A very dark intrigue has lately been discovered, the authors of which are well known to us; but until the glorious day shall come when it will not be a LIBEL to tell the TRUTH, we must not be so regardless of our own safety as to publish their names.
Edmund Burke: “A very dark intrigue has lately been discovered, the authors of which are well known to us; but until the glorious day…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke expresses the need for caution in revealing truths about a conspiracy due to the potential legal repercussions.
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They look upon the legal hereditary succession of their crown as among their rights, not as among their wrongs,--as a benefit, not as a grievance,--as a security for their liberty, not as a badge of servitude.
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If all the absurd theories of lawyers and divines were to vitiate the objects in which they are conversant, we should have no law and no religion left in the world.
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