"From the good understanding which has ever existed between your Excellency and this House, we flatter ourselves that you will be pleased with being informed that no sooner was the whole of your communication read, than a unanimous vote was passed, ordering an address of thanks to be presented to you, for your signal services on this occasion. "Accept, then, our assurances that your address and good management, in bringing this unfortunate business to so happy and speedy an issue, has encreased, if possible, the very high esteem we have ever entertained of your patriotism, your candour, your abilities, your integrity.' "Be pleased, Sir, to inform the honorable Lieutenant Governor Milnes that we entertain a very high sense of the liberal, candid and delicate manner in which this extremely unfortunate affair has, from its commencement to its termination, been treated by his predecessor and by him. Their conduct, when our sense thereof is known to our fellow citizens, must tend to encrease the general desire for the continuation of a mutual, a free, and amicable intercourse with the country over which he presides.

"Be pleased, likewise, to assure that Gentleman, that as the constitutional organ of our constituents, we can with safety pledge ourselves that they entertain too high a sense, and are too jealous of their own rights, ever to infringe, voluntarily and intentionally, those of any friendly nation."

Ordered, That the said report be accepted.

John Griggs was a resident of Alburgh, for whose arrest John Allen, a deputy sheriff of Franklin county, held a warrant. When Allen, with assistants, came to make the arrest, Griggs had taken refuge in a brother's house, which was in Canada, a very short distance north of the boundary line. Nevertheless Allen and his men crossed the line, broke into the room of Griggs, arrested and bound him, put him into a sleigh, and proceeded southward on the ice of the lake. In passing round "the tongue" of Alburgh, the party broke through the ice, and Griggs was drowned. Allen and his associates were indicted at Montreal for murder, and the governor of Canada applied for the delivery of the indicted persons for trial in Canada. Thereupon the correspondence ensued between Gov. Tichenor and the governors of Canada, and through Tichenor's explanations and apologies the matter was happily accommodated. The Assembly Journal for 1799 shows that a court of inquiry on this subject had been convened at Alburgh, in May of that year. Doubtless the court found that Griggs, as a citizen of Alburgh, was legally liable to arrest, and that his death was accidental. Of course an apology was due for invading the territory of Canada, and Gov. Tichenor made one in ample and proper terms.

1

To appreciate justly this strong expression of personal favor to Gov. Tichenor, it should be remembered that the author of this address was

a leader of the political opponents of the governor in the House, and that the address was adopted by a unanimous vote.

Printed Assembly Journal of 1799, pp. 48-9, 64–5, 74. 3Vt. Historical Magazine, Vol. II, p. 496.

SPEECH OF GOV. TICHENOR.-1800.

IN ASSEMBLY, Oct. 10, 1800.

His excellency the governor and council appeared in the house, and after having taken their seats, his excellency the governor delivered the following speech:

Gentlemen of the Council and Gentlemen of the house of Representatives:

In obedience to the voice of the people, it is again become my duty to meet you in General Assembly.

The affairs of Government will always be attended with difficulty, and will require much application, prudence and firmness in those on whom is devolved the arduous task of conducting its interests. It is in confidence that I shall be favored with your cordial assistance and support, that I enter upon the office and duties which the Constitution has assigned to the Chief Magistrate of this State. Collected from the different parts of the Commonwealth, you must be intimately acquainted with the various situations and circumstances of your Constituents, and with such information, it will be in your power to pursue the public welfare with candor and success, in all the consultations and measures of the present session.

The business particularly entrusted to me, by the legislature at their last Session, has been strictly attended to, and will be the subject of a future message.-[The claim of Indians to land in Vermont. ]

The Auditor will lay before you a general statement of the accounts of the Treasury department; a review of the accounts of that department for several years past, when contrasted with those of former years, will show an increase of wealth in our state, and a degree of economy in the management of our finances that must be pleasing to my fellow citizens. I however consider it to be my duty once more to submit to your consideration the propriety and necessity of redeeming the public securities now in circulation, upon which, without any benefit to our Government, we are annually incurring an accumulated interest. Without adopting a measure of this kind, no complete adjustment of the Treasurer's account can be effected.

