Sir, I can perceive by their manner that some gentlemen object to the latitude
of this description, because in the Southern Colonies the Church of England
forms a large body, and has a regular establishment. It is certainly true. There
is, however, a circumstance attending these Colonies which, in my opinion, fully
counterbalances this difference, and makes the spirit of liberty still more high
and haughty than in those to the northward. It is that in Virginia and the
Carolinas they have a vast multitude of slaves. Where this is the case in any
part of the world, those who are free are by far the most proud and jealous of
their freedom. Freedom is to them [Footnote: 25] not only an enjoyment, but a
kind of rank and privilege. Not seeing there, that freedom, as in countries
where it is a common blessing and as broad and general as the air, may be united
with much abject toil, with great misery, with all the exterior of servitude;
liberty looks, amongst them, like something that is more noble and liberal. I do
not mean, Sir, to commend the superior morality of this sentiment, which has at
least as much pride as virtue in it; but I cannot alter the nature of man.
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