rgy, the lords, and the
commons--who were accustomed to confer with the King on public affairs.
The stage which marks the birth of representation was when these
different estates and communities were asked to tax themselves to
relieve the necessities of the King. It was obviously impossible that
the consent of every freeman should be obtained, hence the duty had to
be deputed to agents. Now, the idea of agency was not unknown in the
ancient world, but that agents should have power to bind those for whom
they acted was something entirely new. It was necessary, however, that
they should have this power, and it suited the King's convenience that
they should exercise it. Already, in the earliest writ of which we have
knowledge, summoning each shire to send two good and discreet knights,
it was provided that they should be chosen in the stead of each and all.
This happened in 1254, and in the following year the clergy were also
summoned for the same purpose of granting aid to the King. In the
meantime the merchants and trade guilds in the cities were growing rich.
The King cast longing eyes on their possessions, and wished to tax them.
So we find that in 1264 Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, issued the
celebrated writ summoning each of the cities and boroughs to send two
of its more discreet and worthy citizens and burgesses. This is
sometimes regarded as the beginning of the House of Commons, but it was
really not until the fourteenth century that these several assemblies,
each of which up till then taxed itself separately and legislated in its
own sphere, coalesced into the present Houses. First the lower clergy
fell out, and, with the knights, citizens, and burgesses, were merged
into the House of Commons; and the higher prelates with the earls and
barons formed the House of Lords.

This, then, is the first stage of representation. What was the nature of
this new force which had come into the world and was destined to so
profoundly affect the whole course of human affairs? One result of
immense importance is apparent at a glance. It solved a problem which
had baffled the ancients--that of the nationalization of local
communities on a free basis. But it is generally assumed that the only
difficulty overcome was that of size; that the representative assembly
is a mere substitute for the larger assembly of the whole nation.
Starting with this assumption, it is claimed that the representative
assembly should be a mirror