will be a popular one; and let it once be known among the people, as I
promise gentlemen it shall be, that this proposition was considerately
recommended to us by a committee we appointed for the purpose--let
this be known, and who among us has nerve enough to stem the storm of
popular indignation that will burst on his head, for the timid and
cowardly policy which led him to go against it?"

"Vermont," added Rowley--"Vermont was the first to show her sister
states the way to take a British fort; let her also be the first to
teach them the secret of making tories bear their proportion of the
burdens of the war. I am already prepared to give the measure my
support, Mr. President."

Almost every member, in turn, now threw in a few observations. The
doubts and fears of the more cautious and wavering gradually gave way;
and it soon became evident that the measure had found too much favor
with the council to be resisted. Lyon, with his rough and pithy
eloquence, had broken the ice of timidity at the right moment; and he
and the originator of the measure, at first the only unhesitating
members of the assembly, perceiving the gathering current in its
favor, now warmly followed up their advantage; and, within two hours
from its introduction, the resolution was adopted. This was
immediately followed by the passage of the decree named in the
resolution, specifying the names of those thus far fairly identified
as openly espousing the British cause in Vermont, and declaring their
estates forfeited to its use. Allen's proposal to raise a regiment of
rangers was then, as a matter of course, unanimously carried, and the
officers he had nominated were, with a few alterations, as unanimously
appointed. All were now animated with a new spirit. Hope and
confidence had taken the place of doubt and despondency in their