USA > Vermont > Records of the Council of Safety and Governor and Council of the State of Vermont, to which are prefixed the records of the General Conventions from July 1775 to December 1777, Vol. I > Part 35
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This County being in its infant state. contending with the hardships of subduing the wilderness, and converting it into fruitful fields, being situated here in a corner, at a considerable remove from the populous, civilized parts of the Country, conceive they, by their own experience, in a small degree feel the sufferings of their ancestors.
The first planters in America endured hunger, cold. and other dis- tresses, until they, by their arduous industry, found suitable relief from their bountiful fields and their own expenses; and as the people of this County were chiefly born in some one or other of the New England Provinces, and conceive them to be at least as loyal to the King as any subjects he can boast of, are surprised to find. by the late Acts of Parlia- ment, that all Americans are deprived of that great right of calling that their own, which they by their industry have honestly acquired: are sur- prised to find a power arise in Britain, which, with impunity say, they have a right to bind the Colonies in all cases whatsoever, and attempt to exercise that authority, by taking, at their pleasure, the properties of the King's American subjects without their consent, especially since some of the former Kings of Great Britain by charter granted to their subjects in New England, their heirs, and assigns, and all others who should settle within certain boundaries. divided into Colonies, all the liberties and Privileges of natural free-born subjects of England; yet. notwithstanding this, that such a power should arise under the mere in- spection of the King, unrebuked. to claim all American property, and actually to take as much as they please, in direct breach of the solemn compact between a former King, on his part, and his successors, made with the first planters of these Colonies. and others that after should be born among them, or join them, or be born on the seas when going thither; and we do not conceive those whose rights are as aforesaid sol- emnly declared, are more sacred in respect of the security of their prop- erty, than the right of this and other Colonies whose rights are only natural as British subjects; for he who has nothing but what another has power at pleasure lawfully to take away from, has nothing that he can call his own, and is, in the fullest sense of the word, a slave-a slave to him who has such power: and as no part of British America stipulated
was evinced on various occasions, but especially in selecting him as the person to whom bonds with security were given by sundry of the per- sons who had been arrested for participation in the " Westminster mas- sacre." Col. Hazeltine was appointed a delegate from Cumberland county to the Provincial Congress and Convention of New York, May 23, 1775. He attended, but remained only three days. His name ap- pears in Deming's Catalogue as representative of Townshend in the Vermont Assembly in 1791, '94 and '95 .- See B. H. Hall's Eastern Ver- mont.
1 See preceding note.
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to settle as slaves, the privileges of British subjects are their privileges, and whoever endeavours to deprive them of their privileges is guilty of treason against the Americans, as well as the British Constitution. Therefore Resolved.
I. That as true and loval subjects of our gracious Sovereign, King George the Third of Great Britain, &c., we will spend our lives and for- tunes in his service.
II. That as we will defend our King while he reigns over us. his sub- jects, and wish his reign may be long and glorious, so we will defend our just rights, as British subjeets, against every power that shall at- tempt to deprive us of them, while breath is in our nostrils, and blood in our veins.
III. That considering the late Acts of the British Parliament for blocking up the port of Boston, &e., which we view as arbitrary and un- just. inasmuch as the Parliament have sentenced them unheard, and dispensed with all the modes of law and justice which we think neces- sary to distinguish between lawfully obtaining right for property injured. and arbitrarily enforcing to comply with their will. (be it right or wrong,) we resolve to assist the people of Boston in the defence of their liberties to the utmost of our abilities.
IV. Sensible that the strength of our opposition to the late Aets con- sists in a uniform. manly, steady. and determined mode of procedure, we will bear testimony against and discourage all riotous, tumultuous, and unecessary mobs which tend to injure the persons or properties of harmless individuals ; but endeavour to treat those persons whose abom- inable principles and actions show them to be enemies to American lib- erty, as loathesome animals not fit to be touched or to have any society or connection with.
v. Resolred. That we choose a Committee to correspond with the other Committees of Correspondence of this Province and elsewhere. and that Mr. Joshua Webb, John Grout. Esquire, Deacon John Sessions, [of Westminster. ] Major William Williams, and Captain Jacob [Joab] Hois- ington, [of Woodstock. ] be a Committee as aforesaid.
