The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-10-14

tDe StalWart ana magnlnclent form ana
presence of Mr.. Spencer of Castleton--a
man of broad, generous views, a very clear,
strong and able debater There was the
graceful, elegant, scholarly and accom-
plished Merrill of Montpelier, who always
spoke well and to the point. There was
the genial, gifted, benefcent Bradley of
Brattleboro, always full of wit and humor,
and always, when he chose to be, eloquent.
| might go through the list and enumerate
many others. There was my facetious friend
here from Barnard, and ! well remember
the first impression he made upon me. 1t
was when the House had under consdera-
ton the election of a haplain-whether we
should take the regular clergy and let them
rotate, or whether we should elect chap
lain. There was considerable discussion
and delay / recolect that Brother Cheney
arose-and it was his first appearance in
that house, ! think, that he said Mr..
! Speaker Every eye was turned to him.
He said: What various hindrances we
meet in coming to the mercy-seat' And
he sat down. One other anecdote of the
same man. 1t was when we had the famous
debate on the question of the location of
the Capital. There had been considerable
debate about the salubrity of the respective
! towns. Mr.. Cheney urged for the Capital
the claims of the town of Barnard. He
said, appropos of that point that it was un-
doubtedly the healthiest town on the planet.
| He said they only encountered one obstacle
! in the complete organization of their town
they could not find anybody to start Gem
etery or graveyard, for nobody died there.
He said before they could start that usual
and necessary institution they were obliged
to negotiate with the overseer of the poor in
an adjoining town to let them have the
corpse of a pauper to start the cemetery.
In illustration of the same idea, he said
there was limited number of legal voters
in the town eligible to represent it in the
assembly, think it was, perhaps, seventy
five. He said the rule was to let them ro-
tate, and he had entered into computation
to see when his next term would come. He
said it would be one hundred fifty years.
which would bring him to the Capital again
as representative in the year nineteen
hundred and something. | need not assure
my friends that those were the palmy days
of the General Assembly of the State of
Vermont. do not mean to intimate that
the times have degenerated; they never do
and have not. But have told you enough
to show that in those days there were elo-
quence and humor and wit and fun-but, in
the main, honesty-in that Legislature.
THE FIREWORKS.
AT the conclusion of Governor Stewart $
remarks. the meeting adj journed to 90 to the
pyrotechnical display on the hill near the
school grounds. The display of fireworks was
very fine and needed to be seen to be appreci-
ated. The most notable features were two
devices-one bearing the notices, in fiery
letters, "Nermont," and underneath that,
FOTeNtT, IIe OtlltT cOnSlSItu Ol UlOt-
els of the Puritan and Genesta at the
finish, said to be perfect fire-pictures of the
two yachts. The largest crowd assembled
was that which witnessed the fireworks, the
Central Vermont and Montpelier & Wells
River railroads running special trains for
that purpose, returning after the display.
This was a satisfactory and enjoyable close
of the exercises of the day.
MUSIC BY THE BANDS.
+l,, 81
with clear bracng ara typical October
day. The two bands rendered selections OF
music in front of the Capitol at ten o'clock
Soon after that hour the main body of the
people thronged again in the direction of the
hall of the Golden Fleece and before eleven
o'clock a good-sized audience were seated.
They manifested some Impotence at the de-
lay in waiting for
MIR. MARTINS ADDRESS.
Judge Thompson announced that the
ex-speaker was unable to read the paper
through, but would commence it. Mr.. Mar
tin did begin it, but it was evident he had a
bad cold, and Clerk Stickney finished it
The great length of the address has com
PEELED us to make an abstract-chietly of such
portions as relate to the territorial contro-
verses and other earlier matters-but il
doing this we have endeavored to omit no
important fact or statement
Gentlemen Of the General assembly ofe State Of Yer
BY contrasting the legislature of to-day with tn,
little germ of power vested in the pioneers, by tow
wonder and admration-the change is as grand as il
is marvellous. This germ has had aconstant growth
and provincial grants, by which the inhabtant
thereof were vested with the right of municipal
sef-government. These charters gave them the
right to elect town officers agents and committees
rests he aad S ate
our system of town representation really had IT.
legislature was created by the charter Of III bu
that constitution emerged from the general con
the outgrowth of Committees of Safety, who wer,
appointed by the several towns, pursuant as the!
tiers for the regulation of their local affairs
may we'll be divided into three distinct periods
First, Committees of Safety and General Gonyen
governor, Council and an Assembly of the Repre-
sentatves of the Freemen; third Governor, Lieu
J The limited time that / feel at liberty to take il
this address shall devote chiefly to the first tw
periods. The history of the third period, being GU
present system of state government quite familia
The first period involves the earliest history of tn
state, and is full of interest For more than on
hundred years after the English had made perma
} nsnt settlements in Virginia, New Hampshire am
, ony in Canada and explored our western borders
was the scene of Indian havoc ana t srne
be learned of the unwritten history Of Vermont, !
but but it was the fronter of several powerful tribe
who We're constantly at warIeach seeking TN
braced in this territory
During this time the English and Dutch were activ
= in founding colonies both south and east, as wer
the French on the north. Vermont being a trontle
made therein until l72i, when fertilization of wa
erected in Brattleboro, by the colonial govern
ment of Massachusetts, to protect the inhabitant
I below in the Connecticut Valley, ana named II
: honor of its governor, " Drummer" .
Law had no terrors then, for i'll fact there was III
: law the protection of every home depended upo
the watchfulness, courage and endurance OF ITS II
mates. Prior to l74l, forty townships between tn
Merrimac and Connecticut rivers were granted b
the general court of Massachusetts, but there Is II
evidence that more than one or two were settle
= under these grants.
: on the 3D. of July la the King commissioned t
= Governor Bennng Wentworth the Province of Ne'
p Hampshire and described its southern boundary "A
the north line of Massachusetts Bay, and extent
ing westward till IL meets with our other govern
= | ments." BY this Governor Wentworth claimed tn
| whole territory of Vermont, and from l1i9 to 1T
- granted one hundred thirty-siX townships therein
, subsequently known rs the New Hampshire Grant,
Z Settlements We're sparsely made on both sides q
4 the Green Mountains, and their progress was sloN
n until after the close of the war between the frenc
and English The population of Vermont at thi
s time did not exceed three hundred souls; but afte
V the war her settlements rapidly increased ON tn
:, | New Hampshire Grants.
by charter from King Charles III. to his brother
the Duke of York, in 1914, granting all the land
N from the west side of the Connecticut river to IN
y York claimed jurisdiction of the west bank of IN
Connecticut river; and Massachusetts claimed
portion of the territory covered by the New Hanil
h shire Grants.
+ thrown into confusion by the doubtful, ambiguou
and equivocal expressions contained in the charte
to the Duke of York and the former charters. The
IL knew not which provincial government had IN
therefore, thrown upon their resources. Thu
y began the first period of the law making power q