,,burke    ,,by    ,,john ,,morley      
,london    ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co41     
,,limited    ,,new ,,york3 ,,the        
,,macmillan ,,company    #aijg          
,printed #ahhh4 ,reprinted #ahib1 #ahig1
 #aijb1 #aijg    7,a ,library ,edition1 
of the book published in the ,english   
,men of  ,letters ,series7              
,,note      ,the present writer         
published a study on ,burke some twenty 
years ago4  ,it was almost entirely     
critical1 and in no sense a narrative4  
,the  volume that is now submitted to my
 readers first appeared in the  series  
of ,english ,men of ,letters4 ,it is    
biographical rather  than critical1 and 
not more than about a score of pages    
have been  reproduced in it from the    
earlier book4 ,three pages have been    
inserted  from an article on ,burke     
contributed by me to the new edition of 
the  ,encyclopoedia ,britannica2 and ,i 
have to thank ,messrs4 ,black for  the  
great courtesy with which they have     
allowed me to transcribe the  passage   

here4 ,these borrowings from my former  
self1 the reader will  perhaps be       
willing to excuse1 on the old ,greek    
principle that a man  may once say a    
thing as he would have it said1 ,greek3 
dis de ouk  endechetai--he can hardly   
say it twice4    ,j4,m4    #ahhh4       
,,contents    ,,chapter ,i    ,,early   
,,life ,,and ,,first ,,writings         
,,chapter ,,ii    ,,in                  
,,ireland--,,parliament--,,beaconsfield 
,,chapter ,,iii    ,,the                
,,constitutional ,,struggle    ,,chapter
 ,,iv    ,,the ,,rockingham             
,,party--,,paris--,,election ,,at       
,,bristol--,,the ,,american ,,war       
,,chapter ,v    ,,economical            
,,reform--,,burke ,,in ,,office--,,fall 
,,of ,,his ,,party    ,,chapter ,,vi    
,,burke ,,and ,,his ,,friends           
,,chapter ,,vii    ,,the ,,new          
,,ministry--,,warren                    
,,hastings--,,burke',s ,,public         
,,position    ,,chapter ,,viii    ,,the 
,,french ,,revolution    ,,chapter ,,ix 

,,burke ,,and ,,his ,,party--,,progress 
,,of ,,the                              
,,revolution--,,ireland--,,last ,,years 
,,chapter ,x    ,,burke',s ,,literary   
,,character          ,,burke            
,,chapter ,i    ,,early ,,life1 ,,and   
,,first ,,writings      ,it will soon be
 a hundred and twenty years since ,burke
 first took his  seat1 in the ,house of 
,commons1 and it is eighty-five years   
since his  voice ceased to be heard     
there4 ,since his death1 as during his  
life1  opinion as to the place to which 
he is entitled among the eminent men  of
 his country has touched every extreme4 
,tories have extolled him as  the       
saviour of ,europe4 ,whigs have detested
 him as the destroyer of his  party4    
,one undiscriminating panegyrist calls  
him the most profound and  comprehensive
 of political philosophers that has yet 
existed in the  world4 ,another and more
 distinguished writer insists that he is
 a  resplendent and far-seeing          
rhetorician1 rather than a deep and     

subtle  thinker4 ,a third tells us that 
his works cannot be too much our study1 
if we mean either to understand or to   
maintain against its various  enemies1  
open and concealed1 designing and       
mistaken1 the singular  constitution of 
this fortunate island4 ,a fourth1 on the
 contrary1  declares that it would be   
hard to find a single leading principle 
or  prevailing sentiment in one half of 
these works1 to which something         
extremely adverse cannot be found in the
 other half4 ,a fifth calls  him one of 
the greatest men1 and1 ,bacon alone     
excepted1 the greatest  thinker1 who    
ever devoted himself to the practice of 
,english politics4  ,yet1 oddly enough1 
the author of the fifth verdict will    
have it that  this great man and great  
thinker was actually out of his mind    
when  he composed the pieces for which  
he has been most widely admired and     
revered4    ,a sufficient interval has  
now passed to allow all the sediment of 
party fanaticism to fall to the bottom4 

,the circumstances of the world  have   
since ,burke's time undergone variation 
enough to enable us  to judge1 from many
 points of view1 how far he was the     
splendid  pamphleteer of a faction1 and 
how far he was a contributor to the     
universal stock of enduring wisdom4     
,opinion is slowly1 but without         
reaction1 settling down to the verdict  
that ,burke is one of the  abiding names
 in our history1 not because he either  
saved ,europe  or destroyed the ,whig   
party2 but because he added to the      
permanent  considerations of wise       
political thought1 and to the maxims of 
wise  practice in great affairs1 and    
because he imprints himself upon us     
with a magnificence and elevation of    
expression that places him among  the   
highest masters of literature1 in one of
 its highest and most  commanding       
senses4 ,those who have acquired a love 
for abstract  politics amid the almost  
mathematical closeness and precision of 
,hobbes1 the philosophic calm of ,locke 

or ,mill1 or even the majestic  and     
solemn fervour of ,milton1 are revolted 
by the unrestrained passion  and the    
decorated style of ,burke4 ,his passion 
appears hopelessly  fatal to success in 
the pursuit of ,truth1 who does not     
usually reveal  herself to followers    
thus inflamed4 ,his ornate style appears
 fatal to  the cautious and precise     
method of statement1 suitable to matter 
which  is not known at all unless it is 
known distinctly4 ,yet the natural      
ardour which impelled ,burke to clothe  
his judgments in glowing and            
exaggerated phrases1 is one secret of   
his power over us1 because  it kindles  
in those who are capable of that        
generous infection a  respondent        
interest and sympathy4 ,but more than   
this1 the reader is  speedily conscious 
of the precedence in ,burke of the facts
 of morality  and conduct1 of the many  
interwoven affinities of human affection
 and  historical relation1 over the     
unreal necessities of mere abstract     

logic4 ,burke's mind was full of the    
matter of great truths1 copiously       
enriched from the fountains of generous 
and many-coloured feeling4 ,he  thought 
about life as a whole1 with all its     
infirmities and all its  pomps4 ,with   
none of the mental exclusiveness of the 
moralist by  profession1 he fills every 
page with solemn reference and meaning2 
with none of the mechanical bustle of   
the common politician1 he  is everywhere
 conscious of the mastery of laws1      
institutions1 and  government over the  
character and happiness of men4 ,besides
 thus  diffusing a strong light over the
 awful tides of human circumstance1     
,burke has the sacred gift of inspiring 
men to use a grave diligence  in caring 
for high things1 and in making their    
lives at once rich and  austere4 ,such a
 part in literature is indeed high4 ,we 
feel no emotion  of revolt when         
,mackintosh speaks of ,shakespeare and  
,burke in the same  breath as being both
 of them above mere talent4 ,and we do  

not dissent  when ,macaulay1 after      
reading ,burke's works over1 again1     
exclaims1 ,how  admirable6 ,the greatest
 man since ,milton4    ,the precise date
 of ,burke's birth cannot be stated with
 certainty4 ,all  that we can say is    
that it took place either in #agbh or   
#agbi1 and it  is possible that we may  
set it down in one or the other year1 as
 we  choose to reckon by the old or the 
new style4 ,the best opinion is that  he
 was born at ,dublin on the #abth of    
,january #agbi 7,n4,s47 ,his father  was
 a solicitor in good practice1 and is   
believed to have been  descended from   
some ,bourkes of county ,limerick1 who  
held a respectable  local position in   
the time of the civil wars4 ,burke's    
mother belonged  to the ,nagle family1  
which had a strong connection in the    
county of  ,cork2 they had been among   
the last adherents of ,james ,,ii41 and 
they  remained firm ,catholics4 ,mrs4   
,burke remained true to the ,church of  
her  ancestors1 and her only daughter   

was brought up in the same faith4       
,edmund ,burke and his two brothers1    
,garret and ,richard1 were bred in  the 
religion of their father2 but ,burke    
never1 in after times1 lost a  large and
 generous way of thinking about the more
 ancient creed of his  mother and his   
uncles4    ,in #agda he was sent to     
school at ,ballitore1 a village some    
thirty  miles away from ,dublin1 where  
,abraham ,shackleton1 a ,quaker from    
,yorkshire1 had established himself     
fifteen years before1 and had  earned a 
wide reputation as a successful teacher 
and a good man4  ,according to ,burke1  
he richly deserved this high character4 
,it was to  ,abraham ,shackleton that he
 always professed to owe whatever gain  
had  come to him from education4 ,if ,i 
am anything1 he said many years         
afterwards1 it is the education ,i had  
there that has made me so4 ,his         
master's skill as a teacher did not     
impress him more than the example  which
 was every day set before him1 of       

uprightness and simplicity of  heart4   
,thirty years later1 when ,burke had the
 news of ,shackleton's  death 7#agga71  
,i had a true honour and affection1 he  
wrote1 for that  excellent man4 ,i feel 
something like a satisfaction in the    
midst of my  concern1 that ,i was       
fortunate enough to have him once under 
my roof  before his departure4 ,no man  
has ever had a deeper or more tender    
reverence than ,burke for homely        
goodness1 simple purity1 and all the    
pieties of life2 it may well be that    
this natural predisposition of  all     
characters1 at once so genial and so    
serious as his1 was finally  stamped in 
him by his first schoolmaster4 ,it is   
true that he was only  two years at     
,ballitore1 but two years at that       
plastic time often build  up habits in  
the mind that all the rest of a life is 
unable to pull  down4    ,in #agdc      
,burke became a student of ,trinity     
,college1 ,dublin1 and he  remained     
there until #agdh1 when he took his     

,bachelor's degree4 ,these  five years  
do not appear to have been spent in     
strenuous industry in  the beaten paths 
of academic routine4 ,like so many other
 men of great  gifts1 ,burke in his     
youth was desultory and excursive4 ,he  
roamed at  large over the varied heights
 that tempt our curiosity1 as the dawn  
of  intelligence first lights them up   
one after another with bewitching       
visions and illusive magic4 ,all my     
studies1 ,burke wrote in #agdf1  when he
 was in the midst of them1 have rather  
proceeded from sallies  of passion1 than
 from the preference of sound reason2   
and1 like all  other natural appetites1 
have been very violent for a season1 and
  very soon cooled1 and quite absorbed  
in the succeeding4 ,i have often        
thought it a humorous consideration to  
observe and sum up all the  madness of  
this kind ,i have fallen into1 this two 
years past4 ,first1 ,i  was greatly     
taken with natural philosophy2 which1   
while ,i should have  given my mind to  

logic1 employed me incessantly4 ,this ,i
 call my furor  mathematicus4 ,but this 
worked off as soon as ,i began to read  
it in  the college1 as men by repletion 
cast off their stomachs all they have   
eaten4 ,then ,i turned back to logic and
 metaphysics4 ,here ,i remained a  good 
while1 and with much pleasure1 and this 
was my furor logicus1  a disease very   
common in the days of ignorance1 and    
very uncommon in  these enlightened     
times4 ,next succeeded the furor        
historicus1 which  also had its day1 but
 is now no more1 being entirely absorbed
 in the  furor poeticus4    ,this is    
from one of ,burke's letters to ,richard
 ,shackleton1 the son  of his           
schoolmaster1 with whom he had formed   
one of those close  friendships that    
fill the life of generous youth1 as     
ambition fills an  energetic manhood4   
,many tears were shed when the two boys 
parted at  ,ballitore1 and they kept up 
their intimacy by a steady              
correspondence4  ,they discuss the      

everlasting dispute as to the ultimate  
fate of those  who never heard the      
saving name of ,christ4 ,they send one  
another  copies of verses1 and ,burke   
prays for ,shackleton's judgment on an  
invocation of his new poem1 to beauteous
 nymphs who haunt the dusky  wood1 which
 hangs recumbent o'er the crystal flood4
 ,burke is warned by  ,shackleton to    
endeavour to live according to the rules
 of the ,gospel1  and he humbly accepts 
the good advice1 with the deprecatory   
plea  that in a town it is difficult to 
sit down to think seriously4 ,it is     
easier1 he says1 to follow the rules of 
the ,gospel in the country than  at     
,trinity ,college1 ,dublin4 ,in the     
region of profaner things the  two      
friends canvass the comparative worth of
 ,sallust and of ,tully's  ,epistles4   
,burke holds for the historian1 who has1
 he thinks1 a  fine1 easy1 diversified  
narrative1 mixed with reflection1 moral 
and  political1 neither very trite nor  
obvious1 nor out of the way and         

abstract2 and this is the true beauty of
 historical observation4    ,some pages 
of verse describe to ,shackleton how his
 friend passes the  day1 but the reader 
will perhaps be content to learn in     
humbler prose  that ,burke rose with the
 dawn1 and strode forth into the country
  through fragrant gardens and the pride
 of ,may1 until want of breakfast  drove
 him back unwillingly to the town1 where
 amid lectures and  books his heart     
incessantly turned to the river and the 
fir-woods of  ,ballitore4 ,in the       
evening he again turned his back on the 
city1 taking  his way where ,liffey     
rolls her dead dogs to the sea1 along to
 the  wall on the shore1 whence be      
delighted to see the sun sink into the  
waters1 gilding ocean1 ships1 and city  
as it vanished4 ,alas1 it was  beneath  
the dignity of verse to tell us what we 
should most gladly  have known4 ,for1   
,the muse nor can1 nor will declare1    
,what is my work1 and what my studies   
there4    ,what serious nourishment     

,burke was laying in for his            
understanding we  cannot learn from any 
other source4 ,he describes himself as  
spending  three hours almost every day  
in the public library2 the best way in  
the world1 he adds oddly enough1 of     
killing thought4 ,i have read  some     
history1 he says1 and among other pieces
 of history1 ,i am  endeavouring to get 
a little into the accounts of this1 our 
own poor  country1--a pathetic          
expression1 which represents ,burke's   
perpetual  mood1 as long as he lived1 of
 affectionate pity for his native land4 
,of the eminent ,irishmen whose names   
adorn the annals of ,trinity  ,college  
in the eighteenth century1 ,burke was   
only contemporary at the  ,university   
with one1 the luckless sizar who in the 
fulness of time  wrote the ,vicar of    
,wakefield4 ,there is no evidence that  
at this time  he and ,goldsmith were    
acquainted with one another4 ,flood had 
gone to  ,oxford some time before4 ,the 
one or two companions whom ,burke       

mentions  in his letters are only       
shadows of names4 ,the mighty ,swift    
died in  #agde1 but there is nothing of 
,burke's upon the event4 ,in the same   
year  came the ,pretender's invasion1   
and ,burke spoke of those who had taken 
part in it in the same generous spirit  
that he always showed to the  partisans 
of lost historic causes4    ,of his own 
family ,burke says little1 save that in 
#agdf his mother had  a dangerous       
illness4 ,in all my life1 he writes to  
his friend1 ,i never  found so heavy a  
grief1 nor really did ,i well know what 
it was before4  ,burke's father is said 
to have been a man of angry and         
irritable  temper1 and their            
disagreements were frequent4 ,this      
unhappy  circumstance made the time for 
parting not unwelcome4 ,in #agdg        
,burke's  name had been entered at the  
,middle ,temple1 and after taking his   
degree1 he prepared to go to ,england to
 pursue the ordinary course of  a       
lawyer's studies4 ,he arrived in ,london

 in the early part of #agej4    ,a      
period of nine years followed1 in which 
the circumstances of ,burke's  life are 
enveloped in nearly complete obscurity4 
,he seems to have kept  his terms in the
 regular way at the ,temple1 and from   
the mastery  of legal principles and    
methods which he afterwards showed in   
some  important transactions1 we might  
infer that he did more to qualify       
himself for practice than merely dine in
 the hall of his inn4 ,for law1  alike  
as a profession and an instrument of    
mental discipline1 he had  always the   
profound respect that it so amply       
deserves1 though he saw  that it was not
 without drawbacks of its own4 ,the law1
 he said1 in  his fine description of   
,george ,grenville1 in words that all   
who think  about schemes of education   
ought to ponder1 is1 in my opinion1 one 
of  the first and noblest of human      
sciences2 a science which does more to  
quicken and invigorate the understanding
 than all the other kinds of  learning  

put together2 but it is not apt1 except 
in persons very  happily born1 to open  
and to liberalise the mind exactly in   
the  same proportion4#a ,burke was never
 called to the bar1 and the             
circumstance that1 about the time when  
he ought to have been looking  for his  
first guinea1 he published a couple of  
books which had as  little as possible  
to do with either law or equity1 is a   
tolerably  sure sign that he had        
followed the same desultory courses at  
the  ,temple as he had followed at      
,trinity ,college4 ,we have only to tell
  over again a very old story4 ,the     
vague attractions of literature         
prevailed over the duty of taking up a  
serious profession4 ,his father1  who   
had set his heart on having a son in the
 rank of a barrister1 was  first        
suspicious1 then extremely indignant1   
and at last he withdrew  his son's      
allowance1 or else reduced it so low    
that the recipient  could not possibly  
live upon it4 ,this catastrophe took    

place some time  in #agee1--;a year of  
note in the history of literature1 as   
the date of  the publication of         
,johnson's ,dictionary4 ,it was upon    
literature1 the  most seductive1 the    
most deceiving1 the most dangerous of   
professions1  that ,burke1 like so many 
hundreds of smaller men before and      
since1 now  threw himself for a         
livelihood4    ,footnote #a3 ,american  
,taxation4    ,of the details of the    
struggle we know very little4 ,burke was
 not fond  in after life of talking     
about his earlier days1 not because he  
had any false shame about the straits   
and hard shifts of youthful  neediness1 
but because he was endowed with a       
certain inborn  stateliness of nature1  
which made him unwilling to waste       
thoughts on  the less dignified parts of
 life4 ,this is no unqualified virtue1  
and  ,burke might have escaped some     
wearisome frets and embarrassments in   
his existence1 if he had been capable of
 letting the detail of the day  lie more

 heavily upon him4 ,so far as it goes1  
however1 it is a sign of  mental health 
that a man should be able to cast behind
 him the barren  memories of bygone     
squalor4 ,we may be sure that whatever  
were the  external ordeals of his       
apprenticeship in the slippery craft of 
the  literary adventurer1 ,burke never  
failed in keeping for his constant      
companions generous ambitions and high  
thoughts4 ,he appears to have           
frequented the debating clubs in ,fleet 
,street and the ,piazza of ,covent      
,garden1 and he showed the common taste 
of his time for the theatre4  ,he was   
much of a wanderer1 partly from the     
natural desire of restless  youth to see
 the world1 and partly because his      
health was weak4 ,in  after life he was 
a man of great strength1 capable not    
only of bearing  the strain of prolonged
 application to books and papers in the 
solitude of his library1 but of bearing 
it at the same time with the            
distracting combination of active       

business among men4 ,at the date of     
which we are speaking1 he used to seek a
 milder air at ,bristol1 or in          
,monmouthshire1 or ,wiltshire4 ,he      
passed the summer in retired country    
villages1 reading and writing with      
desultory industry1 in company  with    
,william ,burke1 a namesake but perhaps 
no kinsman4 ,it would  be interesting to
 know the plan and scope of his studies4
 ,we are  practically reduced to        
conjecture4 ,in a letter of counsel to  
his son  in after years1 he gave him a  
weighty piece of advice1 which1 is      
pretty plainly the key to the reality   
and fruitfulness of his own  knowledge4 
,reading1 he said1 and much reading1 is 
good4 ,but the  power of diversifying   
the matter infinitely in your own mind1 
and of  applying it to every occasion   
that arises1 is far better2 so don't    
suppress the vivida vis4 ,we have no    
more of ,burke's doings than  obscure   
and tantalising glimpses1 tantalising1  
because he was then at  the age when    

character usually either fritters itself
 away1 or grows  strong on the inward   
sustenance of solid and resolute        
aspirations4  ,writing from ,battersea  
to his old comrade1 ,shackleton1 in     
#ageg1  he begins with an apology for a 
long silence which seems to have        
continued from months to years4 ,i have 
broken all rules2 ,i have  neglected all
 decorums2 everything except that ,i    
have never forgot a  friend1 whose good 
head and heart have made me esteem and  
love him4  ,what appearance there may   
have been of neglect1 arises from my    
manner of life2 chequered with various  
designs2 sometimes in ,london1          
sometimes in remote parts of the        
country2 sometimes in ,france1 and      
shortly1 please ,god1 to be in ,america4
    ,one of the hundred inscrutable     
rumours that hovered about ,burke's name
  was1 that he at one time actually did 
visit ,america4 ,this was just as       
untrue as that he became a convert to   
the ,catholic faith2 or that he  was the

 lover of ,peg ,woffington2 or that he  
contested ,adam ,smith's  chair of moral
 philosophy at ,glasgow along with      
,hume1 and that both  ,burke and ,hume  
were rejected in favour of some         
fortunate ,mr4 ,james  ,clow4 ,they are 
all alike unfounded4 ,but the same      
letter informs  ,shackleton of a        
circumstance more real and more         
important than any  of these1 though its
 details are only doubtfully known4     
,burke had  married--when and where1 we 
cannot tell4 ,probably the marriage took
  place in the winter of #agef4 ,his    
wife was the daughter of ,dr4 ,nugent1  
an ,irish physician once settled at     
,bath4 ,one story is that ,burke        
consulted him in one of his visits to   
the west of ,england1 and fell in  love 
with his daughter4 ,another version     
makes ,burke consult him after  ,dr4    
,nugent had removed to ,london2 and     
tells how the kindly physician1         
considering that the noise and bustle of
 chambers over a shop must  hinder his  

patient's recovery1 offered him rooms in
 his own house4  ,however these things  
may have been1 all the evidence shows   
,burke to  have been fortunate in the   
choice or accident that bestowed upon   
him  his wife4 ,mrs4 ,burke1 like her   
father1 was1 up to the time of her      
marriage1 a ,catholic4 ,good judges     
belonging to her own sex describe  her  
as gentle1 quiet1 soft in her manners1  
and well-bred4 ,she had the  qualities  
which best fitted and disposed her to   
soothe the vehemence  and irritability  
of her companion4 ,though she afterwards
 conformed to  the religion of her      
husband1 it was no insignificant        
coincidence  that in two of the dearest 
relations of his life the atmosphere of 
,catholicism was thus poured round the  
great preacher of the crusade  against  
the ,revolution4    ,about the time of  
his marriage1 ,burke made his first     
appearance as an  author4 ,it was in    
#agef that he published ,a ,vindication 
of ,natural  ,society1 and the more     

important essay1 ,a ,philosophical      
,inquiry into  the ,origin of our ,ideas
 on the ,sublime and ,beautiful4 ,the   
latter of  them had certainly been      
written a long time before1 and there is
 even  a traditional story that ,burke  
wrote it when he was only nineteen      
years old4 ,both of these performances  
have in different degrees a  historic   
meaning1 but neither of them would have 
survived to our own  day unless they had
 been associated with a name of power4  
,a few  words will suffice to do justice
 to them here4 ,and first as to the     
,vindication of ,natural ,society4 ,its 
alternative title was1 ,a ,view  of the 
,miseries and ,evils arising to ,mankind
 from every ,species of  ,civil         
,society1 in a ,letter to ,lord ----1 by
 a late ,noble ,writer4    ,bolingbroke 
had died in #agea1 and in #aged his     
philosophical works  were posthumously  
given to the world by ,david ,mallet1   
,dr4 ,johnson's  beggarly ,scotchman1 to
 whom ,bolingbroke had left half-a-crown

 in his  will1 for firing off a         
blunderbuss which he was afraid to fire 
off himself4 ,the world of letters had  
been keenly excited about  ,bolingbroke4
 ,his busy and chequered career1 his    
friendship with the  great wits of the  
previous generation1 his splendid style1
 his bold  opinions1 made him a dazzling
 figure4 ,this was the late ,noble      
,writer  whose opinions ,burke intended 
to ridicule1 by reducing them to an     
absurdity in an exaggeration of         
,bolingbroke's own manner4 ,as it       
happened1 the public did not readily    
perceive either the exaggeration  in the
 manner1 or the satire in the matter4   
,excellent judges of style  made sure   
that the writing was really             
,bolingbroke's1 and serious  critics of 
philosophy never doubted that the       
writer1 whoever he was1  meant all that 
he said4 ,we can hardly help agreeing   
with ,godwin1 when  he says that in     
,burke's treatise the evils of existing 
political  institutions1 which had been 

described by ,locke1 are set forth more 
at  large1 with incomparable force of   
reasoning and lustre of eloquence1      
though the declared intention of the    
writer was to show that such  evils     
ought to be considered merely trivial4  
,years afterwards1 ,boswell  asked      
,johnson whether an imprudent           
publication by a certain friend of  his 
at an early period of his life would be 
likely to hurt him8 ,no1  sir1 replied  
the sage2 not much2 it might perhaps be 
mentioned at an  election4 ,it is       
significant that in #agfe1 when ,burke  
saw his chance  of a seat in            
,parliament1 he thought it worth while  
to print a second  edition of his       
,vindication1 with a preface to assure  
his readers  that the design of it was  
ironical4 ,it has been remarked as a    
very  extraordinary circumstance that an
 author who had the greatest fame  of   
any man of his day as the master of a   
superb style1 for this was  indeed      
,bolingbroke's position1 should have    

been imitated to such  perfection by a  
mere novice1 that accomplished critics  
like  ,chesterfield and ,warburton      
should have mistaken the copy for a     
firstrate original4 ,it is1 however1 to 
be remembered that the very  boldness   
and sweeping rapidity of ,bolingbroke's 
prose rendered it more  fit for         
imitation than if its merits had been   
those of delicacy or  subtlety2 and we  
must remember that the imitator was no  
pigmy1 but  himself one of the giants4  
,what is certain is that the study of   
,bolingbroke which preceded this        
excellent imitation left a permanent    
mark1 and traces of ,bolingbroke were   
never effaced from the style of  ,burke4
    ,the point of the ,vindication is   
simple enough4 ,it is to show that  the 
same instruments which ,bolingbroke had 
employed in favour of  natural against  
revealed religion1 could be employed    
with equal  success in favour of natural
 as against1 what ,burke calls1         
artificial  society4 ,show me1 cries the

 writer1 an absurdity in religion1 and  
,i will undertake to show you a hundred 
for one in political laws and           
institutions4444 ,if1 after all1 you    
should confess all these things1  yet   
plead the necessity of political        
institutions1 weak and wicked as  they  
are1 ,i can argue with equal1 perhaps   
superior force1 concerning  the         
necessity of artificial religion2 and   
every step you advance in  your         
argument1 you add a strength to mine4   
,so that if we are resolved  to submit  
our reason and our liberty to civil     
usurpation1 we have  nothing to do but  
to conform as quietly as we can to the  
vulgar  notions which are connected with
 this1 and take up the theology of  the 
vulgar as well as their politics4 ,but  
if we think this necessity  rather      
imaginary than real1 we should renounce 
their dreams of  society1 together with 
their visions of religion1 and vindicate
  ourselves into perfect liberty4       
,the most interesting fact about this   

spirited performance is1 that it  is a  
satirical literary handling of the great
 proposition which ,burke  enforced1    
with all the thunder and lurid          
effulgence of his most  passionate      
rhetoric1 five and thirty years later4  
,this proposition is  that the world    
would fall into ruin1 if the practice of
 all moral  duties1 and the foundations 
of society1 rested upon having their    
reasons made clear and demonstrative to 
every individual4 ,the satire  is       
intended for an illustration of what    
with ,burke was the cardinal  truth for 
men1 namely1 that if you encourage every
 individual to let  the imagination     
loose upon all subjects1 without any    
restraint from a  sense of his own      
weakness1 and his subordinate rank in   
the long scheme  of things1 then there  
is nothing of all that the opinion of   
ages  has agreed to regard as excellent 
and venerable1 which would not be       
exposed to destruction at the hands of  
rationalistic criticism4 ,this  was     

,burke's most fundamental and unswerving
 conviction from the first  piece that  
he wrote down to the last1 and down to  
the last hour of his  existence4    ,it 
is a coincidence worth noticing that    
only two years before the  appearance of
 the ,vindication1 ,rousseau had        
published the second  of the two        
memorable ,discourses in which he       
insisted with serious  eloquence on that
 which ,burke treats as a triumph of    
irony4 ,he  believed1 and many thousands
 of ,frenchmen came to a speculative    
agreement with him1 that artificial     
society had marked a decline in  the    
felicity of man1 and there are passages 
in the ,discourse in which  he          
demonstrates this1 that are easily      
interchangeable with passages  in the   
,vindication4 ,who would undertake to   
tell us from internal  evidence whether 
the following page1 with its sombre     
glow1 is an  extract from ,burke1 or an 
extract from the book which ,rousseau   
begins  by the sentence that man is born

 free1 yet is he everywhere in          
chains8--        ,there are in ,great   
,britain upwards of a hundred thousand  
people      employed in lead1 tin1 iron1
 copper1 and coal mines2 these unhappy  
wretches scarce ever see the light of   
the sun2 they are buried in      the    
bowels of the earth2 there they work at 
a severe and dismal      task1 without  
the least prospect of being delivered   
from it2 they      subsist upon the     
coarsest and worst sort of fare2 they   
have their      health miserably        
impaired1 and their lives cut short1 by 
being      perpetually confined in the  
close vapour of these malignant         
minerals4 ,a hundred thousand more at   
least are tortured without              
remission by the suffocating smoke1     
intense fires1 and constant             
drudgery1 necessary in refining and     
managing the products of those          
mines4 ,if any man informed us that two 
hundred thousand innocent      persons  
were condemned to so intolerable        

slavery1 how should      we pity the    
unhappy sufferers1 and how great would  
be our just      indignation against    
those who inflicted so cruel and        
ignominious      a punishment6444 ,but  
this number1 considerable as it is1 and 
the      slavery1 with all its baseness 
and horror1 which we have at home1      
is nothing to what the rest of the world
 affords of the same      nature4       
,millions daily bathed in the poisonous 
damps and      destructive effluvia of  
lead1 silver1 copper1 and arsenic1 to   
say      nothing of those other         
employments1 those stations of          
wretchedness      and contempt1 in which
 civil society has placed the numerous  
enfans perdus of her army4 ,would any   
rational man submit to one      of the  
most tolerable of these drudgeries1 for 
all the artificial      enjoyments which
 policy has made to result from them8444
 ,indeed      the blindness of one part 
of mankind co-operating with the frenzy 
and villainy of the other1 has been the 

real builder of this      respectable   
fabric of political society3 and as the 
blindness of      mankind has caused    
their slavery1 in return their state of 
slavery      is made a pretence for     
continuing them in a state of blindness2
      for the politician will tell you  
gravely that their life of              
servitude disqualifies the greater part 
of the race of man for a      search of 
truth1 and supplies them with no other  
than mean and      insufficient ideas4  
,this is but too true2 and this is one  
of the      reasons for which ,i blame  
such institutions4    ,from the very    
beginning1 therefore1 ,burke was drawn  
to the deepest of  all the currents in  
the thought of the eighteenth century4  
,johnson and  ,goldsmith continued the  
traditions of social and polite         
literature  which had been established  
by the ,queen ,anne men4 ,warburton and 
a  whole host of apologists carried on  
the battle against deism and            
infidelity4 ,hume1 after furnishing the 

arsenal of scepticism with  a new array 
of deadlier engines and more abundant   
ammunition1 had  betaken himself        
placidly to the composition of history4 
,what is  remarkable in ,burke's first  
performance is his discernment of the   
important fact1 that behind the         
intellectual disturbances in the  sphere
 of philosophy1 and the noisier         
agitations in the sphere of  theology1  
there silently stalked a force that     
might shake the whole  fabric of civil  
society itself4 ,in ,france1 as all     
students of its  speculative history are
 agreed1 there came a time in the       
eighteenth  century when theological    
controversy was turned into political   
controversy4 ,innovators left the       
question about the truth of             
,christianity1 and busied themselves    
with questions about the ends  and means
 of governments4 ,the appearance of     
,burke's ,vindication  of ,natural      
,society coincides in time with the     
beginning of this  important            

transformation4 ,burke foresaw from the 
first what1 if  rationalism were allowed
 to run an unimpeded course1 would be   
the  really great business of the second
 halt of his century4    ,if in his     
first book ,burke showed how alive he   
was to the profound  movement of the    
time1 in the second he dealt with one of
 the most  serious of its more          
superficial interests4 ,the essay on the
 ,sublime  and ,beautiful fell in with a
 set of topics on which the curiosity of
  the better minds of the age1 alike in 
,france1 ,england1 and ,germany1  was   
fully stirred4 ,in ,england the essay   
has been ordinarily slighted2  it has   
perhaps been overshadowed by its        
author's fame in weightier  matters4    
,the nearest approach to a full and     
serious treatment of its  main positions
 is to be found in ,dugald ,stewart's   
lectures4 ,the  great rhetorical        
art-critic of our own day refers to it  
in words of  disparagement1 and in truth
 it has none of the flummery of modern  

criticism4 ,it is a piece of hard       
thinking1 and it has the distinction  of
 having interested and stimulated       
,lessing1 the author of ,laokon         
7#agff71 by far the most definitely     
valuable of all the contributions  to   
aesthetic thought in an age which was   
not poor in them4 ,lessing was  so      
struck with the ,inquiry that he set    
about a translation of it1  and the     
correspondence between him and ,moses   
,mendelssohn on the  questions which    
,burke had raised contains the germs of 
the doctrine as  to poetry and painting 
which ,laokon afterwards made so famous4
 ,its  influence on ,lessing and on     
,kant was such as to justify the ,german
  historian of the literature of the    
century in bestowing on it the  coveted 
epithet of epoch-making4    ,the book is
 full of crudities4 ,we feel the worse  
side of the  eighteenth century when    
,burke tells us that a thirst for       
,variety in  architecture is sure to    
leave very little true taste2 or that an

 air  of robustness and strength is very
 prejudicial to beauty2 or that sad     
fuscous colours are indispensable for   
sublimity4 ,many of the sections1       
again1 are little more than expanded    
definitions from the dictionary4  ,any  
tyro may now be shocked at such a       
proposition as that beauty acts  by     
relaxing the solids of the whole system4
 ,but at least one signal  merit remains
 to the ,inquiry4 ,it was a vigorous    
enlargement of the  principle1 which    
,addison had not long before timidly    
illustrated1 that  critics of art seek  
its principles in the wrong place1 so   
long as  they limit their search to     
poems1 pictures1 engravings1 statues1   
and  buildings1 instead of first        
arranging the sentiments and faculties  
in  man to which art makes its appeal4  
,addison's treatment was slight and     
merely literary2 ,burke dealt boldly    
with his subject on the base of  the    
most scientific psychology that was then
 within his reach4 ,to  approach it on  

the psychological side at all was to    
make a distinct  and remarkable advance 
in the method of the inquiry which he   
had taken  in hand4          ,,chapter  
,,ii    ,,in                            
,,ireland--,,parliament--,,beaconsfield 
,burke was thirty years old before he   
approached even the threshold of  the   
arena in which he was destined to be so 
great a figure4 ,he had  made a mark in 
literature1 and it was to literature    
rather than to  public affairs that his 
ambition turned4 ,he had naturally      
become  acquainted with the             
brother-authors who haunted the         
coffee-houses in  ,fleet ,street2 and   
,burke1 along with his father-in-law1   
,dr4 ,nugent1  was one of the first     
members of the immortal club where      
,johnson did  conversational battle with
 all comers4 ,we shall1 in a later      
chapter1  have something to say on      
,burke's friendships with the followers 
of  his first profession1 and on the    
active sympathy with which he helped    

those who were struggling into          
authorship4 ,meanwhile1 the fragments   
that remain of his own attempts in this 
direction are no considerable           
contributions4 ,his ,hints for an ,essay
 on the ,drama are jejune and           
infertile1 when compared with the       
vigorous and original thought of        
,diderot and ,lessing at about the same 
period4 ,he wrote an ,account of  the   
,european ,settlements in ,america4 ,his
 ,abridgment of the ,history of         
,england comes down no further than to  
the reign of ,john4 ,a much more        
important undertaking than his history  
of the past was his design for  a yearly
 chronicle of the present4 ,the ,annual 
,register began to  appear in #agei4    
,dodsley1 the bookseller of ,pall ,mall1
 provided the  sinews of war1 and he    
gave ,burke a hundred pounds a year for 
his  survey of the great events which   
were then passing in the world4 ,the    
scheme was probably born of the         
circumstances of the hour1 for this  was

 the climax of the ,seven ,years' ,war4 
,the clang of arms was heard in  every  
quarter of the globe1 and in ,east and  
,west new lands were being  brought     
under the dominion of ,great ,britain4  
,in this exciting crisis of national    
affairs1 ,burke began to be  acquainted 
with public men4 ,in #agei he was       
introduced1 probably by  ,lord          
,charlemont1 to ,william ,gerard        
,hamilton1 who only survives in our     
memories by his nickname of             
,single-speech4 ,as a matter of fact1 he
  made many speeches in ,parliament1 and
 some good ones1 but none so  good as   
the first1 delivered in a debate in     
#agee1 in which ,pitt1 ,fox1            
,grenville1 and ,murray all took part1  
and were all outshone by the  new       
luminary4 ,but the new luminary never   
shone again with its first  brilliance4 
,he sought ,burke out on the strength of
 the success of the  ,vindication of    
,natural ,society1 and he seems to have 
had a taste for  good company4 ,horace  

,walpole describes a dinner at his house
 in the  summer of #agfa4 ,there were   
,garrick1 he says1 and a young ,mr4     
,burke1  who wrote a book in the style  
of ,lord ,bolingbroke1 that is much     
admired4 ,he is a sensible man1 but has 
not worn off his authorism yet1  and    
thinks there is nothing so charming as  
writers1 and to be one4 ,he  will know  
better one of these days4 ,the prophecy 
came true in time1  but it was ,burke's 
passion for authorism that eventually   
led to a  rupture with his first patron4
 ,hamilton was a man of ability1 but    
selfish and unreasonable4 ,dr4 ,leland  
afterwards described him  compendiously 
as a sullen1 vain1 proud1 selfish1      
canker-hearted1  envious reptile4    ,in
 #agfa ,hamilton went to ,ireland as    
secretary to ,lord ,halifax1 and  ,burke
 accompanied him in some indefinite     
capacity4 ,the absenteeism of  her men  
of genius1 an eminent historian has     
said1 was a worse wrong  to ,ireland    
than the absenteeism of her landlords4  

,if ,edmund ,burke had  remained in the 
country where ,providence had placed    
him1 he might have  changed the current 
of its history4 #a ,it is at least to be
 said  that ,burke was never so absorbed
 in other affairs as to forget the      
peculiar interests of his native land4  
,we have his own word1 and his  career  
does not belie it1 that in the elation  
with which he was filled  on being      
elected a member of ,parliament1 what   
was first and uppermost  in his thoughts
 was the hope of being somewhat useful  
to the place of  his birth and          
education2 and to the last he had in it 
a dearness of  instinct more than he    
could justify to reason4 ,in fact the   
affairs  of ,ireland had a most         
important part in ,burke's life at one  
or two  critical moments1 and this is as
 convenient a place as we are likely  to
 find for describing in a few words what
 were the issues4 ,the brief  space can 
hardly be grudged in an account of a    
great political writer1  for ,ireland   

had furnished the chief ordeal1 test1   
and standard of  ,english statesmen4    
,footnote #a3 ,fronde's ,ireland1 ii4   
#bad4    ,ireland in the middle of the  
eighteenth century was to ,england just 
what the ,american colonies would have  
been1 if they had contained1  besides   
the ,european settlers1 more than twice 
their number of  unenslaved negroes4    
,after the suppression of the great     
rebellion of  ,tyrconnel by ,william of 
,orange1 nearly the whole of the land   
was  confiscated1 the peasants were made
 beggars and outlaws1 the ,penal  ,laws 
against the ,catholics were enacted and 
enforced1 and the  grand reign of       
,protestant ,ascendancy began in all its
 vileness and  completeness4 ,the       
,protestants and landlords were supreme2
 the peasants  and the ,catholics were  
prostrate in despair4 ,the ,revolution  
brought  about in ,ireland just the     
reverse of what it effected in ,england4
 ,here  it delivered the body of the    
nation from the attempted supremacy of a

  small sect4 ,there it made a small    
sect supreme over the body of the       
nation4 ,it was1 to say the truth1      
,burke wrote1 not a revolution but  a   
conquest1 and the policy of conquest was
 treated as the just and  normal system 
of government4 ,the last conquest of    
,england was in the  eleventh century4  
,the last conquest of ,ireland was at   
the very end of  the seventeenth4       
,sixty years after the event1 when      
,burke revisited ,ireland1 some         
important changes had taken place4 ,the 
,english settlers of the  beginning of  
the century had formed an ,irish        
interest4 ,they had become              
,anglo-,irish1 just as the colonists    
still further west had formed a         
colonial interest and become            
,anglo-,american4 ,the same conduct on  
the part of the mother country promoted 
the growth of these hostile  interests  
in both cases4 ,the commercial policy   
pursued by ,england  towards ,america   
was identical with that pursued towards 

,ireland4 ,the  industry of the         
,anglo-,irish traders was restricted1   
their commerce  and even their          
production fettered1 their prosperity   
checked1 for the  benefit of the        
merchants of ,manchester and ,bristol4  
,crescit ,roma  ,albae ruinis4 ,the bulk
 of the people1 said ,stone1 the        
,primate1 are  not regularly either     
lodged1 clothed1 or fed2 and those      
things which  in ,england are called    
necessaries of life1 are to us only     
accidents1  and we can1 and in many     
places do1 subsist without them4 ,on the
  other hand1 the peasantry had         
gradually taken heart to resent their   
spoliation and attempted extirpation1   
and in #agfa their misery  under the    
exactions of landlords and a church     
which tried to spread  ,christianity by 
the brotherly agency of the             
tithe-proctor1 gave birth  to           
,whiteboyism--a terrible spectre1 which1
 under various names and  with various  
modifications1 has ridden ,ireland down 

to our own time4    ,burke saw the      
,protestant traders of the dependency   
the victims of  the colonial and        
commercial system2 the ,catholic        
landowners legally  dispossessed by the 
operation of the penal laws2 the        
,catholic  peasantry deeply penetrated  
with an insurgent and vindictive spirit2
  and the ,imperial ,government standing
 very much aloof1 and leaving the       
country to the tender mercies of the    
,undertakers and some ,protestant       
churchmen4 ,the ,anglo-,irish were      
bitterly discontented with the  mother  
country2 and the ,catholic native ,irish
 were regarded by their  ,protestant    
oppressors with exactly that combination
 of intense  contempt and loathing1 and 
intense rage and terror1 which their    
,american counterpart would have divided
 between the ,negro and the ,red        
,indian4 ,to the ,anglo-,irish the      
native peasant was as odious as the     
first1 and as terrible as the second4   
,even at the close of the century       

,burke could declare that the various   
descriptions of the people were  kept as
 much apart as if they were not only    
separate nations1 but  separate species4
 ,there were thousands1 he says1 who had
 never talked  to a ,roman ,catholic in 
their whole lives1 unless they happened 
to talk  to a gardener's workman or some
 other labourer of the second or third  
order2 while a little time before this  
they were so averse to have  them near  
their persons1 that they would not      
employ even those who  could never find 
their way beyond the stables4           
,chesterfield1 a  thoroughly impartial  
and just observer1 said in #agfd that   
the poor  people in ,ireland were used  
worse than negroes by their masters and 
the middlemen4 ,we should never forget  
that in the transactions with  the      
,english ,government during the         
eighteenth century1 the people          
concerned were not the ,irish1 but the  
,anglo-,irish1 the colonists  of #afia4 
,they were an aristocracy1 as ,adam     

,smith said of them1 not  founded in the
 natural and respectable distinctions of
 birth and  fortune1 but in the most    
odious of all distinctions1 those of    
religious and political                 
prejudices--distinctions which1 more    
than any  other1 animate both the       
insolence of the oppressors and the     
hatred and  indignation of the          
oppressed4    ,the directions in which  
,irish improvement would move were clear
 from  the middle of the century to men 
with much less foresight than  ,burke   
had4 ,the removal of all commercial     
restrictions1 either by  ,independence  
or ,union1 on the one hand1 and the     
gradual emancipation  of the ,catholics1
 on the other1 were the two processes to
 which every  consideration of good     
government manifestly pointed4 ,the     
first proved  a much shorter and simpler
 process than the second4 ,to the first 
the only obstacle was the blindness and 
selfishness of the ,english  merchants4 
,the second had to overcome the virulent

 opposition of the  tyrannical          
,protestant faction in ,ireland1 and the
 disgraceful but  deep-rooted           
antipathies of the ,english nation4 ,the
 history of the  relation between the   
mother country and her dependency during
 ,brake's  life1 may be characterised as
 a commercial and legislative struggle  
between the imperial government and the 
,anglo-,irish interest1 in which  each  
side for its own convenience1 as the    
turn served1 drew support  from the     
,catholic majority4    ,a ,whiteboy     
outbreak1 attended by the usual         
circumstances of disorder  and violence1
 took place while ,burke was in         
,ireland4 ,it suited the  interests of  
faction to represent these commotions as
 the symptoms of  a deliberate          
rebellion4 ,the malcontents were        
represented as carrying  on treasonable 
correspondence1 sometimes with ,spain   
and sometimes  with ,france2 they were  
accused of receiving money and arms from
 their  foreign sympathisers1 and of    

aiming at throwing off the ,english     
rule4  ,burke says that he had means and
 the desire of informing himself to  the
 bottom upon the matter1 and he came    
strongly to the conclusion  that this   
was not a true view of what had         
happened4 ,what had happened  was due1  
he thought1 to no plot1 but to          
superficial and fortuitous              
circumstances4 ,he consequently did not 
shrink from describing it as  criminal1 
that the king's ,catholic subjects in   
,ireland should have  been subjected1 on
 no good grounds1 to harassing          
persecution1 and that  numbers of them  
should have been ruined in fortune1     
imprisoned1 tried1  and capitally       
executed for a rebellion which was no   
rebellion at all4  ,the episode is only 
important as illustrating the strong and
 manly  temper in which ,burke1 unlike  
too many of his countrymen with fortunes
  to make by ,english favour1 uniformly 
considered the circumstances of  his    
country4 ,it was not until a later time 

that he had an opportunity  of acting   
conspicuously on her behalf1 but        
whatever influence he came  to acquire  
with his party was unflinchingly used   
against the cruelty  of ,english        
prejudice4    ,burke appears to have    
remained in ,ireland for two years      
7#agfa-fc74 ,in  #agfc ,hamilton1 who   
had found him an invaluable auxiliary1  
procured for  him1 principally with the 
aid of the ,primate ,stone1 a pension of
 three  hundred pounds a year from the  
,irish ,treasury4 ,in thanking him for  
this service1 ,burke proceeded to       
bargain that the obligation should  not 
bind him to give to his patron the whole
 of his time4 ,he insisted  on being    
left with a discreet liberty to continue
 a little work which  he had as a       
rent-charge upon his thoughts4 ,whatever
 advantages he had  acquired1 he says1  
had been due to literary reputation1 and
 he could  only hope for a continuance  
of such advantages on condition of doing
  something to keep the same reputation 

alive4 ,what this literary design  was1 
we do not know with certainty4 ,it is   
believed to have been a  history of     
,england1 of which1 as ,i have said1 a  
fragment remains4  ,whatever the work   
may have been1 it was an offence to     
,hamilton4 ,with  an irrational         
stubbornness1 that may well astound us  
when we think of  the noble genius that 
he thus wished to confine to paltry     
personal  duties1 he persisted that     
,burke should bind himself to his       
service for  life1 and to the exclusion 
of other interests4 ,to circumscribe my 
hopes1 cried ,burke1 to give up even the
 possibility of liberty1 to  annihilate 
myself for ever6 ,he threw up the       
pension1 which he had  held for two     
years1 and declined all further         
connection with ,hamilton1  whom he     
roundly described as an infamous        
scoundrel4 ,six of the  best years of my
 life he took me from every pursuit of  
my literary  reputation1 or of          
improvement of my fortune4444 ,in all   

this time you  may easily conceive how  
much ,i felt at seeing myself left      
behind  by almost all of my             
contemporaries4 ,there never was a      
season more  favourable for any man who 
chose to enter into the career of public
  life2 and ,i think ,i am not guilty of
 ostentation in supposing my own  moral 
character and my industry1 my friends   
and connections1 when ,mr4  ,hamilton   
first sought my acquaintance1 were not  
at all inferior to  those of several    
whose fortune is at this day upon a very
 different  footing from mine4    ,it   
was not long before a more important    
opening offered itself1 which  speedily 
brought ,burke into the main stream of  
public life4 ,in the  summer of #agfe a 
change of ministry took place4 ,it was  
the third since  the king's accession   
five years ago4 ,first1 ,pitt had been  
disgraced1  and the old ,duke of        
,newcastle dismissed4 ,then ,bute came  
into power1  but ,bute quailed before   
the storm of calumny and hate which his 