The Constitution and Laws of our Country have made it the duty of the Legislature, at this Session, to choose Electors of President and Vice President of the United States. This consideration gives a peculiar importance to the business of this Session. Those men, who are to be immediately instrumental in the appointment of persons who are to fill the highest offices our Country can bestow, ought to be selected from the most worthy of our fellow Citizens. It is sincerely to be hoped, that the importance of the crisis may induce such Electors, when chosen, to unite their suffrages on men who are attached to the interests of their country, and who are the friends of order and good government. Should the Chief magistrate of the Union be destitute of the virtues of a Real patriot; should a predilection for foreign principles, or an ardor for foreign theories, influence him to depart from the sober maxims of our ancestors, and from those principles of national interest which WASHINGTON recommended, in his last legacy to the people, and which ADAMS has so happily pursued in his Executive administration of the general government; in a word, should our first Magistrate be other than an Independent American, the most injurious consequences to us and our posterity are justly to be apprehended.

From the situation of this State, agriculture must be a primary and essential object of attention; separated from harbours of commerce, the inhabitants of Vermont must, at all times, look for support from the labors and productions of the field. And it is with much gratitude to

the benevolent author of nature, that we have to remark, that our prospects in this respect are highly encouraging. Not only have the harvests of the present year been greatly productive, but the general spirit of agriculture is much improving in every part of this State, and, the happy effects of it are every where to be seen in the improvements of our farmers, in the rapid increase of our buildings, and in the produce of our fields.

But while we observe, with pleasure, the improved state of our agriculture, it is of importance that we bear in mind that agriculture, in all its interests, is most intimately connected with those of commerce and manufactures, and cannot be carried on to any considerable extent, but in connection with them. If the farmer finds no demand for the produce of his land, a great part of it becomes useless; thus the various interests of every state in the union become mutually dependent and connected; and that, which is a benefit to the one, is an advantage to the whole.

All our interests, whether public or private, are so inseparably connected with the principles that regulate the conduct of mankind, the principles of morality and religion, that there cannot be any permanent prosperity in the one, without a steady cultivation of the other; what can restrain the passions of men, regulate their views and pursuits, confine them to the bounds of reason, duty and integrity, produce industry, economy and regularity, or a steady obedience to the laws of our country, but substantial and permanent principles of action? And can these be expected, or will they be found, in any other principles but those of morality and religion.

If anything can be wanting to convince us of the importance of moral and christian principles, the fatal and horrid consequences, that have arisen in modern times, from treating them with neglect and contempt, must carry conviction to the mind of every person who has heard or read of the revolution in Europe. In every attempt, therefore, to promote the interests of science, the education of youth, or to render respectable the institutions and precepts of Christianity, we shall be in the discharge of a duty, highly useful in a Christian Country, and every way interesting to a free people.

While the concerns of our state government more immediately engage our attention, they are so essentially connected with the government of the United States, that we cannot discharge our duty to the former, without taking into view the interests of the latter.

The wisdom, the firmness, the prudence and success with which our late President, the great, the good, the immortal Washington, administered the affairs of the Federal Government, can never be forgotten by us, and will ever be remembered with admiration and gratitude by all succeding generations. It was never given to any man to render more important services to his country, than was done by him to the States of America; and were the wishes of mankind ever allowed to controul the laws of nature, that most worthy and excellent man had never died. But altho' removed to an higher sphere of action, we, and I trust all future generations of men in the United States, will share largely in the benefits he procured for his grateful Country.

The same measures of government have been pursued, by his worthy successor. The effect has been peace, prosperity, encreasing wealth and population, in every part of the United States; while the rest of the world are involved in the miseries and calamities of civil war, slaughter and destruction, that have not a parallel in history.

If anything could silence the voice of calumny, or terminate the mischievous effects of misrepresentation as to men and measures, so dangerous to a free government, and so much regretted by all good men,

it would be the singular happiness, this country has enjoyed amidst the scenes of general distress, which has afflicted other nations. But whatever may be the language or the attempt of the opposers of our government, the wise and virtuous cannot but find, in the prosperity of our country, abundant reasons for an undeviating attachment to the federal constitution and laws, and to those measures of government that have tended so much to produce public tranquility and happiness.

Our commerce, and with it, our national resources have been extended; our manufactures have increased; our agriculture has flourished; our national government has, by its laws, supported our citizens at home, and by its energy protected them abroad, and a neutral and happily beneficial attitude has been maintained with dignified perseverance: and those among us who have thought that an efficient Treaty with France would add to our political prosperity, must have found great satisfaction in the recent mission of envoys, to that power; indeed it is ardently hoped, that they may honorably accommodate existing disagreements. But should these envoys, like our former messengers of peace, return to their Country, without effecting the desirable object of their mission, it is charitably expected that every mouth will be stopped, and every eye turned to our national courage and patriotism, that sure and only foundatian of national prosperity.

