The Bennington daily banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1877-1877, 1877-08-16

age, he met there on the borders of the {
aloomsaca gathering Of the settlers OF (
Inc Grants" prepared for resistance. BEN
NATION IN town meeting had voted TO take
ila farm under their prOtectiOn,-and it was
rejected. The sheriff had met q power
reater than the power Of the county. who
lived for him the prophetic riddle Of Ethan
Hen. that "the rods Of the valley are not
he gods of the hills land IF they wuuldt
ONE to Bennington the me0uing should be
iade clear" And so the power of tie county |
vaporated aud resistance TO like attempts |
n the tnture was made the easier, aud their |
ueeess impossible. It has been well and
ruly said by that venerable gentleman,
atIve of Bennington, whose presence graces
his occasion. and who IN his long and use |
ul life of public service has done his age no
letter service than by his publication of
he Early History of Vermont" that Here
II fact, ON the farm of James Breckenridge,
vas born the future State Of Vermont, which
through the perils of infancy,had
~ the commencement of the general reYOlu-
ion acquired the activity aud strength OF
adventurous youth; had by its close reach
I'd the full stature of manhood, and which
not long afterwards became the acknowledge
ID equal Gifts associate American republics"
offspring, it may be added, of what the
Tory Governors of New York were wont to
call ''the Bennington mob"
This controversy about the lands of tue
settlers, kept up in one way and another for
many years, naturally led to denial Of the
civil jurisdiction of New York for any pur-
pose. Except for this policy of spoilatiOn
the Jurisdiction of New York would have
been quietly submitted to, notwithstanding
the difference of blood aud temper, training
and customs of the two peoples, and Yer
mont would have had no name IN history,
nor existence as State.
This difference was considerably marked.
The settlers of the Grants were New Eng
nfN hon
lshlng the democratic ideas, and imbned with
the spirit OF resistance to agRressiOns upon
the liberties OF individual or people, which
then prevailed in New England, and to which
that people had been peculiarly schOOled and
trained Tor generations by the events con-
nected with the early immigratiOns, aud the
institutions OF church and civil government
established bv them, of theft free choice, in
the wilderness. What was written of these
settlers by an accomplished loyal lady of the
times, though said repTOachfully, we accept
as true, fOrgiylng the reproach;L were
fierce republicans, refusing to become ten
ants to any one and insisting on owning the
lands they should occupy; whose whole con-
versat0n was tainted with pOlitics--C rom
wellian politics. who talked about slaves To
arbitrary power; and whose Indifference 10
the mother country, and illiberal opinions
and manners were extremely offensive to all
loyal subjects of the King" Few Tories
either converted to better ways by the rough
discipline of the "twigs of the wilderness,'
or else finding more cOngenial home in Cana
da. 1t was not so along the Hudson. nor was
this the spirit of the gentry of the New York
colony. This difference is cOnspicuOusly in
0ieated in the reply OF Gov. IryOn to the re-
Duke Of the Colonial Secretary for the man
ner in which tho New York grants of Yer
mont lands had been made. 81 conceive il, 2
he says, good policy to lodge large tracts OF
land in the hands of gentlemen of weight
and consideration: They Will naturally farm
out their lanes to tenants; method viii sli
will ever create subordination. and cour aer-
poise in some measure the general levelh ng
spirit. that so much prevails in supie of h /
MWesty's governments" - an arist"cratiL
policy, hateful to the democratic and indie
pendent spirit of the settlers who would be
vassals 10 no PATRON or land baron. but
would own the lands they titled.
And so was kept up this controversy as to
titles and Jurisdiction, until finally closed in
179l by a compromise, by which Vermont to
secure admission to the Union paid the sum
of thirty thousand dollars, which was divid-
cd among the New York claimants, by way
of compensation for their losses.
