That word is Ascendancy.

The word is not absolutely new.' He then gives its various meanings, and first shows what it does _not_ signify in the new sense.

Not influence obtained by love or reverence, or by superior management and dexterity; not an authority derived from wisdom or virtue, promoting the happiness and freedom of the Roman Catholic people; not by flattering them, or by a skilful adaptation to their humours and passions.

It means nothing of all these.

Burke then shows what it does mean.