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 42
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I should have waited on you before now, but I really expected Colo. Aleot [Gen. Peter Olcott] was with you." I shall attend as soon as Pos- siable. 1 should think the men raised under Hossington [Rangers, under Maj. Hoisington.] should be Paid and kept for Service ; if not held, none be Paid but them that has done real Servise. That will not be much, (but if they are continued they may be serviseable in fu-
1 Blank in the copy. Gen. Bayley was appointed delegate for Glonces- ter County in the New York "Congress" in 1775, but never took his seat.
2 Either as he did not desire to do so, or because Vermont was not recognized by Congress.
3 That is, in danger of being occupied by British troops. Again and again Gen. Bayley declared the danger of such an event; and Gen. Washington on one occasion confessed his fear of it in a letter to Gen. Bayley.
4 Meaning, doubtless, by the Convention which met at Westminster on the 15th of January, 1777, and sat on the 16th and 17th.
5 This seems to imply that Gen. Olcott had been appointed a delegate, but the editor is aware of no other evidence to that effect. His residence was in Norwich, Cumberland county.
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ture,) if the whole money is sent, and all that will muster to be Paid, and care taken that no more Billeting is paid than has been in Servise.
Tho the Frontiers this way has seemed to leave you, you will ever care for the whole. I think that ever an army of observation is wanted here ; it is now, both on acet. of Internal as well as External Enemys. You will advise as you think best, and rely you [or yon may rely I] will do every thing for the good of the whole without having any regard to Private views. I am Gents, Your most obedient Humble servant,
JACOB BAYLEY.
The editor of the Documentary History of New York evidently intend- ed to give a literal copy of the foregoing letter ; but here, by points, division of sentences, and other devices, an attempt has been made to give the meaning intended by the writer. The last letter of Gen. Bayley to the New York authorities was dated June 14, 1777, and declared that the people of the county were "almost to a man" violent for a separation from New York. On the 4th of that month six towns of the county, being the most important, were represented in the Vermont Convention at Windsor, and from that date the county may be reckoned as lost to New York.
APPENDIX B.
SOME MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS, AND SHORT ARGUMENTS, on a Small Pamphlet, dated in the CONVENTION of the REPRESENTATIVES of the STATE OF NEW-YORK, October 2, 1776, and sent from said CONVENTION to the County of CUMBERLAND, and some REASONS given, why the District of the New Hampshire Grants had best be a STATE. By IRA ALLEN. Hartford, [Conn .. ] printed by EBENEZER WrSON, near the GREAT BRIDGE. M. DCCLXXVII.1
PREFATORY NOTE.
[From It. Historical Society Collections, vol. I.]
THE following, entitled " Miscellaneous Remarks, etc.," was published in pamphlet form about the month of May, 1777, but is now out of print. It appears from the preface that it " was undertaken at the request of the General Convention of the district of the New Hampshire Grants." This Convention, assembled at Westminster, had on the 15th of January preceding declared the territory separated from the government of New York, and to be an independent state,-had appointed agents to attend upon the Continental Congress, and inform that body of their declaration, and to ask to be admitted to seats therein as delegates from the new state? This pamphlet was probably the first considerable publication which was made in behalf of the people of the territory after the com- mencement of the Revolution.
BENJAMIN II. HALL, in his " Bibliography of the State of Vermont," says that this pamphlet was a reply to a "report submitted to the Con- vention of New York on the 4th of October, 1776, by a committee con- sisting of William Duer, James Duane, Zephaniah Platt, John Sessions Simon Stevens and John Jay, copious extracts from which may be found in B. HI. Hall's History of Eastern Vermont, at pages 271, 275." The first sentence of the pamphlet has a quotation from this report.
In Thompson's Civil History of Vermont, page 107, the following items from Colonel Ira Allen's account against the State are given : "1777 April 20th, To writing a pamphlet, Vindicating the Rights of the peo- ple to form a state, and in answer to a pamphlet published by the Con- vention of N. Y., dated Oct. 2d, 1776, and sent to the county of Cumber- land, $6 0 0. To 3 days going to Hartford to get s'd pamphlet printed, €1 10 0."
1 Prepared and printed by order of the Convention at Westminster, October 1776 .- See ante, p. 37.
2 Slade's State Papers, p. 68-73.
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Appendix B.
