USA > Vermont > The history of Vermont, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 12
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Probably nobody in the United States felt more rejoiced at the fall of Cornwallis than our Vermont negotiators. It had relieved
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HISTORY OF VERMONT.
[1781.
them from a strait in which their condition seemed one of inextricable embarrassment ; and no doubt through the winter the Board of War of Vermont had many a hearty laugh at the baffled queries of the indignant Major Runnels.
CHAPTER XIV.
Action of Congress in relation to Vermont-Conditions proposed preliminary to her admission into the Union -Protest of Vermont against the action of Congress, and refusal of Vermont to comply-Message of General Washington to Governor Chittenden -The governor's reply-Threatened disturbances-Letter of General Wash- ington to Governor Chittenden-Vermont recedes from her refusal-Congress fails to perform its conditional pro- mises-Protest of the agents of Vermont-Indignation in Vermont at the evasive course of Congress-British overtures still continued-Remarks of Dr. Williams upon the Canadian correspondence-Disturbances in Windham county - Appeals to Congress-Resolutions of censure passed by that body-Vermont menaced by Congress - Spirited remonstrance of Vermont - Disturbances in Guilford-Martial law-Ethan Allen's proclamation-The " Yorkers" driven out-Death of Colonel Seth Warner- Remarks upon his life and character.
THE publication of the letter of Lord Ger- main to the British commander in New York, as it gave importance to rumors of danger which al- ready prevailed, and demonstrated what Ver-
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1781.] PROPOSED TERMS OF UNION.
mont could do, if she chose, quickened the ap- prehension of Congress as to the necessity of doing some thing in the case of Vermont. And just at this juncture three delegates arrived in Philadelphia, empowered to negotiate for the‘ admission of Vermont into the Union, and to take their seats as her representatives, if ad- mitted. Under the spur of the letter of Ger- main, and the tide of popular opinion which was now setting in favour of the admission of Vermont, a committee of five were appointed by Congress to confer with the delegates from Vermont. On the 18th of August a conference was had be- tween the committee of Congress and the Ver- mont delegates; and on the 20th of the same month a resolution was passed by Congress, de- manding, as an indispensable preliminary to the admission of Vermont, that she should retreat into her old limits, and dissolve the connection which she had just formed with the New Hamp- shire and the New York towns.
With this resolution both New York and Ver- . mont were dissatisfied. The former state, by resolution of her legislature, protested against the action of Congress in the premises, and de- nied the authority of Congress to intermeddle with the former territorial jurisdiction of any state, or to form a new state by dismembering an old one. And Vermont, which now held her legislative session in Charleston, one of the New
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HISTORY OF VERMONT.
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Hampshire towns, also denied the authority of Congress to prescribe her limits, and resolved to hold the articles of union between the different portions of the state inviolate. She, however, professed a willingness to refer the question of her boundaries to commissioners mutually cho- sen; or, if admitted into the confederacy, she would then submit all such disputes to Congress.
At the same time that the resolutions of Con- gress were transmitted to Vermont, General Washington sent a verbal message to Governor Chittenden, desiring to know what were the real designs, views, and intentions of the people of Vermont; whether they would be satisfied with the independence proposed by Congress, or had it seriously in contemplation to join the enemy and become a British province. The governor, in his reply, dated November 14th, 1781, was explicit, candid, and decisive. He said that there were no people on the continent more attached to the cause of America than the people of Vermont, but that they were fully determined not to be put under the government of New York; that they would oppose this by force of arms, and would join with the British in Canada rather than submit to that government. Gover- nor Chittenden.confidentially detailed to General Washington, in this letter, the transactions of the Vermont negotiators with the enemy, and assigned as a reason for this course that, " Ver-
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1781.] THREATENED DISTURBANCES.
mont, driven to desperation by the injustice of those who should have been her friends, was obliged to adopt policy in the room of power." With regard to the recent resolutions of Con- gress, offering hope of admission into the con- federacy, Governor Chittenden, in his letter, ascribed these measures, not to the influence of the friends of Vermont but to the power of the enemies of the country. "Lord George Ger- main's letter wrought on Congress, and procured that from them which the public virtue of the people could not obtain."
