USA > Vermont > Records of the Governor and Council of the State of Vermont, Vol. V > Part 52
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That the Federal compact should be approached with caution, and there should exist an equality of political Rights among the several States in the national Representation, are truths of which you can never lose sight. Therefore these Resolutions will receive a candid and delib- erate consideration before you are prepared to say, that the number of Slaves already in the United States, and those which are daily imported, ought to increase the power or influence of their masters, in making Laws to bind the Freemen of a State, in which the principles of liberty are so complete and entire as not to admit slavery to appear, or exist within its limits.
The flourishing and happy state of our country, which has been wit- nessed in years past, cannot but endear to us the Republican principles and maxims on which its government is founded. From recent events in Europe it would seem that our Country is the only place on this Globe in which there is a prospect that the Republican system can suc- ceed. Should that system here fail, in a time and under circumstances so favorable to its continuance, future generations must pronounce it impracticable. To preserve it among ourselves, we must guard against all intolerance, intrigue, party spirit, and party measures. Our Elec- tions and Laws must be made with the purest views and motives. When the Representatives of the People are superior to the views and aims of party; when they steadily and unanimously pursue the public good, a ready obedience will be given to the Laws, and a cheerful support to the Government. A spirit of disunion and the influence of faction in the Legislature, will produce disquietude among the Citizens, and those measures which are not dictated by wisdom and prudence can never find support.
Assembled from different parts of the State, you know the circum- stances and interests of your Constituents: while the greatest general good is your chief object, your united endeavors will guard the Rights of Individuals, and promote the present and future prosperity of all.
ISAAC TICHENOR.
Rutland, 13th October 1804.
James Fisk [Jeffersonian,] Daniel Chipman [Federalist,] and Titus Hutchinson [Jeffersonian,] constituted the committee charged with
1 See Appendix B.
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drafting an address in reply to the foregoing speech, for which see printed Assembly Journal of 1804, p. 82. The paragraph on the pro- posed exclusion of slaves, in the apportionment of members of Con- gress, foreshadowed the action of the then anti-federal Legislature. It was as follows:
We shall bestow upon the resolutions transmitted by the Governor of Massachusetts, and alluded to in your Excellency's speech, a candid and deliberate consideration. We reciprocate your wish, that slavery were abolished, and had no influence in the making of laws to bind the freemen of our free State. Yet we realize the importance of preserving entire those principles which were the foundation of our federal com- pact, unless those principles are relinquished by those States in the Union, whose interests claim their existence. We are ready, therefore, to co-operate with your Excellency in every measure to create an equal- ity of political rights among the several States in the national represen- tation, which would not subvert the first and most operative principles in our federal compact.1
SPEECH OF GOV. TICHENOR-1805.2
Gentlemen of the Council, and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives, -It gives me great satisfaction to meet the Representatives of the People, and concur with them in fulfilling the legislative duties, and discharging the important trusts, which our Constituents have assigned to us; and the satisfaction is not a little heightened, by contemplating on the general happiness and prosperity of our Nation and Government. While the fairest part of Europe continues to be the scene of "dreadful preparation " for war, and is menaced, on all sides, with those miseries which flow from that greatest of all human calamities; we are pursuing with peaceful industry, those objects, which constitute the strength, security and glory of a wise and free people. Agriculture flourishes, and a genial soil and climate reward with abundance the labors of that useful and respectable class of our fellow Citizens, the Farmer and the Husbandman. The increase of Commerce enhances the value of pro- ductive labor, and the produce of the land. Manufactures daily im- prove; and the United States presents to the world, a fair specimen of the fruits of a mild and free Government.
