But his pretensions to merit are, that he squeezed more money out of the inhabitants of the country than other persons could have done,--money got by oppression, violence, extortion from the poor, or the heavy hand of power upon the rich and great.
Burke condemns the exploitation of a nation's resources through oppression, highlighting the moral failings of leadership.
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More from Edmund Burke
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.
A state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation.
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.
Though a king may abdicate for his own person, he cannot abdicate for the monarchy.
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