The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1895-02-22

disposition, and the terror of the
boys of the settlement. Capt
Joe was mild and inoffensive
and with Molly, his wife, used tc
traverse large sections of north
ern Vermont on camping and
hunting expeditions, and Their
names were given to two ponds
in the town of Cabot.
REVOL PERIOD.
the first settlers in Coos and else
where in the grants sustained, IN
common with their brethren, all
hardships incidental to the Revo-
1utionary struggle, and bore ad-
ditional burdens peculiar to their
situation. They were frontier
settlers struggling with priva-
tons and inconvenience, remote
from large towns and ready
market, and contiguous to the
stronghold of the enemy. Yer
mont, owing to conflicting claims
set up by New York, New Hamp-
shire and Massachusetts, was not
allowed the right of statehood al.
though repeatedly sought. All
of these three states opposed the
admission of Vermont into the
Union, though the principal con-
test was with New York, and SO
influential were they that Con-
gress dared not decree adversely
to their wishes. When New
York sent her constab1es to Ell
force their jurisdiction, they re-
ceived an application of the
"beech SEAL" or were treated to a
cooling bath in the lake. The
Vermonters instead of submitting
to the partition of their territory
on the line of the Green Noun
tains between New York and New
Hampshire, coo1ly annexed some
sixteen of the New Hampshire
Connecticut river towns, and a
considerable strip of New York
territory, and so free and desira-
BILE were the provisions of their
constitution that they actually
succeeded in securing representa-
tives from some of those towns in
their legislature. The following
stanza, written by a Vermont
poet, forcib1y expresses the situa-
ton of the heroic little common
wealth:
"Does the old Bay State threaten, does Con-
gress complain?
swarms York State in arms on our borders
again?
Bark the war dogs of Britain aloud on the
Let them come, what they can they are well
come to take"
Vermont had a difficult part to
sustain in the grand drama then
enacted.
The British, fully aware of the
excited condition of the public
feeling, strongly hoped to detach
her from the common cause of in
dependence and enlist her. II the
cause of royalty. To this end
every possible resource of threat,
promise and Establishment was
exhausted. There was a wide
and honest diversity of opinion
among true patriots, and some re-
siding in Connecticut river towns
favored a union with New Hamp-
shire rather than separate state
hood. Exposed and unprotected
from British attacks the policy
which the leaders finally adopted,
was not to declare, that they
would or would rot be independ-
ent of British authority, intend
ing thereby to save themselves
from British invasion, and at the
same time presenting motives to
Congress for receiving them into
the Union. This policy was
wholly justifiable on the ground
of self preservation, and was I'LL
timately successful. The staunch
patriots of Vermont were exposed
for eight years to the constant
menace of capture, by the British
and their agents and allies, the
tories. But Newbury was an
noyed by these means far more
than Haverhill, for these scouts
of the enemy did not care to place
the river in their rear.