Portland Gazette, And Maine Advertiser

By the Mails.

Vermont Elected.

On Thursday the 21st inst. the Honorable MARTIN CHITTENDEN was, by the Council and House of Representatives in joint ballot elected Governor and the Hon. WILLIAM CHAMBERLAIN Lieutenant Governor, of the State of Vermont, the majority being one. On the Saturday following his Excellency met the two branches in the House of Representatives, and after taking the oaths of office delivered his Speech; in which on the interesting subject of the respective claims of the State and General Governments to the services of the Militia--the right to freedom of speech, so much questioned since the declaration of war--and the conquest of Canada--he expresses the following sentiments:--

"The importance of the subject of the MILITIA will not fail to claim your deliberate consideration. I have always considered this force peculiarly adapted and exclusively assigned for the service and protection of the respective States. Excepting in cases provided for by the National Constitution, (viz.) to execute the laws of the Union--suppress insurrections, and repel invasions--it never could have been contemplated by the wise framers of our excellent Constitution, who it appears, in the most cautious manner, guarded the sovereignty of the respective States, or by the States which adopted it, that the whole body of the militia were, by any kind of magic, at once to be transferred into a regular army, for the purpose of foreign conquests. And it is deeply to be regretted, that a construction should have been given to the constitution so peculiarly burthensome and oppressive to that class of our fellow citizens."

"The known spirit and patriotism of the militia forbid the supposition, that they will not cheerfully perform their duty, when it shall be clearly defined, and their rights permanently secured; and nothing is now wanting, but proper regulations & suitable encouragement, to render them an efficient force for all the purposes contemplated by the national and State Constitutions."

"The national constitution very justly enjoins due obedience to all the laws & regulations which are made in conformity to it: but the same charters of our political rights insures us the FREEDOM OF SPEECH--a right never to be resigned, while a single vestige of civil liberty remains. It therefore, is our unquestionable right, and at periods like the present, it may be considered our duty, not only to reflect on the state of our public affairs, but with a manly and temperate frankness, becoming freemen, to express our sentiments respecting them, and in the exercise of all fair and constitutional means, endeavor to produce such a state of things, as will promote a just secure, and honorable peace, and avert the evils which we feel, and the much greater, which we have reason to expect. Being involved in a war with one of the most powerful nations of Europe, and exposed to the toils and intrigues of another still more dangerous--a war, which would require the united wisdom and energy of the nation to sustain, declared under circumstances which forcibly induced a great proportion of the people to consider it, at least doubtful, as to its necessity, expediency, and justice; and in continuance has become still more so, since the removal of the Orders in Council, the principal alledged cause of it."

"The CONQUEST OF CANADA, of which so much has been said, if desirable under any circumstances, must be considered a poor compensation for the sacrifices, which are, and must be necessarily made."