It is evident, that, if we can keep our Eastern conquests, we keep them not at the expense of France, but at the expense of Holland, our ally,--of Holland, the immediate cause of the war, the nation whom we had undertaken to protect, and not of the Republic which it was our business to destroy.
Burke argues that retaining Eastern conquests does not harm France but rather jeopardizes Holland, an ally.
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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.
The engagement and pact of society, which generally goes by the name of the Constitution, forbids such invasion and such surrender.
Their trust for the future preservation of the Constitution was not in future revolutions.
But the king of Great Britain obeys no other person; all other persons are individually, and collectively too, under him, and owe to him a legal obedience.
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