No. 112.] 695 



serted, was the designed capital of the projected province. 

 This idea strengthens at once the opinion I have attempted to en- 

 force, of the prominence and importance of Crown Point at that 

 period, and attaches form and coherence to the existence of this 

 scheme. Skeene was then possessed of a large landed estate, not 

 only at Skeenesboro, but elsewhere in the environs of Lake Cham- 

 plain. He held a tract in Essex county, still designated " Skeene's 

 patent." 



The accomplishment of this design might have involved the 

 most momentous and sinister political results, at that peculiar 

 epoch, when the vehement contest between New- York and Ver- 

 mont had acquired its deepest rancour and excitement. It is not 

 probable, had that event occurred, whatever may have been the 

 political consequences, that Northern New-York would now exhi- 

 bit a vast expanse of uncultivated and primeval wilderness. 



An occurrence of deep import, suddenly dissolved all these 

 visions of political plans and speculations, and for years arrested 

 the progress of this miniature republic, and dispersed widely its 

 population. A blow was struck, within the present limits of Es- 

 sex county, which vibrated not only through the wide colonies, 

 but was felt within the palace walls of St. James. 



CHAPTER VIIL 



FROM THE CAPTURE OF TiCONDEROGA TO EVRGOYNS's EXPEDITION. 



Haldibrand, the commander of Crown Point and Ticonderoga, 

 had announced to the government, in 1773, that the fort at Crown 

 Point was " entirely destroyed," and that at Ticonderoga in a 

 "ruinous condition," and that'l)oth could ^-not cover fifty men 

 in winter." The ai)peal to arms, which in April, '75, had sound- 

 ed from the plains of Lexington, seems simultaneously to have 

 suggested to various patriotic individuals and associations in the 

 colonies, the idea of capturing these important fortresses, in their 

 dilapidated and exposed condition. Members of the provincial 

 legislature of Connecticut, with its secret connivance, but with no 

 public recognition by that body, raised a fund to effect this ob- 

 ject, and appointed a private committee to proceed to tne scene, 



