Government is not made in virtue of natural rights, which may and do exist in total independence of it,--and exist in much greater clearness, and in a much greater degree of abstract perfection: but their abstract perfection is their practical defect.
Burke argues that government is not founded on abstract natural rights, whose theoretical perfection often proves to be their practical flaw.
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Let us imitate their caution, if we wish to deserve their fortune or to retain their bequests.
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.
Let us add, if we please, but let us preserve what they have left; and standing on the firm ground of the British Constitution, let us be satisfied to admire, rather than attempt to follow in their desperate flights, the aëronauts of…
The improvements of the National Assembly are superficial, their errors fundamental.
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