As these are the pretexts, so the ordinary actors and instruments in great public evils are kings, priests, magistrates, senates, parliaments, national assemblies, judges, and captains.
Edmund Burke: “As these are the pretexts, so the ordinary actors and instruments in great public evils are kings, priests, magistrates…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke identifies the common actors in public evils, suggesting a systemic issue rather than individual blame.
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The ceremony of cashiering kings, of which these gentlemen talk so much at their ease, can rarely, if ever, be performed without force.
The engagement and pact of society, which generally goes by the name of the Constitution, forbids such invasion and such surrender.
Those who are servants in name, as well as in effect, do not like to be told of their situation, their duty, and their obligations.
This idea of a liberal descent inspires us with a sense of habitual native dignity, which prevents that upstart insolence almost inevitably adhering to and disgracing those who are the first acquirers of any distinction.





