Wilmington journal., 1873-08-01

owned by EnOch Hratt, insured IN the
same company. The three latter houses
were but little damaged. The three
new houses on the northwest corner of
Park and Clay streets were insured in
the same company for 81 900, and the
two houses on the southwest for $500 |
each. st. Alphonsus's day school was
insured for $4,000 in the Equitable, |
which also has the same amount on the |
school in the rear. Louis Dieter is in |
sured to the amount of $40, 900 in the |
Germania and 81 900 in the Continen-
tial, of New York. The Howard Fire |
Insurance Company, of New York, has
81, 900 in the burnt district.
,Ir. Good1oe's Reply to Col. John
IN. Wheeler.
WARRENToN, July Is, 1873.
My DEAR SIR Il learned day OF
two ago, from the Wilmington jour
NAL, that the Charlotte Democrat
would, in a few days, publish a reply
to my letters on the Mecklenburg
ssDeclaration of Independence. [
Immediately wrote to the editor OF the
Democrat for a copy of the paper,
and i'll the meantime, while it is COM
ing to hand, I will briefly notice a re-
ply of Col: +. II. Wheeler, the histo
rian. which appeared i'll the JOURNAL
of the 18th inst It seems that some
one has sent to my friend, the Colonel,
not my letters, or any one of them,
but copy of the JOURNAL, which, as
you will remember, merely remon-
strates with me for the wickedness of
my conduct in raising an issue about a
long settled historical question, with
which the editors were well pleased
Col. w. states that his friend who
sends him the paper says ''that Good
loe asserts that neither Wheeler nor
Caruthers is right in fixing the date
of the Mecklenburg Declaration of
Independence" He asks, in conclu-
sion, ''if Goodloe is from Virginia ?"
From this piece of misinformation my
| friend very naturally concludes that l
have made him and his book the target
at which have directed my batteries.
Now, you will bear me witness, that
nothing could be further from the
fact. 1t never entered my head to
| take issue with the Colonel on account
of his very innocent and natural acqui-
escence in the popular belief in regard
to this matter. On the contrary, l
found his valuable historical collec-
tions a very convenient and almost
indispensable ally. If he had
| seen and read my letters he
would not have been satisfied with a
mere reference to the authorities
which / have reviewed at length but
show that my deductions were erron-
eous. He merely reiterates the argu-
ment of Hawks, based on the testimo-
| I Hn
| over the ground which was argued with
far greater elaboration by DIR. Hawks
and adds not one essential fact. In
deed, Hawks had nothing whatever to
add to the testimony collected by the
Legislative committee i'll 1881, which
[ have reviewed in detail. 1 called
attention to the letter of the Royal
Governor Martin to the Earl of Dart
mouth, dated June Both, 1775, in
which he denounces the Mecklenburg
resolves !; and also to the proclamation
of that officer dated few weeks later :;
and l also drew attention to the ex-
plicit admission of DIR. Hawks, that
these official documents refer not to
the "Declaration1 of May Goth, but to
the resolves of the county committee,
of Nav 31st. Yet Col. Wheeler pa
rades the extract from Martins letter,
as ii it were confirmation strong as
proofs from holy writ" i'll favor of the
10th of May declaration. Whoever
carefully reads the two series of re-
solves, and then the letter of Martin,
will see at once, that Hawks had good
reason for the concession that the
Goth May paper was not referred to
In the same place, Hawks admits the
20 Ii May paper had never been print
ed, and therefore could not have been
referred to by Martin for the letter
refers to resolves printed III Il news
paper The 31st May resolves We're
printed in divers newspapers, North
and South, in the year 1875, as Hawks
admits ; while iii the same breath he
admits that the both May paper was
never printed in other words, never
printed until the year 1919.
Col. Wheeler states that the late An
drew Stevenson Of Virginia, while Min
lister to England III 1897, obtained from
the State paper office in London the
printed paper sent to Lord Dartmouth
by Governor Martin, and that 'le never
returned it. He thinks that the son of
MIR. Stevenson, now n Senator in Con
gress from Kentucky, may find it
among his fathers papers. [ sincerely
hope that he mav do SO; and until he
does, I am bound to believe with DIR.
Hawks, that the printed paper, if it has
any relation to the subject, contains
the 31st May resolves. A main argu-
ment of DIR. Hawks is, that the Goth
May paper was suppressed on account
of the very advanced positions it took,
for which the Province and the country
at large were unprepared at the time
/ ~ SNhnn1o,. Il 40
records of the Pension Office that Gen
eral Joseph Graham, in 1882, made
oath, in his application for pension,
to the facts stated by him in his letter
of October, 1880, viz: that he was pres
ent in Charlotte, May Goth, 1775, ''when
| the people of the county of NIecklen-
burg made their celebrated Declaration
of Independence of the British crown, :"
&c. Now, if [ had expressed n disin-
| clination to believe the earlier state
ment of Gen. Graham because he had
not sworn to it, there would be some
pertinence in the production of this
sworn statement. But as | had done
nothing of the kind; and on the con-
trary, as I had expressed my confidence
in the sincerity of all the witnesses, the
value of the Colonel's discovery in the
archives Of the Pension Bureau will
not be great as it regards this contro-
versy Still it will benecessary to show
that man seventy-three years old
would be not likely to remember the ex-
act date of public meeting which took
place when he was under sixteen, as
well as the wording of the resolutions
which were adopted on the occasion.
All will admit that he would be likely
to remember, if intelligent, as General
Graham was, the general purpose and
principal actors in it but little more.
1t is also certain that the memory of
General Graham, and of all the wit
nesses, had been refreshed by the pub
| icatiOn of what purported to be tho
official report of the meeting on May
Goth. This publication was made
April 3Oth, 1919, nearly twelve years
before his letter was written, and more
than thirteen years before he applied
for his pension.
With this one oath before him, Col.