… is from page 51 of John Barry’s excellent 2012 book, Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul: Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty [emphasis original to Coke]:
Then [Sir Edward] Coke took Parliament further. Among Parliament’s traditional rights was bringing “grievances” to the king’s attention. Coke chaired the Committee on Grievances, an odd position for a privy councilor. And he lashed out at the king’s claim that “reason of state,” i.e., the national interest and particularly national security, could justify extraordinary action.
“Reason of state is often a trick to put us out of the right way,” Coke said, “for when a man can give no reason for a thing, then he flieth to a higher strain and saith it is a reason of state.”
DBx: This warning is wise, and every bit as relevant today as it was when the English crown was worn by the Stuarts.
