Page:A Vindication of Natural Society - Burke (1756).djvu/86

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[76]

and Atheism or Treason may be the Names given in Britain, to what would be Reason and Truth if asserted of China. I submit to the Condition, and though I have a notorious Advantage before me, wave the Pursuit. For else, my Lord, it is very obvious what a Picture might be drawn of the Excesses of Party even in our own Nation. I could shew, that the same Faction has in one Reign promoted popular Seditions, and in the next been a Patron of Tyranny; I could shew, that they have all of them betrayed the publick Safety at all Times, and have very frequently with equal Perfidy made a Market of their own Cause, and their own Associates. I could shew how vehemently they have contended for Names, and how silently they have passed over Things of the last Importance. And I could demonstrate, that they have had the Opportunity of doing all this Mischief, nay, that they themselves had their Origin and Growth from that complex Form of Governmentwhich