On the recordJanuary 1, 1790
When we look into the true nature of his authority, he appears to be nothing more than a chief of bumbailiffs, sergeants-at-mace, catchpoles, jailers, and hangmen.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgWhen we look into the true nature of his authority, he appears to be nothing more than a chief of bumbailiffs, sergeants-at-mace, catchpoles, jailers, and hangmen.
From his critique of the French Revolution, Burke describes the diminished authority of the French King under the National Assembly.
Share
More from Edmund Burke
Do they mean to attaint and disable backwards all the kings that have reigned before the Revolution, and consequently to stain the throne of England with the blot of a continual usurpation?
This is the spirit of our Constitution, not only in its settled course, but in all its revolutions.
Always acting as if in the presence of canonized forefathers, the spirit of freedom, leading in itself to misrule and excess, is tempered with an awful gravity.
But the course of succession is the healthy habit of the British Constitution.