The Woodstock age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1844-1845, 1844-10-24
POLITICAL.
GOVERNORS MESSAGE.

w i-it4NIiS y ICDAoI..
Fellow Citizens Of the Senate and HOus
Of Representatives:
We are assembled in the character O
Representatives of the people, to consul
upon their interests, and to execute thei
will, 1t becomes, us on entering upon
our duties, first of all to carry our minds
up to the author of our being; to acknowl
edge Him as the rightiul source of ouI
authority, and to make His will the mea
sure and the motive of our duty. If, ii
all our ways, we should acknowledge
Him, we should especially do so, upon
becoming invested with powers, whose
appropriate exercise requires, emincntly
the wisdom that comes from above. Oul
responsibility is, Immediately, to the peo.
pie whose servants we arc, but, Ultimate
ly, to Him who will judge both the pco-
pie and us,
We come together under circumstan-
ccs of peculiar favor. The season has
been crowned with blessings. Our fields
have yielded an abundant harvest, and
our people have been exempted from
wasting disease. Labor has been protec-
ted and rewarded; and peace reigns with
in our borders. We arc blessed with
the steady and impartial administration
of Justice, and continue to enjoy the in
valuable privilege of selecting, by our
free sulfragcs, those who shall make and
execute our laws.
Among the first duties you will be call
on to perform, is that Of selecting men
to fill the judicial and executive Offices Of
the government, which the constitution
has wisely committed to your hands,
From among such people as this, there
can be no difficulty in selecting men Of
upright minds, of pure morals, Of tried in
tegrity and of sound intelligence, to fill
the various Offices within Your gift The
power of office, and the power Of person
al example and influence, can never be
separated; and he bears the sword ofjus-
tcc in vain, who countcracts by the one,
what he cndcavor to enforce by the 9TH
er.
But your principal labor lies in the
broad field of legislation. We are selec-
ted and sent here from among the people;
with whose wishes and interests we ought
to be thoroughly acquainted, and whose
welfare should be the end and aim of
our legislation. The government which,
by their suflragcs, has been committed
to us, is their govcrnmont-"institutcd,
in the language of our bill of rights, "ior
the common benefit, protection and sccu-
rity of the people, and not for the panIc-
ular emolumcnt or advantage of any SIN
gle man, family, or set Of men" The
highest good of the people, and of all the
people therefore, it is our great business
to secure.
The establishment of justice, in the
perfect protection of rights, is the prima
ry end of government, and, in its broad
and comprehensive bearings, embraces
a very large portion Of all appropriate
legislation. But there is field beyond
his. The bcnefccnt action of govern
nent may, and ought TO be felt in the
promotion CT virtue, in the suppression of
vice, in the diffusion of intelligence, in
he development Of mind, in the cncour-
,gcment of industry, and in the drawing
forth from the earth, which God has Civ
en- for our temporary habitation, its teom-
ng riches, to make them subservient to
he purposes Of their gifts, in the wisdom
and goodness Of their great Author. In
short, i, is the duty of government to
perfect by wise, discreet and timely ac-
-lon the great purposes Of the social or
ganlzation.
In surveying the field of our duties,
here would seem to be no subject claim
ng higher attention than that of Educa-
ton. This subject has been repeatedly
brought to the notice of the Legislature
by my predecessors, and several lcgisla-
tive reports have been made upon it,
The result of report made in the year
1871, was, the appointment by the Gov
crnor, of a committee who presented to
he legislature, at the following session,
an elaborate, and able report, containing
facts and suggestions of great Importance.
commend that report to your consider
alton.
Improvement is the great law of our
individual and social existence. The
means of it are furnished, in a greater
or less degree, to all; and all, whether
or communities, are accounta
BILE for the right Improvement of them
This accountability rests, with peculiar
weight upon us, in connexion with the
subject Of fundamentally connected,
as it is, not only with our individual well
being, but with the preservation and per-
petuity of the institution we are permit
ted to enjoy, and required TO transmit to
our children. These institutions will, in
evitably, take the character of the peo-
pie, whatever that character may be-
The best constitutions of government can
interpose but feeble barrier to the cor
ruping influences of ignorance and NOR
al debasement. Their beautiful and SOL
id structures will sink and crumble, when
they shall cease to rest on the iOunda- |
tons of public and private virtue and uni
versal intelligence.
This obvious truth is full of instruction
70 fhocn ,non ,yho,n rortu tho rocnouui- /