No one will object to privilege for a Chatham; but privilege for the Duke of Grafton is a different thing, and Burke's doctrine safeguards the innumerable men of whom Grafton is the type in the hope that by happy accident some Chatham will one day emerge.
Laski contrasts the acceptance of privilege for notable figures with the problematic nature of privilege for lesser individuals.
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Yet that does not render useless, even for our own day, the kind of work Locke did.
Even Lincoln supported his generals in completely indefensible attacks on civilian rights.
In a time of crisis, particularly, when the things we hold most dear are threatened, we shall find the desire to throw overboard the habits of tolerance, almost irresistible.
But we cannot understand the eighteenth century, or its theories, unless we realize that its temper was still dominantly aristocratic.
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