AFFAIR AT WESTMINSTER.
Colonel Allen collected the documents relative to the several grants of
the Crown, including that to the Plymouth Colony, to Lord Say and Seal,
to the Duke of York, and some other papers, and in 1774 published them
in a book. This had the effect of bringing the Vermont troubles into
notoriety. The newspapers everywhere were circulating the proceedings,
which resulted in stirring up public sentiment against the Crown, as
it was supposed the Governor and Council of New York were sustained in
their claims by the home government.
Hitherto the opposition to New York had been confined principally to
the inhabitants west of the Green Mountains. As already stated, the
policy of New York had been to divide the people in their sentiment,
by a conciliatory course in respect to those living on the Connecticut
River. But now an incident occurred which had the effect of arousing
the spirit of opposition throughout the whole extent of the Hampshire
Grants.
In September, 1775, a meeting of delegates from the several colonies
met at Philadelphia, to consult upon measures for the public safety.
This was followed by an almost universal suspension of the royal
authority, the courts being closed, or adjourned without doing any
business. New York alone refused assent to the patriotic measures
recommended by Continental Congress. The court of justice for the
County of Cumberland, on the Hampshire Grants, was to be held in March
of that year at Westminster. Much dissatisfaction prevailed throughout
the county, because of the course adopted by New York, and attempts
were made to dissuade the judges from holding the court, without avail.
Early in the morning of the day appointed, the people of Westminster
and the adjacent towns took possession of the court house to prevent
the officers of the court from entering. The opposing party appeared,
armed with guns, pistols and swords, and commanded the people to
disperse. This being refused, the judges and their friends retired.
About eleven o’clock at night they again appeared and demanded
admittance; being again refused, they opened fire, killing one man and
wounding several more. The wounded men, and some others, were seized
and dragged to prison.
The next day the people flocked in from every part of the country. A
coronor’s inquest was instituted on the body of their fallen comrade,
and a verdict returned of “willful murder by the Court Party,” some of
whom were immediately seized and placed in jail.
The news of this event spread far and wide throughout the Hampshire
Giants, and fired the hearts of the stern yeomanry with an
irrepressible bitterness and rage against the authorities of New
York. A meeting of the committees of safety was held at Westminster
the following month, at which spirited and patriotic resolutions
were passed, among which was a declaration “that it is the manifest
duty of the inhabitants, on the eternal and immutable principles of
self-preservation, wholly to renounce and resist the administration of
the province of New York, until such times as the lives and property of
the inhabitants can be secured thereby.” Indeed, such was the state of
feeling, that but for the ominous occurrences preceding the American
Revolution, which for the time absorbed all minor considerations, New
York and Vermont would have been brought to the direful issues of a
civil war.