PREFACE.
THE following impartial work was undertaken by, and at the request of the General Convention of the district of the New Hampshire Grants, and many matters of fact are herein inserted as a short State of the dis- ingenuous cunning of the former government (now State) of New York. towards the inhabitants of said district; which are humbly dedicated to the candid reader, by the author, for the good of mankind.
SOME MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS, ETC.
OUR Author informs us in page 7th and 8th, viz .: " It is unquestiona- ble that the jurisdiction of this state over the territory which now com- prehends the County of Cumberland is coeval with its first formation as a Colony under the Crown of Great Britain."
It is a fact notoriously known, by those that are acquainted with the history of the former government of New York, that that government did not extend so far north as Albany, until the accession of King Will- iam and Queen Mary to the throne; then we find a commission from their Majesties to Henry Slaughter, to be materially different from those of the respective Governors of New York, before King William and Queen Mary, by their commission, dated the fourth day of January, in the first year of their reign, appointed Henry Slaughter to be Governor of the Province of New York, and the territories depending thereon, in America. Before the accession of King William and Queen Mary to the throne, plantations were extended northwardly, either on patents procured immediately from the Crown, or government, or mere settle- ment on extra provincial lands, in which the City of Albany was in- cluded.
The enlargement in the commission to Henry Slaughter, was in these words, viz: "and the Territories depending thereon in America." These territories are that extension of jurisdiction beyond their circumscribed limits, terminating south of Albany, called the province of New York. This territorial extension of jurisdiction was altogether in the arbitra- tion of the Crown, to curtail or extend ; this being the case, the respec- tive Governors can no other way be judges of the extent of jurisdiction. but by directions given them, in their commission, together with his Majesty's express proclamations and public determinations relative thereto, as in the instance of the royal adjudication in 1764, a publica- tion of which, by his Majesty's orders, gave his subjects to understand that it was his pleasure that the territorial jurisdiction of New York should extend to the west bank of the Connecticut River; which includes the Counties of Cumberland and Gloucester within that government. Before this, it was impossible for the subjects to know it; if they could have known it without his Majesty's proclamation certifying the same, such proclamation would have been needless and impertinent. The truth of the matter is his Majesty in 1739, determined that the New Hampshire government should cover the present County of Cumber- land. He altered his determination in 1764, whereby New York ex- tended its territories over the County of Cumberland, and for any gen- tlemen to assure people of common sense, that "it is unquestionable that the jurisdiction of this State, over the territories which now com- prehend the County of Cumberland, is coeval with its first formation as a colony, under the Crown of Great Britain," is the hight of folly. It was, in the nature of things, absolutely impossible, his Majesty himself should have known that to have been the case the moment before he de-
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termined it, and equally inconsistent that the subjects should know it till his Majesty proclaimed it.
Our Author further infers, in page 8th, these words, viz: "And imply- ing a latent design by a further separation from the State, to leave the whole burthen of the present cruel and expensive war to be sustained by the rest of the community."
This is, indeed, a very extraordinary way of arguing, and in particular for the Honorable, the Provincial Congress to assert. It is well known to that State that it was over disagreeable to the inhabitants of the New Hampshire Grants to be within the State of New York, and there has been much talk of separating from said State: and should the County of Cumberland absent from said State and connect with the State of Mas- sachusetts-Bay, or should they connect with the rest of the New Hamp- shire Grants and form a new State, it is not to be even supposed but that we should pay our proportion, according to our abilities, of the expense of the present war.
It is not reasonable that one of the United States should be more pressed with powerful armies, than any other; that they ought or will pay any more for that, or it one State should raise more men, according to their numbers, to join the main army, or to scout in their own fron- tiers. if need be, than the rest, that they ought, in justice, to bear any more of the burthen than any other States. (but, in consequence of their being harrassed by the enemy, they ought not to pay so much). But in the sequel of the war, the whole expense will be made in one bill by the Honorable the Continental Congress; then each State will share equally the blessings of the glorious victory, by which all the liberties granted to our ancestors by the Supreme Governor of the Universe, may be kept inviolate, and handed down to the latest posterity: and if one State has done more than their proportion it will be remitted to them again, to their everlasting honor, for exerting themselves to maintain the liberties God has given us. If each State have done their equal proportion, then consequently each State will pay their proportion according to their abilities, until said bill is discharged.
