་

viction; nor to be ashamed of owning a change of sentiment, if that change is wrought by irresistible evidence: hear both sides of every question, condemn no one unheard; be merciful as you hope for mercy; evil is not in store for those who act from fearless conviction; shun hypocrisy; court the candour, the the liberality, which listen freely to all, and prejudge none.

"Ah,' said she archly, 'but the sheepskins! I can't get over my aversion to them,' -Why,' said I, you would be beautiful and enchanting in sheep or goat-skins; and if it was the fashion to wear the wool outwards, you would be very lamb-like at any rate, which is a quality not possessed in general perfection, by some who play at lambkins: but I tell you seriously, we are not come to that pass, nor is there any necessity that we should. Clothing, comfortable, elegant, may be prepared, without systematic slavery. And so may habitations be constructed warm and neat, affording room for hospitable welcome and urbanity of manner, without the aid of scaffolding sixty feet high, and labourers shewing their agility up and down ladders proportionable, for twelve hours at a stretch, carrying burthens as pack-horses. And social order may be preserved, constitutional laws framed

and enforced by representatives of the people at large, who must govern each other by deputed trustees, without a vile oligarchy, who mock them every day."

Here we parted in perfect good humour.

LETTER XXX.

"You may," continued he, "call me an alarmist, or what you please, but I am convinced a crisis is at hand, which prudence, not brute force, can avert. Universal Suffrage, the right in every freeman, of a certain age, to have a voice in the election of his Rulers, must be recognised at last: no shifting party-evasion and temporizing, will much longer avail. Such a Representation of Freemen, must and would legislate on principles of absolute freedom of avowal, as to opinion on matters of religious belief and worship. One of our political circles propose to extend Elective Franchise to all householders, to those who are in immediate Taxation: good. But I cannot, for the soul of me help thinking, that it makes no real difference whether a man contributes to the exigencies of the State immediately, by actual tribute, or does so more remotely, by performing a due portion of labour of some sort, which in every society governed by right, he is bound to give, bodily and mental health permitting. He is as much a member of the

Commonwealth in one case, as in the other; and in both has an equal right to be instrumental in choosing his Representatives. For if he has not, by reason of non-payment of actual tribute, he is punished in 'Duplicate,' after the manner of paupers before remarked. The old plea on the other side, 'that his ignorance will lay him open to the wiles of party, who will twist him as they please,' will not do at this day, or soon; though in days of yore it most certainly had much weight; because, I repeat for the thousandth time, and will repeat it ten thousand more, that same ignorance is giving place to information, as sterility to culture. A chamber of deputies, returned by the whole adult community, would of course speedily enact perfect freedom of discussion on theological points, as conducive to the best interests of truth.

"When a young man is asked why he 'does not marry,' ninety-nine times in a hundred he replies, "not that he does not love, or is unwilling to enter the state from disappointed affection, but that he cannot afford to maintain a wife, and meet the encreased expense attending a household.' This answer implies about three general meanings, according to the relative position of the speaker. If he is what is called a 'man of rank and

fashion,' affluent; it means that he cannot pick up a yoke-fellow who will play the fool, handin-hand with him, in every possible shape, such as equipage, useless slaves, and animals of the doubtful gender, two-legged and fourlegged; gormandizing, marmouseting; and perhaps having played the game out, (losers of course from not reserving trumps), make an exit, the Lord knows where and how. If he is in the middle station of life, a tradesman or artificer, the answer implies, that he is not yet a master-man; or if he aspires no higher than to remain a subordinate workman, either that there is not a sufficient call for his labour to keep him in employ, or that if there is such demand, his wages as a hireling are inadequate to support a family. And, lastly, if he is a pauper, at the bottom of the roll-call, it is as much as to say, 'I have not so much of a house to cover me, as the hollow tree is to the squirrel.' A very pretty system this, upon my word! there must be wrong somewhere, for Nature has made nothing in vain, and we are intended to love each other is she wrong, or are we who place bars to her emotions in our hearts? Here we see the inlets to fornication and adultery; if society were ameliorated as it might be, and brought back to Reason and Nature, we should not hear such replies