VI. Resolved. That the thanks of this Committee be given to the Com- mittee of Correspondence in the capital of this Province. for the notice they have taken of this infant County.
VII. Resolved, That Mr. Chairman forward these Resolves to Mr. Low, Chairman of the Committee of Correspondence at New-York, and com- municate to him by Letter the reasons why his Letter to the Supervis- ors of this County was answered no sooner.
VIII. Resolved, That Colonel Hazeltine, the Chairman, have the thanks of this Committee for his good services as Chairman.
The above Report being divers times read, paragraph by paragraph,
Voted, nemine contradicente, That the same be accepted as the sense of this meeting, and as their Resolves.
By order of the Convention :
JOHN HAZELTINE, Chairman.
DUMMERSTON TOWN MEETING, OCT. 29, 1774.
The next in the order of revolutionary events in Cumberland County, was a meeting of a majority of the inhabitants of Dummerston, occa- sioned by the imprisonment. on the preceding day, of one of the boldest and most ardent whigs of that town,-Lieut. LEONARD SPALDING,1 who
1 See ante p. 154 for notice of Mr. Spaulding.
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was charged with treason. The official account is as follows, as copied from the records of Dummerston by B. H. HALL:
On the 28th of October, A. Dom. 1774, Lieut. Leonard Spaulding of the town of Fullham alias Dummerston, was Committed to the Common goal for high treason against the British tyrant George the third, by the direction of the infamous Crean Brush, his attorney, & Noah Sabin, Wil- liam Willard, and Ephraim Ranney, Esqrs., and Wm. Paterson the high Shreeve, and Benj. Gorton, and the infamous Bildad Easton, and his Deputies ;1 upon which, on the following day. viz. October the 29th, a majority of the inhabitants met near the house of Charles Davenport on the green, and made Choice of Sundry persons to Serve as a Commit- tee of Correspondaney to joyne with other towns or respectable bodies of people, the better to secure and protect the rights and priveleges of themselves and fellow-cretures from the raveges and imbarrassments of the British tyrant, & his New York and other immesaries.
The persons made choice of were these, viz., Solomon Harvey, John Butler, Jonathan Knight. Josiah Boyden & Daniel Gates, by whose vigilence & activity Mr. Spaulding was released from his Confinement after about eleven days : the Committee finding it Necessary to be as- sisted by a Large Concourse of their freeborn Neighbours and bretherin, Consisting of the inhabitants of Dummerston, Putney, Guilford, Halifax and Draper, [Wilmington.] who discovered a patriotic Zeal & true heroic fortitude on the important occation. The plain truth is, that the brave sons of freedom whose patience was worn out with the inhuman insults of the imps of power, grew quite sick of diving after redress in a Legal way, & finding that the Law was only made use of for the Emolument of its Creatures & the immesaries of the British tyrant, resolved upon an Easyer Method. and accordingly Opened the goal without Key or Lock- picker, and after Congratulating Mr. Spaulding upon the recovery of his freedom, Dispersed Every man in pease to his respective home or place of abode. The afforgoing is a true and short relation of that Wicked affair of the New York, Cut throatly, Jacobitish, High Church, Toretical minions of George the third, the pope of Canada & tyrant of Britain.2
SECOND CUMBERLAND COUNTY CONVENTION, Nov. 30, 1774.
When the "non-importation, non-consumption, and non-exportation association" adopted by Congress Oct. 20 1774, together with the ten resolutions previously adopted, (which were declaratory of the rights of the people of the colonies and accompanied by a summary of the wrongs attempted by the British parliament,) became known, John Hazeltine, by the advice of some of the leading men of the county, issued a circu- lar dated Nov. 13, calling another convention to meet at Westminster on the 30th of that month. On the 28th, the inhabitants of Chester met.
' Jacob Laughton of Dummerston, born Sept. 10, 1760, was living in 1851, and informed B. H. Hall that " Lieut. Spaulding was a resolute man," and that "it took three or four Yorkers to conquer him when he was committed to the jail at Westminster."
2 Account entered by Doctor SOLOMON HARVEY in the records of Dummerston. vol. I, pp. 18-20 .- See B. H. Hall's Eastern Vermont, pp. 200-203.
