Perhaps in some of his measures he was mistaken, and in some of his acts reprehensible; but justice obliges me to say, that the plan which he formed and the course which he pursued were in general great and well imagined,--that he laid great foundations, if they had been properly built upon.
Burke acknowledges both the mistakes and merits of a leader's actions, emphasizing the importance of a well-conceived plan.
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More from Edmund Burke
But the course of succession is the healthy habit of the British Constitution.
A state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation.
We procure reverence to our civil institutions on the principle upon which Nature teaches us to revere individual men: on account of their age, and on account of those from whom they are descended.
Their objects would be enlarged with their elevation; but their disposition, and habits, and mode of accomplishing their designs must remain the same.
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