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Often appears with: treason and sedition · moral philosophy · markham · justice as a virtue · johnson’s view of rebellion in america · faction, party, and civil strife
Usually: reflection (1) · betrayal (1) · injustice endured (1) · censure (1) · indignation (1)
“Parties once had a PRINCIPLE belonging to them, absurd perhaps, and indefensible, but still carrying a notion of DUTY, by which honest minds might easily be caught. 'But they are now COMBINATIONS OF INDIVIDUALS, who, instead of being the sons and servants of the community, make a league for advancing their PRIVATE INTERESTS.” James Boswell, The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Jo · observation
Johnson delivers a harsh political observation that “parties” no longer have duty but are combinations advancing private interests, and Boswell remarks this parallels a later author’s similar condemnation of “wicked rebellion” in America.
state of parties: 'Parties once had a PRINCIPLE belonging to them, absurd perhaps, and indefensible, but still carrying a notion of DUTY, by which honest minds might easily be caught. 'But they are now COMBINATIONS OF INDIVIDUALS, who, instead of being the sons and servants of the community, make a league for advancing their PRIVATE INTERESTS. It is their business to hold high the notion of POLITICAL HONOUR. I belie…