YALE UNIVEBSITY LIBRARY 3 9002 06471 7722 Hall, Hiland Vindication of Volume First of The Collections of The Vermont Historical Society, From The Attacks of The New York Historical Magazine Morrisania, 1871 §^ ^^^^^^^^^^Bp/ YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY HISTORICAL MAG.AZfNE. E X T li A . MORRISANIA, N- Y., JULY, 1 87 1 • YINDICATION OF VOLUME FIRST OF TEB VOLhEGTlONS Oi'- THB VJUB- MOIfJf HISTORIOAL SOOIETT, FROIM THE ATTACKS OF THE NE W YORK 1118- TOmOAL MAGAZINE. Bv Hon. Hin.'vsu Haix,. With r[,i.usxiiATivffi NoTiis and .\ Lktiisji, tn i(B.si>ossE TO GnvnuNow Hali,, By Henby B. Dawhon. Ill the former volum« of these GoUection/), ijjulilished in 1870, an att('mj)t was miido to vm- lioiiy in chronological order such authentic iic- •counts as could be found of tho proceedings of •the, different Conventions of tlie inhabitants of •|liu New Hainpgliirc Grants, prior to tlic estah- iishment of thc State Qovemmerit of Vermont, in 1778. No original .Tournals of those Conventions "(;ould b(3 I(juik1, and information in regard to *lieir pioctM ding.s was sought for in all quarti^rs where il was tiiought it might be obtained. Among the sources from wliieli information Tvas procured, were the fonrth volume of The l}()eumentary Ilistury of Nein York, the pult- lislii.'d Journals of' the New York Congress of (775, the Connecticdt GtmraHt, jmblishcd at Harl ford, for the year 1777, Ur. Slade's Ver- nriut ensures the just ooliVlenmation of the Committee of Pub lication by all lovers of honesty and truth. f Tim chroiuc properisitv of Mr. Dawsou to treat such opinions aw do not coincide with his o%vn, as founded in di.shonesty nnd crime, must be well knovvn to the readers of hia Magazine, and some of tln.-in mny hato noticed that this propinsity ))eoi.)ines peculiarly active and violent whenever any question of- Yermont history is concerned. He hiis, in his Magazine, habituaUy sciught to stigiiiiilize Yeriuonters In' branding lliem with opprobrious epithels, calling them '¦ renegade Green ^Inuntain Boys," ' "seces.sion- "istK," "nidliliers,'" '•traitors," "thieves," etc., flc. ; and' it has aim) seemed impoissible for " The only approach to a charge of fraud Oi»t there in, in the criLiclBin referred to, is ihat contained in these words: "6. — ITie inierpoiation of a 2i»e, assigning a mo- " tive for the sudden attempt of Heman Allen to with- " draw thc insurgents' Petition and Bemonstrance from " before the Continental Congress, was simply a piece of '¦ impertinence on the part of the Editors, and is a fraud " on those who shall read these re-constmcted Miwules ; " there Is no fiuch reason assigned, iu the real Mimitee, ac " written by the Secretary of the Convention," On page 10 of this -Find'ifation, as the reader will per ceive,; Governor Hall admits that euch an interpolation hat been made in ihs Society's printed copy; and if the inter polation of words, whether adversely controlling the sense or otherwise, ira the same character as the ortffmaUexi and loithotfl accord of eseplanation or caution to the read er, is not " a fratid on those who shall read that re-con- " structed "paper, I do not understand what tlie meaning of the word " frand " is— if Governor Uall wil I ask the Dis trict Attorney of Bennington-county, that ofhcial will tell him that such an interpolation in any document would be, in law, a forgery ; and if the Society's Committee of Publication is wise, it w'ill, in this instance, remember the story of the moniey climbiug the pole, .ind maintain, here after, a more prudent silence. My readers can judge between the Jlagazinc and iii« Governor, in this case.— H. B. D. t The Governor's conclusions, in this instance,'entirely agree with those of The Hibiosioai. MAoAzniK— a convic tion, on such a charge, would necessarily invalidate all title to respectability— and as he has admitted the entire tmth of the Magazine's charge of interpolation, I am hap py in the knowledge that the Govemor, as well as the Magazine, will look elsewhere, hereafter, for an authori tative copy of the doeuments under review, than tn the Society's Collections.— B. B. D. HISTORICAL MAGAZINK LJaty, Jiim to notice the work of a Vermonter without, as in his present article, impugning the motives of the writer, misrepresenting his statements, and charging him with unfounded delinquencies.* This continued exhibition of his bitter hostility, together with the seriousness of his present charge against tho integrity of Vermont history, must be our apology for a somewhat extended' examination of the grounds on which he founds his criticisms. Mr. Dawson commences his present strictures by stating that, in their publication, the Society " employed a copy instead of the original manu- " 9or'ipts.''\ It is true that copies only were em ployed, and for the leason which is fully declar ed in their publication, that no originals could be found. Parts of the proceedings of several Conventions were found in newspapera, and in other publications, and in different manuscripts, as before stated, the most important of the latter being a copy of the proceedings of several Con ventions, furnished by the Hon. James H. Phelps, of West Townshend, Vermont, whicii manu script, and the use made of it, are particularly mentioned in the publication itself. The copy, as Judge Phelps inforraed the Committee, was made by liiin in 1853, from the back i)art of an old account- book, in which Doctor Jonas Fay, who had been Clerk of some of the Conventions, had made charges against his patients for medi cal services.' The book was in the possession of Judge Phelps but a short time, and hc was un able to give any certain account of what became of it. though he thought it might probably be found in the possession of some of Doctor. Fay's descendants. Inquiries were made for it, in quarters where it was thought most likely to l)e found, but without succeas, and it was accord ingly stilted (page 49) that itwas "not known '* to be now in existence, f " Mr. Dawson, in his criticism, undertakes to show the inaccuracy of the Society's publication by comparing it with what he calls '' the origiiial '^Minutes, as lift hy the Secretary who torote " them; " but he does not state the foriu in wliich those " original Minutes^' havebeen preserved, or how or where he obtained them, or give any description of them, or specify any evidence of their authenticity.! As thc Society's publication ' [Note, hy Qoveenoe Hai,!,.] Historical Magazine, I., X., Supplement, 199; IL.i , 184 ; v., S45-S4T and 399-40 1 ; aud VII., IST. t Eeference is made, concerning what Tras Histoeio.vi. Mao \zi>je really said of the shortcomings of tbe copyist aad proof-readers of the Sooiety'o version, to the copy of the Magazine's article, which has been re-produced on page (14, post. If Ihe reader can discover aay wickedness in what he shall tind there, or mtich difference from what the Govern or has, himself, said conceming them, I shall be very much surprised.— H. B D. t f; was uot necessary for the Magazine to anticipate any such doubts as those which Governor Hall haa pre- sliows that it was made from copies, because no originals could be found, and as what he claims as the original Minutes must have come recently into his bands, it would seem to bave beejj,*!* more than fair for him to give some ac(^i?fnt pf his newly-discovered manuscript, before coih demning others for not following it, and thus also 'enabling Others, as well as himself, to form. an opinion of what his new discovery really was,,. and to judge of tire, credit to whibh it was enti tled. It niight possibly turn but that Mr. Daw son has not in his p<>s5ession *:' theoriginal Min-; " utes "of any of these Conventions, but onlyj copies,: — perhaps only the same book fron^ which Judge Phelps cojned — the entries in wliiclv; were certified — notas '¦'¦ original-Minutes,'!' bufc; as copies — sometimes ¦^•ith the .'jvords " Erron*- "excepted," as mav be seen in the Society's.) publicivtion at pages" 13, 15. 16, 20, 34, 37, 42.* But, whatever may be the character of the manu script by which Mr. Dawson calls in rpiestion?; the correctness of the Society's publication, il^ will be found, un exainination, that several of the most important defects which he uauics liavo- no existence iu point of fact, and that the re.si-j duo of them are so trivial and harmle.'-s as tu-^ preclude any idea, in an unprejudiced mind,.; that they could have been made fur any sinister-; pur[)ose whatever, much less for that which MrJ Dawson supposes, of enhancing the credit ofj Vermont at the expense of New York. In am account of some twenty different Conventions- held during a t^eriod of twelve .vears, fronijl 171)."; to 177: a which covers over fifty pages ot.' sented. nor ia it, now, necessary to gratify his Idle curiosi ty. The Magazine plainly describea its authority as " th^ '¦ origlual Minnies, as left by the Secretary who wrotK " them ; " and, whatever may be the failings of tlie Mag azine, it has not yet beeu obliged to resort to falsebood, in order to bolster up a bad cause — Govemor Hall will under stand me. / kaoiv of jchat I ¦write ¦when, I eay, as I do say, that ttie Magazine's laords 9imant what theii clearly indicated^ as tlieir legitimate meaning— ite authority for condernnibng,, as unfaithful, what the Society had published, leas " laij " OEIOntAl. MiKtTTBB, AG LEIfr UT TUE SeOEETABT WHO WSOT " TUEM ; " iind if that description shall not be satisfactor] the Governor can make the most of what he assumes to t the deficiency of his iuf ormatiou.— H. B. D. •• The Society's published version of the Minutes tefen to, were printed from .1 copy of Judge Phelps s copy,' somebody else's copy, of • ' the origmal Minutes, as left 1 the Secretary who wrote them ; " and that precions maim nscnpt, before the printers were allowed to. see it, wS further filtered thiough a portion of the Committee ani doctored up, so as to inike ir'less, disagreeable to some Ve| S2?ff "ihS ^l '*;? interpolaiions and alterations in thi ht^l ^.