That all your wise deliberations may tend to this great and good end, I ardently pray the great disposer of all human events.

ISAAC TICHENOR.

Nathaniel Niles, Daniel Chipman, and William Simpson were appointed to draft an answer of the House to the foregoing speech, and Mr. Niles reported an answer responding to the sentiments of the governor, which was agreed to without a division.-See printed Assembly Journal of 1800, pp. 135-138.

SPEECH OF GOV. TICHENOR.-1801.

Gentlemen of the Council and Gentlemen of the house of Representatives: In a state regulated in its expenditures by the strictest rules of economy, the public approbation must be the principal reward of its magistrates. That I have the honor of addressing you again, as your Chief Magistrate, evidences the confidence of the Freemen in my past conduct, and urges to active and zealous pursuit of their best welfare.

The Constitution of this State, under which we are now assembled, is happily formed on the principles of freedom, and has, for its object, the interest of the great body of the people: To discover this interest will be the result of your deliberations; to pursue it, the result of your doings. Upon the habits, the opinions, the principles of the people both civil and religious, republican governments solely depend: When the people are habituated to respect the laws and their Magistrates, and, aided by the impulses of religion, are attached by political principles to their government, its administration will prosper, and the people be happy. But when they are habituated to view their government as prodigal and oppressive, to be ever jealous of the character and conduct of their magistrates, and from bad principles are induced to vilify and obstruct its public acts, and meet no restraint from religious or moral considerations, the government hastens rapidly to ruin. It is then highly important, that the General Assembly, as the political fathers of the people, should endeavor, by all candid means, to direct the public sentiment. To effect

this, the Legislature must possess the confidence of the people. This, Gentlemen, you will continue to do, by enacting wise and beneficial laws; by providing for public expenditures, and enforcing proper economy in governmental expenses; by electing men of abilites, worth and integrity into office; by inculcating sound morals, and recommending a reverence for the great and salutary duties of religion.

The institutions of religious worship, and the establishment of Colleges and Academies in this State, will afford us much assistance. While our youth are trained up in knowledge and virtue, and the people practise in assembling for the purposes of religious instruction and devotion, we may rationally hope that good principles will prevail, and have their happy effects, in all our personal and public proceedings.

The appointment of civil officers is a necessary part of the business which the Constitution assigns to the General Assembly at their annual Session. Unfortunately for our Country, this has become a matter of discord and party contention in some parts of the union. It cannot be necessary, and it cannot be expedient, to make that, which the Constitution contemplates as a very serious and important duty, become a matter of contention or private interest. By avoiding everything which has the appearance of partiality or intolerance, and private interest, and by aiming to appoint those men who are the best fitted and qualified to discharge the public offices and services, we preserve to ourselves the approbation of our own minds, and give to our fellow Citizens compleat evidence, that the principles of Republicanism are not the principles of contention, of intolerance, of individual interest, or of faction, but those of candor, of public utility and national prosperity.

In the transaction and management of public business, in general, a spirit of candor, temperance and prudence is an essential requisite. No affairs of importance can ever be done to advantage when the mind is agitated with intemperate passions, or inflamed by party purposes and pursuits. In a state, heretofore superior to such influences, it may be presumed that they will not be permitted now to prevail: But that Wisdom, discretion and benevolence, will mark all the proceedings of the present Session.

It is with much satisfaction I announce to you the prosperous state of our finances. The public debt, due on hard money orders, has been discharged; a small annual tax will, in future, be fully adequate to meet the expences of government. I cannot omit recommending to your particular attention, the state of our Militia. That brave and useful part of our fellow Citizens, upon whom the sure and immediate defence of our country depends, are greatly deficient in military equipmentsthe greater part are destitute of arms-the law on the subject, has lain dormant, and six years' experience has evidenced its inutility; the soldier has found it difficult, if not impracticable, to comply with it, and the officers, sensible of this, have omitted to enforce it. Whether it would be proper to purchase arms for their use, or by encouraging the manufacture of arms in this State, and thereby affording the Militia an opportunity of equipping themselves, is worthy of your serious consideration. Field Artillery is of indispensable use in modern tactics, and in almost all our sister States provided at the expence of government. Two field pieces to each brigade would not be expensive and burthensome in our present state of prosperity. A tax of such a beneficial intent would be cheerfully submitted to by all classes of people; they would feel a virtuous Pride in cherishing that military zeal which has hitherto animated the militia of this State. Surely the public treasure cannot be better expended than for national defence. Assuredly, the brave, hardy militia