USA > Vermont > Washington County > Montpelier > Addresses delivered before the Vermont Historical Society and the Vermont Historical and Antiquarian Society > Part 4
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'That the public may be capable offorming a just idea of the reasons which so necessarily obliged the inhabitants of the district before de- scribed, to declare themselves to be separate and distinct from the State of New York, the following complaints are hereto subjoined.
COMPLAINTS.
In the year 1764, the Legislative authority of New York did oh- tain jurisdiction over the before described territory of land, by virtue of a false representation made by the late Lieut. Governor Colden, that for the convenience of trade and administration of justice the inhabitants were desirious of being annexed to that Government.
They have refused to make re-grants of the same lands to the ori- ginal proprietors and occupants, unless at the exorbitant rate of $2300 fees for each township, and did enhance the quit rent three fold, and demanded an immediate delivery of the title derived before from New Hampshire.
The Judges of their Supreme Court have made a solemn declara- tion, that the charters, conveyances, &e. of the lands included in the before described premises, were utterly mull and void, on which said title was founded.
In consequence of which declaration, writs of possession bave by them issued, and the Sheriff of the County of Albany sent at the head of six or seven hundred armed meu to enforce the execution thereof.
They have passed an act annexing a penalty thereto, of thirty pounds, five and six months imprisonment, on any person who should refuse attending the sheriff after being requested for the purpose of executing writs of possession.
The Governors, Dummore, Tryon and Colden, have made re- grants to several tracts of land included in the premises, to certain favorite land-jobbers in the Government of New York, in direct re- lation of his Britanic Majesty's special orders in the year 1767.
They have endeavored and many times threatened to excite the King's troops to destroy us.
They have issued proclamations wherein they have offered large sums of money for the purpose of appre heading these persons who have dared boldly and publicly to appear in defence of their just rights.
They did pass twelve acts of ontlawry on the 9th of March, A. D. 1774, empowering the respective Judges of their Supreme Court, to award execution of death against those inhabitants in said district. that they should judge to be offenders, without trial.
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They have and still continue an unjust claim to those lands, which greatly retards emigration into, and the setlement of this State.
They have hired foreign troops, emigrants from Scotland, at dit- ferent times, and armed them to drive us out of possession.
They have sent the savages on our frontiers to destroy us.
They have proceeded to ereet the counties of Cumberland and Gloucester, and established courts of justice there, after they were discountenanced by the authority of Great Britain.
The free Convention of the State of New York, at Harlem, in the year 1776, unanimously voted, " that all quit-rents formerly due to the King of Great Britain, are now due and owing to this Conven- tion, or such future government as shall be established in this State."
To give truth its due limits, they, the late government of New York, have spared neither cost or pains, nor been wanting in using every artful insinuation within the compass of their power; (however un- warrantable by the laws of God or man,) to defraud those inhabi- rants out of the whole of their landed property ; and nothing but consciences void of offence towards God and man, to whose impartial judgment we appeal, could have induced those inhabitants to have run the risk, and to have undergone the hardships and fatigues they have borne, for the salvation of their lives, liberties and properties.
In the several stages of the aforesaid oppression, we have petition- ed his Britannic Majesty in the most humble manner for,redress, and have at a very great expense, received several reports in our favor ; and in other instances wherein we have petitioned the late Legisla- tive authority of New York, these petitions have been treated with neglect. We shall therefore only remind the public that our local situation alone, is a sufficient reason of our declaration of an inde- pendency, and must therefore denounce a separation from the State of New York, and refer the public to our declaration of being a dis- tinct State, published in the Connecticut Courant the 15th day of January last, and sincerely wish, that in future a lasting and perma- nent peace may continue between the State of New York and this with the other United States of America.
By order of Convention,
JONAS FAY, Secretary.
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" The Song of the Vermonters," 1779.'
Ho-all to the borders ! Vermonters, come down, With your breeches of deer-skin, and jackets of brown ; With your red woolen caps, and your moccasins, come To the gathering summons of trumpet and drum.
Come down with your rifles !- let gray wolf and fox Howl on in the shade of their primitive rocks ; Let the bear feed securely from pig-pen and stall ; Here's a two-legged game for your powder and ball.