,scotch  nationality1 and the supposed  
source of his power over the king1 had  
raised in every town in ,england4 ,after
 ,lord ,bute1 ,george ,grenville        
undertook the ,government4 ,before he   
had been many months in office1  he had 
sown the seeds of war in the colonies1  
wearied ,parliament1  and disgusted the 
king4 ,in ,june #agfe ,grenville was    
dismissed4 ,with  profound reluctance   
the king had no other choice than to    
summon ,lord  ,rockingham1 and ,lord    
,rockingham1 in a happy moment for      
himself and his  party1 was induced to  
offer ,burke a post as his private      
secretary4  ,a government by country    
gentlemen is too apt to be a government 
of  ignorance1 and ,lord ,rockingham was
 without either experience or           
knowledge4 ,he felt1 or friends felt for
 him1 the advantage of having  at his   
side a man who was chiefly known as an  
author in the service  of ,dodsley1 and 
as having conducted the ,annual         
,register with great  ability1 but who  

even then was widely spoken of as       
nothing less than  an encyclopaedia of  
political knowledge4    ,it is commonly 
believed that ,burke was commended to   
,lord ,rockingham by  ,william          
,fitzherbert4 ,fitzherbert was          
,president of the ,board of ,trade  in  
the new government1 but he is more      
likely to be remembered as ,dr4         
,johnson's famous example of the truth  
of the observation1 that a  man will    
please more upon the whole by negative  
qualities than by  positive1 because he 
was the most acceptable man in ,london1 
and yet  overpowered nobody by the      
superiority of his talents1 made no man 
think worse of himself by being his     
rival1 seemed always to listen1  did not
 oblige you to hear much from him1 and  
did not oppose what  you said4 ,besides 
,fitzherbert's influence1 we have it on 
,burke's own  authority that his        
promotion was partly due to that        
mysterious person1  ,william ,burke1 who
 was at the same time appointed an      

under-secretary  of state4 ,there must  
have been unpleasant rumours afloat as  
to the  ,burke connection1 and we shall 
presently consider what they were       
worth4 ,meanwhile1 it is enough to say  
that the old ,duke of ,newcastle        
hurried to the new premier1 and told him
 the appointment would never  do2 that  
the new secretary was not only an ,irish
 adventurer1 which was  true1 but that  
he was an ,irish papist1 which was not  
true2 that he was  a ,jesuit1 that he   
was a spy from ,saint ,omer's1 and that 
his real name  was ,o',bourke4 ,lord    
,rockingham behaved like a man of sense 
and honour1  sent for ,burke1 and       
repeated to him what he had heard4      
,burke warmly  denounced the            
truthlessness of the ,duke's tattle4 ,he
 insisted that  the reports which his   
chief had heard would probably1 even    
unknown to  himself1 create in his mind 
such suspicions as would stand in the   
way  of a thorough confidence4 ,no      
earthly consideration1 he said1 should  

induce him to continue in relations with
 a man whose trust in him was  not      
entire2 and he pressed his resignation4 
,to this ,lord ,rockingham  would not   
consent1 and from that time until his   
death1 seventeen  years afterwards1 the 
relations between them were those of    
loyal and  honourable service on the one
 hand1 and generous and appreciative    
friendship on the other4 ,six and twenty
 years afterwards 7#agia7 ,burke        
remembered the month in which he had    
first become connected with a  man whose
 memory1 he said1 will ever be precious 
to ,englishmen of  all parties1 as long 
as the ideas of honour and virtue1      
public and  private1 are understood and 
cherished in this nation4    ,the       
,rockingham ministry remained in office 
for a year and twenty days  7#agfe-ff74 
,about the middle of this term          
7,december #bf1 #agfe7 ,burke was       
returned to ,parliament for the borough 
of ,wendover1 by the influence  of ,lord
 ,verney1 who owned it1 and who also    

returned ,william ,burke for  another   
borough4 ,lord ,verney was an ,irish    
peer1 with large property in            
,buckinghamshire2 he now represented    
that county in ,parliament4 ,it  was    
,william ,burke's influence with ,lord  
,verney that procured for his  namesake 
the seat at ,wendover4 ,burke made his  
first speech in the  ,house of ,commons 
a few days after the opening of the     
session of #agff  7,january #bg71 and   
was honoured by a compliment from ,pitt1
 still the  ,great ,commoner4 ,a week   
later he spoke again on the same        
momentous  theme1 the complaints of the 
,american colonists1 and his success was
  so marked that good judges predicted1 
in the stiff phraseology of the  time1  
that he would soon add the palm of the  
orator to the laurel of  the writer and 
the philosopher4 ,the friendly ,dr4     
,johnson wrote to  ,langton that ,burke 
had gained more reputation than any man 
at his  first appearance had ever gained
 before4 ,the session was a great       

triumph to the new member1 but it       
brought neither strength nor  popularity
 to the administration4 ,at the end of  
it the king dismissed  them1 and the    
,chatham ,government was formed--that   
strange combination  which has been made
 famous by ,burke's description of it as
 a piece of  joinery so crossly indented
 and whimsically dovetailed1 such a     
piece  of diversified mosaic1 such a    
tessellated pavement without cement1    
that it was indeed a very curious show1 
but utterly unsafe to touch  and unsure 
to stand upon4 ,there was no obvious    
reason why ,burke should  not have      
joined the new ministry4 ,the change was
 at first one of  persons rather than of
 principles or of measures4 ,to put     
himself1 as  ,burke afterwards said1 out
 of the way of the negotiations which   
were  then being carried on very eagerly
 and through many channels with the     
,earl of ,chatham1 he went to ,ireland  
very soon after the change of  ministry4
 ,he was free from party engagements1   

and more than this1 he  was free at the 
express desire of his friends2 for on   
the very day of  his return the ,marquis
 of ,rockingham wished him to accept    
office under  the new system4 ,burke    
believes he might have had such a       
situation1  but he cheerfully took his  
fate with his party4 ,in a short time he
  rendered his party the first of a long
 series of splendid literary  services  
by writing his ,observations on the     
,present ,state of the  ,nation 7#agfi74
 ,it was a reply to a pamphlet by       
,george ,grenville1 in  which the       
disappointed minister accused his       
successors of ruining the  country4     
,burke1 in answering the charge1 showed 
a grasp of commercial  and fiscal       
details at least equal to that of       
,grenville himself1 then  considered the
 first man of his time in dealing with  
the national  trade and resources4 ,to  
this easy mastery of the special facts  
of the  discussion1 ,burke added the far
 rarer art of lighting them up by broad 

principles1 and placing himself and his 
readers at the highest and  most        
effective point of view for commanding  
their general bearings4    ,if ,burke   
had been the ,irish adventurer that his 
enemies described1 he  might well have  
seized with impatience the opening to   
office that the  recent exhibition of   
his powers in the ,house of ,commons had
 now made  accessible to him4 ,there was
 not a man in ,great ,britain to whom   
the  emoluments of office would have    
been more useful4 ,it is one of the     
standing mysteries in literary biography
 how ,burke could think of  entering    
,parliament without any means that      
anybody can now trace of  earning a     
fitting livelihood4 ,yet at this time   
,burke1 whom we saw not  long ago       
writing for the booksellers1 had become 
affluent enough to  pay a yearly        
allowance to ,barry1 the painter1 in    
order to enable him  to study the       
pictures in the great ,european         
galleries1 and to make a  prolonged     

residence at ,rome4 ,a little later he  
took a step which  makes the riddle     
still more difficult1 and which has     
given abundant  employment to wits who  
are maximi in minimis1 and think that   
every  question which they can ask1 yet 
to which history has thought it worth   
while to leave no answer1 is somehow a  
triumph of their own learning  and      
dialectic4    ,in #agfi ,burke purchased
 a house and lands known as ,gregories1 
in the  parishes of ,penn and           
,beaconsfield1 in the county of ,bucks4 
,it has  often been asked1 and naturally
 enough1 how a man who1 hardly more     
than a few months before1 was still     
contented to earn an extra hundred      
pounds a year by writing for ,dodsley1  
should now have launched out as  the    
buyer of a fine house and estate1 which 
cost upwards of twenty-two  thousand    
pounds1 which could not be kept up on   
less than two thousand  five hundred a  
year1 and of which the returns did not  
amount to  one-fifth of that sum4       

,whence did he procure the money1 and   
what is  perhaps more difficult to      
answer1 how came he first to entertain  
the  idea of a design so                
ill-proportioned to anything that we can
 now  discern in his means and          
prospects8 ,the common answer from      
,burke's  enemies1 and even from some   
neutral inquirers1 gives to every lover 
of this great man's high character an   
unpleasant shock4 ,it is alleged  that  
he had plunged into furious gambling in 
,east ,india stock4 ,the  charge was    
current at the time1 and it was speedily
 revived when  ,burke's abandonment of  
his party1 after the ,french            
,revolution1 exposed  him to a thousand 
attacks of reckless and uncontrolled    
virulence4 ,it  has been stirred by one 
or two pertinacious critics nearer our  
own  time1 and none of the biographers  
have dealt with the perplexities  of the
 matter as they ought to have done4     
,nobody1 indeed1 has ever  pretended to 
find one jot or tittle of direct        

evidence that ,burke  himself took a    
part in the gambling in ,india or other 
stocks4 ,there is  evidence that he was 
a holder of the stock1 and no more4 ,but
 what is  undeniable is that ,richard   
,burke1 his brother1 ,william ,burke1   
his  intimate if not his kinsman1 and   
,lord ,verney1 his political patron1    
were all three at this time engaged     
together in immense transactions  in    
,east ,india stock2 that in #agfi the   
stock fell violently2 that they  were   
unable to pay their differences2 and    
that in the year when ,edmund  ,burke   
bought ,gregories1 the other three were 
utterly ruined1 two of  them beyond     
retrieval4 ,again it is clear that1     
after this1 ,richard  ,burke was engaged
 in land-jobbing in the ,west ,indies2  
that his claims  were disputed by the   
,government as questionable and         
dishonest2 and  that he lost his case4  
,edmund ,burke was said1 in the gossip  
of the  day1 to be deeply interested in 
land at ,saint ,vincent's4 ,but there   

is no evidence4 ,what cannot be denied  
is that an unpleasant taint of          
speculation and financial adventurership
 hung at one time about the  whole      
connection1 and that the adventures     
invariably came to an  unlucky end4     
,whether ,edmund ,burke and ,william    
,burke were relations or not1 and if    
so1 in what degree they were relations1 
neither of them ever knew2  they        
believed that their fathers sometimes   
called one another cousins1  and that   
was all that they had to say on the     
subject4 ,but they were as  intimate as 
brothers1 and when ,william ,burke went 
to mend his broken  fortunes in ,india1 
,edmund ,burke commended him to ,philip 
,francis--then  fighting his deadly duel
 of five years with ,warren ,hastings at
  ,calcutta--as one whom he had tenderly
 loved1 highly valued1 and  continually 
lived with in an union not to be        
expressed1 quite since  their boyish    
years4 ,looking back to the course of my
 life1 he wrote  in #agga1 ,i remember  

no one considerable benefit in the whole
 of it  which ,i did not1 mediately or  
immediately1 derive from ,william       
,burke4  ,there is nothing intrinsically
 incredible1 therefore1 considering this
  intimacy and the community of purse   
and home which subsisted among the      
three ,burkes1 in the theory that when  
,edmund ,burke bought his property  in  
,buckinghamshire1 he looked for help    
from the speculations of  ,richard and  
,william4 ,however this may have been1  
from them no help  came4 ,many years    
afterwards 7#aghc7 ,lord ,verney filed a
 bill in  ,chancery claiming from       
,edmund ,burke a sum of #fjjj1 which he 
alleged  that he had lent at the        
instigation of ,william ,burke1 to      
assist in  completing the purchase of   
,beaconsfield4 ,burke's sworn answer    
denied  all knowledge of the            
transaction1 and the plaintiff did not  
get the  relief for which he had prayed4
    ,in a letter to ,shackleton 7,may   
#a1 #agfh71 ,burke gave the following   

account of what he had done3--,i have   
made a push1 he says1 with all  ,i could
 collect of my own1 and the aid of my   
friends1 to cast a little  root in this 
country4 ,i have purchased a house1 with
 an estate of  about six hundred acres  
of land1 in ,buckinghamshire1           
twenty-four miles  from ,london4 ,it is 
a place exceedingly pleasant2 and ,i    
propose1 ,god  willing1 to become a     
farmer in good earnest4 ,you1 who are   
classical1  will not be displeased to   
know that it was formerly the seat of   
,waller1 the poet1 whose house1 or part 
of it1 makes at present the  farmhouse  
within an hundred yards of me4 ,the     
details of the actual  purchase of      
,beaconsfield have been made tolerably  
clear4 ,the price was  twenty-two       
thousand pounds1 more or less4 ,fourteen
 thousand were left  on mortgage1 which 
remained outstanding until the sale of  
the property  by ,mrs4 ,burke in #ahab4 
,garret ,burke1 the elder brother1 had  
shortly  before the purchase made       

,edmund his residuary legatee1 and it is
  guessed that of this bequest two      
thousand pounds were in cash4 ,the      
balance of six thousand was advanced by 
,lord ,rockingham on ,burke's  bond4    
,the purchase after all was the smallest
 part of the matter1 and it  still      
remains a puzzle not only how ,burke was
 able to maintain so  handsome an       
establishment1 but how he could ever    
suppose it likely  that he would be able
 to maintain it4 ,he counted1 no doubt1 
on making  some sort of income by       
farming4 ,the ,irish estate1 which he   
had  inherited from his brother1 brought
 in five hundred a year 7,arthur        
,young's ,ireland1 ii4 #aic74 ,for a    
short time he received a salary of      
seven hundred pounds a year as agent for
 ,new ,york4 ,we may perhaps  take for  
granted that he made as much more out of
 his acres4 ,he  received something from
 ,dodsley for his work on the ,annual   
,register  down to #aghh4 ,but when all 
these resources have been counted up1 we

  cannot but see the gulf of a great    
yearly deficit4 ,the unhappy truth  is  
that from the middle of #agfi1 when we  
find him applying to ,garrick  for the  
loan of a thousand pounds1 down to      
#agid1 when the king gave  him a        
pension1 ,burke was never free from the 
harassing strain of debts  and want of  
money4 ,it has been stated with good    
show of authority1  that his obligations
 to ,lord ,rockingham amounted to not   
less than  thirty thousand pounds4 ,when
 that nobleman died 7#aghb71 with a     
generosity which is not the less        
honourable to him for having been so    
richly earned by the faithful friend who
 was the object of it1 he  left         
instructions to his executors that all  
,burke's bonds should be  destroyed4    
,we may indeed wish from the bottom of  
our hearts that all this had  been      
otherwise4 ,but those who press it as a 
reproach against ,burke's  memory1 may  
be justly reminded that when ,pitt died1
 after drawing the  pay of a minister   

for twenty years1 he left debts to the  
amount of  forty thousand pounds4       
,burke1 as ,i have said elsewhere1 had  
none of  the vices of profusion1 but he 
had that quality which ,aristotle places
  high among the virtues--the noble mean
 of ,magnificence1 standing  midway     
between the two extremes of vulgar      
ostentation and narrow  pettiness4 ,at  
least1 every creditor was paid in good  
time1 and nobody  suffered but himself4 
,those who think these disagreeable     
matters of  supreme importance1 and     
allow such things to stand between them 
and  ,brake's greatness1 are like the   
people--slightly to alter a figure  from
 a philosopher of old--who1 when they   
went to ,olympia1 could only  perceive  
that they were scorched by the sun1 and 
pressed by the crowd1  and deprived of  
comfortable means of bathing1 and wetted
 by the rain1  and that life was full of
 disagreeable and troublesome things1   
and so  they almost forgot the great    
colossus of ivory and gold1 ,phidias's  

statue of ,zeus1 which they had come to 
see1 and which stood in all its  glory  
and power before their perturbed and    
foolish vision4    ,there have been few 
men in history with whom personal       
objects counted  for so little as they  
counted with ,burke4 ,he really did what
 so many  public men only feign to do4  
,he forgot that he had any interests of 
his own to be promoted1 apart from the  
interests of the party with  which he   
acted1 and from those of the whole      
nation1 for which he held  himself a    
trustee4 ,what ,william ,burke said of  
him in #agff was true  throughout his   
life1 ,ned is full of real business1    
intent upon doing  solid good to his    
country1 as much as if he was to receive
 twenty  per cent from the ,empire4     
,such men as the shrewd and impudent    
,bigby  atoned for a plebeian origin by 
the arts of dependence and a judicious  
servility1 and drew more of the public  
money from the pay-office in  half a    
dozen quarter-days than ,burke received 

in all his life4 ,it was  not by such   
arts that ,burke rose4 ,when we remember
 all the untold  bitterness of the      
struggle in which he was engaged1 from  
the time when  the old ,duke of         
,newcastle tried to make the ,marquis of
 ,rockingham  dismiss his new private   
secretary as an ,irish ,jesuit in       
disguise  7#agfe71 down to the time when
 the ,duke of ,bedford1 himself         
battening  in grants to the house of    
,russell1 so enormous as not only to    
outrage  economy1 but even to stagger   
credibility1 assailed the ,government   
for  giving ,burke a moderate pension1  
we may almost imagine that if ,johnson  
had imitated the famous ,tenth ,satire a
 little later1 he would have  been      
tempted to apply the poet's cynical     
criticism of the career  heroic to the  
greater ,cicero of his own day4 ,i was  
not1 ,burke said1  in a passage of lofty
 dignity1 like his ,grace of ,bedford1  
swaddled  and rocked and dandled into a 
legislator2 ,nitor in adversum is the   

motto for a man like me4 ,i possessed   
not one of the qualities1 nor           
cultivated one of the arts1 that        
recommend men to the favour and         
protection of the great4 ,i was not made
 for a minion or a tool4 ,as  little did
 ,i follow the trade of winning the     
hearts1 by imposing on  the             
understandings of the people4 ,at every 
step of my progress in  life1 for in    
every step was ,i traversed and opposed1
 and at every  turnpike ,i met1 ,i was  
obliged to show my passport1 and again  
and again  to prove my sole title to the
 honour of being useful to my country1  
by  a proof that ,i was not wholly      
unacquainted with its laws and the whole
  system of its interests both abroad   
and at home2 otherwise no rank1 no      
toleration even for me4                 
,,chapter ,,iii    ,,the                
,,constitutional ,,struggle             
,foreign observers of our affairs looked
 upon the state of ,england  between the
 accession of ,george ,,iii4 and the    

loss of the ,american  colonies         
7#agfj-gf7 with mixed disgust and       
satisfaction4 ,their instinct  as       
absolute rulers was revolted by a       
spectacle of unbridled faction  and     
raging anarchy2 their envy was soothed  
by the growing weakness of  a power     
which ,chatham had so short a time      
before left at the highest  point of    
grandeur and strength4 ,frederick the   
,great spoke with  contempt of the      
insolence of ,opposition and the        
virulence of parties2  and vowed that1  
petty ,german prince as he was1 he would
 not change  places with the ,king of   
,england4 ,the ,emperor ,joseph         
pronounced  positively that ,great      
,britain was declining1 that ,parliament
 was  ruining itself1 and that the      
colonies threatened a catastrophe4      
,catherine of ,russia thought that      
nothing would restore its ancient       
vigour to the realm1 short of the       
bracing and heroic remedy of a war4     
,even at home1 such shrewd and          

experienced onlookers as ,horace        
,walpole  suspected that the state of   
the country was more serious than it had
  been since the ,great ,rebellion1 and 
declared it to be approaching by  fast  
strides to some sharp crisis4 ,men who  
remembered their ,roman  history1       
fancied that they saw every symptom of  
confusion that  preceded the ruin of the
 ,commonwealth1 and began to inquire    
uneasily  what was the temper of the    
army4 ,men who remembered the story of  
the  violence and insatiable            
factiousness of ,florence1 turned again 
to  ,macchiavelli and to ,guicciardini1 
to trace a parallel between the  fierce 
city on the ,arno and the fierce city on
 the ,thames4 ,when the  ,king of       
,sweden1 in #aggb1 carried out a        
revolution1 by abolishing an  oligarchic
 council and assuming the powers of a   
dictator1 with the  assent of his       
people1 there were actually serious men 
in ,england who  thought that the       
,english1 after having been guilty of   

every meanness  and corruption1 would   
soon1 like the ,swedes1 own themselves  
unworthy  to be free4 ,the ,duke of     
,richmond1 who happened to have a claim 
to a  peerage and an estate in ,france1 
excused himself for taking so much      
pains to establish his claim to them1 by
 gravely asking who knew that  a time   
might not soon come when ,england would 
not be worth living in1  and when a     
retreat to ,france might be a very happy
 thing for a free  man to have8    ,the 
reign had begun by a furious outbreak of
 hatred between the  ,english and the   
,scotch4 ,lord ,bute had been driven    
from office1 not  merely because he was 
supposed to owe his power to a          
scandalous  friendship with the king's  
mother1 but because he was accused of   
crowding the public service with his    
detested countrymen from the  other side
 of the ,tweed4 ,he fell1 less from     
disapproval of his policy1  than from   
rude prejudice against his country4 ,the
 flow of angry  emotion had not subsided

 before the whisper of strife in the    
,american  colonies began to trouble the
 air2 and before that had waxed loud1   
the  ,middlesex election had blown into 
a portentous hurricane4 ,this was the   
first great constitutional case after   
,burke came into the ,house of          
,commons4 ,as1 moreover1 it became a    
leading element in the crisis which  was
 the occasion of ,burke's first         
remarkable essay in the literature  of  
politics1 it is as well to go over the  
facts4    ,the ,parliament to which he  
had first been returned1 now approaching
  the expiry of its legal term1 was     
dissolved in the spring of #agfh4       
,wilkes1 then an outlaw in ,paris1      
returned to ,england1 and announced     
himself as a candidate for the city4    
,when the election was over1 his  name  
stood last on the poll4 ,but his ancient
 fame as the opponent  and victim of the
 court five years before1 was revived4  
,after his  rejection in the city1 he   
found himself strong enough to stand for

  the county of ,middlesex4 ,here he was
 returned at the head of the poll  after
 an excited election4 ,wilkes had been  
tried in #agfd1 and found  guilty by the
 ,king's ,bench of republishing ,number 
,forty-five of the  ,north ,briton1 and 
of printing and publishing the ,essay on
 ,woman4  ,he had not appeared to       
receive sentence1 and had been outlawed 
in  consequence4 ,after his election for
 ,middlesex1 he obtained a reversal  of 
his outlawry on a point of technical    
form4 ,he then came up for  sentence    
under the original verdict4 ,the court  
sent him to prison  for twenty-two      
months1 and condemned him to pay a fine 
of a thousand  pounds4    ,wilkes was in
 prison when the second session of the  
new ,parliament  began4 ,his case came  
before the ,house in ,november #agfh1 on
 his own  petition1 accusing ,lord      
,mansfield of altering the record at his
 trial4  ,after many acrimonious debates
 and examinations of ,wilkes and others 
at the bar of the ,house1 at length1 by 

#bai votes against #acf1 the  famous    
motion was passed which expelled him    
from the ,house4 ,another  election for 
,middlesex was now held1 and ,wilkes was
 returned without  opposition4 ,the day 
after the return1 the ,house of ,commons
 resolved by  an immense majority1 that 
having been expelled1 ,wilkes was       
incapable  of serving in that           
,parliament4 ,the following month       
,wilkes was once  more elected4 ,the    
,house once more declared the election  
void4 ,in ,april  another election took 
place1 and this time the ,government put
 forward  ,colonel ,luttrell1 who       
vacated his seat for ,bossiney for the  
purpose of  opposing ,wilkes4 ,there was
 the same result1 and for the fourth    
time  ,wilkes was at the head of the    
poll4 ,the ,house ordered the return to 
be  altered1 and after hearing by       
counsel the freeholders of ,middlesex   
who  petitioned against the alteration1 
finally confirmed it 7,may #h1 #agfi7   
by a majority of #bba to #aeb4          

,according to ,lord ,temple1 this was   
the  greatest majority ever known on the
 last day of a session4    ,the purport 
and significance of these arbitrary     
proceedings need  little interpretation4
 ,the ,house1 according to the          
authorities1 had a  constitutional right
 to expel ,wilkes1 though the grounds on
 which even  this is defended would     
probably be questioned if a similar case
 were  to arise in our own day4 ,but a  
single branch of the legislature could  
have no power to pass an incapacitating 
vote either against ,wilkes or  anybody 
else4 ,an ,act of ,parliament is the    
least instrument by which  such         
incapacity could be imposed4 ,the ,house
 might perhaps expel  ,wilkes1 but it   
could not either legally or with regard 
to the less  definite limits of         
constitutional morality1 decide whom the
 ,middlesex  freeholders should not     
elect1 and it could not therefore set   
aside  their representative1 who was    
then free from any disabling quality4   

,lord ,camden did not much exaggerate1  
when he declared in a debate on  the    
subject in the ,house of ,lords1 that   
the judgment passed upon the  ,middlesex
 election had given the constitution a  
more dangerous  wound than any which    
were given during the twelve years'     
absence  of ,parliament in the reign of 
,charles ,i4 ,the ,house of ,commons was
  usurping another form of that very    
dispensing power1 for pretending  to    
which the last of the ,stuart sovereigns
 had lost his crown4 ,if the  ,house by 
a vote could deprive ,wilkes of a right 
to sit1 what legal or  constitutional   
impediment would there be in the way1 if
 the majority  were at any time disposed
 to declare all their most formidable   
opponents in the minority incapable of  
sitting8    ,in the same ,parliament1   
there was another and scarcely less     
remarkable  case of ,privilege1 that    
eldest son of ,prerogative1 as ,burke   
truly  called it1 and inheriting all the
 vices of its parent4 ,certain  printers

 were accused of breach of privilege for
 reporting the debates  of the ,house   
7,march1 #agga74 ,the messenger of the  
serjeant-at-arms  attempted to take one 
of them into custody in his own shop in 
the  city4 ,a constable was standing by1
 designedly1 it has been supposed1  and 
,miller1 the printer1 gave the messenger
 into his custody for an  assault4 ,the 
case came on before the ,lord ,mayor1   
,alderman ,wilkes1  and ,alderman       
,oliver1 the same evening1 and the      
result was that the  messenger of the   
,house was committed4 ,the city doctrine
 was1 that  if the ,house of ,commons   
had a serjeant-at-arms1 they had a      
serjeant-at-mace4 ,if the ,house of     
,commons could send their citizens  to  
,newgate1 they could send its messenger 
to the ,compter4 ,two other  printers   
were collusively arrested1 brought      
before ,wilkes and ,oliver1  and at once
 liberated4    ,the ,commons instantly  
resolved on stern measures4 ,the ,lord  
,mayor and  ,oliver were taken and      

despatched to the ,tower1 where they lay
 until  the prorogation of ,parliament4 
,wilkes stubbornly refused to pay any   
attention to repeated summonses to      
attend at the bar of the ,house1  very  
properly insisting that he ought to be  
summoned to attend in his  place as     
member for ,middlesex4 ,besides         
committing ,crosby and ,oliver  to the  
,tower1 the ,house summoned the ,lord   
,mayor's clerk to attend with  his      
books1 and then and there forced him to 
strike out the record of  the           
recognisances into which their messenger
 had entered on being  committed at the 
,mansion ,house4 ,no ,stuart ever did   
anything more  arbitrary and illegal4   
,the ,house deliberately intended to    
constitute  itself1 as ,burke had said  
two years before1 an arbitrary and      
despotic  assembly4 ,the distempers of  
monarchy were the great subjects of     
apprehension and redress in the last    
century4 ,in this1 the distempers  of   
,parliament4    ,burke1 in a speech     

which he delivered in his place in      
#agga1 warned the  ,house of the evils  
of the course upon which they were      
entering1 and  declared those to be     
their mortal enemies who would persuade 
them to  act as if they were a          
self-originated magistracy1 independent 
of the  people1 and unconnected with    
their opinions and feelings4 ,but these 
mortal enemies of its very constitution 
were at this time the majority  of the  
,house4 ,it was to no purpose that      
,burke argued with more than  legal     
closeness that incapacitation could not 
be a power according to  law1 inasmuch  
as it had neither of the two properties 
of law3 it was  not known1 you          
yourselves not knowing upon what grounds
 you will  vote the incapacity of any   
man2 and it was not fixed1 because  it  
was varied according to the occasion1   
exercised according to  discretion1 and 
no man could call for it as a right4 ,a 
strain of  unanswerable reasoning of    
this kind counted for nothing1 in spite 

of  its being unanswerable4 ,despotic or
 oligarchic pretensions are proof       
against the most formidable battery that
 reason and experience can  construct   
against them4 ,and ,wilkes's exclusion  
endured until this  ,parliament--the    
,unreported ,parliament1 as it was      
called1 and in many  respects the very  
worst that ever assembled at            
,westminster--was  dissolved1 and a new 
one elected 7#aggd71 when he was once   
again  returned for ,middlesex1 and took
 his seat4    ,the ,london multitude had
 grown zealous for ,wilkes1 and the town
 had  been harassed by disorder4 ,of the
 fierce brutality of the crowd of  that 
age1 we may form a vivid idea from the  
unflinching pencil of  ,hogarth4        
,barbarous laws were cruelly            
administered4 ,the common people  were  
turbulent1 because misrule made them    
miserable4 ,wilkes had  written filthy  
verses1 but the crowd cared no more for 
this than their  betters cared about the
 vices of ,lord ,sandwich4 ,they made   

common cause  with one who was          
accidentally a more conspicuous         
sufferer4 ,wilkes was  quite right when 
he vowed that he was no ,wilkite4 ,the  
masses were  better than their leader4  
,whenever the people have a feeling1    
,burke  once said1 they commonly are in 
the right3 they sometimes mistake the   
physician4 ,franklin1 who was then in   
,london1 was of opinion that if  ,george
 ,,iii4 had had a bad character1 and    
,john ,wilkes a good one1  the latter   
might have turned the former out of the 
kingdom2 for the  turbulence that began 
in street riots1 at one time threatened 
to end  in revolt4 ,the king himself was
 attacked with savage invective in      
papers1 of which it was said that no one
 in the previous century would  have    
dared to print any like them until      
,charles was fast locked up in          
,carisbrooke ,castle4    ,as is usual   
when the minds of those in power have   
been infected with  an arbitrary temper1
 the employment of military force to    

crush civil  disturbances became a      
familiar and favourite idea4 ,the       
military1 said  ,lord ,weymouth1 in an  
elaborate letter which he addressed to  
the ,surrey  magistrates1 can never be  
employed to a more constitutional       
purpose  than in the support of the     
authority and dignity of the magistracy4
  ,if the magistrate should be menaced1 
he is cautioned not to delay a  moment  
in calling for the aid of the military1 
and making use of them  effectually4    
,the consequence of this bloody scroll1 
as ,wilkes rightly  called it1 was that 
shortly afterwards an affray occurred   
between the  crowd and the troops1 in   
which some twenty people were killed and
  wounded 7,may #aj1 #agfh74 ,on the    
following day1 the ,secretary of ,war1  
,lord ,barrington1 wrote to the         
commanding officer1 informing him that  
the king highly approved of the conduct 
both of officers and men1 and  wished   
that his gracious approbation of them   
should be communicated to  them4        

,burke brought the matter before the    
,house in a motion for a ,committee  of 
,inquiry1 supported by one of the most  
lucid and able of his minor  speeches4  
,if ever the time should come1 he       
concluded1 when this  ,house shall be   
found prompt to execute and slow to     
inquire2 ready  to punish the excesses  
of the people1 and slow to listen to    
their  grievances2 ready to grant       
supplies1 and slow to examine the       
account2  ready to invest magistrates   
with large powers1 and slow to inquire  
into the exercise of them2 ready to     
entertain notions of the military  power
 as incorporated with the               
constitution1--when you learn this in   
the air of ,st4 ,james's1 then the      
business is done2 then the ,house of    
,commons will change that character     
which it receives from the people  only4
 ,it is hardly necessary to say that his
 motion for a ,committee  was lost by   
the overwhelming majority of #bde       
against #cj4 ,the general  result of the

 proceedings of the ,government from the
 accession of  ,george ,,iii4 to the    
beginning of the troubles in the        
,american colonies1  was in ,burke's own
 words1 that the ,government was at once
 dreaded and  contemned2 that the laws  
were despoiled of all their respected   
and  salutary terrors2 that their       
inaction was a subject of ridicule1 and 
their exertion of abhorrence2 that our  
dependencies had slackened  in their    
affections2 that we knew neither how to 
yield1 nor how to  enforce2 and that    
disconnection and confusion1 in offices1
 in parties1  in families1 in           
,parliament1 in the nation1 prevailed   
beyond the  disorders of any former     
time4    ,it was in the pamphlet on the 
,present ,discontents1 published in     
#aggj1 that ,burke dealt at large with  
the whole scheme of policy of  which all
 these irregularities were the          
distempered incidents4 ,the  pamphlet   
was composed as a manifesto of the      
,rockingham section of the  ,whig party1

 to show1 as ,burke wrote to his chief1 
how different it  was in spirit and     
composition from the ,bedfords1 the     
,grenvilles1 and  other knots1 who are  
combined for no public purpose1 but only
 as a  means of furthering with joint   
strength their private and individual   
advantage4 ,the pamphlet was submitted  
in manuscript or proof to the  heads of 
the party4 ,friendly critics excused    
some inelegancies which  they thought   
they found in occasional passages1 by   
taking for granted1  as was true1 that  
he had admitted insertions from other   
hands4 ,here  for the first time he     
exhibited1 on a conspicuous scale1 the  
strongest  qualities of his             
understanding4 ,contemporaries had an   
opportunity of  measuring this strength1
 by comparison with another performance 
of  similar scope4 ,the letters of      
,junius had startled the world the year 
before4 ,burke was universally suspected
 of being their author1 and the         
suspicion never wholly died out so long 

as he lived4 ,there was no real  ground 
for it beyond the two unconnected facts1
 that the letters were  powerful        
letters1 and that ,burke had a powerful 
intellect4 ,dr4 ,johnson  admitted that 
he had never had a better reason for    
believing that  ,burke was ,junius1 than
 that he knew nobody else who had the   
ability of  ,junius4 ,but ,johnson      
discharged his mind of the thought1 at  
the instant  that ,burke voluntarily    
assured him that he neither wrote the   
letters  of ,junius1 nor knew who had   
written them4 ,the subjects and aim of  
those famous pieces were not very       
different from ,burke's tract1 but  any 
one who in our time turns from the      
letters to the tract1 will  wonder how  
the author of the one could ever have   
been suspected of  writing the other4   
,junius is never more than a railer1 and
 very  often he is third-rate even as a 
railer4 ,the author of the ,present     
,discontents speaks without bitterness  
even of ,lord ,bute and the ,duke  of   

,grafton2 he only refers to persons1    
when their conduct or their  situation  
illustrates a principle4 ,instead of    
reviling1 he probes1 he  reflects1 he   
warns2 and as the result of this serious
 method1 pursued  by a man in whom close
 mastery of detail kept exact pace with 
wide  grasp of generalities1 we have not
 the ephemeral diatribe of a  faction1  
but one of the monumental pieces of     
political literature4    ,the last great
 pamphlet in the history of ,english    
public affairs had  been ,swift's tract 
,on the ,conduct of the ,allies 7#agaa71
 in which the  writer did a more        
substantial service for the ,tory party 
of his day  than ,burke did for the     
,whig party of a later date4 ,swift's   
pamphlet is  close1 strenuous1          
persuasive1 and full of telling strokes2
 but nobody  need read it to-day except 
the historical student1 or a member of  
the  ,peace ,society1 in search of the  
most convincing exposure of the most    
insane of ,english wars4#a ,there is not

 a sentence in it which does  not belong
 exclusively to the matter in hand3 not 
a line of that  general wisdom which is 
for all time4 ,in the ,present          
,discontents the  method is just the    
opposite of this4 ,the details are      
slurred1 and they  are not literal4     
,burke describes with excess of         
elaboration how the  new system is a    
system of double cabinets2 one put      
forward with  nominal powers in         
,parliament1 the other concealed behind 
the throne1  and secretly dictating the 
policy4 ,the reader feels that this is  
worked out far too closely to be real4  
,it is a structure of artificial        
rhetoric4 ,but we lightly pass this     
over1 on our way to more solid  matter2 
to the exposition of the principles of a
 constitution1 the  right methods of    
statesmanship1 and the defence of party4
    ,footnote #a3 ,this was not ,burke's
 judgment on the long war against       
,louis ,,xiv4--,see ,regicide ,peace1 i4
    ,it was ,bolingbroke1 and not       

,swift1 of whom ,burke was thinking1    
when he  sat down to the composition of 
his tract4 ,the ,patriot ,king was  the 
fountain of the new doctrines1 which    
,burke trained his party to  understand 
and to resist4 ,if his foe was domestic1
 it was from a  foreign armoury that    
,burke derived the instruments of       
resistance4 ,the  great fault of        
political writers is their too close    
adherence to the  forms of the system of
 state which they happen to be          
expounding or  examining4 ,they stop    
short at the anatomy of institutions1   
and do not  penetrate to the secret of  
their functions4 ,an illustrious author 
in  the middle of the eighteenth century
 introduced his contemporaries  to a    
better way4 ,it is not too much to say  
that at that epoch the  strength of     
political speculation in this country1  
from ,adam ,smith  downwards1 was drawn 
from ,france2 and ,burke had been led to
 some  of what was most characteristic  
in his philosophy of society by         

,montesquieu's ,spirit of ,laws 7#agdh71
 the first great manual of the  historic
 school4 ,we have no space here to work 
out the relations  between              
,montesquieu's principles and ,burke's1 
but the student of the  ,esprit des     
,lois will recognise its influence in   
every one of ,burke's  masterpieces4    
,so far as immediate events were        
concerned1 ,burke was quick to discern  
their true interpretation4 ,as has been 
already said1 he attributed to  the king
 and his party a deliberateness of      
system which probably had  no real      
existence in their minds4 ,the king     
intended to reassert the  old right of  
choosing his own ministers4 ,george     
,,ii4 had made strenuous  but futile    
endeavours to the same end4 ,his son1   
the father of ,george  ,,iii41          
,frederick1 ,prince of ,wales1 as every 
reader of ,dodington's ,diary  will     
remember1 was equally bent on throwing  
off the yoke of the great  ,whig        
combinations1 and making his own        

cabinets4 ,george ,,iii4 was only       
continuing the purpose of his father and
 his grandfather2 and there is  no      
reason to believe that he went more     
elaborately to work to obtain  his ends4
    ,it is when he leaves the artifices 
of a cabal1 and strikes down below  the 
surface to the working of deep social   
forces1 that we feel the  breadth and   
power of ,burke's method4 ,i am not one 
of those1 he  began1 who think that the 
people are never wrong4 ,they have been 
so1  frequently and outrageously1 both  
in other countries and in this4 ,but  ,i
 do say that in all disputes between    
them and their rulers1 the  presumption 
is at least upon a par in favour of the 
people4 ,nay1  experience perhaps       
justifies him in going further4 ,when   
popular  discontents are prevalent1     
something has generally been found amiss
 in  the constitution or the            
administration4 ,the people have no     
interest  in disorder4 ,when they go    
wrong1 it is their error1 and not their 

crime4 ,and then he quotes the famous   
passage from the ,memoirs of  ,sully1   
which both practical politicians and    
political students  should bind about   
their necks1 and write upon the tables  
of their  hearts3--,the revolutions that
 come to pass in great states are not   
the result of chance1 nor of popular    
caprice4444 ,as for the populace1  it is
 never from a passion for attack that it
 rebels1 but from  impatience of        
suffering4    ,what really gives its    
distinction to the ,present ,discontents
 is not  its plea for indulgence to     
popular impatience1 nor its plea for the
  superiority of government by          
aristocracy1 but rather the presence in 
it of the thought of ,montesquieu and   
his school1 of the necessity  of        
studying political phenomena in         
relation1 not merely to forms of        
government and law1 but in relation to  
whole groups of social facts  which give
 to law and government the spirit that  
makes them workable4  ,connected with   

this1 is a particularly wide            
interpretation and a  particularly      
impressive application of the maxims of 
expediency1  because a wide conception  
of the various interacting elements of  
a society naturally extends the         
considerations which a balance of       
expediencies will include4 ,hence1 in   
time1 there came a strong  and lofty    
ideal of the true statesman1 his breadth
 of vision1 his  flexibility of temper1 
his hardly measurable influence4 ,these 
are the  principal thoughts in the      
,discontents to which that tract owes   
its  permanent interest4 ,whatever      
original energy1 says ,burke1 in one    
place1 may be supposed either in force  
or regulation1 the operation  of both is
 in truth merely instrumental4 ,nations 
are governed by the  same methods1 and  
on the same principles1 by which an     
individual  without authority is often  
able to govern those who are his equals 
or superiors2 by a knowledge of their   
temper1 and by a judicious  management  

of it4444 ,the laws reach but a very    
little way4 ,constitute  ,government how
 you please1 infinitely the greater part
 of it must  depend upon the exercise of
 powers1 which are left at large to the 
prudence and uprightness of ministers of
 state4 ,even all the use and  potency  
of the laws depends upon them4 ,without 
them1 your ,commonwealth  is no better  
than a scheme upon paper2 and not a     
living1 active1  effective constitution4
 ,thus early in his public career had   
,burke  seized that great antithesis    
which he so eloquently laboured in  the 
long and ever memorable episode of his  
war against the ,french  ,revolution3   
the opposition between artificial       
arrangements in  politics1 and a living1
 active1 effective organisation1 formed 
by what  he calls elsewhere in the      
present tract the natural strength of   
the  kingdom1 and suitable to the temper
 and mental habits of the people4  ,when
 he spoke of the natural strength of the
 kingdom1 he gave no  narrow or         

conventional account of it4 ,he included
 in the elements  of that strength1     
besides the great peers and the leading 
landed  gentlemen1 the opulent merchants
 and manufacturers1 and the  substantial
 yeomanry4 ,contrasted with the trite   
versions of ,government  as fixed in    
,king1 ,lords1 and ,commons1 this search
 for the real organs  of power was going
 to the root of the matter in a spirit  
at once  thoroughly scientific and      
thoroughly practical4 ,burke had1 by the
  speculative training to which he had  
submitted himself in dealing with       
,bolingbroke1 prepared his mind for a   
complete grasp of the idea of  the body 
politic as a complex growth1 a manifold 
whole1 with closely  interdependent     
relations among its several parts and   
divisions4 ,it  was this conception from
 which his conservatism sprang4         
,revolutionary  politics have one of    
their sources in the idea that societies
 are  capable of infinite and immediate 
modifications1 without reference to  the

 deep-rooted conditions that have worked
 themselves into every part  of the     
social structure4 ,the same opposition  
of the positive to the  doctrinaire     
spirit is to be observed in the         
remarkable vindication of  ,party1 which
 fills the last dozen pages of the      
pamphlet1 and which  is one of the most 
courageous of all ,burke's deliverances4
 ,party  combination is exactly one of  
those contrivances which1 as it might   
seem1 a wise man would accept for       
working purposes1 but about which  he   
would take care to say as little as     
possible4 ,there appears to be          
something revolting to the intellectual 
integrity and self-respect of  the      
individual in the systematic surrender  
of his personal action1  interest1 and  
power1 to a political connection in     
which his own  judgment may never once  
be allowed to count for anything4 ,it is
 like  the surrender of the right of    
private judgment to the authority of the
  ,church1 but with its nakedness not   

concealed by a mystic doctrine4         
,nothing is more easy to demolish by the
 bare logical reason4 ,but ,burke  cared
 nothing about the bare logical reason1 
until it had been  clothed in           
convenience and custom1 in the          
affections on one side1 and  experience 
on the other4 ,not content with         
insisting that for some  special purpose
 of the hour1 when bad men combine1 the 
good must  associate1 he contended      
boldly for the merits of fidelity to    
party  combination in itself4 ,although 
,burke wrote these strong pages as a    
reply to ,bolingbroke1 who had denounced
 party as an evil1 they remain  as the  
best general apology that has ever been 
offered for that  principle of public   
action1 against more philosophic attacks
 than  ,bolingbroke's4 ,burke admitted  
that when he saw a man acting a         
desultory and disconnected part in      
public life with detriment to his       
fortune1 he was ready to believe such a 
man to be in earnest1 though  not ready 

to believe him to be right4 ,in any case
 he lamented to  see rare and valuable  
qualities squandered away without any   
public  utility4 ,he admitted1 moreover1
 on the other hand1 that people         
frequently acquired in party            
confederacies a narrow1 bigoted1 and    
proscriptive spirit4 ,but where duty    
renders a critical situation  a         
necessary one1 it is our business to    
keep free from the evils  attendant upon
 it1 and not to fly from the situation  
itself4 ,it is  surely no very rational 
account of a man that he has always     
acted  right1 but has taken special care
 to act in such a manner that his       
endeavours could not possibly be        
productive of any consequence4444  ,when
 men are not acquainted with each       
other's1 principles1 nor  experienced in
 each other's talents1 nor at all       
practised in their  mutual habitudes and
 dispositions by joint efforts of       
business2 no  personal confidence1 no   
friendship1 no common interest          

subsisting  among them2 it is evidently 
impossible that they can act a public   
part  with uniformity1 perseverance1 or 
efficacy4    ,in terms of eloquent      
eulogy he praised the sacred reverence  
with which  the ,romans used to regard  
the necessitudo sortis1 or the relations
  that grew up between men who had only 
held office together by the  casual     
fortune of the lot4 ,he pointed out to  
emulation the ,whig  junto who held so  
close together in the reign of          
,anne--,sunderland1  ,godolphin1        
,somers1 and ,marlborough--who believed 
that no men could  act with effect who  
did not act in concert2 that no men     
could act in  concert who did not act   
with confidence2 and that no men could  
act  with confidence who were not bound 
together by common opinions1  common    
affections1 and common interests4 ,in   
reading these energetic  passages1 we   
have to remember two things3 first1 that
 the writer  assumes the direct object  
of party combination to be generous1    

great1  and liberal causes2 and second1 
that when the time came1 and when he    
believed that his friends were espousing
 a wrong and pernicious cause1  ,burke1 
like ,samson bursting asunder the seven 
green withes1 broke away  from the      
friendships of a life1 and deliberately 
broke his party in  pieces4#a           
,footnote #a3 ,see on the same subject1 
,correspondence1 ii4 #bgf1 #bgg4        
,when ,burke came to discuss the cure   
for the disorders of #aggj1 he  insisted
 on contenting himself with what he     
ought to have known to be  obviously    
inadequate prescriptions4 ,and we cannot
 help feeling that he  never speaks of  
the constitution of the government of   
this country1  without gliding into a   
fallacy identical with that which he    
himself  described and denounced1 as    
thinking better of the wisdom and power 
of human legislation than in truth it   
deserved4 ,he was uniformly  consistent 
in his view of the remedies which the   
various sections of  ,opposition        

proposed against the existing debasement
 and servility of  the ,lower ,house4   
,the ,duke of ,richmond wanted universal
 suffrage1  equal electoral districts1  
and annual parliaments4 ,wilkes proposed
  to disfranchise the rotten boroughs1  
to increase the county  constituencies1 
and to give members to rich1 populous1  
trading  towns--a general policy which  
was accepted fifty-six years afterwards4
  ,the ,constitutional ,society desired 
frequent parliaments1 the  exclusion of 
placemen from the ,house1 and the       
increase of the county  representation4 
,burke uniformly refused to give his    
countenance to any  proposals such as   
these1 which involved a clearly organic 
change in  the constitution4 ,he        
confessed that he had no sort of        
reliance  upon either a triennial       
parliament or a place-bill1 and with    
that  reasonableness which as a rule was
 fully as remarkable in him as his      
eloquence1 he showed very good grounds  
for his want of faith in the  popular   

specifics4 ,in truth1 triennial or      
annual parliaments could  have done no  
good1 unless the change had been        
accompanied by the more  important      
process of amputating1 as ,chatham      
called it1 the rotten  boroughs4 ,of    
these the ,crown could at that time     
reckon some seventy as  its own         
property4 ,besides those which belonged 
to the ,crown1 there was  also the      
immense number which belonged to the    
,peerage4 ,if the king  sought to       
strengthen an administration1 the thing 
needful was not to  enlist the services 
of able and distinguished men1 but to   
conciliate a  duke1 who brought with him
 the control of a given quantity of     
voting  power in the ,lower ,house4 ,all
 this patrician influence1 which may be 
found at the bottom of most of the      
intrigues of the period1 would not  have
 been touched by curtailing the duration
 of parliaments4    ,what then was the  
remedy1 or had ,burke no remedy to offer
 for these  grave distempers of         

