USA > Vermont > The history of Vermont, from its discovery to its admission into the Union in 1791. By Hiland Hall > Part 19
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Of all those offences his judges found him guilty, and declaring his house to be a nuisance, passed sentence that it should be burnt to the ground and that he should promise he would not for the future act as a justice of the peace under New York. But upon Spencer's representation that his wife and children would be great sufferers and his store of dry goods and all his property be des- troyed if his house was burned, the sentence was reconsidered, and upon the suggestion of Warner it was decided that the house should not be wholly destroyed, but only the roof should be taken off, and might be put on again, provided Spencer should declare that it was put on again under the New Hampshire title, and should purchase a right under the charter of that province. Spencer having promised compliance with these terms, the Green Mountain Boys proceeded to take off the roof "with great shouting and much noise and tumult." Spencer on his further promise not to act again as magis- trate was discharged from custody. A company of some twenty or thirty of the " mob party" went to the house of coroner Jenny, and finding him missing and his house deserted set it on fire and burnt it to the ground. Most or all of the other inhabitants of Clarendon who held under the New York patent being visited and threatened, agreed to purchase the New Hampshire title. According to the New York version of this invasion of Durham, which is all the written or printed account of it that has been found, " the men
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composing the mob," conducted themselves in a coarse, boisterous and blustering manner, using very violent as well as profane lan- guage, threatening destruction and death to those who should fail to acknowledge the New Hampshire title and become its advocates.
A number of the men from the southern part of the district, who had visited Clarendon, on their return, met Jacob Marsh, Esq., at Arlington, who was on his way from New York to Socialborough, took him prisoner, and put him on trial for his crimes against the New Hampshire claimants, before Samuel Tubbs, Nathaniel Spencer and Philip Perry as judges. Seth Warner and Remember Baker were his accusers, the latter insisting upon the application of the " beech seal," as a punishinent. But his advice did not prevail ; the sentence of the judges, which was in writing, and read to him by Warner by direction of the court, was to the effect that he should thereafter encourage settlements of lands under the New Hampshire charters, and discourage those under New York, and that he should not act as a justice of the peace under a New York commission " upon pain of having his house burnt and reduced to ashes, and his person punished at their pleasure." He was then dismissed, his judges furnishing him with a certificate to protect him against further mob punishment for past offences.1
It appears from the affidavit of Marsh that on his reaching Social- borough he found that the roof of his house had been publicly taken off by a party of Green Mountain Boys, probably under the idea that when put on again it would be, like that of Spencer, under the New Hampshire title. A day or two after the departure of the mob from Clarendon, Charles Button, a constable residing in that town, was arrested at Pittsford, in the northern part of Social- borough, and a prisoner he had in charge for debt was taken from his custody. Button was put on trial for acting in the office under the New York authority, threatened with the "becch seal," and compelled to give the party six shillings for his damages, and to " promise he would never execute any precept under the province
1 The following is given in the affidavit of Marsh as a literal copy of the certificate.
" Arlington Novr 25th AD 1773. These may Sertify that Jacob Marsh haith ben Examined, and had on fare trial-so that our mob shall not medeal farther with him as long as he behaves
Sartified by us his judges, to wit
Teste Cr. Seth Warner
SAML TUBS NATHANIEL SPENCER PHILIP PERRY"
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of New York." He was thereupon dismissed and furnished with a certificate as follows :
"These are to certify to all the Green Mountain Boys that Charles Button has had his trial at Stephen Mead's and this is his discharge from us.
PELEG SUNDERLAND, BENJAMIN COOLEY."
The Durhamites had, indeed, chosen to accept a patent from New York, which they must have known had issued contrary to the order of the king, and was consequently illegal, and they were in active hostility to the New Hampshire claimants. They had never- theless entered into possession of their lands under a supposed title from Lydius, and it is difficult to justify the violent proceedings of the Green Mountain Boys against them upon any other ground than that the equitable claims of the few should submit to the safety of the many, and that such harsh measures were indispensable to the general security.
