The purpose of the author is to treat more fully than has yet been douchy any writer, of the discovery, explora tion and settlement of Vermont; of the adverse claims to the lands occupied by the settlers, and of the origin and character of those claims; of the necessity under which the early inhabitants were placed of forming themselves into a separate and distinct community, in order to main tain their titles and preserve their property; of their earnest and valuable services against the common enemy during the revolutionary war; and of the obstacles they encountered in organizing a new state government, and in establishing and maintaining its independence. His aim is to embody facts, and to state them with his views in intelligible language, without making any pretensions to literary merit.