It is not the proud prelate thundering in his commission court, but a pack of manumitted slaves with the lash of the beadle flagrant on their backs, and their legs still galled with their fetters, that would drive their brethren into that prison-house from whence they have just been permitted to escape.
Burke vividly describes the plight of oppressed individuals seeking freedom.
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Let us imitate their caution, if we wish to deserve their fortune or to retain their bequests.
If any of them should happen to propose a scheme of liberty soberly limited, and defined with proper qualifications, he will be immediately outbid by his competitors, who will produce something more splendidly popular.
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.
I would not exclude alteration neither; but even when I changed, it should be to preserve.
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