It is a vestment, which accommodates
itself to the body. Nor is prescription of government formed upon
blind, unmeaning prejudices--for man is a most unwise, and a most
wise being. The individual is foolish. The multitude, for the
moment, are foolish, when they act without deliberation; but the
species is wise, and when time is given to it, as a species it
almost always acts right.
The reason for the Crown as it is, for the Lords as they are, is my
reason for the Commons as they are, the electors as they are. Now,
if the Crown and the Lords, and the judicatures, are all
prescriptive, so is the House of Commons of the very same origin,
and of no other. We and our electors have powers and privileges
both made and circumscribed by prescription, as much to the full as
the other parts; and as such we have always claimed them, and on no
other title. The House of Commons is a legislative body corporate
by prescription, not made upon any given theory, but existing
prescriptively--just like the rest. This prescription has made it
essentially what it is--an aggregate collection of three parts--
knights, citizens, burgesses.
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