Of the charters and corporations, to whose rights a few years ago these gentlemen were so tremblingly alive, they say, "that, when the people of England come to reflect upon them, they will, like France, annihilate those badges of oppression, those traces of a conquered nation.
Edmund Burke: “Of the charters and corporations, to whose rights a few years ago these gentlemen were so tremblingly alive, they say…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke warns that the English people may seek to abolish oppressive institutions, similar to the French Revolution.
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