Meanwhile Vermont was in some difficulty with her new acquisitions. There were in the New Hampshire towns, and in the New York district which had been annexed to Vermont, many persons who objected to the union, and the governments of those two states were called upon to aid them in their resistance. Vermont imprisoned New Hampshire officers, and New Hampshire retaliated in kind. There was talk of an armed posse, but nothing serious grew out of this difficulty. During the winter of 1781-2, bodies of New York and Vermont militia were placed in a hostile attitude in the towns belong- ing to New York which had joined Vermont. Happily the good sense and moderation of the commanders prevented any actual collision ; but the danger of violence produced an alarm which invoked the attention of General Washington.
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HISTORY OF VERMONT.
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That true patriot exerted his powers of pacifica- tion, and wrote a letter to Governor Chittenden, from which we extract the following :-
" It is not my business, neither do I think it necessary now, to discuss the origin of the right of a number of the inhabitants to that tract of country formerly distinguished by the name of the New Hampshire grants, and now known by that of Vermont. , I will take it for granted that their right was good, because Congress, by their resolve of the 7th of August imply it, and by that of the 20th are willing fully to confirm it, provided the new state is confined to certain pre- scribed bounds. It appears, therefore, to me, the dispute of boundary is the only one that exists, and that being removed, all other diffi- culties would be removed also, and the matter terminated to the satisfaction of all parties. You have nothing to do but withdraw your ju- risdiction to the confines of your old limits, and obtain an acknowledgment of independence and sovereignty, under the resolve of the 20th of August, for so much territory as does not inter- fere with the ancient established bounds of New York, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. In my private opinion, while it behooves the dele- gates to do ample justice to a body of people sufficiently respectable by their numbers, and entitled by other claims to be admitted into that confederation, it becomes them also to attend to
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CONDITIONS COMPLIED WITH.
1782.]
the interests of their constituents, and see, that under the appearance of justice to one, they do not materially injure the rights of others. I am apt to think this is the prevailing opinion of Congress."
The weight of General Washington's charac- ter, and the affection with which he was regarded, produced their effect; and in February, 1782, the letter of the commander-in-chief of the now victorious American forces being laid before the Vermont assembly, that body receded from its new territorial claims, and complied with the preliminary required by Congress, as the basis of negotiations for her admission into the Union. But her former refusal was under consideration in Congress at the very moment when she was retracing that false step. Resolutions were re- ported of a more positive character than any which had hitherto passed. By these, in case of the refusal of Vermont to retire within .her original limits, her territory was to be divided between New York and New Hampshire. These resolutions failed, however, to pass, and the Vermont delegates arrived with an official state- ment of the compliance of Vermont with the re- quisition of Congress. A committee of Congress reported that Vermont having complied with the resolution of the 20th of August, the conditional promise therein became absolute. The report closed with a resolution to admit the new state.
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HISTORY OF VERMONT.
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But Congress refused to fix a day for its con- sideration, and the state of Vermont found itself still unacknowledged.
The delegates who had been sent from Ver- mont in the full faith that a few formalities only stood between them and their seats in Congress, on the 19th of April addressed a letter to the president of that body, and returned home. In that letter they represented that Vermont, in consequence of the faith pledged to that state, had in the most ample manner performed what was required. They expressed their disappoint- ment at the unexpected delay. Vermont, they stated, was now reduced to a critical situation by casting off a considerable portion of her strength, being exposed to the main force of the enemy in Canada, and destitute of aid from the United States. They were urgent that delay might not deprive them of the benefit of this confederation, and requested that they should be officially apprized when their attendance would be necessary.