In the war Of the revolution. there was nc
people more patriotic. none moro united in
sentiment Of hostility to the aggressions Of
Great Britain, and determination to defend
the common liberties of the colonies, aud tC
achieve separation and independence, thai
the people of the New Hampshire Grants
none who, according to their ability, did
Drawer or more effective service in actua
war, than they. Scattered Ulong the wal
path from canada to New York, they were
ever reliable as minute men to beat back Of
battle invasion from that quarter TcOnder
Oga, the Canadian border, Bennington auC
Saratoga, tell the story of their heTOism
They were the men of whom BurgOyne, il
modification Of his disaster az Bennington
and consequent perpleXity of his affairs
wrote to the British Minister IN London
" The New Hampshire Grants, in particular
a country unpeOpled IN the last war, nov
abOunds In the most active and rebelliOui
race of the continent. and hangs like gath
ering storm on my left"
Twenty days after the Declaration of In
dependence at philadelphia, there assembled
at the Inn Of Cephas Kent in Dorset. drl-l
Rates ,, from thirtySone towns Of the Grants,'
themselves by formal signatures, recon-
mending that such declaration be subscribed
"a by all the friends of America IN the dis
trict," wherein they declare: " We do vol
UNFAIRLY and sOlemnlJ engage under all thu
ties held sacred amongst mankind, at thu
risk of our lives and fortunes, to defend by
arms the United American States against the
hostile attempts of the British fleets and ar
mics. until the present unhappy controversy
between the two countries shall be settled !;
and at later convention, held by adjourn
ment at the same place in September, it wa
unanimously resolved to take suitable
measures, as soon as may be, to ,declare tn,
New Hampshire Grants a separate district
This convention was adjourned to meet a
Westminster October 30, 177d. and was AGAR
adjourned to meet 40 the same place January
| is, 17T7, and then and there 1t was unanl
mously proclaimed and publicly declared
that the district of territory comprehend
| -. ltr ku N 10
scription Ct the New Hampshire Grants. O
right ought to be, and is hereby declared for
ever hereafter to be considered as q free anC
independent jurisdiction or State by th,
name of New Connecticut
And later at Windsor, on the I'd day o
July, 1T7,. the representatives of the free
men of said District assembled in convention
and framed q constitution for the State o
Vermont. This constitution opens with
preamble reciting in forcible language tn
reasons for the formation Of free and indie
pendent State,p These reeited reasons were
the right Of the people by common eonsen
| to change their government whenever il fail
to secure the ends Of government. viz tb
security and protection Of the community. o
eqoh, and the natural rights of the individual
who compose it /; the expressions of the Brit
ish government towards the colonies "mor
fully set forth in the declaration of Con
gTess ~ and the worse expressions Of New
| IOMuIhh lLlt htbiltIo VI llb NtM 1hIlp
shire Grants, This preamble was followed b.
"a declaration OF the Rights of the inhabi
tants of the State of Vermont" and plan o
frame Of government.
1t was while the draft of this constitution
| was under consideration, that the alarmin
news reached the convention of the eYaeua
ton by our troops Of lie0nderOga, and thei
disastrous retfeat through HubbardtOn, thu
leaving our western border open to tn
ravages of Burgoyne with his Hessians an
savages. II is reported, that the frs i'm
pulse of the convention was to separate an
look to the protection of their families a
home, when "a severe thunderstorm came o
and gave them time to reflect u and so the
stayed till theic work was hnlshed, Tn
! thunder storm was a blessed providence /
a voice from the skies prOclaiming To tn
convention duty higher even than the pei
sonal protection of family and home, An
so Vermont received her christening and bC
came State, though, for time after, unde
the anomalous administration Of O COunci
of Safety, and, until March 4, 1891, fourtee
years. existed as an independent sovereign
ty, with all the attributes and functions @
sovereignty, when she was admitted rs q
equal member of the Federal Union, IN til
meantime, the American Revolution ha
been closed in o declared peace. The confed
Grafton Of the United States had been fOrm
ed and dissolved, and the United States con
stitutlOn had made Of the United States
government, in this construction of confed
GRAFTON and constitution Vermont had no