15. 'Men Conscious of Their Dignity'
The letter
of Gov. Tryon to the Rev. Jedediah Dewey and others, inviting negotiation, was
duly delivered by the sheriff of Albany County. On receiving the letter, the people of Bennington and the
neighboring towns assembled by their committees of safety, took the subject
into consideration and without delay acceded to the proposal.
They
appointed two delegates, Capt. Stephen Fay and Dr. Jonas Fay (father and son),
to go to New York, and wrote an answer to Gov. Tryon's letter, briefly setting
forth the grounds of their discontent and the reasons of their conduct, and
referring to their agents for particular explanations.
At the same
time Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, Remember Baker, and Robert Cochran, four of
those whose arrest had been ordered by the governor of New York, sent him a
joint dispatch protesting the treatment they had received, and vindicating
themselves against the aspersions cast upon them by their enemies, and the
stigma of being pointed out to the world as rioters, abettors of mobs, and
felons.
This paper
was drawn up by Allen, and considering their provocations, and the degree of
excitement to which he and his associates had been wrought up, their
remonstrance was clothed in language sufficiently respectful, breathing the
spirit of men conscious of their dignity, and resolute in the defense of their
rights, but ready to meet the awards of justice and abide by the decision of a
fair and impartial tribunal.
"If we do not oppose the sheriff and his posse," they
say, "he takes immediate possession of our houses and farms; if we do, we
are immediately indicted as rioters; and when others oppose officers in taking
their friends so indicted, they are also indicted, and so on, there being no
end of indictments against us so long as we act the bold and manly part and
stand by our liberty. And it comes
to this at last, that we must tamely be dispossessed, or oppose officers in
taking possession, and as a next necessary step, oppose the taking of rioters,
so called, or run away like so many cowards and quit the country to a
number of cringing, polite gentlemen who have
ideally possessed themselves of it already."
Again: "Though they style us rioters for opposing them, and
seek to catch and punish us as such, yet in reality themselves are the rioters,
the tumultuous, disorderly, stimulating faction, or in fine, the land jobbers;
and every violent act they have done to accomplish their designs, though ever
so much under pretence of law, is in reality a violation of law, and an insult
to the Constitution and authority of the Crown, as well as to many of us in
person, who have been great suffers by such inhuman exertions of pretended
law. Right and wrong are eternally
the same through all periods of time, places and nations; and coloring a crime
with a specious pretence of law only adds to the criminality of it, for it
subverts the very design of laws, prostituting it to the vilest of
purposes."
Gov. Tryon
received the deputies with affability and kindness. On Monday, July 1, 1772, they attended the board of the
Governor and Council. Also present
were Benjamin Spencer, Jacob Marsh, Joseph Pringle, Bliss Willoughby, and
Ebenezer Cole, who had either settled on the Grants under the New York title, or
had purchased the New York title in confirmation of that under New
Hampshire. These men, in
consequence of alleged threats or abuses of the New Hampshire grantees, had
repaired to New York to ask relief from the government.
They
repeated to the Governor and Council the charges against the
"rioters," and Stephen Fay was heard in answer to them. The matter was then referred to a
committee of the council, which reported at length. The report was read in the presence of the Messrs. Fay, and
they were furnished with a copy of part of it which proposed terms of
settlement. That part of the
report was a follows:
"The Committee are desirous your Excellency should afford the
inhabitants of those townships, all the relief in your power; by suspending,
till his majesty's pleasure shall be known, all prosecutions in behalf of the
Crown, on account of the crimes with which they stand charged, by depositions
before it, and to recommend it to the owners of the contested lands under
grants from this province, to put a stop, during the same period, to all civil
suits concerning the lands in question."
This report
of the committee was approved by the Governor and Council, and with this
intelligence the deputies returned to their constituents who hailed them as
harbingers of peace and joy. They
had never asked for more than was implied by these terms, being well persuaded
that however the question of jurisdiction might be settled, the King would
never sanction a course of proceeding that should deprive them of their property. The impulse of gladness spread quickly
to the cabins of the remotest settlers. A meeting of the people was called at Bennington,
where a large concourse assembled; the minutes of Council and the Governor's
approval were read and applauded with loud acclamations, and for the moment the
memory of all former grief was swept away in the overflowing tide of enthusiasm
for Gov. Tryon.