For a subordinate arbitrary or even despotic power never was heard of in right, claim, or authorized practice; least of all has it been heard of in the Eastern governments, where all the instances of severity and cruelty fall upon governors and persons intrusted with power.
Burke discusses the absence of subordinate arbitrary power in established governance, particularly in Eastern governments.
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More from Edmund Burke
But an absurd theory on one side of a question forms no justification for alleging a false fact or promulgating mischievous maxims on the other.
A state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation.
The engagement and pact of society, which generally goes by the name of the Constitution, forbids such invasion and such surrender.
They have little regard to the obvious consequences of their doctrine, though they may see that it leaves positive authority in very few of the positive institutions of this country.
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