"When Mr. Burke says that 'his Majesty's heirs and successors, each in
their time and order, will come to the crown with the _same contempt_ of
their choice with which his Majesty has succeeded to that he wears,' it
is saying too much even to the humblest individual in the country, part
of whose daily labor goes towards making up the million sterling a year
which the country gives the person it styles a king. Government with
insolence is despotism; but when contempt is added, it becomes worse;
and to pay for contempt is the excess of slavery. This species of
government comes from Germany, and reminds me of what one of the
Brunswick soldiers told me, who was taken prisoner by the Americans in
the late war. 'Ah!' said he, 'America is a fine free country: it is
worth the people's fighting for. I know the difference by knowing my
own: in my country, _if the prince says, "Eat straw" we eat straw_.' God
help that country, thought I, be it England, or elsewhere, whose
liberties are to be protected by _German principles of government and
princes of Brunswick_!"
"It is somewhat curious to observe, that, although the people of England
have been in the habit of talking about kings, it is always a foreign
house of kings,--hating foreigners, yet governed by them.
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