Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1898-04-29
A CRITICISM.
An Error in "Vermont Illustrated" Pointed
out and Explained.
NEW YORK, April is. 1898.

Out ana fNplained.
NEW YORK, April IS, 1898.
My DEAR SIR 1T is desirable that the
historical sketches in vermont Illus
trated," which are being published in the
supplement to the Middlebury REGISTER,
should be rigidly accurate. "Uncle
Jerry" stated a well-known fact:
"There's much," he says, "about Vermont
For history and song.
Much to be written yet, and much
THdt has been tCritten Wrong."
1t is stated in the April number of
"Vermont Illustrated that Remember
Baker was member of the first Council
of Safety in that region (Arlington), and
that "just where this council was created
is not known" In the life of Thomas
Chittenden, which | am now writing,
am trying to settle some questions that
have always been in doubt, and among
them the creation of the Councils of
Safety.
When the Windsor convention of 1777
had adopted the first constitution which
was intended to organize the state in the
January following, 1t created Council of
Safety to govern the state in the interim,
by exercising the powers defined by that
constitution. This was the council of
which Thomas Chttenden was president,
the records of which are imperfectly
given in "Slades State Papers" 1t was
the first Council of Safety that could
have been formed, for until that time
there had been no definition of the
powers it was to exercise. There is no
authentive proof of the existence of any
such council of an earlier date.
Baker was killed in August, l775,
nearly two years before the Council of
Safety was organized, and he could not
have been member of it.
The first Council of Safety was organ
lied at Manchester in July, III. The
/ first election of governor and other
officers was postponed until March, 177S,
when the Council of Safety with very
slight changes in its membership was
merged in the executive council under
the constitution,
The government by the Council of
Safety was a distinguished success, be-
cause the NermOnters recognized the
necessity of a government of the people.
and voluntarily submitted TO its orders.
/ But after the battle of Bennington in
/ August the duties Of the Council so null
tiplied that it was very difficult to per-
form them. Then, by the order Of the
council and under its authority, toirR
councils of safety were created, which
relieved the council Of which Mr.. Chit
tenden was president of many of its
/ lighter duties. These councils were quite
numerous, and were formed in all the
| principal towns.
Writers have been msled and the
enemies of Vermont have been furnished
with much material by the numerous
errors in the "Introducion to the Yer
mont State Papers" cited in "Vermont
! Illustrated The Windsor conventions
of July, HI, had authority to make and
adopt a constitution; to establish state
government. They had the same author.
! ity to provide for a temporary govern
ment until the state was organized. The
Council of Safety which they created
was the logical and proper way of doing
this, and so long as that council exercised
only the powers expressed or Implied in
the constitution it was strictly within the
limits of its Jurisdiction. The surprising
fact, and the one which is so creditable
to the NermOnters of that day, is the in
telligence with which they obeyed the
orders of their council. They knew that
all government was surrender of the
natural rights of the individual for the
benefit of the whole; and they set before
the world the first example of that form
of government of the people, by the
people and for the people which in the
noble words of Lincoln should not perish
from the earth. l.. f. CIHTTENDEN.