Because, among all their massacres, they had not slain the mind in their country.
Edmund Burke: “Because, among all their massacres, they had not slain the mind in their country.”
Editor's note · Context
Burke explains France's historical resilience by noting that even amidst violence, the intellectual and moral spirit of the nation remained intact.
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They look upon the legal hereditary succession of their crown as among their rights, not as among their wrongs,--as a benefit, not as a grievance,--as a security for their liberty, not as a badge of servitude.
The engagement and pact of society, which generally goes by the name of the Constitution, forbids such invasion and such surrender.
This idea of a liberal descent inspires us with a sense of habitual native dignity, which prevents that upstart insolence almost inevitably adhering to and disgracing those who are the first acquirers of any distinction.
Unquestionably there was at the Revolution, in the person of King William, a small and a temporary deviation from the strict order of a regular hereditary succession; but it is against all genuine principles of jurisprudence to draw a…





