Is he not reproached as if in condemning such principles he had belied the conduct of his whole life, suggesting that his life had been governed by principles similar to those which he now reprobates?
Burke reflects on the reproach faced by individuals who condemn principles they once lived by, highlighting the conflict between past actions and current beliefs.
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The prattling about the rights of men will not be accepted in payment of a biscuit or a pound of gunpowder.
I think our happy situation owing to our Constitution,--but owing to the whole of it, and not to any part singly,--owing in a great measure to what we have left standing in our several reviews and reformations, as well as to what we have…
If any of them should happen to propose a scheme of liberty soberly limited, and defined with proper qualifications, he will be immediately outbid by his competitors, who will produce something more splendidly popular.
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