Litchfield enquirer., 1850-02-28
Gov. Chittenden and his Biographer,

The Hon. Daniel Chipman has, the past season. written, and the present winter published and sent out from his | seclpsioh among the mountains of Rip 1 ton, A Memoir of Thomas Chittenden, the First Gogeynor cf Vermont, s0iM e History of the Consultation duriny las l Administration" Both the circumstan- tes and character of the writer and the subject of this work, are of a kind calcu- lated to invest it's appesrance with pe- euliar interest for the people of Yer mont.
 The venerable writer (as he himself told us, at the late Constitutional Con yention, of which he was an. honored member.) is now over eighty .four years of age, the greatest age probably, at which any other person in New England over wrote and published book. And aside from this interesting circumstance, Mr. Chipman's close acquaintance with the times of which he writes, and in which he was himself youthful actor, and his we'll known intelligence and powers of investigation, all combine tc make him the. best historian of the older time now living. and, consequently. te impart an especial historic value to. all ht publishes. The subject of the presen
 work, also,--the distinguished Thomas Chittenden, who was unquestionably th' leading founder of our State Indepen aence, and who was then to Vernon what Washington was to America--i' one, tho contemplation of which grows yearly more and more interesting ant useful to the descendants of those msr of Roman virtues, to whom we are in, debted for the enviable position we now hold among the sister States. "
 MT. Chipman has drawn Gov. Chit. 1. tenden's character with skill and accura- cy, and has made it, we think, the most valuable and interesting of all his works. He tells us that Chittenden was elected the first Governor of Vermont in TITS, and held the office till l797, with the ex- eeption of one year; but he does not tell Ns bow the Governor lost his election that year, We will venture to supply the omission. It was lost by one politi- cal error of that upright and intuitiycly wise and sagacioas statesman-that of granting charter without the required authority of the Legislature, to Ira Allen and others of the township i've think of Woodbury. which grant. after fiery de- bate tn the succeeding General Assembly, in which the blunt old Scotchman Har. vey, declared that the Governors seal in that case carried no more authority with it than if it had been stamped on his (EIaryey's) shirt flap which grant we say was aanWlled, in favor. 1t would i seem, of previous grantees. or applicants, Wood and others. The Governor, how ever. after being doomed to the penance of remaining one year in private life, for his error, was the next year restored to public favor, and again elected to the of- Zee which ha held till his death.
 In conclusion we repeat tho idea Rl- veady advanced, that Mir. Chipman in this, as we'll as in all his late works. has sendered the people of bis State valpa. ble seryicc,-we say valuable, because his range of mind and discrimination have enabled him to survey the whole historic field, and. unlike many other narrators of the olden time, who are led into error by local traditions and family preiudices, separate the reliable from tho unreliable portions of our history. We have long been aware of the extent and accuracy of his knowledge of our carly history, end frequently availed ourselves of 1t. And we trust the writer of this article will be pardoned the egotism. while he heEe takes occasion to say. that f his own pper effcrts to create an interest in our history by Illustrating its more ro- mantle portions, possesses aught of value. or are il aught worthY Of the kind re. ception which they have had among tho people Of his own States and which has lnade him so proud and Co grateful, they are mainly indebted for It to the materi- als taken down from tie lips of sneh men np Daniel Chipman,
 Green Mowntaip Fiysmsn.