But while the Green Mountain Boys were determined to make the settlers in Clarendon purchase and hold their lands under the New Hampshire charters, they were equally decided that they should not be imposed upon by being compelled to pay unreasonable prices for them. Allen, soon after his return from the expedition to Clarendon, being apprehensive that advantage might be taken by the holders of the New Hampshire title to insist upon extravagant rates of compensation from the frightened Durhamites, addressed them a letter, warning them not to submit to any such impositions, and promising them protection against any such oppression. To this letter he procured the additional signatures of Jeliiel Hawley, who had been the agent of the settlers in England, and some others of the prominent New Hampshire claimants. The letter was after- wards transmitted to the governor of New York, and laid before his council. It is characteristic of the writer and of the time, and is therefore inserted at length, as follows :
" To Mr. Benjamin Spencer and Mr. Amos Marsh and the people of Clarendon in general.
Gentlemen : On my return from what you call the mob, I was concerned for your welfare, fearing that the force of our arms would urge you to purchase the New Hampshire title at an unreasonable rate, though at the same time I know not but that after the force is withdrawn you will want a third army. However, on proviso, you
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incline to purchase the title aforesaid, it is my opinion that you in justice ought to have it at a reasonable rate, as new lands were valued at the time you purchased them. This with sundry other arguments in your behalf, I laid before Capt Jehiel Hawley and other respectable gentlemen of that place (Arlington), and by their advice and concurrence I write you this friendly epistle, unto which they subscribe their names with me, that we are disposed to assist you in purchasing reasonably as aforesaid ; and on condition Col. Willard or any other person demand an exhorbitant price for your lands, we scorn it, and will assist you in mobbing such avaricious persons, for we mean to use force against oppression, and that only. Be it in New York, Willard or any person, it is injurious to the rights of the district .- From yours to serve,
ETHAN ALLEN. JEHIEL HAWLEY. DANIEL CASTLE. GIDEON HAWLEY. REUBEN HAWLEY. ABEL. HAWLEY.
Furthermore we are of opinion this letter communicates the gene- ral sense of our grants."
A few days after dispatching the foregoing letter, AAllen addressed another letter to the inhabitants of Clarendon on the same subject, of which the following is a copy :
" An Epistle to the Inhabitants of Clarendon.
" From Mr. Francis Madison of your town, I understand Oliver Colvin of your town has acted the infamous part, by locating part of the farm of said Madison. This sort of trick I was partly apprised of when I wrote the late letter to Messrs. Spencer and Marsh. I abhor to put a staff into the hands of Colvin or any other rascal to defraud your settlers. The Hampshire title must, nay shall, be had for such settlers as are in quest of it, at a reasonable rate, nor shall any villain by a sudden purchase impose on the old settlers.
" I advise said Colvin to be flogged for the abuse aforesaid unless he immediately retracts and reforms, and if there be further diffi- culties among you I advise that you employ Capt. Warner as an arbitrator in your affairs. I am certain he will do all parties justice. Such candor you need in your present situation, for I assure you it is not the design of our mobs to betray you into the hands of villainous purchasers. None but blockheads would purchase your
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farms and must be treated as such. If this letter does not settle this dispute you had better hire Capt. Warner to come singly and assist you in the settlement of your affairs. My business is such that I cannot attend to your matters in person, but desire you would inform me by writing or otherwise relative thereto. Capt. Baker joins with the foregoing and does me the honor to subscribe his name with me.
We are gentlemen your friends to serve, ETHAN ALLEN, REMEMBER BAKER."1
It is believed that a portion of the inhabitants of Clarendon pur- chased the New Hampshire title in compliance with this requirement of the Green Mountain Boys, and that most of the settlers were eventually, in some way, quieted in their possessions.
1 Ira Allen's Hist., 36, 37. Doc. Hist. N. Y., vol. 4, p. 856 to 869. Spen- cer's Letters in Allen Papers, 39, 63. C. Button's Affidavits, Allen Papers, 107. Allen's Letters to the people of Clarendon in Stevens's Papers.
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CAPTER XVI.
NEW YORK ACT OF OUTLAWRY AGAINST ALLEN AND OTHERS. 1774.
