assuming a total independency, and set up a separate state, we can maintain it."

For his letter of May 7th, see p. 33.

• Many Englishmen even recognized the folly of the measures adopted by their country. A letter from London dated March 10th says: "Our political madness is still in its zenith, and we are consequently taking the most effectual measures that the wit or folly of man can devise to render America totally independent of this Country." Indeed, Rush writes, under the heading "[Rid] 1785 Conversations with D' Franklin": "Dined with the Dwth Dr Ramsay — M', Rittinhouse &c . . He said in 1756. when he went to England he had a long conversation with Mr Pratt -(afterwards Lord Camden) who told him that Britain would drive the Colonies to Independance. This he said first led him to realise its occurring shortly."

• The date of the Raleigh (North Carolina) Register from which this was taken is April 30, 1819. M. O. Sherill, Librarian of the Library Department of North Carolina, writes us, under date of November 20, 1899, that there is a copy in the Library Department at Raleigh.

10 Joseph Gales was the printer; and he evidently is meant. 11 The "following document" itself (which had "lately come in the hands of the editor") is stated later (See p. 22) to have been " a copy of the papers left in my [J. M'Knitt's: Dr. Joseph M'Knitte Alexander's, see note 18, post] hands by [and evidently in the handwriting of] John Matthew [John M'Knitte: see note 14, post] Alexander, deceased." (See, however, note 16, post.)

No one is now able to locate, as we understand, either the "copy" (which was very likely destroyed by the "editor") or the "papers" left in the hands of Dr. Joseph M'Knitte Alexander from which it is stated to have been copied.

See note 29, post.

12 This is not material.

13 These brackets are, of course, in the Essex Register.

14 Sherill says also that "Matthew" is "M'Knitte" in the Raleigh Register.

15 In The Declaration of Independence by the Citizens of Mecklenburg County, etc., Published by the Governor, Under the authority and direction of the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina (1831) (C and N) is a foot-note which says: "This copy the writer well recollects to have seen in the possession of Doct. Williamson, in the year 1793, in Fayetteville, together with a letter to him from John McNitt Alexander, and to have conversed with him on the subject." (It will be remembered that John M'Knitte Alexander writes-See p. 32-that this copy was forwarded to him [Williamson] by Col. Wm. Polk.") (A statement from Polk himself as to "the words of the Committee" is given in note 29, post.)

If, as thus appears to be the fact, this copy sent to Williamson was made before the "records and papers were burnt" (See p. 32), it is much to be regretted that it has not been located, or that "the writer" did not make a copy of it, in 1793. (The History of North Carolina by Dr. Hugh Williamson was published in 1812.)

#

It is claimed that Francois-Xavier Martin procured a copy of the original record before it was destroyed by fire, and that this appears in The History of North Carolina, etc. This claim is based upon the statement (repeated, it seems, in an address at Charlotte, May 20, 1857) of Rev. Francis L. Hawks in an address to the New York Historical Society, December 16, 1853 (See "The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence," etc., in Revolutionary History of North Carolina, compiled by William D. Cooke): "Judge Martin obtained them [the resolves] in

manuscript, from the western part of North Carolina, and procured them as he did most of his other materials, before the year 1800. . . I knew him intimately, and had known him from my childhood and I conversed with him touching these and other events in our history; for, partly at his suggestion, I had undertaken to prepare a history of North Carolina myself. Many of his original materials had been lost, for in the latter years of his life he was blind." (Hawks claims that the resolves as given by Martin are Ephriam Brevard's rough draft.) Martin himself, in his Preface, dated "Gentilly, near New Orleans, July 20, 1829", says: “The writer . . . had arranged all those [materials] that related to transactions, anterior to the declaration of independence, when, in 1809, Mr. Madison thought his services. were wanted, first in the Mississippi territory and afterwards in that of Orleans . . . The public prints stated, that a gentleman of known industry and great talents, who has filled a very high place in North Carolina, was engaged in a similar work; but several years have elapsed since, and nothing favors the belief, that the hopes which he had excited, will soon be realized. This gentleman had made application for the materials now published, and they would have been forwarded to him, if they had been useful to any but him who had collected them. In their circuitous way from Newbern to New-York and New-Orleans, the sea water found its way to them: since their arrival, the mice, worms, and the variety of insects of a humid and warm climate, have made great ravages among them. The ink of several very ancient documents has grown so pale, as to render them nearly illegible; and notes hastily taken on the journey, are in so cramped a hand, that they are not to be deciphered by any person but him who made them. The determination has been taken to put the work immediately to press, in the condition it was when it reached New-Orleans: this has prevented any use being made of Williamson's History of North Carolina, a copy of which did not reach the writer's hands until after his arrival in