,parliament8 ,only the remedy of the    
interposition  of the body of the people
 itself4 ,we must beware of interpreting
 this  phrase in the modern democratic  
sense4 ,in #agff he had deliberately    
declared that he thought it would be    
more conformable to the spirit of  the  
constitution1 by lessening the number1  
to add to the weight and  independency  
of our voters4 ,considering the immense 
and dangerous  charge of elections1 the 
prostitute and daring venality1 the     
corruption of manners1 the idleness and 
profligacy of the lower sort  of voters1
 no prudent man would propose to        
increase such an evil4#a  ,in another   
place he denies that the people have    
either enough of  speculation in the    
closet1 or of experience in business1 to
 be  competent judges1 not of the detail
 of particular measures only1 but  of   
general schemes of policy4#b ,on        
,burke's theory1 the people1 as a  rule1
 were no more concerned to interfere    
with ,parliament1 than a man  is        

concerned to interfere with somebody    
whom he has voluntarily and             
deliberately made his trustee4 ,but     
here1 he confessed1 was a shameful  and 
ruinous breach of trust4 ,the ordinary  
rule of government was being  every day 
mischievously contemned and daringly set
 aside4 ,until the  confidence thus     
outraged should be once more restored1  
then the people  ought to be excited to 
a more strict and detailed attention to 
the  conduct of their representatives4  
,the meetings of counties and           
corporations ought to settle standards  
for judging more systematically  of the 
behaviour of those whom they had sent to
 ,parliament4 ,frequent  and correct    
lists of the voters in all important    
questions ought to  be procured4 ,the   
severest discouragement ought to be     
given to the  pernicious practice of    
affording a blind and undistinguishing  
support  to every administration4       
,parliamentary support comes and goes   
with  office1 totally regardless of the 

man or the merit4 ,for instance1        
,wilkes's annual motion to expunge the  
votes upon the ,middlesex  election had 
been uniformly rejected1 as often as it 
was made while  ,lord ,north was in     
power4 ,lord ,north had no sooner given 
way to the  ,rockingham ,cabinet than   
the ,house of ,commons changed its mind1
 and  the resolutions were expunged by a
 handsome majority of #aae to #dg4      
,administration was omnipotent in the   
,house1 because it could be a  man's    
most efficient friend at an election1   
and could most amply  reward his        
fidelity afterwards4 ,against this      
system ,burke called on  the nation to  
set a stern face4 ,root it up1 he kept  
crying2 settle the  general course in   
which you desire members to go2 insist  
that they  shall not suffer themselves  
to be diverted from this by the         
authority  of the government of the day2
 let lists of votes be published1 so    
that you may ascertain for yourselves   
whether your trustees have been         

faithful or fraudulent2 do all this1 and
 there will be no need to  resort to    
those organic changes1 those empirical  
innovations1 which  may possibly cure1  
but are much more likely to destroy4    
,footnote #a3 ,observations on ,state of
 the ,nation1 ,works1 i4 #aje1  b4      
,footnote #b3 ,speech on ,duration of   
,parliaments4    ,it is not surprising  
that so halting a policy should have    
given deep  displeasure to very many1   
perhaps to most1 of those whose only    
common  bond was the loose and negative 
sentiment of antipathy to the court1    
the ministry1 and the too servile       
majority of the ,house of ,commons4     
,the ,constitutional ,society was       
furious4 ,lord ,chatham wrote to ,lord  
,rockingham that the work in which these
 doctrines first appeared1  must do much
 mischief to the common cause4 ,but     
,burke's view of the  constitution was a
 part of his belief with which he never 
paltered1 and on which he surrendered   
his judgment to no man4 ,our            

constitution1 in his opinion1 stands on 
a nice equipoise1 with steep  precipices
 and deep waters upon all sides of it4  
,in removing it from a  dangerous       
leaning towards one side1 there may be a
 risk of oversetting  it on the other4#a
 ,this image was ever before his mind4  
,it occurs  again in the last sentence  
of that great protest against all change
  and movement1 when he describes       
himself as one who1 when the equipoise  
of the vessel in which he sails may be  
endangered by overloading it  upon one  
side1 is desirous of carrying the small 
weight of his reasons  to that which may
 preserve its equipoise4#b ,when we     
think of the  odious mis-government in  
,england which the constitution         
permitted1  between the time when ,burke
 wrote and the passing of ,lord         
,sidmouth's  ,six ,acts fifty years     
later1 we may be inclined to class such 
a  constitution among the most          
inadequate and mischievous political    
arrangements that any free country has  

ever had to endure4 ,yet it was  this   
which ,burke declared that he looked    
upon with filial reverence4  ,never will
 ,i cut it in pieces1 and put it into   
the kettle of any  magician1 in order to
 boil it with the puddle of their       
compounds into  youth and vigour2 on the
 contrary1 ,i will drive away such      
pretenders2  ,i will nurse its venerable
 age1 and with lenient arts extend a    
parent's breath4    ,footnote #a3       
,present ,discontents4    ,footnote #b3 
,reflections on the ,french ,revolution4
    ,he was filled with the spirit1 and 
he borrowed the arguments1 which  have  
always marked the champion of faith and 
authority against the  impious assault  
of reason or innovation4 ,the           
constitution was sacred  to him as the  
voice of the ,church and the oracles of 
her saints are  sacred to the faithful4 
,study it1 he cried1 until you know how 
to  admire it1 and if you cannot know   
and admire1 rather believe that you  are
 dull1 than that the rest of the world  

has been imposed upon4 ,we  ought to    
understand it according to our measure  
and to venerate where  we are not able  
presently to comprehend4 ,well has      
,burke been called  the ,bossuet of     
politics4    ,although1 however1        
,burke's unflinching reverence for the  
constitution1  and his reluctance to lay
 a finger upon it1 may now seem clearly 
excessive1 as it did to ,chatham and his
 son1 who were great men in the  right1 
or to ,beckford and ,sawbridge1 who were
 very little men in the  right1 we can  
only be just to him by comparing his    
ideas with those  which were dominant   
throughout an evil reign4 ,while he     
opposed more  frequent parliaments1 he  
still upheld the doctrine that to govern
  according to the sense1 and agreeably 
to the interests1 of the people  is a   
great and glorious object of government4
 ,while he declared  himself against the
 addition of a hundred knights of the   
shire1 he  in the very same breath      
protested that1 though the people might 

be  deceived in their choice of an      
object1 he could scarcely conceive any  
choice they could make1 to be so very   
mischievous as the existence of  any    
human force capable of resisting it4#a  
,to us this may seem very  mild and     
commonplace doctrine1 but it was not    
commonplace in an age  when ,anglican   
divines--men like ,archbishop ,markham1 
,dr4 ,nowell or  ,dr4 ,porteus--had     
revived the base precepts of passive    
obedience and  non-resistance1 and when 
such a man as ,lord ,mansfield          
encouraged them4  ,and these were the   
kind of foundations which ,burke had    
been laying1  while ,fox was yet a      
,tory1 while ,sheridan was writing      
farces1 and while  ,grey was a          
schoolboy4    ,footnote #a3 ,to the     
,chairman of the ,buckinghamshire       
,meeting1 #aghj4    ,it is1 however1    
almost demonstrably certain that the    
vindication of  the supremacy of popular
 interests over all other considerations
 would  have been bootless toil1 and    

that the great constitutional struggle  
from #agfj to #aghc would have ended    
otherwise than it did1 but for  the     
failure of the war against the insurgent
 colonies1 and the final  establishment 
of ,american ,independence4 ,it was this
 portentous  transaction which finally  
routed the arbitrary and despotic       
pretensions of the ,house of ,commons   
over the people1 and which put an  end  
to the hopes entertained by the         
sovereign of making his personal  will  
supreme in the ,chambers4 ,fox might    
well talk of an early ,loyalist  victory
 in the war1 as the terrible news from  
,long ,island4 ,the  struggle which     
began unsuccessfully at ,brentford in   
,middlesex1 was  continued at ,boston in
 ,massachusetts4 ,the scene had changed1
 but the  conflicting principles were   
the same4 ,the war of ,independence was 
virtually a second ,english civil war4  
,the ruin of the ,american cause  would 
have been also the ruin of the          
constitutional cause in ,england2  and a

 patriotic ,englishman may revere the   
memory of ,patrick ,henry and  ,george  
,washington not less justly than the    
patriotic ,american4 ,burke's  attitude 
in this great contest is that part of   
his history about the  majestic and     
noble wisdom of which there can be least
 dispute4          ,,chapter ,,iv       
,,the ,,rockingham                      
,,party--,,paris--,,election ,,at       
,,bristol--,,the ,,american ,,war       
,the war with the ,american colonies was
 preceded by an interval of  stupor4    
,the violent ferment which had been     
stirred in the nation by  the affairs of
 ,wilkes and the ,middlesex election1   
was followed1 as  ,burke said1 by as    
remarkable a deadness and vapidity4 ,in 
#aggj the  distracted ministry of the   
,duke of ,grafton came to an end1 and   
was  succeeded by that of ,lord ,north4 
,the king had at last triumphed4 ,he    
had secured an administration of which  
the fundamental principle was  that the 
sovereign was to be the virtual head of 

it1 and the real  director of its       
counsels4 ,lord ,north's government     
lasted for twelve  years1 and its career
 is for ever associated with one of the 
most  momentous chapters in the history 
of the ,english nation and of free      
institutions4    ,through this long and 
eventful period1 ,burke's was as the    
voice of  one crying in the wilderness4 
,he had become important enough for the 
ministry to think it worth while to take
 pains to discredit him4 ,they  busily  
encouraged the report that he was       
,junius1 or a close ally of  ,junius4   
,this was one of the minor vexations of 
,burke's middle life4  ,even his friends
 continued to torment him for incessant 
disclaimers4  ,burke's lofty pride made 
him slow to deal positively with what he
  scorned as a malicious and unworthy   
imputation4 ,to such a friend as        
,johnson he did not1 as we have seen1   
disdain to volunteer a denial1  but     
,charles ,townshend was forced to write 
more than one importunate  letter before

 he could extract from ,burke the       
definite sentence  7,november #bd1      
#agga73--;,i now give you my word and   
honour that ,i am not  the author of    
,junius1 and that ,i know not the author
 of that paper1  and ,i do authorise you
 to say so4 ,nor was this the only kind 
of  annoyance to which he was subjected4
 ,his rising fame kindled the  candour  
of the friends of his youth4 ,with      
proverbial good-nature1 they  admonished
 him that he did not bear instruction2  
that he showed such  arrogance as in a  
man of his condition was intolerable2   
that he  snapped furiously at his       
parliamentary foes1 like a wolf who had 
broken into the fold2 that his speeches 
were useless declamations2 and  that he 
disgraced the ,house by the scurrilities
 of the bear-garden4  ,these sharp      
chastenings of friendship ,burke endured
 with the perfect  self-command1 not of 
the cold and indifferent egotist1 but of
 one who  had trained himself not to    
expect too much from men4 ,he possessed 

the  true solace for all private        
chagrins in the activity and the fervour
  of his public interests4    ,in #aggb 
the affairs of the ,east ,india ,company
 and its relations with  the ,government
 had fallen into disorder4 ,the         
,opposition1 though  powerless in the   
,houses of ,parliament1 were often able 
to thwart the  views of the ministry in 
the imperial board-room in ,leadenhall  
,street4  ,the ,duke of ,richmond was as
 zealous and as active in his opposition
  to ,lord ,north in the business of the
 ,east ,indies1 as he was in the        
business of the country at ,westminster4
 ,a proposal was made to ,burke  to go  
out to ,india at the head of a          
commission of three supervisors1  with  
authority to examine the concerns of    
every department1 and full  powers of   
control over the company's servants4    
,though this offer was  pressed by the  
directors1 ,burke1 after anxious        
consideration1 declined  it4 ,what his  
reasons were there is no evidence2 we   

can only guess that  he thought less of 
his personal interests than of those of 
the  country and of his party4 ,without 
him the ,rockingham connection  would   
undoubtedly have fallen to ruin1 and    
with it the most upright1  consistent1  
and disinterested body of men then in   
public life4 ,you  say1 the ,duke of    
,richmond wrote to him 7,november #ae1  
#aggb71 the  party is an object of too  
much importance to go to pieces4        
,indeed1  ,burke1 you have more merit   
than any man in keeping us together4 ,it
  was the character of the party1 almost
 as much as their principles1  that     
secured ,burke's zeal and attachment2   
their decorum1 their  constancy1 their  
aversion to all cabals for private      
objects1 their  indifference to office1 
except as an instrument of power and a  
means  of carrying out the policy of    
their convictions4 ,they might easily   
have had office if they would have come 
in upon the king's terms4 ,a  year after
 his fall from power ,lord ,rockingham  

was summoned to the  royal closet1 and  
pressed to resume his post4 ,but office 
at any price  was not in their thoughts4
 ,they knew the penalties of their      
system1  and they clung to it           
undeterred4 ,their patriotism was       
deliberate and  considered4 ,chalcedon  
was called the city of the blind1       
because its  founders wilfully neglected
 the more glorious site of ,byzantium   
which  lay under their eyes4 ,we have   
built our ,chalcedon1 said ,burke1 with 
the chosen part of the universe full in 
our prospect4 ,they had the  faults to  
which an aristocratic party in          
opposition is naturally  liable4 ,burke 
used to reproach them with being        
somewhat languid1  scrupulous1 and      
unsystematic4 ,he could not make the    
,duke of ,richmond  put off a large     
party at ,goodwood for the sake of an   
important  division in the ,house of    
,lords2 and he did not always agree with
 ,lord  ,john ,cavendish as to what     
constitutes a decent and reasonable     

quantity  of fox-hunting for a political
 leader in a crisis4 ,but it was part of
  the steadfastness of his whole life to
 do his best with such materials  as he 
could find4 ,he did not lose patience   
nor abate his effort1  because his      
friends would miss the opportunity of a 
great political  stroke rather than they
 would miss ,newmarket ,races4 ,he wrote
 their  protests for the ,house of      
,lords1 composed petitions for county   
meetings1 drafted resolutions1 and plied
 them with information1 ideas1          
admonitions1 and exhortations4 ,never   
before nor since has our country  seen  
so extraordinary a union of the clever  
and indefatigable  party-manager1 with  
the reflective and philosophic habits of
 the  speculative publicist4 ,it is much
 easier to make either absolutism or    
democracy attractive than aristocracy2  
yet we see how consistent with  his deep
 moral conservatism was ,burke's        
attachment to an aristocratic  party1   
when we read his exhortation to the     

,duke of ,richmond to  remember that    
persons in his high station in life     
ought to have long  views4 ,you people1 
he writes to the ,duke 7,november #ag1  
#aggb71 of  great families and          
hereditary trusts and fortunes are not  
like such as  ,i am1 who1 whatever we   
may be by the rapidity of our growth1   
and even  by the fruit we bear1 and     
flatter ourselves that1 while we creep  
on  the ground1 we belly into melons    
that are exquisite for size and         
flavour1 yet still we are but annual    
plants that perish with our  season1 and
 leave no sort of traces behind us4     
,you1 if you are what  you ought to be1 
are in my eye the great oaks that shade 
a country1  and perpetuate your benefits
 from generation to generation4 ,the    
immediate power of a ,duke of ,richmond1
 or a ,marquis of ,rockingham1  is not  
so much of moment2 but if their conduct 
and example hand down  their principles 
to their successors1 then their houses  
become the  public repositories and     

office of record for the                
constitution4444 ,i do  not look upon   
your time or lives as lost1 if in this  
sliding away from  the genuine spirit of
 the country1 certain parties1 if       
possible--if  not1 the heads of certain 
families--should make it their business 
by  the whole course of their lives1    
principally by their example1  to mould 
into the very vital stamina of their    
descendants those  principles which     
ought to be transmitted pure and unmixed
 to  posterity4    ,perhaps such a      
passage as this ought to be described   
less as  reflection than as             
imagination--moral1 historic1           
conservative  imagination--in which     
order1 social continuity1 and the       
endless  projection of past into        
present1 and of present into future1 are
  clothed with the sanctity of an inner 
shrine4 ,we may think that a            
fox-hunting duke and a racing marquis   
were very poor centres  round which to  
group these high emotions4 ,but ,burke  

had no puny  sentimentalism1 and none of
 the mere literary or romantic          
conservatism  of men like               
,chateaubriand4 ,he lived in the real   
world1 and not in a  false dream of some
 past world that had never been4 ,he saw
 that the  sporting squires of his party
 were as much the representatives of    
ancestral force and quality as in older 
days were long lines of  ,claudii and   
,valerii4 ,his conservative doctrine was
 a profound  instinct1 in part          
political1 but in greater part moral4   
,the accidental  roughness of the symbol
 did not touch him1 for the symbol was  
glorified by the sincerity of his faith 
and the compass of his  imagination4    
,with these ideas strong within him1 in 
#aggc ,burke made a journey to  ,france4
 ,it was almost as though the solemn    
hierophant of some mystic  ,egyptian    
temple should have found himself amid   
the brilliant chatter  of a band of     
reckless1 keen-tongued disputants of the
 garden or  the porch at ,athens4 ,his  

only son had just finished a successful 
school-course at ,westminster1 and was  
now entered a student at ,christ        
,church4 ,he was still too young for the
 university1 and ,burke thought  that a 
year could not be more profitably spent 
than in forming his  tongue to foreign  
languages4 ,the boy was placed at       
,auxerre1 in the  house of the business 
agent of the ,bishop of ,auxerre4 ,from 
the ,bishop  he received many           
kindnesses1 to be amply repaid in after 
years when  the ,bishop came in his old 
age1 an exile and a beggar1 to ,england4
    ,while in ,paris1 ,burke did all    
that he could to instruct himself as  to
 what was going on in ,french society4  
,if he had not the dazzling  reception  
which had greeted ,hume in #agfd1 at    
least he had ample  opportunities of    
acquainting himself with the prevailing 
ideas of the  time in more than one of  
the social camps into which ,paris was  
then  divided4 ,madame du ,deffand tells
 the ,duchess of ,choiseul that though  

he speaks ,french extremely ill1        
everybody felt that he would be         
infinitely agreeable if he could more   
easily make himself understood4  ,he    
followed ,french well enough as a       
listener1 and went every day to  the    
courts to hear the barristers and watch 
the procedure4 ,madame du  ,deffand     
showed him all possible attention1 and  
her friends eagerly  seconded her4 ,she 
invited him to supper parties1 where he 
met  the ,count de ,broglie1 the agent  
of the king's secret diplomacy2         
,caraccioli1 successor of nimble-witted 
,galiani1 the secretary from  ,naples2  
and other notabilities of the high      
world4 ,he supped with the  ,duchess of 
,luxembourg1 and heard a reading of ,la 
,harpe's ,barmecides4  ,it was high     
treason in this circle to frequent the  
rival salon of  ,mademoiselle           
,lespinasse1 but either the law was     
relaxed in the case  of foreigners1 or  
else ,burke kept his own counsel4 ,here 
were for the  moment the headquarters of

 the party of innovation1 and here he   
saw  some of the men who were busily    
forging the thunderbolts4 ,his eye was  
on the alert1 now as always1 for        
anything that might light up the        
sovereign problems of human government4 
,a book by a member of this  circle had 
appeared six months before1 which was   
still the talk of the  town1 and against
 which the ,government had taken the    
usual impotent  measures of repression4 
,this was the ,treatise on ,tactics1 by 
a  certain ,m4 de ,guibert1 a colonel of
 the ,corsican legion4 ,the important   
part of the work was the introduction1  
in which the writer examined  with what 
was then thought extraordinary          
hardihood1 the social and  political    
causes of the decline of the military   
art in ,france4 ,burke  read it with    
keen interest and energetic approval4   
,he was present at  the reading of a    
tragedy by the same author1 and gave    
some offence to  the rival coterie by   
preferring ,guibert's tragedy to ,la    

,harpe's4 ,to  us1 however1 of a later  
day1 ,guibert is known neither for his  
tragedy  nor his essay on tactics1 nor  
for a memory so rapid that he could open
  a book1 throw one glance like a flash 
of lightning on to a page1 and  then    
instantly repeat from it half a dozen   
lines word for word4  ,he lives in      
literature as the inspirer of that      
ardent passion of  ,mademoiselle        
,lespinasse's letters1 so unique in     
their consuming  intensity that1 as has 
been said1 they seem to burn the page on
 which  they are written4 ,it was       
perhaps at ,mademoiselle ,lespinasse's  
that  ,burke met ,diderot4 ,the eleven  
volumes of the illustrative plates  of  
the ,encyclopaeedia had been given to   
the public twelve months  before1 and   
its editor was just released from the   
giant's toil of  twenty years4 ,voltaire
 was in imperial exile at ,ferney4      
,rousseau was  copying music in a garret
 in the street which is now called after
 his  name1 but he had long ago cut     

himself off from society2 and ,burke was
  not likely to take much trouble to    
find out a man whom he had known in     
,england seven years before1 and against
 whom he had conceived a  strong and    
lasting antipathy1 as entertaining no   
principle either to  influence his heart
 or to guide his understanding save a   
deranged and  eccentric vanity4    ,it  
was the fashion for ,english visitors to
 go to ,versailles4 ,they saw  the      
dauphin and his brothers dine in public1
 before a crowd of princes  of the      
blood1 nobles1 abbs1 and all the        
miscellaneous throng of  a court4 ,they 
attended mass in the chapel1 where the  
old king1  surrounded by bishops1 sat in
 a pew just above that of ,madame du    
,barri4 ,the royal mistress astonished  
foreigners by hair without  powder and  
cheeks without rouge1 the simplest      
toilettes1 and the most  unassuming     
manners4 ,vice itself1 in ,burke's      
famous words1 seemed to  lose half its  
evil by losing all its grossness4 ,and  

there1 too1 ,burke  had that vision to  
which we owe one of the most gorgeous   
pages in our  literature--,marie        
,antoinette1 the young dauphiness1      
decorating and  cheering the elevated   
sphere she just began to move in1       
glittering  like the morning star1 full 
of life and splendour and joy4 ,the     
shadow  was rapidly stealing on4 ,the   
year after ,burke's visit1 the scene    
underwent a strange transformation4 ,the
 king died2 the mistress was  banished  
in luxurious exile2 and the dauphiness  
became the ill-starred  ,queen of       
,france4 ,burke never forgot the        
emotions of the scene2 they  awoke in   
his imagination sixteen years after1    
when all was changed1  and the awful    
contrast shook him with a passion that  
his eloquence has  made immortal4       
,madame du ,deffand wrote to ,horace    
,walpole that ,burke had been so well   
received1 that he ought to leave ,france
 excellently pleased with the  country4 
,but it was not so4 ,his spirit was     

perturbed by what he had  listened to4  
,he came away with small esteem for that
 busy fermentation  of intellect in     
which his ,french friends most exulted1 
and for which  they looked forward to   
the gratitude and admiration of         
posterity4 ,from  the spot on which he  
stood there issued two mighty streams4  
,it was  from the ideas of the ,parisian
 ,freethinkers1 whom ,burke so detested1
  that ,jefferson1 ,franklin1 and ,henry
 drew those theories of human  society  
which were so soon to find life in      
,american ,independence4 ,it  was from  
the same ideas that later on that       
revolutionary tide surged  forth1 in    
which ,burke saw no elements of a       
blessed fertility1 but  only a horrid   
torrent of red and desolating lava4 ,in 
#aggc there was  a moment of strange    
repose in ,western ,europe1 the little  
break of  stillness that precedes the   
hurricane4 ,it was indeed the eve of a  
momentous epoch4 ,before sixteen years  
were over1 the ,american ,republic  had 

risen1 like a new constellation into the
 firmament1 and the ,french  monarchy1  
of such antiquity and fame and high     
pre-eminence in ,european  history1 had 
been shattered to the dust4 ,we may not 
agree with ,burke's  appreciation of the
 forces that were behind these vast     
convulsions4  ,but at least he saw1 and 
saw with eyes of passionate alarm1 that 
strong speculative forces were at work1 
which must violently prove  the very    
bases of the great social               
superstructure1 and might not           
improbably break them up for ever4      
,almost immediately after his return    
from ,france1 he sounded a  shrill note 
of warning4 ,some ,methodists from      
,chatham had petitioned  ,parliament    
against a bill for the relief of        
,dissenters from  subscription to the   
,articles4 ,burke denounced the         
intolerance of the  petitioners4 ,it is 
not the ,dissenters1 he cried1 whom you 
have to  fear1 but the men who1 not     
contented with endeavouring to turn     

your eyes from the blaze and effulgence 
of light1 by which life and  immortality
 is so gloriously demonstrated by the   
,gospel1 would even  extinguish that    
faint glimmering of ,nature1 that only  
comfort supplied  to ignorant man before
 this great illumination4444 ,these are 
the  people against whom you ought to   
aim the shaft of the law2 these are  the
 men to whom1 arrayed in all the terrors
 of government1 ,i would  say1 ',you    
shall not degrade us into brutes4' 444  
,the most horrid and  cruel blow that   
can be offered to civil society is      
through atheism4444  ,the infidels are  
outlaws of the constitution1 not of this
 country1 but  of the human race4 ,they 
are never1 never to be supported1 never 
to be  tolerated4 ,under the systematic 
attacks of these people1 ,i see some of 
the props of good government already    
begin to fail2 ,i see propagated        
principles which will not leave to      
religion even a toleration4 ,i  see     
myself sinking every day under the      

attacks of these wretched  people4#a ,to
 this pitch he had been excited by the  
vehement band of  men1 who had inscribed
 on their standard1 craser l',infme4    
,footnote #a3 ,speech on ,relief of     
,protestant ,dissenters1 #aggc4         
99       99       99       99       99  
,the second ,parliament in which ,burke 
had a seat was dissolved suddenly  and  
without warning 7,october #aggd74 ,the  
attitude of ,america was  threatening1  
and it was believed the ,ministers were 
anxious to have  the elections over     
before the state of things became worse4
 ,the whole  kingdom was instantly in a 
ferment4 ,couriers1 chaises1            
post-horses1  hurried in every direction
 over the island1 and it was noted1 as a
  measure of the agitation1 that no     
fewer than sixty messengers passed      
through a single turnpike on one day4   
,sensible observers were glad to  think 
that1 in consequence of the rapidity of 
the elections1 less wine  and money     
would be wasted than at any election for

 sixty years past4  ,burke had a        
houseful of company at ,beaconsfield    
when the news arrived4  ,johnson was    
among them1 and as the party was hastily
 breaking up1 the  old ,tory took his   
,whig friend kindly by the hand3        
,farewell1 my dear  sir1 he said1 and   
remember that ,i wish you all the       
success that  ought to be wished to you1
 and can possibly be wished to you1 by  
an  honest man4    ,the words were of   
good omen4 ,burke was now rewarded by   
the discovery  that his labours had     
earned for him recognition and gratitude
 beyond  the narrow limits of a rather  
exclusive party4 ,he had before this    
attracted the attention of the          
mercantile public4 ,the ,company of     
,merchants trading to ,africa voted him 
their thanks for his share in           
supporting their establishments4 ,the   
,committee of ,trade at ,manchester     
formally returned him their grateful    
acknowledgments for the active  part    
that he had taken in the business of the

 ,jamaica free ports4  ,but then        
,manchester returned no representative  
to ,parliament4 ,in two  ,parliaments   
,burke had been elected for ,wendover   
free of expense4 ,lord  ,verney's       
circumstances were now so embarrassed1  
that he was obliged  to part with the   
four seats at his disposal to men who   
could pay for  them4 ,there had been    
some talk of proposing ,burke for       
,westminster1  and ,wilkes1 who was then
 omnipotent1 promised him the support of
  the popular party4 ,but the patriot's 
memory was treacherous1 and he  speedily
 forgot1 for reasons of his own1 an idea
 that had originated  with himself4     
,burke's constancy of spirit was        
momentarily overclouded4  ,sometimes    
when ,i am alone1 he wrote to ,lord     
,rockingham 7,september  #ae1 #aggd71 in
 spite of all my efforts1 ,i fall into a
 melancholy which  is inexpressible1 and
 to which1 if ,i give way1 ,i should not
 continue  long under it1 but must      
totally sink4 ,yet ,i do assure you that

 partly1  and indeed principally1 by the
 force of natural good spirits1 and     
partly by a strong sense of what ,i     
ought to do1 ,i bear up so well that  no
 one who did not know them1 could easily
 discover the state of my  mind or my   
circumstances4 ,i have those that are   
dear to me1 for whom ,i  must live as   
long as ,god pleases1 and in what way   
,he pleases4 ,whether  ,i ought not     
totally to abandon this public station  
for which ,i am so  unfit1 and have of  
course been so unfortunate1 ,i know not4
 ,but he  was always saved from rash    
retirement from public business by two  
reflections4 ,he doubted whether a man  
has a right to retire after he  has once
 gone a certain length in these things4 
,and he remembered that  there are often
 obscure vexations in the most private  
life1 which as  effectually destroy a   
man's peace as anything that can occur  
in public  contentions4    ,lord        
,rockingham offered his influence on    
behalf of ,burke at ,malton1  one of the

 family boroughs in ,yorkshire1 and     
thither ,burke in no high  spirits      
betook himself4 ,on his way to the north
 he heard that he  had been nominated   
for ,bristol1 but the nomination had for
 certain  electioneering reasons not    
been approved by the party4 ,as it      
happened1  ,burke was no sooner chosen  
at ,malton than1 owing to an unexpected 
turn of affairs at ,bristol1 the idea of
 proposing him for a candidate  revived4
 ,messengers were sent express to his   
house in ,london1 and1  not finding him 
there1 they hastened down to ,yorkshire4
 ,burke quickly  resolved that the offer
 was too important to be rejected4      
,bristol was  the capital of the west1  
and it was still in wealth1 population1 
and  mercantile activity the second city
 of the kingdom4 ,to be invited to      
stand for so great a constituency1      
without any request of his own and  free
 of personal expense1 was a distinction 
which no politician could  hold lightly4
 ,burke rose from the table where he was

 dining with some  of his supporters1   
stepped into a post-chaise at six on a  
,tuesday  evening1 and travelled without
 a break until he reached ,bristol on   
the  ,thursday afternoon1 having got    
over two hundred and seventy miles in   
forty-four hours4 ,not only did he      
execute the journey without a break1    
but1 as he told the people of ,bristol1 
with an exulting commemoration  of his  
own zeal that recalls ,cicero1 he did   
not sleep for an instant  in the        
interval4 ,the poll was kept open for a 
month1 and the contest  was the most    
tedious that had ever been known in the 
city4 ,new freemen  were admitted down  
to the very last day of the election4   
,at the end of  it1 ,burke was second on
 the poll1 and was declared to be duly  
chosen  7,november #c1 #aggd74 ,there   
was a petition against his return1 but  
the  election was confirmed1 and he     
continued to sit for ,bristol for six   
years4    ,the situation of a candidate 
is apt to find out a man's weaker       

places4  ,burke stood the test4 ,he     
showed none of the petulant rage of     
those  clamorous politicians whose      
flight1 as he said1 is winged in a lower
  region of the air4 ,as the traveller  
stands on the noble bridge  that now    
spans the valley of the ,avon1 he may   
recall ,burke's local  comparison of    
these busy1 angry familiars of an       
election1 to the gulls  that skim the   
mud of the river when it is exhausted of
 its tide4 ,he  gave his new friends a  
more important lesson1 when the time    
came for  him to thank them for the     
honour which they had just conferred    
upon  him4 ,his colleague had opened the
 subject of the relations between a     
member of ,parliament and his           
constituents2 and had declared that1    
for his own part1 he should regard the  
instructions of the people of  ,bristol 
as decisive and binding4 ,burke in a    
weighty passage upheld a  manlier       
doctrine4        ,certainly1 gentlemen1 
it ought to be the happiness and glory  

of      a representative to live in the 
strictest union1 the closest            
correspondence1 and the most unreserved 
communication with his                  
constituents4 ,their wishes ought to    
have great weight with him2      their  
opinions high respect1 their business   
unremitted attention4      ,it is his   
duty to sacrifice his repose1 his       
pleasure1 his      satisfactions1 to    
theirs2 and above all1 ever1 and in all 
cases1      to prefer their interest to 
his own4 ,but his unbiassed opinion1    
his mature judgment1 his enlightened    
conscience1 he ought not to             
sacrifice to you1 to any man1 or to any 
set of men living4 ,your                
representative owes you1 not his        
industry only1 but his judgment2        
and he betrays1 instead of serving you1 
if he sacrifices it to      your        
opinion4        ,my worthy colleague    
says1 his will ought to be subservient  
to      yours4 ,if that be all1 the     
thing is innocent4 ,if government were a

      matter of will upon any side1     
yours1 without question1 ought to be    
superior4 ,but government and           
legislation are matters of reason and   
judgment1 and not of inclination2 and   
what sort of reason is that      in     
which the determination precedes the    
discussion1 in which one      set of men
 deliberate and another decide1 and     
where those who form      the conclusion
 are perhaps three hundred miles distant
 from      those who hear the           
arguments8444 ,authoritative            
instructions1      mandates issued1     
which the member is bound blindly and   
implicitly to obey1 to vote1 and to     
argue for1 though contrary to      the  
clearest convictions of his judgment and
 conscience--these are      things      
utterly unknown to the laws of this     
land1 and which arise      from a       
fundamental mistake of the whole order  
and tenor of our      ,constitution4#a  
,footnote #a3 ,speech at the conclusion 
of the ,poll4    ,for six years the     

,bristol electors were content to be    
represented by  a man of this           
independence4 ,they never1 however1     
really acquiesced  in the principle that
 a member of ,parliament owes as much to
 his own  convictions as to the will of 
his constituents4 ,in #aggh a bill was  
brought into ,parliament1 relaxing some 
of the restrictions imposed  upon       
,ireland by the atrocious fiscal policy 
of ,great ,britain4 ,the  great         
mercantile centres raised a furious     
outcry1 and ,bristol was as  blind and  
as boisterous as ,manchester and        
,glasgow4 ,burke not only  spoke and    
voted in favour of the commercial       
propositions1 but urged  that the       
proposed removal of restrictions on     
,irish trade did not go  nearly far     
enough4 ,there was none of that too     
familiar casuistry1  by which public men
 argue themselves out of their          
consciences in a  strange syllogism1    
that they can best serve the country in 
,parliament2  that to keep their seats  

they must follow their electors2 and    
that  therefore1 in the long run1 they  
serve the country best by acquiescing   
in ignorance and prejudice4 ,anybody can
 denounce an abuse4 ,it needs  valour   
and integrity to stand forth against a  
wrong to which our best  friends are    
most ardently committed4 ,it warms our  
hearts to think  of the noble courage   
with which ,burke faced the blind and   
vile  selfishness of his own supporters4
 ,he reminded them that ,england only   
consented to leave to the ,irish in two 
or three instances the use of  the      
natural faculties which ,god had given  
them4 ,he asked them whether  ,ireland  
was united to ,great ,britain for no    
other purpose than that we  should      
counteract the bounty of ,providence in 
her favour2 and whether1  in proportion 
as that bounty had been liberal1 we were
 to regard it as  an evil to be met with
 every possible corrective8 ,in our day 
there is  nobody of any school who      
doubts that ,burke's view of our trade  

policy  towards ,ireland was accurately1
 absolutely1 and magnificently right4   
,i need not repeat the arguments4 ,they 
made no mark on the ,bristol  merchants4
 ,burke boldly told them that he would  
rather run the risk of  displeasing than
 of injuring them4 ,they implored him to
 become their  advocate4 ,i should only 
disgrace myself1 he said2 ,i should lose
 the  only thing which can make such    
abilities as mine of any use to the     
world now or hereafter4 ,i mean that    
authority which is derived from  the    
opinion that a member speaks the        
language of truth and sincerity1  and   
that he is not ready to take up or lay  
down a great political  system for the  
convenience of the hour2 that he is in  
,parliament to  support his opinion of  
the public good1 and does not form his  
opinion  in order to get into           
,parliament or to continue in it4#a     
,footnote #a3 ,two ,letters to          
,gentlemen in ,bristol1 #aggh4    ,a    
small instalment of humanity to ,ireland

 was not more distasteful to  the       
electors of ,bristol than a small       
instalment of toleration to ,roman      
,catholics in ,england4 ,a measure was  
passed 7#aggh7 repealing certain        
iniquitous penalties created by an ,act 
of ,william the ,third4 ,it is  needless
 to say that this rudimentary concession
 to justice and sense  was supported by 
,burke4 ,his voters began to believe    
that those were  right who had said that
 he had been bred at ,saint ,omer's1 was
 a ,papist  at heart1 and a ,jesuit in  
disguise4 ,when the time came1 summa    
dies et  ineluctabile fatum1 ,burke bore
 with dignity and temper his dismissal  
from the only independent constituency  
that he ever represented4 ,years  before
 he had warned a young man entering     
public life to regard and  wish well to 
the common people1 whom his best        
instincts and his  highest duties lead  
him to love and to serve1 but to put as 
little  trust in them as in princes4    
,burke somewhere describes an honest    

public life as carrying on a poor       
unequal conflict against the  passions  
and prejudices of our day1 perhaps with 
no better weapons  than passions and    
prejudices of our own4    ,the six years
 during which ,burke sat in ,parliament 
for ,bristol1 saw  this conflict carried
 on under the most desperate            
circumstances4 ,they  were the years of 
the civil war between the ,english at   
home and the  ,english in the ,american 
colonies4 ,george ,,iii4 and ,lord      
,north have been  made scapegoats for   
sins which were not exclusively1 their  
own4 ,they  were only the organs and    
representatives of all the lurking      
ignorance  and arbitrary humours of the 
entire community4 ,burke discloses in   
many  places1 that for once the king and
 ,parliament did not act without the    
sympathies of the mass4 ,in his famous  
speech at ,bristol1 in #aghj1 he  was   
rebuking the intolerance of those who   
bitterly taunted him for the  support of
 the measure for the relaxation of the  

,penal ,code4 ,it is  but too true1 he  
said in a passage worth remembering1    
that the love1  and even the very idea1 
of genuine liberty is extremely rare4   
,it is  but too true that there are many
 whose whole scheme of freedom is made  
up of pride1 perverseness1 and          
insolence4 ,they feel themselves in  a  
state of thraldom1 they imagine that    
their souls are cooped and  cabined in1 
unless they have some man1 or some body 
of men1 dependent  on their mercy4 ,the 
desire of having some one below them1   
descends  to those who are the very     
lowest of all2 and a ,protestant        
cobbler1  debased by his poverty1 but   
exalted by his share of the ruling      
,church1  feels a pride in knowing it is
 by his generosity alone that the peer1 
whose footman's instep he measures1 is  
able to keep his chaplain from  a gaol4 
,this disposition is the true source of 
the passion which  many men1 in very    
humble life1 have taken to the ,american
 war4 ,our  subjects in ,america2 our   

colonies2 our dependents4 ,this lust of 
party power is the liberty they hunger  
and thirst for2 and this ,siren  song of
 ambition has charmed ears that we would
 have thought were  never organised to  
that sort of music4    ,this was the    
mental attitude of a majority of the    
nation1 and it was  fortunate for them  
and for us that the yeomen and merchants
 on the  other side of the ,atlantic had
 a more just and energetic appreciation 
of the crisis4 ,the insurgents1 while   
achieving their own freedom1 were       
indirectly engaged in fighting the      
battle of the people of the mother      
country as well4 ,burke had a vehement  
correspondent who wrote to  him 7#aggg7 
that if the utter ruin of this country  
were to be the  consequence of her      
persisting in the claim to tax ,america1
 then he  would be the first to say1    
,let her perish6 ,if ,england prevails1 
said  ,horace ,walpole1 ,english and    
,american liberty is at an end2 if one  
fell1 the other would fall with it4     

,burke1 seeing this1 certainly  never   
could and never did wish1 as he says of 
himself1 the colonists  to be subdued by
 arms4 ,he was fully persuaded that if  
such should be  the event1 they must be 
held in that subdued state by a great   
body of  standing forces1 and perhaps of
 foreign forces4 ,he was strongly of    
opinion that such armies1 first         
victorious over ,englishmen1 in a       
conflict for ,english constitutional    
rights and privileges1 and  afterwards  
habituated 7though in ,america7 to keep 
an ,english people  in a state of abject
 subjection1 would prove fatal in the   
end to the  liberties of ,england       
itself4#a ,the way for this remote peril
 was  being sedulously prepared by a    
widespread deterioration among popular  
ideas1 and a fatal relaxation of the    
hold which they had previously  gained  
in the public mind4 ,in order to prove  
that the ,americans had no  right to    
their liberties1 we were every day      
endeavouring to subvert  the maxims     

which preserve the whole spirit of our  
own4 ,to prove that  the ,americans     
ought not to be free1 we were obliged to
 depreciate the  value of freedom       
itself4 ,the material strength of the   
,government1 and  its moral strength    
alike1 would have been reinforced by the
 defeat of  the colonists1 to such an   
extent as to have seriously delayed or  
even  jeopardised ,english progress1 and
 therefore that of ,europe too4 ,as     
events actually fell out1 the ferocious 
administration of the law  in the last  
five or six years of the eighteenth     
century was the  retribution for the    
lethargy or approval with which the mass
 of the  ,english community had watched 
the measures of the ,government against 
their fellow-,englishmen in ,america4   
,footnote #a3 ,appeal from the ,new to  
the ,old ,whigs4    ,it is not necessary
 here to follow ,burke minutely through 
the  successive stages of parliamentary 
action in the ,american war4 ,he  always
 defended the settlement of #agff2 the  

