USA > Vermont > Early history of Vermont, Vol. III > Part 6
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Caldwell said it was in vain for him to contend with Allen in the courts of law in Vermont, for, he said, land granted by her Legislature, in fact is, and must be considered by the Courts of Vermont a legal title which nothing but an act of the Legis- lature could annul. Caldwell in his letter re- quested the Governor to lay his letter with an at- tested copy of the original grant before the Legis- lature in June 1785, and insisted that the grant was older than the State, and older than the mem- bers who composed its Legislature, and that it. was confirmed by the capitulation in the British Conquest of Canada and by the treaty of peace be- tween France and England in 1763. He stated that his situation was like that of Vermont in re- spect to New York, even if the French government had no right to grant lands southward of the line of 45°; and claimed he had paid dear for his land southward of that line and been at considerable expense in settling them, and desired the Legisla- ture should bring the matter home to themselves that they might feel the injustice they were about to do; that they might conceive what his feelings would be if they should deprive him of so consid- erable part of his property.
The fifth article of the treaty of 1783, stipu- lated, "That the Congress shall earnestly recom- mend to the Legislatures of the several States, to provide for the restitution of all estates, rights and properties which have been confiscated belong- ing to real British subjects, and also of the es- tates, rights and properties of persons resident in districts in the possession of His Majesty's arms,
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and who have not borne arms against the United States." Great Britain insisted that this article had been violated by the United States, and John Jay, Secretary of foreign affairs, took the same view in a letter to Congress, but all British sub- jects did not take that view. When Governor Chittenden had Alburgh organized as a Vermont town in 1792, Henry Caldwell regarded it as fatal to his title; Lord Dorchester and the British min- ister who took part in the correspondence on this disputed matter, regarded the action of Vermont as dangerous to the Caldwell title. Governor Chittenden thought he had strong reasons for as- serting the jurisdiction of Vermont over that town. By an act to which Lord Dorchester him-' self was a party in 1766, the town was severed from Canada and became and remained a part of New York in law, until the controversy, between Vermont and New York had been settled, and it was assigned to Vermont by the resolution of the Continental Congress of August 20, 1781, to which New York consented in 1790, and Great Britain confirmed it to Vermont by the treaty of 1783, and Congress confirmed it by the act of 1791, which admitted the State into the Union. By the agreement entered into between the Ver- mont and New York Commissioners in settleing the controversy between the two States the bound- ary line between them extended to the 45° degree of north latitude. Therefore, Governor Chittenden in 1792, had a perfect right to maintain the juris- diction of Vermont and to assert that the estab- lishment of civil government there had no bearing
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upon the legal rights of the citizens of the town or British subjects claiming or possessing land there, as the former had ample remedy in the State Courts, and the latter under the treaty of 1783, and the federal constitution, in the Courts of the United States. These remedies were afterwards resorted to by Caldwell and Herman Allen who purchased and become successor to Caldwell's rights, in a part of the lands of the former. They failed in their litigation as the land holders won in the Courts of Vermont, on the ground they had gained a good title to their lands by long possession. This ques- tion arose and was decided in the case of the Uni- versity of Vermont against Reynolds reported in the third Vermont Reports on page 542. Thus Gov- ernor Chittenden was clearly justified in spiritedly resenting the intrusion of British troops. Strong as was the appeal of the Caldwells to the sympa- thy and generosity of the State, the relief asked could not be granted.
In view of what has been said the reader will be better able to judge as to whether the civil officers of Vermont or the British troops and British au- thority were in the wrong in the disturbances which followed, that we will now proceed to relate and that came near to actual war.