Louisiana." The resolves appear in the last chapter of the second (and last) volume; and the six pages (almost) which treat of Mecklenburg County matters give a slight indication, it may be, of having been set up distinct from the balance of the chapter. The resolves are a more or less polished version of the resolves as given in the Essex Register, together with the additional resolve: "Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be transmitted, by express, to the president of the continental congress, assembled in Philadelphia, to be laid before that body." It seems to us that Hawks' " 1800" is a mistake, or a misprint for "1809". Indeed, is it not apparent from Hawks' own language that he is merely giving Martin's Preface? Indeed, also, it must be remembered that Hawks himself says: “In consenting to the preservation of the following lecture in a permanent form, the author owes it to himself to say, that it was prepared on a very short notice, and indeed, in such intervals of leisure as could be snatched from the duties of two days only." Hawks does not attempt to say where Martin "procured them".

#

It also is claimed that Alexander Garden procured a copy of the original record before it was destroyed by fire, and that this appears in Anecdotes of the American Revolution published in Charleston, S. C., in 1828. This claim is based upon the fact that the resolves as given by him are the same (essentially) as those given by Martin and upon the reasoning that Garden could not have gotten them from Martin because Garden's Anecdotes, etc., was published first.

May not Martin have sent a copy to Garden, previous to 1828, or may not Martin have taken the resolves from Garden's Anecdotes, etc., of 1828 (for convenience, if for no other reason) and the remainder of his information from the Raleigh Register or gotten it from Garden by letter or from Dr. Joseph M'Knitte Alexander or Archibald Debow Murphy (See note 29, post)?

Certainly, Garden's first publication, in 1822, does not mention the resolves. Certainly, also, Garden's Anecdotes, etc., published in 1828 says: "The Subscription Lists have been handed in so slowly, that it might appear invidious to print one that would be imperfect. Upwards of seven hundred names are in possession, but many more are expected from parts of the country where it is probable this work will be most in circulation. Yet, should they speedily arrive, they shall be immediately published."

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Dr. J. B. Alexander in The History of Mecklenburg County (1902) quotes the resolves from Martin.

16 In The Declaration, etc., (See note 15, supra) is a certificate of Samuel Henderson, dated Mecklenburg County, November 25, 1830, which says: "... the paper annexed was obtained by me from Maj. William R. Davie, in its present situation, soon after the death [November 8, 1820] of his father, Gen. William R. Davie, and given to Doct. Joseph M'Knitt by me. In searching for some particular paper, I came across this, and, knowing the handwriting of John M'Knitt Alexander, took it up, and examined it. Maj. Davie said to me (when asked how it became torn) his sisters had torn it, not knowing what it was"; also a foot-note which says: "To this certificate of Doct. Henderson is annexed the copy of the paper A, originally deposited by John M'Knitt Alexander in the hands of Gen. Davie . . . This paper is somewhat torn, but it is entirely legible . . ."; and also: “Gen. Davie died shortly after the date of Mr. Jefferson's letter [See p. 24]; but this identical copy, known by the writer of these remarks to be in the handwriting of John M'Nitt Alexander . . . is now in the Executive Office of this State." The "paper A" consists merely of resolves (essentially) as given in the Essex Register.