The people of Vermont were justly indignant that they were thus trifled with; and the opinion became general that the assembly had been duped by the finesse of Congress. The inha- bitants of the state, both as individuals, and through their assembly, determined to trouble Congress no more with their claims to admission into the confederacy, but to adhere to the bound-
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1782.] BRITISH OVERTURES CONTINUED.
aries which they had originally fixed, and Con- gress had recognised. They would defend their own jurisdiction, and rely upon their own strength. Still, as a matter of prudence, and to put themselves in a correct attitude, they again appointed agents to arrange the admission of the state into the Union, and waited now for overtures.
The Revolutionary War virtually ceased with the surrender of Cornwallis in 1781. Perhaps the withdrawal of the outside pressure upon the Union made Congress negligent of the claims into notice of which they had been driven by foreign machinations. The British overtures to Vermont had, however, by no means ceased. During the winter of 1781-2 they were repeat- ed, and through the whole of the year the correspondence was kept up, principally on the part of the British officers. Offers of commis- sions to different persons were distinctly made. In July, Colonel Ira Allen was sent into Canada to request the release of two officers belonging to Vermont. The officers were released, and Colonel Allen was hard-pressed to negotiate a secret treaty ; and all the skill of the Vermont diplomatist was required to avoid compliance, , and still procure a continuance of the armistice. This, however, he effected. We must do Gene- ral Haldiman the credit to pronounce him a most humane man, nor can we deny him the
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HISTORY OF VERMONT.
[1782.
quality of sincerity in his professions of friend- ship for the Vermont people, and in his desire to do them "a benefit. The last letter from Canada was written in March, 1783, when ru- mours of the peace had reached that province, and in it the writer expresses a regret that the " happy moment" for a reconciliation " could not be recalled." Still, the writer promised, " should any thing favourable present"-that is, a chance to be included in Canada be disco- vered-" you may still depend on his excellency's utmost endeavours for your salvation." We will dismiss this part of the history of Vermont with the remarks of Dr. Williams, the early his- torian of that state.
" Thus terminated a correspondence which occasioned many and various conjectures at the time it was carried on. On the part of the British it consisted of constant attempts and endeavours to persuade the leading men of Ver- mont to renounce their allegiance to the states of America, and become a British province. On the part of the gentlemen of Vermont, the correspondence consisted of evasive, ambiguous general answers and proposals, calculated not to destroy the British hopes of seduction, but carefully avoiding any engagements or measures that could be construed to be the act of the government. And it had for its object a cessa- tion of hostilities, at a time when the state of
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1782.]
DR. WILLIAMS'S REMARKS.
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Vermont, deserted by the continent, and unable to defend herself, lay at the mercy of the enemy in Canada. .
" Eight persons only in Vermont were in the secret of this correspondence. Each of them was known to be among the most confirmed friends to the American cause. They had avowed their sentiments and embraced the cause of their country from the beginning of the American war. They had suffered severely, often borne arms, and done every thing in their power to defend the independence of the states. And, through the whole of this correspondence they gave the most decisive proofs that they could not be bought or bribed by any offers of wealth and honour. But so odious were the British proceedings and government, at that time, to the people of America, that it was with difficulty the people of Vermont could be kept quiet, under the idea of a correspondence carried on with the British, though known to be designed for their protection. Once or twice there were small insurrections to demand ex- planations ; and nothing but the well-known and strong attachment of the gentlemen concerned to the independence of Vermont and of America could have preserved them from open violence and destruction."
Having thus disposed of the Canada entangle- ment, it remains that we state the conclusion
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HISTORY OF VERMONT.
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of the New York difficulty. During the year 1782, a draught of militia was ordered by the assembly of Vermont. Certain persons in Windham county, denying the jurisdiction of Vermont, resisted, and being furnished with New York commissions, civil and military, undertook an organized resistance. The mi-
litia were called out by Governor Chittenden, the leaders of the sedition were captured, several were fined or imprisoned, and five of the most obnoxious banished. New York ap-
pealed to Congress ; and that body passed re- solutions of censure against Vermont, for having exercised authority over persons who professed allegiance to New York. Congress directed restitution to be made to those who had been fined and banished, and that they should be admitted to return without molestation. Ef- fectual measures were threatened to enforce compliance-but it was easier to threaten than to perform.