In 1792, a writ had been issued in favor of a Mrs. Grant against Patrick Conroy of Alburgh in the County of Chittenden, that was delivered to Enos Wood, Deputy Sheriff, to serve; that on the Sth day of June 1792, the Deputy went to the house of Conroy in Alburgh and made an attach-
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ment of his cattle. One Michael Youmands who appeard to be there in the interest of Conroy, call- ed for the people in the house to get his pistol, and declared that the Deputy should not take Conroy's cattle; that Enos Wood, the deputy, ordered Ben- jamin Butler and Captain Hutchins of North Hero and Nathaniel Wood of Georgia, who were pres- ent, to take charge of said Youmands and assist in driving the cattle to the Tongue or Alburgh. They took charge of Youmands as directed, but released him on his promising good behavior and to be humble and not hinder the Deputy, and engage some one to receipt the cattle attached. When Enos Wood and his assistants arrived at the Ton- gue with the cattle, they were overtaken by You- mands, and a party of armed British officers and soldiers under the command of Captain DeCham- beault of Point au Fair, who threatened violence to Butler and commanded the Deputy and his assist- ants to desist from driving away the cattle, and would fire Butler through if he moved one step; that the Deputy Sheriff, Butler, and Nathaniel Wood were taken to Point au Fair and from there to St. Johns by a British escort and there impris- oned in the guard-house for two days; the Deputy in order to obtain his liberty was obliged to pro- cure one John Furgerson to pay in his behalf three pounds Halifax currency to pay for two calves taken by virtue of the attachment; that when the Deputy was at Alburgh his writ of attachment was taken and detained from him. The above re- lated facts were substantiated by the affidavits of Enos Wood, Nathan Hutchins and Benjamin But-
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ler, taken before Justices of the Peace in June 14, 15 and 16, 1792.
On June 12, 1792, Benjamin Marvin of Alburgh, while employed in his own private business, was be- set by an armed British force from Point au Fair, conducted to said Patrick Conroy's of Alburgh, and was questioned as to whether he was acting as a Civil Magistrate, and on his stating he was act- ing as Magistrate and under Governor Chittenden's instructions, and that he considered himself as an inhabitant of the State of Vermont, and in duty bound to follow the duties of his office, was order- ed into custody of the British force and conducted to the house of Samuel Mott, Esq. of Alburgh, before the British commanding officer of Point au Fair, who informed him he would send him to Quebec. He was immediately taken to the said house of Patrick Conroy, and on their way there took two horses belonging to the Constable Joseph Mott and took them to Point au Fair. The pro- ceedings, after Marvin was taken to Conroy's were stated by Marvin in his affidavit to be as follows :
"Soon after we arrived at Conroy's where I was detained some hours in the course of which time we conversed much on my official conduct which I informed him of very particularly and likewise my instructions from his Excellency Governor Chitten- den; he then requested that I would show him those instructions which I accordingly did; he took and examined them, and then replied that he must for- ward them to his Excellency Governor Clark at Quebec. I desired him to return them to me as I considered them my right, but he positively refused
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and offered me a copy which was taken and attest- ed as a true one by the commanding officer and de. livered it to me. The officer then informed me that instead of taking me to the Point as before ob- served, he was willing to take my parole for the term of twelve days with directions not to offici- ate till then in my office, which was accordingly done, and I was permitted to return to my own house; he then told me he had positive orders to warn me and Samuel Mott, Esq., to leave that . place in the course of two months. The day fol- lowing, having occasion to go up the Lake, I called on the commanding officer at Point au Fair (which I considered myself under obligation to do in conse- quence of my parole) notified him of my wish which he consented to, and then showed me his orders directing him to oppose and take into custody any officer acting under any other power than that of Great Britain within those limits which are now known and distinguished by the name of Alburgh."
Captain Timothy of South Hero, then a town in the County of Chittenden, on the 12th day of June, 1792, while on his way down the Lake in a boat in company with several others, was hailed by the Maria, a British armed vessel, and was taken, examined and permitted to pass on.
