What! alter our sublime Constitution, the glory of France, the envy of the world, the pattern for mankind, the masterpiece of legislation, the collected and concentrated glory of this enlightened age?
Edmund Burke: “What! alter our sublime Constitution, the glory of France, the envy of the world, the pattern for mankind, the…”
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Edmund Burke
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gutenberg.orgEditor's note · Context
Burke passionately defends the French Constitution as a remarkable achievement worthy of admiration.
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Jan 1, 1790
They will become flatterers instead of legislators,--the instruments, not the guides of the people.
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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.
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Let us add, if we please, but let us preserve what they have left; and standing on the firm ground of the British Constitution, let us be satisfied to admire, rather than attempt to follow in their desperate flights, the aëronauts of…
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I would not exclude alteration neither; but even when I changed, it should be to preserve.





