I should not be inclined to retract these praises upon any of the ordinary lapses into which human infirmity will fall; they might still stand, though some of their conclusums should taste of the prejudices of country or of faction, whether political or religious.
Burke acknowledges human fallibility while defending the merits of individuals.
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But to form a free government, that is, to temper together these opposite elements of liberty and restraint in one consistent work, requires much thought, deep reflection, a sagacious, powerful, and combining mind.
They will become flatterers instead of legislators,--the instruments, not the guides of the people.
They rob only to enable them to cheat; but in a very short time they defeat the ends both of the robbery and the fraud, by making out accounts for other purposes, which blow up their whole apparatus of force and of deception.
The prattling about the rights of men will not be accepted in payment of a biscuit or a pound of gunpowder.
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