noble Vermonters by gentlemen who knew them, and from the portraits of such descendants as were known most closely to resemble their distinguished progenitors. The portraits used for the engraving of Gov. Thomas Chittenden were those of THOMAS and ELI CHITTENDEN, Sons of Noah, and grandsons of Gov. Thomas Chittenden. These, with personal descriptions by Gov. MARTIN CHITTENDEN and others, were committed to the charge of Hon. LUCIUS E. CHITTENDEN, and the drawing and engraving have been done under his inspection by an artist of the highest reputation, H. B. HALL, of Morrisania, N. Y. The portraits used in constructing the engraved portrait of Lieut. Gov. Joseph Marsh were those of the late CHARLES, of Woodstock, brother of Hon. GEORGE P. MARSH, and of the Hon. ROSWELL MARSH of Steubenville, Ohio. The description used of Lt. Gov. Joseph Marsh's person, dress, and character, were by Hon. RoSWELL MARSH. The important question is as to the value of these engravings as portraits. As to the Chittenden it is to be observed, first, that the Chittenden race is so strongly and peculiarly marked that the form of person and head, and some of the features of the face, are recognized even in very distant connections-as, for one instance, in the late Senator CRITTENDEN of Kentucky, who was of the Chittenden race, and so strongly resembled them that the Hon. Lucius E. Chittenden once mistook the Senator for his father. I knew the Senator well, and also recognized his strong resemblance to the father of Lucius. But again, it is remarkable that the peculiarity of a defect in one of Gov. Thomas Chittenden's eyes is distinctly marked by a cast in one eye of each of his descendants whose portraits have been used. Finally, writing as to the value of the Chittenden as a portrait, Hon. Lucius E. Chittenden declared that "it is perfectly satisfactory." The autograph was selected from several in the state archives, as the best written in his last years. As to the value of the engraved portrait of Lieut. Gov. Marsh, no person living, other than Hon. ROSWELL MARSH, is competent to give an opinion. He was the grandson of the Lieutenant Governor, lived with him until he was eighteen years of age, and still remembers well his person and character. A copy of the drawing by H. B. HALL was transmitted to Hon. ROSWELL MARSH for criticism, and he replied as follows:

Hon. E. P. WALTON:

STEUBENVILLE, [Ohio,] July 23, 1873.

Dear Sir,-Your favor of the 18th covering a photograph from a constructed portrait of my revered ancestor came to hand yesterday. I had formed erroneous anticipations in one respect: I expected to see a face with the lines of age such as memory painted him. That would have been out of place and time.* Had his portrait been painted by a

*The editor regarded the portrait of Charles, brother of George P., as being taken when he was too young, and of Roswell as being taken when he was too old, to represent Lieut. Governor Joseph, and therefore advised the artist to attempt to strike a medium as to the features of age.

skillful artist at fifty, I can well believe the difference between that and this would be little more than the fading which time makes upon a fresh painting. You invite me to criticise. I know of but one man living except myself who knew him [Lieut. Gov. Marsh] familiarly-LEVI DEMMON, a neighbor, now ninety-four years of age. He is, I am told, a second child, does not know his house nor children. I am no critic, and dare not touch it. My advice is, let well enough alone. I agree with you. The light of intelligence and benevolence shines in every feature and is truly appropriate. An earnest Christian without bigotry, he was just the man to rebuke his brother deacon, a cold-blooded Puritan, for absurd inconsistency because while declaiming violently against the wickedness of young people going to dancing-school, he diligently kept time with his foot to a three-stringed fiddle worked by an old negro in the kitchen for the amusement of the children.

I am very respectfully,

ROSWELL MARSH.

The autograph of Lieut. Gov. Marsh, selected for the engraver, was from a carefully written petition dated in 1778, the year in which he became lieutenant governor.

I have hoped to give in this volume, prefixed to the "Vindication,' an engraving from what purports to be a portrait of ETHAN ALLEN, by John Trumbull. It has been deemed best, however, to await the result of an investigation, undertaken by Hon. Lucius E. Chittenden, as to the verity of this portrait.

I now submit the first volume with a request that the work may be thoroughly criticised, and that I may be notified of any error, either in my own work or in that of others copied in the volume, to the end that the early history of the State may be made as accurate and complete as it is possible to make it.

I am respectfully your Excellency's and the State's
Obedient Servant,

Montpelier, Sept. 1, 1873.

E. P. WALTON.

Ο

GENERAL CONVENTIONS

IN THE

NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS,

FOR THE

INDEPENDENCE, ORGANIZATION, AND DEFENSE

OF THE

STATE OF VERMONT.

JULY 1775-DECEMBER 1777.

GENERAL CONVENTIONS

FROM

JULY 26, 1775, TO DEC. 24, 1777.

FROM the first settlement and organization of the towns in the New Hampshire Grants, each had by its charter the right of self-government in March meeting, by the election of town officers and ordering town affairs. This power was vested in "the inhabitants " by the New Hampshire charters. When, in June 1770, the New York court repudiated these charters, and the towns west of the Green Mountains had resolved "to support their rights and property under the New Hampshire grants, against the usurpation and unjust claims of the governor and council of New York, by force, as law and justice were denied them," these towns appointed Town Committees of Safety, "whose business it was to attend to their defense and security against the New York claimants. These Committees afterwards met, from time to time as occasion seemed to demand, in general convention to consult upon and adopt measures for their common protection." But to meet new exigencies of the peoplefor bearing their part in the war of the revolution, defending their frontiers, raising and officering troops, and also for prosecuting their claims to independence in Congress by correspondence and agents-GENERAL CONVENTIONS of a still higher grade were constituted, the first of which met on the 16th of January, 1776.3 This was called by a warrant," issued Dec. 10, 1775, by a committee apparently appointed for the pur

112

1 Zadock Thompson's Vermont, part, p. 224.

66

2 Hiland Hall, in Vermont Historical Society Collections, vol. 1, pp. 4, 5. Town Committees of Safety were appointed in Cumberland and Gloucester [Windham, Windsor, and Orange] counties in 1774 and 1775, and these, when niet together in each county, constituted the County Committee of Safety.-See Appendix A.

3

The first convention, whose record is inserted in this volume, consisted of "Town Committees," and not of delegates specially and formally elected by the towns.