Resolutions of the New York Assembly offering rewards for Allen, Baker, Warner, and five others- Act of Assembly declaring them by name, and also any other persons concerned in riots in Albany and Charlotte counties, guilty of felony and punishable with death, without trial, on their neglect to surrender themselves - Public answer of the committee of the settlers, and of the proscribed parties to the provisions of the New York law - Measures of defense against "the Yorkers"- Forts built at New Haven, on Otter Creek, and at Colchester, on Onion river - Application of Col- den to Gage, for regular troops, and his refusal.
I N January following the violent proceedings of the Green Mountain Boys against the claimants under the patent of Durham the subject was brought before the assembly of New York by petition of Benjamin Hough of Socialborough, in behalf of himself and others. The petition with accompanying affidavits, was referred to a committee from which Mr. Brush. for Mr. Clinton, the chairman, on the 5th of February 1774, reported resolutions, declaring " that in view of the dangerous and destructive spirit of riot and licentiousness prevalent in part of the county of Charlotte and in the northeastern district of the county of Albany," and in consideration of the ex- posure of the inhabitants living there to violence and abuse "an humble address be presented to his excellency, desiring that he would be pleased to issue his proclamation offering a reward of fifty pounds for apprehending and securing in his majesty's jail at Albany, any or either of the following named persons :
Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, Remember Baker, Robert Cochran, Peleg Sunderland, Silvanus Brown, James Breakenridge and John Smith ; which reward for the apprehension of Allen and Baker was afterwards increased by vote of the assembly, to one-hundred pounds each. The resolution of the assembly further provided that " a bill should be brought in more effectually to suppress the riotous and disorderly proceedings, maintain the free course of justice and for bringing the offenders to condign punishment," and Mr. Brush and Col. Ten Broeck were appointed a committee for that purpose.
These resolutions of the assembly having been published in the New York Mercury, reached the people of the district and were taken into consideration : " At a general meeting of the committees of the
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several townships on the west side of the range of the Green mount- ains, granted under the great seal of the province of New Hamp- shire, held at the house of Eliakim Wellers in Manchester, on the 1st day of March, 1774, and afterwards by adjournment at the house of Capt. Jchiel Hawley in Arlington, on the third Wednes- day of the same month."
A committee of seven was appointed to prepare an answer to the resolutions, and their report, having been adopted by the conven- tion, was signed by Nathan Clark, chairman, and Jonas Fay, clerk, and published in the Connecticut Courant, printed at Hartford, and in the New Hampshire Gazette, at Portsmouth.
The answer complained that the resolutions in charging the inhabitants of the New Hampshire Grants with being rioters and disturbers of the public peace "had not mentioned a single word in regard to the title to the land contested for," which their authors very well knew was the sole cause of all the difficulty ; averred that they and the people they represented were " loyal subjects of the king of Great Britain," and were the friends of order and good government, and that all they had done was necessary to their protection against the unjust and oppressive attempts of their enemies to deprive them of their property and to make them their tenants and slaves, and was therefore justified by the great law of self preservation. The answer then gave a clear and concise statement of the grounds of the land controversy, claimed that the New Hampshire settlers had a valid title to the lands in dispute under the charters of the king's governor of that province, gave a copy of the order of the king in council of July 24, 1767, prohi- biting the New York governors from making any more grants of their lands, which order it was declared had been disregarded and violated by them; that the lords of trade and plantations " having considered and wisely deliberated upon the several circumstances of the controversy, did on the third day of December, A. D. 1772, make their report in favor of the New Hampshire grantees," of which report they were in daily expectation of receiving his majes- ty's confirmation, and that they were justified in defending their possessions until his final decision. The convention further alleged that those in authority in the New York government were mostly claimants of their lands under patents issued subsequent to the charters of the settlers, that the trials of their titles on writs of ejectments brought by the New York patentees, were before courts "wherein judge and plaintiff were connected in one common interest ; " that the judgments were illegal and invalid, and that thic
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settlers ought not to be treated as rioters for opposing their execu- tion.
