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Presented  to  the 
LIBRARY  of  the 

UNIVERSITY   OF   TORONTO 

by 
The  Estate  of  the  late 

PROFESSOR  A.  S.  P.  WOODHOUSE 

Head  of  the 

Department  of  English 

University  College 

1944-1964 


From  the  Romney  portrait 


BURKE'S 


SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION 


WITH  AMERICA 


EDITED 
WITH  NOTES  AND  AN  INTRODUCTION 

BY 
HAMMOND   LAMONT 

FORMERLY  PROFESSOR  OF   RHETORIC  IN 
BROWN  UNIVERSITY 


GINN  AND  COMPANY 

BOSTON  •  NEW  YORK  •  CHICAGO  •  LONDON 
ATLANTA  •  DALLAS  •  COLUMBUS  •  SAN  FRANCISCO 


COPYRIGHT,  1897 
BY  HAMMOND  LAMONT 


ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 
623.11 


•M  2  6  1966 


10437?? 


€ 


GINN  AND  COMPANY  •  PR<> 
PRIETORS  •  BOSTON  •  U.S.A. 


TO    MY  FATHER 
THOMAS    LAMONT 


PREFACE. 


THE  object  of  this  volume  is  to  present  in  compact  form 
all  the  material  needed  by  teacher  or  student  for  a  complete 
understanding  of  Burke's  greatest  speech,  that  on  Conciliation 
with  America. 

The  text,  except  for  modernized  capitalization,  spelling  and 
punctuation,  and  the  correction  of  a  few  typographical  errors, 

follows  a  copy  of  the  First  Edition,  London,  1775. 

The  Introduction  contains  no  newly  discovered  facts,  but 
simply  attempts  to  show  how  those  already  known  in  regard 
to  the  condition  of  Great  Britain,  the  relations  between  the 
mother  country  and  her  colonies,  Burke's  career,  his  principles 
and  his  style,  bear  upon  the  subject-matter  and  the  form  of 
this  speech.  It  also  supplies  references  to  the  proper  authori- 
ties on  matters  concerning  which  the  student  may  desire  fuller 
details. 

The  Notes  indicate  some  of  the  sources  from  which  Burke 
drew  elements  in  his  style,  mark  the  similarity  in  ideas  and 
expression  between  this  speech  and  his  other  writings,  and 
explain,  not  only  obscurities,  but  the  many  allusions  which 
appealed  to  his  hearers  but  which  are  partly  or  wholly  lost  on 
modern  readers.  The  notes  referring  to  Greek  and  Latin 


jv  PREFACE. 

authors,  to  the  Bible  and  to  English  poets  for  passages  which 
have  been  quoted  by  Burke,  or  which  seem  to  have  affected 
his  thought  or  style,  were  mostly  collected  by  C.  A.  Goodrich, 
in  his   Select  British  Eloquence,  and  by  E.  J.  Payne,  Burke's 
Select     Works,    Clarendon    Press,    1892,    vol.    I  ;    they  have 
appeared  in  several  subsequent  editions,  and  the  substance  of 
the  more  important  is  here  reprinted  without  further  acknowl- 
edgment.    The  definitions  of  obsolete  or  peculiar  words  and 
the  explanations  of  parliamentary  usages   have  been  handed 
down  from  Goodrich,  with  more  or  less  addition  at  each  trans- 
mission ;  but  they  have  been  treated  with  special  fulness  by 
F.  G.  Selby,  Burke's  Speeches,  Macmillan,  New   York,    1895. 
Some  of  the  parallel  passages  from  Burke  himself  have  also 
been  pointed  out  by  Payne,  Selby  or  Professor  A.  S.  Cook, 
Speech  on  Conciliation,  Longmans,  New  York,  1896 ;   but  the 
great  majority  of  them  are  new  in  this   edition.     The   most 
important  notes  are  those  which  throw  light  on  Burke's  infer- 
ences from  the  events  which  had  already  estranged  England  and 
her  colonies  ;  on  his  manner  of  summing  up  everything  said  on 
all  sides  during  ten  years  of  discussion  of  American  affairs  ;  on 
the  political  or  personal  bearing  of  many  remarks  which  we 
might  deem  insignificant ;  on  his  dexterity  in  turning  against 
his  opponents  their  own  phrases,  convicting  them  out  of  their 
own  mouths  ;  in  short,  on  the  force  of  this  speech  as  an  argu- 
ment.    Notes  of  this  kind,  in  so  far  as  they  are  needed  to 
elucidate  matters  which  Burke  directly  mentions,  are  given  in 
most  editions.     Some  of  the  allusions,  however,  are  difficult  to 
trace,  owing  to  the  fragmentary  state  even  of  the  completest 
reports  of  parliamentary  proceedings,  and  but  few  actually  were 


