But supposing the combined powers had been all thus faithless, and been all alike so, there was one circumstance which made an essential difference between them and France.
Edmund Burke: “But supposing the combined powers had been all thus faithless, and been all alike so, there was one circumstance which…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke argues that even if all powers were untrustworthy, France's actions were uniquely problematic, underscoring the distinct threat posed by the French Revolution.
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Their objects would be enlarged with their elevation; but their disposition, and habits, and mode of accomplishing their designs must remain the same.
Who could doubt but that, at any expense to the state, of which they understood nothing, they must pursue their private interests, which they understood but too well?
But an absurd theory on one side of a question forms no justification for alleging a false fact or promulgating mischievous maxims on the other.
Who could conceive that men who are habitually meddling, daring, subtle, active, of litigious dispositions and unquiet minds, would easily fall back into their old condition of obscure contention, and laborious, low, and unprofitable…





