Edmund Burke: “My Lords, here he comes before you, avowing that he knew the practice of taking money from these people was a thing…”

The engagement and pact of society, which generally goes by the name of the Constitution, forbids such invasion and such surrender.

But the course of succession is the healthy habit of the British Constitution.

They look upon the legal hereditary succession of their crown as among their rights, not as among their wrongs,--as a benefit, not as a grievance,--as a security for their liberty, not as a badge of servitude.

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.