Such honors belong exclusively to the tomb,--the natural and only period of human inconstancy, with regard either to desert or to opinion: for they are the very same hands which erect, that very frequently (and sometimes with reason enough) pluck down the statue.
Burke philosophizes about the nature of honor and public opinion, suggesting it is often fleeting.
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The House of Lords, for instance, is not morally competent to dissolve the House of Commons,--no, nor even to dissolve itself, nor to abdicate, if it would, its portion in the legislature of the kingdom.
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.
The engagement and pact of society, which generally goes by the name of the Constitution, forbids such invasion and such surrender.
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