The supporters of the stamp act insisted much upon the colonies being _virtually_ represented, and mentioned _Leeds_, _Halifax_, _Birmingham_, _Manchester_, &c. as enjoying a _virtual representation_. Whoever had a recourse to a _virtual representation_ of the colonies, in vindication of the parliament’s taxing them, therein acknowledged, that there ought not to be taxation without representation. But the difference between _Leeds_, _Halifax_, &c. and the _American_ colonies, is as wide as the _Atlantic_. The landholders of those towns enjoy a real representation, if their freeholds yield a certain annual income. Many of the inhabitants have a choice in the election of members, in one place or another. The general interests of the freeholders and tenants, electors and non-electors, are so interwoven, that all are liable to be equally affected by the same common taxes. The one pays the same duty on his sugar, tea, coffee, and chocolate, as the other. The relative connection between them, produces what may be called, with a kind of propriety, a _virtual representation_; answering, though in a lower degree, to what the family of a freeholder or freeman enjoys. But was all the soil in the British colonies a man’s freehold, it would not give him a single vote for any one member of parliament. There is not an individual in them, who, should he cross the Atlantic, would have a right to vote in any election, by virtue of any privileges enjoyed in America. He must be a freeholder of Britain, or a freeman of some British city, borough, or corporation, and have a British qualification, before he can elect or be elected. The interests of _America_ and _Britain_ are not interwoven, as are those of British electors and non-electors. If the British parliament impose taxes on the Americans, Britons do not bear with them their part and proportion in the said taxes. The former are burdened that the latter may be eased. The monies raised have the nature of a tribute exacted from a conquered people in a slavish dependence, and not of a tax voluntarily granted by the voice of freemen, through their own elected representatives, paying scot and lot with themselves, for the support of government. Beside, the British parliament are so far removed from America, that they cannot obtain that full information respecting the colonies which ought always to accompany the exercise of a taxing power.