The Massachusetts Spy

NEWBERN, July 29.

On Saturday evening it was mentioned in a company of Gentlemen, at the King's Arms tavern; that the Massachusetts weekly, political and commercial paper, called the SPY, of the 27th of June, was then just received by a person in town, containing sundry particulars relative to the measures pursued by government against that faction of people, who long before under the title of regulators, had insolently insulted the dignity of his Majesty's courts, daringly torn down justice from her tribunal, openly set at defiance the laws of their country, and with circumstances the most brutal, broke through and violated every sacred tie of human society. The paper being sent for and read, it was the unanimous opinion of every one present, that they were compelled, in point of justice to his Excellency Governor Tryon, to themselves, and to the public, to have a meeting of the inhabitants on the Monday following, to collect their sentiments respecting the contents of the said paper: A meeting was accordingly had, and the Hon. Samuel Cornell, Esq. being elected chairman, the paper called the Spy, No. 17, was again read; when the inhabitants came to the following RESOLUTIONS:

Resolved, That it is the opinion of the members of this meeting, that the character of his Excellency Governor Tryon, by the integrity and propriety of his conduct, both in public and private life, is so well established, that it can receive but little support from any resolutions entered into by us; yet we hope to be pardoned, when we say we cannot see the baneful epithets of Tyrant, Traitor, and Villain, with the complicated charges of Avarice, Ambition, Injustice, Perjury, Perfidy and Murder, applied to a Gentleman of so amiable and exalted a character, without resolving that the same is most wantonly cruel, and unjust; unless it be thought tyranny to be courteous, humane, and benevolent, on all occasions; treason, to make the law a rule of his conduct, villainy, to be generous and just in all his dealings; avarice to expend many thousand pounds of private property, with every emolument of office, in executing the trust reposed in him; ambition to be affable to the great, and condescending to the lower part of mankind; injustice, to do as we would wish to be done by; perjury, strictly to adhere to every sacred injunction; perfidy, to be faithful and scrupulously punctual in the observance of every engagement; murder, to permit the execution of the sentence of the law; which if it be, this censure is just; otherwise, Leonidas, thou art a Liar, and the basest of Calumniators.

Resolved, That we think it a duty which we owe to ourselves, and the public, to assert that we ever considered the press of North Carolina as entirely free, and as being open to all parties, but influenced by none; neither awed by menaces of the mighty, nor restrained by the murmurings of the multitude.

Resolved, That the suggestions of the contrary, contained in the said Massachusetts Spy, we consider as an high insult and indignity offered to that spirit of constitutional freedom and independence, which the inhabitants of North Carolina have ever discovered.

Resolved, That the blessings derived to the British nation from the liberty of the press, arises, as we apprehend, from the privilege of a discreet and unreserved discovery or communication of real facts and opinions, whereby the public may be benefited, or an individual made the wiser, better, or happier; and in not being the infamous vehicle of private scandal or public abuse.

Resolved, That the paragraphs in the said Massachusetts Spy, which has reference to the measures of government taken by Governor Tryon against the Regulators, are replete with the basest misrepresentations, the most palpable falsities, abusive epithets, and scandalous invectives, and that therefore it is a shameful perversion of the liberty of the press. and that the authors and publishers thereof deserve to be publicly stigmatized, and loaded with the heaviest contempt and reproach.

Resolved, That the Chairman be requested to direct the sheriff of the county to give orders that the paper called the Massachusetts Spy, No. 17, be publicly burnt under the gallows by the common hangman, on Wednesday next, as an open testimony of the utter abhorrence and detestation in which that infamous production, and its still more infamous authors, are held by the people of this