It cannot but add to our joy, that the measures adopted by our General Government, for chastisiug the insolence and repelling the injustice, of the Infidels of one of the Barbary States, have been attended with success. By the blessing of Divine Providence, on the good conhuct of our forces in the Mediterranean, seconded by the enterprise, talents and Heroism of GENERAL EATON,3 our Citizens have been released from Captivity; Tripoli is humbled, and those barbarians, who have extorted an unwilling tribute from the most potent Monarchs
1 See Appendix B.
2 Ms. Council Journal, Vol. 5, p. 150.
3 As. Gen. Eaton had resided in Vermont, served as Clerk of the Gen- eral Assembly, and commanded the first company enlisted in this State for service in the United States army, his brilliant campaign here alluded to was peculiarly pleasing to Vermonters.
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in Europe, taught that America is no less irresistible in arms than just and conciliatory in peace.
The business that will engage your attention, the present session, relates principally to the internal affairs of this State; the election of the civil officers of Government; the necessary alteration of existing Laws and ordinances; the encouragement of schools and other semina- ries of learning; the improvement of our Militia establishment, and whatever can promote the interest of agriculture, manufactures, public and private tranquility and happiness.
The selection of those Officers, on whose judgment, virtue and impartiality, all that has relation to life, liberty and property may depend, is a weighty and serious transaction. Instead of being a matter of intrigue, party, or selfish policy, it ought to be conducted with all the calmness of wisdom, and disinterestedness of virtue. You will, I have no doubt, meet this part of your duty with a fixed purpose of regarding only the public good, and promoting the honor and welfare of the State.
Of the laws, now in force, that may require amendment, I particularly invite your attention to that, which authorizes the Supreme Court to grant Bills of Divorce. One of the necessary qualities and conditions that constitute a good law, is, that it be adequate to its end, and shall prevent the evil against which it is directed. As the existing Law on the subject of Divorce, dissolves the bonds of matrimony on the real or implied criminality of either party, it is justly to be apprehended, in- deed experience hath proved the fact, that it includes a temptation to commit the offence, for the sake of separation. Marriage being, of all human institutions, that in which Society is most interested, I have no doubt, the Legislature will give it an attention, commensurate with its moral and political consequences; and duly consider, that as families are the elementary forms of society, their distinct connexion ought not to be dissolved on slight grounds, nor the dissolute furnished with an opportunity to free himself from restraint by the commission of a crime.
The business particularly intrusted to me, by the Legislature at their last session, relative to the boundary line, between this State and the Province of Canada, has been strictly attended to; and will be the sub- ject of a future message.1
I have the honor to lay before you, certain Resolutions of the Legis- latures of Kentucky, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Massachusetts, transmitted by their respective Governors, to receive your concurrence and adoption. The Amendment to the Constitution of the United States proposed by the States of Kentucky and Pennsylvania, which has for its object, the abridgement of the judiciary power of the Courts of the United States, and to confine their jurisdiction to certain cases, therein mentioned, will necessarily attract your most serious and care- ful consideration. Whatever may have a tendency to weaken any part of the conventional obligation of the confederate States, or to diminish that expectation of an impartial administration of Justice, which main- tains an unsuspicious intercourse, between the Citizens of the different States, and on which mutual confidence and credit are founded; what- ever can open a door for the admission of jealousy and distrust, will, certainly, not be adopted by you, without the most urgent and indispen- sable necessity.2
The amendment proposed by North Carolina and adopted by Massa-
1 See Appendix E.
2 See Appendix B.
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chusetts, for putting a stop to the importation of Slaves into the United States, will, likewise, call for your legislative decision. It cannot, I flat- ter myself, be necessary that I should impress on your minds, that the Genius of universal Emancipation ought to be cherished by Americans; that there is no complexion incompatible with Freedom; and that we owe to the Character of our Country, in the abstract, and the laws of humanity, our best endeavors, to repress that impious and immoral traffic.1
It cannot too often be repeated. that union and moderation are the principal constituents of national felicity and happiness. Altho' you may have left in your respective towns many individuals, heated with political zeal, and in the eagerness of emulation, contending merely for pre-eminence, I trust this deliberative body will be influenced by a can- did, tolerant spirit, which will justly command the attention of the wise and good, and the approbation of your Constituents.
