In reality, that ancient Constitution and those Saxon laws make little or nothing for any of our modern parties, and, when fairly laid open, will be found to compose such a system as none, I believe, would think it either practicable or desirable to establish.
Burke argues that ancient laws do not support modern political parties.
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More from Edmund Burke
In some people I see great liberty, indeed; in many, if not in the most, an oppressive, degrading servitude.
The prattling about the rights of men will not be accepted in payment of a biscuit or a pound of gunpowder.
He that does this is the cruel oppressor, the merciless enemy of the poor and wretched; at the same time that by his wicked speculations he exposes the fruits of successful industry and the accumulations of fortune to the plunder of the…
They come from one who has been no tool of power, no flatterer of greatness, and who in his last acts does not wish to belie the tenor of his life.
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