PREFACE.  V 

traced  until  Professor  Cook  gathered  from  such  valuable  but 
obvious  sources  as  the  Parliamentary  History,  the  Annual 
Register  and  the  histories  of  Bancroft  and  Lecky  a  considerable 
body  of  material  relating  to  the  debates  on  America.  Of  such 
notes  some  in  this  volume  are  specially  credited  to  him  ;  some 
are  substantially  identical  with  his,  because  the  present  editor, 
before  seeing  Professor  Cook's  edition,  made  a  systematic 
study  of  the  same  sources ;  and  many  are  now  published  for 
the  first  time. 

For  helpful  suggestions  the  thanks  of  the  editor  are  due 
Professor  John  Matthews  Manly  of  Brown  University. 


H.  L. 


PROVIDENCE,  R.  L, 
May  13,  1897. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION  :  PACK 

ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  BURKE ix 

SOCIAL  CONDITIONS ix 

POLITICAL  CONDITIONS xii 

EDMUND  BURKE xix 

BURKE  AS  A  STATESMAN xli 

BURKE  AS  AN  ORATOR xlvi 

BURKE  AS  A  WRITER xlix 

STRUCTURE  OF  THE  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION      .        .  Iv 

CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE Ixi 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE    .        .        .        .        .        .        .  Ixvi 

SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION i 

NOTES 79 

INDEX '  •        «        •        •       •        -        •  129 


INTRODUCTION. 


I. 

ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  BURKE. 

"  I  MUST  be  in  a  wretched  state  indeed  when  your  company 
would  not  be  a  delight  to  me."1  These  words,  which  the  dying 
Dr.  Johnson  addressed  to  Edmund  Burke,  can  be  sincerely 
repeated  even  now  by  any  one  who  really  gets  acquainted  with 
him.  Without  some  acquaintance,  however,  with  Burke  him- 
self and  with  his  environment,  one  may  fail  to  realize  that,  far 
from  being  a  mere  eloquent  declaimer  about  matters  settled  a 
hundred  years  before  we  were  born,  he  is  rather  the  greatest 
of  statesmen,  discussing  the  very  problems  which  vex  us  to- 
day. To  understand  him  wholly,  even  in  the  Speech  on  Con" 
dilation  with  America,  one  must  have  a  considerable  knowl- 
edge of  the  social  conditions  in  his  time,  of  the  political 
situation,  of  his  character,  his  principles  of  statecraft  and  his 
style. 

II. 

SOCIAL  CONDITIONS. 

The  social  conditions  of  England  in  Burke's  day  are  most 
fully  laid  before  us  in  the  clear-cut  pictures  of  BoswelPs  Life  oj 
Johnson,  Horace  Walpole's  Letters,  Madame  D'Arblay's  Diary 

1  BoswelFs  Life  of  Johnson,  edited  by  G.  Birkbeck  Hill,  Oxford,  1887, 
IV,  407. 


x  INTRODUCTION. 