The governor and council of Vermont imme- diately replied to these resolutions of Con- gress in a spirited remonstrance. In this document Congress was reminded of its en- gagements to Vermont still unfulfilled, and the remonstrants claimed that Vermont had as good a right to independence as Congress. They asserted that Vermont had as much au- thority to pass resolutions prescribing measures
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1782.] REMONSTRANCE TO CONGRESS.
to Congress, as that body had to interfere be- tween that state and criminals punished in due course of law. The remonstrants asserted that Congress was pursuing the same measures to- ward Vermont, which Britain had used against the American colonies, and which it had been judged necessary to oppose at every risk and hazard : That such proceedings tended to make the liberty and natural rights of mankind a mere bubble, and the sport of politicians: That it was of no importance to America to pull down arbitrary power in one form, that they might establish it in another: That the in- habitants of Vermont had lived in a state of independence from the first, and would not submit to be resolved out of it by the influ- ence which New York, their old adversary, had in Congress : That they were in full posses- sion of freedom, and would remain independent, notwithstanding all the power. and artifice of New York : That they had no controversy with the United States, considered as a whole, but were at all times ready and able to vindicate their rights and liberties against the usurpations of the state of New York.
The changes and delays of Congress were well objected to in the remonstrance. " Con- gress has been so mutable in their resolutions respecting Vermont that it is impossible to know on what ground to find them, or what they
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HISTORY OF VERMONT. [1783.
design next. At one time they guarantee to New Hampshire and New York their lands within certain described limits, leaving a place for the existence of Vermont; the next thing Vermont hears from them is, they are within those limits controlling the internal government of the state. Again, they prescribe prelimina- ries of confederation, and when these are com- plied with on the part of the state they unrea- sonably procrastinate the ratification." Against the measures of Congress the remonstrants declared they would appeal to the justice of his excellency, General Washington. They recom- mended that the matter should be left to the states interested rather than that Congress should be embroiled with it: protested against a de- cision upon ex parte evidence, and renewed their request that Congress should fulfil its conditional promise of admission, now become absolute by the compliance of Vermont with their terms. The Vermont assembly, at its next session in February, 1783, endorsed the action of the go- vernor and council. Congress took no further steps in the business, and Vermont was left un- disturbed, so far as the action of the United States was concerned. The assembly went an- nually through the form of electing agents to attend to the formalities of admission, whenever they should be advised that Congress was pre- pared for them. The internal police and laws
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1783.] DISTURBANCES IN GUILFORD.
of the state were conducted, and its government administered, as if Vermont were not only in- dependent, but the only independent state in the world.
The disaffected citizens of Vermont, in the interest of New York, commonly called " York- ers," kept up their resistance. The county in which the Yorkers were most numerous was Windham, and Guilford in that county was the head-quarters of the opposition. A majority of the inhabitants, and the town was then the most populous in the state, were Yorkers ; and they annually appointed committees "to prevent the constable from acting," or "to defend the town against the pretended state of Vermont."' To ensure a majority, the Yorkers frequently summoned an armed force from the neighbour- ing towns to keep the "new state" voters from the polls. In Guilford and some other places there were separate town organizations. Social order was at an end, flagitious handbills stirred up discord, relatives and friends were arrayed against each other, and even physicians were not allowed to visit the sick without passes from the several committees. Every thing was in a state of frightful anarchy and confusion, and it became imperiously necessary that the govern- ment should enforce its laws and jurisdiction.
In the summer of 1783, Colonel Ethan Allen was directed to call out the militia to suppress
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HISTORY OF VERMONT.
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the insurrection and disturbance in the county of Windham. Proceeding to Guilford with an armed posse of one hundred men, he issued there the following characteristic proclamation : "I, Ethan Allen, declare that unless the people of Guilford peaceably submit to the authority of Vermont, the town shall be made as desolate as were the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah." The Yorkers, in defiance of this proclamation, firing upon Allen and his men, were pursued, and all captured or dispersed. The prisoners were put under bonds for their good behaviour, and com- pelled to furnish supplies and quarters for their captors. The taxes were collected under martial law, the property of the New York partisans being summarily seized and sold for the benefit of the state. Martial law in the hands of Ethan Allen was a summary process.
