It is known that armies have hitherto yielded a very precarious and uncertain obedience to any senate or popular authority; and they will least of all yield it to an Assembly which is to have only a continuance of two years.
Edmund Burke: “It is known that armies have hitherto yielded a very precarious and uncertain obedience to any senate or popular…”
Editor's note · Context
From his critique of the French Revolution, Burke warns about the historical difficulty of armies obeying popular assemblies, especially one with a short lifespan.
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