As Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli stoked fears of Russian aggression, John Bright said that Russia was only threatening when she felt threatened.

When farmhand and lay preacher George Loveless was convicted of conspiracy, both charge and sentence made the country gasp.

In 1844, Daniel O’Connell was hauled before a Dublin court to answer charges of seditious conspiracy, and he didn’t stand a chance.

Sir Philip Francis told the House of Commons that it must not let ministers manufacture crises as an excuse for grabbing more power.

Edmund Burke begged the clergy of England to give us all a break from the twenty-four-hour news cycle.

Edmund Burke urged Englishmen not to congratulate the French revolutionaries on their new-found liberty until they knew what they would do with it.