In every attempt of this kind, I shall be happy to co-operate with you, and as far as in me lies, render that assistance which the Constitution has made part of my official duty. ISAAC TICHENOR. 12th October 1805.
Lewis R. Morris [Federalist,] Dudley Chase and John White jr. [both Jeffersonians,] were appointed to draft an answer to the foregoing speech. An address, echoing the speech in nearly every particular, was reported and agreed to without division .- See printed Assembly Jour- nal of 1805, p. 34.
SPEECH OF GOV. TICHENOR-1806.2
Gentlemen of the Council, and Gentlemen of the House of Representa- tives,-As the science of forming and administering a good government furnishes the means of procuring to mankind the greatest possible de- gree of happiness, I confidently hope we shall enter on the peformance of the great and solemn duties, assigned to us by our Constituents, with corresponding sentiments of candor and solicitude. And, as a Repub- lican Government is, for an enlightened and virtuons community, the best which human wisdom has yet devised, it necessarily follows, that its ministers and legislators should consider themselves as the Guardi- ans and Trustees of the People, to promote whose happiness they should, on all occasions, exercise their most mature judgment and un- biassed opinion.3 It is a trust from Providence, for the abuse of which we are highly responsible.
A due regard to considerations of this nature, will secure us against the influence of faction, the rage of party, and the undue exercise of the power committed to our charge. As Freedom lies between the ex- tremes of anarchy and despotism, it has, in every country, been im- pelled in the one or the other direction, by the prejudices and passions of the inconsiderate and ignorant, or the cupidity of the base and un- principled. If we calmly and impartially recur to the struggles, which have been made in the old world, to introduce and maintain free gov- ernments, and the successive changes through which they have passed,
1 See Appendix B.
2 Ms. Council Journal, Vol. 5, p. 228.
3 In the printed speech it is " mature judgment, founded on an un- biassed opinion."
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owing to the perpetual conflicts between wisdom and folly, between patriotism and unwarrantable ambition, we shall resolve them all into the lust of power, and a disposition " studious of change and pleased with novelty." From all these, we may derive lessons of practical in- struction; and realize the truth of that important political maxim, that " no free government can continue long to exist, unless the utmost har- mony and most conciliatory spirit pervades its councils." Rivalship for power produces an abandonment of principle, and ought to be guarded against, by the Representatives of a Free People, as the cause of every species of mischief and misery.
In our local relations, no part of the Globe seems to be better fitted for the establishment and preservation of rational liberty, than that in which a kind Providence has placed us. Blessed with a fruitful soil, which rewards with abundance the industry of the husbandman; and engaged in commerce, only so far as it furnishes the conveniences and elegancies of life, and increases the value of our productive labor, we may live independent of the national policy of Europe, and successfully cultivate the arts of peace and domestic happiness.
To adopt measures the least burdensome and invidious for the support of government; to provide for an adequate and impartial administra- tion of Justice; the support of Schools and Colleges; the defence of the State, by a well organized and well armed Militia; to promote the inter- ests of religion and morality, and secure to industry its lawful acquisi- tions, comprize your principal duties.
While the path of duty is thus plain, and the Public Good the great. object to which, as virtuous Citizens and enlightened Statesmen, you will refer all your actions; I may reasonably draw the pleasing con- clusion, that the civil officers for the ensuing year will be appointed without any regard to the wishes or jealousies of men who seek only their own advancement; or the combinations of individuals. which are the prolific sources of much mischief and general discontent.1 In the most improved state of society, there will always exist a diversity of opinion on speculative subjects; and every good government will adopt such general regulations as will ensure,2 as far as possible, individuals of every shade of opinion against even the fear of injustice or oppres- sion. It is, therefore, highly just and expedient that the civil offices of the State should be filled with men eminent for wisdom, virtue and impartiality.
