Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1872-08-16

y"aFs lI6J, 40 amt I'LL " the saline Sys-
tenn Of brutal oppression, military domino |
ton aud martial law that it has since suE |
fered in 1869, 1870 and 1871, from General |
Grant and his administration. The paral- !
lei between the course pursued by Cover
nor TryOn and that by General Grant is so
wonderfully close that the letter-famous
in its day-Which was addressed to Gov
ernor Tryon OH November 7, It'll, by
Maurice Moore, one of the Associate just
ices of the Supreme Court of North Caro-
lima, in all that relates to its main charges,
reads as if it might have been written yes
terday to General Grant.
Promising that the disaflection in some
of the counties of North Carolina a hun
dred years ago primarily from the attempt
made by the British Parliament to force
the Stamp Act upon the colony, but more
than all from the heavy burden of local
taxation imposed at the instance of Gov
ernOr TryOn by the Colonial Assembly,
we proceed to give some extracts from
Judge MoOre's letter, simply asking our
readers to substitute for s'TIyon" the name
of Grant for the British Ministry, the radi-
Gals, and for the "Regulators' the sO-called
Ku-Klux. The opening sentence describes
Grant exactly. 1t commences:
&c TO His Erceltercy William. TfyOn, Esq:
81 am too well acquainted with your
character to suppose you can bear to be
told of your faults with temper. You are
too much of the soldier and too little of the
philosopher for apprehension"
lie goes OH to say:
"The beginning of your administration
in this province was marked with oppres-
sion and distress to its inhabitants. These,
| sir, l do not place to your account; they
| are derived from higher authority than
| yours. You were, however, a dull, yet
| willing instrument in the hands Of the
British Ministry"
lAs Grant in those Of the Radicals
''In a colony without money, and among
| a people almost desperate with distress,
public profusion should have been avoided;
| but unfortunately you were bred a soldier,
and have a natural as well as acquired
fondness for military parade"
Tyron's first exploit was to run the
| Cherokee boundary, which he did i'll all
the pomp Of war, and returned christened
with what Judge Moore sarcastically calls
"YOur Excellency's prophetic title-that
of the Great Wolf of North Carolina"
1t appears that some four or five hun
Jred ignorant people quarreled with their
representative in the Colonial Assembly.
They charged him with the distress they
felt, and in revenge shot two or three mus
ket balls through his house. At the same
time they rescued a horse which had been
styled Regulators, Tyron marched in mill
tary array. Judge Moore says:
"Their crimes were punishable in the
courts of law, and at that time criminals
were amenable to legal process. Your
Excellency and your confidential friends
1t seems, were of a different opinion. AL
your duty could possibly require Of you, Oh
this occasion, if it required anything at all
was to direct prosecution against the Of
tenders. You should have carefully
avoided becoming 4 party to the dispute
You prepared to decide thu
mighty contest by means more agreeable
to your martial disposition-an appeal tx
the sword"
"You said you had taken up arms Il
protect superior court''Of justice from in
. suit. Permit me here to ask you, sir, why
you we've apprehensive for the court Wa
} the court apprehensiVe for itself? Did TIT
Judge o: the Attorney General address
your Excellency for protection So ia
from it, sir, if these gentlemen are to b.
believed, they never entertained the leas
suspicion of any insult, unless it was tina
| which they afterwards experienced from
the undue influence you offered to eXtenG
) to them, and the military display of drums
colors and guards with which they were
disturbed.
Your Excellency said that you had armed
to protect a court. Had YOU said to re
yenge the insult you and your friends had
re eeived, it would have been more gener
ally credited to this country. The men
for the trial of whom the court was thu!
extravagantly protected, of their own &C
f cord, squeezed through a crowd of soldier:
and surrendered themselvs, as if they were
bound to do SO by their recognzances.-
Some of these people were fined and con
Victed.'
Tryon's course, instead of allaying tn;
| popular discOntent, only served TO aSgra
; vate it. Then followed an enactmen
r closely resembling our modern KukIu!
law. At the desire of TryOn-as at tina
of Grant law was enacted Of which Judg
Moore thus speaks:
''Thc design of tins act was TO punsl
, past riots in 4 new jurisdiction, to Great
new Offences, and to secure the collection
of the public tax, which
; the regulators had refused TO pay. TIL
jurisdiction for holding pleas Of all capita
offences was by L former law confined L
the particular district III which they wcr
committed. Your FIX
cellency"-through the acknowledgement
lished new jurisdiction for the trial q
such crimes i'll different district.
1t was equally viOlative Of a sacred RICH
that every British subject is entitled L
of being tried by his ncighbOrs, and of
positive law Of the province.
In this foreign jurisdiction bills Of indict
. ment were preferred, and found rs well 70
: / fclOnieS as riots against number of regu
! latOrS. These indictment
charged the crimes to have been commit
/ ! ted in Orange county in a district distinC
= from that i'll which the Court was held
# Our Supreme Court oflaW prohibits prose
4 cutions for capital offences in any othe
: district than that in which they were com
}, mitted. What distinctions the gentleme
u of the long robe might make OH such OF
n casiOns | do not know, but it appears t
s me those indictments might as well hav
e been found III your Excellency's kitchen
l. And, give ME leave to tell You, sir, that
e man is not bound to answer to a clarg
: that court has no authority to make; nc
e doth the law punish neglect to perforI
: than which it does not commando
After acknowledging that this system {
g terrorism had the effect to crush out oppC
s sitiOn, Judge Moore says, in his kee
Il trenchant way:
d 1T seems difficult kto determine, 81
whether your Excellency is more to be &C
n mired for your skill in creating the cause
=, Or your bravery in suppressing the effect.
e When the Regulators who had made
e brief show of resistance at Alamance, WEI
II put to the rOut, came the hunting Of the1
5. down. 1t would have been better, Jude
o Moore remarks, to have withdrawn til
r military, and let the deluded men retur
/ quietly to their homes. He adds
d 60 But you, sir, had further employmer
2, for the army. In disarming the countr
" you wanted to give serious appearance
if of rebellion to the outrage of the mob, t