James Burgh, Political Disquisitions, I.2.6

Burgh (1714-1775), a British Whig and schoolmaster, was involved in reform movements in the mid-18th Century in England. His point in this passage is simply that members of the British House of Commons no longer take seriously their duty to represent their respective groups of constituents. The power of the representative derives from his having been selected by his constituents and in former times members took this seriously by reflecting their constituents' views and consulting with them before making decisions. But by Burgh's time, they think themselves entitled to be members for life, their elections are infrequent and corrupted by bribery and power-broking, they take themselves to be dictators, and they feel themselves national leaders, rather than representatives of small areas. Burgh laments that the danger of power without responsibility is a perennial lesson which must be learned over and over again by the people. In this deplorably corrupted state of affairs, Burgh sarcastically remarks, "And yet we are a free people."