The convention further declared that they would stand by and defend their proscribed friends and neighbors "at the expense of their lives and fortunes," and in conclusion, resolved as follows ; " that, for the future, every necessary preparation be made, and that our inhabitants hold themselves in readiness, at a minutes warning, to aid and defend such friends of ours who for their merit to the great and general cause, are falsely denominated rioters ; but that we will not act any thing more or less, but on thic defensive, but will always encourage due execution of law in civil cases, and also in criminal prosecutions, that are so indeed , and that we will assist to the utmost of our power, the officers appointed for that purpose." 1
While the committees of the New Hampshire Grants were preparing their foregoing defence of the conduct of their consti- tuents, Gov. Tryon, in order to carry into effect the views of the assembly, issued his proclamation, bearing date the 9th of March, 1774, offering a reward of one hundred pounds each for the appre- hension of Allen and Baker, and fifty pounds each for the six others named in said resolutions. On the same day an act for preventing tumultuous and riotous assemblies in the counties of Charlotte and Albany, and for punishing those concerned in them, passed the assembly ; an act, which for its savage barbarity is probably without a parallel in the legislation of any civilized country.
This New York law first specifies several riotous acts, for some of which the penalty was to be imprisonment, and such corporal punish- ment, short of life and limb, as the court might see fit ; and others were declared to be felony, for which the offender was to suffer death without benefit of clergy. The act proceeds to name " Ethan Allen, sometime of Salisbury in the colony of Connecticut, but late of Bennington, in the county of Albany, yeoman ; Seth War- ner, late of Bennington in said county, ycoman ; Remember Baker, late of Arlington in the said county, yeoman ; Robert Cochran, late of Rupert, in the county of Charlotte, yeoman ; Peleg Sun- derland and Silvanus Brown, late of Socialborough in the same county, yeoman ; James Breakenridge, late of Walloomsack in the county of Albany, yeoman; and John Smith, late of Social- borough, ycoman ;" as the principal ringleaders of the riots and disturbances It then empowers the governor and council to
1 Jour. N. Y. Assembly, Febr. 5, 1774. Slade, 37-42. Allen's Narrative,
11. Conn. Courant, June 21, 1774. N. II. Gazette, No. 914.
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make an order, requiring those persons, or any others who may be indicted for offences within the counties of Albany and Charlotte, to surrender themselves for commitment, to one of his majesty's justices of the peace, within seventy days after the publication of the order in the New York Gazette and Weekly Mercury ; and in case such newspaper summons should not be obeyed, the person neglecting to surrender himself, was, in the language of the act, "to be adjudged, deemed, and (if indicted for a capital offence hereafter to be per- petrated) to be convicted and attainted of felony, and shall suffer death, as in cases of persons convicted and attainted of felony, by verdict and judgment, without benefit of clergy," and the supreme court of the colony, or the inferior courts of oyer and terminer, or of general jail delivery for the said counties of Albany and Charlotte, were authorized and directed "to award execution against such offender so indicted for a capital offence. in the same manner as if he had been convicted or attainted," in said courts respectively. Any person indicted for an offence under the degree of felony, might be summoned to surrender in the same manner, and neglecting to appear was to receive the like punnisliment that would have been awarded after trial and conviction.1
An appeal to the public, in answer to this act of the assembly and to the governor's proclamation. was soon prepared by seven of the eight prescribed persons, to which their names were appended, and which they caused to be published in the Hartford Courant and the Portsmouth Gazette, and extensively circulated in hand-bills. It affirmed in clear and forcible, if not uniformly polished language, the justice of their cause, and avowed their determination to main- tain it at all hazards. They declared that the title to their lands was the essence of the whole controversy, that if the New York patentees would abandon their claims and quiet them in their possessions, there would be no more disturbances - that the government of New York " had broke over his majesty's express prohibitions in patent-
? The resolutions of the assembly, and Gov. Tryon's proclamation offering the rewards, are found in Doc. ITist. N. Y., vol. 4, p. 869-873. For the New York act in full, see Slade, p. 42, and New York Statutes. It appears from the journal of the assembly, that the clause for hanging offenders without trial, met with some opposition in that body, and that on a vote by yeas and nays, it was carried by fifteen to ten. Among the ayes are the promi- nent land claimants, George Clinton, afterwards governor of the state, and whose persisent obstinacy while in that office, prolonged the controversy and delayed the admission of Vermont into the Union for several years, voted in its favor .- Assembly Journal, Feb. 25, 1774. For biographical sketches of the eight proscribed persons, see Appendix No. 1.
