vote of the whole population on the question, whether it would adhere to the cause of congress. It was hoped by Bailey's efforts to destroy the influence of the government of Chittenden, to drive its members from office, and that congress would be able to elect its partisans, whom they would support by a large force on the frontier.

When the proposal was made that a proclamation should be issued by Haldimand, he submitted certain queries to which he asked a reply. In the paper given, signed both by Ira Allen and Fay, it was set forth that the suggestion represented the opinion of the government and council. When Sherwood expressed some doubts regarding the alarm which such a step would create in the Vermont legislature, he was told that the feeling would be that of astonishment at its appearance, and that it would not influence congress to grant the demand of Vermont to be admitted into the confederation.

The first duty of the new legislature would be to hear the report of the proposals of congress. The proclamation should be prepared and lodged with the commissioners. So soon as the legislature had rejected the proposal of congress to limit the territory of Vermont, a confidential messenger would be sent with the intelligence, and the proclamation with a flag could then be sent to the governor. It would then be officially submitted to the assembly by the speaker, and it was believed that its conditions would be accepted. Even if it were for the time rejected, its publication would add to the number of those who favoured it.

The proclamation was accordingly drawn up, to be issued when expedient. Its provisions may yet be read with interest. After declaring that he had full powers to treat with Vermont, Haldimand declared that on being re-united to Great Britain, the territory, as claimed by her, should be declared a separate province, independent of every government in America. She should enjoy chartered rights similar to those possessed by Connecticut, except the appointment of governor, which would rest with the crown. Free trade

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should be established with Canada. The boundaries of Vermont should extend from the north of Massachusetts to Canada, and from Mason's line on the east to the Hudson on the west. Any force serving in the field should have the same advantages as the royal army. If the overture were rejected, it would be to themselves alone that must be attributed the melancholy circumstances which must necessarily follow.

The legislature of Vermont met on the 16th of October. In a committee of the whole, Chittenden being in the chair, it was resolved that the legislature could not comply with the resolutions of congress without destroying the whole foundation of the present universal harmony, and violating the solemn compact entered into in the articles of union and confederation; that the resolution of congress, of the 20th of August," precluded " any proposition made by the agents on the 18th of August, and that it ought not to be considered binding. It was recommended that Vermont should remain firm to the principles on which the government had been assumed. A resolution was passed to send to congress the extract from the articles of union, which enforced that no member should submit to arbitration the independence of Vermont. The question of boundaries they were willing to consider.

The party friendly to entering into the proposed treaty had not obtained a majority in the election; some members of the council had been defeated. Moreover, by the end of October, those prominent in the movement had become greatly depressed. News had reached Vermont of de Grasse's naval action, in which "the English were second best." The report followed that Cornwallis and his army were closely besieged. The intelligence exercised great influence on the new state. The spies became more active, and the loyalists felt it prudent to observe the greater caution. On all sides it was seen that at this crisis it was undesirable that the proclamation should be made public, for the success of de Grasse's naval operations in the Chesapeake, and the desperate situa

tion of Cornwallis, had given a strength to the cause of congress it was not possible to withstand.

All the facts establish that the success of the negotiation depended entirely on the situation of Cornwallis. It is a coincidence not unworthy of attention that the resolution of the legislature of Vermont, in which the authority of congress to limit the territory of Vermont was disputed, should take place within a few hours of Cornwallis' proposal for surrender. Had Cornwallis not allowed himself to be shut up in Yorktown with the French in command of the sea, the known facts establish that Vermont would have seceded from congress and become a portion of British America. It would have been the beginning to a different termination of the contest. Such speculations are now of little value. The influence of the surrender was immediate the news of Clinton's unsuccessful attempt to aid Cornwallis passed northward like wild fire. By the middle of November Cornwallis' situation was known at Quebec, and shortly afterwards the news of the surrender was confirmed.

Haldimand's letters of this date* express his belief in the good faith of those with whom he was treating, even when he recognised as a great difficulty to be overcome, the strong prejudices of the great part of the population. In accordance with the desire expressed that encouragement should be given to those desirous of a reunion with Great Britain, he had occupied Crown point with 1,000 men. They were to avoid all hostility with Vermont. On the other hand, he had sent expeditions against the Mohawk and the frontiers of Pennsylvania. Haldimand judged that the political strength of Vermont was increasing, and that there were signs of congress yielding to her claims. He could not judge how the encroachments on the territory of New York and New Hampshire would affect future politics, but he considered that in the course he was taking he was consulting the interests of the mother country.