On our South come the Dutchmen, enveloped in grease ; And, arming for battle, while canting of peace ; On our East, crafty Meshecht bas gathered his band, To hang up our leaders, and eat out our land.
Ho-all to the rescue ! For Satan shall work No gain for his legions of Hampshire and York !
They claim our possessions,-the pitiful knaves- The tribute we pay, shall be prisons and graves !
Let Clinton and Ten Brock, # with bribes in their hands. Still seck ta divide us, and parcel our lands ;-
* The political history of Vermunt is full of interest. In 1762, New York, by reason of an extraordinary grant of Charles II. to the Duke of York, claimed a ju- risdiction over about sixty townships of which grants had been given by the five- ernor of New Hampshire, declaring those grants illegal. An attempt was made to dispossess the settlers, but it was promptly resisted. In 1774, New York passed a most despotie law against the resisting Vermonters, and the Governor offered a large reward for the apprehension of the celebrated Ethan Allen, and seven of his associates. The proscribed persons in turn threatened to " kill and destroy any person ar persons whomsoever that should be accessary, aiding or assisting in tak- ing any of them ." See Allen's Vindication, p. 45. Blood was shed at Westminster Court House, in 1775. Vale R. Jones' Narratore. In 1777, Vermont declared iis independence. New York still urged her claims and attempted to enforce them with: her militia. In 1779, New Hampshire also laid claim to the whole State of Ver- mont. Massachusetts speedily followed by putting in her claims to about two-thirds of it. Congress, powerless under the old Confederation, endeavored to keep on good terms with all the parties, but ardently favored New York. Vermont remonstrated warmly. Congress threatened. Vermont published "an appeal to the candid and impartial world"-denounced Congress, and asserted its own abso- Inte independence. Notwithstanding the threats offered on all sides, the contest terminated without much bloodshed, and Vermont was admitted into the Union in 1791, after existing as an independent sovereignty for nearly fifteen years .- Wil- liams' History of Vermont, S.c.
t Hon. Meshech Weare, Governor of New Hampshire.
# Gov. Clinton, of New York, and Hon. A. Ten Broek, President of the New York Convention.
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We've coats for our traitors, whoever they are : The warp is of feathers-the filling of tar ! §
Does the "old bay State" threaten ? Does Congress complain : Swarms Hampshire in arms on our borders again ? Bark the war-dogs of Britain aloud on the lake ? Let 'em come ;- what they can, they are welcome to take.
What seek they among us ? The pride of our wealth Is comfort, contentment, and labor and health,
And lands which, as Freemen, we only have trod, Independent of all, save the mercies of God.
Yet we owe no allegiance ; we bow to no throne ; Our ruler is law, and the law is our own ; .
Our leaders themselves are our own fellow-men, Who can handle the sword, or the scythe, or the pen.
Our wives are all true, and our daughters are fair, With their blue eyes ofsmiles, and their light flowing hair ; All brisk at their wheels till the dark even-fall, Then blithe at the sleigh-ride, the busking, and ball !
We've sheep on the hill sides : we've cows on the plain ; And gay-tasseled corn-fields, and rank-growing grain ; There are deer on the mountains ; and wood-pigeons fly From the crack of our muskets, like clouds on the sky.
And there 's fish in our streamlets and rivers, which take Their course from the hills to our broad-bosamed lako ; Through rock-arched Winouski the salmon leaps free, And the portly shad follows all fresh from the sea.
Like a sun-beam the pickerel glides through his pool ; And the spotted trout sleeps where the water is cool. Or darts from his shelter of rock and of root At the beaver's quick plunge, or the angler's pursuit.
And ours are the mountains, which awfully risc 'Till they rest their green heads on the blue of the skies : And ours are the forests unwasted, unsborn, Save where the wild path of the tempest is torn.
§ The New York sheriff's and those who submitted to the authority of New York were often roughly handled by the Green Mountain Boys. The following is from the journal of the proceedings of the Vermont Council of public safety : - Council of Safety, 3d Sept. 1777. " - - is permitted to return home, and remain on his father's farm (and if found off to expect thirty-nine lashes of the beach stal) until further orders from this Council." The instrument of punishment was termed the " beach seal," in allusion to the great seal of New Hampshire affixed to the granis, of which the beach rod well laid upon the naked backs of the " Yorker:" and their adherents was considered a confirmation.
