thus, "Section 2nd. And it is hereby further enacted, That no order of Sale shall be granted by said Supreme Court, unless such Guardians shall produce to the Court a certificate signed by the Judge of Probate of the District where such Land lies, recommending such sale, and also make it appear to the said Court that the same will be beneficial to such wards"-which report was accepted, and on Motion, Resolved, That the Council [do concur] in passing said Bill as amended, and Ordered, That Mr. Galusha inform the House of the Reasons for such amendments. The following Message was recd from the House:

In General Assembly Feby 6th 1804. The Bill Entitled "An Act against disturbing the Remains of the Dead," received from Council was concurred in.

The Committee appointed on the Bill Entitled "An Act in addition to an act Entitled an Act regulating Town Meetings and the Choice and duty of Town officers," reported the following amendments, viz. After the word "State," in the Third line of the first Section, erase the remainder of the Section and insert the following in lieu thereof, "may require of their several Town Clerks, Constables, and Town Treasurers, when chosen, to give Bonds to the Selectmen of their respective Towns, in such sums and with such Sureties as they shall think reasonable, for the faithful performance of their several offices. And if such TownClerks, Constables, or Town Treasurers, so chosen as aforesaid, shall refuse to give Bonds as aforesaid when thereunto required, such Towns may proceed to choose such officers as will comply with such requirement. In the Second line of the Second Section, after the first word "the," erase the remainder of the Section and insert the following— "several Towns in this State shall be liable to make good all damages which may accrue to any Person or Persons in consequence of the neglects or omissions of duty by any Town Clerk or Constable by such Town appointed, in all cases where such Town shall neglect taking Bonds as above directed in this act;" and to erase the Third Section-which Report being accepted, it was Resolved, That the Council do concur in passing the said Bill as amended, and Ordered, That Mr. Loomis inform the House of the Reasons which governed the Council in adopting those Amendments.

The Debenture of Council for the present Session was read by the Secretary, and it was Resolved, That the Same is approved by Council, and Ordered, That the Secretary enter it on the Journals:

2 O'CLOCK P. M.

The Committee on the Bill Entitled "An act in addition to an act assessing a Tax of Two Cents per acre on the Town of Westford, Passed October 26th. 1799," reported the following amendments: Strike out the whole of the Preamble after the word "Act," in the Second line of the same, and insert "after having accepted the appointment of Collector as aforesaid, and doing various acts in that capacity, has, as is represented to this Assembly, absconded, without having compleated the services and duties to do which he was authorized and empowered by said Act, Therefore."-Strike out the whole of the Bill after the word "That," in the Third line of the First Section, and insert the following: "Martin Powell be and he is hereby appointed, authorized and impowered to do and perform every such act, in collecting said Tax. and in executing Deeds of Lands already sold, or which may be sold, for the discharge of said Tax, as would, in the present Stage of the Collection of said Tax, have been lawful for said Seely to do and perform antecedent to the passing of this act; and such acts and Deeds which shall be [done] by the said Powell, in pursuance and completion of the duties by said act imposed on said Seely, and which still remain to be done, shall be as good and valid in Law, as though the same had been done by said Seely. And it is hereby further enacted, That said Powell shall not be, in any way, answerable, for any thing either done or omitted by the said Seely in or respecting the Collection of the Tax aforesaid." Which report was accepted, and Resolved, That the Council do concur in passing said Bill as amended, & Ordered, That Mr. Niles communicate the Reasons of such amendments to the House.

A Bill, passed in the House of Representatives, Entitled "An act laying a Tax of Two Cents per acre on the Town of Derby," was sent up to Council for Revision &c. and being read, it was Resolved, That it be committed to Mess. White and Loomis.

