USA > Vermont > Chittenden County > History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 13
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IIO
HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
second Thursday of the same month. These proceedings were looked upon with complacency, if not with approval, by all the sister States except New York. On the 23d of February, 1778, Governor Clinton, of New York, addressed a proclamation to the inhabitants of the " grants," in which he made several apparently liberal concessions to them, but expressly declared that his government would "vigorously maintain its rightful supremacy over the per- sons and property of those disaffected subjects." To this attempt at cajoling the people of Vermont into an acknowledgment which had never been wrung from them by force, Ethan Allen made answer by an address, in which he points out the sophistry of Governor Clinton's overtures, and exhorts his fel- low-citizens to perpetuate the independence which they had created. He closed with the following bold, inspiring address to the people of Vermont :
" You have experienced every species of oppression, which the old govern- ment of New York, with a Tryon at its head, could invent and inflict ; and it is manifest that the new government are minded to follow nearly in their steps. Happy is it for you that you are fitted for the severest trials ! You have been wonderfully supported and carried through thus far in your opposition to that government. Formerly you had everything to fear from it, but now little ; for your public character is established, and your cause known to be just. In your early struggles with that government you acquired a reputation for bravery ; this gave you a relish for martial glory, and the British invasion opened an ample field for its display, and you have gone on conquering and to conquer until tall grenadiers are dismayed and tremble at your approach. Your frontier situation often obliged you to be in arms and battles ; and by repeated marchings, scoutings and manly exercises your nerves have become strong to strike the mortal blow. What enemy to the State of Vermont - or New York land-monopolizer, shall be able to stand before you in the day of your fierce anger ?"
Heretofore we have had occasion to relate the incidents of the controversy with New York alone. But it is necessary, at this point, to make a short digression for the purpose of introducing an episode concerning a difficulty with the State of New Hampshire. The original territory of that province was bounded on the west by a line sixty miles from the sea; and was granted to John Mason. The district between that line and Connecticut River was parceled out in royal grants and belonged to New Hampshire by virtue of the gubernatorial commissions thereof. When the State of Vermont declared her independence the inhabitants of these grants manifested a disposition to dissolve their connection and unite with the new State. They pleaded in justi- fication that the authority of New Hampshire, which had been created and sustained by virtue of royal commissions, ended with the cessation of royal authority, and they were therefore at liberty to form a separate government, or unite with any neighboring government which would consent to a union.
III
THE CONTROVERSY WITH NEW YORK.
Consequently, on the 12th day of March, 1778, the very day on which the first Legislature of Vermont began its first session, at Windsor, a petition was presented from sixteen towns on the east side of Connecticut River, praying for admission to a union with Vermont. This petition was the cause of great embarrassment to the Legislature, inasmuch as the majority of the members from the west side of the mountains looked upon the proposed union as a dangerous measure, while those from the vicinity of the Connecticut were so warmly in favor of granting the petition as to propose as an alternative, withdrawing from their connection with Vermont and setting up a separate government with the petitioners. To extricate itself from this dilemma, the Legislature voted, on the 18th of March, to submit the question to the people. Owing, undoubtedly, to the representations of the petitioners that the inhabitants of the sixteen towns were nearly unanimous in their votes to join with Vermont, and that New Hampshire, as a State, would not object to their withdrawal, the petition was sustained by a majority of the towns of Vermont. And on the IIth of June the Legislature, being reconvened by adjournment at Bennington, voted thirty-seven against twelve that the union take place. It was also voted that any other towns on the east side of the Connecticut might be admitted to the union on producing a favorable vote of a majority of the inhabitants, or send- ing a representative to the Assembly of Vermont.
