"The vast majority of the people is unrepresented and must ever be represented. No Government of any form or frame can last without the existence of some irresponsible power in its structure, and if the House of Lords were rendered elective to-morrow, what is to check, what is to guard the people of England against the irresponsibility of the constituency and the Representatives of that constituency styled the House of Commons?. . . .But the Commons of England have exercised despotic power before this, and compared with their infamous tyranny {ed.--the Long/Rump Parliaments}the recollection of the rule of the stoutest tyrant that ever waved in this island a solitary sceptre is a dream of bliss. Let us not, in God's name, try them again; but if we are mad enough the Republic of jobbers will not last long. Some brawny arm will soon be extended to 'take away this bauble.' . . .Never let us forget that the House of Commons, when they had got rid of the House of Lords, voted 'trial by Jury' a breach of privilege; that they doubled the taxes of the country, and loaded it at the same time with enormous debts; that they divided the public money openly among themselves; bored men's tongues with red-hot irons who refused to answer their questions; and sequestered the property and imprisoned the persons of all whom they styled, or chose to consider, malignants." Benjamin Disraeli, Peers and People (1835)
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