University of Vermont - Ariel Yearbook (Burlington, VT)

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From 1776 to 1786 the Council of Satety was guided by his prompt and prudent counsels more than by those of any other member, though he was the youngest of them all. From 1778 to 1787 he was the Surveyor-General of the State. Although the original book of Charters had been carried to England, his prompt action made it possible for the State to issue new grants of land in 1780 without interfering with the rights ot previous holders,-a measure then of prime importance for both political and financial reasons. Roads were opened and surveys conducted under his supervision. For eight years, 1778 to 1785, he was the Treasurer of the Common- wealth, whose cotiers, at Hrst empty, were promptly and punctually replenished by methods of his own devising. Between 1783 and 1794 he was eight times chosen Representative from Colchester to the General Assembly, and in 1791 was a member ot the Constitutional Convention. ln 1790 he was one of seven Commissioners on the part ot Vermont empowered to determine the boundary line between the former Grants and New York. He was also the author ot the conditions on which the ancient and troublesome land controversy was at last settled, and the owners ot some tive million acres freed from the dangers and the costs ot protracted lawsuits. ln 1785 the legislature designated Allen as Agent and Delegate to Congress, Ambassador to sundry of the different States ot America, and special Commissioner to the Province of Quebec. These titles will seem unduly grandiloquent to those who do not know that for fourteen years Vermont was a Sovereign State, paying neither obedience nor tribute to any power on earth. And this unique position among American states was due to no other man in so large degree as to him whose wise and tar-reaching plans for the secure building of the State were crowned in 1791 by the Founding of the State University. ln an address to the Inhabitants of the State of Vermont issued in November, 1778, Allen had spoken ot the ample provision made fin the Constitution ot the Statej for the propagation ot the Gospel, to- gether with proper Seminaries and Schools of learning, which are among the greatest blessings God ever bestowed on the race of man. lt was his offer of 54000, first made to the Legislature in 1789, which deter- mined the location of the institution at Burlington, instead of Williams- 8

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the New ,Hampshire Grants, every line of it that does not proceed from his pen is submitted to his criticism before it goes into type. When negotiations with towns to the east of the Connecticut River threaten irretrievable disaster, his shrewd diplomacy averts the danger. He takes a prominent part in critical negotiations with the Continental Congress, and forestalls imminent and final failure by prompt and decisive action. Nothing, however, so taxed his resources as the difficult and dangerous negotiations with the British on the northern frontier. In 1780 every- body was mystihed by the withdrawal of the British from Lake Cham- plain, and the quiet disbanding, at the same time, of the Vermont militia. Ira Allen and Joseph Fay could have given the explanation. But in 1781 was seen a thing still more unaccountable,-a force of ten thousand British troops in Canada, awaiting only the word to sweep southwards by way of Lake Champlain and the New Hampshire Grants, yet strangely hesitant and inactive. Everything for which the Council of Safety had schemed and contended was plainly at stake. Had this army moved there would never have been any State of Vermont. All the pre- vious efforts of the Vermonters would have gone for nothing. Their fortunes and their lives were trembling in the balance. Once more Ira Allen, this time alone, undertakes the perilous office of ambassador. So hazardous is the attempt that even the intrepid Ethan endeavors to dis- suade him. No, he has faith that by some means he can accomplish the all-but hopeless task. Failure may be death, but he will take the risk. On his astuteness and address hang all the hopes of the would-be state, though but a select few are admitted to share the secret. Now what was the result of this daring venture of Vermont's Ambas- sador? The impossible was achieved, and not Vermont only, but the whole frontier was for two years saved from the horrors of invasion. One third of all the British forces in North America was kept from taking part in the struggle. Washington was able to cope with the armies operating in the south, and ere long the decisive victory of York- town made it unnecessary longer to match diplomacy against a well- trained and formidable army. But it is not possible here and now to exhibit even in outline a detailed account of Allen's varied and manifold services to his State and the Nation. Nluch that calls for mention must be passed over in silence. Let it suffice to enumerate some of the important duties with which he was charged by his fellow citizens. 7

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town or Rutland. The site selected for the future University was a plat of fifty acres, on a portion of which the present main building now stands. Unfortunately most of this liberal allotment of lands was ere long alienated by those who had the property of the college in charge, until only an acre and a half remained! ln 1793 Allen offered an addi- tional fifteen hundred acres of land, if the Legislature would allow the University to be called by his name. And two years after he again pro- posed to endow the institution with an additional A1000 in lands, and 161000 more in books and apparatus onthe same conditions. Neither of these offers, however, met with favor in the Legislature. One of the reasons, which in 1797, Allen urged for the speedy ter- mination of his suit before the British Court of Admiralty, was his de- sire to erect public buildings for the University of Vermontjt the materials for which he had already caused to be prepared. These are kept, he says, in a ruinous state by my absence. Allen's business reverses, in consequence of his protracted absence in Europe and vexatious lawsuits, interfered sadly with his plans for organ- izing and equipping the college. The aid he intended and tried to render was in some degree frustrated. But no son of the University should ever allow himself to forget the debt he owes to that far-sighted and comprehensive liberality which laid the foundations of his Alma Mater. The colony of Nlassachusetts endowed Harvard College at the start with 75400, and that University is named from the man who devised some 75800 to the institution in his will. lra Allen, alone, in his prime of manhood, by one single gift, offered ten times as much as the hon- ored Massachusetts colony l Is he not worthy of special recognition at the hands of the Trustees and Alumni of this institution? lt is more than a century now since the college had birth in his brain and heart. How long shall it be before a worthy Portrait of him shall grace the walls of the Billings Library, to remind both undergraduate and alumnus of their common benefactor, and awaken the reverential gratitude which his wise foresight and his liberal gifts deserve? Why should not the hrst of Nlay, his birthday, and the day on which, at risk of fame and life, he departed on that diplomatic mission to the British commander in Canada,Ma mission which, it is worth while to 9