^SL",?, V'" ^/S"^'."" referred. It would not haJ been prudent to entmst m snch hands any paper whlol could poesiWy make against the pre conceited ideas 1 such a Committee ; and & the gentleman who was t"en tfl honored President of the Vei-moat Historical Sooie'VMidl member, if not the Chairman, of the Comm tteewKnl or mircSuwL" Tf^nS.*!''," '¦•^^=^' "-^^ now alive Govern! ^.?4«?41'orw'si&4°rS's^L^'L'ZM XHE uiSTOEioAi. Maqazihb has yet eaid nothing.— H. B. IH 1871.1 HISTORICAL MAGAZINE. Sl th*- volume, -and- includes -the names of rapte than two ; hundred difierent persons, many of them several times repeated, the industry of the critic has enabled him to discover three or four instances in which he elaims that either the christian or surname of an individual is wrongly given, and nearly as many in which he- says the day of the,pt;oper inonth is erroneously stated, but none of them changing the character of the proceedings in the smallest degree. These, and «nch like errors, which iriay be fonnd in alinost all publications, and even in the critic's own ar: ticle^— all of .which would have been readily acqounted for by an impartial reader, as innocent mistakes of the copytet or of the type, witli other .charges which arc unfounded in fact-i— make up his indictment against the Society for frand in their publication! * Mr. Dawson, after stating that " a merely " casual glance at the reconstructed record has "]tisflqd U9 [him] that it is pntirely unreliable as "material for history," proceeds to specify wliat hie terms, the "more important errors, in this very "important portion of the volume" of the fo ciety, under separate and distinct heads, fcmr- teen in number, each of which we will now proceed .to notice in its order. We shall bo obliged to occupy more space in the investiga tion than we could desire, from the necessity wc (eel of copying most of the critic's coniplaints in full, that we may not be accused of doing hira injustice in stating thera, as well as to exhibit to our readers the temper, or, ns the lawyers would call it, the quo animo, of liis production. We give Spkcification No. 1 as near as may l>e, ¦eeriatim et literatim, as follows : ' ' 1. — The Warrent for the first meeting, dated, " according to this version, 'Arlington, 10th "'Deer. 1775' was really dated ' Aklington, " ' 30th Deer. 1775 ;' and the third article of '.he I "same Warrent, instead of providing 'To see if I " ' the Law of New York shall havo free ciicula- :' ' 'fion where it doth infringe on our properties, (" ' or Titles of Lands, or Kiots (so called) in de- '" ' fence of the same,' as indicated in this volume, "really provided 'to see if the Law of New '" ' York shall havo fi-eo circulation where it doth I" 'not infringe,' etc., a distinction v/ith a ditfer- »"enco, which will be useful to thoae who sbidl ;[" study tlie temper of tho Vermontese of that ll"period, with due attention." il (¦ Tjie Convention, of whicii the notice in the JWairant dated at Ai'lington wiis given, was to be jholden at 'Dorset, the sixteenth of January, fl778, and it was certainly of no ciomeut what ever, whether it bore date the tenth or the twen tieth of Decembier ; * and in regard to the other sijpposed error complained of by Mr. Dawson, we fail to see what " the distinction with a dif- ' ' ference " can possibly be. No question depend - ing on the language of the article respecting " the free circulation " of the law of NewYork appears to havo been votcd ujion. The Conven tion resulted in a Petition to the Continental Cpngress, to be allowed, for the preservation of their land-titles, to serve against Great Britain, under the Congress, as inTiabitants of. the New Hampshire Gr,ant8,:and not under New York, of whicii Petition the critic afterwards takes special notice. Tlie omission of tlio word ''not" jn thc Society's publication, if it really was an omission, was douljtless an error ot the Copyist or the printer, and would have' been so regarded by ariy one not anxiously seeking a pretext for fault finding. -I- No. 3. — Under this specification, Mr. Dawson cliarges that Oliver JBvits, and not Oliver Bt;erts, was an " Assistant Clerk of the Convention of "January 10, 1775," and, that it was James Hard, and not James 7/ur(?, who "served on " the Committee to whom the third Article in " the Warrent was referred." Well, it raay be that Mr. Dawson ii- right. Both the Assistant Clerk and the Comniittee-raan were persons un known to fame, and it is impossible now to ascertain exactly how they wrote Iheir nainra, for to this day Ecerts, Hard, aud HajJ. arc names of many families in Vermont, and Evitu is rarely, if indeed ever, used except incorrectly for Everts; but what shall be thought of a critic who shall gravely found a charge of fraud against respectable persons, on the' discovery of so slight a variation in the spelling of the names of two obscure individuals, who had jirobably been dead for raore than half a century ? .| S •* The reader ia referred, to page frt, post, for what the ^i^agazine said on this portion of the subject, in the criti cism which has so much excited the Governor^ indigna- Hlon.— H. B. D. * The question was one of accuracy In the Society's ver sion, and the necessary consequences which depend on accuracy, therein — ^nothing more. • If the Society's version is inaccurate, it is necessarily unreliable as an authority, in liistory: if it is accurate, then it may be considered as such an authority. It, was for the, purpose of instancing such inaccuracies, and thus of Impeaching its authority and usefulness, that the Magazine ihns referred to the error of the date of this 'Warrant, without stopping to in quire whether or not this change of data ivas otherwiae mischievoas.— H. B. D. t If then' is no difference between the words " where it " doth infringe " and " where it doth not infringe, ' then Governor Half s remarks are sensible: bui if there is such a difEe-ence. the Society's version is afalsilijatlon of the- truth, to Ihat extent; and the Magazliie s notice of it was» to tho same extent, justifiable. My readei's can jndge between ns — H. B. D. t The reader will , perceive, by turning to the copy of what the Magazine really said on this subject— page 64, post— that no such "charee of fraud againat respectable " persons " as Governer ifill has here mentioned, nor any other " charge,' ' cf any kind, except one of inaccuracy in copying a document— i-ixe exact truth of which charge the Governor does not dony— ia to be found, in connection wltli HISTORICAL MAGAZINE, [J"iy,i If we wew! to follow the example ot the Clitic in cavilling at trifles, we inight call his attention to errors of dati; and of spelling in that part of his own article already noticed, of as great significance as those lie charges n|)on thc Society's publication. Thus, in his second speci fication, he speaks of, the meeting at Dorset of which the before-mentioned notice had lieeu given, as having been held "the sixteenth day " of January, 1775," when in fact it was not held till January, 1776, one year after, which is quite as important an error as that complained of by him in the alleged change of date from the twentieth to the tenth of December. Again, in hi* two first specifications, he uses three times a word which we have not been able to find in tmy modem dictionary in our po.ssession, viz. the word WarrereS. We suppose Mr. Dawson wrote the word Wsxiant, with the letter a in the last syllable, and that the heedless tyijesetter changed Jt iuto an e, three times repeated, which makes it quite as great a blunder as the supposed Kslmngo of the name Hfsrd to H?trd by mistaking the letter a for the letter u. We are not «) un- <'haritable as to charge Mr. Dawson with inten tional fraud in this matter.* Charge No. 3 is. that in thc Petition to Con gress, which was adojitcd at the January Conven tion of 1776, before- mentipned, the order of the King iu Council making Connecticut-river the boundary between New York and New Hampshire, vvas recorded in the Minutes of the Convention " a,i of the dato of the -{.th of Julv, "A. 1). 1764"; but that in the Society's " reiioiistrucled. Minutes," the date is given as the liOth of .Inly, 1764. We do not believe tho date whj* recorded as of the fourth of July in the originnl Mirnitf-t, l,)ut if it were, it was clear ly a clerical mistake, which ought at once to be corrected. Tho ofiicial certified copy of iho Order which wan sont out from England lo I>ieutcnant-goveiiior Colden, and which he pub- this partienlar subject, in any portion of what the Maga zine said concerning the volume under examination ; and he wiU perceive, too, that the Govemor, In this portion of his Yindieation, at least, has manufactured a falsehood, for tbe purpose of misrepresenting the Magazine, and without possessing a shadow of truth for « foundation for his untrne statement. 'The reader may ascertain something of the Governor's standard for ascertaining who are " respectable persons," from this instance of his own respectabllitv, as a writer of history.