USA > Vermont > Washington County > Montpelier > Addresses delivered before the Vermont Historical Society and the Vermont Historical and Antiquarian Society > Part 6
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VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
IN THE PRESENCE OF
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF VERMONT ; BY
PLINY H. WHITE.
AND
ALBERT D. HAGER.
Published by Order of the General Assembly.
BURLINGTON : TIMES JOB OFFICE PRINT. 1858
THE LIFE & SERVICES, OF MATTHEW LYON. 1
A DRESS
PRONOUNCED OCTOBER 29, 1858,
BEFORE THE
VERMONT HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
IN THE PRESENCE OF
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF VERMONT ;
BY
PLINY H. WHITE,
THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY CHICAGO
Published by Order of the General Assembly.
BURLINGTON : TIMES JOB OFFICE PRINT, 1858.
THE LIFE & SERVICES OF MATTHEW LYON.
MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN :
It seems to me in accordance with the purposes which the Vermont Historical Society has in view, that the simple discourse. annually delivered in its presence, should be devoted to rescuing from oblivion some latent facts belonging to the history of our State, rather than to any general discussion of the value of historical studies, or to a reproduction of historical narratives with which the public is already familiar, or has easy means of becoming familiar. To exhume one fact from the grave of forgetfulness, to unclothe it from the garments of exaggeration with which tradition has invested it, or to fix with certainty a single unauthenticated date, is more serviceable to you than any amount of declamation, however eloquent, can possibly be. Nor do I conceive it an unprofitable task to record any fact, however trivial or unimportant it may appear to be. The ultimate value of events is almost never apparent, either to him who transacts them, or to him who first puts them on record. It was well said by Franklin that a new fact is like a new-born child, the future importance and destiny of which it is impossible to predict. Looking back through a series of years, the scholar can see that the whole current of history has often been turned by a single expression or incident, so trifling as hardly to attract attention at the time of its occurrence. On the other hand, many events that have engaged the regard of nations, have, in lapse of time, almost vanished from the recollection of men, and have left no abiding impression upon the History of the World. . The apparent greatness or smallness of events is no index of their real
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value. Great and small are, in history, as every where else, words of' mereo utward description, and not of adequate measurement.
Thus much by way of explana ion why I have selected as my subject, on this oceasion, the life of an individual, who, though almost forgotten by the present generation, onee occupied as conspicuous a position in the eyes of the State and of the Nation as any Vermonter, however eminent, now does ; and who, for that reason, if there were no other, deserves the attention of the Vermont Historical Society. He was not learned, he possessed no extraordinary powers of mind, and he had to struggle with unusually adverse circumstances ; yet by his strong will, his fiery energy, and his unconquerable perseveranee, he made himself felt in whatever sphere of activity he exerted himself. Sixty years ago, he might have said to any man in Vermont-" not to know me argues yourself unknown ;" and not to know him and his career would, indeed, have then implied gross ignorance of politics and politicians. But so evaneseent is politieal reputation, that when I mention his name it will be a strange one to many of you !
The early settlers of Vermont were a peculiar people ; peculiar because the condition of things was so. For many years, the whole territory was the theater of wars, conducted with all those atrocities which have made the name of Indian a synonym for everything inhuman and cruel. When it ceased to be occupied by the aborigines, it became a thoroughfare, through which they passed, on their way to assail the settlements in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. At a still later period, it was the route by which the French and Indians went to commit their depredations on the frontiers. For these reasons, a residence in Vermont was long regarded as dangerous and, indeed, impracticable ; and although beginnings were made at various points, it was not till Canada was completely wrested from the French, (A.D. 1760,) that permanent settlements became possible. Even then, the uncertain politieal condition of the territory stood in the way of its being rapidly populated. Men hesitated at living where they knew not of what State they were citizens, whether of New Hampshire or of New York. But this same uncertainty made the country more attractive to certain classes of men, the rough, the bold, the restless, the adventurous, who could find, in the excitements of border skirmishing and of political agitations, just the kind of happiness which their natures craved. Such men as these were the
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early settlers of Vermont, attracted to it by the very things which repelled less energetic men from it. Ethan Allen was the type of that class, and to it belonged Remember Baker, Azariah Wright, and hosts of others with whose names every Vermonter is familiar. To it also belonged a young, ardent, combative, rough-and-ready Irish- man-MATTHEW LYON, of whom and of whose doings it is my purpose to discourse on this occasion.