The British authorities were conscious that they were infringing upon the jurisdiction of Vermont, for, when the Canadian authorities issued their writs for the election of a member to their Legisla- ture in the County of Bedford, they did not sum. mons any person south of the Province line of 15 ; and they knew the laws of Vermont were then
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being enforced in Alburgh to said line. The affi- davit of Benjamin Marvin taken before Ebenezer Marvin, Councillor at Rutland on the 18th day of October, 1792, puts the matter in a clear light. It is as follows :-
'In the month of June, 1787, I went to live at Alburgh otherwise then called Caldwell's Manor, about five miles from the garrison at Point au Fair and south of the line commonly called the Prov- ince line or latitude 45° about three miles ; at which place I have ever since lived, and at which time there was no kind of civil or military government exercised among the people of the place, except what was derived from ourselves by rules adopted by us in meetings of our own vicinity by which we banished thieves and other criminal offenders, and enforced by other rules in compliance to awards of arbitrators in civil disputes and when persons were banished from the Province of Canada and were brought to the line and suffered to come into our vicinity, we drove them from us. Some years had elapsed from the settlement of the place when Mr. Caldwell came amongst us and gave militia com- missions to Captains Conroy and Savage, and Subaltern's for two militia companies in that place now called Alburgh, with a promise that the British civil government should be put in force among us, and we protected as British subjects; and Patrick Conroy who then lived north of the line of latitude 45° and was in commission of a Justice of the Peace in Canada, not long after, moved south of the line amongst us and issued some few precepts and took some affidavits, if a
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*
trial was had before him he went north of the afore- said line to hold his courts, but the inhabitants still kept up their old mode of government as de- rived from our own resolves as above-said without regard to Mr. Conroy till we voluntarily organized and chose our officers by order of the Governor under the laws of the State of Vermont: and the militia officers above named never did act under the authority of their commissions except in one instance, viz: in February or March in the year.1791, Captain Conroy ordered his company to meet together south of the line, and in conse- quence of his orders issued for that purpose, they in part convened, and I think about one-third part of them embodied by his order, when some matters took place which occasioned Captain Conroy to step into a sleigh and ride off north of the line without dismissing his company or giving them any orders, at which time some of our people ad- vertised him as a runaway from his company and offered as a reward for his return, one peck of potatoes; no other orders or after orders of the British government has been heard of amongst us except the taking of our persons and property by the British forces at Point au Fair in June last past-and I the deponent further say in my opinion the nearest part of land in Alburgh is about two miles and one-half from the garrison at Point au Fair, and the deponent saith that civil government under Vermont is now executed without any resis- tance, and also that the late writs for warning the people in the County of Bedford north of the line and adjoining Alburgh were not served in Alburgh;
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nor were any of the people in Alburgh ever warned to attend their elections that I ever heard of."
On June 10, 1792, Governor Chittenden by let- ter bearing date at Williston, requested Joshua Stanton to go to Alburgh and procure authentic information as to troubles there, just narrated, the affidavits referred to were taken by his direc- tion, and he charged Stanton to call on Benjamin Marvin and Samuel Mott of Alburgh and request them to furnish information in writing whether the inhabitants of that town had organized agree- able to the orders he had given, and what the ap- pearance and dispositon of the people were with respect to the government. The Governor, also, on June 16, 1792, addressed a letter to Governor Clarke of the Province of Quebec, stating to him that a British Captain with an armed force left his post and penetrated eight or nine miles within the acknowledged jurisdiction of Vermont and inform- ed him of their lawless, and injustifiable conduct, and said to him, " these are transactions that have taken place by the Command of DeChambault, Captain at Point au Fair within a few days past. -I feel myself therefore obliged immediately to re- quest from your Excellency an explanation of this unprecedented conduct and unprovoked insult upon the government of Vermont, or at least, to know whether it has been done with your Ex- cellency's knowledge, direction, order or appro- bation." Governor Chittenden sent Levi Allen to Quebec with the letter together with affidavits substantiating his charges. And on the same day he also wrote President Washington, giving him
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full information of what had taken place within the jurisdiction of the United States, and that he had written to Governor Clarke concerning the flagrant breach of the laws.
Alured Clarke, Governor of the Province of Can- ada, on July 5, 1792, from Quebec, replied to Gov- ernor Chittenden's letter delivered to him by Levi Allen, stating that Chittenden's representation led to questions beyond the sphere of his trust, and that he could only give command for investigation on subjects of such importance to the peace of the border, and if information showed that it affected points that belonged to national discussion the matter would be for the consideration of the sov- ereignty he served. And he presumed that Chit- tenden would refer the matter to the power "to which the State he governed was reputed to be subordinate, and trusted in the wisdom of the negotiations and counsels of the sovereignties concerned for the maintenance of the faith of treaties, and preservation of the common tran- quility."