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appointed two delegates to the proposed county convention, and instruct- ed them to use their best endeavours to procure a vote of thanks to the continental Congress " for their good services," and an assurance that the people of the county would "fully comply with their advice and res- olutions." Their delegates were also directed to procure certain in- structions to Samuel Wells and Crean Brush, the representatives of the county in the New York legislature, one of which was to exert " their best skill and wisdom" to choose deputies to represent New York in the congress of the colonies called to meet at Philadelphia in the succeeding month of May. On the same day the people of Dummerston also met, adopted similar measures, and another which was particularly significant of the earnest patriotism of the town : it was an order to the town asses- sors, to " assess the town in a Discretionary sum of money, Sufficient to procure 100 weight of gun powder, 200 weight of Lead and 300 flints, for the town use." This tax was payable in " potash salts," and a commit- tee was appointed to receive the salts.1
The County Convention met at Westminster on the 30th pursuant to the invitation, but only a summary of its proceedings has been preserved. It is contained in "A Relation of the proceedings of the people of the County of Cumberland, and Province of New York," dated " Cumber- land County March 23d 1775." The "Relation" is copied entire, post, in connection with an account of the " Westminster Massacre."
This account of the Convention of Nov. 30 1774 was as follows :
Immediately after [the convention of October 30 1774,] the people of the county aforesaid received the resolves of the continental congress. They called a county congress, and did adopt all the resolves of the con- tinental congress as their resolves, promising religiously to adhere to that agreement or association. There was a committee of inspection moved for, to be chosen by the county, according to the second resolve [11th article] of the association aforesaid: but being much spoken against by a justice and an attorney,2 and looked upon by them as a childish, impertinent thing, the delegates dared not choose one.""
1 B. H. Hall's Eastern Vermont, p. 204, citing the manuscript records of Chester and Dummerston.
" The attorney was probably John Grout of Chester ; the justice may have been Samuel Wells of Brattleborongh-both being tories.
3 The people of Dummerston were dissatisfied with the failure of the con- vention in this important point, and in town meeting, Jan. 3, 1775, chose a committee of inspection of seven persons, Doctor Solomon Harvey at their head, whose business it was to watch " the conduct of the inhabitants ;" and also, as the acts of this committee demonstrated, to exclude tories or negligent whigs from every public office. They removed from office two of the town assessors, for refusing to execute the vote of the town as to ammunition ; disarmed a citizen who was supposed to be a tory : and prevented another town officer from performing his official duties until he by his conduct proved himself to be a whig. The example thus set by Dummerston was generally adopted by other towns afterward .- See B. H. Hall's Eastern Vermont, p. 205.
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To this statement of the action of the meeting. B. H. Hall added, that " the state of the county was then considered, as were also the inconven- iences to which the inhabitants were subjected in collecting their dues in the province of New Hampshire."-Eastern Vermont, p. 204.
The resolutions and articles of association of the continental Congress, by adoption. became the all important part of the proceedings of this Convention, as well as the best exponent of the prevailing sentiment of the people of eastern Vermont at that day. They also show the intense patriotism of the country at large, and the universal sympathy for the persecuted and suffering inhabitants of Boston. They were these :
DECLARATION AND RESOLVES OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.
FRIDAY, October 14, 1774.
