(361 ) 
military force and intimidation many of the New York 
grantees from gaining possession; soon threw off all subjec- 
tion to New York authority, her laws and officers; forced 
local New York magistrates to cease the exercise of their 
functions; and threatened with death all who should en- 
deavor to arrest or remove persons indicted at Albany for re- 
sistance to the writs of possession. They ridiculed orders 
of arrest, and retorted with a burlesque counter proclama- 
tion for the arrest of prominent ‘* Yorkers,” including Mr. 
Duane.* 
The sheriff's posse comitatus, largely sympathizing with the 
settlers, gave him but feeble support; and when it came to 
armed resistance, they would not engage in effective fighting. 
The Crown, disobedience of whose orders and instructions 
had led to all the trouble, declined to order military assist- 
ance; and Gen. Gage, when applied to by the New York 
Governor, refused to aid with the regulars. t 
The outbreak of the Revolution checked open hostilities, 
but otherwise made little change. Though the Vermonters 
said that the only British oppression they had ever felt was 
that of the New York officials, whom they hated more than 
the British, they were nevertheless anxious to fight in the 
common cause of Independence, but under their own officers. 
They were the most effective barrier against attacks on New 
York by way of Canada; they captured Ticonderoga and 
Crown Point in 1775; and in 1777, by their victory at Ben-- 
nington, they led to the success of Gen. Schuyler’s cam- 
paign, resulting in the capture of Burgoyne and his army. 
But the pursuit of the settlers’ possessions by the ‘* Yorkers ” 
continued as before; and after being harried for twelve years,. 
they determined in convention in September, 1776, that in 
independence lay their only safety; { and in January, 1777,. 
supported by from two thirds to three fourths of the people, 
*H, Hall’s Vt., 134, 234; Serie s ‘Seth Warner,’’ 20, 
+Dartmouth in Colonial Doc., 8: 339; N. ¥. Hist. Soc. ie ate Pp. 
364; Williams’ Hist. Vt., 2: 1-25 ; ene s Seth Warner, p. 2 
tH. Hall’s Vt., 273-276. 