— H. B. D. • The eiildent errors of the press, in the Magazine's oiore ¦words, to which the Governor refers, cannot excuse those errors In the Society's versions of the words of others, which are not evident and cannot be ascertained without resorting to other works; nor can they be justifled, under any circumstances nor to any extent. They are errors which escaped the observation of both the proof-reader and the printer; and, ae such, I condemn them. The Govern or's charity le not desired; and hc can say of those errors as mnch or as little as shall best suit his own purposes. -H. B. D. lished to the settlers, by Proclamation, tlnj tentli of April, 1765, is found in the office of tllcj Secretary of Stat<: at Albanj', in Volume XOIII of Colonial Manuscripts, at page 132. Copies of it are in thc fourth volume of 2'A« Hoeument/irM History of Ne,w York, at page 574 ; in Volnmil III. of Belknaji's New Hampshire, page and in Slade's Vermont Stale Papers, pagelSj all with tho date of the twentieth of July,17CJ| That date is also given iu all histories that trel of the raatter. The dato of tho Declaratioa|( American Independence niight as well bo state to have i)een tho twentieth of July, as that ( the King's Order to havo beeu the fourUi of t!i| nicmth.'" The next specificatiou of Mr. Dawson k j follows : " 4,— In the same F'etitioa and RemonstraniJ " reference was made, as duly recorded by tj " Clerk of tlic Convention, on the Minutes of t| " Convention, reference wa.s made to the agg "gate body of 'Land Traders' whom " Vermonte*! were then resisting : in the rea "structed Minutes, by interpolating tlio woj " 'of NewYork,' fho«e who havo controlled^ "vol nine Iwf ore ns havo managctl to seeurlj "new weapon fur their use, in their co,i4 " with the phantoms, fro-in Nfw YurJc, i*^ " have so long haunted theni." Tlie words "reference waa raade," sceni have been interpolated in tliis specificaS Should not Mr. Dawson call somebody tra count for this act of »' that the ¦aieajjon, whether useful or not in i» fight with New York, is b3' no means ;i nfie one, but is a weapon th'cit was in existence a longtime before the Society's publication wa.s thought of. , In Siado's Vermont State Papers, jiublished in 1S38, pages 01 to Of, the Petition will bo found ¦with the words " ].,and Traders of New York" in.serted thico tinies precisely as in the Society's publication. Tlio Petition is also printed in the ItitraJ. Magazine, [lublislied at Kutland, by Duo tor Samuel Williams, for tlio month of :^bly, 1705, (Vol. 1., p. 3511) with tlio obnoxious words *' of Now, York" following " I^iind Tnulers," ^ in all the pl.iei.K where ic is found in tho Society's ' volume. Tho corii|)laint, therefore, of tlio critic, that "those who havo contnillL'd tin- volume "before vis li.-ive managed to seciin- ii nein I "weapon for tlieir ase, in their contO:-! with the "phaiitoiii.s jr>»/M JNW York," is altogi.'thor un founded, tin; weaiioii lioiiiLr at least srventv-five je.'ii., ..U. It seems not a litth' reinarkablo that jMr. I),iw- ison, who had liio State Vit.pfr.t of Mr. Slado before him, while he was preparing his critioisin, «s will horoaftor 1»^ seen, should have failed to \oo\i into the Petition in that vnhmie. If ho had done .«>, ho would have .'iioii that llio Socie ty's Couimitteo had nothing to do in constructing the supposed now* wesipon, and migtit thus h;ivo been spared thc, unpleasaot dnty of making a falso ehargo against thom. That ho heedlessly neglected to notice so obvious. a source for in formation on the subject, certainly cannot serve to strengthen any reputation lio may now have jfor being a thorough and impiirtiat searcher nfCer historical truth. - > vt vras no port of " Mr. Dawson's " duty, nor waa it „_' art of the Committee's, to tum to Slade's State Pa- nili\ -^ the purpose of "doctoring" any manuscript, in JS\a^rn make ita contents more agreeable to any body. TL Ti,=wo *»id, before, it vi'as the Committee's business to ^%n.!;,i,,^o the Jlinuiea as it found them— the text of tt'^IjTusZff •» shonldhave remained unaltered— and if the J?„_,„ff*„„ vi„ ¦^ed to show its superior learning, by a tilt ¦S?il» o^*w of those Minutes, it shonld havo displayed (haUearalSff hilt. Vool-notes, over its own initlals.-U.B.I> But tliere could bo no motive whatever for " those who controlled the volume" to insert the words " of New Yorh " in the manner complain ed of, for their insertion or omission could not alter tho sense ot the Petition, in the slightest degree. Mr. Dawson has not condescended t» stati; in which of the three places of thc Peti tion the words "of NewYork" have been in terpolated. It could not have been where the Land Traders wore first inentioned, because it would have then been indispensable to state what Land Traders were intended, and the word.i " of New York " w(mld be necessarily used. It could not have been iu the second instanc(?, because the words "that Province," which fol low "Land Traders" in the same sentence, could refer back to no other word but ' ' Now " York." which must have been previously used. It must, then, have been in reg;»rd to the third, in which tho offence was charged, and what i.s tho offence ? It is this, that after tbe term "Land Traders of NewYork" had been twice used in the Petition, the same Land Trad ers had, in Mr. Dawson's manuscript, been desig nated as " those Land Traders." and that the Committee had improperly added to " those " Land Traders" the obnoxious words " of Niw ' ' York." Kvery one will readily see that ' those " Land Traders" ot Mr. Dawson were tho iden tical "Land Traders of Now York" which had been |)ioviously mentioned, and that the additional words, "of Now York," did not, and could not. change the raeaning of the lan guage in tho slightest degree. But if tho addi tional words had been rieioly inserted, as charged by Mr. Diiwson. the idea that they could in any w.iy liMve been used as a "ue.-ipnn" nuidiist Xrvv York must be set down as a iiicro "plian- "tom" of tiie critic's own '• haunted " inuigin- ation.''' Si'KCmc.vTiON No. 5 is in the following worda : '¦5. — The official signatures of the Chairman " and Secretary of the Dorset Convention of the "sixteenth of January, 1776, which this version "of tho Minutes presents, in the record "f the '¦ samo Potition and Remonstrance, at the foot of "the niiiotoonth page of this volume, are not ia ^' the original Minutes, as left hy the Secretary < ' who irrole them; and, to those who aro u.uac- i- quainted with tho facts, this strange error, of . ' either the Plditors orthe Printer of this volunie, .' will servo to destroy tho usefidn&ss of the entire " As I have said before, the question is one of accuracy in copying: nothing else. I insist, in that connecti"n, that if the Committee had no right to change a word of the text, by substituting another for it, its right to add any ¦words is quite aa invalid- it had no more right to add the ¦words " of New York," anywhere. In what purported to bo the Minutes of a meeting, than it had to change a date. In the same paper.— H. B. D. HISTORICAL MAGAZINE. July, " entry, and to mislead tho.sa who are groping, ¦' in this dark -subjert, for tho exact trutli of the "matter." The Italics in this quotation, a.s well nn the capitals, are tho critic's, not ours. In making thi 7. charge, Mr. Dawson must have forgotten to t4kke even his " merely casual glance at the " teaching.^ ot this reconstructed record," with which he cimimonced his notice of it, for the charge is wholly without foundation, in fact. The conclusion of "the Petition and Kenion- " strance" is, indeed, on the nineteenth page, hut it ends with the words, " as in duty bound, "your honors' petitioners shall c-.ver pray," with out any signatures whatever — "¦official''- or otherwise. It is followed, near " the foot of thfe *' nineteenth page," by; the proceedings of the Conventipn which adopted it, which proceedings are concluded and certified towards the middle of the succeeding page. The publication, in this respect, is entirely without error. The pro ceedings of the Convention of the sixteenth of Jsinuary, 1776, arc given precisely as found in Slade's Staie Papers and in the Stiral Magazine, before referred to, and word fpr word, as copied by Judge Phelps from the manuscript befpre described,: and which is presumed to be that which is now in the possession of Mr. Dawson. We venture to say that if he will allow the Society's publication to be compared with his oWi) manuscript, it will bo found to agree with it verhatim et literatim. If the absolute falsehooil of thi.s charge was not seen by ]ilr. Dawson, he at least' made it without any examination iuto its truth, aud with a heedlessness of the reputation of others which ¦cannot entitle him to any special commendation a? a model of historical reseaich anrl fairness.- He must at lea.st be content to accept for liiniself Klic sentence he so flippantly passed upon the Editors, and admit that this " strange error" of liLs should "servo to destioy the usefulness" 4u)d credit of his "entire" article.* * If the two lines, at the foot of the nineteenth page of the Society's volume, in the form and type in which the Society haa presented them, do not represent an offlcial verification of what precedes them, they represent nothing ; and Govemor Hall may make the most of my assertion, m this instance, that his powers of tnvention shall permit. I fancy that 1 understand the difference between the recognized form of an entry, in a Minute-book, of the names of the ofiicers of a meeting and that of the offlcial signatures of those oiHcers. appended to a Minute, for the purpose of verifying it ; and I say that, while the Secretary who wrote the Minutes of the Convention of July 24, 1776, ¦as clearly understood that diflierence as, I do, and pradiiced it, ¦while making his entry, the iterance of the Commit tee of the Vermont Historical Society, when it disregarded that, di'llerence and blundered into an error, in tlie case before me, was equalled only by the assurance of Govern or Hall, in defending that error, and his impudence in charging " absolute falsehood " on those who have difEered from him. In using these ftjong TH oris I eay jivst what I mean''and The following is the next specification n order : •' e. — The intcrpobition of «. line, sissiguing a "motive for the sudden attempt of Heman Allen " to withdraw the insurgents' Petition and Re- " monstrance from befoi'o the Continental Con-- "gress, was simply a piece of imperdnenco on "the part of the Editoi's and ia a fraud on those "¦ndio shall road these reconstructed Mnw^tfs.- "there is no such, reason as,signed, inthe real ¦' Minvtes. as written by the Secretary of (he " Convention." Doubtless a reader of these strictures of Ihe critic would infer from bis languagi- that tW; Editors he mentions had inserted in their ])ubii- cation certain words which did not belong thorf, . in such a manner as to give their reader.