USA > New Hampshire > History of New Hampshire, Volume II > Part 15
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When the new legislature met December 18, Grafton county, except the towns in the Lancaster and Rumney classes, was entirely without representation. Col. Hurd's term as Councilor had expired, and the county was without representa-
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tion in that body. The House appointed a committee of twelve on the third day of the session to consider the situation which made a report January 3, intended to be conciliatory, which was adopted, and it was voted that President Meshech Weare, Ben- jamin Giles, John Wentworth, Jr. and Josiah Bartlett be a committee to visit Grafton county and attempt to allay the existing disaffection. They were instructed "to inform the people of the true nature and form of the present government and method of representation, and in particular that it was and is only designed for the present contingencies, or until the war with Britain be ended, and the people at leisure could come with that attention absolutely necessary on such occasions to form and settle a lasting and permanent plan of government; and in the most earnest manner entreat the people to consider the consequences of such discords and divisions among ourselves; that they would not weaken the hands of their brethren in the common cause and thereby be the means of bringing the greatest calamity and distress on themselves and us, but coolly, calmly and considerately enquire for themselves, and engage with heart and hand consulting the best interest of the whole."
The temper of the people in the Grafton county towns was such, however, that something besides fine words and high sounding promises was necessary for their conciliation. As to being informed concerning the nature and form of the govern- ment set up at Exeter, and the "method of representation," they deemed themselves to have already all the information neces- sary. They were not asking for useless conferences, and could see no profit in indulging in conversation. The committee pre- pared for its visit and President Weare sent out in its behalf a printed circular announcing that they would be in Hanover February 10, 1777, to converse with any persons the people should appoint "in order to give them all the satisfaction they can with regard to the proceedings of the Assembly, for the promotion of peace and harmony."
This circular was followed by one issued by the Hanover or College party, signed "Republican," in which four questions vital to the contest were raised: "Ist. Has each incorporated town any distinct powers? 2d. Is each incorporated town vested
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with any legislative privileges? If so, then let it have indepen- dent weight in the legislature of the State, as far as the said distinct privileges may entitle. 3d. Has one incorporated town as much power in itself as another? Then it may claim the same weight in government. 4th. Does every State, small as well as large, have equal weight in the American Congress? If so, then every town incorporate 'has the right in the assem- blies of each state. In short, a political body that superintends a number of smaller political bodies ought necessarily to be composed by them without any regard to individuals. We pro- ceed to observe that the declaration of independency made the antecedent form of government to be of necessity null and void ; and by that act the people of the different colonies slid back into a state of nature, and in that condition they were to begin anew."
In view of the forthcoming visit of the committee from the Assembly for the purpose of compromising matters with the people of the protesting towns, Republican urges a strenuous adherence to two important articles: "(1) That you give not up an ace of the rights that the smallest town has to a distinct representation if incorporated, the bare number of individuals being, in this case, out of the question. 2d. That as the present assembly is unconstitutional, being the same, virtually, as be- fore the declaration of independency, they do dissolve them- selves, after having notified each corporate town to form a new body that may fix upon a plan of government, which can be the only proper seal of your concurrence in independency. Thus you will act a consistent part, and secure your palace from being pilfered within while you are filling up the breaches that are made without."
Delegates, or committees to the number of twenty-eight from the towns of Morristown (Lisbon), Bath, Landaff, Haver- hill, Piermont, Lyme, Hanover, Lebanon, Plainfield, Relhan (Enfield), Cardigan (Orange), and Canaan met with President Weare and his associates from the New Hampshire Assembly, in Lebanon, February 13, 1777. The delegates were: Jacob Sheafe, of Morristown; Nathl. Harvey, of Landaff; Timothy Bedel, Elisha Cleveland, Bath; James Bayley, Ephraim Wes- son, James Abbott, Haverhill; John Patterson, Jona. Chand-
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ler, Piermont; Thomas Gilbert, Joseph Skinner, John Sloan, Walter Fairfield, Lyme; David Woodward, Aaron Storrs, Jona. Freeman, Bezaleel Woodward, Hanover; Nehemiah Estabrook, John Wheatley, John Griswold, Lebanon; Francis Smith, Amos Stafford, Thos. Gallop, Plainfield; John Lassell, Relhan; Sam- uel Jones, Thomas Baldwin, Canaan ; Elisha Payne, Bela Turner, Cardigan.
After a full and free conference they met by themselves, chose Col. Timothy Bedel, chairman, Bezaleel Woodward, sec- retary, and voted to report to a meeting of the United Com- mittees to be held in Lebanon the next day, February 14, as follows: "That we have held a free conference with said Assem- bly's Committee, particularly respecting the place of represen- tation which has been pursued in this state; and that no one of us is as yet in any degree convinced of the justice or equity of said plan, but that our apprehensions of there being just ground for our uneasiness in that respect are still as great as they have heretofore been." It was also voted to send a copy of this report to the Assembly's Committee.