On July 9, 1792, Thomas Jefferson wrote Gov. Chittenden from Philadelphia that, "I have the honor to enclose you sundry papers communicat- ed to me by the British Minister residing here, which have been duly laid before the President of the United States, and further to solicit from your Excellency information as to the facts therein stated, and while I am authorized to assure you that the government is proceeding sincerely and steadily to obtain by the way of negotiation a re- linquishment of our territory held by the British,
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I am at the same time to press that no measure be permitted in your State, which, by changing the present state of things in districts where the British have hitherto exercised jurisdiction, might disturb the peaceable and friendly discussion now in hand, and retarded, if not defeat, an ultimate arrange- ment."
In which letters was inclosed a letter written by Geo. Hammond a person representing the British interests at Philadelphia, as follows :
"I have the honor of submitting to your consid- eration copies of certain papers, which I have re- ceived from Canada. They contain information that some persons, acting under the authority of the State of Vermont, have attempted to ex- ercise legal jurisdiction within districts now occu- pied by the King's troops, and have committed acts of violence on the persons and property of British subjects residing under the protection of his Majesty's Garrison.
"At this period, when the grounds of the subsist- ing differences between our respective countries are becoming the subjects of serious and temperate dis- cussion, I cannot but entertain the strongest con- fidence that the general government of the United States will entirely disapprove of the violent con- duct observed by the State of Vermont upon this occasion, and will in consequence thereof adopt such measures as may be best calculated to pre- vent a repetition of it in future."
Also there accompanied Hammond's letter a copy of the warning issued by order of the Gover- nor signed by Samuel Mott and Benjamin Marvin,
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two Justices of the Peace of Alburgh, warning the inhabitants to meet and "choose such civil officers as the law directs in the State," with a copy of an order issued by Elijah Paine, Judge of the Supreme Court, as follows : viz.
"State of Vermont.
To the Sheriff of Chittenden County or either of his Deputies-Greeting.
Whereas by the complaint of Samuel Hitchcock Esquire Attorney General of the State, we are given to understand that Patrick Conroy of Al- burgh in the County of Chittenden hath for some time past used and exercised the office of Justice of the Peace at Alburgh in the County of aforesaid without any legal warrant, lawful authority or right whatsoever, and hath claimed and still doth claim without any legal warrant, lawful authority or right whatsoever to be a Justice of the Peace at Alburgh aforesaid and to use and exercise the said office of Justice without any legal warrant, lawful authority or right whatsoever, but the same hath usurped and still doth usurp to wit, at Alburgh aforesaid, in contempt of the State and to the prejudice of the Dignity of the same. There- fore by the authority of the State of Vermont you are hereby required to make known to the said Patrick that he appear before the next Supreme Court to be holden at Burlington in and for the County of Chittenden on the fourth Tuesday of August next, to show cause, if any he have, why an information should not be filed against him the said Patrick for thus as it is said illegally exercis- ing the said office of Justice of the Peace within
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said County, to wit, at Alburgh aforesaid. Here- of fail not and make due return. Dated at Bur- lington this fifteenth day of May one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two;" also a copy of Minard Yeomans affidavit setting forth what he claimed took place on the occasion of the attach- ment of Patrick Conroy's property.
On July 12, 1792, Thomas Jefferson wrote again to Governor Chittenden in which he stated. "I must renew my entreaties to your Excellency that no innovation in the state of things may be at- tempted for the present. It is but lately that an opportunity has been afforded of pressing on Great Britain our rights in the quarter of the posts, and it would be truly unfortunate if any premature measures on the part of your State should furnish a pretext for suspending the negotiations on this subject. I rely, therofore, that you will see the in- terest even of your own State in leaving to the general government the measures for recovering it's rights, and the rather as the events to which they might lead are interesting to every State in the highest degree."