A Bill, passed in the House of Representatives, Entitled "An act constituting a corporation by the name of the Northern Turnpike Company of Vermont," was sent up to Council for Revision &c. and was, on motion, amended, by erasing the name of " Joseph Jones," in the Second Line of the Third Section, and Inserting the name of "David Wing Jun;" by adding to the Fourth Section as follows: "And no greater certainty shall be required in such presentments, in describing the place out of repair, than is required by the nineteenth Section of "An act Entitled 'An Act reducing into one the several acts for laying out, making, repairing, and clearing Highways;"" by inserting after the word " Road," in the fourteenth line of the Fifth Section, "And again return on said Road, to travel on the same;" and by inserting after the word "Distances," in the eighth line of the Seventh Section, with a sufficient supply of water in the same "--and being read as amended, it was Resolved, That the Council concur in passing said Bill as amended, & Ordered, That Mr. Galusha inform the House of the Reasons of Council in adopting those amendments.

A Bill, passed in the House of Representatives, Entitled "An Act establishing a Corporation by the name of the Caledonia Turnpike Company," was sent up to Council for Revision &c. and being read was, on motion, amended by adding to the Sixth Section, "And no greater certainty shall be required in such presentment, in describing the place out of repair, than is required by the Nineteenth Section of an Act Entitled an act reducing into one the several acts for laying out, making, repairing and clearing Highways;'" and being read as amended, it was Resolved, That the Council do concur in passing the said Bill as amended. The Committee on the Bill Entitled "An Act laying a Tax of Two

Cents per acre on the Town of Derby," reported the following amendments-That the Bill pass for “Three Cents" instead of "Two Cents,” that Luther Newcomb be the Collector instead of Elisha Lyman, that Elisha Lyman be of the Committee in the place of Luther Newcomb, and that the name of Ebenezer Gould be erased and Japhet Benham be inserted; which Report was accepted, and on Motion, Resolved, That the Council concur in said Bill as amended, and Ordered, That Mr. Loomis communicate the reasons of such amendments to the House.

A Bill, passed in the House of Representatives, Entitled "An Act uniting certain parts of the Towns of Pomfret and Hartford into one School District," was sent up to Council for revision &c. and being read, it was Resolved, That the Council concur in passing said Bill into a Law.

A Bill, passed in the House of Representatives, Entitled "An Act enabling the Inhabitants of the Town of Washington to ratify their former proceedings," was sent up to Council for revision &c. and, on Motion, was amended by erasing after the word "That" in the Second line of the Bill, the whole of the Bill and Inserting in lieu thereof the following: "The several votes and proceedings of said Meeting be and they are hereby ratified and confirmed in as ample a manner as though the said Thomas Porter Esquire had presided in the same until a Moderator and Clerk had been chosen:" and Resolved, That the Council do concur in said Bill as amended, and Ordered, That Mr. Wheelock inform the House of the Reasons of such Amendment.

The following resolution was received from the House:

"In General Assembly Feby 6th. 1804. Resolved, The Governor and Council concurring herein, That the unfinished Business now pending before the Council and General Assembly be and the same is hereby referred to the next Session of the Legislature. Extract from the Journals. Att.

A. HASWELL Clerk.”

Which Resolution was read, and Resolved, That the Council concur in the same, and Ordered. That the Secretary communicate it to the House, and also inform the House that the Council are ready to Meet the House in the Representatives' Room, for the purpose of adjourning the Legislature without day.

Mr. Potter, from the House, informed the Council the House would now join with Council in the Representatives' Room for the purpose above mentioned.

The Governor and Council accordingly proceeded to the Representatives' Room, and after the Throne of Grace was addressed by Mr. [Sidney] Willard, the Chaplain, in prayer, the Two Branches of the Legislature were adjourned without day by the Sheriff of Windsor County. Attest WILLIAM PAGE Jur. Secy.

A True Journal.

APPENDIX A.

VERMONT IN 1791, AS VIEWED BY A VIRGINIAN.-NO SLAVERY.