^ to un derstand that they formed a part of the original Jonrnal. They have done no such thing. They ¦ have inserted words between brackets — fthusl — as an indication that peHi.lpS an (miission had been made in the joiirn.d, which those wPi'ds w'ould supply. Tliis inactice is quite too com mon to deceive any one. It is indeed always understood to amount to a i-tatemcnt that .the words thus included in brackets do -not form «, l.iart of the text ; and it is [jrcsumed that few persons other than Mr. Dawson — and he jioihap.s only in an emergency — vvould think of found ing a charge of franc' upim it.'* I Ionian Allen had been charged with- the pre.»ientation of the Petition of tlie sixteenth of January, 1770, to Congres.H. and his account of his proceedings with it was enloied on the Journal of the Convention of the twenty-fourth of July; following. His statement of tliIr. Daw son calls the original minutes, is tho book of Doctor Fay, which was seen and copied by Jndge Phelps, as before stated. Of this Con vention of .lanuary, 1777, Ira .VUen, and not Doctor Fay, was tho Clerk; and at the end of it.s (iroceoding's in Doctor Fay's bo(,)k, as copied by Judge Phelps and printed in the Kocioty's vol ume; page 42, f it is certified, not as the original Minutes, but as " A truo copy from the original." The introduQtory matter complained of, is in tlw following w^ords : * If it will please the Governor, I will prick not only this bubble of his blowpipe, but others, in various parts of his Vindication, by remarking that I do not remember that I have had any occasion to refer to Slade's State Papers for at least flve years past; thatldonot remember of having seen a copy of that " well known " work during the past flve, years ; that-I am very sure thatlhavenot opened.a copy of it since the Society's version of the Minutes was crfginally sent, as " copy," to Ihe compositors who " set it "up,'' iu type, , for the printers. "I owu a copy of the book In question ; but the last time it was alluded to, in conversation, or thought of, by me. ir my memory does not deceive me, was when one of the Committee of Publication of the Vermont Historical Socie ty's first volume of Gollections-t-ti&t under consideration- was my welcome guest, on my own premises. ¦Will Governor Hall please to understand me, and to tell no more f alshooda on the subject now under notice •/ t A few lines above. Governor Hall said, " Judge Phelpa " Md not copy from Doctor Fay'a manuscript that portion " of the proceedings which had beeu prinled in Slade, but "made note of thepoints in which he aaw they varied, •' and, from Ms notes, a few supposed errors m Slade were •' ooEiosoTED"— the supposition of the Committee ivas thus its standard of authority; and both the Manuscript which Judge Phelps "did not copy" and Slade were alike dla- c'reaited. " To the honorable Oonvention of liepresenla.- '^ tines, from the several towns on the West and "East side of the range of Green Movntains,' " toithin thc New Hampshire Grants,. in Convm- " tion. aisembled; " Your Committee, to whom was referred tho " form of a Declaration setting forth the right " the inhabitants of said New Ilampshiro Gnmts " have to form themselves into u siqiarate and " independent Stato or Government, beg leave to " report, viz.: " That these introductory words were in tho Ilo port as originally made to tho Convention, there can bo no reasonable doubt, and we think a.-» little that they would be copied into the .Tourn ai, as was the introductory matter to the Ileimrt of another Committee, on the next pturo of the JournaL This " formal introduction " is found in a copy of the jn^ocoedings, published .ts long ago 118 1823. It seems much more likely that tlioy were omitted by Dr. Fay in his copy from Ira Allen's Minutes, either by uccideut or from tho belief that tlie\' might be properly loft out, than that tmy one had undertaken to prepare them without authority to be inserted in Mr. Sl.ide's publication. Tlie.y wore, indeed, merely- formal, and do not alter the moaning of the pro ceedings, in i'.ny degioe whatever; and ivliy Mr. Dawsrai, even if ho had boon ignorant of their aiitiiiuity, should undertake to magnify their in sertion in the Society's volume into an offence against historicjil integrity, is a, question whieh ho alone oun solve.'"' * 'With the evidence before me, alre.idy, of the despera tion of my venerable friend, I need fee] no surprise at tht; demonstration which he has made iu thc paragraph before rae. The reader of, the Committee's version of the Eeport in questiou will very readily perceive that that Eeport opened with the words : " The Committee appointed to bring in a " draught of a Declaration, setting forth the right of " tbe inhabitants of that district of land, commonly called "and known by the name of the New Hampahire " Grants, have, to form themselves into a State or inde- " pendent Government;" and noone but such an one as the venerable vindicator of the last Committee's blunders would have supposed that it was necessary for the Commit tee of tlie Convention, after it had thus opened ita Eeport, to re-commence that Eeport, as he would have us believe — least of all would that Convention's Committee, after recit- ¦ ing thefact that Itwas " appointed to bring in a draught of . " a Declaration," re-commeuce its Eeport; contradict that ' recital; and, nine lines below, coolly. recite an antagonist-' ic fact, that it had beeu appointed to consider "the' " form of a Declaration," drawn up by somebody el&e/ rather than '• to bring in a draught of a Declaration," from its owu capable pen. It Governor Hall and his associates had been competent to discharge the duty which properly devolved upon them, aa the Society's Committee on Publication, they would have let the record of the opening of the Convention, " accord- ' " ing to adjournment," on " Priday morning," form a distinct paragraph ; aud then, opening another paragraph ¦with the next subject, they would have done aa the Clerk of the Convention did, and copy tho Eeport of the Com mittee, in extenso, as a portion of the Minutes of the Con vention's proceedings, without enquiring what either Gov ernor Slade or any other person, not members of thc Com mittee, might be pleased to have said on the subject, and 58 HISTORICAL MAGAZINK [July, The next Cn.A.Rrti- op KRCoNSxnccTiox, is as follows.: "II. — In thc sauie important instrument, as "originally recorded, a most important extract " from tho Journals of the Continental Congress, " certified by the Secretary of that Congress, was " introduced, as tho foundation of the Conven- " tion's proposed action on that subject; in the ".reconstructed Minutes, the record of that Rcs- " olution is changed in ifs terms, and the vorifi- " cation of the Secretary is altogether, omitted — " a curious and significant coincident.'" The pint of the Society's work, here complain ed of, is copied literally from Slade's State Pa pers, without diminution or addition, as Mr. Dawson well knew, and if if contains evidences of " reconstruction," be also knew they were of too gre^t antiquity to bc chargeable to the Com mittee of Publication. The " important extract '" from the Journals of the Continental Cpngress " is the Resplution ot that body of May 15, 1770, which is copied from Slade, in the following "words : "Jiesohed, That it bo recommended to the "respective Assemblies and Conventions of the " United Colonies, where no GovermncntgnfJicient. " to the exigencies of their tiffairs, has been liere- " tofore established, to adopt such Govemment " as shall, iu tho ojiinion of the representatives ' ' of the people, best conduce to the happiness " and safety of their constituents iii particular, '¦ and of America in general." >rr. Dawson's charge is quite indefinite, but on thorough examination we are satisfied it can be no other than the discovery, by him, after dili- 4;<'.nt sei'rch, thatthe word " hei-etofoxe" which precedes tho word " established," in fhe Resolu tion, and whicii is thus copied fiom Sliide, is printed '' /wi/iis/'fy," in the Journal of Cougie-ss We are u uable to flnd any other change in the terms of the Itesolution. To be sure this doesupt make the slightest change in the meaning pf the llosolution, the Governnients which had been " //.>n cern remain in running order. I say that this is my uoderstanding of tho purport of your Vindi cation ; and if I havo mistaken that meaning, in any rcsjiect, I assure you, that it has.not been from the want of care in reading it. Neither my health nor my disposition warrant any attempt, on m;,' pait, to engage in any un necessary controversy; and, ainong the, last of these with whom I should seek a discussion which might be construed as an unfriendly one, would be such an one as ytmiself, whom I have always regarded as one of the most valued of my personal friends. But you havo been plefised to mention me, by name, in your Vindic:ation ; to arraign me, by name, on Charges which no respectable man can allow to remain without notice ; and to represent me, and my temper, and ray conduot. both as an individual and as the conductor of a public press, in such a man ner as, were your picture a faithful one, would induce me to loath myself as earnestly as you seeto to desire I shall be loathed by others. 1 propose, therefoi-e, as best I may, in my physical weakness and pain, toi notice, "Fery briefly, tho varipus parts of your Vindication, in the order iri which I have already referred to them. FinsTLY : as to tho assailant of the Society's Volume. ^ ' Ori the, cover, on the title-pagei and on piige 3 of your pamphlet, you refer, specifically, to" the "New Yorh Historical kagazine" as tho assail ant of the Society's volume; and, on page 3, I am said to be the Editor of that audacious ma- ligner of the SPciety's reputation. But I assure you that I know of no such work : that I had never heard of any such work, until your Vin dication told rno of it : that, as far as my knowl edge and information go, I am not aware of the publication of any Historiosl 3Iagazine, 'under any title, in New York, during the past five yeai's. 