There accompanied Jefferson's letter, Gov. Chit- tenden's instructions for the organization of Al- burgh which was as follows : viz.
"Williston, 16th May, 1792.
"The Constitution and laws of the State require the executive officers of government to carry into effect the laws and government of the same.
"It is therefore incumbent on you as Civil Mag- istrates to execute your functions and cause town officers to be appointed and sworn to a faithful
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discharge of their duty; it is incumbent also on the people to assist you to form such regulations in the town of Alburgh which is now unquestion- ably established within the bounds of this and of the United States of America, and under the gov- ernment thereof.
"In case there are any of the inhabitants of said town that have sworn allegiance to the King and Government of Great Britain, such. obligations cease with the government and can be no objec- tion to a submission to the laws of this and the United States.
"Would those people choose to be under the British government, they must move within its limits, otherwise they ought to submit to the gov- ernment of the State in which they live.
"Your humble servant. (signed) THOS. CHITTENDEN. .
"N. B. If your people refuse to pay attention to the above requisition I cannot think it will be long before this government will call on them in a different way to submit to the laws thereof. Should they be put to the necessity of taking so disagreeable a measure, I should not think strange should they be obliged to pay up all the back taxes, since you were represented, as some towns in this State in like circumstances have done.
(signed) T. C. " Messrs. Marvin and Mott Esq. and People of the Township of Alburgh."
Also was enclosed a copy of the writ on which Patrick Conroy's property was attached. The two governments took the controversy under
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consideration, but the discussion between the U. S. Secretary of State and the British minister was temperate until 1794, In Vermont, matters in reference to the controversy, stood in statu quo on both sides without any more serious difficulty till 1794, the British troops holding their posts, and the people of Alburgh going on peaceably as an or- ganized Vermont town. But the two nations were drifting rapidly towards war. On February 10, 1794, Lord Dorchester, then Governor-General of Canada, declared that he would not be surprised if there should be war with the United States in the course of that year, and the movement of both nations indicated that might be the result.
On April 16, 1794, John Jay was nominated as an envoy extraordinary to Great Britain. At this time President George Washington said the aspect of affairs was serious and expressed himself in favor of a friendly adjustment of our complaints and reluctant to enter into hostilities. As the gov- ernment had Great Britain to deal with, it was thought prudent to prepare for war, and on May 9, 1794, Congress authorized the President to de- tach eighty thousand troops from the militia for service in any emergency ; and orders were at once issued therefor by the President. The British were more than commonly insolent, but under great provocation the Governor of Vermont and her people did not retaliate, but waited patiently for the action of the national authorities and respect- ed the advice and policy of forbearance of Presi- dent Washington.
In response to the requisition of President
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Washington under the act of Congress of May 9, 1794, Gov. Chittenden, on the 21st of June 1794, ordered a detachment of three regiments of Ver. mont militia numbering 2129, to be held in readi- ness as minute men, one regiment of which were to be furnished from Maj. Gen. Ira Allen's division. On May 30, 1794, he had ordered the militia of Al- burg and the neighboring islands to be organized as an entire regiment which surrounded the British garrison on North Hero. Evidently war was ex- pected. Of course a dash could have been made and the British swept from the Vermont soil, but it would have brought on a certain protracted bloody conflict. Wiser counsels prevailed, though the war spirit ran high. The following appeared in the Vermont Gazette of May 2, 1794, "boats trading from the United States to Canada are de- tained and the men insolently refused permission to return," with the following comment, "Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit be- tore a fall." In the Farmer's Library of Rutland of May 27, 1794, there appeared the following: "The British have just completed a brig at St. John's mounting 12 guns; the brig is in every way completed and well manned, and is now stationed at Point au Fair on Lake Champlain, and a very large row galley is now building at St. John's; and that the garrison at Montreal was immediately to be strengthened by the addition of a regiment of his Majesty's troops from Quebec." Information was obtained from Lansingburgh by letter of June 10, 1794, "that great preparations were making under the pretense of defending the Canadian's
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