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ing their lands, and was not therefore entitled to their obedience in respect to them ; " they say, "the case stands thus : if we oppose civil officers in taking possession of our farms, we are, by these laws, denominated felons, or if we defend our neighbors, who have been indicted rioters, only for defending their property, we are likewise adjudged felons. In fine, every opposition to their monarchal go- vernment is deemed felony, and at the end of every sentence, there is the word DEATII." The charge preferred against them, that they had rescued prisoners for debt, they declared to be false, and to that in regard to their often assembling in arms, they replied as follows: "As to forming ourselves into military order and assuming military commands, the New York posses and military preparations, oppressions, etc., obliged us to it. Probably Messrs. Duane, Kempe, and Banyar, of New York, will not discommend us for so expedient a preparation ; more especially since the decrees of the 9th of March are yet to be put in execution ; and we flatter ourselves, upon occa- sion we can muster as good a regiment of marksmen and scalpers, as America can afford ; and we now give the gentlemen above named, together with Mr. Brush and Col. Ten Broeck, and in fine, all the land jobbers of New York, an invitation to come and view the dexterity of our regiment, and we cannot think of a better time for that purpose, than when the executioners come to kill us by virtue of the authority their judges have lately received, to award and sentence us to death in our absence." 1
The latter part of this appeal was addressed " to the people of the counties of Albany and Charlotte, which inhabit to the westward of, and are situated contiguous to, the New Hampshire Grants."
It referred to them as friends and neighbors, who were acquainted with the relation which the settlers sustained towards the New York claimants and government, in language as follows : "your people, in general, cannot but be sensible that the title of our land, is in reality, the bone of contention ; and that as a people we behave our-
1 The persons here named were all prominent leaders among the New York patentees, and deeply interested in the controversy. Duane held patents for over fifty thousand acres ; Kempe was attorney general of the colony and held large tracts. Duane and Kempe had been attorneys for the plaintiffs, in all the ejectment suits. Banyar was secretary to the go- vernor's council and had claims for more than one hundred and twenty thousand acres. Crean Brush and Col. Abraham Ten Broeck had large claims, were members of the assembly, and were the committee that reported " the bloody bill " against the settlers, and were active in procuring its passage. Ten Broeck was one of the claimants by purchase of the patent of Walloomsack. Council Minutes, Dec. 12, 1769.
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selves orderly ; and are industrious and honestly disposed, and pay just deference to order and good government ; and that we mean no more by that which is called the mob, but to defend our just rights and properties. We appeal to the gentlemen merchants, to inform whether our people in general, do not exert themselves to pay their just debts, and whether they have ever been hindered by the country's mob, in the collection of their dues. But as to the magistrates, sheriffs, under-sheriffs, coroners, and constables of the respective counties, that hold their posts of honor and profit under our bitter enemies, we have jealousy that some of them may be induced to recommend themselves to those on whom they are dependent, and for the wages of unrighteousness offered by proclamation, to presume to apprehend some of us, or our friends. We therefore advertise such officers, and all persons whatsoever, that we are resolved to inflict immediate death on whomsoever may attempt the same ; and provided any of us or our party shall be taken and we have not notice sufficient to relieve them, or whether we relieve them or not, we are resolved to surround such person or persons whether at his or their own house or houses, or any where that we can find him or them, and shoot such person or persons dead. And furthermore, that we will kill and destroy any person or persons whatsoever, that shall presume to be accessary, aiding or assisting in taking any of us as aforesaid ; for by these presents we give any such disposed person or persons to under- stand that although they have a license by the law aforesaid to kill us, and "an indemnification " for such murder from the same authority; yet they have no indemnification for so doing from the Green Mountain Boys."
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