The question with them was not, whether they were to remain as they had been before the troubles,--for better, he allowed, they could not hope to be,--but whether they were to give up so happy a situation without a struggle.
Burke reflects on the difficult choices faced by the American colonists during their struggle for independence.
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The engagement and pact of society, which generally goes by the name of the Constitution, forbids such invasion and such surrender.
Who could flatter himself that these men, suddenly, and as it were by enchantment, snatched from the humblest rank of subordination, would not be intoxicated with their unprepared greatness?
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.
They have little regard to the obvious consequences of their doctrine, though they may see that it leaves positive authority in very few of the positive institutions of this country.
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