Developments following the Searcy petition were full of interest. it is probable that Searcy was prosecuted for libel, but there is no record of such action.² By the following May the trend of events made Jones exceedingly unpopular. This was due to the Enfield riot and its consequences. In November 1758 certain groups of people, dissatisfied with the excessive fees and the general maladministration in the land office of Earl Granville, petitioned the Assembly for redress. Although there was an investigation, which ultimately led to the dismissal of Francis Corbin, Granville's agent, the only immediate result was a publication of the fees charged by that official. Thereupon a mob was organized, which late in January 1759 rode to Edenton, seized Corbin, carried him to Enfield and there made him agree to appear at the next term of Granville court to stand trial for extortion. Thus certain people took the law into their own hands. If they should be prosecuted, the prosecutor would be Robert Jones, the Attorney General, and it is probable that at that time he was also prosecuting Searcy for libel. Consequently threats were made against him and in May he informed the Governor and Council under oath that “he had heard it was intended by a great number of rioters to petition the court at Granville to silence him, the deponent, and that if no such order was made, to pull deponent by the nose and also to abuse the court.” The Assembly recommended that the Governor take measures to suppress the unruly spirit in Granville, if necessary to use the militia. Governor Dobbs did issue a proclamation and certain persons were arrested, but the mob broke into the gaol and released them. Francis Corbin undertook to bring suit against the rioters, but desisted when he was infomred that litigation would disclose the fact that he had done things unwarranted by the law.

Such is the story of discontent in Granville before 1765. In that year the cause of the people found a new champion in the person of George Sims, who wrote An Address to the People of Granville County. Again the burden of complaint is excessive fees, the extortionate fees of the lawyers and the arbitrary fees of Samuel Benton, Clerk of the Court; and in addition to fees, the collusion of the official class with creditors in making execution against porperty for debts. The document thus calls to mind the grievances of the Regulators. However Sims expresses full confidence in the British constitution, the colonial Assembly, and even the county justices; and to the justices as well as the Governor he proposes to appeal in seeking redress. In contrast, the Regulators lost faith in the Assembly and the judiciary. It is interesting to note that the Sims address was quoted by Hermon Husband, chief agitator of the cause of the Regulators, and that the only complete copy which exists is one sent by Sims to Thomas Person, prominent Granville politician and also one of the Regulators. Husband states that Sims was indicted for libel and that the suit against him was still pending in 1771.³

Regarding the personalities associated with these documents, our information is not very extensive. Reuben Searcy was prominent in the public affairs of Granville County. In 1760 he was summoned before the Assembly and reprimanded for tampering with the county elections. In 1763 he was sheriff of Granville, and from 1771 to 1783 he was county clerk. Robert (Robin) Jones Jr., whom he severely criticised, was a resident of Northampton County. He was Attorney General of North Carolina from 1756 to 1766, and in 1761 he became agent and receiver general for Earl Granville. He was also a member of the Assembly from Northampton from 1754 to 1761, and he was again elected to that body in 1766, but died before taking his seat. He was survived by two sons, Allen and Willie, who gained distinction during the Revolution.

Very little is known of George Sims. His family was among the early settlers of Granville, having lands on the Tar River, and its name was borne by a road and a ferry. One member of the family, Joseph Sims, was militia captain in 1750 and another, Benjamin, was inspector of the government warehouse in Granville. In 1790 George Sims appears in the census records as a tax payer of Caswell County. Far more prominent was Samuel Benton, the official whom Sims denounced. He was a justice of the peace from 1752 to 1755 and in 1763 and 1764; he was clerk of the county court from 1765 to 1770; member of the Assembly for every session from May 1760 to 1768; inclusive; a commissioner to build Granville Court House; and also a member of the militia. He died in 1770. Thomas Hart Benton was his grandson.

The Petition of Reuben Search and Others was disclosed by the late Thomas M. Owens, of the Alabama Department of Archives and History, and was published by Professor Archibald Henderson in the American Historical Review.⁴ Sims's Address, although quoted by Hermon Husband, was unknown in any complete form until published by Professor Henderson from a manuscript copy in the possession of the North Carolina Historical Commission.⁵ Both documents are here reprinted with the permission of the Managing Editor of the American Historical Review; and to Professor Henderson's notes I am indebted for certain biographical data which he found in the local records of Granville county.

FOOTNOTES