On the record
On that hypothesis, let any set of men be strong enough to set their duties at defiance, and they cease to be duties any longer.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgEdmund Burke: “On that hypothesis, let any set of men be strong enough to set their duties at defiance, and they cease to be duties any…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke argues that if a group can disregard their duties, those duties cease to exist.
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Jan 1, 1790
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.
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Governments must be abused and deranged indeed, before it can be thought of; and the prospect of the future must be as bad as the experience of the past.
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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.
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An irregular, convulsive movement may be necessary to throw off an irregular, convulsive disease.
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