I presume, that though all the people of England pay taxes, not an hundredth part of them are electors, and the members of one of the houses of parliament represent nobody but themselves.
In "Rights of Man," Paine criticizes the English electoral system, highlighting the vast disparity between taxpayers and electors and the self-serving nature of some parliamentary members.
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Reason and discussion, persuasion and conviction, become the weapons in the contest, and it is only when those are attempted to be suppressed that recourse is had to violence.
As to what are called national religions, we may, with as much propriety, talk of national Gods.
Discussion and the general will arbitrates the question, and to this, private opinion yields with a good grace, and order is preserved uninterrupted.