The Congress met according to adjournment, and resuming the sub- ject under debate -made the following declaration and resolves :
Whereas, since the close of the last war, the British parliament, elaim- ing a power, of right, to bind the people of America by statutes in all cases whatsoever, hath, in some acts, expressly imposed taxes on them, and in others, under various pretences, but in faet for the purpose of raising a revenue, hath imposed rates and duties payable in these colo- nies, established a board of commissioners, with unconstitutional powers. and extended the jurisdiction of courts of admiralty, not only for collect- ing said duties, but for the trial of causes merely arising within the body of a county :
And whereas, in consequence of other statutes. judges, who before held . only estates at will in their offices, have been made dependant on the crown alone for their salaries, and standing armies kept in time of peace : And whereas, it has lately been resolved in parliament, that by force of a statute, made in the thirty-fifth year of the reign of King Henry the eighth. colonists may be transported to England. and tried there upon accusations for treasons and misprisions, or concealments of treasons committed in the colonies, and by a late statute, such trials have been di- rected in cases therein mentioned :
And whereas, in the last session of parliament, three statutes were made : one entitled " An act to discontinue, in such manner and for such time as are therein mentioned, the landing or discharging, lading, or shipping of goods, wares and merchandize, at the town. and within the harbour of Boston, in the province of Massachusetts-Bay, in North America :" another entitled " An act for the better regulating the prov- ince of Massachusetts-Bay in New England :" and another entitled - An act for the impartial administration of justice, in the cases of persons questioned for any act done by them in the execution of the law. or for the suppression of riots and tumults, in the province of the Massachu- setts-Bay in New England :" and another statute was then made, " for making more effectual provision for the government of the province of Quebec, &c." All which statutes are impolitie. unjust, and cruel, as well as unconstitutional, and most dangerous and destructive of American rights :
And whereas. assemblies have been frequently dissolved. contrary to the rights of the people, when they attempted to deliberate on griev- ances ; and their dutiful. humble. loyal. and reasonable petitions to the crown for redress, have been repeatedly treated with contempt by his majesty's ministers of state :
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The good people of the several colonies of New Hampshire, Massa- chusetts-Bay, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, New-Castle, Kent, and Sussex on Delaware, Maryland. Virginia, North-Carolina, and South-Carolina, justly alarmed at these arbitrary proceedings of parliament and adminis- tration, have severally elected, constituted, and appointed deputies to meet, and sit in general Congress, in the city of Philadelphia, in order to obtain such establishment, as that their religion, laws, and liberties, may not be subverted : Whereupon the deputies so appointed being now as- sembled, in a full and free representation of these colonies, taking into their most serions consideration, the best means of obtaining the ends aforesaid, do, in the first place, as Englishmen, their ancestors in like cases have usually done, for asserting and vindicating their rights and liberties, DECLARE.
That the inhabitants of the English colonies in North America, by the immutable laws of nature, the principles of the English constitution, and the several charters or compacts, have the following RIGHTS:
Resolved, N. C. D. 1. That they are entitled to life, liberty, and prop- erty: and they have never ceded to any sovereign power whatever, a right to dispose of either without their consent.
Resolred, N. C. D. 2. That our ancestors, who first settled these colo- nies, were at the time of their emigration from the mother country. enti- tled to all the rights, liberties, and immunities of free and natural born subjeets, within the realm of England.
Resolved, N. C. D. 3. That by such emigration they by no means for- feited, surrendered, or lost any of those rights, but that they were, and their descendants now are, entitled to the exercise and enjoyment of all such of them, as their local and other circumstances enable them to ex- ercise and enjoy.
Resolved, 4. That the foundation of English liberty, and of all free government, is a right in the people to participate in their legislative Council: and as the English Colonists are not represented, and from their local and other circumstances, cannot properly be represented in the British parliament, they are entitled to a free and exclusive power of legislation in their several provincial legislatures, where their right of representation can alone be preserved, in all cases of taxation and internal polity, subject only to the negative of their sovereign, in such manner as has been heretofore used and accustomed: But, from the ne- cessity of the case, and a regard to the mutual interest of both countries, we cheerfully consent to the operation of such aets of the British parlia- ment, as are, bona fide, restrained to the regulation of our external com- merce, for the purpose of securing the commercial advantages of the whole empire to the mother country. and the commercial benefits of its respective members; excluding every idea of taxation, internal or exter- nal, for raising a revenue on the subjects, in America, without their consent.1
1 It will be observed that this resolution was not, as most were, unani- mously adopted -"N. C. D." There was a difference of opinion as to the power of parliament to regulate trade, some holding that it should have the power for " the mutual interest of both countries;" while some objected, in the words of Mr. Gadsden of South Carolina, that " a right of regulating trade is a right of legislation, and a right of legislation in one case is a right in all." The resolution, as above, in the last clause. from the words "But, from the necessity of the case, and a regard to the
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Resolved, N. C. D. 5. That the respective colonies are entitled to the common law of England, and more especially to the great and inestima- ble privilege of being tried by their peers of the vicinage, according to the course of that law.
Resolved. 6. That they are entitled to the benefit of such of the Eng- lish statutes, as existed at the time of their colonization, and which they have, by experience, respectively found to be applicable to their several local and other circumstances.
Resolved, N. C. D. 7 .- That these, his majesty's colonies. are likewise entitled to all the immunities and privileges granted and confirmed to them by royal charters, or secured by their several codes of provincial laws,
Resolved, N. C. D. 8 .- That they have a right peaceably to assemble, consider of their grievances, and petition the King, and that all prose- entions, prohibitory proclamations, and commitments for the same, are illegal.
