Our own authority is indeed as much a trust originally, as the company's authority is a trust derivatively; and it is the use we make of the resumed power that must justify or condemn us in the resumption of it.
Burke compares the authority of Parliament to that of the East-India Company, emphasizing the nature of trust.
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If any of them should happen to propose a scheme of liberty soberly limited, and defined with proper qualifications, he will be immediately outbid by his competitors, who will produce something more splendidly popular.
Not being illuminated with the light of which the gentlemen of France tell us they have got so abundant a share, they acted under a strong impression of the ignorance and fallibility of mankind.
The improvements of the National Assembly are superficial, their errors fundamental.
Let us imitate their caution, if we wish to deserve their fortune or to retain their bequests.
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