Even Franklin-in a letter to Lord Howe, dated July 20, 1776 — declares that "[X] tears of joy wet my cheek, when, at your good sister's in London, you once gave me expectations that a reconciliation might soon take place." Indeed, in a letter to his son, written at sea, March 22d (1775), -speaking of a visit he had paid to Lord Chatham in London — he writes: "I assured him that, having more than once travelled almost from one end of the Continent to the other, and kept a great variety of company, eating, drinking, and conversing with them freely, I never had heard in any conversation from any person, drunk or sober, the least expression of a wish for a separation, or a hint that such a thing would be advantageous to America . . . he expressed much satisfaction . . . in the assurances I had given him that America did not aim at independence."

The Assembly of Pennsylvania instructed her Delegates, November 9th: "We strictly enjoin you, that you, in behalf of this Colony, dissent from, and utterly reject, any propositions, should such be made, that may cause or lead to a separation from our Mother Country . . ." Similar views prevailed in Maryland.

On August 2d, one of her clergymen writes to England: "The King has not more affectionate or loyal subjects in any part of his dominions than the Americans. They desire no other King; they wish not a division from, or independence on the Mother Country."

The instructions of December to her Delegates in Congress contained the expressions "our strong desire of reconciliation" and "disavowing in the most solemn manner, all design in these Colonies of independence".

Charles Carroll of Carrollton writes, from Annapolis to Washington (?), September 26th: "[N] If a treaty is but once set on foot, I think, it must terminate in a lasting & happy peace; an event, I am persuaded, you most earnestly desire, as every good citizen must, in which number you rank foremost . . . If we can not obtain a peace on safe & just terms, my next wish is, that you may extort by force from our enemies what their policy, & justice should have granted, and that you may long live to enjoy the fame of the best, the noblest deed, the defending & securing the liberties of your country."

An idea of the feeling in Virginia in the early part of the year is given us by Wirt. He says that, when (March 23d) Henry offered, in the old church in Richmond, the resolutions that the Colony be put immediately into a state of defence, "some of the warmest patriots of the convention opposed them. Richard Bland, Benjamin Harrison, and Edmund Pendleton . . . resisted them with all their influence and abilities." He adds that it was by Henry's eloquence only that the resolutions were carried.

We know that, later in the year, Thomas Anderson was "charged with saying. that this Country . . . aimed at a state of independence," and was acquitted (September 5th) by the Committee of Hanover County "from further prosecution only upon signing a

concession.

The position of Jefferson is outlined in his own letters.7 He writes from Monticello, August 25th, to John Randolph: "[K] I am sincerely one of those [wishing reunion], and would rather be in dependence on Great

Britain, properly limited, than on any nation upon earth, or than on no nation. But I am one of those, too, who, rather than submit to the rights of legislating for us, assumed by the British Parliament . . . .. would lend my hand to sink the whole island in the ocean." To the same gentleman, November 29th, he says: "[K] . . there is not in the British empire a man who more cordially loves a union with Great Britain, than I do. But, by the God that made me, I will cease to exist before I yield to a connection on such terms as the British Parliament propose; and in this I think I speak the sentiments of America. We want neither inducement nor power, to declare and assert a separation. It is will, alone, which is wanting, and that is growing apace under the fostering hand of our King."

So is also the position of General Charles Lee. On the 1st day of the last month of the year, he writes, to General Burgoyne: "You ask me, in your letter, if it is independence at which the Americans aim? I answer no; the idea never entered a single American's head until a most intolerable oppression forced it upon them . . . On the contrary, do they not all breathe the strongest attachment and filial piety for their parent country? I swear by all that's sacred . . . that I most earnestly and devoutly love my native country; that I wish the same happy relation to subsist for ages, betwixt her and her children, which has raised the wide arch of her empire to so stupendous and enviable a height; but at the same time I avow, that if the Parliament and people should be depraved enough to support any longer the present Ministry in their infernal scheme . . . I would advise

not to hesitate a single instant, but decisively to cut the Gordian knot now besmeared with civil blood"; and, three days later, speaking of this letter, he says, from "[BT] Camp on Prospect Hill", to Dr. Benjamin Rush, that it "in my opinion is the best of my performances. I believe it does not tally with your political creed in some parts but I am convinced that you have not virtue enough for independence nor do I think it calculated for your happiness; besides I have some remaining prejudices as an Englishman but you will judge from the perusal of my letter whether they are honest and liberal if they shock you be gentle in

your censures." North Carolina, at least in one County, was more advanced — though to just what extent has been much mooted.

In the Essex Register (C) — published in Salem, Mass. of June 5, 1819, appeared the following:

From the Raleigh Register,

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

It is not probably known to many of our readers, that the citizens of Mecklenburg county, in this state, made a declaration of independence more than a year before Congress made theirs. The following document on the subject has lately come in the hands of the editor 10 from unquestionable authority, and is published that it may go down to posterity:

In the spring of 1775, the leading characters of Mecklenburg county... held several detached meetings, in each of which the individual sentiments were, "that the cause of Boston was the cause of all . . Conformably to these principles, Col.

Adam Alexander, through solicitation, issued an order to each Captain's Company in the county of Mecklenburg directing each militia company to elect two persons . . . to adopt measures... to secure, unimpaired, their inalienable rights, privileges and liberties . . .

on the 19th of May, 1775, the said delegation met in Charlotte, vested with unlimited powers; at which time official news, by express, arrived of the battle of Lexington on that day of the preceding month Abraham Alexander was then elected Chairman, and John M'Knitt Alexander, Clerk. After a free and full discussion of the various objects for which the delegation had been convened, it was unanimously Ordained —

1. Resolved, That whosoever directly or indirectly abetted, or in any way, form, or manner, countenanced, the unchartered and dangerous invasion of our rights, as claimed by Great Britain, is an enemy to this country, to America, and to the inherent and inalienable rights of man.

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2. Resolved, That we, the citizens of Mecklenburg county, do hereby dissolve the political bands which have connected us to the Mother Country, and hereby absolve ourselves from all allegiance to the British Crown, and abjure all political connection, contract, or association with that Nation, who have wantonly trampled on our rights and liberties — and inhumanly shed the innocent blood of American patriots at Lexington.

3. Resolved, That we do hereby declare ourselves a free and independent people; are, and of right ought to be, a sovereign & self governing association, under the control of no power other than that of our God and the General Government of the Congress; to the maintenance of which independence, we solemnly pledge to each other our mutual co-operation, our lives, our fortunes, & our most sacred honor.

4. Resolved, That as we now acknowledge the existence and control of no law or legal officer, civil or military, within this