Everybody is satisfied that a conservation and secure enjoyment of our natural rights is the great and ultimate purpose of civil society, and that therefore all forms whatsoever of government are only good as they are subservient to that purpose to which they are entirely subordinate.
Burke emphasizes the importance of protecting natural rights as the foundation of civil society.
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More from Edmund Burke
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.
I would not exclude alteration neither; but even when I changed, it should be to preserve.
Our people will find employment enough for a truly patriotic, free, and independent spirit, in guarding what they possess from violation.
They come from one who has been no tool of power, no flatterer of greatness, and who in his last acts does not wish to belie the tenor of his life.
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