It was under those circumstances that St. Leger had * [Can. Arch., B. 55, p. 109, Oct. 23.]

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carried out the expedition against the Hudson, and Ross had destroyed Warrensborough, and had descended the Mohawk to within twelve miles of Schenectady.

The capitulation of Cornwallis destroyed all hopes of any successful result. The proclamation remained a dead letter and was never issued; many who had listened to the promise of future accommodation were prominent in their support of congress, to remove all suspicion that there had been any falling off in loyal devotion to her cause.

In consequence of the favourable news from Yorktown, New York became more self-asserting, and in December a special meeting of the assembly was called at Poughkeepsie. No quorum was obtained until the 28th of February, 1782, when governor Clinton laid before the legislature what are described as "affidavits and papers which prove a dangerous Intercourse and connection between the Leaders of the Revolt in the North-eastern Part of the State (so Vermont was styled) and the Common Enemy." Clinton suggested that the names of persons giving the information ought not to be divulged. The matter was referred to a committee of the two houses, which reported that Vermont had negotiated a treaty, that troops were to be raised for the king, and that the disaffected were emigrating to the territory. A second resolution expressed the determination of New York to enforce its authority, and that the papers should be forwarded to congress.*

*

The special meeting of the legislature of New York has, of late years, led to a scandal affecting the character of chief justice Smith, who presided in the law courts of Canada from 1786 to 1794. It is based upon an assertion made in the pages of the "History of New York during the revolutionary period," published by the New York Historical Society in 1879. The writer, Mr. justice Thomas Jones, of the Supreme Court of the province of New York, was born in 1730. He held a high social position and had married Anne, the third daughter of James de Lancey, royal governor of New York from 1757 to his death, 30th of July, 1760. She lived until 1827. The editor, a de Lancey, places the composition of the work between 1783 and 1788. Owing to ill-health, Mr. justice Jones left for England in 1781. After the peace, he was denied all return to his native country, being included in the New York act of attainder, by which fifty-six gentlemen and three ladies, especially named, were declared to have forfeited

In spite of the news from the Chesapeake, which confirmed the surrender of Cornwallis with his army on the 19th of October, the negotiations with Canada did not cease. Those who had taken a prominent part in them, influenced no doubt their lives, and of whom the estates were confiscated. As Mr. Edward Floyd de Lancey informs us, "a thing never done before and never done since by any civilized people." Mr. Jones died in England, at Hoddesden in Herefordshire, on the 25th of April, 1792.

The charge against Mr. justice Smith is thus stated: In the winter of 1781, Sir Henry Clinton, commanding-in-chief at New York, received by express from Haldimand the proposal of the inhabitants of Vermont to place themselves under the protection of the crown, and that being doubtful if he had authority to act, he submitted the case to chief justice Smith, whose opinion was that he had no authority.

Mr. justice Jones does not say so explicitly, but in as plain language as can be used, he insinuates that this information was conveyed by Mr. justice Smith to George Clinton, the governor of New York, “formerly the bosom, the fast, the confidential friend, nay the pupil of Mr. justice Smith, who had been his patron, his protector, and his adviser." After stating that governor Clinton was soon made acquainted with every circumstance relating to this transaction, Mr. justice Jones asks, "How came he by the secrets?"

He then tells us that Mr. Smith held 100,000 acres in Vermont under New York grants, subsequent to the New Hampshire grants. His three brothers and several of his old friends, then on the side of congress, were all of them large proprietors, and that this property would have been sacrificed had the claim of Vermont been conceded.

The established facts of the narrative are entirely at variance with the supposi tion. It was the letters of Sir Henry Clinton to Germain in 1779 which first drew attention to the subject, and he had then received full powers to act. † So there was no occasion to ask any opinion from chief justice Smith. The negotiations were known in a general way to congress and to the state of New York, but no action was taken until the surrender of Cornwallis in October, 1781. The resolutions of the New York legislature in February, 1782, suggest no allusion to chief justice Smith. Moreover, they incorrectly represent the relations of the negotiations between the Vermont leaders and Haldimand. It must be plain that if Smith, who had access to the information, had in any form given it, he would have furnished it correctly, and it is certain that there was no treaty as declared in the New York legislature. The entire facts of the case not only shew the improbability of any such disgraceful revelation on the part of Mr. chief justice Smith, they likewise prove the accusation to be unfounded, and he must be held to be fully absolved from the charge of the dishonourable conduct imputed to him. It is to be hoped no writer of character will hereafter repeat the calumny.

[Vol. II., p. 209.]

† [Ante., p. 76].