University of Vermont - Ariel Yearbook (Burlington, VT)

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TO THE MEMORY OF GENERAL IRA ALLEN, EOUNDER OF THE UNIVERSITY, THIS BOOK IS REVERENTLY INSCRIBED BY THE CLASS GF EIGHTEEN HUNDRED NINETY-FIVE.

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CHAS. H. Fossows PRINTER AND PUBLISHER GLENS FALLS. N. Y.

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v General gm Gllen The Gliouncler of the Hniversitp of 'Garmont RA ALLEN, Soldier, Diplomatist, Financier, Founder of the Univer- sity ot Vermont, and, in a very solid sense, Co-founder of the State of Vermont, has never yet obtained due recognition for his mul- tiplied and valuable services. His eldest brother, General Ethan Allen, has an assured place in the history of the American Revolution, not less than in that of the Independent Republic of the Green Mountains. He is the schoolboy's hero. His bold words and daring exploits have a place even in the briefest summary of our national story. He has received, perhaps, his full share ot honor. This cannot be said of the youngest of that famous brotherhood. He was less in the public eye. His work was done noiselessly, at the deep foundations of the nascent State, in the council chamber, and in the dip- lomatic conference, with the pen and voice rather than with the sword. Much ot it was necessarily done in secret, and not a little of it in such tangled and ticklish circumstances as to expose him to suspicion from his contemporaries and even his compatriots. And in later days sober historians have affected to believe that such men as Thomas Chittenden and Ira Allen were traitors both to Vermont and to the cause of the Thirteen Colonies. Worse, however, than these implied charges ot treason was the neg- lect and injustice with which Allen was treated in his later years by the representatives of the Commonwealth, which owed its very existence as an independent community to no man more than to himself. Governor Chittenden declared him to have done more for Vermont than any other two men. Yet during his prolonged absence in England and France, from 1795 to 1801, his large estates were mostly wrested from him under forms of law, and all his edorts to regain possession of his property were 5