Our Author asserts the following lines in page 10: " And the success of the great cause, in which the whole continent is engaged, cannot but be weakened by dissension. and by countenancing the factious and self- interested." This objection, at first view, seems to be important, but upon examination will vanish. I readily agree that it would be matter of lamentation, that when we are jointly engaged in a bloody contest, merely to oppose arbitrary power without us, that we should have occa- sion to contend against the same within ourselves, especially those who profess to be friends to liberty. I imagine this objection arises for want of due consideration. We are much mistaken in our views if we are not proposing that, and that only which will prevent contentions and divisions taking place amongst us, and that which will have the most happy effect to unite us in indissoluble bonds of union and friendship, by forming the whole district of the New Hampshire Grants into a new and permanent State, in which all the free and natural rights of men will be protected to the latest posterity. Certainly, if the observations I have made are just, the objection must cease in the mind of every rea- sonable person; for, if we consider that oppression was the cause of this unnatural war, and the oppressions this district has received from the government of New York are similar, (which, I think, may plainly ap- pear,) are we not pursuing the same general cause ? The only difference is that we are contending against the same enemy within that is also without, and certainly, if arbitrary power without us ought to be pun- ished with vengeance, that within ought to have seven-fold ; therefore,
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we are persuaded that every one who is a true friend to the liberties of mankind, and has any sense of his own or posterity's good, will think the case well deserves a serious consideration, and ought to be referred to the Honorable, the Grand Council of the United States of America, for their wise deliberation and determination, which is our ardent wish. God gave mankind freedom by nature, and made every man equal to his neighbor, and has virtually enjoined them to govern themselves by their own laws. Doubtless you remember in ancient times every man sat under his own vine and fig-tree, and there was none to make them afraid ; and when it became necessary for them to have some rules and laws to govern themselves by, every man appeared personally under their own fig-trees in council, and harmoniously agreed on rules to be governed by. They also worshipped the Deity in the open air; but in process of time, to shelter themselves from the inclemency of the weath- er, they built houses for that sacred use; then, by the increase of men, it became necessary for some divisions, and they divided themselves into tribes, each one governing his own internal policy, etc.
Since the propagation of settlements through the world it is become necessary, for the sake of good order and government, that the inhabited part of America should be divided into governments, or States, counties, towns, etc., for the convenience of its inhabitants, though not for the aggrandizement of any particular place, or number of men, but for the mutual advantage of the whole.
It was not the free voice of the people of the New Hampshire Grants, ever to be in the government of New York, but was an express order from the Crown in the year 1764, and was unknown to most of said in- habitants of said Grants, until his Majesty's proclamation appeared cer- tifying the same.
By the declaration ofindependence, all laws and connection with the Brit- ish Court were dissolved, which left all kingly government destitute of any law, or established mode of government, to establish us a free and independent State of America; and as the design of forming govern- ments was meant for the mutual benefit, peace and happiness of the present and future ages, I see no reason why any county or counties, community or communities of people, may not assert their free and nat- ural rights and liberties which were given them by the God of nature; and if the royal tyrant of Great Britain did pass an order extending the territorial jurisdiction of New York to the West Bank of the Connecti- cut River, for some sinister views to the Crown, (or by the influence of some designing gentlemen in New York,) and contrary to the free voice of the inhabitants of the whole district of the New Hampshire Grants, as it rendered the situation of the inhabitants very disagreeable in many respects, and one on this hypothesis unavoidable, viz .: their local situa- tion, as some of them are upward of four hundred miles from the Seat of government at New York: this order may be well accounted one of the cruel acts of the Crown; and as the Honorable, the Continental Congress did, on the fourth day of July last, declare the United Colonies of America to be free and independent of the Crown, which declaration the people of the New Hampshire Grants have most cordially acquiesced in, by forming an association, binding themselves by all the ties held sa- cred amongst men, to exert themselves to defend by arms the liberties of America, as also by many votes of the General Convention of later dates; and, whereas, by said declaration, the arbitrary acts of the Crown are null and void in America, consequently the jurisdiction by said Crown granted to the government of New York over the people in the New Hampshire Grants, is totally dissolved, so that the evil of New York is not left over any part of the New Hampshire Grants.
