Think of them who dare menace in the way they do in their present state, what would they do, if they had power commensurate to their malice?
Edmund Burke: “Think of them who dare menace in the way they do in their present state, what would they do, if they had power…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke questions the intentions of those who threaten others, suggesting they would act worse if given power.
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But supposing they had ranked as they ought to do, and as with us they do actually, the sides of sick-beds are not the academies for forming statesmen and legislators.
A few years ago I should be ashamed to overload a matter so capable of supporting itself by the then unnecessary support of any argument; but this seditious, unconstitutional doctrine is now publicly taught, avowed, and printed.
All your sophisters cannot produce anything better adapted to preserve a rational and manly freedom than the course that we have pursued, who have chosen our nature rather than our speculations, our breasts rather than our inventions, for…
But the course of succession is the healthy habit of the British Constitution.