Lyon, was a native of Wicklow County, Ireland, were he was born about 1746. His parents were poor, and his father died while Matthew was a mere boy. He was, however, sent to school at Dublin, where he made good proficiency, and not only acquired the elements of an English education, but obtained a respectableknowledge of Latin. The straitened circumstances of the family forbade that he should pursue his studies further, and he was apprenticed to a printer and book-binder, in Dublin, to learn those trades. Here he remained till he was thirteen years old, when he was induced to abondon both his master and his mother, by the representations of an American Sea-captain, who assured him that his knowledge of business could be turned to great account in this country. He was delighted with the brilliant prospects presented to his imagination ; but there was a violent struggle between obligation and filial affection on the one hand, and inclination on the other; a struggle which, in after life, he was wont to describe with much feeling. Inclination at length triumphed, and stealing into his mother's chamber, in the gray of the morning, where she still slept, he took a lingering farewell look, dropped a silent tear, and, gathering hastily what little clothing he had, and with not a penny in his pocket, he hurried to the ship which was soon bearing him to a new and unknown land. During the passage, he was attacked by violent sickness, and was delirious for many days. On his recovery, he found himself destitute even of so much clothing as was needful to supply the place of that which his disease had rendered unfit for further use; and his necessities were supplied from the scanty wardrobes of some abandoned women, who were his fellow passengers, and who, true to the kindly instincts which inhere in womanly nature, even when most depraved, had tenderly ministered to him in his sickness when all others deserted him, and now, out of their own deep poverty, supplied his yet greater need.
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In the early history of emigration to America, it was quite cus. tomary, for those who had no means of defraying the expenses of their passage, to make an arrangement with the ship-owner, by virtue of which they were, on arrival, indentured to any person who would pay their passage, and were thus held to labor till they had carned the amount advanced for them. These passengers were called "redemp- tioners." Such an arrangement as this had been made between Lyon and the Captain, and he was accordingly indentured, as soon as might be after his arrival. After remaining for a while with his first master, the remainder of his apprenticeship was assigned to another person, the consideration of the transfer being a yoke of stags. This little incident, infected as it was with just the kind of ludicrousness which was most appreciable by our forefathers, was the basis of many a pleasant joke, as well as of many a bitter taunt, during his subse- quent career. He himself was never ashamed of it, rightly judging that the humbler were the circumstances of his early life, the more to his credit it was that, by force of his own ability and energy, he had risen to positions of high honor and great influence. In truth, he was rather foud of referring to this event, and, for many years, his favorite oath was : "by the bulls that redeemed me !" But there were not a few whose ignoble minds looked rather at the original abasement than at the subsequent eminence, and they made no end of scoff's and jeers at what they deemed the irreparable disgrace of being sold for a pair of stags. The political wits and withings of his time were never weary of ringing the changes upon it. He respected himself too highly to be offended at such sorry jests, but his children had many a hard bout of fisticuffs with other children, who bantered them on that subject.
Hugh Hanna, of Litchfield, Ct., and Jesse Leavenworth, afterwards one of the founders of Danville, Vt., were the holders of Lyon's indentures, but which of them was prior in possession is not known.
Neither record nor tradition bears witness to any other facts in Lyon's carly life. Ilis high expectations were certainly disappoint- el, for the next that we hear of him he was a laborer in the employ of Thomas Chittenden, of Arlington, Vt., afterwards Governor of the State In the meantime, he had married a woman by the name of Hosford, by whom he had four children, Anna, James, Pamelia and Laurin. She died, and he afterwards married his employer's daugh-
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ter, Beulah. Those who remember the shock experienced in New York, two years ago, when the daughter of a Fifth Avenue gentleman married her father's coachman, may suppose that Gov. Chittenden felt disgraced by his daughter's alliance with an Irish laborer. But the line of demarcation, between master and servant, was not at all rigidly drawn, in Chittenden's day, and he was the last man to be suspected of any other than the most democratic notions in that regard. A well authenticated anecdote illustrates the manner in which his domestic arrangements were ordered. Some high-born ladies from the city of Albany, who were visiting at the Governor's, were greatly astonished, when the hour of dinner arrived, to see Mrs. Chittenden step to the door and, with a long tin horn, wind a sonorous blast, summoning from the field a number of laborers, who, having performed all due ablutions, were seated at the same table with the Governor and his guests. When opportunity offered, some of the ladies asked Mrs. Chittenden if the servants usually sat at the table with the family. The quick-witted woman detected the insinuation that lurked in the question, and answered, "They usually do, but I have been telling the Governor we ought to set a table for them first, they have to work so much harder than we do." Lyon's marriage was approved by all the parties in interest, nor was it in reality an unequal match. The bride, governor's daughter though she was, was not more refined than the groom, perhaps not so much so. She was coarse and masculine in her manners, but intelligent, warm hearted, and noted for the prompt benevolence with which she ministered to the sick and needy. She bore him four children, Chittenden, Minerva, Matthew and Noah, lived with him nearly or quite half a century, and survived him a few years.