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Appendix B.
It has been before observed, that the design of forming government was meant for the mutual benefit, peace and happiness of the present and future ages ; therefore, since the dissolution of the British power in America, all power as it was, in the beginning, naturally re- solves back on the people : it. therefore. now stands every individual in hand to see what way and mode of government they adopt. as also the boundaries of each State ; together with the natural genins, habit and temper of the people which are to make and constitute one body politic.
And now, as I view it. we are probationers, to aet not only for ourselves, but for posterity, even in some degree as it was with Adam in his origi- nal purity. He transgressed the Divine law, thereby brought sin and misery on himself and posterity, which deprived his successors of those liberties and mansions God had given him. Each man is accountable to his Creator for the part he now takes, for on the conduct of the present age depends the liberties of millions yet unborn.
Since this vast continent has made this noble stand, have and still con- tinue to wield the sword of liberty, to preserve inviolate the freedom of the present and future ages, and are about to establish new and free States, under the authority of the people, it behooves us. as inhabitants of the New Hampshire Grants, to view with candor our own situation.
We principally emigrated from the New England States, the former laws, rules and regulations of which were nearly alike, in consequence of which the inhabitants of said Grants have been taught inone way. Their genius and customs have been so near correspondent that there is the highest probability that they would unanimously agree on a mode to govern the internal policy of a State, with the greatest unanimity, which is one of the greatest blessings ever bestowed on a free people.
On the other hand, the former laws, rules and regulations of the government, now State of New York, have been so materially different from those we have been accustomed to, and considering the contlet that has subsisted, these many years, between this district and the said government. there is the greatest reason to believe that, should this dis- trict connect with that state, to make one body politie. there would be as little hopes of a reconciliation ever taking place between them as there would be between Great Britain and the United States of America, which must render the situation of both very unhappy. Witness a resolve, viz :
"In convention of the representatives of the State of New York, at Harlem, August 2, 1776, Resolred, unanimously, that all quit-rents for- merly dne and payable to the King of Great Britain, within this State, are now due and owing unto this Convention, or such future government as may be hereafter established in this State.
Extract from the minutes,
ROBERT BENSON. Secretary."
It is to be here noted that those grants that derived from New Hamp- shire pay one shilling proclamation money, and those from New York, half a crown, sterling, on each hundred acres, when, in the ancient part of the province of New York, Livingston's Manor, a tract of land about twenty miles square, pays but one beaver skin annually. as quit-rent. and Bateman's patent. a valuable tract of about ninety thousand acres, pays only a quit-rent of three pounds, ten shillings ; in fine, all the old settled part of the province pays no more than a trifling acknowledg- ment.
Thus it appears, by the above resolve, and by a small pamphlet, dated in convention the second of October, 1776, and sent from the Honorable, the Provincial Congress of the State of New York, to the County of Cumberland, that the present Honorable Congress have passed some un
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reasonable and oppressive resolves ; a very extraordinary way indeed to collect a sum of money to defray public expense, after the former govern- ment of New York had, by cunning and fraud, threats and deceit, terri- tied and seduced the inhabitants of some townships, to take re-grants of them, at the extortionate price of even twenty-three hundred dollars for a township, and on said subsequent patent was added a three-fold quit- rent.
This act of the former government carries the color of tyrrany in its very visage. and is plain to be seen by the weakest capacity.
I cannot see why there is not as much tyranny in taking this three- fold quit-rent, since the dissolution of the British power in America, as there was in giving the subsequent patent, for it is still holding up in ex- istence one of those cruel acts which induced us to take up arms and join our brethren. in the several United States, to defend the whole. By this the candid reader will easily see the almost infinite disproportion of collecting money for public expense.
