It will be said I do not allow for the operation of character: but I do; and I know it will have its weight in most elections,--perhaps it may be decisive in some; but there are few in which it will prevent great expenses.
Burke acknowledges the influence of character in elections but believes it often cannot prevent significant expenses.
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They will become flatterers instead of legislators,--the instruments, not the guides of the people.
They come from one who has been no tool of power, no flatterer of greatness, and who in his last acts does not wish to belie the tenor of his life.
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.
Not being illuminated with the light of which the gentlemen of France tell us they have got so abundant a share, they acted under a strong impression of the ignorance and fallibility of mankind.
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