The government of New Hampshire was greatly incensed at the proceed- ings. Mr. Weare, president of the Council of New Hampshire, on the 19th of August wrote to Congress for the advice, and if necessary, the interference of that body. On the 22d of the same month, in the name of the General Assembly of New Hampshire, he wrote to Thomas Chittenden, governor of Vermont, asserting the jurisdiction of New Hampshire over the sixteen towns on the east side of Connecticut River, and urging Governor Chittenden to exert his influence to sever a connection which would endanger their peace and perhaps their political existence. Governor Chittenden thereupon immediately convoked the Council, which, after due deliberation, instructed Colonel Ethan Allen to repair to Philadelphia and ascertain the sentiment of Congress with reference to the proceedings. The result showed that that body was nearly unanimous in its opposition to the proceedings of Vermont in the matter, but if the various measures thus far adopted should be rescinded, only the dele- gates from New York would oppose the recognition of their independence. On the 8th of October the Legislature met again at Windsor by adjournment, and took up the consideration of Colonel Allen's report. The result of the several votes bearing on the question persuaded the members who had taken their seats from the east side of the Connecticut that the Legislature did not incline to a continuation of the hazardous experiment, and they therefore with- drew from the Assembly and were followed by fifteen representatives from towns on the west side of the river, together with the lieutenant-governor and
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II2
HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
two members of the Council. Members enough were left to constitute a quorum, and these resolved to refer the vexatious question as to what the pro- cedure should next be, to their constituents, and on the 24th of October adjourned to the second Thursday of the following February, at Bennington. On the 13th of February, the second day of the adjourned session, the Legis- lature having become convinced that the people on the Connecticut desired nothing so much as to be the center of the State, whether its boundaries included both Vermont and New Hampshire, or neither, and having been au- thorized to act by their constituents, voted to dissolve the union which had subsisted between Vermont and the towns in New Hampshire. This deter- mination was communicated to the Legislature of New Hampshire while that body was considering proposals from a convention of delegates from the towns on Connecticut River, held at Cornish, New Hampshire, to the effect that their independence be admitted by New Hampshire, or submitted to Congress, or to arbitrators mutually chosen, or that they with the entire States of New Hampshire and Vermont be consolidated into one jurisdiction. The last part of their proposal, together with the vote of the Legislature of Vermont, en- couraged the government of New Hampshire to lay claim to all the territory embraced within the original jurisdiction of New Hampshire, including the State of Vermont. Accordingly, application was made to Congress for a con- firmation of this claim, at the same time that New York made a like applica- tion for the confirmation of her title to the same territory. It now became evident to the people of Vermont that these applications were the result of a ·conspiracy among some of the leading citizens of those two States to effect be- tween them a division of Vermont by a line along the summit of the Green Mountains. At this juncture, for some unknown purpose, Massachusetts inter- posed a claim to a portion of the disputed territory as being within her juris- diction. Thus were the enemies of the independence of Vermont multiplying on every hand, while her proceedings had not received the sanction or encour- agement of the Continental Congress.
While the difficulty with New Hampshire was in progress, the intensity of the struggle with New York did not abate. On the 7th of July, 1778, Gover- nor Clinton had advised some of his friends in Vermont, by letter, to make a desperate resistance to the drafting of men, the raising of taxes, and all acts of the State of Vermont in every vicinity where the partisans of New York were sufficiently numerous ; and urging them to form associations for " mutual de- fense against this ursurpation." At the same time he wrote to Congress, press- ing them for a decision of the controversy, and denouncing the violent proceed- ings of the people of Vermont. Conformably to this recommendation, the ad- herents to the claims of New York called a convention at Brattleboro, on the 4th of May, 1779, and drew up a petition to Governor Clinton, in which they com- plained of the summary confiscation of their property by the " pretended State
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II3
THE CONTROVERSY WITH NEW YORK.
