Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1903-07-24

OnQef New hampshire grants, anu the
New York spectators now holding pa
tents issued by New York covering
the same lands. Resort was had to
the courts of New York in ejectment
suits. but these courts invariably de-
cided against the settlers. Ethan AL
len. then of Bennington. the town
nearest New York, in which the lands
were claimed by both parties. went
down to Albany to present the cause
of the settlers in several suits, Some
times the courts refused to receive as
evidence the last order from the King,
and in all cases the tribunals were un-
moved by Allen or his cause. He was
advised to go home and recommend
his people to submit. and be content
that might makes right; and it was
then that he retorted that "the gods
of the valleys were not the gods of
the hills" When asked for an eXpla-
nation. he replied that "if they would
come to Bennington. the meaning
should be made clear to them" and in
the ensuing years his promise was full
filled.
The people of Bennington. with Al
len. and Fay. and Warner for leaders
readily determined their course of ac-
ton in a town meeting. and resolved
to protect their property and maintain
their rights. and that the execution OF
all writs issued by the New York
courts should be resisted, If necessary
by force: and the action and deter
mination of Bennington were followed
quite generally throughout the grants.
There were relatively few towns or
men who would settle for their lands
a second time. Then came the com
mittees and the Council of Safety. and
the military organizations which later
became known as the Green Noun
tain Boys" All these measures and
organizations. later turned to great ef-
feet in the Revolutionary war were
primarily designed to protect the set
tiers against the demands of New
York. as affecting their land titles and
properties, a contest which lasted over
90 years. In point of general govern
ment however. apart from this land
controversy, the inhabitants of the
grants well recognized that they were
under. and a part of, the jurisdiction
Of New York. Their courts were New
York courts. and in the trials of land
cases were expected to follow the AL
| bany presidents.
/ This would tend to make the courts
! odous: and. although collisions be-
| tween the New York claimants and
/ the settlers became less frequent with
/ the LAPSE of years. yet the settlers
| still looked upon the opening of the
courts with apprehension and concern.
But Westminster, Putney. Chester, and
some other towns near the Connecti-
! cut river had been re-chartered by New
York about 1872. and the land trials
| between New Workers and the settlers,
though not forgotten or without an
/ influence on the minds of the men at
this time could not have been the po-
tent force which determined the com
mon people to oppose the holding of a
court at Westminster on March "A
1775
There were deeper grievances and
fresher reasons. September 5. 177i,
congress of delegates from all the
colonies had assembled in Philadel'
phia, and had agreed upon a platform
of rights and of resistance to British
oppression. This was the continental
Congress" The people of Cumberland
county assembled in this court house
the Goth of November following
adopted the resolves of the congress
as their own resolves. But New York
to the disappointment of the inhab
itants of the grants. had not joined in
support of this action of the congress
/ Already here in our court house. called
the County Hall" beginning on the
10Th day of October, IVA. IS delegates
from - towns of Cumberland county
in consequence of a communication
from the Committee of Correspon
dence," so-called, in New York city
had held a convention of two days
considering their attitude with respect
to the condition of the whole country
These delegates recorded their sur
prise that the King and Parliament
should dare to say with impunity that
they had a right to bind the colonists
in all matters whatsoever, and they
we'll agreed that he who has nothing
but what another can take lawfully al
his pleasure is slave indeed. This
was the first convention held within
the limits of the present Vermont. fol
the purpose of opposing the tyrannous
measures of Great Britain.
In the old court house, again, or
February Z, 1915. a convention was
held. at which Nathaniel French OF
Brattleboro, father of William French
was present, the representative of that
town in the standing committee of cor
respondence. An object of this con
vention was to obtain the passage OF
such laws in New York as would i'm
prove the mode of administering jus
tice in the county courts, their griev
ance being the great expense and
heavy burdens imposed upon them by
reason of the additional courts that
had been established, in consequence
Of which lawsuits had increased and
charges multiplied and families been
nearly beggared.
While British eXactions as exer-
cised across the sea may not have so
| greatly affected the people here as in
Boston, yet the government made
them sore. One writer says:
The administration of the
courts of justice in the county had be-
come almost insufferable. So unhappy
was the feeling between the people
on the one hand, and the judges,
/ sheriff, and other officers of the court
and their adherents on the other, that
| the former were generally stigmatized
as the Mob while the latter assumed
the title of the Court Party But the
| time had now come when the Wings,
as the mob preferred to be called,
must assert their rights as freemen,
or submit to the oppressive sway Of
the Tories, as they chose to call their
opponents"
The higher ground was also taken
that, having in November cast their
lot with the Continental Congress, to
u L