Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1842-10-21
GOVERNORS MESSAGE,
FeHow Citizens Of the Senate and
TouSe of REPRESENTATIVES:


YOU in these halls Of legislation, TO deliberate
upon the welfare of the people of this state
and to make such provisions for their i'm
provement as your wisdom may devise
Since we were last assembled here, oui
whole country has been in the enjoyment o
all the blessings which bountilul Providence
could bestow, and the year has been dIstln
Guished by several events which can hardly
fail to add to the general prosperity and hap
piness
In a spirit of mutual concession and for
bearance, the Governments OF the United
States and Great Britain have, by treaty,
succeeded in removing those causes OF dis
cord and luminosity between the two coun-
tries, which had become SO alarming, and IN
LAYING the foundation for a wise and, trust,
a lasting peace. The negotiation OF this
treaty, conducted, as it has been with view
to the good of man rather than for the
qualification of his passions, is an honor TO
the aye and to the nations engaged in it.
The great interests of our beloved coun-
try have also been rescued from the destruc-
ton which seemed impending over them, by
the wise and magnanimous efforts OF Con-
gress to secure Tariff of duties adequate to
protect them. When we look back upon
the strife of elements, from which have pro-
ceeded the blessings of peace and protection
to domestic industry, the two greatest in
terests, perhaps, which it is the duty Of the
national government to guard we find album
dant cause for gratitude towards the Dispos-
err Of the hearts of men.
We have now every reason to hope that
the prosperity of the country will begin again
to revive; nor can we be in immediate dan
ger of repeating those experiments upon it,
the fruits Of which have already been so Bit
ter Experience, SO dearly purchased, can
not have failed to teach us wisdom and pru-
dence for the future. The trials Of ADVERSE
ty, and especially those which are sei-inflict-
ed, have their uses for nations not less than
for individuals We have only to look back
upon what we have suffered, and upon what
we might have enjoyed, to learn the extent
of our blindness and folly.
But we should greatly err, in our review
of the past, were we to impnte all the blame
to our rulers. 1t was ourselves, individually,
who were first at fault We had become
too nsensibe of the incstimabe advantages
Of self government and of the unceasing
watchfulness and activity which such govern
ment always demands of those who would
enjoy it. We have perhaps yet TO learn how
eminently, above all other nations, we are
blessed in our form Of government but we
certainly ought to have discovered, by this
time that, whether we are well or i'll gov
erned, must depend wholly on ourselves. If
we have intelligence, activity, and energy
enough to place and keep in power honest
and able rulers, political seli-government is
undoubtedly tho hest form Of which we have
any knowledge but il we have not these
qualities, it is probably the worst. Self
government arms us, for our protection, with
the right of suffrage and with the power of
enIightening and improving our fellow-men
These have been given us, not to be thrown
aside, or neglected at our pleasure, but to be
preserved and cherished, as the choicest
rights of freemen, and to be diligently and
perseveringly used on all occasions. The
destinies of our beloved country are, in
some degree, in the hands of each one of us,
and not only the destinies Of our own coun-
try. but those of the human race On our
shores liberty has unfurled her Standard
If she find sons here worthy to bear it, it will
not only continue to wave over our own
heads, but it will stand as a signal to other
nations. Let us not then be unmindfu OF
our high responsibilities but let us place
our duties to our country and her institutions
next after those to religion and our Maker.
In looking back upon the events of the
past year, we find reason to be grateful not
only that we have escaped the dangers of a
foreign, but the horrors of civil war. In
credible as it may appear, in an age and
Ill lNs.s Fan l..
elapsed, since, almost in our own neighbor.
hood, sons have been armed against fathers
and brothers against brothers, and trains oil
artillery have been pointed with deadly in.
tent, while accident alone has prevented the
lighting of the match which might have
deluged our whole country in blood. | shud
der to think that the spirit of party has, sc
soon, and with so little cause, involved us in
scene like this. The danger we have but
Just escaped is the greatest and most appal-
ling with which we have been threatened
since we became nation. 1t was neither
imaginary, nor uncertain in magnitude. II
attempted to conceal the odious features o.
rebellion, and assume the more attractive
form of jnstlfiable revolution. In this dis
guise it appeared to, and enlisted the sympa
thies of those, who had originally no con
Germ with it, and it was then, and not before
that it became the cause Of general and wei
grounded alarm. However we may be di
yided by state lines, when internal or exter
nal wars are threatened, we are but one PEG
pie. Whatever may be the cause of rebel
lion, or revolution, in single state, its con
sequences can never be confined within ii
own limits. They will extend Throughout
the land, and envolve, eventually, ever,
member of the conicderacy. The flames
of civil war are not likely to be lighted W
by rebellion against the general government
That has been armed with nnwers which ar,