WEST INDIES. 
CHAP. II.] 
*93 
general mass, must necessarily participate, with a 
tender interest, in every thing that concerns the 
people. 
Perhaps, instead of confirming to the colonists 
this liberal system of self-government, it was, or 
might have been contended on the part of the 
crown, that the permission of returning represen¬ 
tatives to the British parliament, was all that, on 
their own principles, they could pretend to claim ; 
and the examples of Durham and Chester might 
have been adduced in support of this argument. 
Those counties being counties palatine, had com¬ 
plained, that, “ for lack of knights and burgesses, 
they were touched and grieved with acts and sta¬ 
tutes made within the court of parliament ■” and 
they pleaded that all acts and statutes so made, 
ec were derogatory Unto their most ancient juris¬ 
dictions, liberties and privileges.” Their plea was 
allowed and parliamentary representation granted 
them. It is observable too, that Barbadoes and 
the Charaibean islands, as well as some provinces 
of North America, were at first created into coun¬ 
ties palatine, expressly after the model of Durham. 
But the king and parliament probably thought, 
what all who duly consider the subject must now 
think, that a parliamentary union with a kingdom 
three thousand miles distant, was impracticable to 
any good purpose. It is most certain that, the 
British parliament, from first to last, consented 
that the king should govern his subjects in Ame¬ 
rica (so far at least as related to their own interna! 
Vol. III. B b 