Lyon's first appearance in public life was not such as to secure popular approbation, or to augur favorably for his future career. In the summer of 1776, he was lieutenant of a corps of soldiers com- manded by Capt. Fassett, and belonging to the Northern Army, under the command of Gen. Gates. This corps was stationed at Jericho, far in advance of the main army, and exposed to the first attack of the British force under Sir Guy Carlton. The officers and men ulike became uneasy at occupying so dangerous a position, without support, and though the officers were unwilling to incur the disgrace of abandoning their post, some of them did not scruple to suggest to
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the soldiers, that if they should mutiny and march off, the officers would be under no obligation to remain. The soldiers were not slow to take the hint, or to leave the position, nor did the officers long delay to follow. They insisted that Lyon should convey to Gen. Gates, at Ticonderoga, the tidings of the abandonment ; which he did. The intelligence was received with great indignation by the whole army, and when Lyon was introduced into the presence of Gen. Gates, the rough old soldier damned him for a coward, and ordered him under arrest. He palliated his offence as much as possible, by casting the chief burden of blame upon the commanding officer, and he insist- ed that, so far from advising to the flight, he had opposed it to the last, and yielded only because he was overruled. But this did not avail him. IIe and his associate officers were tried by court-martial, and cashiered. This was an unfortunate affair for Lyon, and although in July of the following year, he was technically restored to his standing in the army, and received from Gen. Schuyler the appoint- ment of temporary paymaster, the stigma which attaches to a cashiered soldier followed and annoyed him for many years. It barbed the point of many a poetical squib, and added a sting to many a political leader, in those days of fierce and virulent partizanship which characterized the early history of federalism and democracy. It gave him the title of " Knight of the Wooden Sword," exposed him to frequent insults, and at length involved him in a disgraceful brawl on the floor of Congress. It is hardly to be believed that Lyon was a coward. Lack of physical courage is not a defect of Irish nature, and Lyon showed, in his subsequent career, that he did not differ from his countrymen in readiness to fight, upon reasonable provocation thereto. It is certain that his reputation in Vermont was not impaired by this misadventure. During the controversy between Vermont and New York, he joined ;the troops of his adopted State, soon received the captaincy of a company, and rose hy regular gradations to the rank of colonel.
He commenced his career as a civilian in quite subordinate positions. In 1778, he was Deputy Secretary to the Governor and Council, Thomas Chandler, Jr., being his principal in the office. At the same time he was Clerk of the Court of Confiscation, an anomalous tribu- nal, originally extemporized by the Council of Safety, but continued under the authority of the Legislature, and invested with the extra-
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ordinary power of ordering the confiscation and sale of the estates " of the enemies of this State, living within the State, who distinguished themselves by repairing to the enemy, or other treasonable conduct." He continued in the last named office till 1780, and perhaps till a later period, In 1785, the Council of Censors required that he should deliver the records of the Court to their order, which, for some reason, he declined to do. The Council thereupon passed a resolution recommending that he should be impeached before the Governor and Council, and requesting the General Assembly to appoint some one to prosecute the impeachment to immediate effect. This was accord- ingly done, and he was ordered to deliver up the record, or, in default thereof, to pay a fine of five hundred dollars. This proceeding was in Lyon's absence, but upon his appearance, a rehearing was ordered, and as no records of any further proceedings are to be found, it is probable that the prosecution was discontinued.
