Soon afterward a number of Sevier's devoted friends, indignant over his arrest, rode across the mountains to Morganton and silently bore him away, never to be arrested again.

In November an act of pardon and oblivion with respect to Franklin was passed by the North Carolina Assembly.

Although Sevier was forbidden to hold office under the state, the passage of this act automatically operated to clear him of the alleged offense of high treason.

With affairs in Franklin taking this turn, it is little wonder that Gardoqui and Miro paid no further heed to Sevier's proposal to accept the protection of Spain.

Sevier's continued agitation in behalf of the independence of Franklin inspired Governor Johnston with the fear that he would have to be "proceeded against to the last extremity." But Sevier's opposition finally subsiding, he was pardoned, given a seat in the North Carolina assembly, and with extraordinary consideration honored with his former rank of brigadier-general.
When Dr.White reported to Miro that the leaders of "Frankland" had eagerly accepted Gardoqui's conditions for an alliance with Spain, he categorically added: "With regard to Cumberland district, what I have said of Frankland applies to it with equal force and truth." James Robertson and Anthony Bledsoe had but recently availed themselves of the good offices of Governor Johnston of North Carolina in the effort to influence Gardoqui to quiet the Creek Indians.