In 1781 it transpired that the secret negotiations with the British were known outside the Committee of Safety. whereupon General Allen sent two British communications to the President of Congress by letter showing that Vermont had protected the northern frontier while her troops were serving the Continental cause elsewhere. although Congress claimed "an exclusive right of arbitrating on the existence of Vermont as a separate government". and apparently intended to partition her among the surrounding States. and said: I do not hesitate to say I am fully grounded in opinion that Vermont has an indubitable right to agree on terms of cessation of hostilities with Great Britain. provided the United States persist in rejecting her application for a union with them. for Vermont. of all people. would be the most miserable were she obliged to defend the independence of united claiming States. and they. at the same time. at full liberty to overturn and ruin the independence of Vermont. I am persuaded when Congress considers the circumstances of this State they will be more surprised that I have transmitted them the enclosed letters than that I have kept them in custody so long. for I am [as] resolutely determined to defend the independence of Vermont as Congress are that of the United States. and. rather than fail will retire with hardy Green Mountain Boys into the desolate caverns of the mountains and wage war with human nature at large. Ethan Allen never knew the State which he so effectively helped to establish as anything other than a Revolutionary territory and an independent republic. governing its own people. maintaining a perfect defense against all aggressors. conducting its own international relations. coining its own money. naturalizing citizens. and guaranteeing in its earliest constitution two novel principles--freedom from human slavery and manhood suffrage not dependent on property. He died February 17. 1789. 2 years before the State Was admitted into the Union. John Pell.
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