During the following winter the disturbances were renewed. Armed parties of the "Yorkers" resisted ; but after some wounds and bruises, the forced collection of taxes, whipping, fines, and the pillory, the malecontents ceased their resist- ance, and either took the oath of allegiance to Vermont, or left the state. Many of them set- tled on lands in New York, which the legislature of that state had granted for the benefit of such sufferers. From this period all armed resist- ance to Vermont ceased; and although New York did not immediately acknowledge the in-
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DEATH OF SETH WARNER.
1784.]
dependence of the new state, she suffered her claims to remain in abeyance.
At the close of the year 1784 died Colonel Seth Warner. He was one of the master spirits among the Green Mountain Boys, and the first who received a commission from the United States. He was very active and useful to the cause, an intrepid soldier and a good officer. Colonel Warner had all the elements of success as a popular leader. In person he was com- manding, in manners winning, and in exigencies prompt and active. He possessed those useful qualities which eminently fit a man for back- woods life. He was a skilful botanist, ready with simple remedies to be the physician and surgeon, as well as the commander of his men. He was a good huntsman, and his unerring aim and physical hardihood commanded respect where such properties were indispensable. He was in constant service during the war, and possessed in a high degree the confidence of General Washington, by whom he was employed in many difficult and responsible duties. His death, in his forty-second year, was the result of disease produced by the fatigues he had undergone. A native of Connecticut, he returned to that state to die, and his remains were consigned to the earth in Roxbury, with military honours. A widow and three children survived him. Like many others he suffered his private fortune to
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HISTORY OF VERMONT. [1783.
diminish while engaged in the service of his country ; and although some relief was extended to his family by Congress, his pecuniary rewards, as in many other cases, bore no proportion to his public services. But his memory is embalm- ed in the hearts of his countrymen.
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CHAPTER XV.
Condition of Vermont in 1783-Continued prosperity-Fede- ral constitution, 1788-Adjustment of the difficulty with New York, 1790-The close of the Continental Congress-The new Congress and its services-Prosperous condition of the country-Population of Vermont at different periods-Death of Colonel Ethan Allen-Remarks upon his character- Observations of Colonel Graydon respecting him-His per- sonal appearance - His style of conversation -General Washington's opinion of him-Colonel Allen as a man of honour-His rebuke to the lawyer.
THE peace with Great Britain, in 1783, found Vermont in a very enviable position in some re- spects as compared with the states in the Ame- rican Union. The boundaries of the new state had been tacitly defined and established, and the internal government was now proceeding as quietly and with as much benefit and advantage to the people as that of any other state on the continent. The laws were few, simple, and well- administered. Taxes were light, and the salaries
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PROSPERITY OF THE STATE.
1783.]
of state officers were on a more frugal scale than in any other political community in the world. The danger of invasion, and the un- certainties and barbarities of war having ceased, the Vermont lands, the title being now in the state government, were rapidly taken up and settled by emigrants from other states. From this source a revenue was derived which tended still further to abate the pecuniary liabilities of the people in support of their institutions. The pastoral and happy state seemed to realize the dreams of political enthusiasts of a perfect com- · monwealth; and the backwoodsmen who had been buffeted by their more advanced neigh- bours, invited, repulsed, and trifled with, now looked with a sort of dignified pity on the fac- tions and troubles which disturbed the Union. and rejoiced that they were not affected by them.
The immense debt-hopeless of liquidation as it then appeared-which had been contracted in the prosecution of the War of Independence, did not affect Vermont. Politically unrecog- nised, the urgent demands of Congress upon the states to furnish their quota, Vermont would not hear and need not heed. Her own troops, raised to defend her own territory, she was obliged to pay; but the finesse and policy of her managers, which postponed invasion by diplomacy, had ren- dered but a small army necessary. Under such
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