and  Letters  and  Jesse's  George  Selwyn  and  His  Contemporaries! 
In  these  works  such  small  details  as  tie-wigs  and  swords, 
journeys  from  country  to  town  by  coach  and  four,  pleasure 
parties  at  Vauxhall  Gardens,  dinners  of  the  Literary  Club  at 
the  Turk's  Head,  gossip  about  the  shameless  old  Marquis  of 
Queen sberry  and  tears  over  the  woes  of  Clarissa  Harlowe 
often  show  the  real  temper  of  the  age  more  distinctly  than  do 
the  generalizations  of  formal  history.  Halfway  between  gossip 
and  history  come  Thackeray's  entertaining  lectures  on  George 
the  Second  and  George  the  Third  in  the  Four  Georges,  and  on 
Hogarth,  Smollett,  Fielding,  Sterne  and  Goldsmith  in  the 
English  Humorists.  Leslie  Stephen's  History  of  English 
Thought  in  the  Eighteenth  Century  treats  more  particularly  the 
intellectual  side  of  life.2  Of  the  regular  histories,  Lecky's  Eng- 
land in  the  Eighteenth  Century*  goes  over  the  whole  ground 
minutely,  and  Green's  History  of  the  English  People 4  f ocusses 
the  same  wide  view  into  small  space.  All  these  books  exhibit 
the  first  stage  of  the  transformation  from  the  slow,  insular, 
unorganized  country  seen  in  the  writings  of  Dryden  and  Pope, 
Addison,  Steele  and  Swift,  to  the  quickly  moving,  cosmopolitan, 
highly  organized  modern  England. 

One  important  element  in  the  development  was  the  broader 
diffusion  of  intelligence.  It  is  true  that  the  wits  still  gathered 
in  the  London  coffee-houses,  and,  as  Dr.  Johnson  and  David 
Garrick  had  done,  men  still  came  to  town  to  make  fortunes  in 
business  and  attain  eminence  in  all  professions  ;  but  life  out- 
side London  was  becoming  a  bit  less  dull.  Owing  in  part  to 
the  popularity  which  the  Tatler  and  the  Spectator  had  given  to 
periodical  literature,  newspapers  were  springing  up  in  all  the 
cities  and  leading  towns,  and  were  carrying  into  every  village 
the  discussion  of  such  topics  as  the  social  theories  of  Rousseau, 
Dr.  Smollett's  new  novel  Humphrey  Clinker,  and  the  last  letter 

1  London,  1843.  8  New  York,  1878-90,  VI,  138-300. 

2  See  chapter  xii.  *  New  York,  1880,  IV,  206-210,  272-283. 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

of  Junius  in  the  Public  Advertiser.  More  or  less  complete 
reports  of  the  proceedings  of  Parliament  bore  the  voices  of 
Fox,  Pitt  and  Burke *  to  an  audience  consisting  of  the  whole 
nation. 

Another  element  on  which  both  Green  and  Lecky  *  lay  much 
stress  was  the  so-called  Methodist  movement.  Though  the 
followers  of  Wesley  and  Whitfield  were  ridiculed 8  as  fanatics 
or  snivelling  hypocrites,  nevertheless  before  the  middle  of  the 
century  their  zeal  had  gone  beyond  the  narrow  limits  of  the  sect, 
and  was  deepening  the  moral  earnestness  of  all  England.  This 
fresh  impulse  toward  cleaner  thinking  and  living  was  shaming 
the  coarseness  and  profligacy  of  the  age  of  Anne,  as  revealed 
in  the  brutal  pages  of  Swift,  and  was  driving  out  the  cynical 
corruption  of  Sir  Robert  Walpole's  day,  when  every  man  had 
his  price  and  even  a  clergyman  would  buy  a  bishopric  from  a 
king's  mistress.4  Above  all,  it  was  steadily  strengthening  that 
interest  in  philanthropy  now  so  widespread.  It  stirred  not 
only  individual  leaders  like  John  Howard,  but  Parliament*  and 
various  local  governing  boards  as  well,  to  discuss  plans  for 
ameliorating  the  condition  of  the  poor,  the  sick,  the  imprisoned 
and  the  enslaved.  Indeed  it  had  already  gained  for  the  anti- 
slavery  movement  such  parliamentary  support6  that  Burke's 
references  to  the  "  inhuman  traffic  " 7  must  have  quickened  his 
hearers'  attention,  just  as  any  mention  of  aid  for  the  unem- 
ployed quickens  ours. 

The  most  noteworthy  change  of  all,  however,  was  the  expan- 
sion of  commerce.  Burke  tells  how  foreign  trade  had  shot 
up ; 8  no  less  remarkable  had  been  the  increase  in  domestic. 

1  The  Speech  on  Conciliation  was  issued  in  pamphlet  soon  after  delivery. 

«  II,  568-699. 

