believe that America could be even respectable apart from Great Britain.

In North Carolina there were many such. They were called Tories or Loyalists. Those who fought for liberty and independence were called Whigs or Patriots. These two parties grew to hate each other very bitterly, and really fought each other more cruelly and unmercifully than the Whigs fought the British soldiers. They fought in hate, and such war is most dreadful of all.

1772. The English ministry had now repealed for a time all other taxes except that on tea, and they arranged this so that the Americans should actually get their tea cheaper than ever before-cheaper even than the English people themselves could get it.

It was of no use. Americans would not take the tea at any price. The English sent a shipload of tea in December, 1773, to Boston. As soon as it arrived a party of Boston men, dressed and disguised like Indians, went on board the ship and threw all the chests of tea into the sea. Soon after another ship went to Annapolis in Maryland with a cargo of tea, and that ship was burned with all its freight to the water's edge. In Charleston and Wilmington they would not let it be offered for sale. Then the king sent his ships loaded with soldiers. Seven regiments under General Gage landed at Boston, and to punish the inhabitants for their obstinacy the harbor of Boston was shut up, or "blockaded," and no ships were allowed to come in, and the trade and business of the city were at an end.

At this all of the States rose up to declare their sympathy with Boston. They held meetings and offered help. Bells were tolled in all the cities as if for a funeral, and fast-days and general prayer-meetings were appointed all over the country.

Provisions were sent to Boston from every quarter, for her people were in danger of starving. South Carolina sent two hundred barrels of rice; Virginia sent hundreds of bags of flour; North Carolina loaded a ship at Wilmington with all kinds of stores, and the captain and crew refused to be paid for their services, "because," they said, "it was a common cause."

1774. The ladies of Wilmington were very active, and in two days they raised ten thousand dollars to send to Boston. Even the people of Canada sent provisions and offers of sympathy and further help. The Boston people, shut up with the British soldiers to threaten and insult them, stood firm and declared they would die rather than yield one inch.

In August of this year a convention, or "Provincial Congress," as it was called, of prominent citizens from every part of North Carolina met at New Bern without consulting Governor Martin or asking his permission. This was the first convention in our history that was independent of royal authority. Governor Martin was very indignant and denounced it as unlawful; but it paid him no attention. John Harvey of Perquimans, Speaker of the Assembly, was elected president of this convention, and all its acts and resolutions, while still

declaring loyalty to the king, announced that it sympathized with the people of Boston and considered the king's treatment of the colonies unjust and oppressive.

Three men-William Hooper of Orange county, Richard Caswell of Lenoir county, and Joseph Hewes of Edenton-were chosen to be our delegates to a Congress from all the States which was to meet at Phila

Sept., 1774. delphia next month. The members of the

first Committee of Safety for the State were John Harvey, Robert Howe (afterward general in our army), Cornelius Harnett, William Hooper, Richard Caswell, Edward Vail, John Ashe, Joseph Hewes, and Samuel Johnson.

RECITATION.

OUR NATIVE LAND.

BREATHES there the man with soul so dead
Who never to himself hath said,

"This is my own, my native land!"
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned
As home his footsteps he hath turned
From wandering on a foreign strand?
If such there be, go, mark him well:
For him no minstrel raptures swell;
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can frame,
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self,

Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.

WALTER SCOTT.

CHAPTER XVII.

INDEPENDENCE DECLARED IN NORTH CAROLINA.

1774. THE members of the Philadelphia, or Continental, Congress showed an excellent temper. They sent a humble address to the king, full of loyal feeling, praying him to protect his colonies and change his way of governing them. They sent an address to the people of England, explaining the trouble and declaring they only wanted their rights. They appealed to them for sympathy as brothers having the same love of liberty; and they also sent an address to the American people, telling them to stand by each other and be united.

The Congress was in session two months. The best men in America were members, and all they said and did showed great moderation, ability, force, and dignity.

Virginia was the oldest State, the wealthiest, the most important. Her great men were prominent. Among them all George Washington stood foremost.

All the little jealousies and rivalries between the States, such as we often see among men in private life, were at an end. Their delegates met in a common cause to consult for the common good, and generous feeling and generous resolves rose high.