But when this submission is urged to us, in a contest
between the representatives and ourselves, and where nothing can be
put into their scale which is not taken from ours, they fancy us to
be children when they tell us they are our representatives, our own
flesh and blood, and that all the stripes they give us are for our
good. The very desire of that body to have such a trust contrary to
law reposed in them, shows that they are not worthy of it. They
certainly will abuse it; because all men possessed of an
uncontrolled discretionary power leading to the aggrandisement and
profit of their own body have always abused it: and I see no
particular sanctity in our times, that is at all likely, by a
miraculous operation, to overrule the course of nature.
But we must purposely shut our eyes, if we consider this matter
merely as a contest between the House of Commons and the Electors.
The true contest is between the Electors of the Kingdom and the
Crown; the Crown acting by an instrumental House of Commons. It is
precisely the same, whether the Ministers of the Crown can
disqualify by a dependent House of Commons, or by a dependent court
of STAR CHAMBER, or by a dependent court of King's Bench.
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