XXXV. May. vide otherwise, or, what they knew would never take CHAP. place, till the British parliament should resign its arbitrary pretensions with respect to America. At 1775. the same time the militia companies were directed to provide themselves with arms, and Thomas Polk and Joseph Kenedy were specially appointed to purchase powder, lead and flints. 31. Before the month of May had come to an end, the May. resolutions were signed by Ephraim Brevard, as clerk of the committee, and were adopted by the people with the determined enthusiasm which springs from the combined influence of the love of liberty and of religion. Thus was Mecklenburg county, in North Carolina, separated from the British empire. The resolves were transmitted with all haste to be printed in Charleston, and as they spread through the South, they startled the royal governors of Georgia and North Carolina. They were despatched by a messenger to the continental congress, that the world might know their authors had renounced their allegiance to the king of Great Britain, and had constituted a government for themselves. The messenger stopped on his way at Salisbury, and there, to a crowd round the court-house, the re solves were read and approved. The western counties were the most populous part of North Carolina; and the royal governor had flattered himself and the king, with the fullest assurances of their support. "I have no doubt," said he, "that I might command their best services at a word on any emergency. I consider I have the means in my own hands to maintain the sovereignty of this country to my royal master in all events." And now he was obliged to trans VOL VII. 32 CHAP. mit the deliberate, consistent, and well-considered XXXV. resolutions of Mecklenburg, which he described as 1775. the boldest of all, "most traitorously declaring the May. entire dissolution of the laws and constitution, and setting up a system of rule and regulation subversive of his Majesty's government." CHAPTER XXXVI. CONGRESS OFFERS TO NEGOTIATE WITH THE KING. MAY, 1775. XXXVI 1775. May. FAR different was the spirit of the continental con- CHAP. gress. The unexpected outbreak of war compelled them to adopt some system of defence; but many of its members still blinded themselves with the hope of reconciliation, and no measure for the vigorous prosecution of hostilities could be carried with unanimity, except after the concession of a second petition to the king. Washington foresaw the long and bloody contest which must precede the successful vindication of the liberties of America. Before the excursion to Concord he had avowed to his friends "his full intention to devote his life and fortune" to the cause; and he manifested his conviction of the imminence of danger by appearing at the debates in his uniform as an officer. He had read with indignation the taunts uttered in parliament on the courage of his countrymen; he now took a personal pride in the rising of XXXVI 1775. May. CHAP. New England, and the precipitate retreat of Percy, which he thought might "convince Lord Sandwich that the Americans would fight for their liberties and property." "Unhappy it is," said he, "to reflect, that a brother's sword has been sheathed in a brother's breast, and that the once happy and peaceful plains of America are either to be drenched with blood, or inhabited by slaves. Sad alternative! But can a virtuous man hesitate in his choice?" Washington never hesitated in his choice; but he was too modest to demand a deference to his opinion, and too sincerely a friend to peace to suppress any movement that promised its restoration. The delegates from New England, especially those from Massachusetts, could bring no remedy to the prevailing indecision; for they suffered from insinuations, that they represented a people who were republicans in their principles of government and fanatics in their religion; and they wisely avoided the appearance of importunity or excess in their demands. As the delegates from South Carolina declined the responsibility of a decision, which would have implied an abandonment of every hope of peace, there could be no efficient opposition to the policy of again seeking the restoration of American liberty through the mediation of the king. This plan had the great advantage over the suggestion of an immediate separation from Britain, that it could be boldly promulgated, and was in harmony with the general wish; for the people of the continent, taken collectively, had not as yet ceased to cling to their old relations with their parent land, and so far from scheming independence, now that independence was become inevitable, they postponed the irrevocable decree and CHAP. still longed that the necessity for it might pass by. XXXVI. May. In this state of things the man for the occasion 1775. was Dickinson, who wanted nothing but energy to secure to him one of the highest places among the statesmen of the world. Deficient in that great element of character which forms the junction between intelligence and action, his theoretic views on the rights of America and the just extent of her claims, coincided with those of the most zealous. Now that the charter of Massachusetts had been impaired, he did not ask merely relief from parliamentary taxation; he required security against the encroachments of parliament on charters and laws. The distinctness with which he spoke, satisfied Samuel Adams himself, who has left on record that the Farmer was a thorough Bostonian. Moreover, the province of which he was the representative, was the third in rank for numbers, wealth, and importance; its system of government was eminently democratic; its capital city, distinguished by the presence of the congress, was the largest in the land. The honest scruples of the Quakers merited consideration. The proprietary and his numerous and powerful friends, rallied a party which offered all its influence to promote a successful intercession with the king; and the instructions of Pennsylvania to its delegates in congress looked primarily to a continued union with Britain. It was in vain that the fiery Mifflin, who was likewise a member from Pennsylvania, expressed impatience. Franklin also knew that every method of peaceful entreaty had been exhausted. But though |