This outrage on all the rights of property was at first covered with what, on the system of their conduct, was the most astonishing of all pretexts,--a regard to national faith.
Edmund Burke: “This outrage on all the rights of property was at first covered with what, on the system of their conduct, was the most…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke argues that the initial justification for property seizure was a deceptive pretext for violating rights.
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I think our happy situation owing to our Constitution,--but owing to the whole of it, and not to any part singly,--owing in a great measure to what we have left standing in our several reviews and reformations, as well as to what we have…
They will become flatterers instead of legislators,--the instruments, not the guides of the people.
Let us imitate their caution, if we wish to deserve their fortune or to retain their bequests.
If any of them should happen to propose a scheme of liberty soberly limited, and defined with proper qualifications, he will be immediately outbid by his competitors, who will produce something more splendidly popular.





