Will foreign states seriously treat with him who has no prerogative of peace or war,--no, not so much as in a single vote by himself or his ministers, or by any one whom he can possibly influence?
Burke argues that a leader without authority cannot effectively engage in diplomacy or war.
Share
More from Edmund Burke
Let us imitate their caution, if we wish to deserve their fortune or to retain their bequests.
I would not exclude alteration neither; but even when I changed, it should be to preserve.
They will become flatterers instead of legislators,--the instruments, not the guides of the people.
They come from one who has been no tool of power, no flatterer of greatness, and who in his last acts does not wish to belie the tenor of his life.
Other voices in this conversation
