Broadly, he was protesting against natural right in the name of expediency.

His opponents argued that, since men are by nature equal, it must follow that they have an equal right to self-government.

To Burke, the admission of this principle would have meant the overthrow of the British constitution.

Its implication was that every institution not of immediate popular origin should be destroyed.

To secure their ends, he thought, the radicals were compelled to preach the injustice of those institutions and thus to injure that affection for government upon which peace and security depend.