On the 1st of May, which being his birthday he deemed propitious, Ira Allen, as sole commissioner, set forth for Isle aux Noix in considerable state, being attended by a guard consisting of a lieutenant, two sergeants, and sixteen privates. Afterward, when the British were again in force upon the lake, General Haldimand objected to the agents of Vermont being attended by so large a retinue, and forbade more than five persons being received. Allen was treated with great politeness by the commander, Major Dundas, who was empowered to act only in the exchange of prisoners. On the second day, as Sherwood and Allen were walking in the gray of the soft spring morning beneath the wide ramage of the nut-trees that gave the island its name, the Tory captain informed the handsome young colonel that he and Dr. Smyth were to settle the armistice with him, and concert measures to establish Vermont as a royal colony. For his better opportunities of conducting them, the negotiations with Vermont had been committed to General Haldimand's management, and he had given his instructions to Sherwood and Smyth on the 20th of the preceding December. These instructions authorized "positive assurances that their country will be erected into a separate province, independent and unconnected with every government in America, and will be entitled to every prerogative and immunity which is promised to other provinces in the proclamation of the King's commissioners." It was proposed to raise two Vermont battalions of ten companies each, of which Haldimand should be colonel, but all other officers should be Vermonters, and entitled to half pay. The instructions still further state, "I am so much convinced of the present infatuation of these people, ... I agree that this negotiation should cease, and any step that leads to it be forgotten, provided the Congress shall grant the State of Vermont a seat in their assembly, and acknowledge its independency." Sherwood said the reception of the British overtures during the ice-bound voyage on the lake was such that they had great hope of success. This hope it was the policy of Vermont to encourage, in order to secure the safety of the people, since all the Continental troops had been ordered out of the State, the New York troops withdrawn from Skenesborough, and Vermont had no adequate force wherewith to oppose the British force of 7,000 men in Canada. Thus abandoned, as it appeared to them designedly, that they might be forced into submission to New York, the leaders saw no hope of safety for the State but in an adroit management, to their own advantage, of these attempts of the British.