Permit the General Assembly of the State of Vermont, to avail themselves of the opportunity presented by their annual meeting, to express to you the satisfaction they derive, from the encreasing prosperity of our common Country.

Remote as we are placed from the seat of Government, we have observed, with anxious and continual solicitude, the measures adopted by the public functionaries, to secure and promote the interests of the Union. We have seen the diminution of taxes, the extension of territory; the encrease of population, the due regulation of the Judicial and Military systems, the security of Peace abroad, and at home; with sentiments of sincere approbation. We learn that in these sentiments, our sister states have almost unanimously coincided, and that, despising the struggles of faction, and the whispers of slander, the public opinion has ripened, from the first grade of favourable expectation, into bold and general applause. The eminent degree in which you have contributed, by the patriotic discharge of your official duties, to call forth these sentiments, has not escaped us. Adulation is the language of slaves, but a just, a free and Independent People, who have escaped the attempted subversion of their liberties, will never hessitate to anticipate the voice of history and posterity, when gratitude demands it. We will not, Sir, conceal our regret arising from rumors which have reached us, calculated to excite the belief that it is your wish to withdraw from the public service, at the close of the period for which you was last elected Chief Magistrate of the Union. We venture to hope that the insinuation is unauthorised, and to express a wish that, in the full possession of faculty and talent, you will not refuse the Citizens the benefits arising from long political experience, and deprive them of the full opportunity of exercising their choice and judgment, in selecting their President from the whole number of the People.

In pursuing and completing the measures so happily begun, in encouraging the Industry, and protecting the rights of the Citizen, in promoting the happiness of the people, and supporting the dignity of the Government, We, with confidence, assure you of our most cordial support. And, relying on that Divine Being, who holds in his hand the destiny of Empires, we trust we shall be so directed as to long exist a peaceful, a prosperous, and happy Nation.