AND RELIGION 



honest men, who, when they &quot; promise to pay,&quot; mean to pay, and 

 do pay when called upon. &quot; Bribery &quot; is very properly set at the \ 

 head of the disqualifications ; but, what a nest of villains it would ; 

 exclude in England ! White men are mentioned, but, another ( 

 clause, admits all the Blacks now free, though it shuts out future 

 comers of that colour, or of the yellow hue ; which is jprfectjy_ 

 JUSlJ, foj, Connecticut is not to be the receptacle oTthose, whom 

 .other States may cKbose to release&quot; from slavery, seeing that she 

 has now no slaves of her own. 



408. Thus, then, this new Constitution ; a constitution formed 

 by the steadiest community in the whole world ; a constitution 

 dictated by the most ample experience, gives to the people, as to the 

 three branches of the government (the Governor, Senate, and 

 Representatives} precisely what we reformers in England ask as to 

 only one branch out of the three. Whoever has a freehold worth 

 a guinea and a half a year, though he pay no tax, and though he 

 be not enrolled in the militia, has a vote. Whoever pays a tax, 

 though he be not enrolled in the militia, and have no freehold, 

 has a vote. Whoever is enrolled in the militia, though he have 

 no freehold and pay no tax, has &amp;gt;a &quot; vote... ASp that nothing but 

 beggars, paupers, and criminals/ean easily be excluded ; and, you 

 will observe, if you please, Messieurs Boroughmongers, that the 

 State taxes are all direct, and so contemptible in amount, as not 

 to be, all taken together, enough to satisfy the maw of a single 

 sinecure place-man in England ; and that the Electors choose, 

 and annually too, King, Lords, and Commons. Now, mind, this 

 change has been deliberately made by the most deliberate people 

 that ever lived on the earth. New England is called, and truly, 

 &quot; the Land of Steady Habits &quot; ; but, a Connecticut man is said 

 to be a &quot; full-blooded Yankey,&quot; and Yankey means New Englander. 

 So that, here are the steadiest of the steady adopting, after all their 

 usual deliberation and precaution, in a time of profound tran 

 quillity, and without any party spirit or delusion, the plan of us 

 * wild and mad &quot; Reformers of Old England. Please God, I will, 

 before I go home, perform a pilgrimage into this State ! 



409. In Virginia, and the States where negro slavery exists, the 

 slaves are reckoned amongst the population in apportioning the seats 

 in the General Congress. So that, the slaves do not vote ; but, 

 their owners have votes for the~n* This is what Davis Giddy, 

 Wilberforce, and the Spawn of the Green Room, call virtual 

 representation. And this, to be sure, is what Sir FRANCIS 

 BURDETT, in his speech at the Reading Dinner, meant by universal 

 INTERESTS ! From universal suffrage, he came down to 

 general suffrage ; this was only nonsense : but, universal IN 

 TERESTS is downright borough-mongering. Well may he 

 despair of doing any good in the House of Commons ! &quot; Universal 

 interests &quot; is the Virginian plan ; and, in 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 



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