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Colonial and State Records of North Carolina
Address by inhabitants of Orange County to William Tryon concerning the military campaign against the Regulators
No Author
1771
Volume 08, Pages 543-544

[From MS. Records in Office of Secretary of State.]
An humble address from the Inhabitants of the North side of Orange County.

To his Excellency the Governor of North Carolina,

Sir,

We his Majesties most loyal subjects have heard of the formidable Commotions in our County which is like to be attended with great cost to the Province—And we humbly think that it is quite needless to disburse such large sums of money for so mean purposes as to reward men for destroying the tranquility of Government—after mature deliberation, it was the gen'ral resolve of our people that if your Excellency came up at the head of your army for every man to take his horse out of the Plow tho' at a busy time of the year and wait on your Excellency to know for certain whether you

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are really determined to suppress all the disturbers of the public peace and to punish according to their deserts the Original offenders in Government. If so we are willing and ready to assist you all in our power to suppress or remove any nuisance that may be an obstruction to good government—But if your Excellencys designs contrary to the public Interest of the Country are to force us to submit to that Tyrany which has so long been Premeditated by some Officers of the Province we will contend for our just rights and Humbly Intreat you Sir to return with your men where there may be more need of them—our civil liberties are certainly more dear to us than the good opinion of a ruler tho' both are desirable—We understand that the Hillsborough Campain in the year 1768 Cost the Province near 8 thousand Pounds, and by a scrutinous examination of Mr Ashe's Book treasurer of the southern district it appears that we have overpaid, with the duties on liquors for the sinking tax upwards of 20 thousand pounds and we expect this spring's campaign will not be without Cost—there was but a few that contended for liberty and Property under the character of regulaters at first but there has been a large addition since on both sides of the question. The unhappy dispute has now reached even to the head of government, and this enmity equal to that of the Jews and Samaritans we greatly fear is likely to be perpetual unless your excellency exerts the true Patriot and stretches out your hand supported by Heavenly Justice to heal the deep the deadly wounds that causes the general grone in our sinking Country but if your excellency disdains a Plan so seasonable we shall then think it time to secure our own Interests since the legislature of this Province has not made the Constitution of Great Britain Prescribed by charter their Precedent—they paid very little regard to that Bullwark of life the habeas Corpus when they enacted for a law the Court of Oyer to be held at Newberne for the tryal of riots, where the accused Persons must attend tho' living in the most remote parts of the Province—Notwithstanding the Judges are appointed to attend the Circuit at the expence of Government—We wait your Excellency's answer and subscribe ourselves

TRUE FRIENDS TO GOVERNMENT.