In effect, to follow, not to force, the public inclination,--to give a direction, a form, a technical dress, and a specific sanction, to the general sense of the community, is the true end of legislature.
Burke articulates the role of legislature as a reflection of public will rather than an imposition of power.
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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.
The ceremony of cashiering kings, of which these gentlemen talk so much at their ease, can rarely, if ever, be performed without force.
A state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation.
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.
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