8  See  Anstey's  New  Bath  Guide,  published  in  1766. 

4  Thackeray's  George  the  Second,  London,  1869,  46. 

5  See  Parliamentary  History,  London,  1806-20,  XVII,  639-643,  843-848 

6  Lecky,  VI,  279-281. 

*  See  32  22.  8  Pages  11-13. 


xii  INTRODUCTION. 

Mines  of  coal,  iron  and  tin  were  opening,  factories  and  fur- 
naces were  multiplying,  and  canals  were  building  which  made 
possible  a  volume  of  internal  traffic  never  before  dreamed  of. 
This  development  of  business  at  home  and  abroad  had  affected 
every  class  in  the  community,  but  had  thrust  the  mercantile 
class  into  special  prominence  ;  it  had  bestowed  on  the  newly 
rich  an  influence l  hitherto  reserved  as  a  sort  of  prerogative  of 
the  aristocracy.  It  had  enabled  merchants,  or  those  anxious 
to  guard  mercantile  interests,  to  play  a  more  important  part 
in  Parliament2  than  ever  before,  and  in  debates  over  taxes, 
treaties,  war  and  peace,  to  demand  decisions  favorable  to  Eng- 
lish industries.  This  it  was  that  gave  to  Burke's  arguments 3 
for  the  commercial  advantages  of  conciliation  the  greatest 
weight  both  with  Parliament  and  the  nation  at  large. 

III. 

POLITICAL  CONDITIONS. 

The  course  of  events  leading  up  to  this  speech  is  related  in 
all  English  or  American  histories  that  deal  with  the  period.4 

1  See  Burke's  Speech  on  the  Nabob  of  Arcofs  Debts,   Works,  Boston, 
1894,  III,  24,  25. 

2  See  Parliamentary  History,  XVI,  133-135;  XVIII,  168,  184,219,461. 
8  See  pages  11-13,  3°>  31*  39>  4O,  66,  67,  69-72. 

*  Detailed  accounts  may  be  found  in  Lecky  and  in  Bancroft,  History  of 
the  United  States,  New  York,  1888,  from  II,  319,  to  IV,  120  ;  more  con- 
densed narratives  in  Green,  Andrews's  History  of  the  United  States,  New 
York,  1894,  period  iii,  chs.  i-iv,  Goldwin  Smith's  United  States,  New  York, 
1893,  cn-  ">  and  Fiske's  American  Revolution,  Boston,  1891,  chs.  i,  ii,  and 
the  first  part  of  iii;  and  yet  briefer  summaries  in  the  introductions  to 
Selby's  edition  of  Burke's  Speeches,  New  York,  1895,  and  Morley's  edition 
in  the  Universal  Library,  London,  1892.  Bancroft's  relation  of  proceed- 
ings in  Parliament  must  be  taken  with  some  allowance ;  for  even  when  his 
authority  seems  to  have  been  the  Parliamentary  History,  he  now  and  then 
omits  qualifying  clauses  from  speeches,  and  thus  makes  men  appear 
hostile  to  America  than  they  actually  were. 


INTRODUCTION. 


According  to  all  authorities,1  though  England  and  her  colonies 
had  not  been  actually  hostile  during  the  first  half  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  nevertheless  several  causes  were  producing 
irritation  on  both  sides.  In  the  first  place,  the  mother  country, 
by  a  short-sighted  effort  to  keep  a  monopoly  of  commerce  and 
manufactures,  had  from  time  to  time  laid  restrictions  upon 
them.2  Such  were  the  laws  that  the  colonists  must  export  and 
import  only  in  English  or  American  vessels  ;  that  they  must 
trade  only  with  England  and  her  colonies  ;  that  they  must  not 
erect  mills  for  rolling  and  slitting  iron  ;  and  that  they  must  not 
export  hats.  To  these  vexations,  which  in  view  of  the  growth 
in  colonial  population  and  industries  were  by  no  means  incon- 
siderable, she  had,  through  the  sheer  tactlessness  of  her  agents, 
added  many  annoyances  in  methods  of  administration.  Her 
executive  officers,  from  governors  down,  were  inclined  to  exert 
their  powers  to  the  extreme  and  even  beyond  legal  limits. 
They  occasionally  suspended  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  inter- 
fered with  the  freedom  of  the  press,  and  attempted  to  deprive 
towns  of  representation  in  the  legislature.3  The  people,  on 
their  part,  proud  of  their  English  blood  and  their  English 
liberties,  protested  in  town-meetings  and  legislative  assemblies, 
and  often  treated  the  king's  officers  with  scant  respect,  some- 
times with  violence.  Then  while  the  colonists  waxed  more  and 
more  indignant,  England  was  inevitably  led  by  the  reports  of 
her  agents  into  harsher  severities  ;  for  she  fully  believed  the 
Americans  to  be  a  discontented,  hot-tempered,  lawless  crowd,4 
sorely  in  need  of  strong  government. 