,stamp ,act was repealed1  and the      
constitutional supremacy and sovereign  
authority of the mother  country was    
preserved in a ,declaratory ,act4 ,when 
the project of taxing  the colonies was 
revived1 and relations with them were   
becoming  strained and dangerous1 ,burke
 came forward with a plan for leaving   
the  ,general ,assemblies of the        
colonies to grant supplies and aids1    
instead  of giving and granting supplies
 in ,parliament1 to be raised and paid  
in the colonies4 ,needless to say that  
it was rejected1 and perhaps it  was not
 feasible4 ,henceforth ,burke could only
 watch in impotence the  blunders of    
,government1 and the disasters that     
befell the national  arms4 ,but his     
protests against the war will last as   
long as our  literature4    ,of all     
,burke's writings none are so fit to    
secure unqualified  and unanimous       
admiration as the three pieces on this  
momentous  struggle3--the ,speech on    
,american ,taxation 7,april #ai1 #aggd72

 the  ,speech on ,conciliation with     
,america 7,march #bb1 #agge72 and the   
,letter  to the ,sheriffs of ,bristol   
7#aggg74 ,together they hardly exceed   
the  compass of the little volume which 
the reader now has in his hands4 ,it  is
 no exaggeration to say that they       
compose the most perfect manual in  our 
literature1 or in any literature1 for   
one who approaches the study  of public 
affairs1 whether for knowledge or for   
practice4 ,they are an  example without 
fault of all the qualities which the    
critic1 whether a  theorist or an actor1
 of great political situations should   
strive by  night and by day to possess4 
,if the theme with which they deal were 
less near than it is to our interests   
and affections as free citizens1  these 
three performances would still abound in
 the lessons of an  incomparable        
political method4 ,if their subject were
 as remote as the  quarrel between the  
,corinthians and ,corcyra1 or the war   
between ,rome  and the ,allies1 instead 

of a conflict to which the world owes   
the  opportunity of the most important  
of political experiments1 we should     
still have everything to learn from the 
author's treatment2 the  vigorous grasp 
of masses of compressed detail1 the wide
 illumination  from great principles of 
human experience1 the strong and        
masculine  feeling for the two great    
political ends of ,justice and ,freedom1
 the  large and generous interpretation 
of expediency1 the morality1 the        
vision1 the noble temper4 ,if ever1 in  
the fulness of time1 and surely  the    
fates of men and literature cannot have 
it otherwise1 ,burke  becomes one of the
 half-dozen names of established and    
universal  currency in education and in 
common books1 rising above the          
waywardness of literary caprice or      
intellectual fashions1 as  ,shakespeare 
and ,milton and ,bacon rise above it1 it
 will be the  mastery1 the elevation1   
the wisdom1 of these far-shining        
discourses in  which the world will in  

an especial degree recognise the        
combination  of sovereign gifts with    
beneficent uses4    ,the pamphlet on the
 ,present ,discontents is partially     
obscured or  muffled to the modern      
reader by the space which is given to   
the cabal  of the day4 ,the ,reflections
 on the ,french ,revolution over-abounds
 in  declamation1 and--apart from its   
being passionately on one side1 and     
that perhaps the wrong one--the         
splendour of the eloquence is out  of   
proportion to the reason and the        
judgment4 ,in the pieces on the         
,american war1 on the contrary1 ,burke  
was conscious that he could trust       
nothing to the sympathy or the          
prepossessions of his readers1 and  this
 put him upon an unwonted               
persuasiveness4 ,here it is reason and  
judgment1 not declamation2 lucidity1 not
 passion2 that produces  the effects of 
eloquence4 ,no choler mars the page2 no 
purple patch  distracts our minds from  
the penetrating force of argument2 no   

commonplace is dressed up into a vague  
sublimity4 ,the cause of freedom  is    
made to wear its own proper robe of     
equity1 self-control1 and               
reasonableness4    ,not one1 but all    
those great idols of the political      
market-place whose  worship and service 
has cost the race so dear1 are          
discovered and  shown to be the foolish 
uncouth stocks and stones that they are4
 ,fox  once urged members of ,parliament
 to peruse the speech on ,conciliation  
again and again1 to study it1 to imprint
 it on their minds1 to impress  it on   
their hearts4 ,but ,fox only referred to
 the lesson which he  thought to be     
contained in it1 that representation is 
the sovereign  remedy for every evil4   
,this is by far the least important of  
its  lessons4 ,it is great in many ways4
 ,it is greatest as a remonstrance  and 
an answer against the thriving sophisms 
of barbarous national  pride1 the       
eternal fallacies of war and conquest2  
and here it is  great1 as all the three 

pieces on the subject are so1 because   
they  expose with unanswerable force the
 deep-lying faults of heart and  temper1
 as well as of understanding1 which move
 nations to haughty and  violent        
courses4    ,the great argument with    
those of the war party who pretended to 
a  political defence of their position1 
was the doctrine that the ,english      
,government was sovereign in the        
colonies as at home2 and in the notion  
of sovereignty they found inherent the  
notion of an indefeasible  right to     
impose and exact taxes4 ,having         
satisfied themselves of the  existence  
of this sovereignty1 and of the right   
which they took to be  its natural      
property1 they saw no step between the  
existence of an  abstract right and the 
propriety of enforcing it4 ,we have seen
 an  instance of a similar mode of      
political thinking in our own lifetime4 
,during the great civil war between the 
northern and southern states of  the    
,american ,union1 people in ,england    

convinced themselves--some  after       
careful examination of documents1 others
 by cursory glances at  second-hand     
authorities--that the south had a right 
to secede4 ,the  current of opinion was 
precisely similar in the struggle to    
which the  ,united ,states owed their   
separate existence4 ,now the idea of a  
right  as a mysterious and reverend     
abstraction1 to be worshipped in a state
  of naked divorce from expediency and  
convenience1 was one that ,burke's      
political judgment found preposterous   
and unendurable4 ,he hated  the         
arbitrary and despotic savour which     
clung about the ,english  assumptions   
over the colonies4 ,and his repulsion   
was heightened when  he found that these
 assumptions were justified1 not by some
 permanent  advantage which their       
victory would procure for the mother    
country  or for the colonies1 or which  
would repay the cost of gaining such a  
victory2 not by the assertion and       
demonstration of some positive duty1    

but by the futile and meaningless       
doctrine that we had a right to do      
something or other1 if we liked4    ,the
 alleged compromise of the national     
dignity implied in a withdrawal  of the 
just claim of the ,government1 instead  
of convincing1 only  exasperated him4   
,show the thing you contend for to be   
reason2 show it  to be common sense2    
show it to be the means of attaining    
some useful  end2 and then ,i am content
 to allow it what dignity you please4#a 
,the next year he took up the ground    
still more firmly1 and explained  it    
still more impressively4 ,as for the    
question of the right  of taxation1 he  
exclaimed1 ,it is less than nothing in  
my  consideration4444 ,my consideration 
is narrow1 confined1 and wholly  limited
 to the policy of the question4 ,i do   
not examine whether the  giving away a  
man's money be a power excepted and     
reserved out of the  general trust of   
,government4444 ,the question with me is
 not whether  you have a right to render

 your people miserable1 but whether it  
is  not your interest to make them      
happy4 ,it is not what a lawyer tells   
me ,i may do1 but what humanity1 reason1
 and justice tell me ,i  ought to do4 ,i
 am not determining a point of law2 ,i  
am restoring  tranquillity1 and the     
general character and situation of a    
people must  determine what sort of     
government is fitted for them4 ,i am not
 here  going into the distinctions of   
rights1 he cries1 not attempting  to    
mark their boundaries4 ,i do not enter  
into these metaphysical  distinctions4  
,i hate the very sound of them4 ,this is
 the true  touchstone of all theories   
which regard man and the affairs of man3
  does it suit his nature in            
general8--does it suit his nature as    
modified by his habits8 ,he could not   
bear to think of having  legislative or 
political arrangements shaped or        
vindicated by a  delusive geometrical   
accuracy of deduction1 instead of being 
entrusted  to the natural operation of  

things1 which1 left to themselves1      
generally fall into their proper order4 
,footnote #a3 ,speech on ,american      
,taxation4    ,apart from his incessant 
assertion of the principle that man acts
 from  adequate motives relative to his 
interests1 and not on metaphysical      
speculations1 ,burke sows1 as he marches
 along in his stately argument1  many a 
germ of the modern philosophy of        
civilisation4 ,he was told that         
,america was worth fighting for4        
,certainly it is1 he answered1 if       
fighting a people be the best way of    
gaining them4 ,every step that  has been
 taken in the direction of progress1 not
 merely in empire1 but  in education1 in
 punishment1 in the treatment of the    
insane1 has shown  the deep wisdom1 so  
unfamiliar in that age of ferocious     
penalties and  brutal methods1 of this  
truth--that the natural effect of       
fidelity1  clemency1 kindness in        
governors1 is peace1 good-will1 order1  
and  esteem in the governed4 ,is there a

 single instance to the contrary8  ,then
 there is that sure key to wise         
politics3--,nobody shall persuade  me   
when a whole people are concerned1 that 
acts of lenity are not  means of        
conciliation4 ,and that still more      
famous sentence1 ,i  do not know the    
method of drawing up an indictment      
against a whole  people4    ,good and   
observant men will feel that no misty   
benevolence or vague  sympathy1 but the 
positive reality of experience1 inspired
 such  passages as that where he        
says1--,never expecting to find         
perfection  in men1 and not looking for 
divine attributes in created beings1 in 
my  commerce with my contemporaries ,i  
have found much human virtue4  ,the age 
unquestionably produces daring          
profligates and insidious  hypocrites8  
,what then8 ,am ,i not to avail myself  
of whatever good is  to be found in the 
world1 because of the mixture of evil   
that is in  it8444 ,those who raise     
suspicions of the good1 on account of   

the behaviour of evil men1 are of the   
party of the latter4444 ,a              
conscientious person would rather doubt 
his own judgment than condemn  his      
species4 ,he that accuses all mankind of
 corruption ought to  remember that he  
is sure to convict only one4 ,in truth1 
,i should much  rather admit those whom 
at any time ,i have disrelished the     
most1 to be  patterns of perfection1    
than seek a consolation to my own       
unworthiness  in a general communion of 
depravity with all about me4 ,this is   
one of  those pieces of rational        
constancy and mental wholeness in ,burke
 which  fill up our admiration for      
him--one of the manifold illustrations  
of  an invincible fidelity to the       
natural order and operation of things1  
even when they seemed most hostile to   
all that was dear to his own            
personality4          ,,chapter ,v      
,,economical ,,reform--,,burke ,,in     
,,office--,,fall ,,of ,,his ,,party     
,towards #aghj it began to be clear that

 the ,ministers had brought  the country
 into disaster and humiliation1 from    
which their policy  contained no way of 
escape4 ,in the closing months of the   
,american war1  the ,opposition pressed 
,ministers with a vigour that never     
abated4 ,lord  ,north bore their attacks
 with perfect good-humour4 ,when ,burke1
 in  the course of a great oration1     
parodied ,burgoyne's invitation to the  
,indians to repair to the king's        
standard1 the wit and satire of  it     
almost suffocated the ,prime ,minister1 
not with shame but with  laughter4 ,his 
heart had long ceased to be in the      
matter1 and everybody  knew that he only
 retained his post in obedience to the  
urgent  importunities of the king1      
whilst such colleagues as ,rigby only   
clung  to their place because the       
salaries were endeared by long          
familiarity4  ,the general gloom was    
accidentally deepened by that hideous   
outbreak  of fanaticism and violence1   
which is known as the ,lord ,george     

,gordon  ,riots 7,june #aghj74 ,the     
,whigs1 as having favoured the          
relaxation of  the laws against popery1 
were especially obnoxious to the mob4   
,the  ,government sent a guard of       
soldiers to protect ,burke's house in   
,charles ,street1 ,st4 ,james's2 but    
after he had removed the more  important
 of his papers1 he insisted on the guard
 being despatched for  the protection of
 more important places1 and he took     
shelter under the  roof of ,general     
,burgoyne4 ,his excellent wife1         
according to a letter of  his brother1  
had the firmness and sweetness of an    
angel2 but why do  ,i say of an         
angel8--of a woman4 ,burke himself      
courageously walked  to and fro amid the
 raging crowds with firm composure1     
though the  experiment was full of      
peril4 ,he describes the mob as being   
made up1  as ,london mobs generally are1
 rather of the unruly and dissolute than
  of fanatical malignants1 and he       
vehemently opposed any concessions by   

,parliament to the spirit of intolerance
 which had first kindled the  blaze4    
,all the letters of the time show that  
the outrages and alarms  of those days  
and nights1 in which the capital seemed 
to be at the  mercy of a furious rabble1
 made a deeper impression on the minds  
of  contemporaries than they ought to   
have done4 ,burke was not likely to  be 
less excited than others by the sight of
 such insensate disorder2  and it is no 
idle fancy that he had the mobs of #aghj
 still in his  memory1 when ten years   
later he poured out the vials of his    
wrath on  the bloodier mob which carried
 the ,king and ,queen of ,france in wild
  triumph from ,versailles to ,paris4   
,in the previous ,february 7#aghj7      
,burke had achieved one of the greatest 
of all his parliamentary and oratorical 
successes4 ,though the matter  of this  
particular enterprise is no longer      
alive1 yet it illustrates  his many     
strong qualities in so remarkable a way 
that it is right to  give some account  

of it4 ,we have already seen that ,burke
 steadily set  his face against         
parliamentary reform2 he habitually     
declared that  the machine was well     
enough to answer any good purpose1      
provided the  materials were sound4 ,the
 statesman who resists all projects for 
the  reform of the constitution1 and yet
 eagerly proclaims how deplorably       
imperfect are the practical results of  
its working1 binds himself to  vigorous 
exertions for the amendment of          
administration4 ,burke devoted  himself 
to this duty with a fervid assiduity    
that has not often been  exampled1 and  
has never been surpassed4 ,he went to   
work with the zeal  of a religious      
enthusiast1 intent on purging his       
,church and his faith  of the           
corruptions which lowered it in the eyes
 of men4 ,there was no  part or order of
 government so obscure1 so remote1 or so
 complex1 as  to escape his acute and   
persevering observation4    ,burke's    
object1 in his schemes for ,economical  

,reform1 was less to  husband the public
 resources and relieve the              
tax-payer--though this  aim could not   
have been absent from his mind1         
overburdened as ,england  then was with 
the charges of the ,american war--than  
to cut off the  channels which supplied 
the corruption of the ,house of         
,commons4 ,the  full title of the first 
project which he presented to the       
legislature  7,february #aghj71 was1 ,a 
,plan for the ,better ,security of the  
,independence of ,parliament1 and the   
,economical ,reformation of the  ,civil 
and other ,establishments4 ,it was to   
the former that he  deemed the latter to
 be the most direct road4 ,the strength 
of the  administration in the ,house was
 due to the gifts which the ,minister   
had in his hands to dispense4 ,men voted
 with the side which could  reward their
 fidelity4 ,it was the number of        
sinecure places and  unpublished        
pensions1 which along with the          
controllable influence of  peers and    

nabobs1 furnished the ,minister with an 
irresistible lever3  the avarice and the
 degraded public spirit of the          
recipients supplied  the required       
fulcrum4 ,burke knew that in sweeping   
away these  factitious places and secret
 pensions1 he would be robbing the      
,court of its chief implements of       
corruption1 and protecting the          
representative against his chief motive 
in selling his country4 ,he  conceived  
that he would thus be promoting a far   
more infallible means  than any scheme  
of electoral reform could have provided1
 for reviving  the integrity and        
independence of the ,house of ,commons4 
,in his  eyes1 the evil resided not in  
the constituencies1 but in their        
representatives2 not in the small number
 of the one1 but in the  smaller        
integrity of the other4 ,the evil did   
not stop where it began4  ,it was not   
merely that the sinister motive1 thus   
engendered in  the minds of too lax and 
facile men1 induced them to betray their

  legislative trust1 and barter their   
own uprightness and the interests  of   
the ,state4 ,the acquisition of one of  
these nefarious bribes meant  much more 
than a sinister vote4 ,it called into   
existence a champion of  every          
inveterate abuse that weighed on the    
resources of the country4  ,there is a  
well-known passage in the speech on     
,economical ,reform1 in  which the      
speaker shows what an insurmountable    
obstacle ,lord ,talbot  had found in his
 attempt to carry out certain reforms in
 the royal  household1 in the fact that 
the turnspit of the king's kitchen was a
  member of ,parliament4 ,on that rock  
his whole adventure split1--his  whole  
scheme of economy was dashed to pieces2 
his department  became more expensive   
than ever2 the ,civil ,list debt        
accumulated4  ,interference with the    
expenses of the household meant         
interference  with the perquisites or   
fees of this legislative turnspit1 and  
the  rights of sinecures were too sacred

 to be touched4 ,in comparison with     
them1 it counted for nothing that the   
king's tradesmen went unpaid1  and      
became bankrupt2 that the judges were   
unpaid2 that the justice of  the kingdom
 bent and gave way2 the foreign         
ministers remained inactive  and        
unprovided2 the system of ,europe was   
dissolved2 the chain of our  alliances  
was broken2 all the wheels of           
,government at home and abroad  were    
stopped4 ,the king's turnspit was a     
member of ,parliament4#a  ,this office  
and numbers of others exactly like it1  
existed solely  because the ,house of   
,commons was crowded with venal men4    
,the post of  royal scullion meant a    
vote that could be relied upon under    
every  circumstance and in all          
emergencies4 ,and each incumbent of such
 an  office felt his honour and         
interests concerned in the defence of   
all  other offices of the same          
scandalous description4 ,there was thus 
maintained a strong standing army of    

expensive1 lax1 and corrupting          
officials4    ,footnote #a3 ,the ,civil 
,list at this time comprehended a great 
number  of charges1 such as those of    
which ,burke speaks1 that had nothing   
to do with the sovereign personally4    
,they were slowly removed1 the  judicial
 and diplomatic charges being           
transferred on the accession of         
,william ,,iv4 ,the royal household was 
a gigantic nest of costly jobbery  and  
purposeless profusion4 ,it retained all 
the cumbrous charge of  a ,gothic       
establishment1 though all its usage and 
accommodation had  shrunk into the      
polished littleness of modern elegance4 
,the outlay  was enormous4 ,the         
expenditure on the court tables only was
 a thing  unfathomable4 ,waste was the  
rule in every branch of it4 ,there was  
an  office for the ,great ,wardrobe1    
another office of the ,robes1 a third   
of the ,groom of the ,stole4 ,for these 
three useless offices there  were three 
useless treasurers4 ,they all laid a    

heavy burden on the  taxpayer1 in order 
to supply a bribe to the member of      
,parliament4  ,the plain remedy was to  
annihilate the subordinate treasuries4  
,take  away1 was ,burke's demand1 the   
whole establishment of detail in  the   
household3 the ,treasurer1 the          
,comptroller1 the ,cofferer of the      
,household1 the ,treasurer of the       
,chamber1 the ,master of the ,household1
  the whole ,board of ,green ,cloth2 a  
vast number of subordinate offices  in  
the department of the ,steward of the   
,household2 the whole  establishment of 
the ,great ,wardrobe2 the ,removing     
,wardrobe2 the ,jewel  ,office2 the     
,robes2 the ,board of ,works4 ,the      
abolition of this confused  and costly  
system would not only diminish expense  
and promote  efficiency2 it would do    
still more excellent service in         
destroying the  roots of parliamentary  
corruption4 ,under other governments a  
question  of expense is only a question 
of economy1 and it is nothing more2     

with us1 in every question of expense1  
there is always a mixture of            
constitutional considerations4          
,places and pensions1 though the worst1 
were not by any means the only          
stumbling-block in the way of pure and  
well-ordered government4 ,the           
administration of the estates of the    
,crown1--the ,principality1 the  ,duchy 
of ,cornwall1 the ,duchy of ,lancaster1 
the ,county ,palatine  of ,chester1--was
 an elaborate system of obscure and     
unprofitable  expenditure4 ,wales had to
 herself eight judges1 while no more    
than  twelve sufficed to perform the    
whole business of justice in ,england1 a
  country ten times as large and a      
hundred times as opulent4 ,wales1  and  
each of the duchies1 had its own        
exchequer4 ,every one of these          
principalities1 said ,burke1 has the    
apparatus of a kingdom1 for the         
jurisdiction over a few private estates2
 it has the formality and  charge of the
 ,exchequer of ,great ,britain1 for     

collecting the rents of  a country      
squire4 ,they were the field1 in his    
expressive phrase1  of mock             
jurisdictions and mimic revenues1 of    
difficult trifles and  laborious        
fooleries4 ,it was but the other day    
that that pert factious  fellow1 the    
,duke of ,lancaster1 presumed to fly in 
the face of his  liege lord1 our        
gracious sovereign--presumed to go to   
law with the  king4 ,the object is      
neither your business nor mine4 ,which  
of the  parties got the better ,i really
 forget4 ,the material point is that the
  suit cost about #ae1jjj4 ,but as the  
,duke of ,lancaster is but agent of     
,duke ,humphrey1 and not worth a groat1 
our sovereign was obliged to pay  the   
costs of both4 ,the system which        
involved these costly absurdities       
,burke proposed entirely to abolish4 ,in
 the same spirit he wished to  dispose  
of the ,crown lands and the forest      
lands1 which it was for the  good of the
 community1 not less than of the ,crown 

itself1 to throw  into the hands of     
private owners4    ,one of the most     
important of these projected reforms1   
and one which  its author did not flinch
 from carrying out two years later to   
his  own loss1 related to the office of 
,paymaster4 ,this functionary was       
accustomed to hold large balances of the
 public money in his own hands  and for 
his own profit1 for long periods1 owing 
to a complex system of  accounts which  
was so rigorous as entirely to defeat   
its own object4  ,the paymaster could   
not1 through the multiplicity of forms  
and the  exaction of impossible         
conditions1 get a prompt acquittance4   
,the  audit sometimes did not take place
 for years after the accounts were      
virtually closed4 ,meanwhile the money  
accumulated in his hands1 and  its      
profits were his legitimate perquisite4 
,lord ,holland1 or his  representatives1
 held the balances of his office from   
#agfe1 when he  retired1 until #aggh1   
when they were audited4 ,during this    

time he  realised1 as the interest on   
the use of these balances1 nearly two   
hundred and fifty thousand pounds4      
,burke diverted these enormous gains    
into the coffers of the ,state4 ,he     
fixed the paymaster's salary at four    
thousand pounds a year1 and was himself 
the first person who accepted  the      
curtailed income4    ,not the most      
fervid or brilliant of ,burke's pieces1 
yet the speech on  ,economical ,reform  
is certainly not the least instructive  
or impressive  of them4 ,it gives a     
suggestive view of the relations        
existing at that  time between the      
,house of ,commons and the ,court4 ,it  
reveals the narrow  and unpatriotic     
spirit of the king and the ministers1   
who could resist  proposals so          
reasonable in themselves1 and so        
remedial in their  effects1 at a time   
when the nation was suffering the heavy 
and  distressing burdens of the most    
disastrous war that our country has     
ever carried on4 ,it is especially      

interesting as an illustration of  its  
author's political capacity4 ,at a      
moment when committees and  petitions   
and great county meetings showed how    
thoroughly the national  anger was      
roused against the existing system1     
,burke came to the front  of affairs    
with a scheme1 of which the most        
striking characteristic  proved to be   
that it was profoundly temperate4 ,bent 
on the extirpation  of the system1 he   
had no ill-will towards the men who had 
happened  to flourish in it4 ,i never   
will suffer1 he said1 any man or        
description of men to suffer from errors
 that naturally have grown  out of the  
abusive constitution of those offices   
which ,i propose to  regulate4 ,if ,i   
cannot reform with equity1 ,i will not  
reform at all4  ,exasperated as he was  
by the fruitlessness of his opposition  
to a  policy which he detested from the 
bottom of his soul1 it would have  been 
little wonderful if he had resorted to  
every weapon of his  unrivalled         

rhetorical armoury1 in order to         
discredit and overthrow the  whole      
scheme of government4 ,yet nothing could
 have been further from  his mind than  
any violent or extreme idea of this     
sort4 ,many years  afterwards1 he took  
credit to himself less for what he did  
on this  occasion than for what he      
prevented from being done4 ,people were 
ready  for a new modelling of the two   
,houses of ,parliament1 as well as for  
grave modifications of the ,prerogative4
 ,burke resisted this temper            
unflinchingly4 ,i had1 he says1 a state 
to preserve1 as well as a  state to     
reform4 ,i had a people to gratify1 but 
not to inflame or to  mislead4 ,he then 
recounts without exaggeration the pains 
and caution  with which he sought       
reform1 while steering clear of         
innovation4 ,he  heaved the lead every  
inch of way he made4 ,it is grievous to 
think  that a man who could assume such 
an attitude at such a time1 who could   
give this kind of proof of his skill in 

the great1 the difficult art  of        
governing1 only held a fifth-rate office
 for some time less than a  twelvemonth4
    ,the year of the project of         
,economic ,reform 7#aghj7 is usually    
taken as  the date when ,burke's        
influence and repute were at their      
height4 ,he  had not been tried in the  
fire of official responsibility1 and his
  impetuosity was still under a degree  
of control which not long  afterwards   
was fatally weakened by an              
over-mastering irritability of          
constitution4 ,high as his character was
 now in the ascendant1 it was  in the   
same year that ,burke suffered the sharp
 mortification of losing  his seat at   
,bristol4 ,his speech before the        
election is one of the best  known of   
all his performances2 and it well       
deserves to be so1 for it  is surpassed 
by none in gravity1 elevation1 and moral
 dignity4 ,we  can only wonder that a   
constituency which could suffer itself  
to  be addressed on this high level1    

should have allowed the small           
selfishness of local interest to weigh  
against such wisdom and  nobility4 ,but 
,burke soon found in the course of his  
canvas that he had  no chance1 and he   
declined to go to the poll4 ,on the     
previous day one  of his competitors had
 fallen down dead4 ,what shadows we are 
said  ,burke1 and what shadows we       
pursue6    ,in #aghb ,lord ,north's     
government came to an end1 and the king 
was  pleased1 as ,lord ,north quoted    
with jesting irony from the ,gazette1   
to send for ,lord ,rockingham1 ,charles 
,fox1 and ,lord ,shelburne4 ,members    
could hardly believe their own eyes1 as 
they saw ,lord ,north and the  members  
of a government which had been in place 
for twelve years1 now  lounging on the  
opposition benches in their greatcoats1 
frocks1 and  boots1 while ,fox and      
,burke shone in the full dress that was 
then  worn by ministers1 and cut        
unwonted figures with swords1 lace1 and 
hair-powder4 ,sheridan was made an      

under-secretary of state1 and to the    
younger ,pitt was offered his choice of 
various minor posts1 which he  haughtily
 refused4 ,burke1 to whom on their own  
admission the party  owed everything1   
was appointed ,paymaster of the ,forces1
 with a salary  of four thousand pounds 
a year4 ,his brother1 ,richard ,burke1  
was  made ,secretary of the ,treasury4  
,his son ,richard was named to be his   
father's deputy at the ,pay-,office1    
with a salary of five hundred  pounds4  
,this singular exclusion from cabinet   
office of the most powerful  genius of  
the party has naturally given rise to   
abundant criticism  ever since4 ,it will
 be convenient to say what there is to  
be said on  this subject1 in connection 
with the events of #aghh 7below1 p4     
#bjj71  because there happens to exist  
some useful information about the       
ministerial crisis of that year1 which  
sheds a clearer light upon the          
arrangements of six years before4       
,meanwhile it is enough to say that     

,burke himself had most reasonably      
looked to some higher post4 ,there  is  
the distinct note of the humility of    
mortified pride in a letter  written in 
reply to some one who had applied to him
 for a place4 ,you  have been           
misinformed1 he says2 ,i make no part of
 the ministerial  arrangement4          
,something in the official line may     
possibly be thought  fit for my measure4
 ,burke knew that his position in the   
country  entitled him to something above
 the official line4 ,in a later year1   
when he felt himself called upon to     
defend his pension1 he described  what  
his position was in the momentous crisis
 from #aghj to #aghb1 and  ,burke's     
habitual veraciousness forbids us to    
treat the description as  in any way    
exaggerated4 ,by what accident it       
matters not1 he says1  nor upon what    
desert1 but just then1 and in the midst 
of that hunt of  obloquy which has ever 
pursued me with a full cry through life1
 ,i  had obtained a very full degree of 

public confidence4444 ,nothing to       
prevent disorder was omitted2 when it   
appeared1 nothing to subdue it  was left
 uncounselled nor unexecuted1 as far as 
,i could prevail4 ,at  the time ,i speak
 of1 and having a momentary lead1 so    
aided and so  encouraged1 and as a      
feeble instrument in a mighty hand--,i  
do not say  ,i saved my country--,i am  
sure ,i did my country important        
service4  ,there were few indeed that   
did not at that time acknowledge it--and
  that time was thirteen years ago4 ,it 
was but one view1 that no man in  the   
kingdom better deserved an honourable   
provision should be made for  him4#a    
,footnote #a3 ,letter to a ,noble ,lord4
    ,we have seen that ,burke had fixed 
the paymaster's salary at four  thousand
 pounds1 and had destroyed the          
extravagant perquisites4 ,the  other    
economical reforms which were actually  
effected fell short by  a long way of   
those which ,burke had so industriously 
devised and so  forcibly recommended4   

,in #aghb1 while ,burke declined to     
spare his own  office1 the chief of the 
cabinet conferred upon ,barr a pension  
of  over three thousand a year2 above   
ten times the amount1 as has been  said1
 which1 in ,lord ,rockingham's own      
judgment1 as expressed in the  new      
,bill1 ought henceforth to be granted to
 any one person whatever4  ,this        
shortcoming1 however1 does not detract  
from ,burke's merit4 ,he was  not       
responsible for it4 ,the eloquence1     
ingenuity1 diligence1 above  all1 the   
sagacity and the justice of this great  
effort of #aghj1 are  none the less     
worthy of our admiration and regard     
because1 in #aghb1  his chiefs1 partly  
perhaps out of a new-born deference for 
the  feelings of their royal master1    
showed that the possession of office    
had sensibly cooled the ardent          
aspirations proper to ,opposition4      
,the events of the twenty months between
 the resignation of ,lord ,north        
7#aghb7 and the accession of ,pitt to   

the office of ,prime ,minister          
7,december #aghc7 mark an important     
crisis in political history1 and  they  
mark an important crisis in ,burke's    
career and hopes4 ,lord  ,rockingham had
 just been three months in office1 when 
he died 7,july  #aghb74 ,this dissolved 
the bond that held the two sections of  
the  ministry together1 and let loose a 
flood of rival ambitions and sharp      
animosities4 ,lord ,shelburne believed  
himself to have an irresistible  claim  
to the chief post in the administration2
 among other reasons1  because he might 
have had it before ,lord ,rockingham    
three months  earlier1 if he had so     
chosen4 ,the king supported him1 not    
from any  partiality to his person1 but 
because he dreaded and hated ,charles   
,fox4 ,the character of ,shelburne is   
one of the perplexities of the  time4   
,his views on peace and free trade make 
him one of the precursors  of the       
,manchester ,school4 ,no minister was so
 well informed as to the  threads of    

policy in foreign countries4 ,he was the
 intimate or the  patron of men who now 
stand out as among the first lights of  
that  time--of ,morellet1 of ,priestley1
 of ,bentham4 ,yet a few months of power
  seem to have disclosed faults of      
character1 which left him without a     
single political friend1 and blighted   
him with irreparable discredit4  ,fox1  
who was now the head of the ,rockingham 
section of the ,whigs1 had1  before the 
death of the late premier1 been on the  
point of refusing to  serve any longer  
with ,lord ,shelburne1 and he now very  
promptly refused  to serve under him4   
,when ,parliament met after             
,rockingham's death1  gossips noticed   
that ,fox and ,burke continued1 long    
after the ,speaker  had taken the chair1
 to walk backwards and forwards in the  
,court of  ,bequests1 engaged in earnest
 conversation4 ,according to one story1 
,burke was very reluctant to abandon an 
office whose emoluments were  as        
convenient to him as to his spendthrift 

colleague4 ,according  to another and   
more probable legend1 it was ,burke who 
hurried the  rupture1 and stimulated    
,fox's jealousy of ,shelburne4 ,the     
,duke of  ,richmond disapproved of the  
secession1 and remained in the          
,government4  ,sheridan also            
disapproved1 but he sacrificed his      
personal conviction  to loyalty to ,fox4
    ,if ,burke was responsible for the  
break-up of the ,government1 then  he   
was the instigator of a blunder that    
must be pronounced not only  disastrous 
but culpable4 ,it lowered the legitimate
 spirit of party  to the nameless spirit
 of faction4 ,the dangers from which the
 old  liberties of the realm had just   
emerged have been described by no one   
so forcibly as by ,burke himself4 ,no   
one was so convinced as ,burke that  the
 only way of withstanding the arbitrary 
and corrupting policy of  the ,court was
 to form a strong ,whig party4 ,no one  
knew better than he  the sovereign      
importance and the immense difficulty of

 repairing the  ruin of the last twelve 
years by a good peace4 ,the ,rockingham 
or  ,foxite section were obviously      
unable to form an effective party with  
serious expectation of power1 unless    
they had allies4 ,they might1 no  doubt1
 from personal dislike to ,lord         
,shelburne1 refuse to work  under him2  
but personal dislike could be no excuse 
for formally and  violently working     
against him1 when his policy was their  
own1 and when  its success was          
recognised by them no less than by him  
as of urgent  moment4 ,instead of either
 working with the other section of their
  party1 or of supporting from below the
 gangway that which was the  policy of  
both sections1 they sought to return to 
power by coalescing  with the very man  
whose criminal subservience to the      
king's will had  brought about the      
catastrophe that ,shelburne was         
repairing4 ,burke must  share the blame 
of this famous transaction4 ,he was one 
of the most  furious assailants of the  

new ministry4 ,he poured out a fresh    
invective against ,lord ,shelburne every
 day ,cynical contemporaries  laughed as
 they saw him in search of more and more
 humiliating  parallels1 ransacking all 
literature from the ,bible and the      
,roman  history down to ,mother ,goose's
 tales4 ,his passion carried him so far 
as to breed a reaction in those who     
listened to him4 ,i think1  wrote ,mason
 from ,yorkshire1 where ,burke had been 
on a visit to ,lord  ,fitzwilliam in the
 autumn of #aghb1 that ,burke's mad     
obloquy against  ,lord ,shelburne1 and  
these insolent pamphlets in which he    
must have  had a hand1 will do more to  
fix him 7,shelburne7 in his office than 
anything else4    ,this result would    
have actually followed1 for the nation  
was ill  pleased at the immoral alliance
 between the ,foxites and the man whom1 
if they had been true to their opinions 
a thousand times repeated1  they ought  
at that moment to have been impeaching4 
,the ,dissenters1 who  had hitherto been

 his enthusiastic admirers1 but who are 
rigid above  other men in their demand  
of political consistency1 lamented      
,burke's  fall in joining the           
,coalition1 as ,priestley told him many 
years after1  as the fall of a friend   
and a brother4 ,but ,shelburne threw    
away  the game4 ,his falsehoods1 says   
,horace ,walpole1 his flatteries1       
duplicity1 insincerity1 arrogance1      
contradictions1 neglect of his  friends1
 with all the kindred of all these      
faults1 were the daily  topics of       
contempt and ridicule2 and his folly    
shut his eyes1 nor did  he perceive that
 so very rapid a fall must have been    
owing to his own  incapacity4 ,this is  
the testimony of a hostile witness4 ,it 
is borne  out1 however1 by a            
circumstance of striking significance4  
,when the  king recovered the reins at  
the end of #aghc1 not only did he send  
for ,pitt instead of for ,shelburne1 but
 ,pitt himself neither invited          
,shelburne to join him1 nor in any way  

ever consulted him then or  afterwards1 
though he had been ,chancellor of the   
,exchequer in  ,shelburne's own         
administration4    ,whatever the causes 
may have been1 the administration fell  
in the  spring of #aghc4 ,it was        
succeeded by the memorable ministry of  
the  ,coalition1 in which ,fox and ,lord
 ,north divided the real power under    
the nominal lead of the ,duke of        
,portland4 ,members saw ,lord ,north    
squeezed up on the ,treasury bench      
between two men who had a year  before  
been daily menacing him with the axe and
 the block2 and it was  not ,north whom 
they blamed1 but ,burke and ,fox4 ,burke
 had returned to  the ,pay-,office4 ,his
 first act there was unfortunate4 ,he   
restored to  their position two clerks  
who had been suspended for malversation1
 and  against whom proceedings were then
 pending4 ,when attacked for this in    
the ,house1 he showed an irritation     
which would have carried him to  gross  
lengths1 if ,fox and ,sheridan had not  

by main force pulled him  down into his 
seat by the tails of his coat4 ,the     
restoration of the  clerks was an       
indefensible error of judgment1 and its 
indiscretion was  heightened by the kind
 of defence which ,burke tried to set   
up4 ,when  we wonder at ,burke's        
exclusion from great offices1 this case 
of ,powell  and ,bembridge should not be
 forgotten4    ,the decisive event in   
the history of the ,coalition           
,government was the  ,india ,bill4 ,the 
,reports of the various select          
committees upon ,indian  affairs--the   
most important of them all1 the ninth   
and eleventh1  having been drawn up by  
,burke himself--had shown conclusively  
that the  existing system of government 
was thoroughly corrupt and thoroughly   
inadequate4 ,it is ascertained pretty   
conclusively that the ,bill for         
replacing that system was conceived and 
drawn by ,burke1 and that to  him       
belongs whatever merit or demerit it    
might possess4 ,it was ,burke  who      

infected ,fox with his own ardour1 and  
then1 as ,moore justly says1  the       
self-kindling power of ,fox's eloquence 
threw such fire into his  defence of the
 measure1 that he forgot1 and his       
hearers never found  out1 that his views
 were not originally and spontaneously  
his own4 ,the  novelty on which the     
great stress of discussion was laid was 
that  the ,bill withdrew power from the 
,board of ,directors1 and vested the    
,government for four years in a         
commission of seven persons named in    
the ,bill1 and not removable by the     
,house4    ,burke was so convinced of   
the incurable iniquity of the ,company1 
so  persuaded that it was not only full 
of abuses1 but1 as he said1 one of  the 
most corrupt and destructive tyrannies  
that probably ever existed  in the      
world1 as to be content with nothing    
short of the absolute  deprivation of   
its power4 ,he avowed himself no lover  
of names1 and  that he only contended   
for good government1 from whatever      

quarter it  might come4 ,but the idea of
 good government coming from the        
,company he  declared to be desperate   
and untenable4 ,this intense animosity1 
which1  considering his long and close  
familiarity with the infamies of the    
rule of the ,company's servants1 was not
 unnatural1 must be allowed1  however1  
to have blinded him to the grave        
objections which really  existed to his 
scheme4 ,in the first place1 the ,bill  
was indisputably  inconsistent with the 
spirit of his revered ,constitution4    
,for the  legislature to assume the     
power of naming the members of an       
executive  body was an extraordinary and
 mischievous innovation4 ,then1 to put  
patronage1 which has been estimated by a
 sober authority at about  three hundred
 thousand pounds a year1 into the hands 
of the ,house of  ,commons1 was still   
more mischievous and still less         
justifiable4 ,worst  of all1 from the   
point of view of the projectors         
themselves1 after a  certain time the   

nomination of the ,commissioners would  
fall to the  ,crown1 and this might in  
certain contingencies increase to a most
  dangerous extent the ascendancy of the
 royal authority4 ,if ,burke's  measure 
had been carried1 moreover1 the         
patronage would have been  transferred  
to a body much less competent than the  
,directors to  judge of the qualities   
required in the fulfilment of this or   
that administrative charge4 ,indian     
promotion would have followed           
parliamentary and party interest4 ,in   
the hands of the ,directors there  was  
at least a partial security1 in their   
professional knowledge1  and their      
personal interest in the success of     
their government1 that  places would not
 be given away on irrelevant            
considerations4 ,their  system1 with all
 its faults1 insured the acquisition of 
a certain  considerable competency in   
administration before a servant reached 
an  elevation at which he could do much 
harm4    ,burke defended the ,bill      

7,december #a1 #aghc7 in one of the     
speeches  which rank only below his     
greatest1 and it contains two or three  
passages of unsurpassed energy and      
impressiveness4 ,everybody knows the    
fine page about ,fox as the descendant  
of ,henry ,,iv4 of ,france1 and the     
happy quotation from ,silius ,italicus4 
,every book of ,british eloquence       
contains the magnificent description of 
the young magistrates who  undertake the
 government and the spoliation of       
,india2 how1 animated  with all the     
avarice of age1 and all the impetuosity 
of youth1 they  roll in one after       
another1 wave after wave2 and there is  
nothing  before the eyes of the natives 
but an endless1 hopeless prospect  of   
new flights of birds of prey and of     
passage1 with appetites  continually    
renewing for a food that is continually 
wasting4 ,how they  return home laden   
with spoil3 their prey is lodged in     
,england2 and  the cries of ,india are  
given to seas and winds1 to be blown    

about1 in  every breaking up of the     
monsoon1 over a remote and unhearing    
ocean4  ,how in ,india all the vices    
operate by which sudden fortune is      
acquired2 while in ,england are often   
displayed by the same person  the       
virtues which dispense hereditary       
wealth1 so that here the  manufacturer  
and the husbandman will bless the just  
and punctual hand  that in ,india has   
torn the cloth from the loom1 or wrested
 the scanty  portion of rice and salt   
from the peasant of ,bengal1 or wrung   
from him  the very opium in which he    
forgot his oppression and his           
oppressors4    ,no degree of eloquence1 
however1 could avail to repair faults   
alike  in structure and in tactics4 ,the
 whole design was a masterpiece of      
hardihood1 miscalculation1 and          
mismanagement4 ,the combination of      
interests against the ,bill was instant1
 and it was indeed formidable4  ,the    
great army of returned nabobs1 of       
directors1 of proprietors of  ,east     

,india stock1 rose up in all its immense
 force4 ,every member of  every         
corporation that enjoyed privilege by   
charter1 felt the attack  on the        
,company as if it had been a blow       
directed against himself4  ,the general 
public had no particular passion for    
purity or good  government1 and the best
 portion of the public was disgusted    
with the  ,coalition4 ,the king saw his 
chance4 ,with politic audacity he put so
  strong a personal pressure on the     
peers1 that they threw out the ,bill    
7,december #aghc74 ,it was to no purpose
 that ,fox compared the lords to  the   
,janissaries of a ,turkish ,sultan1 and 
the king's letter to ,temple1  to the   
rescript in which ,tiberius ordered the 
upright ,sejanus to be  destroyed4      
,ministers were dismissed1 the young    
,pitt was installed in  their place1 and
 the ,whigs were ruined4 ,as a party1   
they had a few  months of office after  
,pitt's death1 but they were excluded   
from power  for half a century4         

,,chapter ,,vi    ,,burke ,,and ,,his   
,,friends      ,though ,burke had1 at a 
critical period of his life1 definitely 
abandoned the career of letters1 he     
never withdrew from close intimacy  with
 the groups who still live for us in the
 pages of ,boswell1 as no  other        
literary group in our history lives4    
,goldsmith's famous lines in            
,retaliation show how they all deplored 
that he should to party give  up what   
was meant for mankind4 ,they often told 
one another that ,edmund  ,burke was the
 man whose genius pointed him out as the
 triumphant  champion of faith and sound
 philosophy against deism1 atheism1 and 
,david ,hume4 ,they loved to see him1 as
 ,goldsmith said1 wind into his  subject
 like a serpent4 ,everybody felt at the 
,literary ,club that he  had no superior
 in knowledge1 and in colloquial        
dialectics only one  equal4 ,garrick was
 there1 and of all the names of the time
 he is the  man whom one would perhaps  
most willingly have seen1 because the   

gifts  which threw not only ,englishmen1
 but ,frenchmen like ,diderot1 and      
,germans like ,lichtenberg1 into        
amazement and ecstasy1 are exactly      
those gifts which literary description  
can do least to reproduce4  ,burke was  
one of his strongest admirers1 and there
 was no more zealous  attendant at the  
closing series of performances in which 
the great  monarch of the stage         
abdicated his throne4 ,in the last pages
 that  he wrote1 ,burke refers to his   
ever dear friend ,garrick1 dead nearly  
twenty years before1 as the first of    
actors because he was the acutest       
observer of nature that he had ever     
known4 ,then among men who pass  for    
being more serious than players1        
,robertson was often in ,london         
society1 and he attracted ,burke by his 
largeness and breadth4 ,he sent  a copy 
of his ,history of ,america1 and ,burke 
thanked him with many  stately          
compliments for having employed         
philosophy to judge of  manners1 and    

from manners having drawn new resources 
of philosophy4  ,gibbon was there1 but  
the bystanders felt what was too crudely
  expressed by ,mackintosh1 that ,gibbon
 might have been taken from a  corner of
 ,burke's mind without ever being       
missed4 ,though ,burke and  ,gibbon     
constantly met1 it is not likely that1  
until the ,revolution1  there was much  
intimacy between them1 in spite of the  
respect which  each of them might well  
have had for the vast knowledge of the  
other4  ,when the ,decline and ,fall was
 published1 ,burke read it as everybody 
else did2 but he told ,reynolds that he 
disliked the style1 as very  affected1  
mere frippery and tinsel4 ,sir ,joshua  
himself was neither  a man of letters   
nor a keen politician2 but he was full  
of literary  ideas and interests1 and he
 was among ,burke's warmest and most    
constant friends1 following him with an 
admiration and reverence that  even     
,johnson sometimes thought excessive4   
,the reader of ,reynolds's  famous      

,discourses will probably share the     
wonder of his  contemporaries1 that a   
man whose time was so absorbed in the   
practice  of his art1 should have proved
 himself so excellent a master in the   
expression of some of its principles4   
,burke was commonly credited with  a    
large share in their composition1 but   
the evidence goes no further  than that 
,reynolds used to talk them over with   
him4 ,the friendship  between the pair  
was full and unalloyed4 ,what ,burke    
admired in the  great artist was his    
sense and his morals1 no less than his  
genius2  and to a man of his fervid and 
excitable temper there was the most     
attractive of all charms in ,sir        
,joshua's placidity1 gentleness1        
evenness1 and the habit1 as one of his  
friends described it1 of being  the same
 all the year round4 ,when ,reynolds    
died in #agib1 he appointed  ,burke one 
of his executors1 and left him a legacy 
of two thousand  pounds1 besides        
cancelling a bond of the same amount4   

