He will therefore, in all probability, systematically do what he does at present occasionally: that is, he will exercise at least a negative in the choice of his officers.
Edmund Burke: “He will therefore, in all probability, systematically do what he does at present occasionally: that is, he will exercise…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke predicts that soldiers will increasingly assert their influence over the selection of their officers.
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Let us imitate their caution, if we wish to deserve their fortune or to retain their bequests.
But when the leaders choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of popularity, their talents, in the construction of the state, will be of no service.
I think our happy situation owing to our Constitution,--but owing to the whole of it, and not to any part singly,--owing in a great measure to what we have left standing in our several reviews and reformations, as well as to what we have…
If any of them should happen to propose a scheme of liberty soberly limited, and defined with proper qualifications, he will be immediately outbid by his competitors, who will produce something more splendidly popular.





