Hastings would have left her quiet in tranquil obscurity, and that he would no longer have attempted to elevate her into a situation which furnished against himself so much disgrace and obloquy to himself, and concerning which he stood charged with a direct and positive act of bribery.
Burke reflects on Hastings' actions and the disgrace they brought upon him, emphasizing the consequences of his ambition.
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Though a king may abdicate for his own person, he cannot abdicate for the monarchy.
They look upon the legal hereditary succession of their crown as among their rights, not as among their wrongs,--as a benefit, not as a grievance,--as a security for their liberty, not as a badge of servitude.
But an absurd theory on one side of a question forms no justification for alleging a false fact or promulgating mischievous maxims on the other.
The people of England will not ape the fashions they have never tried, nor go back to those which they have found mischievous on trial.
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