of Vermont," and solicited the immediate adoption of measures for their pro- tection, and for hastening Congress to a decision. A military association was formed about the same time, in Cumberland county, to oppose more effect- ually the authority of Vermont. Then, by representing that they had a regi- ment of 500 men, they obtained several commissions from Governor Clinton. These proceedings necessitated prompt action by the governor of Vermont, in self defense. He therefore ordered Ethan Allen to call out the militia and put a stop to the military movements of the insurgents. Matters were fast approach- ing a crisis. The friends of New York implored the protection of Governor Clinton, and received assurances from him; with the recommendation that the authority of Vermont should be strenuously resisted, except in the alternative of submission or ruin. On the 29th of May, 1779, an urgent letter from Gover- nor Clinton, together with other relevant papers, was laid before Congress, and by that body the question was referred to a committee of the whole. In pursuance of the report of this committee Congress resolved, on the first day of June, that a committee be appointed to visit the inhabitants of the territory in dispute, and ascertain why they refused to continue citizens of the respect- ive States which claimed jurisdiction over their district, and endeavor to bring about an amicable settlement, and prevent animosities so prejudicial to the United States.
Meanwhile Allen, attended by an armed force, made prisoners of the colonel and other officers who were acting under the authority of New York. On the 16th of June, in response to an appeal from Governor Clinton, Congress re- solved that the officers whom Allen had captured should be liberated, and that the committee just mentioned should make an investigation into the cir- cumstances of that transaction. Only two of the five commissioners came to Vermont-Dr. Witherspoon and Mr. Atlee. These members repaired to Ben- nington, in June, and seemed to make an earnest effort to effect a reconcilia- tion between the parties. In this, of course, they did not succeed. Under pressure from the four parties which were claiming the same tract of territory and appealing to Congress for a confirmation of their claims, that honorable body passed several resolutions, on the 24th of September, 1779, recommend- ing that New Hampshire, Massachusetts and New York should authorize Con- gress to determine their disputes, such determination to be made on the Ist of the following February, according to equity. Congress thus apparenty desired to placate the parties, and at the same time delay the determination as long as possible, preferring rather to sacrifice Vermont as a separate jurisdiction than to be embroiled in a dispute with either of the other States. This does not seem strange when it is remembered that Congress was in a like predicament with Vermont, for the success of the United States in the contest with Great Britain depended on the harmony of the States in the common cause. The res- olutions of the Continental Congress had the desired effect on all the interested
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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
parties but Vermont. Massachusetts did not express her consent, but it was evident that her neglect was intended to relieve Congress from the necessity of deciding the controversy at the appointed time, and to prevent the sacrifice of Vermont. To Vermont herself no alternative remained. Had she com- plied with the resolutions of Congress, she would have been admitting the authority of three governments over the territory which she had organized a government to defend. The Legislature of Vermont was then in session at Manchester, and there received the resolutions of Congress. On the 16th of October Ethan Allen, Reuben Jones, N. Clark and Jonathan Fassett were appointed a committee to report a plan of defense against the neighboring States, " in consequence of the late acts of Congress." Three days later the General Assembly went into a committee of the whole on the state of the country, and on the 2Ist made a report which was unanimously adopted, asserting their unalterable determination to maintain the independence of Vermont, and rec- ommending the granting of the unappropriated lands of the State for the ben- efit thereof. On the following day Ethan Allen, Jonas Fay, Paul Spooner, Stephen R. Bradley and Moses Robinson were appointed to attend the deliber- ations of Congress in February to vindicate the independence of their State, and negotiate for her admission into the Union.
