In removing it from a dangerous leaning towards one side, there may be a danger towards oversething it on the other." In straining, that is to say, after too large a purification, we may end with destruction.

And Burke, of course, was emphatic upon the need that property should be undisturbed.

It was always, he thought, at a great disadvantage in any struggle with ability; and there are many passages in which he urges the consequent special representation which the adequate defence of property requires.
The argument, at bottom, is common to all thinkers over-impressed by the sanctity of past experience.

Hegel and Savigny in Germany, Taine and Renan in France, Sir Henry Maine and Lecky in England, have all urged what is in effect a similar plea.

We must not break what Bagehot called the cake of custom, for men have been trained to its digestion, and new food breeds trouble.