It should be said that the College Hall meeting of the previous July had never dissolved but had adjourned from time to time and had taken to itself the name of United Committees of the New Hampshire Grants. Indeed this body, frequently changing in numbers and in towns represented, continued to meet and act during the entire controversy and never seems to have been finally dissolved. This body circulated pamphlets in support of its views of government and representation and at times assumed functions semi-legislative in character. Its relations with the State of New Hampshire were at all times strained. Its members were thoroughly devoted to the cause of the colonies, and only refrained from open rebellion against the authority of the Exeter government because of their devo- tion to the Common Cause. It recommended to the Committees of Safety of the various towns represented, to take cognizance of breaches of the peace and crime so far as was necessary to prevent the outbreaking of disorder, that they be empowered with the selectmen to license public houses, receive reports of tything men and constables and act on them, and to join with other Committees in procuring standards of weights and meas-
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ures. At one meeting January 28, 1778, it went so far as to recommend to the disaffected towns to show their devotion to the cause of the colonies by raising their respective portions of the taxes called for by the Exeter government and the Conti- nental Congress ; but to leave the same in their respective treas- uries to be applied to measures for the common defense, free from the control of any external power whatever. This recommendation was adopted by many of the Grafton County towns.
Meetings of the United Committees were held February 14, again by adjournment April 2, in Lyme, and again by adjourn- ment in Hanover, June 11, 1777. At this latter meeting an ad- dress to the New Hampshire Council and Assembly was adopted. It recited the events of the previous two years. Their partici- pation in the Provincial Congress which set up the government at Exeter was explained by the statement that the said Congress was to be continued for the space of six months only, but that near the close of its sessions, without any authority whatever vested in them by their constituents, a majority of its mem- bers assumed to adopt a plan of representation and government wholly subversive of the rights of a considerable number of towns. It reaffirmed with emphasis the position previously taken that the only legal bond whereby the towns known as the Grants were ever connected with the former government of New Hamp- shire was by the Commission granted to the late Governor Wentworth, which was held at the pleasure of the Crown, to enlarge or diminish as the King should determine, and which had become extinct, so "that the people living on said Grants are become unconnected with the former Government of New Hampshire, or any other incorporated state as to any compact of theirs, or any Grant or charter whatever, and are so far reverted to a state of nature." The address however stated that the United Committees were authorized by their constituents to say that they were not only willing but desirous to be united again with New Hampshire in one incorporated body or state, if it could be mutually agreed upon consistent with their just rights and privileges. Three essential preliminaries to such union were laid down:
I. That the inhabitants of every town within the State, including the
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Grants, have liberty, if they see cause, to elect at least one person to repre- sent them in the General Assembly of said state, But that every town, where there are less than one hundred families, have liberty of coupling themselves with so many adjoining towns as shall agree thereto for the purpose of sending one representative only.
2. That the seat of Government be fixed as near the centre of the state as may conveniently be.
3. That the further establishing a permanent plan of Government in the State be submitted to an Assembly that shall be convened for that purpose only. And as we look upon ourselves free from connection with any incor- porated state or particular body, if we cannot agree to unite together on the principles above described, or those which are equivalent thereto, we must seek after connection with some other state, or endeavor to obtain relief in some other way.
A committee was appointed to present this address, which must be considered no other than an ultimatum, to the Assem- bly. Owing to the excited state of affairs growing out of Burgoyne's campaign-Ticonderoga, Bennington, Saratoga,- the address did not reach the Assembly until November, when it was presented by Col. Elisha Payne and Bezaleel Woodward. The Assembly and Council in joint convention November 8, appointed a committee of five for conference with those gentle- men. The committee was an able one, consisting of John Lang- don, Speaker of the Assembly, Josiah Bartlett, Benjamin Giles, Ebenezer Thompson and George King. This committee re- ported the next day, the 19th, as follows:
That they have met said gentlemen, viz., Col. Paine and Mr. Woodward, and freely conversed with them concerning the several matters set forth in said address, and are of opinion that although they esteem the present form of Government and representation of the people as being far from perfect, yet as the same was only proposed as temporary, and the exigencies of the war having been, and still continuing to be such as to leave no op- portunity for the people to enter upon forming a plan of government and representation with that attention and deliberation that matters of so great consequence deserve, the present model will answer for the purposes of our grand concern,-viz., carrying on the war,-and in the mean time for the regulation of the most essential concern of our internal police, without any great injury to any part of the State, But are in full sentiment that as soon as the circumstances of the war will permit, a full, free and equal represen- tation of the people should convene and form a permanent system of gov- ernment and settle the mode of representation.