On the 10th day of December, 1779, the Governor and Council of Vermont published an appeal " to the candid and impartial world," in which they de- clared that " they could not view themselves as holden, either in the sight of God or man, to submit to the execution of a plan, which they had reason to believe was commenced by neighboring States ; that the liberties and privileges of the State or Vermont, by said resolutions, are to be suspended upon the ar- bitrament and final determination of Congress, when in their opinion they were things too sacred ever to be arbitrated upon at all ; and what they were bound to defend at every risk ; that Congress had no right to intermeddle in the internal policy and government of Vermont; that the State existed independent of any of the thirteen United States, and was not accountable to them, or to their rep- resentatives, for liberty, the gift of the benevolent Creator ;-
" That the State of Vermont was not represented in Congress and could not submit to resolutions passed without their consent, or even knowledge, and which put everything that was valuable to them at stake; that there appeared a manifest inequality, not to say predetermination, that Congress should request of their constituents power to judge and determine in the cause, and never ask the consent of the thousands whose all was at stake. They also declared that they were, and ever had been, ready to bear their proportion of the burden and expense of the war with Great Britain from its commencement, whenever they were admitted into the Union with the other States. But they were not so lost to all sense and honor, that after four years of war with Great Britain, in which they had expended so much blood and treasure, they should now give
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THE CONTROVERSY WITH NEW YORK.
up everything worth fighting for, - the right of making their own laws, and choosing their own form of government, - to the arbitrament and determina- tion of any man, or body of men, under heaven."
Congress evaded the expression of any opinion on the subject until the 2d of June, when they resumed the consideration of the matter, and among other things resolved " That the proceedings of the people on the New Hampshire grants, were highly unwarrantable and subversive of the peace and welfare of the United States, and that they be strictly required to abstain from all acts of authority, civil or military, over those inhabitants who profess allegiance to other States." These resolutions elicited from Governor Chittenden and his Council, on the 25th of July, an address to the president of Congress, strongly deprecating the proceedings of the National Legislature, and among other declarations affirming that if Congress and the neighboring States persisted in the unjust course they were pursuing, the government of Vermont would have no motives to continue hostilities with Great Britain and defend an important frontier for the benefit of a country which treated them as slaves. Notwith- standing the injustice done them, however, they were persuaded, by their attachment to the cause of liberty, once more to offer union with the United States.
Although Vermont denied the authority of Congress to determine the mat- ter, she deemed it prudent to dispatch Ira Allen and Stephen R. Bradley to attend the deliberations upon the subject in September. They were allowed to be present, but not as the representatives of any State. It soon became evi- dent that Congress did not regard Vermont as a party in the controversy, and that it was about to adjudicate between New Hampshire and New York upon the existence of Vermont without her consent. The agents thereupon indig- nantly withdrew their attendance, and on the 22d of September transmitted a remonstrance to Congress in which they declared that if that body continued its present policy, they "are ready to appeal to God and the world to say who must be accountable for the awful consequences that may ensue."
On the 27th of September, after hearing the evidence in behalf of New Hampshire, Congress resolved that further consideration of the subject be indefinitely postponed ; a course of policy which was at once the wisest to pur- sue, and the most repugnant to the wishes of Vermont, for by it she was denied the hope of an immediate recognition of her independence. She therefore resolved upon a series of bold and decisive measures, which evinced the abili- ties and peculiar genius of her statesmen. A large number of inhabitants in the western part of New Hampshire were still desirous of a union with Ver- mont. There were many others who advocated the maintenance of the juris- diction of New Hampshire over the whole of her original territory. The lat- ter class succeeded in assembling a convention of delegates from the several towns in Cheshire county, N. H., at Walpole, on the 15th of November, 1780,
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I16
HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.
by which the towns on both sides of Connecticut River were invited to appoint delegates to meet in convention at Charlestown on the third Tuesday of Janu- ary following. To the great disappointment of those who had proposed the measure, a considerable majority of the representatives from the forty-three towns which responded to this invitation, were found to be in favor of a union with Vermont. Negotiations were accordingly begun through the agency of committees, which, after the sentiment of the inhabitants of both Vermont and the western part of New Hampshire had been obtained by popular vote, resulted in the admission, on the 6th of April, 1781, to seats in the General Assembly of Vermont, then sitting at Windsor.
