Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/327

 fraud and cunning, on the part of the white men.

North Carolina, to use the language of Mr. Grahame, had been for some time past convulsed with disorders, which at length broke out in an insurrection so completely disconnected with the general agitation by which America was pervaded, that the insurgents afterwards formed one of the strongest bodies of royalist partisans, who, dissenting from their countrymen in general, adhered to and supported the pretensions of Britain. And yet, in reality, it was the corruption or incapacity of functionaries of the British government that produced the very evils of which those persons now complained. We have formerly remarked the abuses which prevailed in the civil administration of this province, and which the appointment of Tryon to be its governor was expected to cure. This expectation was disappointed. One of the most irritating abuses was the exaction of 'exorbitant fees by public officers on all legal proceedings, and particularly on all deeds and ceremonies requisite by law to the validity of sales and acquisitions of landed property. Tryon, in conformity with his instructions, issued a proclamation against this abuse; but, as he either negligently or corruptly confined himself to proclaiming, without attempting to execute, a purposed reform, his conduct served only to sanction, without curing or alleviating, the general discontent. In addition to this grievance, a number of the sheriffs and of the receivers of the provincial taxes were suffered to continue long indebted to the provincial treasury for a heavy arrear of public moneys which they had collected, but delayed to account for; and it was not unreasonably surmised that the weight of the taxes was aggravated by this misapplication of their produce. An association was gradually formed by a great number of poor colonists, who assumed the title of Regulators, and who entered into a compact, which they ratified by oath, to pay no taxes whatever, till all exorbitant fees were abolished, and official embezzlement punished and prevented. The general ill-humor was increased by a vote of the Assembly of a large sum of money to build a palace for the governor, as an expression of public gratitude for the repeal of the Stamp Act; and also by the imposition for this purpose of a tax, which began to operate at the very time when the parliamentary impost on tea, glass, paper, and painters' colors was promulgated. Tryon with great difficulty pacified the Regulators by promises which were only delusively fulfilled. Fanning, one of the recorders of conveyances of land, was tried on six indictments for extortion, and found guilty in every instance. The royal judges, however, sentenced him to pay only the fine of one penny,—a sentence more insulting to the people than would have been the boldest injustice in openly absolving him.

This, and other similar transactions, revived the association of the Regulators, who, incensed and blinded with indignation and ignorance, easily became the dupes of leaders of whom some were madmen and others knaves. One of those leaders, named Few, whose