'I'ou w;ill allow me to sup|)08e, therefore, that you have made a mistake in your averment : that,, as a narrator of very simple facts, not difii cult to 1,10 authenticated, you cannot, always, bo relied on : that your statement", as history, /are, sometimes, loose and, as authorities, witiiout value. On page 3 of your piimphlet, after having declared, over and over atiain," tliiit something. else was the offender, you suddenly introduce ine, by name, as the attacking parry from whose assaults the Soeiety's volume lifts eufferi.'d so much as to require your individual interference. But I assure you that I am not sensible that I have ever made any such ' ' attiiok " as you refer to; and if you can produce a scrap of either manuscript or piintyd matter, bearing either my name or my initijils, in which any such. " attack " as you have described, or any other, has been made, I will as loudly plead guilty to your accu sation as ! now dony 3'our charge. You will permit me to suppose, therefore, tliiit you have made a second mistake in j'our averment: that, as a narrator of very simple facts, not diificult to bo authenticated, you cannot always be relied on : Ihat your statements, as history, are, .'¦oinetimes, loosely made and, as autlioiitics, without value. I beg your perniisvion, however, before pro ceeding fuitlur in tiiis review of your ])amphlet, I o suggest that, very probably, you intended to have mid, when you siiid sometiiing else, that The Histokicatj SIagazink, edited by hie and published at Morrisauia, N. Y., in its number for .G4 HISTORICAL MAGAZINE, [•Inly, .January, 1871, noticed, the first volume of The Collections of ihe Vermont Historical Society, in which notice that Society was earnestly congrat- nlated on the solid success which had attended its first experiment, as the j)ublisher of a volume; and the hope was expressed, in that notice, that tho financial result ot the venture would be such as to warrant a speedy renewal of the attempt whieh had been made by the Society, in the publication of that volume, to make itself use ful.' The notice also alluded to certain change.? which the Committee had made in the selection of proffered material for tho volume, and heart ily sustained the Committee in its latest choice ; and it closed by pronouncing tho volume ' ' a.s " creditable to the book-making faculties of the "Committee as it will be acceptable to every " Vermonter who shall look into it." I say you probably intended to say this, or something of the same tenor ; but, unfortunately, you failed I o carry out your intention, and. instead, in this jKirtion of your Vindication, of being a mere narrator of naked facts, you voluntarily became — something else. As I have said, both my health and disposi tion, at this moment, prompt me to seek quiet, rather than excitement, and rBpose, rather than conflict; but it is not my nature, .cither in .sick ness or in health, to aUow such » knight as you are, in such a cause lis this, to ramble over the countiy, in search of a victim, without, at least, looking at him, from behind my, own pickets, as he passes on the highway — I would not think of approaching a Rorey O' Moore, when the chip ia Jin his shoulder and the black-thorn in hi's fist, but, the ex-President of a Historical Society, after having occupied the gubernatorial chair of his State, who voluntarily becoraes the knight- orrant of such a cause us this, is entitled to mv iittention, if not to my .•sympathy. I shall fjiko you MS you evidently meant to bo undeirtood, tlierefore; and let your mistakes be carried to the credit of your infirmities. and your anger; iind this, brings this review, Secokdly: to the ''attack'/' no matter by whom, and to your Vindication of it, no matter -how ill-tempered or ill-judged. The HiSToniCAi. JIagazink for January, 1871, said, of the volume referred to, only as- follows : "T).— Collections ofthe Vermont Historical, "Soeiety. Prepared and Published hy the " Printing and Publishing Committee, iu pursu- " .anco of a voce of the Society. Vol.1. Mont- "pelier: Printed for the Society. 1870. Oc- " tavp, pp. xix, 508. '"With the exception of a nuraber of inde- ' ' pendent tracts, this volume is, we believe,' the "first extended publication by the Verraont His- " torical Society ; and wc earnestly congratulate " that body on tho solid success which has attend - " cd tho experiment — raay the financial result bo " as much of ii success ; and such as to warrant " a speedy renewal of the tittempt to make it- " self useful. '• After the ineliuiinary papcre, devoted to .i " record ef the Society's Charter, By-law.s, Mem- " b(!rship, etc., the Minutes of those meetings of " ' The Green-mountain Boys ' which ultimately " led to the formation of the State of Vermont, "properly finds a place— a series of papere " which, for historical importance to every Ver- " monter, has no existing equal. " Unfortunately, however, in this case, the So- " ciety employed a copy instead pf the original " manuscript* ; and, it luis, consequently, fallen "a victim, in several cases, tothe incompetency " of either its coi)yist or its proof-reader. " WitlKHit noticing the multitude of chunges " whicii we have seen in the spelling and capital- " ization of tho words, in the structure of the "paragraphs, and in the general style of tho ' ' work, a tnerely casual glance at the teachings of "the re-constrncted record has satisfied lis that " it is entirely unreliable, as material for history. '' As evidence of this, we need pnly refer to the " following more important errore, iu this veiy "important portion of the volume. " I . — ^Tlie AVarrent for the first meeting, " dated, according to this version, ' Aklikgton, " ' 10th Doc'r, 1775,' was really dated ' Aklisg- " 'ton, SOth Dec'r, 1775 ;' and tho third Article " of the samo AVarrenf, instead of providing ' To " ' see if the Law of Now York shall have free " ' circulation where it doth infringe on onrprop- " ' erties, or Titles of Lands, or Riots (sP called) " 'in defence of the same,' as imlic.'ited in thi-j •' voUime, really provided ' to see it' the Law of "' New York shall have free Circulation where " 'it doth not infringe' etc. — a distinction with " a difference, which will be useful to tho.se wlio "shall study tho temper of the Vermonleso of " that pi^riod, with due attention. ' ' 2.— The ' Oliver Everts ' who was onO of tim "Assistirat (.'lerks of the meeting, at Dorset, on "tho sixteenth of January, 1775, tw indiScatcd iu "this volume, was really ' Oliver ^j)j<«; ' and " the ' .James Hurd," who solved on the Commit- " tee to whom the third Article in the Warrent, " just noticed, was referred by that Convention, •* was really ' Jairies Hard." " 3.— llie Order in Council,, relative to the "Grants, referred to in tho Remonstrance and "Petition 'which was presented to the Continen- "tal Congress, in behalf of tho insurgents, by "Heman Allen, was retdly recorded— Either lic- "curately or otherwise — in the Jlinutes of the " Convention at Dorset, of the twenty-fourth of "July, 1770, as ofthe date of ' t\vi fourth dav '"of .July, A.D., 17G4:' the reconstructed 1871.] HISTORICAL MAGAZINE, SOth " Minutes, befpre us, presents it as * pn the •" ' day of July, A.D. 1764.' " 4 — In the same Petitinn and Rempnstrance, " reference was made, as duly recprded by the " Clerk of the CpuTention, pn the Minutes of "the Conventipn, reference waa made to the " aggregate bpdy of ' Land Traders' whpm the " Vermpntese were then resisting ; in the re-cpn- " structed Minutes, by interpolating the words, '"of New York,' these whp have contrpUed the " vplume before us bave managed tp secure a " new weapon fpr their use, in their cpntest with " the phantoms, from New Yorh, which have se " Ipng haunted them. "5. — The official signatures of the, Chairman " and Secretary pf the Dnrset Cpnventipn pf the " sixteenth pf January, 1776, which this versipn " pf the Minutes presents, in the recprd pf the ' ' same Petitipn and Rempnstrance, at the fppt pf " the nineteenth page of tbis vplume, are not in " the original Minutes, as left by tlie Secretary " who wrote ihem; and, to those who are unac- "quainted 'with the facts, this strange crrer, pf " either the Editprs pr the Printer pf this vplume, " will serve tp destroy the usefulness pf the entire ** entry, and tp mislead these whp are groping, in " this dark subject, for the exact truth pf the ' ' matter. "6. — ^The interpolation of aline, assigning a " motive for the sudden attempt of Heman Allen " to witlidraw the insurgents' Petition and Re- " monstrance from befpre the Cpntinental Con- " gress, was simply a piece pf impertinence on the ''' part of the Editors and is a fraud on those who " shall read these re-constructed Minutes : there " ia no such reason assigned, in the real Minutes, " as written'by the Secretary of the Convention. " 7. —In the Dorset Convention of the twenty- " fifth of September, 1776, ' M' . Abraham Ives ' " really represented ' N. Wallingford,' where- "ever that town may havebeen; not ' Wall- " ' ingford,^ as tbese re-constructed Minutes " would have us suppose. " 8. — In the Westminster Convention of Jan- " uary 15, 1777, this version of the Minutes of "that body would have us believe that 'Lt. "'Leonard Spaulding' and ' Lt. Dennis Lock- " ' land' jointly represented ' Dummerston,' and " that the town pf ' Putney ' was not represented " ia that Convention, by any one : the fact is, " that * Dummerston ' had only one Delegate — ' ' ' Lieut. Leonard Spaulding '— ; that ' Putney ' *' wat represented in the Convention ; and ' Lieut '"Dennis Lockland' -washer Delegate, instead "of Dummerston'*. " 