Repeated solicitations had also been received from several towns in New York which bordered on Vermont to be taken into the union. In retaliation for the unjustifiable attempts of the government of New York to overturn that of Vermont, the Legislature of the latter State had, on the 14th of February, 1781, laid claim to all the lands west of her present territory and east of Hud- son River to the head thereof, and thence east of a line extending north to the 45th degree of north latitude; with the proviso that this jurisdiction should not be exercised for the time being. On the 15th of May, however, a conven- tion composed of a committee appointed by the General Assembly of Ver- mont and delegates from twelve districts of the towns in New York which were in favor of the union, was held at Cambridge, and articles of union were agreed upon. On the 16th of June following these articles were confirmed by the Legislature of Vermont, and representatives from those districts were admitted to seats in the General Assembly.
Convinced at last that every step which they took to defend the liberties of the United States served only, by increasing her power, to render their own condition more hopeless, the people of Vermont wisely consulted their own safety, and by negotiation with the British enemy in Canada, effected their object. The British generals had for some time cherished the hope that the ungenerous conduct of the American Congress would drive Vermont into an espousal of the British cause. The first intimation of their wishes, however, was communicated to Ethan Allen in a letter from Col. Beverly Robinson, dated New York, March 30th, 1780. The letter was delivered to Allen in the street in Arlington, in July, by a British soldier in the guise of a farmer.
After the usual complimentary introduction, Colonel Robinson said : " I have often been informed that you, and most of the inhabitants of Vermont, are opposed to the wild and chimerical scheme of the Americans in attempting to separate from Great Britain and establish an independent government of their own ; and that you would willingly assist in uniting America to Great Britain, and in restoring that happy constitution so wantonly and unadvisedly destroyed. If I have been rightly informed, and these should be your senti- ments and inclination, I beg that you will communicate to me without reserve
II7
THE CONTROVERSY WITH NEW YORK.
whatever proposals you would wish to make to the commander-in-chief; and I hereby promise that I will faithfully lay them before him according to your directions, and flatter myself I can do it with as good effect as any person whatever. I can make no proposals to you until I know your sentiments; but think, upon your taking an active part and embodying the inhabitants of Ver- mont under the crown of England, you may obtain a separate government under the king. If you should think proper to send a friend here with pro- posals to the general, he shall be protected and allowed to return whenever he pleases."
Allen immediately disclosed the contents of this letter to Governor Chitten- den and several other confidential friends, but returned no answer. Not long after he received another and a more urgent communication from Colonel Rob- inson, in which were authoritative assurances of the most favorable terms. Allen also refrained from replying to this letter, but on the 9th of March, 1781, he enclosed them in a letter to Congress, attended with an explanation of the affair, a justification of the declaration by Vermont of her independence, and an expression of his determination to establish that independence. "When Congress consider the circumstances of this State," said he, " they will, I am persuaded, be more surprised that I have transmitted them the enclosed letters, than that I have kept them in custody so long; for I am as resolutely determined to defend the independence of Vermont, as Congress is that of the United States ; and rather than fail, I will retire with the hardy Green Mountain Boys into the desolate caverns of the mountains, and wage war with human nature at large."
In the spring of 1780 several members of the scouting parties belonging to Vermont had been captured by the British and taken to Canada. In the month of July Governor Chittenden requested the commanding officer in Can- ada to release or exchange them. In the fall General Haldimand came up Lake Champlain with a great force of the British and returned a favorable an- swer to Governor Chittenden's letter. He also sent a flag to Ethan Allen, then a brigadier-general and commanding officer in Vermont, and proposed a cessation of hostilities pending negotiations for an exchange of prisoners. To this Allen agreed, on condition that the adjacent frontier of New York should be included with Vermont. After demurring to this condition for a time, the British officer conceded the point. Colonel Ira Allen and Major Joseph Fay were appointed by the governor commissioners on the part of Vermont; those on the part of the British being Captain J. Sherwood and George Smith. Dur- ing the interview the British agents plied the two Americans with proposals for the establishment of Vermont under royal authority, which were received in such a manner that, while no definite expressions were obtained, the British delighted in the belief that they would have little difficulty in accomplishing their object at the proper time.
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