I have the satisfaction to announce, that the measures taken by the Legislature, at their last session, to ascertain the Northern boundary of this State, promise a very valuable acquisition. Conformably with the power vested in me, by the act for that purpose, I appointed Dr. [Sam- uel] Williams to ascertain the true divisional line between this State and the Province of lower Canada; which by a course of Astronomical observations, made near the ancient monument at Connecticut River, he found to be nearly fourteen miles South of the latitude of Forty five degrees. At the Lake Memphremagog the present divisional line was found to be more than seven Miles South of what it ought to be. From these observations, the result is, that the State has been out of posses- sion, owing to the error in establishing the divisional line, of a tract of land equal to Eighteen Townships. The acknowledged experience and profound science of the person employed for that purpose warrants the
1 Possibly Gov. Tichenor had in mind the caucus system, which had been introduced into Vermont in 1804.
*"Secure " in the printed speech.
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belief, that his observations and calculations are without material error. The report which has been made to me, on this subject. together with the map that accompanied it, shall be laid before you. So large a tract of land, which on the settlement of the line would probably fall within the Jurisdiction of this State, appears to me to be an object worthy of your attention. The object can only be effected by an application to the Executive of our national Government.1
I shall cheerfully and cordially concur in the adoption of every measure, which the wisdom of the Legislature may suggest, for advancing the hap- piness of the people, and the dignity and Character of the State.
ISAAC TICHENOR.
October 11th, 1806.
Titus Hutchinson, William C. Bradley, and Nathaniel Chipman, being two Jeffersonians and one Federalist, were appointed to draft an answer to the foregoing speech, one of whom drafted one, which, while touching all the topics of the speech, ingeniously turned the most of them to the advantage of the political party represented by a majority of the com- mittee .- See printed Assembly Journal of 1806, p. 39.
SPEECH OF GOV. ISRAEL SMITH-1807.2
Gentlemen of the Council, and Gentlemen of the House of Representa- tives,-Permit me to express to you. and through you to the freemen at large, the high sense I entertain of the honor done me by their suffra- ges which have conferred on me this seat. No circumstance can be more flattering than after a long course of public life to meet this new and unequivocal evidence of the public confidence and esteem. It de- mands of me, in whatever station I may be called to act, a faithful, dili- gent and unremitting discharge of the duties belonging to it. Impressed with sentiments of gratitude for honors conferred, I feel a species of enthusiasm in commencing the fulfilment of the duties before me. When I reflect, however, upon the trust reposed in the chief executive magistrate, the arduous, but more especially the critical nature of the duties belonging to that station, at a time also when the public mind is uncommonly awake to its rights and privileges; when this watchfulness has produced discussions and a train of thought which in different minds has produced very different results; when I bear in mind also the urbanity and the unassuming administration of my predecessor in office, I am almost led to despair of ever being able to quit the office I am now called to fill with the same happy auspices in which I enter upon it. In the discharge of official duties, however, I shall place my greatest hopes of success in the candor, assistance and indulgence of this honorable Assembly.
The constitution makes it the duty of the Governor and Council "to correspond with other States, to transact business with the officers of Government, civil and military, and prepare such business as may ap- pear to them necessary to lay before the General Assembly;" also "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed," and to " expedite the ex-
1 See Appendix E.
2 Council Journal, Vol. 5, p. 316.
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ecution of such measures as may be resolved upon by the General As- sembly." I have not had opportunity to consult my predecessor in office whether any correspondence has taken place between the execu- tive of this and any other State, or the United States, on subjects the nature of which requires to be submitted to the General Assembly, or whether any business has been transacted by the executive with the offi- cers of our own government of a similar nature; should there be any, they must be made the subject of some future communication.