This report was adopted by both houses' action which only
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served to increase the disaffection of the complaining towns. The report admitted the justice of the complaints and met them only with vague promises of satisfaction at some time in the indefinite future. The Exeter government somehow failed to realize how thoroughly in earnest the people of the towns had become. Meetings of the United Committees followed, and sev- eral of the towns held meetings called for the purpose of receiving information as to the action of the Assembly relative to the address which had been presented to it by Col. Payne and Mr. Woodward, and, "to give advice to the committee what further steps to take for redress of the difficulties we labor under." The records of these meetings are scanty, but that a determined spirit was manifested which the Exeter gov- ernment recognized should be met with something more con- ciliatory in tone and definite in character than was embodied in its action of November 19, 1777, and finding that none of the disaffected towns were represented in the new legislature which met for its first session on December 17, the Assembly on the 27th passed the following :
That it be recommended to towns, parishes and places in the State, if they see fit to instruct their representatives at the next session, to appoint and call a full and free representation of all the people of this State to meet in con- vention at such time and place as shall be appointed by the General Assem- bly, for the sole purpose of framing and laying a permanent plan or system for the future government of this State.
The effect of this vote was such that leaders of the United Committees, early in January, 1778, resorted again to the print- ing press, and issued another pamphlet signed "Republican," evidently from its general style from the same pen as the Col- lege Hall address, that of Col. Payne, or Bezaleel Woodward, perhaps the joint production of both. It was a masterly pro- duction, a defence of the independence of the Grants of con- nection with either New York or New Hampshire, and of their inherent right as independent political units to unite in such form of government as they might choose. It was set forth with marked plausibility that the jurisdiction of New York extended originally on the east no more than twenty miles beyond the Hudson river, and the admitted distinction between the original province of New Hampshire, as circumscribed within the Mason
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line, and the Wentworth town grants was made the basis of the claim that the Grants were wholly without the jurisdiction of the Exeter government. Governor Wentworth's Commis- sion of 174I and the royal decree of 1764, under which New Hampshire and New York respectively claimed jurisdiction were characterized as purely arbitrary acts, which became void when the power behind them became inoperative. These respective jurisdictions ceased with the Declaration of Independence, leav- ing the people from the Mason line to Lake Champlain in a state of nature as to government, except that they were by their town charters united into little republics, which from the perpetuity of these charters, had survived the separation from Great Britain. These towns were now, it was cleverly main- tained, entirely independent of each other, independent of the Exeter government, of New York, of the Continental Congress indeed, and of Great Britain. They were perfectly free to remain thus independent, to form a confederation or govern- ment by themselves, or to ally themselves with other political bodies as they might choose.
If you have already pursued all reasonable measures for a Union with some other state to no effect, or your local or other circumstances are such as to render it extremely difficult or impracticable to be united with any state already formed, your indispensable duty is to form yourselves into a dis- tinct State, and that without delay. The common cause in which we are all embarked, your interest, and especially that of the orphan and widow, and your morals suffer by the delay.
To the objection that the Grants were not of sufficient ability to support and maintain a government, it was replied that they were much more able than were any of the United States when they first began their respective governments, and to another objection, that the establishment of Independence should be completed before attempting to erect a new state, it was answered :
The only way to vanquish our inveterate enemy and support our Inde- pendence, is first to regulate and settle matters at home; for while things remain in confusion among ourselves one may expect they will be so through- out: Hence arise the difficulty of raising our army, equipping, clothing them, &c .- And further as the United States are all settled and settling their plans of government, for you to be still, or in part to act with them until all things are settled, and then break off and set up a new state would
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be imposing upon and dealing deceitfully with them: Besides you will thereby give up your natural right of forming into a state of government and lie at the will of those with whom you have acted whether you shall have the liberty or not. Therefore now is the time either to go forward and act on the affair, or give up all pretensions of ever doing anything about it hereafter.
As to the objection which had been raised that there was no supreme power yet erected by the United States to make and grant jurisdiction to any new state, the non-existence of such supreme power was admitted. The states then in exist- ence had obtained jurisdiction from the Crown, as colonies or provinces, and the Grants came into existence in the same manner by special charter from the Crown, through its repre- sentative, the governor, so that each was a separate and dis- tinct colony by itself. The question of what steps should be taken by the Grants east of Connecticut river, it was argued, was simply one of expediency, and the more so in view of the fact that the New Hampshire Assembly had directed the sev- eral towns and districts, should they see fit, to instruct their representatives at their next sessions to call a convention for the sole purpose of establishing a permanent plan of govern- ment for the State.