,johnson1 however1 is the only member of
 that illustrious company who  can      
profitably be compared with ,burke in   
strength and impressiveness  of         
personality1 in a large sensibility at  
once serious and genial1 in  brooding   
care for all the fulness of human life4 
,this striking pair  were the two       
complements of a single noble and solid 
type1 holding  tenaciously1 in a century
 of dissolvent speculation1 to the best 
ideas  of a society that was slowly     
passing4 ,they were powerless to hinder 
the inevitable transformation4 ,one of  
them did not even dimly  foresee it4    
,but both of them help us to understand 
how manliness and  reverence1 strength  
and tenderness1 love of truth and pity  
for man1  all flourished under old      
institutions and old ways of thinking1  
into  which the forces of the time were 
even then silently breathing a new      
spirit4 ,the friendship between ,burke  
and ,johnson lasted as long as  they    
lived2 and if we remember that ,johnson 

was a strong ,tory1 and  declared that  
the first ,whig was the devil1 and      
habitually talked  about cursed ,whigs  
and bottomless ,whigs1 it is an         
extraordinary fact  that his relations  
with the greatest ,whig writer and      
politician of his  day were marked by a 
cordiality1 respect1 and admiration that
 never  varied nor wavered4 ,burke1 he  
said in a well-known passage1 is such  a
 man that if you met him for the first  
time in the street1 where you  were     
stopped by a drove of oxen1 and you and 
he stepped aside to take  shelter but   
for five minutes1 he'd talk to you in   
such a manner that1  when you parted1   
you would say1 ,this is an extraordinary
 man4 ,he is  never what we would call  
humdrum2 never unwilling to begin to    
talk1  nor in haste to leave off4 ,that 
,burke was as good a listener as he  was
 a talker1 ,johnson never would allow4  
,so desirous is he to talk1  he said1   
that if one is talking at this end of   
the table1 he'll talk  to somebody at   

the other end4 ,johnson was far too good
 a critic1 and  too honest a man1 to    
assent to a remark of ,robertson's1 that
 ,burke had  wit4 ,no1 sir1 said the    
sage1 most truly1 he never succeeds     
there4  ',tis low1 'tis conceit4 ,wit   
apart1 he described ,burke as the only  
man whose common conversation           
corresponded to his general fame in the 
world2 take up whatever topic you might 
please1 he was ready to meet  you4 ,when
 ,burke found a seat in ,parliament1    
,johnson said1 ,now we who  know ,burke1
 know that he will be one of the first  
men in the country4  ,he did not grudge 
that ,burke should be the first man in  
the ,house of  ,commons1 for ,burke1 he 
said1 was always the first man          
everywhere4 ,once  when he was ill1     
somebody mentioned ,burke's name4       
,johnson cried out1  ,that fellow calls 
forth all my powers2 were ,i to see     
,burke now it  would kill me4    ,burke 
heartily returned this high             
appreciation4 ,when some flatterer      

hinted that ,johnson had taken more than
 his right share of the  evening's talk1
 ,burke said1 ,nay1 it is enough for me 
to have rung  the bell for him4 ,some   
one else spoke of a successful imitation
  of ,johnson's style4 ,burke with      
vehemence denied the success3 the       
performance1 he said1 had the pomp1 but 
not the force of the original2  the     
nodosities of the oak1 but not its      
strength2 the contortions of  the sibyl1
 but none of the inspiration4 ,when     
,burke showed the old  sage of ,bolt    
,court over his fine house and pleasant 
gardens at  ,beaconsfield1 ,non invideo 
equidem1 ,johnson said1 with placid     
good-will1 miror magis4 ,they always    
parted in the deep and pregnant  phrase 
of a sage of our own day1 except in     
opinion not disagreeing4  ,in truth1 the
 explanation of the sympathy between    
them is not far  to seek4 ,we may well  
believe that ,johnson was tacitly alive 
to the  essentially conservative spirit 
of ,burke even in his most ,whiggish    

days4 ,and ,burke penetrated the        
liberality of mind in a ,tory1 who      
called out with loud indignation that   
the ,irish were in a most  unnatural    
state1 for there the minority prevailed 
over the majority1  and the severity of 
the persecution exercised by the        
,protestants  of ,ireland against the   
,catholics exceeded that of the ten     
historic  persecutions of the ,christian
 ,church4    ,the parties at            
,beaconsfield1 and the evenings at the  
,turk's ,head in  ,gerard ,street1 were 
contemporary with the famous days at    
,holbach's  country house at ,grandval4 
,when we think of the reckless themes   
that  were so recklessly discussed by   
,holbach1 ,diderot1 and the rest of that
  indefatigable band1 we feel that1 as  
against the ,french philosophic  party1 
an ,english ,tory like ,johnson and an  
,english ,whig like ,burke  would have  
found their own differences too minute  
to be worth  considering4 ,if the group 
from the ,turk's ,head could have been  

transported for an afternoon to         
,grandval1 perhaps ,johnson would have  
been the less impatient and disgusted of
 the two4 ,he had the capacity  of the  
more genial sort of casuist for playing 
with subjects1 even  moral subjects1    
with the freedom1 versatility1 and ease 
that are  proper to literature4 ,burke1 
on the contrary1 would not have failed  
to see1 as indeed we know that he did   
not fail to see1 that a social          
pandemonium was being prepared in this  
intellectual paradise of open           
questions1 where ,god and a future life1
 marriage and the family1 every  dogma  
of religion1 every prescription of      
morality1 and all those  mysteries and  
pieties of human life which have been   
sanctified by the  reverence of ages1   
were being busily pulled to pieces as if
 they had  been toys in the hands of a  
company of sportive children4 ,even the 
,beggar's ,opera ,burke could not endure
 to hear praised for its wit  or its    
music1 because his mind was filled by   

thought of its misplaced  levity1 and he
 only saw the mischief which such a     
performance tended  to do to society4   
,it would be hard to defend his judgment
 in this  particular case1 but it serves
 to show how ,burke was never content   
with the literary point of view1 and how
 ready and vigilant he was for  effects 
more profound than those of formal      
criticism4 ,it is true that  ,johnson   
was sometimes not less austere in       
condemning a great work of  art for its 
bad morality4 ,the only time when he was
 really angry with  ,hannah ,more was on
 his finding that she had read ,tom     
,jones--that  vicious book1 he called   
it2 he hardly knew a more corrupt work4 
,burke's tendency towards severity of   
moral judgment1 however1 never  impaired
 the geniality and tenderness of his    
relations with those whom  he loved4    
,bennet ,langton gave ,boswell an       
affecting account of ,burke's  last     
interview with ,johnson4 ,a few days    
before the old man's death1  ,burke and 

four or five other friends were sitting 
round his bedside4  ,mr4 ,burke said to 
him1 ',i am afraid1 sir1 such a number  
of us may be  oppressive to you4' ',no1 
sir1' said ,johnson1 'it is not so2 and 
,i must  be in a wretched state indeed  
when your company is not a delight  to  
me4' ,mr4 ,burke1 in a tremulous voice1 
expressive of being very  tenderly      
affected1 replied1 ',my dear sir1 you   
have always been too  good to me4'      
,immediately afterwards he went away4   
,this was the last  circumstance in the 
acquaintance of these two eminent men4  
,one of ,burke's strongest political    
intimacies was only less  interesting   
and significant than his friendship with
 ,johnson4  ,william ,dowdeswell had    
been ,chancellor of the ,exchequer in   
the short  ,rockingham administration of
 #agfe4 ,he had no brilliant gifts1 but 
he  had what was then thought a profound
 knowledge both of the principles  and  
details of the administration of the    
national revenue4 ,he was  industrious1 

steadfast1 clearheaded1 inexorably      
upright4 ,immersed in  the greatest     
affairs1 as ,burke said in his epitaph1 
he never  lost the ancient1 native1     
genuine ,english character of a country 
gentleman4 ,and this was the character  
in which ,burke now and always  saw not 
only the true political barrier against 
despotism on the one  hand and the      
rabble on the other1 but the best moral 
type of civic  virtue4 ,those who admire
 ,burke1 but cannot share his admiration
 for  the country gentleman1 will       
perhaps justify him by the assumption   
that  he clothed his favourite with     
ideal qualities which ought1 even if    
they did not1 to have belonged to that  
position4    ,in his own modest         
imitation and on his own humble scale he
 was a  pattern of the activity in      
public duty1 the hospitality towards    
friends1 the assiduous protection of    
neglected worth1 which ought to  be     
among the chief virtues of high station4
 ,it would perhaps be doubly  unsafe to 

take for granted that many of our       
readers have both turned  over the pages
 of ,crabbe's ,borough1 and carried away
 in their minds  from that moderately   
affecting poem1 the description of      
,eusebius--      ,that pious moralist1  
that reasoning saint6    ,can ,i of     
worth like thine1 ,eusebius1 speak8     
,the man is willing1 but the muse is    
weak4    ,eusebius is intended for      
,burke1 and the portrait is a literary  
tribute  for more substantial services4 
,when ,crabbe came up from his native   
,aldborough1 with three pounds and a    
case of surgical instruments in  his    
trunk1 he fondly believed that a great  
patron would be found to  watch over his
 transformation from an unsuccessful    
apothecary into a  popular poet4 ,he    
wrote to ,lord ,north and ,lord         
,shelburne1 but they did  not answer his
 letters2 booksellers returned his      
copious manuscripts2  the three pounds  
gradually disappeared2 the surgical     
instruments went  to the pawnbroker's2  

and the poet found himself an outcast on
 the  world1 without a friend1 without  
employment1 and without bread4 ,he  owed
 money for his lodging1 and was on the  
very eve of being sent to  prison1 when 
it occurred to him to write to ,burke4  
,it was the moment  7#agha7 when the    
final struggle with ,lord ,north was at 
its fiercest1  and ,burke might have    
been absolved if1 in the stress of      
conflict1  he had neglected a           
begging-letter4 ,as it was1 the         
manliness and  simplicity of ,crabbe's  
application touched him4 ,he immediately
 made an  appointment with the young    
poet1 and convinced himself of his      
worth4  ,he not only relieved ,crabbe's 
immediate distress with a sum of money  
that1 as we know1 came from no affluence
 of his own1 but carried him  off to    
,beaconsfield1 installed him there as a 
member of the family1  and took as much 
pains to find a printer for ,the        
,library and ,the  ,village1 as if they 
had been poems of his own4 ,in time he  

persuaded  the ,bishop of ,norwich to   
admit ,crabbe1 in spite of his want of a
  regular qualification1 to holy orders4
 ,he then commended him to  the notice  
of ,lord ,chancellor ,thurlow4 ,crabbe  
found the ,tiger less  formidable than  
his terrifying reputation1 for ,thurlow 
at their first  interview presented him 
with a hundred-pound note1 and          
afterwards gave  him a living4 ,the     
living was of no great value1 it is     
true2 and it was  ,burke who1 with      
untiring friendship1 succeeded in       
procuring something  like a substantial 
position for him1 by inducing the ,duke 
of ,rutland  to make the young parson   
his chaplain4 ,henceforth ,crabbe's     
career was  assured1 and he never forgot
 to revere and bless the man to whose   
generous hand he owed his deliverance4  
,another of ,burke's clients1 of whom we
 hardly know whether to say that  he is 
more or less known to our age than      
,crabbe1 is ,barry1 a painter  of       
disputable eminence4 ,the son of a      

seafarer at ,cork1 he had been          
introduced to ,burke in ,dublin in      
#agfb1 was brought over to ,england by  
him1 introduced to some kind of         
employment1 and finally sent1 with      
funds provided by the ,burkes1 to study 
art on the continent4 ,it was           
characteristic of ,burke's willingness  
not only to supply money1 but  what is a
 far rarer form of kindness1 to take    
active trouble1 that he  should have    
followed the raw student with long and  
careful letters of  advice upon the     
proper direction of his studies4 ,for   
five years ,barry  was maintained abroad
 by the ,burkes4 ,most unhappily for    
himself he was  cursed with an irritable
 and perverse temper1 and he lacked even
 the  elementary arts of conduct4 ,burke
 was generous to the end1 with that     
difficult and uncommon kind of          
generosity which moves independently of 
gratitude or ingratitude in the         
receiver4    ,from his earliest days    
,burke had been the eager friend of     

people in  distress4 ,while he was still
 a student at the ,temple1 or a writer  
for  the booksellers1 he picked up a    
curious creature in the park1 in such   
unpromising circumstances that he could 
not forbear to take him under  his      
instant protection4 ,this was ,joseph   
,emin1 the ,armenian1 who had  come to  
,europe from ,india with strange heroic 
ideas in his head as to  the deliverance
 of his countrymen4 ,burke instantly    
urged him to accept  the few shillings  
that he happened to have in his purse1  
and seems  to have found employment for 
him as a copyist1 until fortune brought 
other openings to the singular          
adventurer4 ,for foreign visitors ,burke
  had always a singular considerateness4
 ,two ,brahmins came to ,england  as    
agents of ,ragonaut ,rao1 and at first  
underwent intolerable things  rather    
from the ignorance than the unkindness  
of our countrymen4 ,burke  no sooner    
found out what was passing than he      
carried them down to  ,beaconsfield1 and

 as it was summer-time1 he gave them for
 their  separate use a spacious         
garden-house1 where they were free to   
prepare  their food and perform such    
rites as their religion prescribed4     
,nothing was so certain to command his  
fervid sympathy as strict  adherence to 
the rules and ceremonies of an ancient  
and sacred  ordering4    ,if he never   
failed to perform the offices to which  
we are bound by  the common sympathy of 
men1 it is satisfactory to think that   
,burke in  return received a measure of 
these friendly services4 ,among those   
who  loved him best was ,dr4            
,brocklesby1 the tender physician who   
watched  and soothed the last hours of  
,johnson4 ,when we remember how ,burke's
  soul was harassed by private cares1   
chagrined by the untoward course  of    
public events1 and mortified by neglect 
from friends no less than  by virulent  
reproach from foes1 it makes us feel    
very kindly towards  ,brocklesby1 to    
read what he wrote to ,burke in #aghh3--

        ,,my ,,very ,,dear ,,friend--,my
 veneration of your public conduct for  
many      years past1 and my real       
affection for your private virtues and  
transcendent worth1 made me yesterday   
take a liberty with you in a            
moment's conversation at my house1 to   
make you an instant present      of     
#ajjj1 which for years past ,i had by   
will destined as a      testimony of my 
regard on my decease4 ,this you modestly
 desired me      not to think of2 but ,i
 told you what ,i now repeat1 that      
unfavoured      as ,i have lived for a  
long life1 unnoticed professionally by  
any      party of men1 and though       
unknown at court1 ,i am rich enough to  
spare to virtue 7what others waste in   
vice7 the above sum1 and      still     
reserve an annual income greater than ,i
 spend4 ,i shall      receive at the    
,india ,house a bill ,i have discounted 
for #ajjj      on the #dth of next      
month1 and then shall be happy that you 
will      accept this proof of my       

sincere love and esteem1 and let me add1
      ,si res ampla domi similisque     
affectibus esset1 ,i should be happy    
to repeat the like every year4    ,the  
mere transcription of the friendly man's
 good letter has something  of the      
effect of an exercise of religion4 ,and 
it was only one of a  series of kind    
acts on the part of the same generous   
giver4    ,it is always interesting in  
the case of a great man to know how he  
affected the women of his acquaintance4 
,women do not usually judge  character  
either so kindly or so soundly as men   
do1 for they lack that  knowledge of the
 ordeals of practical life1 which gives 
both justice  and charity to such       
verdicts4 ,but they are more susceptible
 than most  men are to devotion and     
nobility in character4 ,the little group
 of the  blue-stockings of the day      
regarded the great master of knowledge  
and eloquence with mixed feelings4 ,they
 felt for ,burke the adoring  reverence 
which women offer1 with too             

indiscriminate a trust1 to men  of      
commanding power4 ,in his case it was   
the moral loftiness of his  character   
that inspired them1 as much as the      
splendour of his ability4  ,of ,sheridan
 or of ,fox they could not bear to hear2
 of ,burke they could  not hear enough4 
,hannah ,more1 and ,mrs4 ,elizabeth     
,carter1 the learned  translator of     
,epictetus1 and ,fanny ,burney1 the     
author of ,evelina and  ,cecilia1 were  
all proud of his notice1 even while they
 glowed with  anger at his sympathy with
 ,american rebels1 his unkind words     
about the  king1 and his cruel          
persecution of poor ,mr4 ,hastings4 ,it 
was at ,mrs4  ,vesey's evening parties1 
given on the ,tuesdays on which the     
,club dined  at the ,turk's ,head1 that 
he often had long chats with ,hannah    
,more4  ,she had to forget what she     
called his political malefactions1      
before  she could allow herself to      
admire his high spirits and good humour4
  ,this was after the events of the     

,coalition1 and her ,memoirs1 like  the 
change in the mind of the ,dissenters   
towards ,burke1 show what a  fall that  
act of faction was believed to mark in  
his character4 ,when  he was rejected   
for ,bristol1 she moralised on the      
catastrophe by the  quaint reflection1  
that ,providence has wisely contrived to
 render all  its dispensations equal1 by
 making those talents which set one man 
so much above another1 of no esteem in  
the opinion of those who are  without   
them4    ,miss ,burney has described her
 flutter of spirits when she first found
  herself in company with ,burke        
7#aghb74 ,it was at ,sir ,joshua's house
 on  the top of ,richmond ,hill1 and she
 tells1 with her usual effusion1 how    
she was impressed by ,burke's noble     
figure and commanding air1 his          
penetrating and sonorous voice1 his     
eloquent and copious language1 the      
infinite variety and rapidity of his    
discourse4 ,burke had something to  say 
on every subject1 from bits of personal 

gossip1 up to the sweet  and melting    
landscape that lay in all its beauty    
before their windows  on the terrace4   
,he was playful1 serious1 fantastic1    
wise4 ,when they  next met1 the great   
man completed his conquest by expressing
 his  admiration of ,evelina4 ,gibbon   
assured her that he had read the whole  
five volumes in a day2 but ,burke       
declared the feat was impossible1 for   
he had himself read it through without  
interruption1 and it had cost  him three
 days4 ,he showed his regard for the    
authoress in a more  substantial way    
than by compliments and criticism4 ,his 
last act1  before going out of office1  
in #aghc1 was to procure for ,dr4       
,burney the  appointment of organist at 
the chapel of ,chelsea4    ,we have     
spoken of the dislike of these excellent
 women for ,sheridan  and ,fox4 ,in     
,sheridan's case ,burke did not much    
disagree with them4  ,their characters  
were as unlike and as antipathetic as   
those of two  men could be2 and to      

antipathy of temperament was probably   
added a  kind of rivalry1 which may     
justly have affected one of them with an
  irritated humiliation4 ,sheridan was  
twenty years younger than ,burke1  and  
did not come into ,parliament until     
,burke had fought the prolonged  battle 
of the ,american war1 and had achieved  
the victory of ,economic  ,reform4 ,yet 
,sheridan was immediately taken up by   
the party1 and became  the intimate and 
counsellor of ,charles ,fox1 its leader1
 and of the  ,prince of ,wales1 its     
patron4 ,that ,burke never failed to do 
full  justice to ,sheridan's brilliant  
genius1 or to bestow generous and       
unaffected praise on his oratorical     
successes1 there is ample  evidence4 ,he
 was of far too high and veracious a    
nature to be capable  of the disparaging
 tricks of a poor jealousy4 ,the        
humiliation lay in  the fact that       
circumstances had placed ,sheridan in a 
position1 which  made it natural for the
 world to measure them with one another4

 ,burke  could no more like ,sheridan   
than he could like the ,beggar's ,opera4
  ,sheridan had a levity1 a want of     
depth1 a laxity and dispersion of       
feeling1 to which no degree of          
intellectual brilliancy could reconcile 
a man of such profound moral energy and 
social conviction as ,burke4    ,the    
thought will perhaps occur to the reader
 that ,fox was not less  lax than       
,sheridan1 and yet for ,fox ,burke long 
had the sincerest  friendship4 ,he was  
dissolute1 indolent1 irregular1 and the 
most  insensate gambler that ever       
squandered fortune after fortune over   
the  faro-table4 ,it was his vices as   
much as his politics that made ,george  
,,iii4 hate ,fox as an ,english         
,catiline4 ,how came ,burke to accept a 
man  of this character1 first for his   
disciple1 then for his friend1 and  next
 for his leader8 ,the answer is a simple
 one4 ,in spite of the  disorders of his
 life1 ,fox1 from the time when his     
acquaintance with  ,burke began1 down to

 the time when it came to such          
disastrous end1  and for long years     
afterwards1 was to the bottom of his    
heart as  passionate for freedom1       
justice1 and beneficence as ,burke ever 
was4  ,these great ends were as real1 as
 constant1 as overmastering in ,fox  as 
they were in ,burke4 ,no man was ever   
more deeply imbued with the  generous   
impulses of great statesmanship1 with   
chivalrous courage1  with the           
magnificent spirit of devotion to high  
imposing causes4 ,these  qualities we   
may be sure1 and not his power as a     
debater and as a  declaimer1 won for him
 in ,burke's heart the admiration which 
found  such splendid expression in a    
passage that will remain as a stock     
piece of declamation for long           
generations after it was first poured   
out as a sincere tribute of reverence   
and affection4 ,precisians1 like        
,lafayette1 might choose to see their   
patriotic hopes ruined rather  than have
 them saved by ,mirabeau1 because       

,mirabeau was a debauchee4  ,burke's    
public morality was of stouter stuff1   
and he loved ,fox because  he knew that 
under the stains and blemishes that had 
been left by a  deplorable education1   
was that sterling1 inexhaustible ore in 
which  noble sympathies are subtly      
compounded with resplendent powers4     
,if he was warmly attached to his       
political friends1 ,burke1 at least     
before the ,revolution1 was usually on  
fair terms in private life with  his    
political opponents4 ,there were few men
 whose policy he disliked  more than he 
disliked the policy of ,george          
,grenville4 ,and we have seen  that he  
criticised ,grenville in a pamphlet     
which did not spare him4  ,yet          
,grenville and he did not refuse one    
another's hospitality1 and  were on the 
best terms to the very end4             
,wilberforce1 again1 was one  of the    
staunchest friends of ,pitt1 and fought 
one of the greatest  electioneering     
battles on ,pitt's side in the struggle 

of #aghd2 but it  made no difference in 
,burke's relations with him4 ,in #aghg a
 coldness  arose between them4 ,burke   
had delivered a strong invective against
  the ,french ,treaty4 ,wilberforce     
said1 ,we can make allowance for the    
honourable gentleman1 because we        
remember him in better days4 ,the       
retort greatly nettled ,burke1 but the  
feeling soon passed away1  and they both
 found a special satisfaction in the    
dinner to which  ,wilberforce invited   
,burke every session4 ,he was a great   
man1 says  ,wilberforce4 ,i could never 
understand how at one time he grew to be
  so entirely neglected4    ,outside of 
both political and literary circles1    
among ,burke's  correspondents was that 
wise and honest traveller whose name is 
as  inseparably bound up with the       
preparation of the ,french ,revolution1 
as  ,burke's is bound up with its       
sanguinary climax and fulfilment4       
,arthur  ,young1 by his ,farmer's       
,letters1 and ,farmer's ,calendar1 and  

his account  of his travels in the      
southern counties of ,england and       
elsewhere--the  story of the more famous
 travels in ,france was not published   
until  #agib--;had won a reputation as  
the best informed agriculturist of his  
day4 ,within a year of his settlement at
 ,beaconsfield1 we find ,burke  writing 
to consult ,young on the mysteries of   
his new occupation4 ,the  reader may    
smile as he recognises the ardour1 the  
earnestness1 the  fervid gravity of the 
political speeches1 in letters which    
discuss  the merits of carrots in       
fattening porkers1 and the precise      
degree to  which they should be boiled4 
,burke throws himself just as eagerly   
into  white peas and ,indian corn1 into 
cabbages that grow into head and        
cabbages that shoot into leaves1 into   
experiments with pumpkin seed  and wild 
parsnip1 as if they had been details of 
the ,stamp ,act1 or  justice to         
,ireland4 ,when he complains that it is 
scarcely possible  for him1 with his    

numerous avocations1 to get his servants
 to enter  fully into his views as to   
the right treatment of his crops1 we can
  easily understand that his farming did
 not help him to make money4 ,it  is    
impossible that he should have had time 
or attention to spare for  the effectual
 direction of even a small farm4    ,yet
 if the farm brought scantier profit    
than it ought to have brought1  it was  
probably no weak solace in the          
background of a life of  harassing      
interests and perpetual disappointments4
 ,burke was happier  at ,beaconsfield   
than anywhere else1 and he was happiest 
there when his  house was full of       
guests4 ,nothing pleased him better than
 to drive a  visitor over to ,windsor1  
where he would expatiate with enthusiasm
 on  the proud ,keep1 rising in the     
majesty of proportion1 and girt with the
  double belt of its kindred and coeval 
towers1 overseeing and guarding  the    
subjected land4 ,he delighted to point  
out the house at  ,uxbridge where       

,charles ,i4 had carried on the         
negotiations with the  ,parliamentary   
,commissioners2 the beautiful grounds of
 ,bulstrode1 where  ,judge ,jefferies   
had once lived2 and the churchyard of   
,beaconsfield1  where lay the remains of
 ,edmund ,waller1 the poet4 ,he was fond
 of  talking of great statesmen--of     
,walpole1 of ,pulteney1 and of ,chatham4
  ,some one had said that ,chatham knew 
nothing whatever except ,spenser's      
,faery ,queen4 ,no matter how that was  
said1 ,burke replied to one of  his     
visitors1 whoever relishes and reads    
,spenser as he ought to be  read1 will  
have a strong hold of the ,english      
language4 ,the delight of  the host must
 have been at least equalled by the     
delight of the guest  in conversation   
which was thus ever taking new turns1   
branching into  topical surprises1 and  
at all turns and on every topic was     
luminous1  high1 edifying1 full4    ,no 
guest was more welcome than the friend  
of his boyhood1 and ,richard            

,shackleton has told how the friendship1
 cordiality1 and openness with  which   
,burke embraced him was even more than  
might be expected from  long love4 ,the 
simple ,quaker was confused by the sight
 of what seemed  to him so sumptuous and
 worldly a life1 and he went to rest    
uneasily1  doubting whether ,god's      
blessing could go with it4 ,but when he 
awoke on  the morrow of his first visit1
 he told his wife1 in the language  of  
his sect1 how glad he was to find no    
condemnation2 but on the  contrary1     
ability to put up fervent petitions with
 much tenderness on  behalf of this     
great luminary4 ,it is at his country   
home that we like  best to think of     
,burke4 ,it is still a touching picture 
to the historic  imagination to follow  
him from the heat and violence of the   
,house1  where tipsy squires derided the
 greatest genius of his time1 down to   
the calm shades of ,beaconsfield1 where 
he would with his own hands  give food  
to a starving beggar1 or medicine to a  

peasant sick of the  ague2 where he     
would talk of the weather1 the turnips1 
and the hay  with the team-men and the  
farm-bailiff2 and where1 in the evening 
stillness1 he would pace the walk under 
the trees1 and reflect on the  state of 
,europe and the distractions of his     
country4          ,,chapter ,,vii       
,,the ,,new ,,ministry--,,warren        
,,hastings--,,burke',s ,,public         
,,position      ,the six years which    
followed the destruction of the         
,coalition were1 in  some respects1 the 
most mortifying portion of ,burke's     
troubled career4  ,pitt was more firmly 
seated in power than ,lord ,north had   
ever been1  and he used his power to    
carry out a policy against which it was 
impossible for the ,whigs1 on their own 
principles1 to offer an  effective      
resistance4 ,for this is the peculiarity
 of the king's first  victory over the  
enemies who had done obstinate battle   
with him for  nearly a quarter of a     
century4 ,he had driven them out of the 

field1  but with the aid of an ally who 
was as strongly hostile to the royal    
system as they had ever been4 ,the king 
had vindicated his right  against the   
,whigs to choose his own ministers2 but 
the new minister  was himself a ,whig by
 descent1 and a reformer by his         
education and  personal disposition4    
,ireland was the subject of the first   
great battle between the ministry  and  
their opponents4 ,here1 if anywhere1 we 
might have expected from  ,burke at     
least his usual wisdom and patience4 ,we
 saw in a previous  chapter 7p4 #cc7    
what the political condition of ,ireland
 was when ,burke  went there with       
,hamilton in #agfc4 ,the ,american war  
had brought about a  great change4 ,the 
king had shrewdly predicted that if     
,america became  free ,ireland would    
soon follow the same plan and be a      
separate state4  ,in fact1 along with   
the ,american war we had to encounter an
 ,irish war  also2 but the latter was1  
as an ,irish politician called it at the

  time1 a smothered war4 ,like the      
,americans1 the ,anglo-,irish entered   
into non-importation compacts1 and they 
interdicted commerce4 ,the  ,irish      
volunteers1 first forty1 then sixty1 and
 at last a hundred  thousand strong1    
were virtually an army enrolled to      
overawe the  ,english ministry and      
,parliament4 ,following the spirit1 if  
not the  actual path1 of the ,americans1
 they raised a cry for commercial and   
legislative independence4 ,they were too
 strong to be resisted1 and in  #aghb   
the ,irish ,parliament acquired the     
privilege of initiating and  conducting 
its own business1 without the sanction  
or control either of  the ,privy        
,council or of the ,english ,parliament4
 ,dazzled by the chance  of acquiring   
legislative independence1 they had been 
content with the  comparatively small   
commercial boons obtained by ,lord      
,nugent and ,burke  in #aggh1 and with  
the removal of further restrictions by  
the alarmed  minister in the following  

year4 ,after the concession of their    
independence in #aghb1 they found that  
to procure the abolition of the         
remaining restrictions on their         
commerce--the right of trade1 for       
instance1 with ,america and ,africa--the
 consent of the ,english  legislature   
was as necessary as it had ever been4   
,pitt1 fresh from the  teaching of ,adam
 ,smith and of ,shelburne1 brought      
forward in #aghe his  famous commercial 
propositions4 ,the theory of his scheme 
was that  ,irish trade should be free1  
and that ,ireland should be admitted to 
a  permanent participation in commercial
 advantages4 ,in return for this  gain1 
after her hereditary revenue passed a   
certain point1 she was to  devote the   
surplus to purposes1 such as the        
maintenance of the navy1  in which the  
two nations had a common interest4 ,pitt
 was to be  believed when he declared   
that of all the objects of his political
  life this was1 in his opinion1 the    
most important that he had ever  engaged

 in1 and he never expected to meet      
another that should rouse  every emotion
 in so strong a degree as this4    ,a   
furious battle took place in the ,irish 
,parliament4 ,there1 while  nobody could
 deny that the eleven propositions would
 benefit the  mercantile interests of   
the country1 it was passionately urged  
that  the last of the propositions1 that
 which concerned the apportionment  of  
,irish revenue to imperial purposes1    
meant the enslavement of their  unhappy 
island4 ,their fetters1 they went on1   
were clenched1 if the  ,english         
,government was to be allowed thus to   
take the initiative  in ,irish          
legislation4 ,the factious course       
pursued by the ,english  ,opposition was
 much less excusable than the line of   
the ,anglo-,irish  leaders4 ,fox1 who   
was ostentatiously ignorant of political
 economy1  led the charge4 ,he insisted 
that ,pitt's measures would annihilate  
,english trade1 would destroy the       
,navigation ,laws1 and with them would  

bring our maritime strength to the      
ground4 ,having thus won the favour  of 
the ,english manufacturers1 he turned   
round to the ,irish ,opposition1  and   
conciliated them by declaring with equal
 vehemence that the  propositions were  
an insult to ,ireland1 and a nefarious  
attempt to  tamper with her new-born    
liberties4 ,burke followed his leader4  
,we may  almost say that for once he    
allowed his political integrity to be   
bewildered4 ,in #aggh and #aggi he had  
firmly resisted the pressure which  his 
mercantile constituents in ,bristol had 
endeavoured to put upon  him2 he had    
warmly supported the ,irish claims1 and 
had lost his seat  in consequence4 ,the 
precise ground which he took up in #aghe
 was this4  ,he appears to have         
discerned in ,pitt's proposals the germ 
of an  attempt to extract revenue from  
,ireland1 identical in purpose1         
principle1 and probable effect with the 
ever-memorable attempt to  extract      
revenue from the ,american colonies4    

,whatever stress may be  laid upon this1
 we find it hard to vindicate ,burke    
from the charge  of factiousness4       
,nothing can have been more unworthy of 
him than  the sneer at ,pitt in the     
great speech on the ,nabob of ,arcot's  
debts  7#aghe71 for stopping to pick up 
chaff and straws from the ,irish        
revenue instead of checking profligate  
expenditure in ,india4    ,pitt's       
alternative was irresistible4 ,situated 
as ,ireland was1 she must  either be the
 subservient instrument of ,english     
prosperity1 or else  she must be allowed
 to enjoy the benefits of ,english      
trade1 taking at  the same time a       
proportionate share of the common       
burdens4 ,adam ,smith  had shown that   
there was nothing incompatible with     
justice in a  contribution by ,ireland  
to the public debt of ,great ,britain4  
,that  debt1 he argued1 had been        
contracted in support of the government 
established by the ,revolution2 a       
government to which the ,protestants  of

 ,ireland owed not only the whole       
authority which they enjoyed in  their  
own country1 but every security which   
they possessed for their  liberty1      
property1 and religion4 ,the            
neighbourhood of ,ireland to the  shores
 of the mother country introduced an    
element into the problem1  which must   
have taught every unimpassioned observer
 that the ,american  solution would be  
inadequate for a dependency that lay at 
our very  door4 ,burke could not1 in his
 calmer moments1 have failed to         
recognise  all this4 ,yet he lent       
himself to the party cry that ,pitt was 
taking  his first measures for the      
re-enslavement of ,ireland4 ,had it not 
been  for what he himself called the    
delirium of the preceding session1 and  
which had still not subsided1 he would  
have seen that ,pitt was in  truth      
taking his first measures for the       
effective deliverance of  ,ireland from 
an unjust and oppressive subordination4 
,the same delirium  committed him to    

another equally deplorable perversity1  
when  he opposed1 with as many excesses 
in temper as fallacies in               
statesmanship1 the wise treaty with     
,france1 in which ,pitt partially       
anticipated the commercial policy of an 
ampler treaty three-quarters  of a      
century afterwards4    ,a great episode 
in ,burke's career now opened4 ,it was  
in #aghe that  ,warren ,hastings        
returned from ,india1 after a series of 
exploits as  momentous and far-reaching1
 for good or evil1 as have ever been    
achieved by any ,english ruler4 ,for    
years ,burke had been watching  ,india4 
,with rising wonder1 amazement1 and     
indignation he had steadily  followed   
that long train of intrigue and crime   
which had ended in the  consolidation of
 a new empire4 ,with the return of      
,hastings he felt  that the time had    
come for striking a severe blow1 and    
making a signal  example4 ,he gave      
notice 7,june #aghe7 that he would1 at a
 future day1  make a motion respecting  

the conduct of a gentleman just returned
 from  ,india4    ,among minor          
considerations1 we have to remember that
 ,indian affairs  entered materially    
into the great battle of parties4 ,it   
was upon  an ,indian bill that the late 
ministry had made shipwreck4 ,it was    
notoriously by the aid of potent ,indian
 interests that the new  ministry had   
acquired a portion of its majority4 ,to 
expose the  misdeeds of our agents in   
,india was at once to strike the        
minister who  had dexterously secured   
their support1 and to attack one of the 
great  strongholds of parliamentary     
corruption4 ,the proceedings against    
,hastings were1 in the first instance1  
regarded as a sequel to the  struggle   
over ,fox's ,east ,india ,bill4 ,that   
these considerations were  present in   
,burke's thought there is no doubt1 but 
they were purely  secondary4 ,it was    
,india itself that stood above all else 
in his  imagination4 ,it had filled his 
mind and absorbed his time while ,pitt  

was still an undergraduate at           
,cambridge1 and ,burke was looking      
forward  to match his plan of economic  
reform with a greater plan of ,indian   
reform4 ,in the ,ninth ,report1 the     
,eleventh ,report1 and in his speech  on
 the ,india ,bill of #aghc1 he had shown
 both how thoroughly he had  mastered   
the facts1 and how profoundly they had  
stirred his sense of  wrong4 ,the       
masterpiece known as the speech on the  
,nabob of ,arcot's  debts1 delivered in 
,parliament on a motion for papers      
7#aghe71 handles  matters of account1 of
 interest turned into principal1 and    
principal  superadded to principal2 it  
deals with a hundred minute             
technicalities  of teeps and tuncaws1 of
 gomastahs and soucaring2 all with such 
a  suffusion of interest and colour1    
with such nobility of idea and          
expression1 as could only have come from
 the addition to genius of a  deep      
morality of nature1 and an overwhelming 
force of conviction4 ,a  space less than

 one of these pages contains such a     
picture of the  devastation of the      
,carnatic by ,hyder ,ali1 as may fill   
the young orator  or the young writer   
with the same emotions of enthusiasm1   
emulation1  and despair that torment the
 artist who first gazes on the ,madonna 
at ,dresden1 or the figures of ,night   
and ,dawn and the ,penseroso at         
,florence4 ,the despair is only too well
 founded4 ,no conscious study  could    
pierce the secret of that just and      
pathetic transition from the  havoc of  
,hyder ,ali to the healing duties of a  
virtuous government1 to  the consolatory
 celebration of the mysteries of justice
 and humanity1  to the warning to the   
unlawful creditors to silence their     
inauspicious  tongues in presence of the
 holy work of restoration1 to the       
generous  proclamation against them that
 in every country the first creditor is 
the plough4 ,the emotions which make the
 hidden force of such pictures  come not
 by observation4 ,they grow from the    

sedulous meditation of  long years1     
directed by a powerful intellect and    
inspired by an  interest in human       
well-being1 which of its own virtue bore
 the orator  into the sustaining air of 
the upper gods4 ,concentrated passion   
and exhaustive knowledge have never     
entered into a more formidable          
combination4 ,yet when ,burke made his  
speech on the ,nabob of ,arcot's  debts1
 ,pitt and ,grenville consulted together
 whether it was worth  answering1 and   
came to the conclusion that they need   
not take the  trouble4    ,neither the  
scornful neglect of his opponents nor   
the dissensions of  some who sat on his 
own side1 could check the ardour with   
which ,burke  pressed on1 as he said1 to
 the relief of afflicted nations4 ,the  
fact is1 that ,burke was not at all a   
philanthropist as ,clarkson and         
,wilberforce were philanthropists4 ,his 
sympathy was too strongly under  the    
control of true political reason4 ,in   
#aghj1 for instance1 the  slave-trade   

had attracted his attention1 and he had 
even proceeded  to sketch out a code of 
regulations which provided for its      
immediate  mitigation and ultimate      
suppression4 ,after mature consideration
 he  abandoned the attempt1 from the    
conviction that the strength of the     
,west ,india interest would defeat the  
utmost efforts of his party4 ,and  he   
was quite right in refusing to hope from
 any political action what  could only  
be effected after the moral preparation 
of the bulk of the  nation4 ,and direct 
moral or philanthropic apostleship was  
not his  function4    ,macaulay1 in a   
famous passage of dazzling lustre and   
fine historic  colour1 describes        
,burke's holy rage against the misdeeds 
of ,hastings  as due to his sensibility4
 ,but sensibility to what8 ,not merely  
to  those common impressions of human   
suffering which kindle the flame of     
ordinary philanthropy1 always           
attractive1 often so beneficent1 but    
often so capricious and so laden with   

secret detriment4 ,this was no  part of 
,burke's type4 ,for is it enough to say 
that ,burke had what is  the distinctive
 mark of the true statesman1 a passion  
for good1 wise1  and orderly government4
 ,he had that in the strongest degree4  
,all that  wore the look of confusion he
 held in abhorrence1 and he detected the
  seeds of confusion with a penetration 
that made other men marvel4  ,he was far
 too wise a man to have any sympathy    
with the energetic  exercise of power   
for power's sake4 ,he knew well that    
triumphs  of violence are for the most  
part little better than temporary       
makeshifts1 which leave all the work of 
government to be encountered  afterwards
 by men of essentially greater capacity 
than the hero of  force without scruple4
 ,but he regarded those whom he called  
the great  bad men of the old stamp1    
,cromwell1 ,richelieu1 the ,guises1 the 
,conds1  with a certain tolerance1      
because though the virtues of such men  
were  not to be taken as a balance to   

their crimes1 yet they had long views1  
and sanctified their ambition by aiming 
at the orderly rule1 and not  the       
destruction of their country4 ,what he  
valued was the deep-seated  order of    
systems that worked by the accepted     
uses1 opinions1 beliefs1  prejudices of 
a community4    ,this love of right and 
stable order was not all4 ,that was     
itself  the growth from a deeper root1  
partly of conviction and partly of      
sympathy2 the conviction of the rare and
 difficult conjunctures of  circumstance
 which are needed for the formation of  
even the rudest  forms of social union  
among mankind2 and then the sympathy    
that the  best men must always find it  
hard to withhold from any hoary fabric  
of  belief1 and any venerated system of 
government that has cherished  a certain
 order and shed even a ray of the       
faintest dawn among the  violences and  
the darkness of the race4 ,it was       
reverence rather  than sensibility1 a   
noble and philosophic conservatism      

rather than  philanthropy1 which raised 
the storm in ,burke's breast against the
  rapacity of ,english adventurers in   
,india and the imperial crimes of       
,hastings4 ,exactly the same tide of    
emotion which afterwards filled to  the 
brim the cup of prophetic anger against 
the desecrators of the  ,church and the 
monarchy of ,france1 now poured itself  
out against those  who in ,india had    
tossed about1 subverted1 and tore to    
pieces1 as if  it were in the gambols of
 boyish unluckiness and malice1 the most
  established rights and the most       
ancient and most revered institutions   
of ages and nations4 ,from beginning to 
end of the fourteen years in  which     
,burke pursued his campaign against     
,hastings1 we see in every  page that   
the ,india which ever glowed before his 
vision was not the  home of picturesque 
usages and melodramatic costume1 but    
rather1 in  his own words1 the land of  
princes once of great dignity1          
authority1  and opulence2 of an ancient 

and venerable priesthood1 the guides of 
the people while living1 and their      
consolation in death2 of a nobility  of 
antiquity and renown2 of millions of    
ingenious mechanics1 and  millions of   
diligent tillers of the earth2 and      
finally1 the land  where might be found 
almost all the religions professed by   
men--the  ,brahminical1 the ,mussulman1 
the ,eastern and the ,western           
,christian4  ,when he published his     
speech on the ,nabob of ,arcot1 ,burke  
prefixed  to it an admirable quotation  
from one of the letters of the ,emperor 
,julian4 ,and ,julian too1 as we all    
know1 had a strong feeling for the      
past4 ,but what in that remarkable      
figure was only the sentimentalism  of  
reaction1 in ,burke was a reasoned and  
philosophic veneration for  all old and 
settled order1 whether in the free      
,parliament of ,great  ,britain1 in the 
ancient absolutism of ,versailles1 or in
 the secular  pomp of ,oude and the     
inviolable sanctity of ,benares1 the    

holy city and  the garden of ,god4      
,it would be out of place here to       
attempt to follow the details of the    
impeachment4 ,every reader has heard    
that great tale in our history1  and    
everybody knows that it was ,burke's    
tenacity and power which  caused that   
tale to be told4 ,the ,house of ,commons
 would not1 it is  true1 have directed  
that ,hastings should be impeached1     
unless ,pitt had  given his sanction and
 approval1 and how it was that ,pitt did
 give  his sanction and approval so     
suddenly and on grounds ostensibly so   
slender1 remains one of the secrets of  
history4 ,in no case would the          
impeachment have been pressed upon      
,parliament by the ,opposition1  and    
assented to by ministers1 if ,burke had 
not been there with his  prodigious     
industry1 his commanding comprehensive  
vision1 his burning  zeal1 and his power
 of kindling in men so different from   
him and from  one another as ,fox1      
,sheridan1 ,windham1 ,grey1 a zeal only 

less intense  than his own4    ,it was  
in the spring of #aghf that the articles
 of charge of ,hastings's  high crimes  
and misdemeanours1 as ,burke had drawn  
them1 were presented  to the ,house of  
,commons4 ,it was in ,february #aghh    
that ,burke opened the  vast cause in   
the old historic hall at ,westminster1  
in an oration  in which at points he was
 wound up to such a pitch of eloquence  
and  passion that every listener1       
including the great criminal1 held his  
breath in an agony of horror2 that women
 were carried out fainting2  that the   
speaker himself became incapable of     
saying another word1 and  the spectators
 of the scene began to wonder whether he
 would not1 like  the mighty ,chatham1  
actually die in the exertion of his     
overwhelming  powers4 ,among the        
illustrious crowd who thronged          
,westminster ,hall in  the opening days 
of the impeachment was ,fanny ,burney4  
,she was then in  her odious bondage at 
,court1 and was animated by that        

admiration and  pity for ,hastings which
 at ,court was the fashion4 ,windham    
used to  come up from the box of the    
managers of the impeachment to talk over
  with her the incidents of the day1 and
 she gave him her impressions  of       
,burke's speech1 which were probably    
those of the majority of his  hearers1  
for the majority were favourable to     
,hastings4 ,i told him1  says ,miss     
,burney1 that ,mr4 ,burke's opening had 
struck me with the  highest admiration  
of his powers1 from the eloquence1 the  
imagination1  the fire1 the diversity of
 expression1 and the ready flow of      
language  with which he seemed gifted1  
in a most superior manner1 for any and  
every purpose to which rhetoric could   
lead4 ,and when he came to his  two     
narratives1 ,i continued1 when he       
related the particulars  of those       
dreadful murders1 he interested1 he     
engaged1 he at last  overpowered me2 ,i 
felt my cause lost4 ,i could hardly keep
 on my seat4  ,my eyes dreaded a single 

glance towards a man so accused as ,mr4 
,hastings2 ,i wanted to sink on the     
floor1 that they might be saved so      
painful a sight4 ,i had no hope he could
 clear himself2 not another  wish in his
 favour remained4 ,but when from this   
narration ,mr4 ,burke  proceeded to his 
own comments and declamation--when the  
charges of  rapacity1 cruelty1 tyranny1 
were general1 and made with all the     
violence of personal detestation1 and   
continued and aggravated without  any   
further fact or illustration2 then there
 appeared more of study  than of truth1 
more of invective than of justice2 and1 
in short1 so  little of proof to so much
 of passion1 that in a very short time  
,i  began to lift up my head1 my seat   
was no longer uneasy1 my eyes were      
indifferent which way they looked1 or   
what object caught them1 and  before ,i 
was myself aware of the declension of   
,mr4 ,burke's powers over  my feelings1 
,i found myself a mere spectator in a   
public place1 and  looking all around   

it1 with my opera-glass in my hand6     
,in #agie1 six years after ,burke's     
opening1 the ,lords were ready with     
their verdict4 ,it had long been        
anticipated4 ,hastings was acquitted4   
,this was the close of the fourteen     
years of labour1 from the date of  the  
,select ,committee of #agha4 ,if ,i were
 to call for a reward1 ,burke  said1 it 
would be for the services in which for  
fourteen years1  without intermission1  
,i showed the most industry and had the 
least  success4 ,i mean the affairs of  
,india2 they are those on which ,i value
  myself the most2 most for the         
importance2 most for the labour2 most   
for the judgment2 most for constancy and
 perseverance in the pursuit4    ,the   
side that is defeated on a particular   
issue1 is often victorious  on the wide 
and general outcome4 ,looking back      
across the ninety years  that divide us 
from that memorable scene in            
,westminster ,hall1 we may  see that    
,burke had more success than at first   

appeared4 ,if he did not  convict the   
man1 he overthrew a system1 and stamped 
its principles  with lasting censure and
 shame4 ,burke had perhaps a silent     
conviction  that it would have been     
better for us and for ,india if ,clive  
had  succeeded in his attempt to blow   
out his own brains in the ,madras       
counting-house1 or if the battle of     
,plassy had been a decisive defeat      
instead of a decisive victory4 ,all     
these circumstances1 he once  said1 in  
reference to the results of the         
investigation of the ,select            
,committee1 are not1 ,i confess1 very   
favourable to the idea of our           
attempting to govern ,india at all4 ,but
 there we are3 there we are  placed by  
the ,sovereign ,disposer1 and we must do
 the best we can in  our situation4 ,the
 situation of man is the preceptor of   
his duty4 ,if  that situation is better 
understood now than it was a century    
ago1 and  that duty more loftily        
conceived1 the result is due1 so far as 

such  results can ever be due to one    
man's action apart from the confluence  
of the deep impersonal elements of time1
 to the seeds of justice and  humanity  
which were sown by ,burke and his       
associates4 ,nobody now  believes that  
,clive was justified in tricking        
,omichund by forging  another man's     
name2 that ,impey was justified in      
hanging ,nuncomar for  committing the   
very offence for which ,clive was       
excused or applauded1  although forgery 
is no grave crime according to ,hindoo  
usage1 and it  is the gravest according 
to ,english usage2 that ,hastings did   
well  in selling ,english troops to     
assist in the extermination of a brave  
people with whom he was at peace2 that  
,benfield did well in conniving  with an
 ,eastern prince in a project of        
extortion against his subjects4  ,the   
whole drift of opinion has changed1 and 
it is since the trial of  ,hastings that
 the change has taken place4 ,the       
question in ,burke's  time was whether  

oppression and corruption were to       
continue to be the  guiding maxims of   
,english policy4 ,the personal          
disinterestedness of  the ruler who had 
been the chief founder of this policy1  
and had most  openly set aside all      
pretence of righteous principle1 was    
dust in the  balance4 ,it was impossible
 to suppress the policy without striking
 a  deadly blow at its most eminent and 
powerful instrument4 ,that ,hastings    
was acquitted1 was immaterial4 ,the     
lesson of his impeachment had been      
taught with sufficiently impressive     
force--the great lesson that  ,asiatics 
have rights1 and that ,europeans have   
obligations2 that a  superior race is   
bound to observe the highest current    
morality of the  time in all its        
dealings with the subject race4 ,burke  
is entitled  to our lasting reverence as
 the first apostle and great upholder of
  integrity1 mercy1 and honour in the   
relation between his countrymen  and    
their humble dependents4    ,he shared  

the common fate of those who dare to    
strike a blow for human  justice against
 the prejudices of national egotism4    
,but he was no  longer able to bear     
obloquy and neglect1 as he had borne it 
through  the war with the colonies4     
,when he opened the impeachment of      
,hastings  at ,westminster1 ,burke was  
very near to his sixtieth year4 ,hannah 
,more  noted in #aghf that his vivacity 
had diminished1 and that business and   
politics had impaired his agreeableness4
 ,the simpletons in the ,house1  now    
that they had at last found in ,pitt a  
political chief who could  beat the     
,whig leaders on their own ground of    
eloquence1 knowledge1  and dexterity in 
debate1 took heart as they had never    
done under ,lord  ,north4 ,they now made
 deliberate attempts to silence the     
veteran by  unmannerly and brutal       
interruptions1 of which a mob of lower  
class  might have been ashamed4 ,then   
suddenly came a moment of such          
excitement as has not often been seen in

 the annals of party4 ,it  became known 
one day in the autumn of #aghh that the 
king had gone out  of his mind4    ,the 
news naturally caused the liveliest     
agitation among the ,whigs4  ,when the  
severity of the attack forced the       
ministry to make  preparations for a    
,regency1 the friends of the ,prince of 
,wales assumed  that they would speedily
 return to power1 and hastened to form  
their  plans accordingly4 ,fox was      
travelling in ,italy with ,mrs4         
,armstead1 and  he had been two months  
away without hearing a word from        
,england4  ,the ,duke of ,portland sent 
a messenger in search of him1 and after 
a  journey of ten days the messenger    
found him at ,bologna4 ,fox instantly   
set off in all haste for ,london1 which 
he reached in nine days4 ,the  three    
months that followed were a time of     
unsurpassed activity and  bitterness1   
and ,burke was at least as active and as
 bitter as the rest  of them4 ,he was   
the writer of the ,prince of ,wales's   

letter to ,pitt1  sometimes set down to 
,sheridan1 and sometimes to ,gilbert    
,elliot4 ,it  makes us feel how         
naturally the style of ideal kingship1  
its dignity1  calm1 and high            
self-consciousness all came to ,burke4  
,although we read  of his thus drawing  
up manifestoes and protests1 and        
deciding minor  questions for ,fox1     
which ,fox was too irresolute to decide 
for himself1  yet we have it on ,burke's
 own authority that some time elapsed   
after the return to ,england before he  
even saw ,fox2 that he was not          
consulted as to the course to be pursued
 in the grave and difficult  questions  
connected with the ,regency2 and that he
 knew as little of  the inside of       
,carlton ,house1 where the ,prince of   
,wales lived1 as of  ,buckingham ,house1
 where the king lived4 ,i mean to       
continue here1  he says to ,charles     
,fox1 until you call upon me2 and ,i    
find myself  perfectly easy1 from the   
implicit confidence that ,i have in you 

and  the ,duke1 and the certainty that  
,i am in that you two will do the best  
for the general advantage of the cause4 
,in that state of mind ,i feel  no      
desire whatsoever of interfering4 ,yet  
the letter itself1 and  others which    
follow1 testify to the vehemence of     
,burke's interest in  the matter1 and to
 the persistency with which he would    
have had them  follow his judgment1 if  
they would have listened4 ,it is as     
clear that  they did not listen4        
,apart from the fierce struggle against 
,pitt's ,regency ,bill1 ,burke's        
friends were intently occupied with the 
reconstruction of the ,portland         
cabinet1 which the king had so          
unexpectedly dismissed five years       
before4 ,this was a sphere in which     
,burke's gifts were neither required    
nor sought4 ,we are rather in distress1 
,sir ,gilbert ,elliot writes1 for  a    
proper man for the office of ,chancellor
 of the ,exchequer4 ,lord ,j4           
,cavendish is very unwilling to engage  

again in public affairs4 ,fox is  to be 
,secretary of ,state4 ,burke1 it is     
thought1 would not be approved  of1     
,sheridan has not the public confidence1
 and so it comes down  therefore to     
,grey1 ,pelham1 myself1 and perhaps     
,windham4 ,elliot  was one of ,burke's  
most faithful and attached friends1 and 
he was  intimately concerned in all that
 was going on in the inner circle of    
the party4 ,it is worth while1          
therefore1 to reproduce his account from
  a confidential letter to ,lady        
,elliot1 of the way in which ,burke's   
claim to recognition was at this time   
regarded and dealt with4                
,although ,i can tell you nothing       
positive about my own situation1      ,i
 was made very happy indeed yesterday by
 co-operating in the      settlement of 
,burke's1 in a manner which gives us    
great joy as      well as comfort4 ,the 
,duke of ,portland has felt distressed  
how to      arrange ,burke and his      
family in a manner equal to ,burke's    

merits1      and to the ,duke's own     
wishes1 and at the same time so as to be
      exempt from the many difficulties 
which seem to be in the way4 ,he        
sent for ,pelham and me1 as ,burke's    
friends and his own1 to advise      with
 us about it2 and we dined yesterday    
with him and the ,duchess1      that we 
might have time to talk the thing over  
at leisure and      without interruption
 after dinner4 ,we stayed accordingly1  
engaged      in that subject till almost
 twelve at night1 and our conference    
ended most happily and excessively to   
the satisfaction of us all4      ,the   
,duke of ,portland has the veneration   
for ,burke that ,windham1      ,pelham1 
myself and a few more have1 and he      
thinks it impossible to      do too much
 for him4 ,he considers the reward to be
 given to ,burke      as a credit and   
honour to the nation1 and he considers  
the neglect      of him and his         
embarrassed situation as having been    
long a      reproach to the country4    

