On the record
My Lords, the East India Company have not arbitrary power to give him; the king has no arbitrary power to give him; your Lordships have not; nor the Commons, nor the whole legislature.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgMy Lords, the East India Company have not arbitrary power to give him; the king has no arbitrary power to give him; your Lordships have not; nor the Commons, nor the whole legislature.
Burke argues that no entity has the right to grant arbitrary power, emphasizing its illegitimacy.
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They will become flatterers instead of legislators,--the instruments, not the guides of the people.
Whatever they are, I wish my countrymen rather to recommend to our neighbors the example of the British Constitution than to take models from them for the improvement of our own.
Our people will find employment enough for a truly patriotic, free, and independent spirit, in guarding what they possess from violation.
But when the leaders choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of popularity, their talents, in the construction of the state, will be of no service.