A very few years' possession of the government would undoubtedly enable me to retire with a fortune amply fitted to the measure of my desires, were I to consult only my ease: but in my present situation I feel my mind expand to something greater; I have catched the desire of applause in public life.
Burke reflects on his desire for public recognition over personal gain.
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Do they mean to attaint and disable backwards all the kings that have reigned before the Revolution, and consequently to stain the throne of England with the blot of a continual usurpation?
When such an unwarrantable maxim is once established, that no throne is lawful but the elective, no one act of the princes who preceded this era of fictitious election can be valid.
But the course of succession is the healthy habit of the British Constitution.
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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