0. — ^In the same Convention, ' Major Joaeph '> ' Williams ' appeared for Pownal : not ' Major " 'Josiah Williams,' as represented in this vol- <( vana, ««10.j_The re-ponstructed M'.n'Ues of tbe same "Convention present a fprmal introductlpn of "seven lines, to the Repprt on what is, in fact, "Vermont's Declaration of Independence — cer- " tainly, as far as Vermont is concerned, an in- ' ' strument of the first importance, as material for " histpi-y — the original Minutes of the Conven- " tion itself, which constitute the original record "of the paper, presented no such introductpry " matter, npr any pther — our friends pf the "Cpmmittee to the contrary, notwithstanding. " 11. — In the same important instrument, as ''originally recorded, a most iniportant extract " from the Journals pf tlie Cpntinental Cpngress, " certified by the Secretary pf that Cpngress, was " introduced, as the foundation of the Conven- " tipn's prpppsed actipn pn that subject : in the " re-censtructed Minutes, the recprd pf tbat Res- " olution is changed in its terms, and the verifi- " cation pf tbe Secretary is altogether omitted — " a curious and insignificant coincidence. " 12. — In the original record of the same im- " portant i)aper, as well, it seems, as in the copy "of it which Mr. Slade publbhed in bis well- " known Vermont State Papers, it is said 'that " ' the District of Territory comprehending and " ' Usually known by the name and description " 'of theN. Hampshire Grants of Right ought '¦ ' to be and arc hereby declared forever here- ' ' ' after to be considered as a Seperate Free and ' ' ' Independent Jurisdiction or State by the ' ' ' Name & to be forever hereafter called and " 'knewn and distinguished by the Name of ' ' ' Ifew Cpnnecticut Alias Vermpnt and that the " ' Inhabitants ' etc : in the vplume before us, it "is said 'thatthe district pf territoi'y cpmpre- ' ' ' bending and usually knpwn by tbe uame and " ' dcscripticn of thc New Hampshire Grants, of ' ' ' right ought to be, and is hereby declared for- " 'ever hereafter to be considered as a separate, "'free and independent jurisdiction or state; ^''by the name, and forever hereafter to be " ' called, known and distinguished by the name " ' of New Connecticut; [ i ] and the inbabi- " ' tants ' etc.— the blank space being illustrated "with a foot-note, informing us that, 'here, " 'in the copy in Slade's State Papers, the " ' words ' alias Vermont ' are inserted ; _' but " that ' they could not have been in the original " 'declaration appears from the subsequent use '"of the name ' New Connecticut,' alone, and ' ' ' from the proceedings in the Cpnvention of " ' the fourth of Jurie following, when tbe name "'was changed to 'Vermont.' The manu- " script copy of the original with which General "Phelps had favored the Society and the pub- " lished copy of the same which Govemor l^ade " had presented in his State Papera, were both "before the Committee when it issued this re- " constructed recerd ; and we confess 'we are not " acquainted with the principle which warrented 66 HISTORICAL MAGAZmfE tJuiy. " the Committee, in the face of the two distinct " cnpies pf the original, to not only omit ftom "its version of the Minutes the words 'Alias " ' Vermont,' but to discredit the fidelity of the " only text which it eraployed, by doubting the. " existence of the words, elsewhere. Such is ' ' Vermont, history, as written by Vermont his- ' ' torians. "13,— The latter part of the Report, or De- '' claration of Vermont's Independence, is so per- " fectly muddled— there are not less than five •'serious errors, affecting the sense, within the '' last six lines — that no one, except an expert in '' Vermontese history, can possibly understand it, ''.accurately. "14. — ' Messrs. John Sessions and Simeon Ste- " '.phens' were the two Representatives from " Cumberland; county, in the Convention pf the ' ' State of New York, whom the insurgents, in " Vermont, directed to withdraw from that body : "' Messrs. John Sessions and Simon Stephens" "are said, in this recpnstructed record, to have "thus officiated as such Representatives, in the ' ' Legislature of New York, of which State Ver- " raent was then a part. , "There are many other errors which we have "not space enough to allude to ; but we have " said' enough to shew how entirely useless this "portion of the volume is, as are authority in "historical enquiry. It raay serve the purpose "for which it was probably intended, among " those who read the history pf Vermont from ' ' the Vermontese stand-peint ; but tp thpse whp " read history fpr the purpose of ascertainjng " what the truth is concerning those, within the " recognized territory of New York, who refused " obedienceto the laws and public oftieers of the " State of which tbey openly professed to be cit- " izens — of those, in fact, who led all others in " the grave offence of secessien frpm a recogniz- " ed Gpvernment, exercising legal and publicly- " recpgnized autiiority over them — some other " authority i will be requisite. , These, probably, " will not bei contented with either Vermont liis- " tory pr Vermpnt his'tprians, as the fpi-raer is " now written and as the latter now write. , " Following these Minutes are re-prints-of sev- ' ' oral ancient tracts concerning the land-disputes ; " an extended series of papeis, illustrative of the "history of the Northern Carapaign of 1777; " and a re-print of Ira Allen's History ef Yer- " moni — we have npt the means tp cpmpare the " cppies pf the fprmer with the priginals npr "•with ccinplete copies cf them; the latter is "not so scarce that anyone of even ordinary "means cannot employ theoriginal insteadof "this copy; and a comparison , of the two will, " tlierefore, be wholly unnecessary-^and a mea- ' ' gre Index closes the volume. " We are not insensible qf some of the differ- " ences pf ppinion which are said to have led to " the re-production of some of the pld tracts and "Allen's History ; and w.e.areiree tP say that we ' ' approve the seleetion of materials, as it stands, " rather than that which was originally proposed. "The general good judgment pf the Committee "of Publipation, in the choice, pev ae, of offered "material, is amply.apparent— wo wish wecould ' ' say as much for its accuracy of details, in us- ' ' ing what it selected— and the very handsorae " volume which it has produced, is as creditable "to its book' making faculties ^^ i' will be ac- " ceptable to every Vermonter who shall look "into it." It will be seen, by the sober reader, that The Historical Magazine disapproved oi the_ con tents of only a small portion of the Society's volume- the first of the dozen articles 'which it contained — and that that disapproval was ex clusively conflned to the inaccuracy of that par ticular article, as a copy of an unpublislied paper, which, " for historical importance to every " Vermonter, kas no existing equal," and de served a better fate. It will be seen, also, that it was a matter of regret that, "in this case, the " Society employed a copy instead of the origin- ' ' al manuscripts " — the reason could ha,ve been assigned, 'why that copy was used, but was not — ^nd, certainly, in no unfriendly spirit, it' said that the Society, in consequence of its mistaken seleetion, " has fallen a victim, in several cases, "to the incompetency of its copyist pr its proof - '¦' reader." It needs no argument to prove that, aa the say ing has it, " what is worth being done at all, by " any one, is worth being done well ; " and it is especially true that what is presented f^s materials for histpry, by a Histprical Spciety, in a vpluine conducted through the press trader its Pwn au- tjliprity, by its raaster minds, and bearing its own imprint, isexpected to he accurate as well as au thentic; and that it is necessarily withput value, q,s materials for histpry or as a standard by which written histpry. shall be tested, if its accuracy pr its authenticity shall be successfully impeached. I'nE HisToniCAL Magazine averred, as was its dfUty, that the particular article to winch it ob jected had not been accurately presented, by the Society, in the volume referred to ; and it also sViid ot it, because of that inaccuracy, " that it '.' is entirely unreliable, as material for bistory " -j-that it is " entirely useless," " as an authority, '':' in historical enquiry." This is the graVainen of t^ie offence against '\yhich you complain ; and against this judgment of The IIisfOHkcAL Mag azine you direct the weight of your extended arid. E^ngry Vindication. You gravely admit that potli the Society and you have never yet seen the driginal manuseript ot which- that Society jJro- ilesses to hare, given a mere copy, in the artiijlfe 1871.] HISTORICAL MAGAZINE -67 which, " as are authority in historical enquiry," The Historical Magazine has condehaned as inaccurate and untrustworthy ; yet, ludicroiisly enough, you gravely defend that, copy, with all its aUeged and conceded inaccuracies, and insist that it is really worthy the respect, as such au thority, which was originally claimed for it. The Historical Magazine to the contrary notwith standing. Ypu gravely admit, alsp, that The HISTOEICAL Magazine has seen the original man uscript, and yen actually pretend tp describe it ; yet tbe errers, in the Spciety's copy, which The HisTomcAL Magazine, after comparing that copy with tbe original, has carefully pointed put and described, are, ludicrpusly enough, treated, in ypur Vindication, with the highest respect, while the Editpr of the Magazine is individually re proached, because they were thus carefully ex- ariiined and condemned in the pages of that peri odical. If I ever lacked evidence of your entire inca pacity either to narrate a fact pr to 'wiite a his tory, accurately, I do so no longer ; and, in your evident 'Willingness to prefer, as " are authority, " in historical research," what you know and acknowledge to be an inaccurate copy of a doc ument, rather