In 1779, Lyon made his first appearance in the General Assembly of Vermont, as a Representative from Arlington. That he was one of the two chosen to succeed Thomas Chittenden and Ethan Allen in that office, is evidence of the high regard in which he was held for ability and patriotism. The State had but just begun its existence, under the Constitution of 1777. Only one Legislature had been elected, by which the Constitution was sanctioned, and a code of laws promulgated. Those laws required to be revised, and the defects which experience had pointed out, to be remedied. The political affairs of the State were also in such a condition as to require the exercise of all possible prudence, discretion and firmness. Vermont had but just freed itself from an entangling alliance with sixteen towns East of Connecticut River; and New Hampshire, having regained what unquestionably belonged to it, was pressing its claim to jurisdiction over the whole of its original grants ; while Massa- chusetts and New York, though unable to make good their preten- sions, wero making what my lord Coke calls " continual claim," wherein he " who hath title to enter into any lands, if he dares not enter into the same lands for doubt of beating, or for doubt of death, goeth as near to the tenements as he dare for such doubt, and by word claimeth the land to be his ;" and the Congress of the United States, not siding with either one of the rival claimants, strengthened the hands of them all, by declaring its own intention
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to hear, examine, and finally determine, all the matters in contro- versy.
To be one of sixty men charged with such mighty affairs as these, was a great honor and involved a great responsibility. What part Lyon took in the debates and other proceedings of the Legislature of 1779, the meager records of those days do not allow us to know. That he was an active member is unquestionable. His restless temperament would not permit him to be otherwise, even if he had not been brought up in the school of Allen and Chittenden, and did not represent the town in which they lived. His re-election, for the three following years, is sufficient proof that his course was satisfac- tory to his constituents.
While the Legislature was in session at Westminster, early in 1780, an affray took place between Lyon and Nathaniel Chipman, afterwards Judge Chipman, which might have been a tragedy, if a fortunate thought had not turned it into a comedy. Chipman had been appointed by the Legislature to investigate certain proceedings of the Court of Confiscation, and in his report he made some state- ments at which Lyon took offence. They met at the office of Hon. Stephen R. Bradley, and, entering into conversation on the report, Lyon remarked, with some irritation, that no man having a spark of honesty in him could have made such a report. Chipman pas- sionately retorted by calling him an ignorant Irish puppy ; where_ upon Lyon rose angrily and grasped Chipman by the hair. Chip- man had a knife in his hand, with which he was mending a pen, and his first impulse was to use the knife in self defence ; but, in the meantime, Mr. Bradley had seized Lyon from behind around the arms, and was drawing him back, while he, bracing himself against Mr. Bradley, was kicking at Chipman over the table. Dropping his knife, Chipman caught Lyon by the feet, and with the aid of Mr. Bradley, carried him across the office, and deposited him flat on his back in the corner, where, with a hearty laugh by all the actors, the scene closed.
The question of receiving again, as a part of Vermont, the sixteen New Hampshire towns, whose annexation in 1778 had oc- casioned so much trouble, with nearly twenty others, which now desired to unito with them, came up before the Legislature of 1780; and thirty-five towns East of Connecticut River, having, in the
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exercise of their popular sovereignty, voted to connect themselves with Vermont, and a large majority of the Vermont towns voted to receive them, the union, was consummated at an adjourned session of the Legislature, at Windsor, on the 5th day of April, 1781. Mr. Lyon, Stephen R. Bradley, of Westminster, and Ebenezer Wal- bridge, of Bennington, were appointed a committee to wait upon the Convention of Representatives of the New Hampshire towns, then in session at Cornish, N. II., inform them that the union was agreed to, and invite them to take seats in the Assembly. This was ac- complished on the next day. The attention of the Legislature was then turned towards a similar union, proposed by ten towns or. the Western border of New York, and Mr. Lyon and Samuel Wells, of Brattleboro', were appointed a committee to join a committee from the Council in preparing a plan of union ; after which the Legisla- ture adjourned, to meet at Bennington on the 2nd Wednesday of June. It was then voted to receive the New York towns, and Mr. Lyon, with Samuel Robinson, of Bennington. and Edward Harris, of Halifax, constituted a committee to wait upon the members elect from those towns, and inform them that the Assembly was ready to receive them. How Mr. Lyon voted in regard of these filibus- tering proceedings, there is no record of yeas and nays to inform us, but his appointment on so many committees is sufficient assur- ance that he was in favor of extending the area of Vermont jurisdiction as widely as possible.
