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Quote#Wisdom

He was of opinion that some precaution was necessary, and these…

Quote byWilliam Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne · 1737–1805

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Speech in the House of Lords on the Seditious Meetings Bill (9 December 1795), quoted in The Parliamentary History of England from the Earliest Period to the Year 1803, Vol. XXXII. Comprising the Period from the Twenty-Seventh Day of May 1795, to the Second Day of March 1797 (1818), columns 534-535.

English (original)

He was of opinion that some precaution was necessary, and these admissions, he trusted, would at least be sufficient to exempt him from the charge of Jacobinism.—But the present bills appeared to him greatly to overshoot the mark. The circumstances did not warrant such an inroad on the constitution.

— William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne

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