On the record
If there be any part of it to justify arbitrary power, he will produce it.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgIf there be any part of it to justify arbitrary power, he will produce it.
Burke insists that if there is any justification for arbitrary power, it should be presented.
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More from Edmund Burke
They come from one who has been no tool of power, no flatterer of greatness, and who in his last acts does not wish to belie the tenor of his life.
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.
They will become flatterers instead of legislators,--the instruments, not the guides of the people.
Let us imitate their caution, if we wish to deserve their fortune or to retain their bequests.