It was being urged that it was the indispensable duty of the Grants on the east side of the river to assist in forming this plan in order to have it to their satisfaction, but if unsatis- factory they might seek after other connections. "But," says Republican in closing his appeal, "let me tell you, that what- ever town or district undertakes to act in forming a plan of government for the State, when once the plan is formed and settled be it what it will, like it or not like it, they are as effectually bound by it as if they had made it altogether by themselves ; for you cannot act in the least without first uniting, and when once united, whatever that body does will be con- sidered your act as much as theirs. Therefore, if you consider yourselves now unconnected, and that it is your duty and interest to seek after connection with them, and still retain liberty in your own hands until such time as you can agree to unite, the only proper way is, to propose such terms as you are willing to unite upon, and, if agreed to, then a union may properly take place ; but if not agreed to, then you are at liberty
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to act otherwise as you think proper. Therefore every one may know for certain if he once begins to act in this affair, he must abide the consequences, for having put his hand to the plough he can't look back. I urge this the more not to dissuade those who think it their duty and interest to seek after connection, but that they may act with their eyes open, and not dabble in those matters, and afterwards complain that they are un- justly dealt with: therefore all such as are willing to join with said State in forming a plan of government, and run the venture of obtaining such an one as may be agreeable, let them join; they have a right to do so. But those that are not, if they intend to keep their hands at liberty, by no means ought to meddle in the least. And as things seem to be ripening fast to a settlement relative to government affairs, whatever ought to be done ought not to be delayed."
This pamphlet, which was widely circulated, led to imme- diate practical results. A meeting of the United Committees was held at Orford, at the house of Israel Morey, January 28th and 29th. Only the most fragmentary records of this meeting have been preserved, but that it was an important one appears from subsequent events. It is probable from such records as have been preserved that no union with the newly formed State of Vermont was then contemplated by the leaders of the United Committees. Their plan was the formation of a new state of the Grant towns on both sides of the Connecticut, with the capital at Hanover. This is evident from the tone of the pamphlet, signed Republican, issued January 6, though the plan is not explicitly stated. There is evidence also that these lead- ers were in consultation with the leading spirits in the towns west of the river, especially with those in Gloucester County. When the Orford Convention adjourned, it was to no fixed date, but two days after adjournment, a circular letter was sent out by Bezaleel Woodward, clerk of the Convention, requesting another meeting at Cornish, February 12. In this letter Prof. Woodward stated that overtures had been made relative to a union with the Grants west of the river, and that a considera- tion of such union was a matter of the utmost importance. The letter was addressed "To the Inhabitants of the New Hamp- shire Grants East of the Connecticut River," and at the Cornish
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meeting no less than twenty towns were represented. There were for prudential reason no representatives in person from towns west of the river, but there is every reason to believe that the plans adopted were in full accord with the prevailing sentiment in, at least, most of the Gloucester County towns. The records of this February meeting have not been preserved, but when the adjournment was taken to meet again at Cornish March II, there is little doubt that a detailed scheme for unit- ing the New Hampshire towns outside the Mason Grant with the new State of Vermont had been arranged.
It certainly was no accident that March II was designated for the date, and Cornish the place for this adjourned meeting. The first legislature of Vermont was to meet at Windsor just across the river from Cornish March 12, for the formal organi- zation of the new State government. On that day a delegation from the Cornish Convention appeared at Windsor with a proposition that Vermont take into union with her the twenty towns then represented in the United Committees, and such others of the Grants east of the river as might wish to join. This proposition came as a surprise to the Bennington party headed by Ira Allen, Ethan Allen and Governor Chittenden, who were in the ascendancy in the Vermont Assembly, and the proposition was at first negatived. Ira Allen in a letter to the General Assembly of New Hampshire dated November 4, 1778, gives the following account of the proceedings :
Last March after the Governor and Council was declared chosen, and the Assembly formed agreeable to the Constitution of the Sate, there came in a Committee from the East side of the river, said to be chosen by a Con- vention of Committees whereof Mr. Estabrooks was chairman, and moved in behalf of the New Hampshire Grants East of the river, for a union with the State of Vermont :- in consequence of which a Committee was chosen from both houses to confer with said Committee and make report of their opinion thereon to the House: the Committee after all the debate thereon reported to the House as their opinion not to connect with said Committee in no way or manner whatsoever. The House after mature deliberation voted to accept said report ; which gave such dissatisfaction to several members of the Assembly that lived near the Connecticut river, that they declared if them people (meaning those on the East side of the river) were to be en- tirely excluded from connecting with said state, they would withdraw from the state of Vermont and connect with them people and form a new State. Then after long and tedious debates, the whole was referred to the people
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at large and to be brought before the Assembly again at their next session in June. Col. Payne and others of that Committee then publicly declared that they had conversed with a number of the leading members of the As- sembly of New Hampshire from the eastern part of the state, who had no objection to their joining with the state of Vermont; but some members in the western part of the state were opposed to it but gave it as their opinions that New Hampshire as a State would make no difficulty about it; this last idea was carried to the people, and under this mistake a majority of the towns in the state voted for the Union, which the Assembly could do no otherwise than confirm, they being previously instructed so by their constituents.
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