Husband waited a few seconds and then continued, “Second, I want to make it clear that our worst problems are not in New Bern, but right here in all three of our county seats. We want to have a hand in choosing the local officials who take care of things around the courthouses, and in monitoring and correcting how they perform their duties. We’re tired of being cheated and overcharged by sheriffs, justices of the peace, tax collectors, recording officers, and judges. Their highest calling is to enrich themselves. We insist that, through public meetings, we citizens can help set the policies that affect our lives.”

Henry whispered to Ethan, “Those were the main points we made in the Sandy Creek Association more than a year ago.”

Husband’s voice was becoming stronger as he went on with his discourse, and now there was no difficulty in hearing what he said. The crowd, in any case, remained deathly still as he paused and took a sip, perhaps of water, from a small flask carried in his hip pocket. Now he spoke very deliberately, with a slight pause after each phrase.

“Even worse in many cases are the dishonest lawyers who now stand between us and getting licenses, buying property, recording deeds, having our day in court, and even paying the taxes we are charged. When they can’t find an honest case they encourage court suits to be brought against us, and then everyone in the courthouse eats up our fees and fines like hogs in a trough of slop!”

As he emphasized the final words, for the first time in the language of the assembled farmers, the men broke into cheers. There was a hubbub in the mill, as people turned to one another to recount their own grievances at the hands of the attorneys who, with licenses often obtained by bribery, had flooded into the county seat. There were now more than a dozen lawyers in the small town. The speaker waited a full minute before he raised his hand to obtain enough silence to continue. With the tension broken, there were loud expressions of approval and support after each of his statements.

“Now let me speak a word about taxes. We don’t mind paying our share, but the laws are being changed every year to shift the burden from the ruling elite to the shoulders of peasants, small farmers, and honest workers. Many of them cost the poorest citizens the same amount as the richest ones, like the poll tax, work levies, and duties and fees on the necessities of life. I have to admit, as most of you know, that I have a good-sized farm and make a fair living—maybe much more than many of you. But I don’t want to enrich myself or avoid my duties as a citizen at the expense of my less fortunate neighbors. The tax laws are a crime, and an embarrassment to every right-thinking citizen!”