advice for all members of parliament

I love this quotation written in 1818 on how members of parliament should conduct themselves, it is still mostly relevant today -

"Enter the House of Commons as the temple of liberty; do not dishonour that temple: preserve your freedom as the pledge of your integrity. Read, inquire, hear, debate and then determine.

Do not without enquiry approve of, nor without good cause oppose, the measures of the court. The true patriot will lend his assistance to enable the King to administer justice, to protect the subject, to agrandize the nation. Avoid bitter speeches: you meet not to revile, but to reason. The best man may err, and therefore be not ashamed to be convinced yourself, nor be ready to reproach others. Remember, that your electors did not send you to make your own fortune, but to take care of theirs.

When you do speak, take special care that it is to the purpose, and rather study to confine yourself to the subject with brevity and perspicuity, than to indulge yourself in the unnecessary display of a flowery imagination.

If you feel all right within, you will scorn to look round the House for support: for be assured, that God, your conscience, and your country, will support you."

T