Egbert Benson to John Jay, 4 September 1779
Kingston Sep t . 4 th , 1779–
My Dear Sir:
I have stolen a Moment from the Business of the House to write You by M r : Phelps, who is dispatched some Hours sooner than I was apprised of or I should have wrote You more fully– He is the Bearer of our peremptory Instructions to the Delegates relative to the Affair of Vermont– 1 This Business I must entreat Your utmost Endeavers to dispatch, for You will observe We are to continue sitting til We receive an Answer– We are now at our Ne plus as I mentioned to You in my last, 2 and We are every day growing worse and worse– By a Change in the Legislature several new Members are come in who are, (as I firmly beleive) more attached to Vermont than New York. Others are become fearful– In short from a Variety of Circumstances I am fully convinced that our Proceedings in this Session will decide the Question whether We are to relinquish or to reduce that part by force of Arms that part of the Country– Should the former Alternative happen I foresee the inevitable Ruin of the State– One Proof of this is the following fact, that in April a Tenant in the Manor of Rensselaer and whose Farm is in the second Tier of Lots from the North-Eastern Boundary ^ of the Manor ^ and of which he has ^ been ^ in quiet Possession for upwards of thirty Year, was sued in an Action of Trespass for £2000 by Process out of the Court of Vermont & the Trespass was charged to be committed on the above Farm– This is a fact for the Defendant applied to Me for Advice and Direction–
The Army here has only Three Weeks Flour and to save them from starving We have upon the Application of the Commissary General 3 compelled the Farmers to thresh out one sixteenth within Eight and the other Sixteenth within Twenty days Of their ^ last ^ Crop of Wheat of the last [ illegible ] ^ beyond the annual necessary Consumption of their respective Families ^ at 20 Dollars per Bushel– Can We have no Compensation for these Exertions and Losses? It would be some if Congress would order a Quantity of Salt into the State–
M r : Phelps waits and as Lord Chesterfield concludes some of his Letters with the Graces, the Graces, the Graces, so I conclude mine with Vermont, Vermont, Vermont– Yours sincerely–
Egb t : Benson