Between these litigant parties for power I shall not determine on the merits,--thinking of nothing but the use that was made of the power, to whomsoever it belonged.
Edmund Burke: “Between these litigant parties for power I shall not determine on the merits,--thinking of nothing but the use that was…”
On the record
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgEditor's note · Context
Burke refrains from judging the merits of the competing factions in Calcutta, focusing instead on the implications of their power use.
Share
More from Edmund Burke
Jan 1, 1790
This is the spirit of our Constitution, not only in its settled course, but in all its revolutions.
Jan 1, 1790
An irregular, convulsive movement may be necessary to throw off an irregular, convulsive disease.
Jan 1, 1790
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?
Jan 1, 1790
When such an unwarrantable maxim is once established, that no throne is lawful but the elective, no one act of the princes who preceded this era of fictitious election can be valid.





