Chap. 2. 



SETTLEMENT AND CONTROVERSIES. 



27 



EXTRAORDINARY LAW. 



RESIOSSTRANCES OF THE SETTLERS. 



1774, they enacted a law which pat an 

 end to all prospects of reconciliation.* 

 This extraordinary law, (which is of too 

 great length to be inserted entire,) enact- 

 ed, among other things equally sanguin- 

 ary and despotic, — that if an};- person, or 

 persons, oppose any civil officer of New 

 York, in the discharge of his official dut)'-, 

 " or wilfully burn or destroy, the grain, 

 corn or hay, of any other persons being 

 in any inclosure ; or if any persons un- 

 lawfully, riotously and tumultuously as- 

 sembled together to the disturbance of the 

 public- peace, shall, unlawfully and with 

 force, demolish, or pull down, or begin to 

 demolish, or pull down any dwelling- 

 house, barn, stable, grist-mill, saw-mill, 

 or out-house, within either of the said 

 counties of Albany and Charlotte ; that 

 then each of said offences shall be ad- 

 judged felony, without benefit of clergy, 

 and th^ offenders therein shall be adjudg- 

 ed felons, and sim' I suffer death, as in cases 

 of felony, without benefit of clergy." 



It v.-as made the duty of the governor to 

 publish the names of such persons, in the 

 public papers, as were indicted in either of 

 the counties of Albany, or Charlotte, for 

 any oflence made capital by this or any 

 other law, with an order in council com- 

 manding such offender, or offenders, to 

 surrender themselves respectively, within 

 the space of seventy days next after the 

 publication thereof. This order was to 

 be forwarded to the sheriffs and posted up 

 in several public places. " And in case 

 such offenders shall not respectively sur- 

 render themselves, he or they, so neg- 

 lecting, or refusing, shall from the day 

 appointed for his surrendry, as aforesaid, 

 be adjudged, deemed and, (if indicted for 

 a capital oftence hereafter to be perpe- 

 trated,) convicted of felony, and shall 

 suffer death, as in cases of persons con- 

 victed of felony by verdict and judgment, 

 without benefit of clergy." 



All crimes committed on the grants, 

 were, by this act, permitted to be tried in 

 the county , and by the courts of Albany ; 

 and the courts were empowered by it, to 

 award execution against such as should 

 be indicted for capital offences, and who 

 should not surrender themselves in con- 

 formity to the order of the governor and 

 council, in the same manner as if they 

 had been convicted on a fair and impartial 

 trial. A proclamation was at the same 

 time issued by the govefnorof New York, 

 offering a reward of £50 each for appre- 

 hending and securing Ethan Allen, Seth 

 "Warner, Remember Baker, Robert Coch- 

 ran, Pcleg Sunderland, Sylvan us Brown, 



For this law, see Slade's St. P. page 42. 



James Brackenridge, and James Smith, 

 whom they considered the most obnox- 

 ious of the settlers. 



We have already observed that the 

 passage of the foregoing law put an end 

 to all prospects of raconciliation, or sub- 

 mission to the claims of New York. It 

 was regarded by the settlers on the New 

 Hampshire grants, as originating solely in 

 the avarice of a set of unprincipled spec- 

 ulators, who coveted their lands with 

 their valuable improvements ; and as 

 designed to terrify them into submission. 

 They were satisfied that the popular 

 sentiment was in tlreir favor, that the 

 great body of the people of New York 

 i'elt no interest in etforcing the claims of 

 that province to the lands in question, and 

 former experience had proved that the 

 militia could not be brought to act against 

 them with anj'^ effect. 



Under such circumstances, the threat- 

 enings and arbitrary laws of that govern- 

 ment were far from inspiring terror. They 

 were rather regarded by the settlers with 

 contempt, and^ instead of palsying, they 

 tended to nerve the arm of resistance. 

 Indeed, the idea of submission seems nev- 

 er, for a moment, to have been entertain- 

 ed by these brave and determined veter- 

 ans. Having been long inured to toila 

 and hardships, they were prepared to en- 

 counter difficulties and dangers with un- 

 flinching resolution and firmness. And 

 so very highly did they prize their per- 

 sonal rights and liberties, that, rather than 

 surrender them to the arbitrary claims of 

 New York, tliey almost unanimously, re- 

 solved to meet death, if necessary, in their 

 defence. 



Tliese views and feelings are fully mani- 

 fested in the remonstrance which they 

 made against the foregoing law, as will 

 appear from a few brief extracts, taken 

 from that fearless and spirited production. 

 After portraying, in their peculiar style, 

 the character ol the New ^York govern- 

 ment, they proceeded to say, " that by 

 legerdemain, bribery and deception, they 

 have extended their dominions far and 

 wide. They have wrangled with, and 

 encroached upon, the neighboring gov- 

 ernments, and have used all manner of 

 deceit and fraud to accomplish their de- 

 signs. Their tenants groan under their 

 usury and oppression, and they have gain- 

 ed, as well as merited, the disapprobation 

 and abhorrence of theie-neighbors. The 

 innocent blood they have already shed, 

 calls for Heaven's vengeance on their 

 guilty heads; and, if they should come 

 forth in arms again.<:t us, thousands of 

 their injured neighbors will join with us, 

 to cut off and exterminate such an exe- 



