But if we could suppose that such a ratification was made, not virtually, but actually, by the people, not representatively, but even collectively, still it would be null and void.
Edmund Burke: “But if we could suppose that such a ratification was made, not virtually, but actually, by the people, not…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke states that even if a collective ratification by the people were possible, it would still be invalid.
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By adhering in this manner and on those principles to our forefathers, we are guided, not by the superstition of antiquarians, but by the spirit of philosophic analogy.
But the king of Great Britain obeys no other person; all other persons are individually, and collectively too, under him, and owe to him a legal obedience.
This idea of a liberal descent inspires us with a sense of habitual native dignity, which prevents that upstart insolence almost inevitably adhering to and disgracing those who are the first acquirers of any distinction.
Their trust for the future preservation of the Constitution was not in future revolutions.