Resolved, N. C. D. 9 .- That the keeping a standing army in these colo- nies, in times of peace, without the consent of the legislature of that colony. in which such army is kept. is against law.
Resolved. N. C. D. 10 .- It is indispensably necessary to good govern- ment, and rendered essential by the English constitution, that the con- stituent branches of the legislature be independent of each other: that, therefore, the exercise of legislative power in several colonies, by a coun- cil appointed, during pleasure, by the crown, is unconstitutional, danger- ous and destructive to the freedom of American legislation.
All and each of which the aforesaid deputies, in behalf of themselves, and their constituents, do claim, demand. and insist on. as their indubi- table rights and liberties ; which cannot be legally taken from them, al- tered or abridged by any power whatever, without their own consent, by their representatives in their several provincial legislatures.
In the course of our inquiry, we many find infringements and violations of the foregoing rights, which from an ardent desire. that harmony and mutual intercourse of affection and interest may be restored, we pass over for the present, and proceed to state such acts and measures as have been adopted since the last war [with France,] which demonstrate a system formed to enslave America.
Resolved, N. C. D. That the following acts of parliament are infring- ments and violations of the rights of the colonists, and that the repeal of them is essentially necessary, in order to restore harmony between Great Britain and American colonies, viz. [Here several aets are specified, including those named in the preamble, and the objection- able features of some them are stated, such as the establishment of the Roman catholic religion by the Quebce bill. for example.]
Also, that the keeping a standing army in several of these colonies, in time of peace, without the consent of the legislature of that colony, in which such army is kept, is against law.
To these grievous acts and measures, Americans cannot submit, but in hopes their fellow subjects in Great Britain will, on a revision of them, restore us to the state. in which both countries found happiness and pros- perity, we have for the present, only resolved to pursue the following peaceable measures : 1. To enter into a non-importation, non-consump- tion, and non-exportation agreement or association ; 2. To prepare an
mutual interest of both countries," &c., was drawn by John Adams as a compromise, and it was accepted; though it seems not with entire una- nimity. - See Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. VII, pp. 132-140.
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address to the people of Great Britain and a memorial to the inhabitants of British America ; and, 3. To prepare a loyal address to his majesty, agreeable to resolutions already entered into.
ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION.
[IN CONGRESS, ] THURSDAY, October 20, 1774.
The association being copied, was read and signed at the table, and is as follows:
WE, his majesty's most loyal subjects, the delegates of the several colonies of New-Hampshire. Massachusetts-Bay, Rhode-Island, Connec- ticut, New-York, New-Jersey. Pennsylvania, the three lower Counties of New-Castle, Kent and Sussex on Delaware. Maryland, Virginia. North-Carolina. and South-Carolina, deputed to represent them in a con- tinental Congress, held in the city of Philadelphia, on the fifth day of September, 1774, avowing our allegiance to his majesty, our affection and regard for our fellow-subjects in Great-Britain and elsewhere, affected with the deepest anxiety, and most alarming apprehensions, at those grievances and distresses. with which his majesty's American sub- jects are oppressed: and having taken under our most serious delibera- tion, the state of the whole continent, find, that the present unhappy situation of our affairs is occasioned by a ruinous system of colony ad- ministration, adopted by the British ministry about the year 1763, evi- dently calculated for enslaving these colonies, and with them, the Brit- ish empire. In prosecution of which system, various acts of parliament have been passed, for raising a revenue in America, for depriving the American subjects, in many instances, of the constitutional trial by jury, exposing their lives to danger, by directing a new and illegal trial beyond the seas, for crimes alleged to have been committed in America: And in prosecution of the same system. several late, cruel. and oppressive acts have been passed, respecting the town of Boston and the Massachusetts- Bay. and also an act for extending the province of Quebec, [to the Ohio and the Mississippi rivers. embracing the present states of Ohio, Mich- igan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin,] so as to border on the western frontier of these colonies, establishing an arbitrary government therein, and discouraging the settlement of British subjects in that wide ex- tended country; thus by the influence of civil principles and ancient prejudices, to dispose the inhabitants to act with hostility against the free Protestant colonies, whenever a wicked ministry shall chuse so to direct them.
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