,the unjust prejudice and clamour which 
has prevailed against him and his family
 only determine the ,duke      the more 
to do him justice4 ,the question was    
how8 ,first1 his      brother ,richard1 
who was ,secretary to the ,treasury     
before1 will      have the same office  
now2 but the ,duke intends to give him  
one of      the first offices which     
falls vacant1 of about #ajjj a year for 
life in the customs1 and he will then   
resign the ,secretary to the            
,treasury1 which1 however1 in the       
meanwhile is worth #cjjj a year4        
,edmund ,burke is to have the           
,pay-,office1 #djjj a year2 but as that 
is precarious and he can leave no       
provision for his son1 it would1      in
 fact1 be doing little or nothing of any
 real or substantial      value unless  
some permanent provision is added to it4
 ,in this      view the ,duke is to     
grant him on the ,irish establishment a 
pension      of #bjjj a year clear for  
his own life1 and the other half to     

,mrs4 ,burke for her life4 ,this will   
make ,burke completely happy1 by        
leaving his wife and son safe from want 
after his death1 if they      should    
survive him4 ,the ,duke's affectionate  
anxiety to accomplish      this object1 
and his determination to set all clamour
 at defiance      on this point of      
justice1 was truly affecting1 and       
increases my      attachment for the    
,duke4444 ,the ,duke said the only      
objection to      this plan was that he 
thought it was due from this country1   
and      that he grudged the honour of  
it to ,ireland2 but as nothing in       
,england was ready1 this plan was       
settled4 ,you may think it strange      
that to this moment ,burke does not know
 a word of all this1 and      his family
 are indeed1 ,i believe1 suffering a    
little under the      apprehension that 
he may be neglected in the general      
scramble4 ,i      believe there never   
were three cabinet counsellors more in  
harmony      on any subject than we     

were1 nor three people happier in their 
day's work4#a    ,footnote #a3 ,life and
 ,letters of ,sir ,g4 ,elliot1 i4       
#bfa-bfc4    ,this leaves the apparent  
puzzle where it was4 ,why should ,burke 
not  be approved of for ,chancellor of  
the ,exchequer8 ,what were the many     
difficulties described as seeming to be 
in the way of arranging for  ,burke in a
 manner equal to ,burke's merits and the
 ,duke of ,portland's  wishes8 ,his     
personal relations with the chiefs of   
his party were at  this time extremely  
cordial and intimate4 ,he was constantly
 a guest at  the ,duke of ,portland's   
most private dinner-parties4 ,fox had   
gone down  to ,beaconsfield to recruit  
himself from the fatigues of his rapid  
journey from ,bologna1 and to spend some
 days in quiet with ,windham and  the   
master of the house4 ,elliot and        
,windham1 who were talked about  for a  
post for which one of them says that    
,burke would not have been  approved1   
vied with one another in adoring ,burke4

 ,finally1 ,elliot  and the ,duke think 
themselves happy in a day's work1 which 
ended in  consigning the man who not    
only was1 but was admitted to be1 the   
most  powerful genius of their party1 to
 a third-rate post1 and that most       
equivocal distinction1 a pension on the 
,irish establishment4 ,the  common      
explanation that it illustrates ,whig   
exclusiveness1 cannot be  seriously     
received as adequate4 ,it is probable1  
for one thing1 that  the feelings of the
 ,prince of ,wales had more to do with  
it than the  feelings of men like the   
,duke of ,portland or ,fox4 ,we can     
easily  imagine how little that most    
worthless of human creatures would      
appreciate the great qualities of such a
 man as ,burke4 ,the painful  fact which
 we are unable to conceal from ourselves
 is1 that the common  opinion of better 
men than the ,prince of ,wales leaned in
 the same  direction4 ,his violence in  
the course of the ,regency debates had  
produced strong disapproval in the      

public1 and downright consternation  in 
his own party4 ,on one occasion he is   
described by a respectable  observer as 
having been wilder than ever1 and laid  
himself and his  party more open than   
ever speaker did4 ,he is folly          
personified1 but  shaking his cap and   
bells under the laurel of genius4 ,he   
finished his  wild speech in a manner   
next to madness4 ,moore believes that   
,burke's  indiscretions in these trying 
and prolonged transactions sowed the    
seeds of the alienation between him and 
,fox two years afterwards4  ,burke's    
excited state of mind showed itself in  
small things as well as  great4 ,going  
with ,windham to ,carlton ,house1 ,burke
 attacked him in the  coach for a       
difference of opinion about the affairs 
of a friend1 and  behaved with such     
unreasonable passion and such furious   
rudeness  of manner1 that his           
magnanimous admirer had some difficulty 
in  obliterating the impression4 ,the   
public were less tolerant4 ,windham  has

 told us that at this time ,burke was a 
man decried1 persecuted1 and            
proscribed1 not being much valued even  
by his own party1 and by half  the      
nation considered as little better than 
an ingenious madman4#a  ,this is        
evidence beyond impeachment1 for        
,windham loved and honoured  ,burke with
 the affection and reverence of a son2  
and he puts the  popular sentiment on   
record with grief and amazement4 ,there 
is other  testimony to the same effect4 
,the late ,lord ,lansdowne1 who must    
have heard the subject abundantly       
discussed by those who were most        
concerned in it1 was once asked by a    
very eminent man of our own time1  why  
the ,whigs kept ,burke out of their     
cabinets4 ,burke6 he cried2 he  was so  
violent1 so overbearing1 so arrogant1 so
 intractable1 that  to have got on with 
him in a cabinet would have been utterly
 and  absolutely impossible4            
,footnote #a3 ,windham's ,diary1 p4     
#bac4    ,on the whole1 it seems to be  

tolerably clear that the difficulties   
in the way of ,burke's promotion to high
 office were his notoriously  straitened
 circumstances2 his ungoverned excesses 
of party zeal and  political passion2   
finally1 what ,sir ,gilbert ,elliot     
calls the unjust  prejudice and clamour 
against him and his family1 and what    
,burke  himself once called the hunt of 
obloquy that pursued him all his  life4 
,the first two of these causes can      
scarcely have operated in  the          
arrangements that were made in the      
,rockingham and ,coalition  ministries4 
,but the third1 we may be sure1 was     
incessantly at work4 ,it  would have    
needed social courage alike in #aghb1   
#aghc1 and #aghh to  give cabinet rank  
to a man round whose name there floated 
so many  disparaging associations4      
,social courage is exactly the virtue in
  which the constructors of a government
 will always think themselves  least    
able to indulge4 ,burke1 we have to     
remember1 did not stand  alone before   

the world4 ,elliot describes a          
dinner-party at ,lord  ,fitzwilliam's1  
at which four of these half-discredited 
,irishmen were  present4 ,burke has now 
got such a train after him as would sink
  anybody but himself3--his son1 who is 
quite nauseated by all  mankind2 his    
brother1 who is liked better than his   
son1 but is rather  offensive with      
animal spirits and with brogue2 and his 
cousin1 ,will  ,burke1 who is just      
returned unexpectedly from ,india1 as   
much ruined  as when he went many years 
ago1 and who is a fresh charge on any   
prospects of power that ,burke may ever 
have4 ,it was this train1 and  the ideas
 of adventurership that clung to them1  
the inextinguishable  stories about     
papistry and ,saint ,omer's1 the        
tenacious calumny about  the letters of 
,junius1 the notorious circumstances of 
embarrassment  and neediness--it was all
 these things which combined with       
,burke's own  defects of temper and     
discretion1 to give the ,whig grandees  

as decent  a reason as they could have  
desired for keeping all the great posts 
of  state in their own hands4    ,it    
seems difficult to deny that the        
questions of the ,regency had  caused   
the germs of a sort of dissatisfaction  
and strain in the  relations between    
,fox and ,burke4 ,their feelings to one 
another have  been well compared to the 
mutual discontent between partners in   
unsuccessful play1 where each suspects  
that it is the mistakes of the  other   
that lost the game4 ,whether ,burke felt
 conscious of the failures  in          
discretion and temper1 which were the   
real or pretended excuse for  neglect1  
we cannot tell4 ,there is one passage   
that reveals a chagrin  of this kind4 ,a
 few days after the meeting between the 
,duke of  ,portland and ,elliot1 for the
 purpose of settling his place in the   
new  ministry1 ,burke went down to      
,beaconsfield4 ,in writing 7,january    
#bd1  #aghi7 to invite ,windham and     
,pelham to come to stay a night1 with   

promise of a leg of mutton cooked by a  
dairymaid who was not a bad  hand at a  
pinch1 he goes on to say that his health
 has received some  small benefit from  
his journey to the country4 ,but this   
view to  health1 though far from        
unnecessary to me1 was not the chief    
cause  of my present retreat4 ,i began  
to find that ,i was grown rather  too   
anxious2 and had begun to discover to   
myself and to others a  solicitude      
relative to the present state of        
affairs1 which1 though  their strange   
condition might well warrant it in      
others1 is certainly  less suitable to  
my time of life1 in which all emotions  
are less  allowed2 and to which1 most   
certainly1 all human concerns ought in  
reason to become more indifferent than  
to those who have work to do1  and a    
good deal of day and of inexhausted     
strength to do it in4#a    ,footnote #a3
 ,correspondence1 iii4 #hi4    ,the     
king's unexpected restoration to health 
two or three weeks  later brought to    

nought all the hope and ambition of the 
,whigs1 and  confirmed ,pitt in power   
for the rest of ,burke's lifetime4 ,but 
an event  now came to pass in the       
world's history1 which transformed      
,burke in an  instant from a man        
decried1 persecuted1 proscribed1 into an
 object of  exultant adoration all over 
,europe4          ,,chapter ,,viii      
,,the ,,french ,,revolution      ,we    
have now come to the second of the two  
momentous changes in the  world's       
affairs1 in which ,burke played an      
imposing and historic  part4 ,his       
attitude in the first of them1 the      
struggle for ,american  independence1   
commands almost without alloy the       
admiration and  reverence of posterity4 
,his attitude in the second of them1 the
 great  revolution in ,france1 has      
raised controversies which can only be  
compared in heat and duration to the    
master controversies of theology4  ,if  
the history of society were written as  
learned men write the  history of the   

,christian faith and its churches1      
,burke would figure in  the same strong 
prominence1 whether deplorable or       
glorious1 as ,arius  and ,athanasius1   
,augustine and ,sabellius1 ,luther and  
,ignatius4 ,if we  ask how it is that   
now1 nearly a century after the event1  
men are  still discussing ,burke's      
pamphlet on the ,revolution as they are 
still  discussing ,bishop ,butler's     
,analogy1 the answer is that in one case
  as in the other the questions at issue
 are still unsettled1 and that  ,burke  
offers in their highest and most        
comprehensive form all the              
considerations that belong to one side  
of the dispute4 ,he was not of  those1  
of whom ,coleridge said that they       
proceeded with much solemnity  to solve 
the riddle of the ,french ,revolution by
 anecdotes4 ,he  suspended it in the    
same light of great social ideas and    
wide  principles1 in which its authors  
and champions professed to represent    
it4 ,unhappily he advanced from         

criticism to practical exhortation1 in  
our opinion the most mischievous and    
indefensible that has ever been  pressed
 by any statesman on any nation4 ,but   
the force of the criticism  remains1 its
 foresight remains1 its commemoration of
 valuable elements  of life which men   
were forgetting1 its discernment of the 
limitations  of things1 its sense of the
 awful emergencies of the problem4 ,when
 our  grandchildren have made up their  
minds1 once for all1 as to the merits   
of the social transformation which      
dawned on ,europe in #aghi1 then        
,burke's ,reflections will become a mere
 literary antiquity1 and not  before4   
,from the very beginning ,burke looked  
upon the proceedings in ,france  with   
distrust4 ,he had not a moment of       
enthusiasm or sympathy of which  to     
repent4 ,when the news reached ,england 
that the insurgents of ,paris  had      
stormed the ,bastille1 ,fox exclaimed   
with exultation1 how much it  was the   
greatest event that had ever happened in

 the world1 how much  the best4 ,is it  
an infirmity to wish for an instant that
 some such  phrase of generous hope had 
escaped from ,burke2 that he had for a  
day  or an hour undergone that fine     
illusion which was lighted up in the    
spirits of men like ,wordsworth and     
,coleridge8 ,those great poets1  who    
were destined one day to preach even a  
wiser and a loftier  conservatism than  
his own1 have told us what they felt--  
,when ,france in wrath her giant limbs  
upreared1    ,and with that oath1 which 
smote air1 earth1 and sea1    ,stamped  
her strong foot1 and said she would be  
free4    ,burke from the first espied   
the looming shadow of a catastrophe4 ,in
  ,august he wrote to ,lord ,charlemont 
that the events in ,france had          
something paradoxical and mysterious    
about them2 that the outbreak of  the   
old ,parisian ferocity might be no more 
than a sudden explosion1  but if it     
should happen to be character rather    
than accident1 then  the people would   

need a strong hand like that of their   
former masters  to coerce them2 that all
 depended upon the ,french having wise  
heads  among them1 and upon these wise  
heads1 if such there were1 acquiring  an
 authority to match their wisdom4 ,there
 is nothing here but a calm  and        
sagacious suspense of judgment4 ,it soon
 appeared that the old  ,parisian       
ferocity was still alive4 ,in the events
 of ,october #aghi1 when  the mob of    
,paris marched out to ,versailles and   
marched back again with  the king and   
queen in triumphal procession1 ,burke   
felt in his heart  that the beginning of
 the end had come1 and that the         
catastrophe was  already at hand4 ,in   
,october he wrote a long letter to the  
,french  gentleman to whom he afterwards
 addressed the ,reflections4 ,you  hope1
 sir1 he said1 that ,i think the ,french
 deserving of liberty4 ,i  certainly do4
 ,i certainly think that all men who    
desire it deserve it4  ,we cannot       
forfeit our right to it1 but by what    

forfeits our title to  the privileges of
 our kind4 ,the liberty ,i mean is      
social freedom4  ,it is that state of   
things in which liberty is secured by   
equality  of restraint4 ,this kind of   
liberty is1 indeed1 but another name for
  justice4 ,whenever a separation is    
made between liberty and justice1       
neither is in my opinion safe4 ,the     
weightiest and most important of  all   
political truths1 and worth half the    
fine things that poets  have sung about 
freedom--if it could only have been     
respected1 how  different the course of 
the ,revolution6 ,but the engineer who  
attempts  to deal with the abysmal rush 
of the falls of ,niagara1 must put aside
  the tools that constructed the        
,bridgewater ,canal and the ,chelsea    
,waterworks4 ,nobody recognised so early
 as ,burke that ,france had really      
embarked among cataracts and boiling    
gulfs1 and the pith of all his  first   
criticisms1 including the ,reflections1 
was the proposition  that to separate   

freedom from justice was nothing else   
than to steer  the ship of state direct 
into the ,maelstrom4 ,it is impossible  
to  deny that this was true4            
,unfortunately it was a truth which the 
wild  spirits that were then abroad in  
the storm made of no avail4    ,destiny 
aimed an evil stroke when ,burke1 whose 
whole soul was bound up  in order1      
peace1 and gently enlarged precedent1   
found himself face to  face with the    
portentous man-devouring ,sphinx4 ,he   
who could not endure  that a few        
clergymen should be allowed to subscribe
 to the ,bible  instead of to the       
,articles1 saw the ancient ,church of   
,christendom  prostrated1 its           
possessions confiscated1 its priests    
proscribed1 and  ,christianity itself   
officially superseded4 ,the economical  
reformer1  who when his zeal was hottest
 declined to discharge a tide-waiter or 
a  scullion in the royal kitchen who    
should have acquired the shadow of a    
vested interest in his post1 beheld two 

great orders stripped of  their         
privileges and deprived of much of their
 lands1 though their  possession had    
been sanctified by the express voice of 
the laws and  the prescription of many  
centuries4 ,he who was full of          
apprehension  and anger at the proposal 
to take away a member of ,parliament    
from ,st4  ,michael's or ,old ,sarum1   
had to look on while the most august    
monarchy  in ,europe was overturned4    
,the man who dreaded fanatics1 hated    
atheists1 despised political theorisers1
 and was driven wild at the  notion of  
applying metaphysical rights and        
abstract doctrines to  public affairs1  
suddenly beheld a whole kingdom given   
finally up to  fanatics1 atheists1 and  
theorisers1 who talked of nothing but   
the  rights of man1 and deliberately set
 as wide a gulf as ruin and  bloodshed  
could make between themselves and every 
incident or  institution in the history 
of their land4 ,the statesman who had   
once  declared1 and habitually proved1  

his preference for peace over even      
truth1 who had all his life surrounded  
himself with a mental paradise  of order
 and equilibrium1 in a moment found     
himself confronted by the  stupendous   
and awful spectre which a century of    
disorder had raised in  its supreme     
hour4 ,it could not have been difficult 
for any one who had  studied ,burke's   
character and career1 to foretell all   
that now came to  pass with him4    ,it 
was from an ,english1 and not from a    
,french point of view1 that  ,burke was 
first drawn to write upon the           
,revolution4 ,the #dth of  ,november was
 the anniversary of the landing of the  
,prince of ,orange1  and the first act  
in the ,revolution of #afhh4 ,the       
members of an  association which called 
itself the ,revolution ,society1 chiefly
  composed of ,dissenters1 but not      
without a mixture of ,churchmen1        
including a few peers and a good many   
members of the ,house of ,commons1  met 
as usual to hear a sermon in            

commemoration of the glorious day4  ,dr4
 ,price was the preacher1 and both in   
the morning sermon1 and in  the speeches
 which followed in the festivities of   
the afternoon1 the  ,french were held up
 to the loudest admiration1 as having   
carried the  principles of our own      
,revolution to a loftier height1 and    
having  opened boundless hopes to       
mankind4 ,by these harmless proceedings 
,burke's anger and scorn were aroused to
 a pitch which must seem to us1  as it  
seemed to not a few of his              
contemporaries1 singularly out of all   
proportion to its cause4 ,deeper things 
were doubtless in silent motion  within 
him4 ,he set to work upon a denunciation
 of ,price's doctrines1  with a velocity
 that reminds us of ,aristotle's        
comparison of anger  to the over-hasty  
servant1 who runs off with all speed    
before he  has listened to half the     
message4 ,this was the origin of the    
,reflections4 ,the design grew as the   
writer went on4 ,his imagination  took  

fire2 his memory quickened a throng of  
impressive associations2  his excited   
vision revealed to him a band of vain1  
petulant upstarts  persecuting the      
ministers of a sacred religion1         
insulting a virtuous  and innocent      
sovereign1 and covering with humiliation
 the august  daughter of the ,caesars2  
his mind teemed with the sage maxims of 
the  philosophy of things established1  
and the precepts of the gospel of       
order4 ,every courier that crossed the  
,channel supplied new material to  his  
contempt and his alarm4 ,he condemned   
the whole method and course  of the     
,french reforms4 ,his judgment was in   
suspense no more4 ,he no  longer        
distrusted2 he hated1 despised1 and     
began to dread4    ,men soon began to   
whisper abroad that ,burke thought ill  
of what was  going on over the water4   
,when it transpired that he was writing 
a pamphlet1 the world of letters was    
stirred with the liveliest  expectation4
 ,the name of the author1 the importance

 of the subject1  and the singularity of
 his opinions1 so ,mackintosh informs   
us1 all  inflamed the public curiosity4 
,soon after ,parliament met for the     
session 7#agij71 the army estimates were
 brought up4 ,fox criticised the        
increase of our forces1 and incidentally
 hinted something in praise of  the     
,french army1 which had shown that a man
 could be a soldier without  ceasing to 
be a citizen4 ,some days afterwards the 
subject was revived1  and ,pitt1 as well
 as ,fox1 avowed himself hopeful of the 
good effect of  the ,revolution upon the
 order and government of ,france4 ,burke
 followed  in a very different vein1    
openly proclaiming that dislike and fear
 of  the ,revolution which was to be the
 one ceaseless refrain of all that  he  
spoke or wrote for the rest of his life4
 ,he deplored ,fox's praise  of the army
 for breaking their lawful allegiance1  
and then he  proceeded with ominous     
words to the effect that1 if any friend 
of his  should concur in any measures   

which should tend to introduce such a   
democracy as that of ,france1 he would  
abandon his best friends and  join with 
his worst enemies to oppose either the  
means or the end4  ,this has unanimously
 been pronounced one of the most        
brilliant and  effective speeches that  
,burke ever made4 ,fox rose with        
distress on  every feature1 and made the
 often-quoted declaration of his debt to
  ,burke3--,if all the political        
information ,i have learned from books1 
all which ,i have gained from science1  
and all which my knowledge of  the world
 and its affairs has taught me1 were put
 into one scale1 and  the improvement   
which ,i have derived from my right     
honourable friend's  instruction and    
conversation were placed in the other1  
,i should be at  a loss to decide to    
which to give the preference4 ,i have   
learnt more  from my right honourable   
friend than from all the men with whom  
,i ever  conversed4 ,all seemed likely  
to end in a spirit of conciliation until

  ,sheridan rose1 and in the plainest   
terms that he could find1 expressed  his
 dissent from everything that ,burke had
 said4 ,burke immediately  renounced his
 friendship4 ,for the first time in his 
life he found the  sympathy of the      
,house vehemently on his side4    ,in   
the following month 7,march #agij7 this 
unpromising incident was  succeeded by  
an aberration which no rational man will
 now undertake to  defend4 ,fox brought 
forward a motion for the repeal of the  
,test and  ,corporation ,acts4 ,he did  
this in accordance with a recent        
suggestion  of ,burke's own1 that he    
should strengthen his political position
  by winning the support of the         
,dissenters4 ,burke himself had always  
denounced the ,test ,act as bad1 and as 
an abuse of sacred things4 ,to  the     
amazement of everybody1 and to the      
infinite scandal of his party1  he now  
pronounced the ,dissenters to be        
disaffected citizens1 and  refused to   
relieve them4 ,well might ,fox say that 

,burke's words had  filled him with     
grief and shame4    ,meanwhile the great
 rhetorical fabric gradually arose4     
,burke revised1  erased1 moderated1     
strengthened1 emphasised1 wrote and     
re-wrote with  indefatigable industry4  
,with the manuscript constantly under   
his  eyes1 he lingered busily1 pen in   
hand1 over paragraphs and phrases1      
antitheses and apophthegms4 ,the        
,reflections was no superb              
improvisation4 ,its composition recalls 
,palma ,giovine's account of the  mighty
 ,titian's way of working2 how the      
master made his preparations  with      
resolute strokes of a heavily-laden     
brush1 and then turned his  picture to  
the wall1 and by and by resumed again1  
and then again and  again1 redressing1  
adjusting1 modelling the light with a   
rub of his  finger1 or dabbing a spot of
 dark colour into some corner with a    
touch of his thumb1 and finally working 
all his smirches1 contrasts1            
abruptnesses1 into the glorious harmony 

that we know4 ,burke was so  unwearied  
in this insatiable correction and       
alteration that the  printer found it   
necessary1 instead of making the changes
 marked upon  the proof-sheets1 to set  
up the whole in type afresh4 ,the work  
was  upon the easel for exactly a year4 
,it was ,november 7#agij7 before the    
result came into the hands of the       
public4 ,it was a small octavo of  three
 hundred and fifty-six pages1 in        
contents rather less than twice  the    
present volume1 bound in an unlettered  
wrapper of gray paper1 and  sold for    
five shillings4 ,in less than twelve    
months it reached its  eleventh edition1
 and it has been computed that not many 
short of  thirty thousand copies were   
sold within the next six years4    ,the 
first curiosity had languished in the   
course of the long delay1  but it was   
revived in its strongest force when the 
book itself  appeared4 ,a remarkable    
effect instantly followed4 ,before the  
,reflections was published the          

predominant sentiment in ,england had   
been one of mixed astonishment and      
sympathy4 ,pitt had expressed this      
common mood both in the ,house of       
,commons and in private4 ,it was        
impossible for ,england not to be amazed
 at the uprising of a nation  whom they 
had been accustomed to think of as      
willing slaves1 and  it was impossible  
for her1 when the scene did not happen  
to be the  ,american colonies or        
,ireland1 not to profess good wishes for
 the cause  of emancipation all over the
 world4 ,apart from the natural         
admiration  of a free people for a      
neighbour struggling to be free1        
,england saw  no reason to lament a blow
 to a sovereign and a government who had
  interfered on the side of her         
insurgent colonies4 ,to this easy state 
of mind ,burke's book put an immediate  
end4 ,at once1 as contemporaries  assure
 us1 it divided the nation into two     
parties4 ,on both sides it  precipitated
 opinion4 ,with a long-resounding blast 

on his golden  trumpet ,burke had       
unfurled a new flag1 and half the nation
 hurried to  rally to it--that half     
which had scouted his views on ,america1
 which  had bitterly disliked his plan  
of ,economic ,reform1 which had mocked  
his ideas on religious toleration1 and  
which a moment before had hated  and    
reviled him beyond all men living for   
his fierce tenacity in the  impeachment 
of ,warren ,hastings4 ,the king said to 
everybody who came  near him that the   
book was a good book1 a very good book1 
and every  gentleman ought to read it4  
,the universities began to think of     
offering the scarlet gown of their most 
honourable degree to the  assailant of  
,price and the ,dissenters4 ,the great  
army of the indolent  good1 the people  
who lead excellent lives and never use  
their reason1  took violent alarm4 ,the 
timorous1 the weak-minded1 the bigoted1 
were  suddenly awakened to a sense of   
what they owed to themselves4 ,burke    
gave them the key which enabled them to 

interpret the ,revolution in  harmony   
with their usual ideas and their        
temperament4    ,reaction quickly rose  
to a high pitch4 ,one preacher in a     
parish church  in the neighbourhood of  
,london celebrated the anniversary of   
the  restoration of ,king ,charles ,,ii4
 by a sermon1 in which the pains of     
eternal damnation were confidently      
promised to political disaffection4     
,romilly1 mentioning to a friend that   
the ,reflections had got into a         
fourteenth edition1 wondered whether    
,burke was not rather ashamed of  his   
success4 ,it is when we come to the rank
 and file of reaction1 that  we find it 
hard to forgive the man of genius who   
made himself the  organ of their        
selfishness1 their timidity1 and their  
blindness4 ,we  know1 alas1 that the    
parts of his writings on ,french affairs
 to which  they would fly1 were not     
likely to be the parts which calm men   
now  read with sympathy1 but the        
scoldings1 the screamings1 the unworthy 

vituperation with which1 especially in  
the latest of them1 he attacked         
everybody who took part in the          
,revolution1 from ,condorcet and        
,lafayette down to ,marat and ,couthon4 
,it was the feet of clay that they      
adored in their image1 and not the head 
of fine gold and the breasts  and the   
arms of silver4    ,on the continent of 
,europe the excitement was as great     
among the  ruling classes as it was at  
home4 ,mirabeau1 who had made ,burke's  
acquaintance some years before in       
,england1 and even been his guest at    
,beaconsfield1 now made the ,reflections
 the text of more than one  tremendous  
philippic4 ,louis ,,xvi4 is said to have
 translated the book  into ,french with 
his own hand4 ,catherine of ,russia1    
,voltaire's adored  ,semiramis of the   
,north1 the benefactress of ,diderot1   
the ready helper  of the philosophic    
party1 pressed her congratulations on   
the great  pontiff of the old order1 who
 now thundered anathema against the     

philosophers and all their works4    ,it
 is important to remember the stage     
which the ,revolution had  reached1 when
 ,burke was composing his attack upon   
it4 ,the year #agij  was precisely the  
time when the hopes of the best men in  
,france shone  most brightly1 and seemed
 most reasonable4 ,there had been       
disorders1  and ,paris still had        
ferocity in her mien4 ,but ,robespierre 
was an  obscure figure on the back      
benches of the ,assembly4 ,nobody had   
ever  heard of ,danton4 ,the name of    
,republic had never been so much as     
whispered4 ,the king still believed that
 constitutional monarchy would  leave   
him as much power as he desired4 ,he had
 voluntarily gone to the  ,national     
,assembly1 and in simple language had   
exhorted them all to  imitate his       
example by professing the single        
opinion1 the single  interest1 the      
single wish--attachment to the new      
constitution1 and  ardent desire for the
 peace and happiness of ,france4 ,the   

clergy1 it is  true1 were violently     
irritated by the spoliation of their    
goods1 and  the nobles had crossed the  
,rhine1 to brood impotently in the      
safety  of ,coblenz over projects of a  
bloody revenge upon their country4 ,but 
,france1 meanwhile1 paid little heed    
either to the anger of the clergy  or   
the menaces of the emigrant nobles1 and 
at the very moment when  ,burke was     
writing his most sombre pages1 ,paris   
and the provinces were  celebrating with
 transports of joy and enthusiasm the   
civic oath1  the federation1 the        
restoration of concord to the land1 the 
final  establishment of freedom and     
justice in a regenerated ,france4 ,this 
was  the happy scene over which ,burke  
suddenly stretched out the right arm  of
 an inspired prophet1 pointing to the   
cloud of thunder and darkness  that was 
gathering on the hills1 and proclaiming 
to them the doom that  had been written 
upon the wall by the fingers of an      
inexorable hand4  ,it is no wonder that 

when the cloud burst and the doom was   
fulfilled1  men turned to ,burke1 as    
they went of old to ,ahithophel1 whose  
counsel  was as if a man had inquired of
 the oracle of ,god4    ,it is not to   
our purpose to discuss all the          
propositions advanced in  the           
,reflections1 much less to reply to     
them4 ,the book is like  some temple1 by
 whose structure and design we allow    
ourselves to be  impressed1 without     
being careful to measure the precise    
truth or  fitness of the worship to     
which it was consecrated by its first   
founders4 ,just as the student of the   
,politics of ,aristotle may well  accept
 all the wisdom of it1 without caring to
 protest at every turn  against slavery 
as the basis of a society1 so we may    
well cherish all  the wisdom of the     
,reflections1 at this distance of time1 
without  marking as a rubric on every   
page that half of these impressive      
formulae and inspiring declamations were
 irrelevant to the occasion  which      

called them forth1 and exercised for the
 hour an influence that  was purely     
mischievous4 ,time permits to us this   
profitable lenity4 ,in  reading this1   
the first of his invectives1 it is      
important1 for the  sake of clearness of
 judgment1 to put from our minds the    
practical  policy which ,burke          
afterwards so untiringly urged upon his 
countrymen4  ,as yet there is no        
exhortation to ,england to interfere4   
,we still  listen to the voice of the   
statesman1 and are not deafened by the  
passionate cries of the preacher of a   
crusade4 ,when ,burke wrote the         
,reflections he was justified in        
criticising the ,revolution as  an      
extraordinary movement1 but still a     
movement professing to be  conducted on 
the principles of rational and          
practicable politics4 ,they  were the   
principles to which competent onlookers 
like ,jefferson and  ,morris had        
expected the ,assembly to conform1 but  
to which the ,assembly  never conformed 

for an instant4 ,it was on the          
principles of rational  politics that   
,fox and ,sheridan admired it4 ,on these
 principles  ,burke condemned it4 ,he   
declared that the methods of the        
,constituent  ,assembly1 up to the      
summer of #agij1 were unjust1           
precipitate1  destructive1 and without  
stability4 ,men had chosen to build     
their  house on the sands1 and the winds
 and the seas would speedily beat       
against it and overthrow it4    ,his    
prophecy was fulfilled to the letter4   
,what is still more important  for the  
credit of his foresight is1 that not    
only did his prophecy  come true1 but it
 came true for the reasons that he had  
fixed upon4 ,it  was1 for instance1 the 
constitution of the ,church1 in which   
,burke  saw the worst of the many bad   
mistakes of the ,assembly4 ,history1 now
  slowly shaking herself free from the  
passions of a century1 agrees  that the 
civil constitution of the clergy was the
 measure which1 more  than any other1   

decisively put an end to whatever hopes 
there might  have been of a peaceful    
transition from the old order to the    
new4  ,a still more striking piece of   
foresight is the prediction of the      
despotism of the ,napoleonic ,empire4   
,burke had compared the levelling       
policy of the ,assembly in their        
geometrical division of the             
departments1 and their isolation from   
one another of the bodies of  the state1
 to the treatment which a conquered     
country receives at the  hands of its   
conquerors4 ,like ,romans in ,greece or 
,macedon1 the ,french  innovators had   
destroyed the bonds of union1 under     
colour of providing  for the            
independence of each of their cities4   
,if the present project  of a ,republic 
should fail1 ,burke said1 with a        
prescience really  profound1 all        
securities to a moderate freedom fail   
with it4 ,all the  indirect restraints  
which mitigate despotism are removed2   
insomuch  that1 if monarchy should ever 

again obtain an entire ascendancy in    
,france under this or any other dynasty1
 it will probably be1 if not            
voluntarily tempered at setting out by  
the wise and virtuous counsels  of the  
prince1 the most completely arbitrary   
power that ever appeared  on earth4     
,almost at the same moment ,mirabeau was
 secretly writing to  the king that     
their plan of reducing all citizens to a
 single  class would have delighted     
,richelieu4 ,this equal surface1 he     
said1  facilitates the exercise of      
power1 and many reigns in an absolute   
government would not have done as much  
as this single year of  revolution1 for 
the royal authority4 ,time showed that  
,burke and  ,mirabeau were right4       
,history ratifies nearly all ,burke's   
strictures on the levity and            
precipitancy of the first set of actors 
in the revolutionary drama4 ,no  part of
 the ,reflections is more energetic than
 the denunciation of  geometric and     
literary methods2 and these are just    

what the modern  explorer hits upon1 as 
one of the fatal secrets of the         
catastrophe4  ,de ,tocqueville's chapter
 on the causes which made literary men  
the  principal persons in ,france1 and  
the effect which this had upon the      
,revolution 7,bk4 ,,iii4 ch4 i471 is    
only a little too cold to be able  to   
pass for ,burke's own4 ,quinet's work on
 the ,revolution is one  long sermon1   
full of eloquence and cogency1 upon the 
incapacity and  blindness of the men who
 undertook the conduct of a tremendous  
crisis  upon mere literary methods1     
without the moral courage to obey the   
logic of their beliefs1 with the        
student's ignorance of the eager        
passion and rapid imagination of        
multitudes of men1 with the pedant's    
misappreciation of a people1 of whom it 
has been said by one of  themselves1    
that there never was a nation more led  
by its sensations  and less by its      
principles4 ,comte1 again1 points       
impressively to  the ,revolution as the 

period which illustrates more decisively
  than another the peril of confounding 
the two great functions of  speculation 
and political action3 and he speaks with
 just reprobation  of the preposterous  
idea in the philosophic politicians of  
the  epoch1 that society was at their   
disposal1 independent of its past       
development1 devoid of inherent         
impulses1 and easily capable of being   
morally regenerated by the mere         
modification of legislative rules4      
,what then was it that1 in the midst of 
so much perspicacity as to  detail1     
blinded ,burke at the time when he wrote
 the ,reflections to  the true nature of
 the movement8 ,is it not this1 that he 
judges the  ,revolution as the solution 
of a merely political question8 ,if the 
,revolution had been merely political1  
his judgment would have been  adequate4 
,the question was much deeper4 ,it was a
 social question that  burned under the 
surface of what seemed no more than a   
modification of  external arrangements4 

,that ,burke was alive to the existence 
of social  problems1 and that he was    
even tormented by them1 we know from an 
incidental passage in the ,reflections4 
,there he tells us how often  he had    
reflected1 and never reflected without  
feeling1 upon the  innumerable servile  
and degrading occupations to which by   
the social  economy so many wretches are
 inevitably doomed4 ,he had pondered    
whether there could be any means of     
rescuing these unhappy people from      
their miserable industry without        
disturbing the natural course of        
things1 and impeding the great wheel of 
circulation which is turned by  their   
labour4 ,this is the vein of that       
striking passage in his first           
composition which ,i have already quoted
 7p4 #bb74 ,burke did not  yet see1 and 
probably never saw1 that one key to the 
events which  astonished and exasperated
 him was simply that the persons most   
urgently concerned had taken the riddle 
which perplexed him into their  own     

hands1 and had in fiery earnest set     
about their own deliverance4  ,the pith 
of the ,revolution up to #agij was less 
the political  constitution1 of which   
,burke says so much1 and so much that is
 true1  than the social and economic    
transformation1 of which he says so     
little4 ,it was not a question of the   
power of the king1 or the measure  of an
 electoral circumscription1 that made   
the ,revolution2 it was  the iniquitous 
distribution of the taxes1 the scourge  
of the militia  service1 the scourge of 
the road service1 the destructive       
tyranny  exercised in the vast preserves
 of wild game1 the vexatious rights and 
imposts of the lords of manors1 and all 
the other odious burdens and  heavy     
impediments on the prosperity of the    
thrifty and industrious  part of the    
nation4 ,if he had seen ever so clearly 
that one of the  most important sides of
 the ,revolution in progress was the    
rescue of  the tiller of the soil1      
,burke would still doubtless have viewed

 events  with bitter suspicion4 ,for the
 process could not be executed without  
disturbing the natural course of things1
 and without violating his  principle   
that all changes should find us with our
 minds tenacious of  justice and tender 
of property4 ,a closer examination than 
he chose to  give of the current        
administration alike of justice and of  
property  under the old system1 would   
have explained to him that an hour had  
come in which the spirit of property and
 of justice compelled a  supersession of
 the letter4    ,if ,burke had insisted 
on rigidly keeping sensibility to the   
wrongs of  the ,french people out of the
 discussion1 on the ground that the     
whole  subject was one for positive     
knowledge and logical inference1 his    
position would have been intelligible   
and defensible4 ,he followed no  such   
course4 ,his pleading turns constantly  
to arguments from feeling2  but it is   
always to feeling on one side1 and to a 
sensibility that is  only alive to the  

consecrated force of historic           
associations4 ,how much  pure and       
uncontrolled emotion had to do with what
 ought to have  been the reasoned       
judgments of his understanding we know  
on his own  evidence4 ,he had sent the  
proof-sheets of a part of his book to   
,sir  ,philip ,francis4 ,they contained 
the famous passage describing the       
,french queen as he had seen her        
seventeen years before at ,versailles4  
,francis bluntly wrote to him that1 in  
his opinion1 all ,burke's  eloquence    
about ,marie ,antoinette was no better  
than pure foppery1 and  he referred to  
the queen herself as no better than     
,messalina4 ,burke  was so excited by   
this that his son1 in a rather officious
 letter1  begged ,francis not to repeat 
such stimulating remonstrance4 ,what is 
interesting in the incident is ,burke's 
own reply4 ,he knew nothing1  he said1  
of the story of ,messalina1 and declined
 the obligation of  proving judicially  
the virtues of all those whom he saw    

suffering  wrong and contumely1 before  
he endeavoured to interest others in    
their  sufferings1 and before           
endeavouring to kindle horror against   
midnight  assassins at backstairs and   
their more wicked abettors in pulpits4  
,and  then he went on1 ,i tell you again
 that the recollection of the manner  in
 which ,i saw the ,queen of ,france in  
the year #aggd #aggc1 and the  contrast 
between that brilliancy1 splendour1 and 
beauty1 with the  prostrate homage of a 
nation to her1 and the abominable scene 
of #aghi  which ,i was describing1 did  
draw tears from me and wetted my paper4 
,these tears came again into my eyes    
almost as often as ,i looked at the     
description--they may again4    ,the    
answer was obvious4 ,it was well to pity
 the unmerited agonies of  ,marie       
,antoinette1 though as yet1 we must     
remember1 she had suffered  nothing     
beyond the indignities of the days of   
,october at ,versailles4  ,but did not  
the protracted agonies of a nation      

deserve the tribute of  a tear8 ,as     
,paine asked1 were men to weep over the 
plumage1 and forget  the dying bird8    
,the bulk of the people must labour1    
,burke told them1  to obtain what by    
labour can be obtained2 and when they   
find1 as they  commonly do1 the success 
disproportioned to the endeavour1 they  
must  be taught their consolation in the
 final proportions of eternal  justice4 
,when we learn that a ,lyons silk       
weaver1 working as hard as  he could for
 over seventeen hours a day1 could not  
earn money enough  to procure the most  
bare and urgent necessaries of          
subsistence1 we may  know with what     
benignity of brow eternal justice must  
have presented  herself in the garret of
 that hapless wretch4 ,it was no idle   
abstraction1 no metaphysical right of   
man for which the ,trench cried1  but   
only the practical right of being       
permitted1 by their own toil1 to  save  
themselves and the little ones about    
their knees from hunger and  cruel      

death4 ,the mainmortable serfs of       
ecclesiastics are variously  said to    
have been a million and a million and a 
half at the time of  the ,revolution4   
,burke's horror1 as he thought of the   
priests and  prelates who left palaces  
and dignities to earn a scanty living by
 the  drudgery of teaching their        
language in strange lands1 should have  
been  alleviated by the thought that a  
million or more of men were rescued     
from ghastly material misery4 ,are we to
 be so overwhelmed with sorrow  over the
 pitiful destiny of the men of exalted  
rank and sacred  function1 as to have no
 tears for the forty thousand serfs in  
the  gorges of the ,jura1 who were held 
in dead-hand by the ,bishop of          
,saint-,claude8    ,the simple truth is 
that ,burke did not know enough of the  
subject  about which he was writing4    
,when he said1 for instance1 that the   
,french before #aghi possessed all the  
elements of a constitution that  might  
be made nearly as good as could be      

wished1 he said what many of  his       
contemporaries knew1 and what all       
subsequent investigation and  meditation
 have proved1 to be recklessly          
ill-considered and untrue4 ,as  to the  
social state of ,france1 his information
 was still worse4 ,he saw  the dangers  
and disorders of the new system1 but he 
saw a very little  way indeed into the  
more cruel dangers and disorders of the 
old4  ,mackintosh replied to the        
,reflections with manliness and         
temperance  in the ,vindicicae          
,gallicae4 ,thomas ,paine replied to    
them with an  energy1 courage1 and      
eloquence worthy of his cause1 in the   
,rights of  ,man4 ,but the substantial  
and decisive reply to ,burke came from  
his  former correspondent1 the farmer at
 ,bradfield in ,suffolk4 ,arthur ,young 
published his ,travels in ,france some  
eighteen months after the  ,reflections 
7#agib71 and the pages of the           
twenty-first chapter in  which he closes
 his performance1 as a luminous         

