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Tarborough, (Edgecombe County, JV1 C.) Friday, February 7, iS34,
Vol. XJSmo 31.
The "Tarborouzk Free' Press,"
IlV UEOKGH HOWARD, '
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Letters addressed to the Editor must be post paid,
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From thc Raleigh Register.
Change of the Constitution.
On this llili day of January, 1834, a
meeting was held in the city of Raleigh,
by those members of the General Assem
bly who advocate a change of our State
Constitution, for the purpose of adopt
ing Mich measures as might be best cal
culated to e licet this object: When on
motion of Mr. Robert Martin, (the Sena
tor from Rockingham,) Gen. Edmund
Jones, (the Senator from Wilkes,) was
appointed Chairman, and on the several
motions of Mr. ..William A. Morris, (the
Senator from Anson,) and Mr. John
Clayton, (the Senator from Buncombe,)
Messrs. William R. Hargrove of Gran
ville, and James A. King of Iredell, (both
members of the House of Commons,)
were appointed Secretaries.
The Chairman explained the objects
of the meeting and invoked them tu act
with that deliberation and prudence
which the occasion called for, but so as to
furnish to the majority of the people a
reasonable prospect of obtaining those
equal rights and that measure of political
justice which had been again denied ai
the hands of the Legislature; although it
bad been urged upon that body by the
petition of 30,000 freemen, and was en
forced by the necessity of the State and
the interests of all the people.
Messrs. R. Martin of Rockingham, and
Mat. R. Moore of Stokes, members of the
Senate, and Messrs. Charles Fisher of
Rowan, James Seawell of Kayetteville,
William A. Graham of Hillsborough,
members of the House of Commons, arid
also iMr. William J. Alexander, of Meck
lenburg, Speaker of the Commons, res
pectively addressed the meeting and dis
cussed the different propositions aud sug
gestions that were laid before them.
Whereupon, on motion of Mr. Charles
Fisher of Rowan, the following Resolu
tions were adopted:
Resolved, that a Committee to consist
of live or more persons, and to bo deno
minated the Executive Committee, shall
be appointed to prepare and publish an
Address to the people of North Carolina,
on the subject of reforming the Constitu
tion of this State; also to prepare or cause
to be prepared and published, such Es
says as they may deem best calculated to
awaken public attention to the necessity
of Reform and to the causes which have
heretofore prevented its success.
Resolved, that this Executive Commit
tee may appoint Committees in each
county to aid them in distributing the
Address aud other publications among
the people, and to collect small contribu
tions in their respective counties and re
mit the amount, in order to defray the
expenses that will be incurred for print
ing and other incidental charges.
Risolved, further, that whereas, upon
the petition of 30,000 freemen of the
State, the Senate of the General Assem
bly did prepare, discuss and pass a bill to
provide for taking I he sense; of the people
in relation to the propriety of electing
Delegates to a Convention, who shall be
authorised to consider of and amend the
Constitution of the State, so as to provide
certain alterations therein specified, and
no others: And whereas, the said bill was
rejected in the House of Commons by
the vote of a small-majority of that body:
And whereas, the rights of the people
and the best interests of the State require
that the said alterations should be made
at an early day: And whereas, it is on
every account desirable that these chan
ges cliould be effected under legislative
sanction; It is hereby earnestly recom
mended to the people ofnery county, in
the State, to instruct their Representa
tives in the next General Assembly to
provide by law for authorising the elec
tion of Delegates of the people, to be
chosen upon the basis stated in the said
bill, or upon a basis similar to it; but to
restrict the said Delegates in Conven
tion, to the duty of considering and pro
posing to the people alterations in our
State Constitution, to be subsequently ap
proved or rejected by the people them
selves; and to restrict them from making
any alterations or amendments whatever,
except such as arc; stated in the hill which
was rejected in the House of Commons,
as aforesaid.
Resolved, further, that the Convention
bill which was rejected, this day, by the
House of Commons, be spread at large
upon the minutes of this meeting as a
part of the same.
The bill appeared at length in the
Register of thc 1 4th inst. and is therefore
omitted here, but will be published with
the Address in pamphlet form.
Resolved, that the members of the pre
sent General Assembly be requested to
furnish the Chairman of this meeting, or
the Chairman of the Executive Commit
tee, with the names of such persons as
they may consider to be the most fit and
proper to be placed upon the County
Committees not exceeding ten in each
county.