than tbe original paper itself, when that original shall make against some pre-con- ceived notion of your own which that inaccurate "opy can pander to and sustain, you voluntarily afford evidence, which no one can gainsay, of your own entu'e unfitness tp judge of the merits of any histprical questien whatever. It matters not who your father was, nor what distinctions you may have perspually secured, nor where you live ^your studied attempt to bolster up what you know to be the shattered reputation of what the Spciety unwisely offered "as an authority, in "bistorical research," and to put " the guinea- " stamp " Pn what is cpnceded, even by ypurself, tp be base metal, will be duly understood and receive \t&_ just condemnation from every one, every 'vyhere, who knows the difference, in value, between a truth and a falsehood, and who cares to pick up a stone to 'cast at you. The copy of the paper, under notice, which the Society published in its first Volume,_ is cer tainly inaccurate — ^you admit it to be so, in your Vindication— ami it is, tlierefore, untrustworthy, "as an authority, in historical research," not withstanding all 'you shall present in vindication of if: the strictures of The Historical Maga zine are well f purided and servicable, " as au- " thorities, in bistorical research ; " and what ypu have said, in ypur unwise remarks cpndem- natcrypf tbem, serves tp exppsis the npthingness of yourPWn pfeteritipns rather than the ¦weakness of the Magazine. Thirdly': as to your picture of what you con ceive to be xaj "UostU^ temper towards 'the " 'Vermontese,' and my ijredeterraination con- " cerning them." This is not the first time that I have beard pf wbat has been industriously circulated as a report of my hostility tp Vermont; andl notice the silly nonsense of the accusation, now, only be cause it affprds another item of the sickly child ishness of its last puKisher. Vermont is neither more nor less to me than any other portipn pf Gpd's f pot-stool ; nor do I, individually, care a whit mere npr a vvhit less fpr \' the Vermpntese " than I do for the great body of my own towns men, unto whPm I am, perspually, a stranger and ¦whp, perspually, are strangers to me. Those bf them whp arelipnest and aet like benest men, I most heartily respect, in Vermont and iri Morris ania : those of them, whether here or there, who act like rogues and who roll a falsehood around, as a sweet rriprsel, under their tpngues, wheneyer they can flnd a pPor excuse for preferring it to the truth, at the same price, I have always con-, demned ; and, while strength shall be spared to me, I expect to condemn all such, here and there, until my latest breath. Evidence which even you cannpt gainsay^ — althpugh you will, probably, attempt to belittle it — tells me that the greatbocly pf the early settlers of what is now Veimont, were nothing more nor less than lawless ruffians ; and I make np new revelation when I repeat what that evidence bas taught me. I haye learned, frbm undpubted testimpny, tpp, thsA money was required by those " Green-mountain boys," be fpre they WPUld interfere with Ticcnderpga, npt- withstanding what ypu claim to cpnsider as their " cpuntry " imperatively demanded their prompt and energetic action, without it; and I have learried, also, that, thenceforth, until they estab lished the legal independence pf the State, the same peculiar " patriotism " which began and ended in theraselves 'was the controlling power among them. They drpve industripus settlers frPm their lipriiesteads, seized their property, abused their persons, and, soraefitnes, did 'worse than all this, just as " the bprder-rufiiaris " are said tp have dene, in these latter days, inliansas and tbe Far West ; and they seized sixteen towns. East of the ConneCticrit-river, in New Hamp shire, and I do not know hpw many. West of that river, in New York, and, year after year, ruled those wbo lived in those tewns, npt only •without law but in open and impudent defiance of it. The authprity of the King arid that of the State — ^New Hanipshire's quite as much ^as New York's^they resolutely disregarded ; and when the Continental Corigress, oh their own 'a!p- plicatipn, gave judgment against them,, they spitgbt, in Canada, frpm tbe Rpyal Gpvernor, that peculiar cpnsolation and protectipn which, at that mpment, their cpuntrymen, under Wash- ingten anci his subprdipates, were manfully re- «$ HlSfORlCAL MAGA^i;NE. (July, ffisting, in the field. All thi% and more, yoii KNOW to be strictly true ; and -you know, also, that when I offered to print your own statements of all these matters, those 'which migbt be true as well as those, wbich shpuld be untrue, to any reasonable exterit, and entirely without any ex pense to you, you shrunk from the exposure of Vermont's early wickedness and from that of your own misrepresentations of that wickedness, ¦which, you very well knew, was in store for you, and so preferred to let the early. history of Ver mont remain undiscussed and concealed from the worid. If you shall liave reconsidered that con- elusion, and are now disposed to present what ¦gofa conceive to be the facts, with tlie evidence to sustain your averments, the pages of The His- 'fOBiCAL Magazine are open, for your use, for that purpose, at any time, to any reasonable ex tent ; and I promise you, in such case, an unre stricted hearing, as to language, and, limited only bp confining you, in your publication of docu ments, in extenso, as evidence, to those which, hith erto, have remained unpublished. In such case, if my strength shall permit, I shall probably follow you, in order to ascertain and to report to the readera of The Historical M-Igazine, hoio much of truth and how mueh of untruth tliere shall be in your narrative ; and I shall do so, in such case, fearlessly and without flinching. I never saw anything, in history, wbich I was stshamed to look at, squarely, in the face ; and I have never hesi tated, in any of my researches, to follpw the Truth, and to recognize ber, wherever she has been x)leased tp conduct me. I am not now afraid to meet and to greet the Truth, in the ex amination and discussion of any portion of Ver mont's early history nor in tbat of the dpings pf any of her lawless adherents : and I kbspect- FULLY challenge YOU TO A CAREFUL AND HON- KST DISCUSSION, ON BVIDBNGE TO BE ADDUCED, OP THE SUBJECTS REFERRED TO — SO dear tO yon and, if you speak truly, so loathsome to me — WHENEVER YOU SHALL BE INCLINED TO TAKE -THE FIELD, ON TIIE TERMS WHICH I HAVE JUST MENTIONED. You insist that the Colonial Governor of New Hampshire possessed legal authority to dispose of lands lying to the westward of Connecticut- river, within the territory of what is now the State of Vermont; that the various Grants by which, from time to time, he pretended to dis pose of lands within that territory, were issued with competent authority, in due form, and f uUy vested the Grantees with legal titles to the lands so assumed to have been disposed of ; and that those who were thus favored by him, as Grantees, became, in law and in fact, the owners of the several tracts of land which he thus pretended to convey to them. ¦you insist that tbe Coloaiq.1 authorities in Now York possessed no authority, in law, to. dispose of lands lying to the westward of Connecticut- river, within the territory of what is npw the State of Vermont, or to require pbedience tp their authprity pr to the Laws of that Colony, from those who resided or sojpurned therein ; that any attempt, on the part of those authorities, either to dispose of tbose lands, or to enforce obedience from those wbo resided or sojpurned therein, pr tp pust those, as trespassers, who occupied, those lands withput having pbtained Grants frpm tbem, was oppression and tyranny, if not usurpatipn and legally invalid ; and that all such attempts, whether tp disppse pf such lancls, or to oust tres- passsers therefrom, or tp enfprce pbedience tp their authprity and tp tbe public laws of the Col ony, within the territory referred to, migbt Iiave been and was resisted, by those wbo occupied that territory, properly and witbout offence against auy law to whicb they were properiy amenable. You insist tbat the inhabitants and sojourn ers of wbat is npw the territory of the State of Vermpnt, frpm 1765 until the recpgnitipn of tbe independence of Vermont, by New York, and the admissipn pf tbat State into the Union, were law-abiding in tbeir character and con duct ; undoubted and unceasing friends of tbe cause fpr wbicb WasMngtpn fought ; and quite as undoubted and unceasing opponents of the King of Great Britain and bis Parliament; and ypu insist that tbere was npthing in either the character pr the cpnduct pf thpse inhabitants and Bpjpurners, npr in the character and cpn duct pf tbpse whp, either with pr without their authority, represented them before the world and were their mouth-pieces and spokesmen, which honest men, hpnestly and impartially judging, wpuld either cpndemn or censure — in deed, you insist tbat those who cannot agree ¦with ypu, in this ppinipn, are, themselves, by reason of tbat disagreement, unworthy of credit, as writers of history, and unworthy of the per sonal respect of tbeir neighbors, as men. All these, and others, mpst venerable and mpst earnest vindicatpr, ypu have insisted pn, in writing and in print — prally, also, whenever you could command an audience— and the time has come, before you shall have been called be fpre ypur final Judge to receive His judgment on your case and Vermpnt's, as you have tPo often presented them, to insist, on my part, that something beside your unsupported word shall be presented to the world, which you will soon otherwise leave in ignorance on those subjects, to sustain the several naked allegations ¦which I have specified. I have asked, before, private ly, for the authorities on which you have de pended when you have made them; but they have not be?n p?i»t to nje: I have invited you, iStl.] HISTORICAL Magazine. 