criticism of the most  important side of
 the ,revolution1 are worth a hundred   
times more than  ,burke1 ,mackintosh1   
and ,paine all put together4 ,young     
afterwards became  panic-stricken1 but  
his book remained4 ,there the writer    
plainly  enumerates without trope or    
invective the intolerable burdens under 
which the great mass of the ,french     
people had for long years been          
groaning4 ,it was the removal of these  
burdens that made the very  heart's core
 of the ,revolution1 and gave to ,france
 that new life which  so soon astonished
 and terrified ,europe4 ,yet ,burke     
seems profoundly  unconscious of the    
whole of them4 ,he even boldly asserts  
that1 when  the several orders met in   
their bailliages in #aghi1 to choose    
their  representatives and draw up their
 grievances and instructions1 in no  one
 of these instructions did they charge1 
or even hint at1 any  of those things   
which had drawn upon the usurping       
,assembly the  detestation of the       

rational part of mankind4 ,he could not 
have made a  more enormous blunder4     
,there was not a single great change    
made by the  ,assembly1 which had not   
been demanded in the lists of grievances
 that  had been sent up by the nation to
 ,versailles4 ,the division of the      
kingdom into districts1 and the         
proportioning of the representation  to 
taxes and population2 the suppression of
 the intendants2 the  suppression of all
 monks and the sale of their goods and  
estates2 the  abolition of feudal       
rights1 duties1 and services2 the       
alienation of  the king's domains2 the  
demolition of the ,bastille2 these and  
all else  were in the prayers of half   
the petitions that the country had laid 
at  the feet of the king4    ,if this   
were merely an incidental blunder in a  
fact1 it might be of no  importance4    
,but it was a blunder which went to the 
very root of the  discussion4 ,the fact 
that ,france was now at the back of the 
,assembly1  inspiring its counsels and  

ratifying its decrees1 was the cardinal 
element1 and that is the fact which at  
this stage ,burke systematically        
ignored4 ,that he should have so ignored
 it1 left him in a curious  position1   
for it left him without any rational    
explanation of the  sources of the      
policy which kindled his indignation and
 contempt4 ,a  publicist can never be   
sure of his position until he can       
explain to  himself even what he does   
not wish to justify to others4 ,burke   
thought  it enough to dwell upon the    
immense number of lawyers in the        
,assembly1  and to show that lawyers are
 naturally bad statesmen4 ,he did not   
look  the state of things steadily in   
the face4 ,it was no easy thing to do1  
but ,burke was a man who ought to have  
done it4 ,he set all down to the        
ignorance1 folly1 and wickedness of the 
,french leaders4 ,this was as  shallow  
as the way in which his enemies1 the    
philosophers1 used to set  down the     
superstition of eighteen centuries to   

the craft of priests1  and all defects  
in the government of ,europe to the     
cruelty of tyrants4  ,how it came about 
that priests and tyrants acquired their 
irresistible  power over men's minds1   
they never inquired4 ,and ,burke never  
inquired  into the enthusiastic         
acquiescence of the nation1 and1 what   
was  most remarkable of all1 the        
acquiescence of the army1 in the strong 
measures of the ,assembly4 ,burke was in
 truth so appalled by the  magnitude of 
the enterprise on which ,france had     
embarked1 that  he utterly forgot for   
once the necessity in political affairs 
of  seriously understanding the         
originating conditions of things4 ,he   
was  strangely content with the         
explanations that came from the         
malignants  at ,coblenz1 and he actually
 told ,francis that he charged the      
disorders  not on the mob1 but on the   
,duke of ,orleans and ,mirabeau1 on     
,barnave  and ,bailly1 on ,lameth and   
,lafayette1 who had spent immense sums  

of  money1 and used innumerable arts1 to
 stir up the populace throughout        
,france to the commission of the        
enormities that were shocking the       
conscience of ,europe4 ,his imagination 
broke loose4 ,his practical  reason was 
mastered by something that was deeper in
 him than reason4    ,this brings me to 
remark a really singular trait4 ,in     
spite of the  predominance of practical 
sagacity1 of the habits and spirit of   
public  business1 of vigorous actuality 
in ,burke's character1 yet at the       
bottom of all his thoughts about        
communities and governments there  lay a
 certain mysticism4 ,it was no irony1 no
 literary trope1 when  he talked of our 
having taught the ,american husbandman  
piously to  believe in the mysterious   
virtue of wax and parchment4 ,he was    
using  no idle epithet1 when he         
described the disposition of a          
stupendous  wisdom1 moulding together   
the great mysterious incorporation of   
the  human race4 ,to him there actually 

was an element of mystery in the        
cohesion of men in societies1 in        
political obedience1 in the sanctity  of
 contract2 in all that fabric of law and
 charter and obligation1  whether       
written or unwritten1 which is the      
sheltering bulwark between  civilisation
 and barbarism4 ,when reason and history
 had contributed  all that they could to
 the explanation1 it seemed to him as if
 the  vital force1 the secret of        
organisation1 the binding framework1    
must  still come from the impenetrable  
regions beyond reasoning and beyond     
history4 ,there was another great       
conservative writer of that age1  whose 
genius was aroused into a protest       
against the revolutionary  spirit as    
vehement as ,burke's4 ,this was ,joseph 
de ,maistre1 one of the  most learned1  
witty1 and acute of all reactionary     
philosophers4  ,de ,maistre wrote a book
 on the ,generative ,principle of       
,political  ,constitutions4 ,he could   
only find this principle in the         

operation of  occult and supernatural   
forces1 producing the half-divine       
legislators  who figure mysteriously in 
the early history of nations4 ,hence he 
held1 and with astonishing ingenuity    
enforced1 the doctrine that  nothing    
else could deliver ,europe from the     
,satanic forces of  revolution--he used 
the word ,satanic in all literal        
seriousness--save  the divinely inspired
 supremacy of the ,pope4 ,no natural    
operations  seemed at all adequate      
either to produce or to maintain the    
marvel  of a coherent society4 ,we are  
reminded of a professor who1 in the     
fantastic days of geology1 explained the
 ,pyramids of ,egypt to be the  remains 
of a volcanic eruption1 which had forced
 its way upwards by a  slow and stately 
motion2 the hieroglyphs were crystalline
 formations2  and the shaft of the great
 ,pyramid was the air-hole of a volcano4
 ,de  ,maistre preferred a similar      
explanation of the monstrous structures 
of modern society4 ,the hand of man     

could never have reared1 and could      
never uphold them4 ,if we cannot say    
that ,burke laboured in constant        
travail with the same perplexity1 it is 
at least true that he was  keenly alive 
to it1 and that one of the reasons why  
he dreaded to see  a finger laid upon a 
single stone of a single political      
edifice1 was  his consciousness that he 
saw no answer to the perpetual enigma   
how  any of these edifices had ever been
 built1 and how the passion1  violence1 
and waywardness of the natural man had  
ever been persuaded  to bow their necks 
to the strong yoke of a common social   
discipline4  ,never was mysticism more  
unseasonable2 never was an hour when men
  needed more carefully to remember     
,burke's own wise practical precept1    
when he was talking about the ,british  
rule in ,india1 that we must  throw a   
sacred veil over the beginnings of      
government4 ,many woes might  perhaps   
have been saved to ,europe1 if ,burke   
had applied this maxim to  the          

government of the new ,france4    ,much 
has always been said about the          
inconsistency between ,burke's  enmity  
to the ,revolution and his enmity to    
,lord ,north in one set of              
circumstances1 and to ,warren ,hastings 
in another4 ,the pamphleteers of  the   
day made selections from the speeches   
and tracts of his happier  time1 and the
 seeming contrast had its effect4 ,more 
candid opponents  admitted then1 as all 
competent persons admit now1 that the   
inconsistency was merely verbal and     
superficial4 ,watson1 the ,bishop of    
,llandaff1 was only one of many who     
observed very early that this was  the  
unmistakable temper of ,burke's mind4 ,i
 admired1 as everybody  did1 he said1   
the talents1 but not the principles of  
,mr4 ,burke2 his  opposition to the     
,clerical ,petition for relaxation of   
subscription1  #aggb1 first excited my  
suspicion of his being a ,high          
,churchman in  religion1 and a ,tory1   
perhaps an aristocratic ,tory1 in the   

state4  ,burke had indeed never been    
anything else than a conservative4 ,he  
was  like ,falkland1 who had bitterly   
assailed ,strafford and ,finch on the   
same principles on which1 after the     
outbreak of the civil war1 he  consented
 to be secretary of state to ,king      
,charles4 ,coleridge is borne  out by a 
hundred passages1 when he says that in  
,burke's writings at  the beginning of  
the ,american ,revolution and in those  
at the beginning  of the ,french        
,revolution1 the principles are the same
 and the  deductions are the same2 the  
practical inferences are almost opposite
  in the one case from those drawn in   
the other1 yet in both equally          
legitimate4 ,it would be better to say  
that they would have been  equally      
legitimate1 if ,burke had been as right 
in his facts1 and as  ample in his      
knowledge in the case of ,france1 as he 
was in the case of  ,america4 ,we feel1 
indeed1 that partly from want of this   
knowledge1 he  has gone too far from    

some of the wise maxims of an earlier   
time4  ,what has become of the doctrine 
that all great public collections of    
men--he was then speaking of the ,house 
of ,commons--possess a marked  love of  
virtue and an abhorrence of vice4#a ,why
 was the ,french  ,assembly not to have 
the benefit of this admirable           
generalisation8  ,what has become of all
 those sayings about the presumption1 in
 all  disputes between nations and      
rulers1 being at least upon a par in    
favour of the people2 and a populace    
never rebelling from passion for        
attack1 but from impatience of          
suffering8 ,and where is now that strong
  dictum1 in the letter to the ,sheriffs
 of ,bristol1 that general  rebellions  
and revolts of a whole people never were
 encouraged1 now  or at any time2 they  
are always provoked8    ,footnote #a3   
,american ,taxation4    ,when all these 
things have been noted1 to hold a man to
 his formulae  without reference to     
their special application1 is pure      

pedantry4  ,burke was the last man to   
lay down any political proposition not  
subject to the ever varying             
interpretation of circumstances1 and    
independently of the particular use     
which was to be made of it4  ,nothing   
universal1 he had always said1 can be   
rationally affirmed on  any moral or    
political subject4 ,the lines of        
morality1 again1 are  never ideal lines 
of mathematics1 but are broad and deep  
as well as  long1 admitting of          
exceptions1 and demanding modifications4
 ,these  exceptions and modifications   
are made1 not by the process of logic1  
but by the rules of prudence4 ,prudence 
is not only first in rank  of the       
virtues1 political and moral1 but she is
 the director1 the  regulator1 the      
standard of them all4 ,as no moral      
questions are  ever abstract questions1 
this1 before ,i judge upon any abstract 
proposition1 must be embodied in        
circumstances2 for1 since things  are   
right and wrong1 morally speaking1 only 

by their relation and  connection with  
other things1 this very question of what
 it is  politically right to grant1     
depends upon its relation to its        
effects4  ,circumstances1 he says1 never
 weary of laying down his great notion  
of political method1 give1 in reality1  
to every political principle  its       
distinguishing colour and discriminating
 effect4 ,the circumstances  are what   
render every civil and political scheme 
beneficial or  obnoxious to mankind4    
,this is at once the weapon with which  
he would have defended his own          
consistency1 and attacked the absolute  
proceedings in ,france4 ,he  changed his
 front1 but he never changed his ground4
 ,he was not more  passionate against   
the proscription in ,france1 than he had
 been  against the suspension of ,habeas
 ,corpus in the ,american war4 ,i       
flatter myself1 he said in the          
,reflections1 that ,i love a manly1     
moral1 regulated liberty4 ,ten years    
before he had said1 ,the liberty1  the  

only liberty ,i mean1 is a liberty      
connected with order4 ,the court  tried 
to regulate liberty too severely4 ,it   
found in him an inflexible  opponent4   
,demagogues tried to remove the         
regulations of liberty4  ,they          
encountered in him the bitterest and    
most unceasing of all  remonstrants4    
,the arbitrary majority in the ,house of
 ,commons forgot  for whose benefit they
 held power1 from whom they derived     
their  authority1 and in what           
description of government it was that   
they had  a place4 ,burke was the most  
valiant and strenuous champion in the   
ranks of the independent minority4 ,he  
withstood to the face the king  and the 
king's friends4 ,he withstood to the    
face ,charles ,fox and the  ,friends of 
the ,people4 ,he may have been wrong in 
both1 or in either1  but it is          
unreasonable to tell us that he turned  
back in his course2  that he was a      
revolutionist in #aggj1 and a           
reactionist in #agij2 that  he was in   

his sane mind when he opposed the       
supremacy of the ,court1  but that his  
reason was tottering when he opposed the
 supremacy of the  ,faubourg ,saint     
,antoine4    ,there is no part of       
,burke's career at which we may not find
 evidence  of his instinctive and       
undying repugnance to the critical or   
revolutionary spirit and all its works4 
,from the early days when he  had       
parodied ,bolingbroke1 down to the later
 time when he denounced  ,condorcet as a
 fanatical atheist1 with every          
disposition to the  lowest as well as   
the highest and most determined         
villainies1 he  invariably suspected or 
denounced everybody1 virtuous or        
vicious1  high-minded or ignoble1 who   
inquired with too keen a scrutiny into  
the  foundations of morals1 of religion1
 of social order4 ,to examine with a    
curious or unfavourable eye the bases of
 established opinions1 was to  show a   
leaning to anarchy1 to atheism1 or to   
unbridled libertinism4  ,already we have

 seen how1 three years after the        
publication of his  ,thoughts on the    
,present ,discontents1 and seventeen    
years before the  composition of the    
,reflections1 he denounced the          
philosophers with  a fervour and a      
vehemence which he never afterwards     
surpassed4 ,when  a few of the clergy   
petitioned to be relieved from some of  
the  severities of subscription1 he had 
resisted them on the bold ground  that  
the truth of a proposition deserves less
 attention than the  effect of adherence
 to it upon the established order of    
things4 ,i  will not enter into the     
question1 he told the ,house of         
,commons1 how  much truth is preferable 
to peace4 ,perhaps truth may be far     
better4  ,but as we have scarcely ever  
the same certainty in the one that we   
have in the other1 ,i would1 unless the 
truth were evident indeed1 hold  fast to
 peace4 ,in that intellectual           
restlessness1 to which the world  is so 
deeply indebted1 ,burke could recognise 

but scanty merit4 ,himself  the most    
industrious and active-minded of men1 he
 was ever sober in  cutting the channels
 of his activity1 and he would have had 
others  equally moderate4 ,perceiving   
that plain and righteous conduct is the 
end of life in this world1 he prayed men
 not to be over-curious in  searching   
for1 and handling1 and again handling1  
the theoretic base  on which the        
prerogatives of virtue repose4 ,provided
 that there was  peace1 that is to say1 
so much of fair happiness and content as
 is  compatible with the conditions of  
the human lot1 ,burke felt that a  too  
great inquisitiveness as to its         
foundations was not only idle but       
cruel4    ,if the world continues to    
read the ,reflections1 and reads it with
 a  new admiration that is not          
diminished by the fact that on the      
special  issue its tendency is every day
 more clearly discerned to have been    
misleading1 we may be sure that it is   
not for the sake of such things  as the 

precise character of the ,revolution of 
#afhh1 where1 for that  matter1         
constitutional writers have shown       
abundantly that ,burke was  nearly as   
much in the wrong as ,dr4 ,sacheverell4 
,nor has the book lived  merely by its  
gorgeous rhetoric and high emotions1    
though these have  been contributing    
elements4 ,it lives because it contains 
a sentiment1  a method1 a set of        
informal principles1 which1 awakened    
into new life  after the ,revolution1   
rapidly transformed the current ways of 
thinking  and feeling about all the most
 serious objects of our attention1  and 
have powerfully helped to give a richer 
substance to all modern  literature4 ,in
 the ,reflections we have the first     
great sign that  the ideas on government
 and philosophy which ,locke had been   
the chief  agent in setting into        
,european circulation1 and which had    
carried all  triumphantly before them   
throughout the century1 did not         
comprehend  the whole truth nor the     

deepest truth about human character--the
  relations of men and the union of men 
in society4 ,it has often been  said    
that the armoury from which the ,french 
philosophers of the  eighteenth century 
borrowed their weapons was furnished    
from ,england1  and it may be added as  
truly that the reaction against that    
whole  scheme of thought came from      
,england4 ,in one sense we may call the 
,reflections a political pamphlet1 but  
it is much more than this1  just as the 
movement against which it was levelled  
was much more than  a political         
movement4 ,the ,revolution rested on a  
philosophy1 and  ,burke confronted it   
with an antagonistic philosophy4 ,those 
are but  superficial readers who fail to
 see at how many points ,burke1 while   
seeming only to deal with the ,french   
monarchy and the ,british  constitution1
 with ,dr4 ,price and ,marie            
,antoinette1 was in fact1 and  exactly  
because he dealt with them in the       
comprehensive spirit of true            

philosophy1 turning men's minds to an   
attitude from which not only the        
political incidents of the hour1 but the
 current ideas about religion1          
psychology1 the very nature of human    
knowledge1 would all be seen in  a      
changed light and clothed in new colour4
 ,all really profound  speculation about
 society comes in time to touch the     
heart of every  other object of         
speculation1 not by directly            
contributing new truths  or directly    
corroborating old ones1 but by setting  
men to consider the  consequences to    
life of different opinions on these     
abstract subjects1  and their relations 
to the great paramount interests of     
society1  however those interests may   
happen at the time to be conceived4     
,burke's book marks a turning-point in  
literary history1 because it was  the   
signal for that reaction over the whole 
field of thought1 into  which the       
,revolution drove many of the finest    
minds of the  next generation1 by       

showing the supposed consequences of    
pure  individualistic rationalism4      
,we need not attempt to work out the    
details of this extension of a          
political reaction into a universal     
reaction in philosophy and poetry4  ,any
 one may easily think out for himself   
what consequences in act  and thought1  
as well as in government1 would be      
likely to flow1 for  example1 from one  
of the most permanently admirable sides 
of ,burke's  teaching--his respect for  
the collective reason of men1 and his   
sense of the impossibility in politics  
and morals of considering the           
individual apart from the experience of 
the race4 ,we are afraid1 he  says1 to  
put men to live and trade each on his   
own private stock of  reason1 because we
 suspect that this stock in each man is 
small1  and that the individuals would  
do better to avail themselves of the    
general bank and capital of nations and 
of ages4 ,many of our men of            
speculation1 instead of exploding       

general prejudices1 employ their        
sagacity to discover the latent wisdom  
which prevails in them4 ,if  they find  
what they seek1 and they seldom fail1   
they think it more  wise to continue the
 prejudice with the reason involved1    
than to cast  away the coat of          
prejudice1 and to leave nothing but the 
naked reason3  because prejudice with   
its reason has a motive to give action  
to that  reason1 and an affection which 
will give it permanence4 ,prejudice is  
of ready application in the emergency2  
it previously engages the mind  in a    
steady course of wisdom and virtue1 and 
does not leave the  man hesitating in   
the moment of decision1 sceptical1      
puzzled1 and  unresolved4 ,prejudice    
renders a man's virtue his habit1 and   
not a  series of unconnected acts4      
,through just prejudice1 his duty       
becomes a  part of his nature4 ,is not  
this to say1 in other words1 that in    
every  man the substantial foundations  
of action consist of the accumulated    

layers which various generations of     
ancestors have placed for him2  that the
 greater part of our sentiments act most
 effectively when they  act most        
mechanically1 and by the methods of an  
unquestioned system2  that although no  
rule of conduct or spring of action     
ought to endure1  which does not repose 
in sound reason1 yet this naked reason  
is in  itself a less effective means of 
influencing action than when it  exists 
as one part of a fabric of ancient and  
endeared association8  ,interpreted by a
 mobile genius1 and expanded by a poetic
 imagination1  all this became the      
foundation from which the philosophy of 
,coleridge  started1 and1 as ,mill has  
shown in a famous essay1 ,coleridge was 
the  great apostle of the conservative  
spirit in ,england in its best form4    
,though ,burke here1 no doubt1 found a  
true base for the philosophy of  order1 
yet perhaps ,condorcet or ,barnave might
 have justly asked him  whether1 when we
 thus realise the strong and immovable  

foundations  which are laid in our      
character before we are born1 there     
could be any  occasion1 as a matter of  
fact1 for that vehement alarm which     
moved  ,burke lest a few lawyers1 by a  
score of parchment decrees1 should      
overthrow the venerated sentiments of   
,europe about justice and about         
property8 ,should he not have known     
better than most men the force of  the  
self-protecting elements of society8    
,this is not a convenient place for     
discussing the issues between the       
school of order and the school of       
progress4 ,it is enough to have  marked 
,burke's position in one of them4 ,the  
,reflections places him  among the great
 ,conservatives of history4 ,perhaps the
 only ,englishman  with whom in this    
respect he may be compared1 is ,sir     
,thomas  ,more1--that virtuous and      
eloquent reactionist of the sixteenth   
century4 ,more abounded in light1 in    
intellectual interests1 in              
single-minded care for the common weal4 

,he was as anxious as any man  of his   
time for the improved ordering of the   
,church1 but he could not  endure that  
reformation should be bought at the     
price of breaking up  the ancient       
spiritual unity of ,europe4 ,he was     
willing to slay and be  slain rather    
than he would tolerate the destruction  
of the old faith1  or assent to the     
violence of the new statecraft4 ,he     
viewed ,thomas  ,cromwell's policy of   
reformation1 just as ,burke viewed      
,mirabeau's  policy of revolution4      
,burke too1 we may be very sure1 would  
as  willingly have sent ,mirabeau and   
,bailly to prison or the block as ,more 
sent ,phillips to the ,tower and        
,bainham to the stake4 ,for neither     
,more  nor ,burke was of the gentle     
contemplative spirit1 which the first   
disorder of a new society just bursting 
into life merely overshadows  with      
saddening regrets and poetic gloom4 ,the
 old harmony was to them  so bound up   
with the purpose and meaning of life1   

that to wage active  battle for the gods
 of their reverence was the irresistible
 instinct  of self-preservation4 ,more  
had an excuse which ,burke had not1 for 
the principle of persecution was        
accepted by the best minds of the       
sixteenth century1 but by the best minds
 of the eighteenth it was  emphatically 
repudiated4    ,another illustrious name
 of ,burke's own era rises to our lips1 
as we  ponder mentally the too scanty   
list of those who have essayed the      
great and hardy task of reconciling     
order with progress4 ,turgot is  even a 
more imposing figure than ,burke        
himself4 ,the impression made  upon us  
by the pair is indeed very different1   
for ,turgot was austere1  reserved1     
distant1 a man of many silences and much
 suspense2 while  ,burke1 as we know1   
was imaginative1 exuberant1             
unrestrained1 and1 like  some of the    
greatest actors on the stage of human   
affairs1 he had  associated his own     
personality with the prevalence of right

 ideas and  good influences4 ,in        
,turgot1 on the other hand1 we discern  
something of  the isolation1 the        
sternness1 the disdainful melancholy of 
,tacitus4  ,he even rises out of the    
eager1 bustling1 shrill-tongued crowd of
 the  ,voltairean age with some of that 
austere moral indignation and haughty   
astonishment with which ,dante had      
watched the stubborn ways of men        
centuries before4 ,on one side ,turgot  
shared the conservatism of  ,burke1     
though1 perhaps1 he would hardly have   
given it that name4 ,he  habitually     
corrected the headlong insistence of the
 revolutionary  philosophers1 his       
friends1 by reminding them that neither 
pity1 nor  benevolence1 nor hope can    
ever dispense with justice2 and he could
  never endure to hear of great changes 
being wrought at the cost of  this      
sovereign quality4 ,like ,burke1 he held
 fast to the doctrine that  everything  
must be done for the multitude1 but     
nothing by them4 ,like  ,burke1 he      

realised how close are the links that   
bind the successive  generations of men1
 and make up the long chain of human    
history4 ,like  ,burke1 he never        
believed that the human mind has any    
spontaneous  inclination to welcome pure
 truth4 ,here1 however1 is visible      
between  them a hard line of division4  
,it is not error1 said ,turgot1 which   
opposes the progress of truth2 it is    
indolence1 obstinacy1 and the  spirit of
 routine4 ,but then ,turgot enjoined    
upon us to make it the aim  of life to  
do battle in ourselves and others with  
all this indolence1  obstinacy1 and     
spirit of routine in the world2 while   
,burke1 on the  contrary1 gave to these 
bad things gentler names1 he surrounded 
them  with the picturesque associations 
of the past1 and in the great           
world-crisis of his time he threw all   
his passion and all his genius  on their
 side4 ,will any reader doubt which of  
these two types of the  school of order 
and justice1 both of them noble1 is the 

more valuable  for the race1 and the    
worthier and more stimulating ideal for 
the  individual8    ,it is not certain  
that ,burke was not sometimes for a     
moment startled  by the suspicion that  
he might unawares be fighting against   
the truth4  ,in the midst of flaming and
 bitter pages1 we now and again feel a  
cool  breath from the distant region of 
a half-pensive tolerance4 ,i do not     
think1 he says at the close of the      
,reflections1 to the person to  whom    
they were addressed1 that my sentiments 
are likely to alter  yours4 ,i do not   
know that they ought4 ,you are young2   
you cannot guide1  but must follow1 the 
fortune of your country4 ,but hereafter 
they may  be of some use to you1 in some
 future form which your commonwealth    
may take4 ,in the present it can hardly 
remain2 but before its final            
settlement1 it may be obliged to pass1  
as one of our poets says1  'through     
great varieties of untried being1' and  
in all its  transmigrations to be       

purified by fire and blood4    ,he felt 
in the midst of his hate that what he   
took for seething chaos1  might after   
all be the struggle upwards of the germs
 of order4 ,among  the later words that 
he wrote on the ,revolution were        
these3--,if a  great change is to be    
made in human affairs1 the minds of men 
will be  fitted to it2 the general      
opinions and feelings will draw that    
way4  ,every fear1 every hope will      
forward it2 and then they who persist in
  opposing this mighty current in human 
affairs1 will appear rather to  resist  
the decrees of ,providence itself1 than 
the mere designs of  men4 ,we can only  
regret that these rays of the mens      
divinior did  not shine with a more     
steadfast light2 and that a spirit      
which1 amid  the sharp press of manifold
 cares and distractions1 had ever       
vibrated  with lofty sympathies1 was not
 now more constant to its faith in the  
beneficent powers and processes of the  
,unseen ,time4          ,,chapter ,,ix  

,,burke ,,and ,,his ,,party--,,progress 
,,of ,,the                              
,,revolution--,,ireland--,,last ,,years 
,for some months after the publication  
of the ,reflections1 ,burke kept  up the
 relations of an armed peace with his   
old political friends4  ,the impeachment
 went on1 and in ,december 7#agij7 there
 was a private  meeting on the business 
connected with it1 between ,pitt1       
,burke1 ,fox1  and ,dundas1 at the house
 of the ,speaker4 ,it was described by  
one who  knew1 as most snug and amiable1
 and there seems to have been a general 
impression in the world at this moment  
that ,fox might by some means be        
induced to join ,pitt4 ,what troubled   
the slumbers of good ,whigs like        
,gilbert ,elliot1 was the prospect of   
,fox committing himself too  strongly on
 ,french affairs4 ,burke himself was in 
the deepest dejection  at the prospect2 
for ,fox did not cease to express the   
most unqualified  disapproval of the    
,reflections2 he thought that1 even in  

point of  composition1 it was the worst 
thing that ,burke had ever published4   
,it  was already feared that his        
friendship for ,sheridan was drawing him
  farther away from ,burke1 with whom   
,sheridan had quarrelled1 into a  course
 of politics that would both damage his 
own reputation and break  up the strong 
union of which the ,duke of ,portland   
was the nominal  head4    ,new floods in
 ,france had not yet carried back the   
ship of state into  raging waters4 ,pitt
 was thinking so little of danger from  
that country  that he had plunged into a
 policy of intervention in the affairs  
of  ,eastern ,europe4 ,when writers     
charge ,burke with breaking violently in
  upon ,pitt's system of peace abroad   
and reform at home1 they overlook  the  
fact that before ,burke had begun to    
preach his crusade against  the         
,jacobins1 ,pitt had already prepared a 
war with ,russia4 ,the nation  refused  
to follow4 ,they agreed with ,fox that  
it was no concern of  theirs whether or 

not ,russia took from ,turkey the       
country between the  ,boug and          
,dniester2 they felt that ,british      
interests would be more  damaged by the 
expenses of a war than by the           
acquisition by ,russia of  ,ockzakow4   
,pitt was obliged to throw up the       
scheme1 and to extricate  himself as    
well as he could from rash engagements  
with ,prussia4 ,it was  on account of   
his services to the cause of peace on   
this occasion that  ,catherine ordered  
the ,russian ambassador to send her a   
bust of ,fox in  white marble1 to be    
placed in her colonnade between         
,demosthenes and  ,cicero4 ,we may take 
it for granted that after the           
,revolution rose to  its full height the
 bust of ,fox accompanied that of       
,voltaire down to  the cellar of the    
,hermitage4    ,while the affair of the 
,russian armament was still occupying   
the  minister1 an event of signal       
importance happened in the ranks of his 
political adversaries4 ,the alliance    

which had lasted between ,burke  and    
,fox for five and twenty years came to a
 sudden end1 and this rift  gradually   
widened into a destructive breach       
throughout the party4  ,there is no     
parallel in our parliamentary history to
 the fatal scene4  ,in ,ireland1 indeed1
 only eight years before1 ,flood and    
,grattan1 after  fighting side by side  
for many years1 had all at once sprung  
upon one  another in the ,parliament    
,house with the fury of vultures3 ,flood
 had  screamed to ,grattan that he was a
 mendicant patriot1 and ,grattan had    
called ,flood an ill-omened bird of     
night1 with a sepulchral note1 a        
cadaverous aspect1 and a broken beak4   
,the ,irish1 like the ,french1  have the
 art of making things dramatic1 and     
,burke was the greatest of  ,irishmen4  
,on the opening of the session of #agia1
 the ,government had  introduced a bill 
for the better government of ,canada4   
,it introduced  questions about church  
establishments and hereditary           

legislators4 ,in  discussing these ,fox 
made some references to ,france4 ,it was
 impossible  to refer to ,france without
 touching the ,reflections on the       
,french  ,revolution4 ,burke was not    
present1 but he heard what ,fox had     
said1  and before long ,fox again       
introduced ,french affairs in a debate  
on the  ,russian armament4 ,burke rose  
in violent heat of mind to reply1 but   
the  ,house would not hear him4 ,he     
resolved to speak when the time came for
  the ,canada ,bill to be recommitted4  
,meanwhile some of his friends did  all 
that they could to dissuade him from    
pressing the matter farther4  ,even the 
,prince of ,wales is said to have       
written him a letter4 ,there  were many 
signs of the rupture that was so soon to
 come in the ,whig  ranks4 ,men so      
equally devoted to the common cause as  
,windham  and ,elliot nearly came to a  
quarrel at a dinner-party at ,lord      
,malmesbury's1 on the subject of        
,burke's design to speak2 and ,windham1 

who for the present sided with ,fox1    
enters in his diary that he was  glad to
 escape from the room without speaking  
to the man whom1 since  the death of    
,dr4 ,johnson1 he revered before all    
other men besides4    ,on the day       
apointed for the ,canada ,bill1 ,fox    
called at ,burke's house1  and after    
some talk on ,burke's intention to      
speak1 and on other  matters1 they      
walked down to ,westminster and entered 
the ,house  together1 as they had so    
many a time done before1 but were never 
to do  again4 ,they found that the      
debate had been adjourned1 and it was   
not  until ,may #fth that ,burke had an 
opportunity of explaining himself on    
the ,revolution in ,france4 ,he had no  
sooner risen than interruptions  broke  
out from his own side1 and a scene of   
great disorder followed4  ,burke was    
incensed beyond endurance by this       
treatment1 for even ,fox  and ,windham  
had taken part in the tumult against    
him4 ,with much  bitterness he commented

 on ,fox's previous eulogies of the     
,revolution1  and finally there came the
 fatal words of severance4 ,it is       
indiscreet1 he said1 at any period1 but 
especially at my time of  life1 to      
provoke enemies1 or give my friends     
occasion to desert me4  ,yet if my firm 
and steady adherence to the ,british    
,constitution place  me in such a       
dilemma1 ,i am ready to risk it1 and    
with1 my last words  to exclaim1 ',fly  
from the ,french ,constitution4' ,fox at
 this point  eagerly called to him that 
there was no loss of friends4 ,yes1 yes1
  cried ,burke1 there is a loss of      
friends4 ,i know the price of my        
conduct4 ,i have done my duty at the    
price of my friend4 ,our friendship  is 
at an end4    ,the members who sat on   
the same side were aghast at proceedings
 which  went beyond their worst         
apprehensions4 ,even the ministerialists
 were  shocked4 ,pitt agreed much more  
with ,fox than with ,burke1 but he would
  have been more than human if he had   

not watched with complacency his  two   
most formidable adversaries turning     
their swords against one  another4      
,wilberforce1 who was more              
disinterested1 lamented the  spectacle  
as shameful4 ,in the galleries there was
 hardly a dry eye4  ,fox1 as might have 
been expected from his warm and generous
 nature1  was deeply moved1 and is      
described as weeping even to sobbing4   
,he  repeated his former acknowledgment 
of his debt to ,burke1 and he  repeated 
his former expression of faith in the   
blessings which the  abolition of royal 
despotism would bring to ,france4 ,with 
unabated  vehemence ,burke again rose to
 denounce the ,french ,constitution--a  
building composed of untempered         
mortar--the work of ,goths and ,vandals1
  where everything was disjointed and   
inverted4 ,after a short rejoinder  from
 ,fox the scene came to a close1 and the
 once friendly intercourse  between the 
two heroes was at an end4 ,when they met
 in the ,managers'  box in ,westminster 

,hall on the business of ,hastings's    
trial1 they met  with the formalities of
 strangers4 ,there is a story that when 
,burke  left the ,house on the night of 
the quarrel it was raining1 and ,mr4    
,curwen1 a member of the ,opposition1   
took him home in his carriage4  ,burke  
at once began to declaim against the    
,french4 ,curwen dropped  some remark on
 the other side4 ,what6 ,burke cried    
out1 grasping the  check-string1 are you
 one of these people6 ,set me down6 ,it 
needed  all ,curwen's force to keep him 
where he was2 and when they reached his 
house ,burke stepped out without saying 
a single word4    ,we may agree that all
 this did not indicate the perfect      
sobriety and  self-control proper to a  
statesman1 in what was a serious crisis 
both  to his party and to ,europe4 ,it  
was about this time that ,burke said to 
,addington1 who was then ,speaker of the
 ,house of ,commons1 that he was  not   
well4 ,i eat too much1 ,speaker1 he     
said1 ,i drink too much1 and ,i  sleep  

too little4 ,it is even said that he    
felt the final breach with  ,fox as a   
relief from unendurable suspense2 and he
 quoted the lines  about ,aeneas1 after 
he had finally resolved to quit ,dido   
and the  ,carthaginian shore1 at last   
being able to snatch slumber in his     
ship's  tall stern4 ,there can be no    
doubt how severe had been the tension4  
,yet the performance to which ,burke now
 applied himself is one of  the gravest 
and most reasonable of all his          
compositions4 ,he felt it  necessary to 
vindicate the fundamental consistency   
between his present  and his past4 ,we  
have no difficulty in imagining the     
abuse to which  he was exposed from     
those whose abuse gave him pain4 ,in a  
country  governed by party1 a politician
 who quits the allies of a lifetime     
must expect to pay the penalty4 ,the    
,whig papers told him that he was       
expected to surrender his seat in       
,parliament4 ,they imputed to him  all  
sorts of sinister motives4 ,his name was

 introduced into ironical  toasts4 ,for 
a whole year there was scarcely a member
 of his former  party who did not stand 
aloof from him4 ,windham1 when the      
feeling was  at its height1 sent word to
 a host that he would rather not meet   
,burke  at dinner4 ,dr4 ,parr1 though he
 thought ,mr4 ,burke the greatest man   
upon  earth1 declared himself most      
indignantly and most fixedly on the side
  of ,mr4 ,sheridan and ,mr4 ,fox4 ,the 
,duke of ,portland1 though always       
described as strongly and fondly        
attached to him1 and ,gilbert ,elliot1  
who thought that ,burke was right in his
 views on the ,revolution1  and right in
 expressing them1 still could not       
forgive the open  catastrophe1 and for  
many months all the old habits of       
intimacy among  them were entirely      
broken off4    ,burke did not bend to   
the storm4 ,he went down to ,margate1   
and there  finished the ,appeal from the
 ,new to the ,old ,whigs4 ,meanwhile he 
despatched his son to ,coblenz to give  

advice to the royalist exiles1  who were
 then mainly in the hands of ,calonne1  
one of the very worst  of the ministers 
whom ,louis ,,xvi4 had tried between his
 dismissal of  ,turgot in #aggd1 and the
 meeting of the ,states-,general in     
#aghi4 ,this  measure was taken at the  
request of ,calonne1 who had visited    
,burke at  ,margate4 ,the ,english      
,government did not disapprove of it1   
though they  naturally declined to      
invest either young ,burke or any one   
else with  authority from themselves4   
,as little came of the mission as might 
have  been expected from the frivolous1 
unmanly1 and enraged spirit of those  to
 whom it was addressed4    ,in ,august  
7#agia71 while ,richard ,burke was at   
,coblenz1 the ,appeal was  published4   
,this was the last piece that ,burke    
wrote on the ,revolution1  in which     
there is any pretence of measure1       
sobriety1 and calm judgment  in face of 
a formidable and perplexing crisis4     
,henceforth it is not  political        

philosophy1 but the minatory exhortation
 of a prophet4  ,we deal no longer with 
principles and ideas1 but with a        
partisan  denunciation of particular    
acts1 and a partisan incitement to a    
given  practical policy4 ,we may        
appreciate the policy as we choose1 but 
our  appreciation of ,burke as a thinker
 and a contributor to political  wisdom 
is at an end4 ,he is now only           
,demosthenes thundering against         
,philip1 or ,cicero shrieking against   
,mark ,antony4    ,the ,reflections had 
not been published many months before   
,burke  wrote the ,letter to a ,member  
of the ,national ,assembly 7,january    
#agia71 in which strong disapproval had 
grown into furious hatred4 ,in  contains
 the elaborate diatribe against         
,rousseau1 the grave panegyric  on      
,cromwell for choosing ,hale to be      
,chief ,justice1 and a sound  criticism 
on the laxity and want of foresight in  
the manner in which  the                
,states-,general had been convened4     

,here first ,burke advanced to the      
position that it might be the duty of   
other nations to interfere  to restore  
the king to his rightful authority1 just
 as ,england and  ,prussia had          
interfered to save ,holland from        
confusion1 as they had  interfered to   
preserve the hereditary constitution in 
the ,austrian  ,netherlands1 and as     
,prussia had interfered to snatch even  
the  malignant and the turban'd ,turk   
from the pounce of the ,russian eagle4  
,was not the ,king of ,france as much an
 object of policy and compassion  as the
 ,grand ,seignior8 ,as this was the     
first piece in which ,burke  hinted at a
 crusade1 so it was the first in which  
he began to heap  upon the heads1 not of
 ,hbert1 ,fouquier-,tinville1 ,billaud1 
nor even of  ,robespierre or            
,danton--for none of these had yet been 
heard of--but of  able and conscientious
 men in the ,constituent ,assembly1     
language of a  virulence which ,fox once
 said seriously that ,burke had picked1 

even to  the phrases of it1 out of the  
writings of ,salmasius against ,milton1 
but which is really only to be          
paralleled by the much worse language   
of ,milton against ,salmasius4 ,it was  
in truth exactly the kind of  incensed  
speech which1 at a later date1 the      
factions in ,paris levelled  against one
 another1 when ,girondins screamed for  
the heads of  ,jacobins1 and            
,robespierre denounced ,danton1 and     
,tallien cried for the  blood of        
,robespierre4    ,burke declined most   
wisely to suggest any plan for the      
,national  ,assembly4 ,permit me to     
say1--this is in the letter of ,january 
#agia1  to a member of the              
,assembly1--that if ,i were as confident
 as ,i ought  to be diffident in my own 
loose general ideas1 ,i never should    
venture  to broach them1 if but at      
twenty leagues' distance from the centre
 of  your affairs4 ,i must see with my  
own eyes2 ,i must in a manner touch     
with my own hands1 not only the fixed1  

but momentary circumstances1  before ,i 
could venture to suggest any political  
project whatsoever4  ,i must know the   
power and disposition to accept1 to     
execute1 to  persevere4 ,i must see all 
the aids and all the obstacles4 ,i must 
see  the means of correcting the plan1  
where correctives would be wanted4  ,i  
must see the things3 ,i must see the    
men4 ,without a concurrence and         
adaptation of these to the design1 the  
very best speculative projects  might   
become not only useless but mischievous4
 ,plans must be made for  men4 ,people  
at a distance must judge ill of men4    
,they do not  always answer to their    
reputation when you approach them4 ,nay1
 the  perspective varies1 and shows them
 quite other than you thought them4  ,at
 a distance1 if we judge uncertainly of 
men1 we must judge worse of             
opportunities1 which continually vary   
their shapes and colours1  and pass away
 like clouds4 ,our admiration at such   
words is quickly  stifled when we recall

 the confident1 unsparing1 immoderate   
criticism  which both preceded and      
followed this truly rational exposition 
of the  danger of advising1 in cases    
where we know neither the men nor the   
opportunities4 ,why was savage and      
unfaltering denunciation any less       
unbecoming than1 as he admits1 crude    
prescriptions would have been           
unbecoming8    ,by the end of #agia1    
when he wrote the ,thoughts on ,french  
,affairs1  he had penetrated still      
farther into the essential character of 
the  ,revolution4 ,any notion of a      
reform to be effected after the decorous
  pattern of #afhh1 so conspicuous in   
the first great manifesto1 had  wholly  
disappeared4 ,the changes in ,france he 
allowed to bear little  resemblance or  
analogy to any of those which had been  
previously  brought about in ,europe4   
,it is a revolution1 he said1 of        
doctrine and  theoretic dogma4 ,the     
,reformation was the last revolution of 
this sort  which had happened in        

,europe2 and he immediately goes on to  
remark  a point of striking resemblance 
between them4 ,the effect of the        
,reformation was to introduce other     
interests into all countries than  those
 which arose from their locality and    
natural circumstances4  ,in like manner 
other sources of faction were now       
opened1 combining  parties among the    
inhabitants of different countries into 
a single  connection4 ,from these       
sources1 effects were likely to arise   
fully  as important as those which had  
formerly arisen from the jarring        
interests of the religious sects4 ,it is
 a species of faction which  breaks the 
locality of public affections4#a        
,footnote #a3 ,de ,tocqueville has      
unconsciously imitated ,burke's very    
phrases4 ,toutes les rvolutions civiles 
et politiques ont eu une  patrie1 et s'y
 sont enfermes4 ,la ,rvolution4 franaise
 444 on l'a vue  rapprocher ou diviser  
les hommes en dpit des lois1 des        
traditions1  des caractres1 de langue1  

rendant parfois ennemis des             
compatriotes1  et frres des trangers2 ou
 plutt elle a form audessus de toutes   
les nationalits particulires1 une patrie
 intellectuelle commune dont  les hommes
 de toutes les nations ont pu devenir   
citoyens4--,ancien  ,rgime1 p4 #ae4     
,he was thus launched on the full tide  
of his policy4 ,the ,french  ,revolution
 must be hemmed in by a cordon of fire4 
,those who  sympathised with it in      
,england must be gagged1 and if gagging 
did not  suffice1 they must be taught   
respect for the constitution in dungeons
  and on the gallows4 ,his cry for war  
abroad and harsh coercion at home  waxed
 louder every day4 ,as ,fox said1 it was
 lucky that ,burke took the  royal side 
in the ,revolution1 for his violence    
would certainly have  got him hanged if 
he had happened to take the other side4 
,it was in the early summer of #agib    
that ,miss ,burney again met ,burke  at 
,mrs4 ,crewe's villa at ,hampstead4 ,he 
entered into an animated  conversation  

on ,lord ,macartney and the ,chinese    
expedition1 reviving  all the old       
enthusiasm of his companion by his      
allusions and  anecdotes1 his brilliant 
fancies and wide information4 ,when     
politics  were introduced1 he spoke with
 an eagerness and a vehemence that      
instantly banished the graces1 though it
 redoubled the energies of his          
discourse4 ,how ,i wish1 ,miss ,burney  
writes1 that you could meet this        
wonderful man when he is easy1 happy1   
and with people he cordially  likes6    
,but politics1 even on his own side1    
must always be excluded2  his           
irritability is so terrible on that     
theme1 that it gives  immediately to his
 face the expression of a man who is    
going to  defend himself from murderers4
    ,burke still remained without a     
following1 but the ranks of his old     
allies gradually began to show signs of 
wavering4 ,his panic about the          
,jacobins within the gates slowly       
spread4 ,his old faith1 about which he  

had once talked so much1 in the ancient 
rustic1 manly1 home-bred sense  of the  
,english people1 he dismissed as if it  
had been some idle dream  that had come 
to him through the ivory gate4 ,his fine
 comparison of  the nation to a majestic
 herd1 browsing in peace amid the       
importunate  chirrupings of a thousand  
crickets1 became so little appropriate1 
that  he was now beside himself with    
apprehension that the crickets were     
about to rend the oxen in pieces4 ,even 
then1 the herd stood tranquilly  in     
their pastures1 only occasionally       
turning a dull eye1 now to  ,france1 and
 now to ,burke4 ,in the autumn of #agia 
,burke dined with  ,pitt and ,lord      
,grenville1 and he found them resolute  
for an honest  neutrality in the affairs
 of ,france1 and quite out of all       
apprehensions of any effect from the    
,french ,revolution in this  kingdom1   
either at present or any time to come4  
,francis and ,sheridan1  it is true1    
spoke as if they almost wished for a    

domestic convulsion2  and cool observers
 who saw him daily1 even accused        
,sheridan of wishing  to stir up the    
lower ranks of the people by the hope of
 plundering  their betters4 ,but men who
 afterwards became alarmists1 are found1
  so late as the spring of #agib1       
declaring in their most confidential    
correspondence that the party of        
confusion made no way with the  country1
 and produced no effect4 ,horne ,tooke  
was its most conspicuous  chief1 and    
nobody pretended to fear the subversion 
of the realm by  ,horne ,tooke4 ,yet    
,burke1 in letters where he admits that 
the democratic  party is entirely       
discountenanced1 and that the ,jacobin  
faction in  ,england is under a heavy   
cloud1 was so possessed by the spectre  
of  panic1 as to declare that the ,duke 
of ,brunswick was as much fighting  the 
battle of the crown of ,england1 as the 
,duke of ,cumberland fought  that battle
 at ,culloden4    ,time and events1     
meanwhile1 had been powerfully telling  

for ,burke4  ,while he was writing his  
,appeal1 the ,french king and queen had 
destroyed whatever confidence sanguine  
dreamers might have had in  their       
loyalty to the new order of things1 by  
attempting to escape over  the frontier4
 ,they were brought back1 and a manful  
attempt was made  to get the new        
constitution to work1 in the winter of  
#agia-ib4 ,it was  soon found out that  
,mirabeau had been right when he said   
that for a  monarchy it was too         
democratic1 and for a republic there was
 a king  too much4 ,this was ,burke's   
,reflections in a nutshell4 ,but it was 
foreign intervention that finally ruined
 the king1 and destroyed  the hope of an
 orderly issue4 ,frederick the ,great   
had set the first  example of what some 
call iniquity and violence in ,europe1  
and others  in milder terms call a      
readjustment of the equilibrium of      
nations4 ,he  had taken ,silesia from   
the house of ,austria1 and he had shared
 in  the first partition of ,poland4    