To understand political power aright, and derive it from its original, We must consider what state all men are naturally in. and this is a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons. as they shall think fit, within the bounds of the law of nature, without asking leave or depending upon the will of any other man. ( Locke. ) A state. also, of equality wherein all power of legislation is re- ciprocal, no one having more than another, there being nothing more evident than that creatures of the same species and rank, promiscuously born to all the same advantages of nature, and the use of the same facul- ties, should be equal, one amongst another, without subordination or sub- jection, only what is absolutely necessary to keep up good laws. rules and regulations amongst mankind. The natural and just rights of a free people are, first the making, and secondly executing, their own laws. On these two branches depend the liberties of a free people, and are guarded by having the control of those branches in their own hands. And now the inhabitants of the district of the New Hampshire Grants, being in- vested with such powers as the God of Nature has blessed them with. although delegates from the Counties of Cumberland and Gloucester have been admitted to sit in the Honorable Provincial Congress of New York, yet the following will plainly demonstrate that they were not le- gally chosen by the Inhabitants of said Counties at large; for it would be unreasonable even to suppose that the inhabitants of said district of the New Hampshire Grants should ever consent to delegate their right of representation, and thereby consent to unite with a power with whom they had been, for a number of years, earnestly contending. with- out any hopes of redress :
That in consegnence of circular letters from said Congress of New York, dated May 31, 1776, requesting the Counties of Cumberland and Gloucester to send delegates to sit in convention, and assist them in making and establishing a code of laws for said State, the following method was made use of in choosing delegates for the County of Cum- berland, viz: The three first in nomination, for whom the greatest num- ber of votes appeared, werc declared accepted, without allowing a nega- tive voice, when, at the same time, it was generally conceded to by the said County Convention that it was contrary to the free voice of three fourths of the inhabitants of said County to elect delegates to represent them in Convention aforesaid, or to be otherwise connected with them: so that by this method of choosing, if one man has ten votes, another five, and another three, they would be severally chosen, by the people at large, to assist in the establishment of a code of laws by which the whole are to be governed.
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True, this mode of choosing is a sure and quick method of getting a choice at the first attempt. and, where a community are agreed in the mode, is justifiable; but this mode would be very wrongly applied to these counties, considering the aged conflict which has subsisted so long and with such impetuosity as to spill the blood of several of its inhab- itants. It ever was, and still is, disagreeable for the inhabitants of those counties to be and remain in the jurisdiction of New York, therefore, according to natural liberty, a vote should have been first obtained for choosing delegates, and secondly. (if that were completed.) the mode of choosing: that is, the inhabitants of each town. in their public town meeting, appointed for that purpose. to deliver to the moderator or clerk their votes severally in writing, which votes to be carefully sealed up in the presence of such meeting, and properly conveyed to some meet per- son, duly appointed to receive. and deliver the same to the Chairman of the County Committee, who, with a quorum. is to complete what is fur- ther necessary thereon; but not in the clandestine way of designing men going to the habitations of private individuals to collect votes. In the County of Cumberland there are upwards of two thousand voters, out of which there were but three hundred and sixty-eight in favor of electing delegates to sit in the Hon. Convention of New York. viz: For Col. Joseph Marsh, 368: For Capt. John Sessions, 172. and for Simon Ste- vens, Esq., 166. Six or seven towns in said County did at the same time enter their protest against election, and even the County Committee. who gave the Delegates their credentials, did restrict them to particular instructions, reserving to themselves, in behalf of the county, a right of absenting from the State of New York whenever a suitable opportunity would admit thereof : yet Messrs. Sessions and Stevens, two of the Del- egates of Cumberland County, (if I may so call them.) declared in Con- gress that they were chosen by the people at large; that the Committee who gave them their instructions and sent the said letter to the Conven- tion. were elected long before their own elections, as deputies for said County; that their credentials from the County gave them full and un- restrained power in forming a government; that they conceive them- selves no farther bound by their instructions than they shall appear to be right and beneficial. but that whenever, on debate, it should appear that those instructions might work an injury to the State, or, if on any question they should be out-voted, they should not consider themselves bound by instructions ; and further, that as Representatives of said County, they fully acknowledge the jurisdiction of this State over the said County and its inhabitants. This representation seems to be big with great mischief ; for surely, if there was any validity in their ereden- tials, there was equally the same in their instructions, for they both were derived from one committee, and were both joined on one paper and all done in one day; and if their eredentials gave them a seat in that Hon- orable House, they must, consequently. follow their instructions or cease to be the Representatives of the People, by the same rule that George the Third ceased to be our King by breaking his coronation oath.
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