It was by art and impulse, it was by the sinister use made of a season of scarcity, it was under an infinitely diversified succession of wicked pretences wholly foreign to the question of monarchy or aristocracy, that this light people were inspired with their present spirit of levelling.
Burke critiques the manipulation of the populace during times of scarcity, highlighting the dangers of mob mentality.
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In all this procedure I can discern neither the solid sense of plain dealing nor the subtle dexterity of ingenious fraud.
Every honest mind, every true lover of liberty and humanity, must rejoice to find that injustice is not always good policy, nor rapine the high-road to riches.
They will become flatterers instead of legislators,--the instruments, not the guides of the people.
Those who know what virtuous liberty is cannot bear to see it disgraced by incapable heads, on account of their having high-sounding words in their mouths.
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