,catherine ,,ii4 had followed him at the
  expense of ,poland1 ,sweden1 and      
,turkey4 ,however we may view these     
transactions1 and whether we describe   
them by the stern words of the          
moralist1 or the more deprecatory words 
of the diplomatist1 they are  the first 
sources of that storm of lawless rapine 
which swept  over every part of ,europe 
for five and twenty years to come4 ,the 
intervention of ,austria and ,prussia in
 the affairs of ,france was  originally 
less a deliberate design for the benefit
 of the old order1  than an interlude in
 the intrigues of ,eastern ,europe4 ,but
 the first  effect of intervention on   
behalf of the ,french monarchy was to   
bring  it in a few weeks to the ground4 
,in the spring of #agib ,france replied 
to the preparations of ,austria  and    
,prussia for invasion by a declaration  
of war4 ,it was inevitable  that the    
,french people should associate the     
court with the foreign  enemy that was  
coming to its deliverance4 ,everybody   

knew as well then  as we know it now    
that the queen was as bitterly incensed 
against the  new order of things1 and as
 resolutely unfaithful to it1 as the    
most  furious emigrant on the ,rhine4   
,even ,burke himself1 writing to his son
  at ,coblenz1 was constrained to talk  
about ,marie ,antoinette as that  most  
unfortunate woman1 who was not to be    
cured of the spirit of  court intrigue  
even by a prison4 ,the king may have    
been loyally  resigned to his position1 
but resignation will not defend a       
country  from the invader2 and the      
nation distrusted a chief who only a few
  months before had been arrested in    
full flight to join the national  enemy4
 ,power naturally fell into the hands of
 the men of conviction1  energy1        
passion1 and resource4 ,patriotism and  
republicanism became  synonymous1 and   
the constitution against which ,burke   
had prophesied  was henceforth a dead   
letter4 ,the spirit of insurrection that
 had  slumbered since the fall of the   

,bastille and the march to ,versailles  
in #aghi1 now awoke in formidable       
violence1 and after the preliminary     
rehearsal of what is known in the       
revolutionary calendar as the  #bjth of 
,june 7#agib71 the people of ,paris     
responded to the ,duke of  ,brunswick's 
insensate manifesto by the more         
memorable day of the #ajth  of ,august4 
,brunswick1 accepting the hateful       
language which the ,french  emigrants   
put into his mouth1 had declared that   
every member of the  national guard     
taken with arms in his hands would be   
immediately put  to death2 that every   
inhabitant who should dare to defend    
himself  would be put to death and his  
house burnt to the ground2 and that if  
the least insult was offered to the     
royal family1 then their ,austrian  and 
,prussian majesties would deliver ,paris
 to military execution and  total       
destruction4 ,this is the vindictive    
ferocity which only civil  war can      
kindle4 ,to convince men that the       

manifesto was not an empty  threat1 on  
the day of its publication a force of   
nearly #adj1jjj  ,austrians1 ,prussians1
 and ,hessians entered ,france4 ,the    
sections of  ,paris replied by marching 
to the ,tuileries1 and after a furious  
conflict with the ,swiss guards1 they   
stormed the chateau4 ,the king and  his 
family had fled to the ,national        
,assembly4 ,the same evening they  were 
thrown into prison1 whence the king and 
queen only came out on  their way to the
 scaffold4    ,it was the king's        
execution in ,january #agic that finally
 raised  feeling in ,england to the     
intense heat which ,burke had for so    
long  been craving4 ,the evening on     
which the courier brought the news  was 
never forgotten by those who were in    
,london at the time4 ,the  playhouses   
were instantly closed1 and the audiences
 insisted on  retiring with half the    
amusement for which they had paid4      
,people of  the lowest and the highest  
rank alike put on mourning4 ,the ,french

 were  universally denounced as fiends  
upon earth4 ,it was hardly safe for a   
,frenchman to appear in the streets of  
,london4 ,placards were posted on  every
 wall1 calling for war1 and the crowds  
who gathered round them  read them with 
loud hurrahs4           99       99     
99       99       99    ,it would be a  
great mistake to say that ,pitt ever    
lost his head1 but  he lost his feet4   
,the momentary passion of the nation    
forced him out  of the pacific path in  
which he would have chosen to stay4     
,burke  had become the greatest power in
 the country1 and was in closer         
communication with the ministers than   
any one out of office4 ,he went  once   
about this time with ,windham and       
,elliot to inform ,pitt as to the       
uneasiness of the public about the      
slackness of our naval and military     
preparation4 ,burke1 says one of the    
party1 gave ,pitt a little  political   
instruction in a very respectful and    
cordial way1 but with  the authority of 

an old and most informed statesman2 and 
although  nobody ever takes the whole of
 ,burke's advice1 yet he often1 or      
always  rather1 furnishes very important
 and useful matter1 some part of which  
sticks and does good4 ,pitt took it all 
very patiently and cordially4    ,it was
 in the ,december of #agib that ,burke  
had enacted that famous bit  of         
melodrama out of place known as the     
,dagger ,scene4 ,the ,government  had   
brought in an ,alien ,bill1 imposing    
certain pains and restrictions  on      
foreigners coming to this country4 ,fox 
denounced it as a concession  to foolish
 alarms1 and was followed by ,burke1 who
 began to storm as  usual against       
murderous atheists4 ,then without due   
preparation he  began to fumble in his  
bosom1 suddenly drew out a dagger1 and  
with an  extravagant gesture threw it on
 the floor of the ,house1 crying that   
this was what they had to expect from   
their alliance with ,france4 ,the       
stroke missed its mark1 and there was a 

general inclination to titter1  until   
,burke1 collecting himself for an       
effort1 called upon them with a         
vehemence to which his listeners could  
not choose but respond1 to keep  ,french
 principles from their heads1 and       
,french daggers from their  hearts2 to  
preserve all their blandishments in     
life1 and all their  consolations in    
death2 all the blessings of time1 and   
all the hopes of  eternity4 ,all this   
was not prepared long beforehand1 for it
 seems that  the dagger had only been   
shown to ,burke on his way to the ,house
 as one  that had been sent to          
,birmingham to be a pattern for a large 
order4  ,whether prepared or unprepared1
 the scene was one from which we gladly 
avert our eyes4    ,negotiations had    
been going on for some months1 and they 
continued in  various stages for some   
months longer1 for a coalition between  
the two  great parties of the ,state4   
,burke was persistently anxious that    
,fox  should join ,pitt's ,government4  

,pitt always admitted the importance  of
 ,fox's abilities in the difficult      
affairs which lay before the  ministry1 
and declared that he had no sort of     
personal animosity to  ,fox1 but rather 
a personal good-will and good-liking4   
,fox himself said  of a coalition1 ,it  
is so damned right1 to be sure1 that ,i 
cannot help  thinking it must be4 ,but  
the difficulties were insuperable4 ,the 
more rapidly the ,government drifted in 
,burke's direction1 the more  impossible
 was it for a man of ,fox's political   
sympathies and  convictions to have any 
dealings with a cabinet committed to a  
policy  of irrational panic1 to be      
carried out by a costly war abroad and  
cruel repression at home4 ,what a very  
wretched man6 was ,burke's  angry       
exclamation one day1 when it became     
certain that ,fox meant to  stand by the
 old flag of freedom and generous common
 sense4    ,when the coalition at length
 took place 7#agid71 the only man who   
carried ,burke's principles to their    

fullest extent into ,pitt's cabinet  was
 ,windham4 ,it is impossible not to feel
 the attraction of ,windham's           
character1 his amiability1 his reverence
 for great and virtuous men1  his       
passion for knowledge1 the versatility  
of his interests4 ,he is a  striking    
example of the fact that literature was 
a common pursuit  and occupation to the 
chief statesmen of that time 7always    
excepting  ,pitt71 to an extent that has
 been gradually tending to become rarer4
  ,windham1 in the midst of his devotion
 to public affairs1 to the  business of 
his country1 and1 let us add1 a zealous 
attendance on  every prize fight within 
reach1 was never happy unless he was    
working  up points in literature and    
mathematics4 ,there was a literary and  
classical spirit abroad1 and in spite of
 the furious preoccupations of  faction1
 a certain ready disengagement of mind  
prevailed4 ,if ,windham  and ,fox began 
to talk of horses1 they seemed to fall  
naturally into  what had been said about

 horses by the old writers4 ,fox held   
that long  ears were a merit1 and       
,windham met him by the authority of    
,xenophon  and ,oppian in favour of     
short ones1 and finally they went off   
into  what it was that ,virgil meant    
when he called a horse's head argutum   
caput4 ,burke and ,windham travelled in 
,scotland together in #aghe1 and  their 
conversation fell as often on old books 
as on ,hastings or on  ,pitt4 ,they     
discussed ,virgil's similes2 ,johnson   
and ,l',estrange1 as the  extremes of   
,english style2 what ,stephens and ,a4  
,gellius had to say  about ,cicero's use
 of the word gratiosus4 ,if they came to
 libraries1  ,windham ran into them with
 eagerness1 and very strongly enjoyed   
all the feel that a library usually     
excites4 ,he is constantly  reproaching 
himself with a remissness1 which was    
purely imaginary1 in  keeping up his    
mathematics1 his ,greek tragedies1 his  
,latin historians4  ,there is no more   
curious example of the remorse of a     

book-man impeded  by affairs4 ,what     
progress might men make in the several  
parts of  knowledge1 he says very truly1
 in one of these moods1 if they could   
only pursue them with the same eagerness
 and assiduity as are exerted  by       
lawyers in the conduct of a suit4 ,but  
this distraction between the  tastes of 
the book-man and the pursuits of public 
business1 united  with a certain quality
 of his constitution to produce one     
great defect  in his character1 and it  
was the worst defect that a statesman   
can  have4 ,he became the most          
irresolute and vacillating of men4 ,he  
wastes  the first half of a day in      
deciding which of two courses to take1  
and  the second half in blaming himself 
for not having taken the other4 ,he  is 
constantly late at entertainments1      
because he cannot make up his  mind in  
proper time whether to go or to stay at 
home2 hesitation  whether he shall read 
in the red room or in the library1 loses
 him  three of the best hours of a      

morning2 the difficulty of early rising 
he finds to consist less in rising early
 than in satisfying himself  that the   
practice is wholesome2 his mind is torn 
for a whole forenoon  in an absurd      
contest with himself1 whether he ought  
to indulge a  strong wish to exercise   
his horse before dinner4 ,every page of 
his  diary is a register of the symptoms
 of this unhappy disease4 ,when the     
,revolution came1 he was absolutely     
forced1 by the iron necessity of  the   
case1 after certain perturbations1 to go
 either with ,fox or with  ,burke4      
,under this compulsion he took one      
headlong plunge into the  policy of     
alarm4 ,everybody knows how desperately 
an habitually  irresolute man is capable
 of clinging to a policy or a           
conviction1 to  which he has once been  
driven by dire stress of circumstance4  
,windham  having at last made up his    
mind to be frightened by the            
,revolution1  was more violently and    
inconsolably frightened than anybody    

else4    ,pitt1 after he had been forced
 into war1 at least intended it to be  a
 war on the good old-fashioned          
principles of seizing the enemy's       
colonies and keeping them4 ,he was      
taunted by the alarmists with caring    
only for sugar islands1 and making      
himself master of all the islands  in   
the world except ,great ,britain and    
,ireland4 ,to ,burke all this was  an   
abomination1 and ,windham followed      
,burke to the letter4 ,he even  declared
 the holy rage of the ,third ,letter on 
a ,regicide ,peace1  published after    
,burke's death1 to contain the purest   
wisdom and the  most unanswerable       
policy4 ,it was through ,windham's      
eloquence and  perseverance that the    
monstrous idea of a crusade1 and all    
,burke's  other violent and excited     
precepts1 gained an effective place and 
hearing in the cabinet1 in the royal    
closet1 and in the ,house of  ,commons1 
long after ,burke himself had left the  
scene4    ,we have already seen how     

important an element ,irish affairs     
became in  the war with ,america4 ,the  
same spirit which had been stirred by   
the ,american war was inevitably kindled
 in ,ireland by the ,french             
,revolution4 ,the association of ,united
 ,irishmen now came into  existence1    
with aims avowedly revolutionary4 ,they 
joined the party  which was striving for
 the relief of the ,catholics from      
certain  disabilities1 and for their    
admission to the franchise4 ,burke had  
watched all movements in his native     
country1 from the ,whiteboy             
insurrection of #agfa downwards1 with   
steady vigilance1 and he watched  the   
new movement of #agib with the keenest  
eyes4 ,it made him profoundly  uneasy4  
,he could not endure the thought of ever
 so momentary and  indirect an          
association with a revolutionary party1 
either in ,ireland  or any other quarter
 of the globe1 yet he was eager for a   
policy which  should reconcile the      
,irish4 ,he was so for two reasons4 ,one

 of them was  his political sense of the
 inexpediency of proscribing men by     
whole  nations1 and excluding from the  
franchise on the ground of religion a   
people as numerous as the subjects of   
the ,king of ,denmark or the ,king  of  
,sardinia1 equal to the population of   
the ,united ,netherlands1 and  larger   
than were to be found in all the states 
of ,switzerland4 ,his  second reason was
 his sense of the urgency of facing     
trouble abroad  with a nation united and
 contented at home2 of abolishing in the
 heart  of the country that bank of     
discontent1 every hour accumulating1    
upon  which every description of        
seditious men may draw at pleasure4     
,in the beginning of #agib ,burke's son 
went to ,dublin as the agent and        
adviser of the ,catholic ,committee1 who
 at first listened to him with  the     
respect due to one in whom they expected
 to meet the qualities of  his father4  
,they soon found out that he was utterly
 without either  tact or judgment2 that 

he was arrogant1 impertinent1 vain1 and 
empty4 ,wolfe ,tone declared him to be  
by far the most impudent and            
opinionative fellow that he had ever    
known in his life4 ,nothing could       
exceed the absurdity of his conduct1 and
 on one occasion he had a very  narrow  
escape of being taken into custody by   
the ,serjeant-at-arms1 for  rushing down
 from the gallery into the ,irish ,house
 of ,commons1 and  attempting to make a 
speech in defence of a petition which he
 had  drawn up1 and which was being     
attacked by a member in his place4      
,richard ,burke went home1 it is said1  
with two thousand guineas in  his       
pocket1 which the ,catholics had        
cheerfully paid as the price of  getting
 rid of him4 ,he returned shortly after1
 but only helped to  plunge the business
 into further confusion1 and finally    
left the scene  covered with odium and  
discredit4 ,his father's ,letter to ,sir
 ,hercules  ,langrishe 7#agib7 remains  
an admirable monument of wise           

statesmanship1  a singular interlude of 
calm and solid reasoning in the midst of
 a  fiery whirlwind of intense passion4 
,burke perhaps felt that the state  of  
,ireland was passing away from the      
sphere of calm and solid reason1  when  
he knew that ,dumouriez's victory over  
the allies at ,valmy1 which  filled     
,beaconsfield with such gloom and       
dismay1 was celebrated at  ,dublin by an
 illumination4    ,burke1 who was now in
 his sixty-fourth year1 had for some    
time  announced his intention of leaving
 the ,house of ,commons as soon as he   
had brought to an end the prosecution of
 ,hastings4 ,in #agid the trial  came to
 a close2 the thanks of the ,house were 
formally voted to the  managers of the  
impeachment2 and when the scene was over
 ,burke applied  for the ,chiltern      
,hundreds4 ,lord ,fitzwilliam nominated 
,richard ,burke  for the seat which his 
father had thus vacated at ,malton4     
,pitt was  then making arrangements for 
the accession of the ,portland ,whigs   

to his ,government1 and it was natural1 
in connection with these  arrangements1 
to confer some favour on the man who had
 done more than  anybody else to promote
 the new alliance4 ,it was proposed to  
make  ,burke a peer under the style of  
,lord ,beaconsfield1--a title in a later
  age whimsically borrowed for himself  
by a man of genius with a delight  in   
irony4 ,to the title it was proposed to 
attach a yearly income  for two or more 
lives4 ,but the bolt of destiny was at  
this instant  launched4 ,richard ,burke1
 the adored centre of all his father's  
hopes  and affections1 was seized with  
illness and died 7,august #agid74 ,we   
cannot look without tragic emotion on   
the pathos of the scene1 which  left the
 remnant of the old man's days desolate 
and void4 ,a ,roman poet  has described 
in touching words the woe of the aged   
,nestor1 as he  beheld the funeral pile 
of his son1 too untimely slain--        
,oro parumper    ,attendas quantum de   
legibus ipse queratur    ,fatorum et    

nimio de stamine1 quum videt acris      
,antilochi barbam ardentem3 quum quaerit
 ab omni    ,quisquis adest socius1 cur 
haec in tempora duret1    ,quod facinus 
dignum tam longo admiserit aevo4        
,burke's grief finds a nobler           
expression4 ,the storm has gone over me1
  and ,i lie like one of those old oaks 
which the late hurricane has  scattered 
about me4 ,i am stripped of all my      
honours2 ,i am torn up by  the roots and
 lie prostrate on the earth4444 ,i am   
alone4 ,i have none  to meet my enemies 
in the gate4444 ,i live in an inverted  
order4 ,they  who ought to have         
succeeded me have gone before me4 ,they 
who should  have been to me as posterity
 are in the place of ancestors4         
,burke only lived three years after this
 desolating blow4 ,the  arrangements for
 a peerage1 as a matter of course1 came 
to an end4 ,but  ,pitt was well aware of
 the serious embarrassments by which    
,burke was  so pressed that he saw      
actual beggary very close at hand4 ,the 

king1  too1--who had once1 by the way1  
granted a pension to ,burke's detested  
,rousseau1 though ,rousseau was too     
proud to draw it--seems to have  been   
honourably interested in making a       
provision for ,burke4 ,what ,pitt       
offered was an immediate grant of #abjj 
a year from the ,civil ,list for  ,mrs4 
,burke's life1 to be followed by a      
proposition to ,parliament in a  message
 from the king1 to confer an annuity of 
greater value upon a  statesman who had 
served the country to his own loss for  
thirty years4  ,as a matter of fact1 the
 grant1 #bejj a year in amount1 much to 
,burke's chagrin1 was never brought     
before ,parliament1 but was  conferred  
directly by the ,crown1 as a charge on  
the four and a half  per cent fund for  
two or more lives4 ,it seems as if ,pitt
 were afraid  of challenging the opinion
 of ,parliament2 and the storm which the
  pension raised out of doors1 was a    
measure of the trouble which the        
defence of it would have inflicted on   

the ,government inside the ,house  of   
,commons4 ,according to the rumour of   
the time1 ,burke sold two of his        
pensions upon lives for #bg1jjj1 and    
there was left the third pension  of    
#abjj4 ,by and by1 when the resentment  
of the ,opposition was roused  to the   
highest pitch by the infamous ,treason  
and ,sedition ,bills of  #agie1 the     
,duke of ,bedford and ,lord ,lauderdale1
 seeking to accumulate  every possible  
complaint against the ,government1      
assailed the grant  to ,burke1 as made  
without the consent of ,parliament1 and 
as a violent  contradiction to the whole
 policy of the plan for economic reform4
 ,the  attack1 if not unjustifiable in  
itself1 came from an unlucky quarter4   
,a chief of the house of ,bedford was   
the most unfit person in the  world to  
protest against grants by favour of the 
,crown1 ,burke was too  practised a     
rhetorician not to see the opening1 and 
his ,letter to a  ,noble ,lord is the   
most splendid repartee in the ,english  

language4    ,it is not surprising that 
,burke's defence should have provoked   
rejoinder4 ,a cloud of pamphlets        
followed the ,letter to a ,noble        
,lord--some in doggerel verse1 others in
 a magniloquent prose imitated  from his
 own1 others mere poisonous scurrility4 
,the nearest approach  to a just stroke 
that ,i can find1 after turning over a  
pile of this  trash1 is an expression of
 wonder that he1 who was inconsolable   
for  the loss of a beloved son1 should  
not have reflected how many tender      
parents had been made childless in the  
profusion of blood1 of which  he himself
 had been the most relentless champion4 
,our disgust at the  pages of insult    
which were here levelled at a great man1
 is perhaps  moderated by the thought   
that ,burke himself1 who of all people  
ought  to have known better1 had held up
 to public scorn and obloquy men of     
such virtue1 attainments1 and real      
service to mankind as ,richard ,price   
and ,joseph ,priestley4    ,it was      

during these months that he composed the
 ,letters on a ,regicide  ,peace1 though
 the third and fourth of them were not  
published until  after his death4 ,there
 have been those to whom these          
compositions  appeared to be ,burke's   
masterpieces4 ,in fact they are         
deplorable4  ,they contain passages of  
fine philosophy and of skilful and      
plausible  reasoning1 but such passages 
only make us wonder how they come to be 
where they are4 ,the reader is in no    
humour for them4 ,in splendour  of      
rhetoric1 in fine images1 in sustention1
 in irony1 they surpass  anything that  
,burke ever wrote1 but of the qualities 
and principles  that1 far more than his 
rhetoric1 have made ,burke so admirable 
and so  great--of justice1 of firm grasp
 of fact1 of a reasonable sense of the  
probabilities of things--there are only 
traces enough to light up the  gulfs of 
empty words1 reckless phrases1 and      
senseless vituperations1  that surge and
 boil around them4    ,it is with the   

same emotion of grief and shame with    
which ,fox heard  ,burke argue against  
relief to ,dissenters1 that we hear him 
abusing the  courts of law because they 
did not convict ,hardy and ,horne       
,tooke4 ,the  pages against divorce and 
civil marriage1 even granting that they 
point to the right judgment in these    
matters1 express it with a  vehemence   
that is irrational1 and in the dialect1 
not of a statesman1  but of an enraged  
,capucin4 ,the highly wrought passage in
 which ,burke  describes external       
aggrandisement as the original thought  
and the  ultimate aim of the earlier    
statesmen of the ,revolution1 is no     
better  than ingenious nonsense4 ,the   
whole performance rests on a gross  and 
inexcusable anachronism4 ,there is a    
contemptuous refusal to  discriminate   
between groups of men who were as       
different from one  another as ,oliver  
,cromwell was different from ,james     
,nayler1 and  between periods which were
 as unlike in all their conditions as   

the  ,athens of the ,thirty ,tyrants was
 unlike ,athens after ,thrasybulus had  
driven the ,tyrants out4 ,he assumes    
that the men1 the policy1 the  maxims of
 the ,french ,government are the men1   
the policy1 and the  maxims of the      
handful of obscure miscreants who had   
hacked priests and  nobles to pieces at 
the doors of the prisons four years     
before4 ,carnot  is to him merely that  
sanguinary tyrant1 and the heroic ,hoche
  becomes that old practised assassin1  
while the ,prince of ,wales1 by  the    
way1 and the ,duke of ,york are the hope
 and pride of nations4  ,to heap up that
 incessant iteration about thieves1     
murderers1  housebreakers1 assassins1   
bandits1 bravoes with their hands       
dripping  with blood and their maw      
gorged with property1 desperate         
paramours1  bombastical players1 the    
refuse and rejected offal of strolling  
theatres1 bloody buffoons1 bloody       
felons--all this was as unjust to       
hundreds of disinterested1 honest1 and  

patriotic men who were then  earnestly  
striving to restore a true order and    
solid citizenship in  ,france1 as the   
foul-mouthed scurrility of an ,irish    
,orangeman is unjust  to millions of    
devout ,catholics4    ,burke was the man
 who might have been expected before all
 others to  know that in every system of
 government1 whatever may have been the 
crimes of its origin1 there is sure1 by 
the bare necessity of things1  to rise  
up a party or an individual1 whom their 
political instinct  will force into     
resistance to the fatalities of anarchy4
 ,man is too  strongly a political      
animal for it to be otherwise4 ,it was  
so at each  period and division in the  
,revolution4 ,there was always a party  
of  order1 and by #agie1 when ,burke    
penned these reckless philippics1 order 
was only too easy in ,france4 ,the      
,revolution had worn out the passion    
and moral enthusiasm of its first years1
 and all the best men of the            
revolutionary time had been consumed in 

a flame of fire4 ,when ,burke  talked   
about this war being wholly unlike any  
war that ever was waged  in ,europe     
before1 about its being a war for       
justice on the one side1  and a         
fanatical bloody propagandism on the    
other1 he shut his eyes to  the plain   
fact that the ,directory had after all  
really sunk to the  moral level of      
,frederick and ,catherine1 or for that  
matter1 of ,louis  the ,fourteenth      
himself4 ,this war was only too like the
 other great  wars of ,european history4
 ,the ,french ,government had become    
political1  exactly in the same sense in
 which ,thugut and ,metternich and      
,herzberg  were political4 ,the ,french 
,republic in #agig was neither more nor 
less aggressive1 immoral1 piratical1    
than the monarchies which had           
partitioned ,poland1 and had intended to
 redistribute the continent of  ,europe 
to suit their own ambitions4 ,the       
,coalition began the game1 but  ,france 
proved too strong for them1 and they had

 the worst of their  game4 ,jacobinism  
may have inspired the original fire     
which made her  armies irresistible1 but
 ,jacobinism of that stamp had now gone 
out of  fashion1 and to denounce a peace
 with the ,directory because the origin 
of their government was regicidal1 was  
as childish as it would have  been in   
,mazarin to decline a treaty of regicide
 peace with the ,lord  ,protector4      
,what makes the ,regicide ,peace so     
repulsive is not that it recommends     
energetic prosecution of the war1 and   
not that it abounds in glaring          
fallacies in detail1 but that it is in  
direct contradiction with that  strong1 
positive1 rational1 and sane method     
which had before uniformly  marked      
,burke's political philosophy4 ,here lay
 his inconsistency1 not  in abandoning  
democratic principles1 for he had never 
held them1 but  in forgetting his own   
rules that nations act from adequate    
motives  relative to their interests1   
and not from metaphysical speculation2  

that we cannot draw an indictment       
against a whole people2 that there  is a
 species of hostile justice which no    
asperity of war wholly  extinguishes in 
the minds of a civilised people4 ,steady
 independent  minds1 he had once said1  
when they have an object of so serious a
  concern to mankind as government under
 their contemplation1 will  disdain to  
assume the part of satirists and        
declaimers4 ,show the  thing that you   
ask for1 he cried during the ,american  
war1 to be  reason1 show it to be common
 sense4 ,we have a measure of the reason
  and common sense of ,burke's attitude 
in the ,regicide ,peace1 in  the        
language which it inspired in ,windham  
and others1 who denounced  ,wilberforce 
for canting when he spoke of peace2 who 
stigmatised ,pitt  as weak and a pander 
to national avarice for thinking of the 
cost  of the war2 and who actually      
charged the liverymen of ,london who    
petitioned for peace with open sedition4
    ,it is a striking illustration of   

the versatility of ,burke's moods  that 
immediately before sitting down to write
 the ,fourth ,letter on a  ,regicide    
,peace he had composed one of the most  
lucid and accurately  meditated of all  
of his tracts1 which1 short as it is1   
contains ideas  on free trade which were
 only too far in advance of the opinion 
of his  time4 ,in #aggb a ,corn ,bill   
had been introduced--it was passed in   
the  following year--of which ,adam     
,smith said that it was like the laws of
  ,solon1 not the best in itself1 but   
the best which the situation and        
tendency of the times would admit4 ,in  
speaking upon this measure1  ,burke had 
laid down those sensible principles on  
the trade in corn1  which he now in     
#agie worked out in the ,thoughts and   
,details on  ,scarcity4 ,those who do   
not concern themselves with economics   
will  perhaps be interested in the      
singular passage1 vigorously objected   
to by ,dugald ,stewart1 in which ,burke 
sets up a genial defence of the         

consumption of ardent spirits4 ,it is   
interesting as an argument1 and  it is  
most characteristic of the author4      
,the curtain was now falling4 ,all who  
saw him felt that ,burke's life  was    
quickly drawing to a close4 ,his son's  
death had struck the final  blow4 ,we   
could only wish that the years had      
brought to him what it  ought to be the 
fervent prayer of us all to find at the 
close of the  long struggle with        
ourselves and with circumstance1--a     
disposition to  happiness1 a composed   
spirit to which time has made things    
clear1 an  unrebellious temper1 and     
hopes undimmed for mankind4 ,if this was
 not  so1 ,burke at least busied himself
 to the end in great interests4 ,his    
charity to the unfortunate emigrants    
from ,france was diligent and           
unwearied4 ,among other solid services  
he established a school near            
,beaconsfield for sixty ,french boys1   
principally the orphans of  ,quiberon1  
and the children of other emigrants who 

had suffered in the  cause4 ,almost the 
last glimpse that we have of ,burke is  
in a record  of a visit to ,beaconsfield
 by the author of the ,vindiciae        
,gallicae4  ,mackintosh had written to  
,burke to express his admiration for his
  character and genius1 and recanting   
his old defence of the ,revolution4     
,since that time1 he said1 a melancholy 
experience has undeceived me  on many   
subjects1 in which ,i was then the dupe 
of my enthusiasm4  ,when ,mackintosh    
went to ,beaconsfield 7,christmas1      
#agif7 he was as much  amazed as every  
one else with the exuberance of his     
host's mind in  conversation4 ,even then
 ,burke entered with cordial glee into  
the  sports of children1 rolling about  
with them on the carpet1 and pouring    
out in his gambols the sublimest images1
 mixed with the most wretched  puns4 ,he
 said of ,fox1 with a deep sigh1 ,he is 
made to be loved4  ,there was the       
irresistible outbreak against that      
putrid carcase1 that  mother of all     

evil--the ,french ,revolution4 ,it      
reminded him of the  accursed things    
that crawled in and out of the mouth of 
the vile hag  in ,spenser's ,cave of    
,error2 and he repeated the nauseous    
stanza4  ,mackintosh was to be the      
faithful knight of the romance1 the     
brightness of whose sword was to flash  
destruction on the filthy  progeny4     
,it was on the #ith of ,july #agig that1
 in the sixty-eighth year of his  age1  
preserving his faculties to the last    
moment1 he expired4 ,with  magnanimous  
tenderness ,fox proposed that he should 
be buried among the  great dead in      
,westminster ,abbey2 but ,burke had left
 strict injunctions  that his funeral   
should be private1 and he was laid in   
the little  church at ,beaconsfield4 ,it
 was a terrible moment in the history of
  ,england and of ,europe4 ,an open     
mutiny had just been quelled in the     
fleet4 ,there had been signs of         
disaffection in the army4 ,in ,ireland  
the spirit of revolt was smouldering1   

and in a few months broke out  in the   
fierce flames of a great rebellion4 ,and
 it was the year of the  political crime
 of ,campo ,formio1 that sinister       
pacification in which  violence and     
fraud once more asserted their unveiled 
ascendancy in  ,europe4 ,these sombre   
shadows were falling over the western   
world when  a life went out which1      
notwithstanding some grave aberrations1 
had  made great spaces in human destiny 
very luminous4          ,,chapter ,x    
,,burke',s ,,literary ,,character       
,a story is told that in the time when  
,burke was still at peace with  the     
,dissenters1 he visited ,priestley1 and 
after seeing his library  and his       
laboratory1 and hearing how his host's  
hours were given to  experiment and     
meditation1 he exclaimed that such a    
life must make  him the happiest and    
most to be envied of men4 ,it must      
sometimes have  occurred to ,burke to   
wonder whether he had made the right    
choice when  he locked away the         

fragments of his ,history1 and plunged  
into the  torment of party and          
,parliament4 ,but his interests and     
aptitudes were  too strong and          
overmastering for him to have been right
 in doing  otherwise4 ,contact with     
affairs was an indispensable condition  
for  the full use of his great          
faculties1 in spite of their being less 
faculties of affairs than of            
speculation4 ,public life was the actual
  field in which to test1 and work out1 
and use with good effect the  moral     
ideas which were ,burke's most sincere  
and genuine interests4 ,and  he was able
 to bring these moral ideas into such   
effective use because  he was so        
entirely unfettered by the narrowing    
spirit of formula4 ,no  man1 for        
instance1 who thought in formulae would 
have written the  curious passage that  
,i have already referred to1 in which he
 eulogises  gin1 because under the      
pressure of the cares and sorrows of our
  mortal condition1 men have at all     

times and in all countries called  in   
some physical aid to their moral        
consolation4 ,he valued words at  their 
proper rate1 that is to say1 he knew    
that some of the greatest  facts in the 
life and character of man1 and in the   
institutions of  society1 can find no   
description and no measurement in words4
 ,public  life1 as we can easily        
perceive1 with its shibboleths1 its     
exclusive  parties1 its measurement by  
conventional standards1 its attention to
  small expediencies before the larger  
ones1 is not a field where such         
characteristics are likely to make an   
instant effect4    ,though it is not    
wrong to say of ,burke that as an orator
 he was  transcendent1 yet in that      
immediate influence upon his hearers    
which  is commonly supposed to be the   
mark of oratorical success1 all the     
evidence is that ,burke generally       
failed4 ,we have seen how his speech    
against ,hastings affected ,miss        
,burney1 and how the speech on the      

,nabob  of ,arcot's debts was judged by 
,pitt not to be worth answering4        
,perhaps  the greatest that he ever made
 was that on conciliation with ,america2
  the wisest in its temper1 the most    
closely logical in its reasoning1  the  
amplest in appropriate topics1 the most 
generous and conciliatory  in the       
substance of its appeals4 ,yet ,erskine1
 who was in the ,house  when this was   
delivered1 said that it drove everybody 
away1 including  people who1 when they  
came to read it1 read it over and over  
again1  and could hardly think of       
anything else4 ,as ,moore says rather   
too  floridly1 but with truth1--,in vain
 did ,burke's genius put forth  its     
superb plumage1 glittering all over with
 the hundred eyes of  fancy--the gait of
 the bird was heavy and awkward1 and its
 voice  seemed rather to scare than     
attract4 ,burke's gestures were clumsy2 
he  had sonorous but harsh tones2 he    
never lost a strong ,irish accent2  and 
his utterance was often hurried and     

eager4 ,apart from these  disadvantages 
of accident which have been overcome by 
men infinitely  inferior to ,burke1 it  
is easy to perceive1 from the matter and
 texture  of the speeches that have     
become ,english classics1 that the very 
qualities which are excellences in      
literature were drawbacks to the  spoken
 discourses4 ,a listener in ,westminster
 ,hall or the ,house of  ,commons1      
unlike the reader by his fireside in the
 next century1 is  always thinking of   
arguments and facts that bear directly  
on the  special issue before him4 ,what 
he wishes to hear is some particularity 
of event or inference which will either 
help him to make up his mind1  or will  
justify him if his mind is already made 
up4 ,burke never  neglected these       
particularities1 and he never went so   
wide as to  fall for an instant into    
vagueness1 but he went wide enough into 
the  generalities that lent force and   
light to his view1 to weary men who     
cared for nothing1 and could not be     

expected to care for anything1 but  the 
business actually in hand and the most  
expeditious way through it4  ,the       
contentiousness is not close enough and 
rapid enough to hold the  interest of a 
practical assembly1 which1 though it was
 a hundred times  less busy than the    
,house of ,commons to-day1 seems to have
 been eager  in the inverse proportion  
of what it had to do1 to get that little
  quickly done4    ,then we may doubt   
whether there is any instance of an     
orator throwing  his spell over a large 
audience1 without frequent resort to the
 higher  forms of commonplace4 ,two of  
the greatest speeches of ,burke's time  
are  supposed to have been ,grattan's on
 ,tithes and ,fox's on the ,westminster 
,scrutiny1 and these were evidently full
 of the splendid commonplaces  of the   
firstrate rhetorician4 ,burke's mind was
 not readily set to  these tunes4 ,the  
emotion to which he commonly appealed   
was that  too rare one1 the love of     
wisdom2 and he combined his thoughts and

  knowledge in propositions of wisdom so
 weighty and strong1 that the  minds of 
ordinary hearers were not on the instant
 prepared for them4    ,it is true that 
,burke's speeches were not without      
effect of an  indirect kind1 for there  
is good evidence that at the time when  
,lord  ,north's ministry was tottering1 
,burke had risen to a position of the   
first eminence in ,parliament4 ,when    
,boswell said to him that people  would 
wonder how he could bring himself to    
take so much pains with his  speeches1  
knowing with certainty that not one vote
 would be gained by  them1 ,burke       
answered that it is very well worth     
while to take pains  to speak well in   
,parliament2 for if a man speaks well1  
he gradually  establishes a certain     
reputation and consequence in the       
general  opinion2 and though an ,act    
that has been ably opposed becomes law1 
yet  in its progress it is softened and 
modified to meet objections whose  force
 has never been acknowledged directly4  

,aye1 sir1 ,johnson broke  in1 and there
 is a gratification of pride4 ,though we
 cannot outvote  them1 we will out-argue
 them4    ,out-arguing is not perhaps   
the right word for most of ,burke's     
performances4 ,he is at heart thinking  
more of the subject itself than  of     
those on whom it was his apparent       
business to impress a particular  view  
of it4 ,he surrenders himself wholly to 
the matter1 and follows  up1 though with
 a strong and close tread1 all the      
excursions to which  it may give rise in
 an elastic intelligence--motion1 as ,de
 ,quincey  says1 propagating motion1 and
 life throwing off life4 ,but then this 
exuberant way of thinking1 this         
willingness to let the subject lead1  is
 less apt in public discourse than it is
 in literature1 and from  this comes the
 literary quality of ,burke's speeches4 
,with all his hatred for the book-man in
 politics1 ,burke owed much of  his own 
distinction to that generous richness   
and breadth of judgment  which had been 

ripened in him by literature and his    
practice in it4  ,like some other men in
 our history1 he showed that books are a
 better  preparation for statesmanship  
than early training in the subordinate  
posts and among the permanent officials 
of a public department4  ,there is no   
copiousness of literary reference in his
 works1 such  as over-abounded in civil 
and ecclesiastical publicists of the    
seventeenth century4 ,nor can we truly  
say that there is much1 though  there is
 certainly some1 of that tact1 which    
literature is alleged to  confer on     
those who approach it in a just spirit  
and with the true  gift4 ,the influence 
of literature on ,burke lay partly in   
the direction  of emancipation from the 
mechanical formulae of practical        
politics2  partly in the association    
which it engendered1 in a powerful      
understanding like his1 between politics
 and the moral forces of the  world1 and
 between political maxims and the old   
and great sentences of  morals2 partly  

in drawing him1 even when resting his   
case on prudence  and expediency1 to    
appeal to the widest and highest        
sympathies2  partly1 and more than all1 
in opening his thoughts to the many     
conditions1 possibilities1 and varieties
 of untried being in human  character   
and situation1 and so giving an         
incomparable flexibility to  his methods
 of political approach4    ,this        
flexibility is not to be found in his   
manner and composition4  ,that derives  
its immense power from other sources2   
from passion1  intensity1 imagination1  
size1 truth1 cogency of logical reason4 
,if any  one has imbued himself with    
that exacting love of delicacy1 measure1
  and taste in expression1 which was    
until our own day a sacred  tradition of
 the ,french1 then he will not like     
,burke4 ,those who insist  on charm1 on 
winningness in style1 on subtle         
harmonies and exquisite  suggestion1 are
 disappointed in ,burke2 they even find 
him stiff and  over-coloured4 ,and there

 are blemishes of this kind4 ,his banter
 is  nearly always ungainly1 his wit    
blunt1 as ,johnson said of it1 and  very
 often unseasonable4 ,we feel that      
,johnson must have been right in        
declaring that though ,burke was always 
in search of pleasantries1 he  never    
made a good joke in his life4 ,as is    
usual with a man who has not  true      
humour1 ,burke is also without true     
pathos4 ,the thought of wrong  or misery
 moved him less to pity for the victim  
than to anger against  the cause4 ,then1
 there are some gratuitous and          
unredeemed vulgarities2  some images    
whose barbarity makes us shudder1 of    
creeping ascarides  and inexpugnable    
tapeworms4 ,but it is the mere foppery  
of literature  to suffer ourselves to be
 long detained by specks like these4    
,the varieties of ,burke's literary or  
rhetorical method are very  striking4   
,it is almost incredible that the superb
 imaginative  amplification of the      
description of ,hyder ,ali's descent    

upon the  ,carnatic should be from the  
same pen as the grave1 simple1 unadorned
  ,address to the ,king 7#aggg71 where  
each sentence falls on the ear  with the
 accent of some golden-tongued oracle of
 the wise gods4 ,his  stride is the     
stride of a giant1 from the sentimental 
beauty of the  picture of ,marie        
,antoinette at ,versailles1 or the red  
horror of the  tale of ,debi ,sing in   
,rungpore1 to the learning1             
positiveness1 and cool  judicial mastery
 of the ,report on the ,lords' ,journals
 7#agid71 which  ,philip ,francis1 no   
mean judge1 declared on the whole to be 
the most  eminent and extraordinary of  
all his productions4 ,even in the       
coolest  and dryest of his pieces1 there
 is the mark of greatness1 of grasp1 of 
comprehension4 ,in all its varieties    
,burke's style is noble1 earnest1       
deep-flowing1 because his sentiment was 
lofty and fervid1 and went  with        
sincerity and ardent disciplined travail
 of judgment4 ,fox told  ,francis       

,horner that ,dryden's prose was        
,burke's great favourite1 and  that     
,burke imitated him more than any one   
else4 ,we may well believe  that he was 
attracted by ,dryden's ease1 his        
copiousness1 his gaiety1  his manliness 
of style1 but there can hardly have been
 any conscious  attempt at imitation4   
,their topics were too different4 ,burke
 had  the style of his subjects1 the    
amplitude1 the weightiness1 the         
laboriousness1 the sense1 the high      
flight1 the grandeur1 proper to a  man  
dealing with imperial themes1 the       
freedom of nations1 the justice  of     
rulers1 the fortunes of great societies1
 the sacredness of law4  ,burke will    
always be read with delight and         
edification1 because in  the midst of   
discussions on the local and the        
accidental1 he scatters  apophthegms    
that take us into the regions of lasting
 wisdom4 ,in  the midst of the torrent  
of his most strenuous and passionate    
deliverances1 he suddenly rises aloof   

from his immediate subject1 and  in all 
tranquillity reminds us of some         
permanent relation of things1  some     
enduring truth of human life or society4
 ,we do not hear the  organ tones of    
,milton1 for faith and freedom had other
 notes in the  seventeenth century4     
,there is none of the complacent and    
wise-browed  sagacity of ,bacon1 for    
,burke's were days of eager personal    
strife  and party fire and civil        
division4 ,we are not exhilarated by the
  cheerfulness1 the polish1 the fine    
manners of ,bolingbroke1 for ,burke  had
 an anxious conscience1 and was earnest 
and intent that the good  should        
triumph4 ,and yet ,burke is among the   
greatest of those who have  wrought     
marvels in the prose of our ,english    
tongue4    ,the influence of ,burke on  
the publicists of the generation after  
the  ,revolution was much less          
considerable than might have been       
expected4  ,in ,germany1 where there has
 been so much excellent writing about   

,staatswissenschaft1 with such poverty  
and darkness in the wisdom of  practical
 politics1 there is a long list of      
writers who have drawn  their           
inspiration from ,burke4 ,in ,france1   
publicists of the sentimental  school1  
like ,chateaubriand1 and the            
politico-ecclesiastical school1  like   
,de ,maistre1 fashioned a track of their
 own4 ,in ,england ,burke made  a deep  
mark on contemporary opinion during the 
last years of his life1  and then his   
influence underwent a certain eclipse4  
,the official ,whigs  considered him a  
renegade and a heresiarch1 who had      
committed the  deadly sin of breaking up
 the party2 and they never mentioned his
  name without bitterness4 ,to men like 
,godwin1 the author of ,political       
,justice1 ,burke was as antichrist4     
,bentham and ,james ,mill thought of    
him as a declaimer who lived upon       
applause1 and who1 as one of them  says1
 was for protecting everything old1 not 
because it was good  but because it     

existed4 ,in one quarter only did he    
exert a profound  influence4 ,his maxim 
that men might employ their sagacity in 
discovering the latent wisdom which     
underlies general prejudices and  old   
institutions1 instead of exploding them1
 inspired ,coleridge1 as  ,i have       
already said2 and the ,coleridgian      
school are ,burke's direct  descendants1
 whenever they deal with the            
significance and the  relations of      
,church and ,state4 ,but they connected 
these views so  closely with their views
 in metaphysics and theology1 that the  
association with ,burke was effectually 
disguised4    ,the only ,english writer 
of that age whom we can name along with 
,burke in the literature of enduring    
power1 is ,wordsworth1 that great       
representative in another and a higher  
field1 and with many rare  elements     
added that were all his own of those    
harmonising and  conciliatory forces and
 ideas that make man's destiny easier to
 him1  through piety in its oldest and  

best sense2 through reverence for  the  
past1 for duty1 for institutions4 ,he   
was born in the year of the  ,present   
,discontents 7#aggj71 and when ,burke   
wrote the ,reflections1  ,wordsworth was
 standing1 with ,france on the top of   
golden hours1  listening with delight   
among the ruins of the ,bastille1 or on 
the  banks of the ,loire1 to the        
homeless sound of joy that was in the   
sky4 ,when ,france lost faith and       
freedom1 and ,napoleon had built his    
throne on their grave1 he began to see  
those strong elements which for  ,burke 
had all his life been the true and fast 
foundation of the  social world4 ,wide  
as is the difference between an         
oratorical and a  declamatory mind like 
,burke's1 and the least oratorical of   
all poets1  yet under this difference of
 form and temper there is a striking    
likeness in spirit4 ,there was the same 
energetic feeling about moral  ideas1   
the same frame of counsel and prudence1 
the same love for the  slowness of time1

 the same slight account held of mere   
intellectual  knowledge1 and even the   
same ruling sympathy with that side of  
the  character of ,englishmen which     
,burke exulted in1 as their awe  of     
kings and reverence for priests1 their  
sullen resistance  of innovation their  
unalterable perseverance in the wisdom  
of  prejudice4    ,the conservative     
movement in ,england ran on for many    
years in the  ecclesiastical channel    
rather than among questions where       
,burke's  writings might have been      
brought to bear4 ,on the political side 
the most active minds1 both in practice 
and theory1 worked out the  principles  
of liberalism1 and they did so on a plan
 and by methods  from which ,burke's    
utilitarian liberalism and his historic 
conservatism were equally remote4 ,there
 are many signs around us that  this    
epoch is for the moment at an end4 ,the 
historic method1 fitting  in with       
certain dominant conceptions in the     
region of natural science1  is bringing 

men round to a way of looking at society
 for which ,burke's  maxims are exactly 
suited2 and it seems probable that he   
will be more  frequently and more       
seriously referred to within the next   
twenty years  than he has been within   
the whole of the last eighty4           
,,the ,,end        ,printed by ,r4  ,r4 
,,clark1 ,,limited1 ,edinburgh4