Page:A Vindication of Natural Society - Burke (1756).djvu/84

 the People; and the third, a frantick and unmanageable Democracy. The great Instrument of all these Changes, and what infuses a peculiar Venom into all of them, is Party. It is of no Consequence what the Principles of any Party, or what their Pretensions are; the Spirit which actuates all Parties is the same; the Spirit of Ambition, of Self-Interest, of Oppression, and Treachery. This Spirit entirely reverses all the Principles which a benevolent Nature has erected within us; all Honesty, all equal Justice, and even the Ties of Natural Society, the Natural Affections. In a word, my, we have all seen, and if any outward Considerations were worthy the lasting Concern of a wise Man, we have some of us felt, such Oppression from Party Government as no other Tyranny can parallel. We behold daily the most important Rights, Rights upon which all the others depend, we behold these Rights determined in the last Resort, without the least Attention even to