From my heart I pity the condition of a respectable servant of the public, like this war minister, obliged in his old age to pledge the Assembly in their civic cups, and to enter with a hoary head into all the fantastic vagaries of these juvenile politicians.
Burke expresses sympathy for a war minister who must engage in civic rituals, highlighting the absurdity of political obligations.
Share
More from Edmund Burke
This was reserved to our time, to quench the little glimmerings of reason which might break in upon the solid darkness of this enlightened age.
Let us imitate their caution, if we wish to deserve their fortune or to retain their bequests.
The only difference among their financial factions is on the greater or the lesser quantity of assignats to be imposed on the public sufferance.
Those who know what virtuous liberty is cannot bear to see it disgraced by incapable heads, on account of their having high-sounding words in their mouths.
Other voices in this conversation