69 by letter, to present your case and your evi dence, in writing, to any reasonable extent, in order that I might print and traverse them ; but yott have shrunk from the proffered publication and tbe exposure which, you know, would have followed it: I insist, now, that you shall either support the allegations which, in various forms and at varipus times, spmetimes agreeably and spmetimes disagreeably, ypu have so loudly proclaimed, 'with the evidence on whicb you have founded tliein, or that you shall sink, at once, to that merited contempt, among honest men, the world over, which belongs, most sure ly, to tbe pmpty braggart and to bim who will ingly bears false witness against his neighbor. I insist on this, as a duty which you owe to Vermont; I insist on it, as a duty which you owe to those who have hithertp lipnored you as an honest and earnest worker [in the field of American Histoiy; I demand it, as a' duty, whicli you owe to me, since you have published tp the world, concerning myself and my writ ings, what, in the continued absence of tbat hidden light which you so earnestly insist on hiding under your own bushel, I shall, other- . wise, bo constrained to brand as both a willing" and a wicked falsehood. ' ' I am not aware that I have overlooked any' material portion of your Vindication, either iri my foot-notes to my re-print of that Vindica- ' tion or iu this, my general notice of it; and nothing remiiins for me, therefore, but to assure you that I am, Very Respectfully, Yours, Henry B. Dawson. Jnly,! HISTORICAL MAGA^IlTfi. .Tl Vermont Cr. From Pev. Pliny H. White, D.D., President of the Vermont Historical Society. The luidersigned having; heen a reader o£ The Histom- 0 AI. Maoazine from its beginning until now, takes pleasure In attesting to its greait value as a repository of American History and Biography, lu which is contained mnch that cannot be found elsewhere, as well asmnch that can only elsewhere be found in sources quite inaccessible to the great majority of the students of History. Pi.i-N'Y H. White. CovEXTUT, Vt., 12th August, 186T. From Hon. Hiland Hall, late President of the Vermont Historical Society, and' formerly Governor of the State. I have been a subscriber to the Hibtobicii. Magazine for nine years past, and concur in the above statement of the Rev. Pliny H. White. Hii.anb Hat.i.. NoRTn Benninotox, Vt., August 22, 1867. From Hon. Geougb F. Houghton, one of the founders and President of {he Vermont Historical Society. St. Ai.n vss. Vt., May 6th, ; 869. Hesey B. Dawson, Esq. : In answer to your note of a recent date, I beg to say that I have been familiar with The Hiotosio.vi. Masazise from its start and can commend it to the favorable consideration o£ the members of the Vermont Historical Society and others engaged in historical pursuits. "Tour researches are comprehensive and indicate luiusual indusrry aud acumen. While some of your criticisms upon New England and New England institutions have been severe, they have added life and attracted attention to your magazine. You must be aware, however, that in some instances they have given offense. As your monthly is the only one of the kind in this conn- try, I hope it will meet wilh a generous patronage. lours. Truly, Geosge F. HOJJGIITOS. From .Eev. Isaac Jennings, Pastor of the Congregational Ghmch at Bennington, and author of the early history of the Town, en titled Memorials of a Century. BENKisaTON Oenthe, Vt., May 3, 1869. MtDeabSib: I highly esteem TuE Histobioat. Magazine, as a medium for the distribution of rare, original, and antiquarian ma terial pertaining to onr general and local history, and for the discussion of current historical beliefs. - The succeeding numbers are replete with -interest. If any judge antiquai^ian labors to be necessarily dry, let them consult these pages and they will find out their mistake. With regard tothe peculiar way in which our learned Editor pays his respects to New Engla;id, I may suggest that we Yankees have an opinion that New England is even yet able to stand a very considerable amount of ad verse criticism. No one, however, can fail to admire the acumen and vigor of your pen and the unstinted liberality of time, ex pense, and exertion with which yon prosecute research and make up your valuable publications; Vei^ Traly, Yours,IsAAO Jennings. From Hon. Henry Clark, Correspond ing Secretary of the Vermont Historical So ciety, Secretary of the Senate, etc. Rutland. Vt., May 3, 1869. Deae, Sie ; Allow me to thank yoii for the labors yoii ;are performing for Aiherican History in the publication of Tub Hibtoeioai. MAOAzimi. Its value is untold, ahd a future generation will seek for its pages as for hidden treasures, to elaborate and perfect; the connecting links of our history. While the general outline of American History is read, yet every in telligent readeris conscious that there are missing links he cannot account for, and yet feels confident there must have been some written or traditional evidence, that would have made it plain. The H^btorioal Magazine, from month to month, is rapidly supplying these broken links in the chain of history which no reader should fail to have in his pos session. Therefore every professional man should read its pages to illustrate his profession; every legislator and stolesman should possess its volumes tu learn the spirit of the times and of the men who founded the institutions under which we live and for which they legislate ; in fact, every reader, whether in the farm-house or in the mechanic sh.QP, should subscribe to it, for its value to them will be fiilly appreciated by its constant perusal. No Public Libra ry can afford to be without it ; and if they are, they cannot supply Ihe demand of the times, for correct and useful knowledge. We cheerfully and earnestly commend Tiie HisTomoAr. MAG.i'/siNn to every citizen of Vermont and to every Ver monter -who has made his home elsewhere, for Vermont has a rich and fertile history which is being constantly illustrated and made perfect through the pages of The HisTOBioAi. Magazine. A thousand copies at the lowest estimale should flnd cohstant readers. amongi the people of the Green Mountain Stale; Heney Ci.aek, Corresponding Secretary of Vt. Hist. Society. From. Mrss Hkmenway, the historian of Vermont. Buelinston-, vt., 22 Jan. ISTO. , * « • I have always, regarded The Histoeioal Magazine the most valuable and readable publication of its class in the country ; and am so happy as topossess most of its num bers. Miss H.EittENWAY, SS.'^Vt.Mist. Qaz. AND NOTES AHD QUERIES CONCERNING THE ANTIQUITIES, HISTOSY,!AND BIO&EAPHY OP AMERICA. Edited by Heney B. Dawson. The twenty-first volume— the first of the Third Series— of this widely knowa vvork will bc commenced with the numher for January, 1872 ; and tlie well-estab- ; lished reputation whicii it has secured, .among tliose who are interested iu tbe .history of our own country, will he fully sustained, therein. Besitles as constant a supply of original articles as heretofore, from the pens of the leading historians in America, thc numbers for 1873 will contain THE EARLIEST RECORDS OF TRIMTV' CHURCH, NEW YOM, EROJI THE ORIGINAL MANUSCKIPTS, a series of documents whicli will possess unusual interest to thousands, in every, part of the Union, ,who suppose that that celebrated Corporation possesses prop erty which more, properly belongs to themselves. A series of twelve original papers will also appear, entitled, THE CONFLICTS OF THE WAR OF SECESSION, in which, commencing v.'itli THE ATTACK ON EORT SI' .MTER, 1861, the first twelve of those Battles which recently tjsted the quality of Amerloan soldiers, will be carefully andfnlly described, from orig'inal and, very often, hith- •jrtP unpublished materials. THE GREEN MOUNTAIN BOTS OF VERMONT, also, will bc represented iu a careful and accurate production of the entire series of THE MINUTES OE THEIR MEETINGS, FROM THE OKIOINAI, MANUSCKIPTS, never before printed as they were really written ; besides whieh a. A COLLECTION OF UNPUBLISHED PAPERS, ruoM THE State Akciiives ov New ILvmpshikb, will run through the entire year, and farther illustrate their history. A carefully prepared series of six papers: on THE PART TAICEN BY THE SEVERAL STATES IN THE RECENT WAR, beginning witli ono devoted to a narrative of / WHAT MAINE DID, iiud embracing eimiliir narratives of this portion of the several histories of Ihe six New England States, wilt flnd places in thc pages of these uumbers ; as, also, will another scries of six papers devoted to TIIE HISTORT AND BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE SURVEYS OF THE SEVERAL STATES AND TERRITORIES ; another, containing biographical and bibliograpliical sketches of several of OUR HISTORICAL WRITERS ; and another, often iilnstrated with cuts, on some ot the NOTABLE PLACES IN AMERICA. Eacli number of the Magazine will contain, also, OuiaiNAT.- Lettkhs, Doouments, etc, of intcre.st and importance, iiitherto unpublished: '¦ The Gibbet, in wliich will bo hung up, as a wariiing to others, such peraons as, under the guise of historical writers, deceive the public hy false statements; Fi-OTSAM, picked up, afloat, on the sea of periodical literature; preserved "for " whatever it is worth ; " and presented witiiout a guarantee ; Notes, Quebies, and Replies, ou curious and interesting topics of American History ; Notices OP Recent Publications, carofiillyand impartially prepared ; Historical and Literary Intelligence, Announcements, etc., etc'., bto. The Historical Maoazinb is printed on fine paper, in a small quarto form and ' is published in monthly numbers pf sixty-four pages each, at Seventy-five eouts per uumber, or Five dollars per year, in advance. Single numbers will be supiilied, tlirough aii.v Bookseller or News Agent by The American News Co., New Yokc. Yearly Subscribers, by mall, will be supplied only, bythe Pabliaher HENRY B. DAWSON, M9B.RISANIA, N, Y,