3 DECEMBER 1910, Page 16

BURKE ON KING, LORDS, AND COMMONS.

[TO TER EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."]

Sra,—Among quotations on the crisis, a quotation from Burke deserves place :—

"As long as the well-compacted structure of our Church and State, the sanctuary, the holy of holies of that ancient law, defended by reverence, defended by its power—a fortress at once and a temple—shall stand inviolate on the brow of the British Sion, as long as the British monarchy—not more limited than fenced by the orders of the State—shall, like the proud Keep of Windsor, rising in the majesty of proportion, and girt with the double belt of its kindred and co-oval towers; as long as this awful structure shall oversee and guard the subjected land, so long the mounds and dykes of the low, fat Bedford Level will have nothing to fear from all the pick-axes of all the levellers of Franco. As long as our Sovereign Lord the King and his faithful subjects, the Lords and Commons of this realm—the triple cord which no man can break; the solemn, sworn constitutional frank-pledge of this nation, the firm guarantees of each others' being and each others' rights ; the joint and several securities, each in its place and order, for every kind and every quality of property and of dignity—as long as these endure, so long the Duke of Bedford is safe, and we are all safe together—the high, from the blights of envy and spoliations of rapacity; the low, from the iron hand of oppression and the insolent spurn of contempt."

Spondon, Derby.