ORIGIN OF THE LAND TROUBLES.
Vermont, as has been well said, was born in the midst of tumult and
the clash of arms. No other State, we can safely affirm, came up out
of such tribulation. Her experience is that of a people exposed to the
avarice and greed of officials who scruple not to use the necessities
of their helpless subjects as a means of securing their own selfish
ends.
It was in pursuance to instructions from his Britannic Majesty that
Benning Wentworth, Governor of New Hampshire, proceeded, in 1749, to
grant lands on the west side of the Connecticut River, in the present
State of Vermont, to such persons as would settle and cultivate the
same. After the declaration of peace between France and England,
Wentworth ordered that a survey be made of the river for sixty miles,
and that three tiers of townships be laid out on either side. In 1764
about one hundred and forty townships had been granted to New England
settlers.
The lands went under the title of the “New Hampshire Grants,” numbering
sixty-eight proprietors, each grant being six miles square, the
Governor reserving to himself five hundred acres at the corner of each
township. There were also reserved four public rights, viz.: one to the
society for the propagation of the Gospel in foreign parts; one for
a perpetual glebe to the established Church of England; one for the
first settled minister of the Gospel in town; and one for the support
of a school. The patentees, that is to say, the possessors, were after
ten years to pay ninepence sterling per annum on each hundred acres as
quit-rent to his Majesty.
In addition to the five hundred acres at the corner of each township,
Governor Wentworth received fees and other emoluments in his official
capacity in making these grants. But he was not always to pursue this
career of pecuniary prosperity. Other scheming brains, jealous of his
rapidly accumulating fortune, sought to deprive him of his monopoly
of land giving. This menace lay in the persons of Cadwallader Colden,
Lieut.-Gov. of New York, and some associates composed of lawyers and
land speculators of New York city.
As an initiative, Lieut.-Gov. Colden issued a proclamation to the
settlers on the west bank of the Connecticut, Dec. 28, 1763, arrogating
to the government of New York sole jurisdiction over the territory,
founding the claim on the grant made by Charles II to the Duke of York
in 1664 and 1674, embracing among other parts “all the lands from the
west side of the Connecticut River to the east side of the Delaware
Bay.” Colden at once commenced making grants of land in his newly
acquired territory, and by the first of November following, his patents
covered a large portion of the lands occupied by the settlers who had
just paid for their titles to the Governor of New Hampshire.
Gov. Wentworth now issued a counter proclamation intended to inspire
confidence in the grants from New Hampshire, and exhorting the people
to be diligent in clearing up their lands, and not be intimidated by
the threats of New York. The latter province thereupon made application
to the Crown for a confirmation of its claims, falsely and fraudulently
averring that such an arrangement would meet the wishes of the people
of the territory in dispute. These claims were confirmed by Great
Britain in July, 1764.
Wentworth complained of this loss of territory, and represented it to
be injurious to the peace and prosperity of the country; but he was
constrained, by advice of counsel, to recommend to the settlers due
obedience to the authority and laws of New York.
Had this royal decree been interpreted by the Yorkers as simply
effecting a change of jurisdiction, the inhabitants would have quietly
submitted, as it was immaterial to them, other things being equal,
whether they lived in New York or New Hampshire. Unfortunately, the
private interests of Colden and the land speculators induced another
interpretation. They maintained that the decision had a retrospective
application; that the Connecticut River had always been the eastern
boundary of New York, and hence the grants made by New Hampshire were
null and void.
The people of the Grants were now apprised of the true nature of the
diplomatic game that was being played, in which they were the parties
likely to be the most affected. They now realized that the lands they
had duly bought and paid for, and for which they held deeds under the
authority of the Crown, were coveted by the land speculators, and,
under color of law, the latter purposed to wrest them from their hands.
In 1765, a committee from the Grants waited upon the newly-appointed
Governor of New York, Sir Henry Moore, to solicit his protection
against the New York patents; but this measure failed of its purpose.
The following year an agent was sent to the Court of Great Britain to
recount the unjust proceedings against them; and the King in Council,
in response thereto, issued an order bearing date of July 24, 1767,
requiring of the Governor of New York that he should not, “upon pain of
his Majesty’s highest displeasure, presume to make any grant whatsoever
of any part of the lands in question, until his Majesty’s further
pleasure should be known concerning the same.” This order was obeyed
during the administration of Governor Moore; but after his death, which
occurred in the fall of 1769, it was wholly disregarded, and grants
were made by successive governors up to the Revolutionary period.
After the death of Moore, New York proceeded to carry out its plan by
attempting to compel the Vermontese to repurchase their lands, or to
abandon them. Many of the settlers did not have the ready funds with
which to repurchase their homes, had they been so minded; while the
great majority peremptorily refused to submit. This bold opposition was
followed by actions of ejectment at Albany, and judgments against the
protesting settlers, the original proprietors.
The Governor of New York exercised a little judicious diplomacy by
making a partial distinction between the settlers on the east and west
sides of the Green Mountains, and, by winning some of the leading
characters over to his interest, by that means divided the people. Some
settlers on the east side, by yielding up their New Hampshire titles,
had new or confirmation grants from New York on payment of half fees.
The usual fee of the former colony for granting a township was about
three hundred dollars; but under the latter it generally exceeded two
thousand dollars.
To promote a further division between the two sections, New York gave
civil and military commissions to settlers on the east side. A new
county was erected there, and a log court house and jail was built in
the wilderness, eight miles distant from any settlement. The Governor,
by this stratagem, partially brought the eastern counties to coincide
with New York, thus placing the western district in the interior of
the government. He hoped in that way to compel their submission;
forgetting that men, who had braved every danger and hardship attending
the settlement of a wild country, would not tamely submit to be
dispossessed. The contest now grew warm and serious. Writs of ejectment
were issued and served; some officers were prevented by force from
serving their writs; the papers were returned to the Supreme Court at
Albany.
Ethan Allen, a proprietor under the Hampshire Grants, accompanied by an
eminent barrister of Connecticut named Ingersoll, repaired to Albany
to answer in behalf of the Grants. When the first case was brought,
Ingersoll answered for the defendant, supporting his plea by the royal
orders and instructions to Governor Wentworth to make grants of land
in the province of New Hampshire, and also produced the grant and
charter to the settlers. The judge would not admit them to be taken as
evidence, on which Ingersoll perceived the cause was already prejudged,
and withdrew from the defense.