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And though savage and wild be this climate of outs, And brief be our season of fruits and of flowers,
Far dearer the blast round our mountains which raves, Than the sweet so miner zephyr, which breathes over slaves
Hurra for VERMONT ! for the land which we till Must have sons to defend her from valley and hill ; Leave the harvest to rot on the field where it grows, And the reaping of wheat for the reaping of foes.
Far from Michiscoui's wild valley, to where Poosoomsuck steals down from his wood-circled lair,
From Shocticook river to Lutterlock town,-
Ho -- all to the rescue ! Vermonters, come down !
Come York or come Hampshire, -come traitors and knaves ; If'ye rule o'er our land, ye shall rule o'er our graves ; Onr vow is recorded-our banner unfurled ; In the name of Vermont we defy all the world ! ||
1| " Rather than fail, I will retire with my hardy Green Mountain Boys to the desolate caverns of the mountains, and wage war with human nature at large."- Ethan Allen's Letter to Congress, March 9, 1754.
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: . BRY
CHICAGO
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:
AN ADDRESS
BEFORE THE
VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
BY DANIEL P. THOMPSON.
0
870
UBUAMIGA KA
AN
ADDRESS
PRONOUNCED IN THE
REPRESENTATIVES' HALL, MONTPELIER,
2.1th OCTOBER, 1850,
BEFORE THIE
VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
IN THE PRESENCE OF
BOTH HOUSES OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY ; BY
DANIEL P. THOMPSON.
fullished by Ordor of the Legislature
BURLINGTON
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FREE PRESS OFFICE FRIL. 1
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1850.
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF THE SENATE, Montpelier, Vt., Oct. 29, 1850.
. Hon. DANIEL P. THOMPSON, Montpelier.
SIR: We have the pleasure to communicate to you the following resolution, adopted on the 25th inst :-
" Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives :
" That the Secretary of the Senate, and the Clerk of the House of " Representatives be instructed to solicit from the Hon. Daniel P. Thomp- " son a copy of the interesting and valuable Address pronounced by him " before the Vermont Historical Society, in presence of the two Houses, "on the evening of the 24th inst., and that the Secretary and Clerk procure "two thousand copies thereof to be printed, and distributed under the di- "rection of His Excellency, the Governor."
We take occasion to express the hope that you will comply with the unanimous desire of the two Houses, in which the entire audience, on the occasion alluded to, participated.
Very respectfully, Your ob't serv'ts,
D. W. C. CLARKE, Secretary of the Senate,
C. F. DAVEY, of the House of Representatives.
MONTPELIER, Vt., 30th October, 1850.
GENTLEMEN :
It was not my intention to publish the Address, of which the two Houses have taken such flattering notice, as I thought of embodying it, with further amplifications of the subject, in a work I have in preparation for the press. But perceiving no valid objections to its publication in this form, though it may soon substantially appear in another, and being anx- ious to make every consistent response to a demonstration, of which I fear neither myself, nor my imperfect effort, is worthy, I can do no less than comply with your request, and that which seems involved in the resolution, a copy of which you have forwarded to me. I, therefore, place the manu- script at your disposal, and, with the assurance of my personal regard, re- main
Your friend and ob't serv't, D. P. THOMPSON.
To Gen. D. W. C. CLARKE, Secretary of the Senate,
CHALON F. DAVEY, Esq., Clerk of the House of Representatives.
ADDRESS.
MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES :
VERMONT was ushered into political existence midst storm and tempest. We speak both metaphorically and literally : For it is a curious historical fact that her Constitution, the result of the first regular movement ever made by her people towards an inde- pendent civil government, was adopted during the darkest period of the Revolution-at an hour of commotion and alarm, when the tempest of war was actually bursting over her borders and threat- ening her entire subversion. And, as if to make the event the more remarkable, the adoption took place amidst one of the most memorable thunder storms ever known in Vermont, but for the providential occurrence of which, at that particular juncture, that important political measure, as we shall soon make apparent, must have been postponed to an indefinite period, and what is more, to a period when the growing dissensions, which, as soon as the common danger was over, New York and New Hampshire con- trived to scatter among her people, must have defeated it, and thus destroyed all their prospects of the blessings of an indepen- dent civil government forever.