In 1781, Mr. Lyon again represented Arlington in the Legisla- ture, which held its session at Charlestown in the "East Union,', now Charlestown N. H. The government of New Hampshire did not relish this invasion of their territory, and sent a " Major Run- nals," with two hundred men, for the purpose, as was supposed - of ejecting the intruders. It was kindly suggested to him that. if he had any such design, he would need a few more men, and he deemed it prudent, on the whole, not to attempt any interruption of the proceedings. The chief object of attention with this Legis- lature, and with that of 1782, in which Mr. Lyon again, and for the last time, represented Arlington, was the negotiations with Con- gress for the admission of Vermont into the Union. What action the Legislature took, from time to time, in that regard, it would be easy here to narrate, but what share Lyon had in furtherance of that action, it is impossible now to determine.
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In 1783, Mr. Lyon removed from Arlington to Fairhaven, a town in which the population was very seanty, and no organization took plaec till August 28th, 1783. Ilere, he at once took the foremost position, in business and in politics. He was, in fact, the father of the town. He built a saw mill, grist mill, paper mill and forge, and engaged largely in the manufacture of lumber, paper and iron. Much of his machinery was brought, with great labor and expense, from Lenox, Mass. All the branches of business that he established at Fairhaven, have been continued till the present time, upon the identi- cal sites selected by him, though the lapse of years has rendered neces- sary several renovations of the buildings. To complete, in this connection what is to be said of his business career in Fairhaven,-in 1793, he established a printing office in the same building with his paper mill, and commeneed the publication of a small-sized newspaper, called " The Farmer's Library." It was edited partly by himself and his son James, and partly by the printer, one Spooner. This was the most hazardous of his enterprises, for in a country so new and so scantily populated, there could be but small demand for newspapers. There were then only three other papers in the State : the Gazette, at Bennington, the Herald, at Rutland, and the Journal, at Windsor. The Library was published three or four years, during a part of which time it bore the name of the " Fairhaven Gazette." Several books were issued from Lyon's press, among which were a Life of Franklin, and a novel, entitled : " Alphonso and Dalinda." In 1798, when he was running as candidate for Congress, and the Rutland Herald, then edited by Dr. Samuel Williams, refused to publish communications in his favor, he established a semi-monthly Magazine, with the sonorous title of "The Scourge of Aristocracy and Repository of Important Political Truths." It was a duodecimo of thirty-six pages, nominally edited and published by James Lyon, but containing much from the pen of the Colonel himself. The first number bore date October 1st, 1798, and the publication was continued for only a single year, which, considering that the price was $3, per annum, was quite as long as it could reasonably be expected to survive.
Lyon was the first representative from Fairhaven, in 1783, and held the same office for ten of the succeeding fourteen years. Ilis whole term of service in the Legislature of Vermont, was fifteen years. In 1786, he was one of the Assistant Judges of Rutland County Court.
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Vermont was admitted into the Union, March 4th, 1791, and in the summer of the same year, Lyon became a candidate for Congres s as " the representative of the commercial, agricultural, and manufac- turing interests, in preference to any of their law characters." ITis rivals were Israel Smith and Isaac Tichenor. At the election, in August, Lyon had a fair plurality, but not a majority, (Lyon, 597; Smith, 513; Tichenor, 473.) Tichenor having withdrawn from the canvass before the second election, in September, Smith was then elected, by a majority of 391 over Lyon. In January, 1793, Lyon was again a candidate for Congress, Tichenor, Smith, and Samuel Hitchcock being his competitors. No choice was effected at the first trial, (Smith, 834; Lyon, 638 ; Tichenor, 336; Hitchcock, 79.) It is evidence that Lyon was most popular where he was best known, that in Fairhaven and four adjoining towns, he had 355 of the 376 votes cast. At the second balloting, March 4th, Mr. Smith was re- elected. Lyon continued to be a candidate at cach succeeding election and polled a constantly increasing vote. In December, 1794, the , first attempt at election failed, as on previous occasions ; and at the second trial, on the second Thursday of February, 1795, Lyon and Smith being the only candidates, Smith received the meagre majority of 21, in an aggregate of nearly 3,600 votes, (Smith, 1,804; Lyon, 1,783.) Defective proceedings, in the towns of Hancock and King- ston, encouraged Lyon to contest the election, but without success. In 1796, he was again, and for the fourth time, a candidate, and at last a successful one.
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