Chap. 6. 



LEGISLATIVE PROCEEDINGS. 



93 



STATE PRISON ESTAELISHED. 



GREAT FRESHET. 



In October, 1S07, tlie legislature met at 

 Woodstock, and, on counting the votes, 

 Israel Smith, the republican candidate, 

 was found to be elected governor in oppo- 

 sition to Mr. Tichenor. In liis speech, 

 the governor confined his remarks to the 

 internal affairs of the state, and particu- 

 larly suggested such alterations in the 

 criminal jurisprudence of tlie state, as to 

 substitute confinement to hard labor in 

 the place of corporal punishment. In 

 conformity to these suggestions, an act 

 was passed during the session establish- 

 ing a state penitentiary at Windsor, and 

 making the necessary appropriations for 

 carrying it into etfect. 



The legislature assembled for the first 

 time at Montpelier, the established capi- 

 tal of the state, in October, lyOri. Mr. 

 Tichenor was elected governor, in oppo- 

 sition to Mr. Smith, who had held tlie 

 office the preceding year. In his speech, 

 he expressed a decided disapprobation of 

 the leading measures of Mr. Jeflerson's 

 administration. The republicans having 

 a majority in the assembly, returned an 

 answer, in which they expressed tlie full- 

 est confidence in the president, and a 

 hearty approval of his measures. No sub- 

 ject of uncommon interest was brought 

 forward at this session, and the ordinary 

 business was disposed of in the usual 

 manner. 



In 1809, the republican party succeeded 

 in electing Jonas Galuslia governor, in 

 opposition to Mr. Tichenor, who had filled 

 tliat oflice with fidelity for eleven years. 

 The governor's speech, and the reply to 

 it by tile assembly, were expressive of the 

 political opinions entertained by the re- 

 publican party generally throughout the 

 union. At this session, an address was 

 adopted, congratulating James Madison 

 upon his elevation to the presidency. A 

 proposed amendment to the federal con- 

 stitution, from Virginia, also came before 

 the assembly, the object of which was to 

 enable state legislatures to remove their 

 senators in Congress from office, when 

 they should deem it expedient. The 

 amendment was, however, rejected by a 

 majority of the house. 



In ISIO, Mr. Galusha was re-elected 

 governor of the state, and the republican 

 party had a decided majority in the gen- 

 eral assembly. Though the spirit of party 

 was running high, the governor's speech 

 and the answer to it were in a concilia- 

 tory tone, and tiie usual business of the 

 session was transacted with due regard to 

 the public good. An act was passed, mak- 

 ing tlie bills of the Vermont state bank a 

 lawful tender in payment of all land taxes 

 granted at that session of the legislature. 



Israel Smith, the fourth governor of 

 Vermont, died this year, at Rutland. He 

 settled in this state at an early period, in 

 the practice of law, and soon rose to emi- 

 nence in his profession. In 17IJ7, he was 

 elected chief justice of the supreme court 

 of Vermont ; in 1801, was chosen repre- 

 sentative in Congress ; in 18t)3, senator 

 in Congress, and in 1807 governor of the 

 state. He was a man of the purest mor- 

 als, the strictest integrity, and filled all 

 the stations he occupied honorably to 

 himself, and usefully to the public. 



The year 1811 was distinguished by 

 one of the most remarkable freshets known 

 in Vermont. It occurred on the 22d of 

 July. Dark clouds came over from the 

 south-west, and the rain soon be^an to 

 descend in such torrents that every rill 

 was swelled into the magnitude of a river, 

 and foaming cataracts were formed where 

 ordinarily no water was to be seen. The 

 deluge of water rushed onward with such 

 impetuosity that hardly any thing could 

 withstand its force. The heaviest part of 

 the storm descended upon the counties of 

 Rutland and Windsor, in which counties 

 probably two-thirds of the mills and 

 bridges were swept away, and immense 

 other damage done by the destruction of 

 buildings, fences, crops, &c. The effects 

 of that freshet are visible at this time, af- 

 ter a lapse of 30 years.* 



Jonas Galusha, who was again elected 

 governor, opened his speech to the legis- 

 lature by the following candid remark: 

 "When we realize the greatness of the 

 trust re|)osed in us by so many thousands 

 of our fellow citizens, to direct, as their 

 faithful representatives, the affairs of the 

 state, in which the happiness of each in- 

 dividual claims equal regard, and the 

 rights of all claim the same protection and 

 support, we shall feel it our indispensable 

 duty to lay aside all party prejudices, and 

 suffer ourselves to be actuated by no oth- 

 er motives than those which coincide with 

 individual justice, and the greatest gen- 

 eral good." The same sentiment was 

 reciprocated in the beginning of the an- 

 swer to the speech, but was lost sight of 

 in the subsequent part, and a liberaTsliare 

 of obloquy cast upon the federalists. This 

 year another proposal for amending tlie 

 constitution of the United States came 

 before the assembly. This amendment 



* The author well rpnicmbers this storm, and lie 

 well rccdilects its olTect upon a .^niull brook which 

 ran near liis father's lumse, in IJridgewater in the 

 county of Windsor. This stream, which would or- 

 dinarily run throiioh an orifice 3 inches in diameter, 

 was so much swollen as to hi; from one to two rods 

 wide ; and, along the middle of the channel, from 4 

 to .5 feet deep, running at the same time with greul 

 rapidity. 



