Hence  freedom  of  speech,  freedom  of  the  press,  freedom  to
assemble  peacefully  for  the  consideration  and  emphatic  state-
ment of  political  grievances,  are,  in  the  view  of  Englishmen,
an  essential  part  of  the  "  free  institutions  "  on  which  they
pride  themselves ;  but  it  has  never  been  felt  to  be  necessary
that  these  or  any  other  rights  of  individual  citizens  should
be  protected  against  the  ordinary  legislature  by  any  consti-
tutional rules  having  legal  force.  It  is  held  that  they  wiU
be  sufficiently  protected  by  public  opinion  and  the  represent-
ative character  of  the  legislature.
Accordingly,  before  considering  the  expediency  of  any
further  restraints  on  the  ordinary  legislature,  beyond  what
the  representative  system  provides,  it  seems  desirable  to
ascertain  the  exact  relation  which  the  right  of  periodical
election  should  be  held  to  establish  between  the  members  of
the  representative  assembly  and  their  constituents.  In  one
view  of  this  relation,  the  essence  of  representative  govern-
ment is  that  the  people  represented  govern  through  their
representatives :  the  latter  are  regarded  as  agents,  appointed
to  carry  out  the  wishes  of  their  constituents,  and  properly
liable  to  dismissal  if  in  any  point  they  insist  on  carry-
ing into  effect  their  own  judgment,  in  opposition  to  the
judgment  of  those  whom  they  "  represent."  This  view  is
manifested  in  the  demand  sometimes  made  by  a  constituency
that  their  representative  should  resign  because  he  does  not
vote  as  they  like,  in  the  statement  that  the  House  of
Commons  has  not  "  received  a  mandate  from  the  electors  "
to  do  such  and  such  things, — ^and  similar  utterances,
common  in  England  at  the  present  time.
