed other excuses, and
were for time dominant throughout the country,
from the Neuse to the Catawba. The Battle OF
Alamance was fought on the 10Th of May, III,
and excited no inconsderable degree OF attention
in the sister provinces and in the mother country
Until very recently, however, no attempt has been
made to compile history Of these events, and nc
portion of our annals has been less understood, or
the subject of greater misapprehension and msrep-
resentatiOn.
The late Dr. Mitchell, shortly after his appoint
ment to professorship in the University, had his
attention attracted to the subject, and collected
valuable materials for its elucdation--printed,
written, and traditional. These subsequently
transferred to the Rev. Eli w. Caruthers, and, in
connection with the fruit of his own long continued,
patient and diligent researches were, in lS+2, Civ
en- to the public, in his valuable work the life
and character of Rev. David Caldwell, d. d.
This volume in due time, received the favorable
notice of Mr.. Bancroft the American Historian;
and the subsequent residence Of the latter at the
Court OF ct. James, enabled MIN 10 auu very
rally to the stock of information which had been
obtained on this side of the Atlantic. Mr.. Ban
croft's summary, founded in a great degree upon
record evidence, affords ample confirmation of the
view which Caruthers had presented of the charac
ter Of the prominent persons who figured In the
contest, and of the causes which produced the re-
bc!lion. Recent examinations of records, which
had hitherto escaped observation, have placed it In
our power TO supply additional illustrations.
portion of these, which have not merely never been
printed, but discovered in files which had not been
opened during the last half century, will now be
exhibited for the first time.
The materials for the composition of history
Of the Regulation at present accessible, If not am
pie, are very considerable. Fifty years ago, COM
paratively little was known upon the subject, and
it is not until very recently that such amount
of knowledge has been obtained, as to enable the
historian to present clear, continuous and reliable
narrative of the leading Incidents
In addition to cotemporancous notices, CLEANED
from English and American newspapers and maya
zines, we have histories, written and published
one in ITO, and the other in l77l-which set
forth the leading facts in which Herman Husband
was participant, from the beginning of the rebel
lion until within few months of the Battle of
Alamance.
OF the more important of these publications.
"An Impartial Relation of the First Rise and Cause
of the Present Difficulties in Public Affairs in the
Province of North Carolina" but single perfect
copy is supposed to be extant. 1t is preserved
among the collection of the Rev. Dr. Hawks, the
Historian of North Carolina and exhibits evidence
the title page of its having been at time the
property of General Thomas Person, of Regulation,
as well as Revolutionary notoriety. The pamphlet
written by Herman Husband, and published
anonymously and without imprint in ITO. No
printer in North Carolina would have ventured
~,,Il thoo oIu ,1nIc
tration of Gov. Tryon. 1t is octave, of about
100 pages, much the greater and more valuable
portions of which have been reproduced in the Sc
cond volume of Wheeler's Historical Sketches of
North Carolina, PIP. 3O1-330.
The second pamphlet is entitled, "a Fan for
Tanning and TouchstOne to Tryon; containing
impartial account of the rise and progress of the
somuch-talkedof Regulation in North Carolina
By Reguus. DISCONTINUED and Sold at the
Printing office, opposite the seat of William Vassal,
ESQ, at the head of Queen Street, I'LL" The
only original copies of this pamphlet of which we
have any knowledge belong to Mr. Bancroft and
Col Force 1t was re-pubshed some years since,
through the agency of Col. Wheeler, in the North
Carolina StdHd0rd and the Greensborough Pa
triot, and was, during the last year, reproduced in
the pages of the University Magazine. Gov. Try
on's Letter Book recently copied for the State,
from the original in the library of Harvard Univer
in which the rebellion was regarded and represent
ed by the royal government.
The pages of Williamson and Martin may be
consulted with advantage The former, though
ordinarily the more meagre and less reliable of the
two owing to his residence in the northern district,
exhibits in various instances the more accurate
count of the remote, well as the immediate
es of the rebellion. Both wrote under great mis-
conception with respect to the extent of country
in which the connections prevailed, and the char
acter of the insurgents; and especially towards the
close of the contest.
A very brief reference to the previous history of
the province may be necessary to render subse-
quent details Ineligible.
In 1929 the Lords Proprietors with the exception
of Lord Carterct, surrendered Carolina to the
Grown. He, with shrewdness which was char
acteriSc, yielded the sovereignty, but retained the
soil. The charters of Charles III conveyed to the
regal propretors and half degrees ofattude,
extending from the southern boundary of Virginia,
SO deg. 80 min. the NORTH to the 29th parallel
on the south, and from the Atlantic on the east to
the Pacific on the west.
In 1744, George ii, by the Great deed of Grant,
conveyed to George Lord Carteret nearly degree
of latitude, CSC nautical, 80 statute miles, the
northern boundary of which the southern
boundary Of Virginia, and the southern, the parallel
line 81 deg. 81 min. This line began on the sea
shore, near the house of Thomas Wallis, ran thence
due west something than nine miles north
of Bath, almost directly through Washington, some