On the record
Abuses of subordinate authority increase, and all means of redress lessen, as the distance of the subject removes him from the seat of the supreme power.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgEdmund Burke: “Abuses of subordinate authority increase, and all means of redress lessen, as the distance of the subject removes him…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke observes that abuses of authority increase as subjects become more distant from the supreme power.
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Jan 1, 1790
They look upon the legal hereditary succession of their crown as among their rights, not as among their wrongs,--as a benefit, not as a grievance,--as a security for their liberty, not as a badge of servitude.
Jan 1, 1790
This is the spirit of our Constitution, not only in its settled course, but in all its revolutions.
Jan 1, 1790
No experience has taught us that in any other course or method than that of an hereditary crown our liberties can be regularly perpetuated and preserved sacred as our hereditary right.
Jan 1, 1790
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?
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