So hard it is to change ideas to which men have been long accustomed, especially in government, that the Britons had no notion of a sovereign who was not to be emperor, nor of an emperor who was not to be master of the Western world.
Burke comments on the difficulty of changing long-held beliefs about governance and sovereignty.
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But the course of succession is the healthy habit of the British Constitution.
Who could doubt but that, at any expense to the state, of which they understood nothing, they must pursue their private interests, which they understood but too well?
Those who are servants in name, as well as in effect, do not like to be told of their situation, their duty, and their obligations.
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