For God's sake entreat of Lord North to take a view of the sum total of the deaths, before any are ordered for execution; for by not doing something of this kind people are decoyed in detail into severities they never would have dreamed of, if they had the whole in their view at once.
Burke urges Lord North to consider the total number of deaths before proceeding with executions to avoid unnecessary severity.
Share
More from Edmund Burke
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?
Who could flatter himself that these men, suddenly, and as it were by enchantment, snatched from the humblest rank of subordination, would not be intoxicated with their unprepared greatness?
This idea of a liberal descent inspires us with a sense of habitual native dignity, which prevents that upstart insolence almost inevitably adhering to and disgracing those who are the first acquirers of any distinction.
This is the spirit of our Constitution, not only in its settled course, but in all its revolutions.
Other voices in this conversation