The whole history of the settlement and organization of this State, indeed, exhibits, when compared with those of another, the most striking anomaly. She may emphatically be called the offspring of war and controversy. The long and fierce dispute for territory between the colonies just naned, had sown her soil with Dragon teeth, which at length sprang up in a crop of hardy, determined, and liberty-loving men, who instead of joining cither of the contending partie:, soon resolved to take a stand for them
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MR. THOMPSON'S ADDRESS.
selves against both. And that stand they maintained with a spirit and success, to which, considering the discouragements, difficul- ties and dangers they were constantly compelled to encounter, history scarcely furnishes a parallel. But though every step of her progress, from the felling of the first tree in her dark wilder- ness to her final reception into the sisterhood of the States, was marked by the severest trials, yet the memorable year of '77, was incomparably the most trying and gloomy as well as the most glo- rious of her history. Within a period of forty days, indeed, from the first landing of the vauntful Burgoyne on her shores at Ticon- deroga, on the 6th of July, to the 16th of August, when his Lion Flag was seen trailing in the dust at Bennington, her whole desti- nies seemed crowded ; but it was in those very days of darkness and dismay, that she settled them all, and ensured her indepen- dence forever !
Conceiving this eventful period, therefore, to be the turning point in the destinies of Vermont, as a separate State, we shall confine our remarks to this important part of her history, and endeavor to unfold the secret and hitherto little known, but, in our estimation, the main springs of action, by which such momen- tous results were accomplished.
In the beginning of this memorable year the people of Vermont by their delegates in formal Convention assembled had declared themselves Independent,
"Independent of all save the mercies of God,"
to use the significant language which the poet has put into the month of one of their numbers. And having taken measures for pub- lishing their declaration to the world, this Convention closed its proceedings by appointing a connutee to draft a Constitution to be submitted to a new Convention which the people were invited to call for the purpose. In response to that call, a new Convey- tion assembled at Windsor about the first of July following, and proceeded, with that dilligence and scrupuleus regard to the eu !- ployment of their time, for which our carlier public bodies ge.
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MR. THOMPSON'S ADDRESS.
noted, to take into consideration the important instrument now submitted to them as a proper basis, on which to creet the super- structure of a civil government suited to the genius and necessi- ties of an industrious an frugal people-a people who, though keenly jealous of their individual rights, and exceedingly restive under all foreign authority, had yet declared the wish to receive and obey a system of legal restraints, if it could be one of their own inposing-a people who had said to their leaders :
"'Tho' we owe no allegiance and bow to no throne, We will yield to the law if that law be our own."
For five days, from rising to setting sun, this Convention em- ployed the best energies of their enlightened and practical minds in discussing and amending the document before them. But their labors had well nigh been lost, for the present certainly, and, for reasons before given, probably forever. For soon after they had assembled on the 6th day of their Session, and while they were intently listening to the reading of the instrument for the last time before taking a final vote on its adoption, their procced- ings were suddenly brought to a stand by the alarming news, loud- ly proclaimed from an open despatch from the gallant Warner by a herald who appeared on his foam covered horse before their open door, that 'Ticonderoga, the supposed impregnable barrier of frontier defence, had fallen, and one scattered troops were flying in all directions before a formidable British army that was sweeping mopposed along the western border of the State, flank- ed by a horde of merciless savages, from whose fearful irruptions not a dwelling on that side the mountains would probably be spared ! This intelligence, so iexpected and so starting, too nearly concerned the members of this body as men as well as patriots, to permit their entire exemption from the general feeling of consternation and dismay which was everywhere spreading, on the wings of the wind, around them ; and many a staid heart among them secretly trembled for the fate of the near and dear ones left at home, in which the red tomahawk might, even at that
MR. THOMPSON'S ADDRESS.
