ejectment, the settlers were firm and united; they resisted the officer and compelled him to desist. This roused the energies and resentment of the governor of New-York, and he ordered out the militia, to support the sheriffs in the duties of their office. The settlers resisted, and appeared in arms; set the militia at defiance, and held them at bay; both attempts to dispossess the settlers were equally futile. The settlers took courage from this, and united in a common cause, determined to risk their lives, and their all in defence of their claims.

Bold and aspiring men had managed the affairs of the settlers behind the curtain, until the parties became firmly united, and then they came forward, and openly defended the rights of the people. At the head of these, appeared Ethan Allen, a man of a daring spirit, and of unbounded ambition, fixed, and determinate in his purposes; rough and severe in his manners, and a firm protector of the rights of the settlers. Allen, by his writings, unmasked the corrupt views of the New-York speculators, shewed the weakness, and absurdity of their claims; the futility of their grants, and urged to union, effort, and resistance. These writings were like the author, coarse; but full of energy, and perfectly conformable to the taste and feelings of the settlers; they were greedily received, and promptly obeyed, and Allen, by his popularity, had now become the chief of the party...

Next to Mr. Allen, appeared a Mr. Warner, who was a man of great coolness; but equally firm, and as decided a friend to the cause as Allen. When Mr. Warner was designated as a rioter, and an officer attempted to arrest him, he boldly defended himself, wounded the officer, disarmed him, and took him into custody until he was willing to desist.

Under this state of things, the settlers sent out their speial agents to England, and laid their grievances before the

king; their complaints were graciously received, and his majesty, upon a full hearing, issued the following order to the governor of New-York, 1767.

"His majesty doth hereby strictly charge, require, and command, that the governor, or commander in chief of his majesty's Province of New York, for the time being, do not, upon pain of his majesty's highest displeasure, presume to make any grant whatsoever, of any of the lands described in the said report, until his majesty's further pleasure shall be known concerning the same."

The settlers were ready to believe that their cause was gained, and that all future molestation would cease; but herein they were deceived; the governor of New-York continued his grants, the royal mandate notwithstanding, and in place of coercion, he attempted to cajole all the settlers into his measures, and thus entice them voluntarily under the jurisdiction of New-York, excepting Allen, Warren, and three others, 1772.

This measure opened a correspondence between the settlers and the governor of New-York, and a special deputation waited on his excellency, who received them kindly, and laid their cause before his council, when it was resolyed to stay all further prosecutions, until the pleasure of his majesty could be further known; but even this was of no avail; the spirits of the parties were warm, their animosi ties continued to increase, and the state of the parties was that of open war; but blood had not yet been spilt.

In 1774, the governor of New-York attempted to coerce by the arm of the law, and published the following decree.

"Whereas, &c.-And in case the said offenders shall.. not respectively surrender themselves, pursuant to such orders of his excellency the governor, and commander in

shief, for the time being, to be made in council as aforesaid, he or they so neglecting, or refusing to surrender himself, or themselves, as aforesaid, (that is, within seventy days next after the first publication of the order,) shall, from the day to be appointed for his or their surrendry as aforesaid, be adjudged, deemed, and (if indicted for a capital offence hereafter to be perpetrated,) to be convicted, and attainted of felony, and shall suffer death, as in cases of persons convicted, and attainted of felony, by verdict, and judgment, without benefit of clergy; and that it shall or may be lawful to, and for the Supreme Court of Judicature of this colony, or the Courts of Oyer and Terminer, or General Gaol Delivery, for the respective counties aforesaid, to award execution against such offender or of fenders, so indicted for a capital offence, perpetrated after the passing of this act, in such manner as if he or they had been convicted, or attainted, in the Supreme Courts of Judicature, or before such Courts of Oyer and Terminer, or General Gaol Delivery, respectively."

This high stretch of despotic power was accompanied with a proclamation, offering a reward of fifty pounds per head for Allen, Warren, and six others, who had taken the lead in support of the settlers. This step cut off all possible accommodation between the parties, and a general meeting was notified by the settlers on the west side of the Green Mountain, to be held by a representation of commissioners from each town. This meeting was convened without delay, and passed the following resolve, April 14th,

1774.

"That for the future every necessary preparation be made, and that our inhabitants hold themselves in readiness, at a minute's warning, to aid and defend such friends of ours, who for their merit to the general cause, are falsely Vor .I.

47

denominated rioters; but that we will not act any thing more nor less, but on the defensive, and always encourage due execution of law, in all civil causes, and also in criminal prosecutions, that are so indeed; and that we will assist to the utmost of our power, the officers appointed for that purpose."

Thus having obtained support, the persons proscribed, published the following clause, in an address to the people of the county of Albany, and others concerned. “We will kill and destroy, any person or persons, whomsoever, that shall presume to be accessary, aiding, or assisting in taking any of us." Here the parties were at issue, and war was thus declared.

The next step with the settlers was, to strengthen themselves by foreign aid to effect this, they sent out Colonel Skeen, who held the command of one of the king's regiments upon Lake Champlain, (and held large possessions within the Hampshire Claims, upon the borders of the lake,) to England, to petition his majesty, that the settlers might be formed into a royal government, as a new province. Colonel Skeen was accordingly appointed governor of Crown-Point and Ticonderoga, and wrote to the settlers that he should soon call upon them for an address, to shew their loyalty to their king, &c. March 1775.

2

At this time the controversy of the colonies with GreatBritain was far advanced; a Congress had been convened at Philadelphia, in September 1774, who recommended to the people of the colonies, to maintain their liberties with firmness, which occasioned a general suppression of all courts, held under the authority of the crown. The court at Westminster was suppressed by the people of the town, March 1775, who took possession of the court-house, and excluded the judges. On the ensuing night the sheriff of the county, with an armed force, attempted to enter the courthouse; but was resisted as before, when the party fired into

the house, and killed one man, and wounded several others. The next day a coroner's inquest was held upon the body of the dead man, and a verdict rendered of wilful murder by the court-party. Here the war was opened in fact, and blood was spilt, and the whole settlements were in a rage. They first seized on the officers, and committed them to the gaol at Northampton, in Massachusetts, and next assembled a general convention of the settlers, (by their committees) at Westminster, April 11th, 1775, who passed the following resolve. "That it is the duty of the inhabitants of the New-Hampshire Grants, wholly to renounce, and resist the administration of the government of New-York, until such time as the lives and property of the inhabitants, may be secured by it; or until such time as they can have opportunity to lay their grievances before his most gracious majesty in council, together with a proper remonstrance against the unjustifiable conduct of that government; with a humble petition to be taken out of so oppressive a jurisdiction, and either annexed to some other government, or erected, and incorporated into a new one, as may appear best for the inhabitants.

Thus the parties were at issue when the revolutionary war commenced, and the first blood was spilt upon the plains of Lexington and Concord, April 19th, 1775. This new and sanguinary scene gave a diversion to this party strife, and the magnitude of the object for which blood had been spilt, engrossed the attention of all parties, as well as all classes of men, throughout the country. Those hardy and daring sons of liberty, who had entered with so much warmth and zeal into the cause of the settlers, and who had become the proscribed champions of the New-Hampshire Grants, now turned their attention to the cause of their common country, and became as zealous defenders of the rights of the colonies in the revolutionary war. mediately after the battle of Lexington, an expedition was planned to reduce the Forts Ticonderoga and Crown-Point,