IN the summer succeeding the admission of Vermont into the Union, the State was visited by three Virginians, two of whom ranked among the most distinguished men of the nation, to wit, THOмas Jefferson and JAMES MADISON, who came through Lake George, spent a day and a half on Lake Champlain, sailing about twenty-five miles north of Ticonderoga, when a further advance was prevented by a head wind. Returning, they proceeded to Bennington on the 4th of June, spent the Sabbath there, and on the 6th journeyed on their way to the valley of Connecticut river, and thence by Hartford and New Haven to New York city and Philadelphia. But for Jefferson's detailed account of this journey, altogether unlike that described in the letter which follows, it might be presumed that either Jefferson or Madison was the author of the letter. It is to be assumed rather, from the different route described, which embraced both eastern and western Vermont and a tour across the State near the northern boundary-that the writer was a third Virginian, whose name has not been ascertained.

--

1

LETTER FROM A GENTLEMAN IN VIRGINIA TO HIS FRIEND in BenNINGTON.

Sir,-Before I left Virginia, I had conceived but a very indifferent opinion of the northern states, and especially of the state of Vermont. I had formed the idea of a rough barren country, inhabited by a fierce, uncivilized, and very unpolished people. I made my tour up Connecticut river, east of the green mountains, near the northern boundary of your state, and returned on the western side, by the lake through Bennington. I must confess I was surprised and astonished beyond measure, to find a fertile luxuriant soil, cultivated by a virtuous, industrious and civilized set of inhabitants; many of whom lived in taste and elegance, and appeared not unacquainted with the polite arts.

1 Randall's Life of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. II, pp. 19 and 20; and Vermont Gazette of June 6 1791.

From the Vermont Gazette of Sept. 19, 1791.

The rapid progress in popularity [population] and improvement, and the many surprizing incidents that have taken place during the short period of your existence as a state, will furnish material for some able historian, to give the world an history, that shall be both entertaining and instructive. I conversed with men of genius, whose minds had been improved by a liberal education, and appeared to be well acquainted with the arts of state policy. But there was one thing that fell under my observation, which gave me some uneasiness, and which if not remedied in time, may prove fatal to those rights and liberties which you have purchased at so dear a rate. What I have reference to is the manner of electioneering.

The using of undue influence in matters of this kind, destroys that freedom of election, which ought to be held dear and sacred by a people who mean to secure their independence, and transmit the blessings of it to posterity.

And

This is an evil under which Great Britain groans to this day, who are compelled to submit to the domination of those elected to office by bribery and corruption, and afterwards taxed to pay the expence. though it sometimes happens that gentlemen of real worth are brought forward in this way, who honour their appointments, and are a blessing to society of which they are members: yet in how many instances are men promoted, who are altogether unqualified for the higher walks of government into which they are introduced, and steal into office through the mistake of mankind. Had they continued in the more obscure paths of life, they might have proved good citizens as well as useful members of society; but their being placed in a sphere for public action, the business of which they are unacquainted with, proves a real injury to themselves, and entirely frustrates the end of their appointment.

There are some who thrust themselves forward by the mere dint of a brazen front, and those low intriguing arts despised by men of sense and honesty, by which they intimidate some and allure others of the lower class; whereas if such designing men were only stripped of their property, and presented in their true light, [they] would soon sink into their original nothingness, and become objects of ridicule and contempt. But I shall remark no farther; to conclude with the words of the poet, In times of general agitation,

Some rise like scum in fermentation:

Who push and kick the world up

Side down to get themselves a-top:

And when they've gained their favourite point,

For want of strength can't move a joint.

As useless as a leaky cask,

Or like a furnace out of blast;

Who shortly must be laid aside,

Like horse, unfit to draw or ride.*

The emphasis on the word "furnace" clearly indicated that Matthew Lyon was the object of this censure. He was at that time running both a furnace, at Fairhaven, and the western district for Congress against Israel Smith and Isaac Tichenor.-See A. N. Adams's History of Fairhaven, p. 419. Moreover, he was publicly charged as an adept in two arts-"the art of making politics malleable, and the other the art of selling civil offices for proxies."-See Vermont Gazette of Oct. 17 1791.

* NOTE BY THE EDITOR.--These lines were adapted from Trumbull's Mc Fingal, Canto III: For in this ferment of the stream

The dregs have work'd up to the brim,

And by the rule of topsy-turvies,

The scum stands foaming on the surface, &c.