On the record
Is it 'a contrivance of human wisdom,' or of human craft, to obtain money from a nation under specious pretences?
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgIs it 'a contrivance of human wisdom,' or of human craft, to obtain money from a nation under specious pretences?
Burke critiques the idea of monarchy as a deceptive means for extracting resources from the populace.
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Our people will find employment enough for a truly patriotic, free, and independent spirit, in guarding what they possess from violation.
Whatever they are, I wish my countrymen rather to recommend to our neighbors the example of the British Constitution than to take models from them for the improvement of our own.
I would not exclude alteration neither; but even when I changed, it should be to preserve.
But when the leaders choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of popularity, their talents, in the construction of the state, will be of no service.