VERMONT VERNET. 



805 



equal to the home consumption. This state is, 

 however, peculiarly adapted to grazing, and great 

 numbers of cattle, horses and sheep are sold for the 

 markets of Boston, New York and Montreal. The 

 principal articles of export are pot and pearl ashes, 

 beef, pork, butter, cheese, flax, and live cattle. 

 The trade is principally with Boston, Hartford, 

 New York and Montreal. Iron ore, of good quality, 

 is found in many places. There are quarries of 

 marble in Middlebury, Bennington, Arlington, 

 Shaftsbury, Pittsford and Swanton. Porcelain 

 earth is found at Monkton. There are also some 

 lead and copperas mines. Among the most con- 

 siderable man ufactu ring towns are Middlebury, 

 Bennington, Montpelier, Brattlebcrougb, Burling- 

 ton and Windsor. The climate of Vermont is 

 healthy, but subject to great extremes of heat and 

 cold. The winters are long and very cold ; and, 

 in many parts of the state, some snow falls almost 

 every day for three months. The west bank of 

 Connecticut river forms the east line of the state. 

 The other principal rivers are Lamoille, Onion, 

 Otter creek and Missisque. There are no very 

 large towns in Vermont. Montpelier is the seat of 

 government. The other most considerable towns 

 are Burlington, Middlebury, Bennington, Windsor, 

 Woodstock and Rutland. There are two colleges 

 in Vermont, at Burlington and at Middlebury. 

 Academies are established in many of the principal 

 towns, and common schools receive great attention. 

 The principal denominations of Christians are Con- 

 gregationalists, Baptists and Methodists. There 

 are a few of many other sects. The first dis- 

 coveries in this part of the United States are sup- 

 posed to have been made by Samuel Champlain, a 

 French nobleman ; and he gave his own name to the 

 lake which divides New York and Vermont. In 

 1724, the provincial government of Massachusetts 

 built fort Dummer, on Connecticut river, in the 

 county of Windham. In 1731, the French built a 

 fort at Crown Point, and commenced a settlement 

 nearly opposite to it. For several years after these 

 settlements, the Indians claimed the greater part of 

 Vermont : and they were too hostile to allow much 

 progress to the whites. After Canada had fallen 

 into the hands of the British, in 1760, Vermont 

 began to be settled rapidly. Its territory was 

 claimed both by New Hampshire and New York. 

 A warm controversy resulted from these conflicting 

 claims, which was decided by the king in council in 

 1764, in favour of New York. The governor of 

 New Hampshire had made several extensive grants 

 of land in Vermont, and many persons had settled 

 upon them, made improvements, and paid for them. 

 When the jurisdiction of New York was established, 

 the government of that state declared these grants 

 to be void, and demanded exorbitant prices of the 

 occupants for the lands for which they had once 

 paid. This produced a serious quarrel, which 

 lasted for twenty-six years, till after the close of 

 the revolutionary war. Some of the occupants re- 

 purchased their lands, but most of them refused. 

 The party resisting these demands of New York 

 was headed by Ethan Allen and Seth Warner; 

 and so serious had the quarrel become when the 

 war with Great Britain diverted their attention, 

 that the governor of New York had issued a pro- 

 clamation, declaring that, unless the offenders sur- 

 rendered themselves within seventy days, they 

 should be deemed guilty of felony, and liable to 

 capital punishment. At the same time, a reward 

 of fifty pounds was offered for the apprehension of 



Allen, Warner, and six other leaders. During the 

 war of the revolution, the " Green mountain boys" 

 were distinguished for their hardihood and bravery ; 

 but they were little disposed to any alliance with 

 New York, and waited, even after the war, to see 

 what kind of a union of the states was to be 

 formed before they decided that it was for their 

 interest to become a member of the union. They 

 declared the state independent in January; 1777. 

 The first constitution was established in July of 

 the same year. After the termination of the war, 

 New York claimed jurisdiction over Vermont, and 

 the Vermonters resisted. The differences were 

 adjusted in 1790, Vermont paying to New York 

 30,000 dollars, in full of all demands. In 1791, 

 Vermont was admitted into the federal union. Its 

 constitution was revised and established in its 

 present form in July, 1793. See Constitutions of 

 the United States. The following items of statis- 

 tics are from Walton's Vermont State Register for 

 1831: Academies and high schools in Vermont, 

 35; district schools, 2400; clergymen, 350; at- 

 torneys, 172; physicians and surgeons, 289; me- 

 chanics and manufacturers, 1039; merchants and 

 traders, 364; houses, 36,170; oxen, 48,315; cows 

 and other cattle of three years old, 121,400 ; horses 

 and mules, 61,232 ; sheep, 725,965 ; militia, 25,500. 



VERMONT UNIVERSITY. See Burlington. 



VERNET ; a family of artists distinguished even 

 in the third generation. 



Claude Joseph Vernet, who excelled all his con- 

 temporaries in sea pieces, was born at Avignon, in 

 1714, and was the son of Antonio Vernet, also a 

 painter. When eighteen years old, he went to 

 Rome, by sea ; and the circumstance of his voyage 

 decided his talent. He was accustomed to draw 

 whatever he saw. The sea occupied his mind so 

 much, that on one occasion, in a violent storm, he 

 had himself bound to the mast of the vessel in 

 which he was, to gaze on the sublimity of the en- 

 raged element, whilst the captain and sailors 

 trembled for their lives. Thenceforth, he occupied 

 himself solely with sea pieces, or pictures of ports 

 and strands. For twenty years, he lived happily 

 in Italy, in a close friendship with Pergolesi, who 

 composed part of his Stabat Mater, in his painting 

 room. At length the splendid offers of the French 

 government induced him to return to France, in 

 1752, where he was to paint the most important 

 ports. Thus originated that excellent collection 

 which is yet in the Louvre. Between 1752 and 

 1789, when he died, he is said to have painted no 

 less than 200 pictures. Calms and storms, sea and 

 shore, are represented with exquisite ease and truth. 

 In 1752, he was made a member of the French 

 academy, and, in 1776, counsellor ; but these dis- 

 tinctions and a lodging in the Louvre, were the 

 only favours bestowed upon him by the king. His 

 contemporaries esteemed him equally for his culti- 

 vated mind and amiable manners as for his genius. 



Antoine Charles Horace P'ernet, son of the pre- 

 ceding, was born in 1758, at Bourdeaux, went as a 

 pensioner of the king to Borne, was made a member 

 of the academy in 1787, and received the same 

 honour again in 1814. He excelled in battle and 

 parade pieces of large dimensions, in which he has 

 commemorated the battles of Rivoli, Marengo, 

 Austerlitz, Wagram, the departure of the marshals, 

 &c. More pleasing to many are his smaller scenes, 

 mostly referring to battles and camps. His studies 

 of iiature and his hunting pieces, especially the 

 lithographical ones, are much sought for by con- 