Resolved, that the Chairman shall no
minate and appoint the members of the
Executive Committee, and if a vacancy
occurs after such appointment, the re-maining-rnembers
thereof are authorised
to fill the same.
Thereupon the Chairman nominated
as an Executive Committee, the follow
ing persons, to wit: Wm. H. Haywood,
Jr. of the city of Raleigh, Chairman;
Romulus M. Saunders and Weston R.
Gales, also of the city of Raleigh; Wm.
A. Graham of Hillsborough; James Sea
well of Fayetieville; and Wm. R. Har
grove of Granville county.
On motion, it was
Jit solved, that ihe gentlemen who are
nominated upon the Executive Commit
tee, by the Chairman af this meeting be
respectfully requested to accept the of
fice and to discharge the duties assigned
to them.
On motion,
Resolved, that tint proceedings be pub
lished and that the Editors of all newspa
pers in this State, be requested to insert
them in their papers.
On motion, the meeting adjourned sine
die. E. Jones, Chairman.
Test,
Jus. A. Kins
Win. R. Hargrove
Secretaries.
From the Chapel Hill Harbinger.
Counties of North Carolina. We
have supposed that the following exhibi
tion of the dale of the erection of the dif
ferent counties of North Carolina, and of
the origin of the names they bear might
be acceptable to the readers of the Har-
Dinger. It will serve to give a general
idea of the progress of the settlements
first along the seaboard and afterwards
into the interior. Martin has been the
authority principally followed. His work
is an immense improvement on William
son's miserable excuse for a history of
North Carolina, though from the little ex
amination to which we have hail an op
portunity of subjecting, it we are satisfied
that it will be no difficult matter to detect
in it errors as well as deficiences. With
a single exception the acts of the Legis
lature by which the counties were estab
lished give no intimation of the motive
that led to the adoption of the name im
posed. In some cases there is no room
for doubt in regard to its origin, but in
others it is in a considerable degree un
certain. Thus with regard to Edge
combe Precinct or county, first estab
lished by a resolution of the Governor
and Council in April 1733, and whose
name Martin passes sub silentio it is
probable only that it was thus denomina
ted in honor of Richard Edgecombe, one
of ihe ministers of George I. He was
made one of the Lords of the Treasury
in 1717, re-appointed in 1720 and made
Vice-Treasurer for Ireland in 1724.
The divisions which were not permanent
are printed in italics.
1060. It was about this time or per
haps a little earlier, that the first perma
nent settlements were made in North Ca
rolina by emigrants from Nanseraond
county, -Virginia, who established them
selves on the northern side of Albemarle
sound.
1603. Charles II. granted the whole
country lying south of Virginia to seven
Lords proprietors. It was divided by
them into two counties Jllbemarlc and Cla
rendon, bounded and separated from each
other hif the Cape Fear River.
1071-83. The county of Albemarle or
rather that part of it lying on the north
ern sideof Albemarle sound and eastern
side of Chowan river, to which the settle
ments were at this time confined, was on
the first of these years divided into three
Precincts called after some of the Lords
proprietors. To these a fourth was soon
after added and as early as 1633 they
began to be called by the names they still
bear, derived from the streams flowing
through them or the tribes of Indians in
habiting their banks, Currituck, Pastpio
lank, Perquimans and Choir an Pas
quotank included Camden; and Chowan
and Perquimans included Gates. Be
yond the sound and river they had no
definite limits.
1707. The southern part of Albemarle was
separated and formed into a county called
Bath; which teas subdivided into three pre
cincts on tht Tar, Pamlico and Neuse rivers
bearing the names of Wichham, Pamlico and
Jlrchdalc. The relative population of the two
counties may be inferred from the fact that
in the Legislature which met this year there
were 20 members from Albemarle county and
6 from Bath.
1722. From an act of the Legislature
passed this year it appears that since the
last dale there had been some new ar
rangements of the Precincts.
Hyde Precinct co-extensive or nearly
so with the present county of that name,
had been formed out of the eastern part
of Bath county and called after Edward
Hyde who was Governor of the province
from August 1810 till Sept. 1712.
