My Lords, it is transferred as a sacred trust to be exercised for the injured, in measure and proportion, by persons who, feeling as he feels, are in a temper to reason better than he can reason.
Edmund Burke: “My Lords, it is transferred as a sacred trust to be exercised for the injured, in measure and proportion, by persons…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke describes the transfer of vengeance as a sacred duty entrusted to the community.
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