Again the Constitution makes it the duty of the Governor and Coun- cil " to prepare such business as may appear to them necessary to lay before the General Assembly." Under this clause of the Constitution must be inferred the duty of the Governor and Council to recommend to the General Assembly subjects for legislative consideration, such as in their opinion the good of community requires to be adopted. Among the most important of those subjects which have been presented to my mind is that of a variation of [in] the modes of punishment established in our criminal code; to substitute generally, for corporal punishments, confinement for the purpose of initiating the culprit into a habit of use- ful industry, or in more common phraseology, confinement to hard labor. I am not insensible of the insufficiency of theoretical reasoning on abstract principles, when opposed to inveterate custom and habit. It will not be denied that corporal punishments may have had a good effect in the prevention of crimes, but this concession does not admit the inference that no other mode of punishment would be preferable. That mode of punishment, which is worse than none, must be vile in- deed. Confinement and hard labor is a mode of punishment peculiarly suited to an advanced state of society, and where the arts abound. In the infancy of government, where the arts do not exist, it is found too difficult and expensive to provide an asylum for the safe keeping of cul- prits, and to furnish the means and materials for their employment; but in a society and government where the arts abound, these difficulties vanish and leave the arguments drawn from feelings and humanity and the nature of man in their full force. By substituting the punishment proposed, a government may not only prevent the expence to which other modes of punishment must subject it; but may make it, if thought advisable, a source of revenue to the State. A more intimate acquaint- ance with the effect produced on the conduct of culprits, in States where this mode of punishment is adopted, would no doubt strongly recom- mend the measure. And in States where it has been the longest in operation, there exists the most indubitable and unshaken conviction of its utility. This honorable Assembly will permit me to bring to their remembrance the thirty seventh section of the constitution of this State; it is in the following words: "To deter more effectually from the com- mission of crimes, by continued visible punishments of long duration, and to make sanguinary punishments less necessary, means ought to be provided for punishing by hard labor those who shall be convicted of crimes not capital, whereby the criminal shall be employed for the ben- efit of the public, or for the reparation of injuries done to private per- sons; and all persons at proper times ought to be permitted to see them at their labor." To the forcible language of the Constitution I can add nothing. It is sincerely hoped the General Assembly will not permit the present session to pass away without making the necessary provis- ions on this subject.
The constitution further enjoins it on the Governor and Council "to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and to expedite the execution of such measures as may be resolved upon by the General Assembly." Very few of the executive powers of our government are
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entrusted into the hands of the supreme executive 1 in the first instance for execution; but on the contrary are entrusted to certain officers, who, from the manner of their appointment and the nature of their duties as pointed out by the laws, appear to be exempted from executive direction or censure. As it relates to the criminal code, where the laws cannot be put in force against an individual but by the intervention of a trial in a court of judicature, the prosecuting officers are with propriety placed under its direction, as being part of a distinct branch of the Government. But in the financial department, a vigilance in the executives over sub- ordinate officers, who may in any way be employed in receiving and pay- ing over public monies, seems more important. The necessity of any par- ticular attention to this subject by the executive, is however superceded by wholesome laws already passed, by which it is made the duty of all subordinate officers, connected in any way with the collection of the revenue, to make an annual settlement with the head of the treasury department; a settlement is also to be made with the treasury depart- ment annually, with a full and fair statement of all the accounts with the balances to be laid before the General Assembly at their October session. By the foregoing provisions of the law, any call of the Execu- tive on the treasury department for the information of the General Assembly is rendered unnecessary.
There are two statute laws of very general concern, which are left wholly with the corporations of towns for their execution: the act "for the support of schools," and the act "for laying ont, making, repairing and clearing out highways," are pointed at. It is submitted whether it would not be useful to make some provision by which the General Assembly might be officially informed how far and in what manner these laws are carried into effect by the respective corporations.
In relation to our external protection and defence, most of our legis- lative concerns are intrusted to the federal government; the organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia excepted. The annual return of the Adjutant General to the Governor, of the state of the Militia, rendered necessary by law, when received, shall be laid before you. It may aid the legislature in determining whether any further provisions at this time are necessary more effectually to protect community against the evils of war; an evil of all others perhaps the most to be deprecated by government.
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