Beaufort Precinct comprehending the
settlements on the Tar or Pamlico was
thus denominated in honor of Henry
Somerset, Duke of Beaufort at this time
one of the Lords Proprietors and Palan
tine for some time previous to May 1714
when he died.
Craven Precinct including the settle
ments on the Neuse and Trent in honor
of William Earl of Craven one of the ori
ginal Lords Proprietors.
Carteret Precinct was this year sepa
rated from Craven along its southern
part on Core and Bogue sounds so call
ed in honor of another Lord Proprietor.
Bertie Precinct separated from Cho
wan including the country on the west
side of Chowan river and on the Roa
noke was called after Henry and James
Bertie, who had acquired by purchase
the rights of two of the Lords Proprie
tors. The four last or frontier Precincts had
no definite boundaries on the west reach
ing as is stated in the act establishing
Bertie "as far as the limits of this gov
ernment, 1729. iVnr Hanover precinct'. The
settlements on the Cape Fear begun in,
1723 were formed into a precinct called
in honor of the reigning family Neia
Hanover.
Tyrrell precinct. The county between
Albemarle sound and Hyde, comprehen
ding what was at that time part of Curri
tuck, Pasquotank, Chowan and Bertie
and forms now the counties of Washing
ton and Tyrrell, was enacted into a pre
cinct called Tyrrell after Sir John Tyr
rell who like the Messrs. Bertie had be
come a proprietor by purchase.
The proprietary government ceased
this year. The population of the State
is said by Martin to have amounted to
only ten thousand of whom the six pre
cincts of Albemarle county contained
7,000, the four precincts of Bertie 2,500,
and the precinct of New Hanover 500.
This is less than half the present popu
lation of Orange county, and a slender
subject therefore for the volume which
he devotes to them, especially when the
fewness of the documents that are acces
sible on this side of the Atlantic is taken
into the account. Indeed this part of his
work, though valuable is somewhat liable
to the criticism of being a history of ihe
world at large rather than of the State of
North Carolina. N.
Town of Madison. Thc Salisbury
Watchman says: One of the fruiis of
Virginia enterprise in North Carolina, is
the rising importance of this town. The
improvement of the Roanoke and Dan
rivers, the completion of the Petersburg'
rail road and the probable success of die
Portsmouth and Roanoke rail road li.-ivo
contributed to give Madisou, which is it
uated at the head of navigation on thei
Dan, a very handsome start in the march
of prosperity. Six or seven stores are
about to be established there, and we
learn that accessions to the population
are making continually. The business
on the river, we understand, is already
quite brisk, and from its local situation
in the heart of a fine tobacco and wheat
country, it bids fair to be a place of importance.
Ohio. A scene has been exhibited in
thc Senate of Ohio, which reflects deep
disgrace on the parties concerned in it.
A letter from Columbus, dated on the
11th ultimo, to the editor of the Cincin
nati Advertiser, describes it as follows:
"Yesterday afternoon in the Senate,
while Mr. Duncan was speaking on tho
revaluation bill, and far in the minority,
and wraihy therefor, Mr. Ellsberry rap
ped on his seat with his knife. Mr.
Duncan concluded and the Senate ad
journed. Immediately on thc adjourn
ment, Mr. Duncan proceeded to where
Mr. Ellsberry was, in his senatorial chair,
and asked him who it was that rapped
while he was speaking. Mr. Ellsberry
replied "it was I.". On this Mr. Duncan
made a pass at him and struck him. Mr.
Elsberry immediately rose aud clenched
Duncan, and the next moment the two
Senators lay sprawling on the floor,
amidst chairs and desks, in the rough and
tumbling of fearful strife. They were
soon parted but in the press and confu
sion of the crowd they got together again
when Ellsberry struck Duncan with his
knife, and gave him a wound in he arm
some three or four inches in length and
one or two in depth. They were both
taken from the Senate Chamber, and no
thing more has occurred in ihe matter
since. Elsberry brandished his knife so
furiously that several were slightly woun
ded in attempting to part them."
CCpIt appears from a statement in tho
New York Star, that 34 Banks in tho
State of New York have in circulation
notes to the amount of 86,118,417, and
that the specie held by the same Banks,
amounts to 329,493, otdy, being an aver
age of five cents and three mils epecie4ta
a dollar in paper.
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