moment be busy at its work of death ; while the bosoms of all were burning to seize the sword or musket and fly to their re. lief or mingle in the common defence of their endangered com- try. Any further proceedings with the subject ou hand, at such a moment was soon found to be impossible, and the greater um- ber began to clamor for an immediate adjournment. But while a few, who had shared less than others in the panic, or were more deeply impressed with the importance of accomplishing an object, at this time, now so nearly attained, were vainly attempting to resist the current, till time was gained for reflection, an ti un- wonted darkness, as if by special interposition of Providence, fell suddenly upon the earth. The lightnings began to gleam through the dark and threatening masses of clouds that had enveloped the sky, and the long, deep roll of thunder was heard in every quarter of the heavens, giving warning of the severe and protracted tem- pest, which now soon burst over them with a fury that prechided all thought of venturing abroad. The prospect of being thus confined to the place for some hours, if not for the whole day, taking from the movers all inducement for immediate adjourn- ment, they now began to take a cooler view of the subject ; and soon, by connnon consent, the business on hand was resumed. The reading of the Constitution was finished, and, while the storm was still howling around them, and the thunders breaking over their heads, that instrument was adopted and became the supreme law of the land. " One thing more, however, remained to be done ; and that was to constitute a provisional government to act till the one pointed out by the Constitution could be established. This was now effected by the appointment of that small body of men, 13 in number, it is believed, since known as The OLD . COUNCIL OF SAFETY OF VERMONT, and noted alike for the re- markable powers with which they were invested, and the remark- able manmet in which those powers were exercised . For from the
" This Constitution was never sabiaided is the people for munication, le by general coment acquainted in without that stad formand ty
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MR. THOMPSON'S ADDRESS.
nature of the case, and the emergency in which these men were called to act, they were ahnost necessarily invested with the ex- traordinary combination of legislation, Judicial and Executive power. But this power, absolute and dictatorial as it was, they ' never abused, nor exercised but for the public good, and in this they were cheerfully sustained by the people, who felt that they were thus not only sustaining the cause of Freedom, but the laws which were of their own providing, and which they were now anxious should be strictly obeyed."
To that unique assembly, whose origin we have just described, we now propose to introduce our auditors at its most interesting and important session. In obedience to the order of the Con- vention, they had promptly assembled at Manchester, and here, conscious that the eyes of all were turned anxiously upon them in expectation that they would provide for the safety of their in- fant State, whose now fearfully menaced destinies had been committed into their hands, they commenced the worse than Egyptian task devolving on them-that of making adequate pro- visions for the public defence, while the means were almost wholly wanting. For with scarcely the visible means in the whole settlement, in its then exhausted and unsettled condition, of raising and supporting a single company of soldiers, they were expected to raise an ariny ; without the shadow of a public Treasury, and without any credit as a State, and without the power of taxing the people, which, by the Constitution just adopt- ed, could only be done by a legislature not yet called, they were required to do that for which half a million was needed. Such were the difficulties by which they were met at the outset-diffi- culties, which, to men of ordinary stamina and mental resources, would have been insurmountable. But the members of the Old
*The council of safety continued to exercise all these powers till March 1778, when it was superceded by the legislature, then first convening, in all its civil functions, while those relating to war were transferred to a nea. body appointed by the legislature, called the Board of Wai
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MR. THOMPSON'S ADDRESS.
Council of Safety were not men of ordinary stania, either moral or mental, and the results of their action and all these difficulties and discouragements were soon to eshare it to the world. The partic- ular time however, we have chosen for Thing the curtain from their seeret proceedings, was at the darkest, and mest dis bearien- ing hour they were doomed to experience, and before their united mind had been brought to bear on any measure affording the least promise of auspicious results. The army of Burgoyne was then hovering on their borders in its most menacing attitude. Marauding parties were daily penetrating the interior, phider- ing and capturing the defenceless inhabitants ; while each day brought the unwelcome news of the defection of individuals who had gone off to swell the ranks of the victorious enemy, to whose alarming progress scarecly a show of resistance had yet been in- terposed. Nor was this the end of the chapter of the trials that awaited them. Another blow was to be added, more calculated than all to test their firmness and bring home to their bosoms a sense of the perils of the crisis, and the necessity of prompt ac- tion, unless they should conclude to give up and yield unresis- tingly to the curent of destiny that seemed to be setting so strongly against them. But let us now present the mortifying event to which we have just alluded in another form, together with the action that followed, and personal descriptions of the actors, gathered from the writings loft by one of their manber,* from the lips of old men now passed away, and especially of one whom this year has maabered with the dead and who, then an observant boy, ; was permitted to be an eye and car witness of all that occurred in the debate which we will try to bring up as a living and truthful picture directly to the senses :-
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