394 GOVERNMENT, LAWS, [PART II, 



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 them. 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 uni 

 versal suffrage, he came down to general suffrage : 

 this was only nonsense; but, universal INTE 

 RESTS is downright borough-mongering. Well 

 may he despair of doing any good in the House 

 of Commons ! - " Universal interests' is the Vir 

 ginian 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 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 repre 

 sentation, 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 

 necessarily remain slaves, his joining of Davis 

 Giddy and Canning, will be very consistent. 

 Let him black the skins of the people of Eng- 



