Chap. XIV.] AXD Religion. 223 



will, before I go home, perfonn a pilgrimage into this 

 State ! 



409. In Virginia, and the States where negro sla- 

 very exists, the slaves are reckoned amongst the popula- 

 tion in apportioning the seats in the General Congress. 

 So that, the slaves do not vote ; but, their oivners have 

 votes for them. This is what Davis Giddy, Wilber- 

 force, and the spawn of the Gi'een Room, call virtual 

 representation. Aiid this, to be sure, is what Sir 

 Fraxcis Burdett, in his speech at the Reading Din- 

 ner, meant by universal INT Jil RESTS ! From universal 

 suffrage, he CRme do\sn to general suffrage: this was 

 only noiiscnsc ; but, iwtocrsa/ INTERESTS is down- 

 right borough-mongering. Well may he despair of 

 doing Sinygood in the House of Commons ! " Universal 

 interests" is the Virginian plan ; and /« that state of 

 things, by no means unwise or unjust ; for, it is easier 

 to talk about freeing black slaves, then it is to do it. 

 The planters in the Southern States are not to blame 

 for having slaves, until some man will show how they 

 are to get rid of them. No one has yet discovered the 

 means. Virtual representation, or, in other words, 

 Universal interests, is as good a thing as any one can 

 devise for those States ; and, if Sir Francis will but 

 boldly declare, that the people of England must ne- 

 cessarily remain slaves, his joining of Davis Giddy 

 and Canning, will be very consistent. Let him black 

 the skins of the people of England, and honestly call 

 a part of them his property, and then he will not 

 add the meanest to the most dastardly apostacy. 



410. The right of suffrage in America is, however, 

 upon the whole, sufficient to guard the people against any 

 general and long-existing abuse of power ; for, let it be 

 borne in mind, that here the people elect all the persons, 

 who are to exercise power ; while, even if our Reform 

 were obtained, there would still be tivo branches out of 

 the three, over whom the people would have no direct 

 controul. Besides, in England, Ireland, and Scotland, 

 there is an established Church ; a richly endowed and 

 powerful hierarchy ; and this, which is really a. fourth 

 oranch of the governmeut, has nothing to resemble it 

 in America. So that, in this country, the whole of the 