1  The  succeeding  outline  is  drawn  from  all  the  authorities  mentioned  in 
the  preceding  note,  and  from  the  Parliamentary  History,  Dodsley's  Annual 
Register,  Journals   of   the   American    Congress,    Letters    of   Junius,    and 
Adolphus's  History  of  England  from  the  Accession  to  the  Decease  of  Georgt 
the  Third,  London,  1840-45,  but  Fiske  is  followed  most  closely. 

2  See  39  10,  note. 
8  Fiske,  I,  3. 

*  33  11,  note  ;  also  Adolphus,  II,  102,  103. 


XIV 


INTROD  UCTION. 


The  ill  feeling  was  further  inflamed  by  the  attitude  of  the  king 
himself.  When  George  the  Third  came  to  the  throne  in  1760,  he 
found  his  authority  scarcely  more  than  nominal ;  for  upon  the  ex- 
pulsion of  James  the  Second  in  1688,  the  Tories  had  sullenly  left 
the  government  to  the  Whigs,  and  the  latter  so  distrusted  royal 
power  that  they  had  reduced  it  to  the  narrowest  limits.  George, 
however,  was  determined  not  to  be  a  puppet  in  the  hands  of  his 
ministers.  Dull,  industrious,  stubborn,  he  was  resolved  that  on 
both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  he  would  rule  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name. 

Unhappily  for  England,  he  met  with  ineffectual  resistance, 
because  his  supporters  were  united  and  his  enemies  divided. 
He  was  firmly  backed  by  the  Tories,  who  had  begun  to  emerge 
from  retirement,  and  who  found  in  him  a  sovereign  exactly  to 
their,  tastes,  a  believer  in  the  divine  right  of  kings.  He  was 
unsteadily  opposed  by  the  disunited  Whigs.  Of  the  several 
factions  he  had  less  to  fear  from  the  Conservatives,  or  Old 
Whigs ;  for  they  were  not  only  split,  but  they  were  so  content 
with  the  state  of  things  under  which  England  and  their  party 
had  thriven  that  they  were  averse  to  radical  reforms.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  king  dreaded  and  hated  the  New  Whigs  under 
the  lead  of  the  elder  Pitt ;  for  they  were  fighting  with  consider- 
able unanimity  and  zeal  for  the  enlargement  of  popular  influ- 
ence through  more  complete  representation.  They  complained 
that  Parliament  no  longer  reflected  public  opinion,  because 
cities  like  Birmingham  and  Leeds,  which  had  recently  become 
important,  were  without  representation,  while  ancient  boroughs 
which  had  dwindled  into  insignificance  had  seats  which  were 
openly  bought  and  sold,  or  else  were  under  the  control  of  a  few 
Old  Whig  families.  With  the  help  of  the  Tories  headed  by 
Lord  North,  George  played  one  faction  against  the  other.  He 
strove  to  break  the  power  of  the  Old  Whigs  by  getting  their 
"  rotten  boroughs  "  into  his  own  hands,  and  he  weakened  the 
New  Whigs  by  the  use  of  political  patronage.  Thus  he  kept 
each  too  feeble  to  block  him. 


rNTRODUCTION.  XV 

With  England  and  America  both  irritated,  with  the  king  bent 
on  stretching  his  authority,  and  with  opposition  to  him  shattered 
by  faction,  events  moved  swiftly  to  a  crisis.  In  1763  George 
Grenville  became  Prime  Minister,  and  Charles  Townshend  First 
Lord  of  Trade,  that  is,  head  of  the  committee  of  the  Privy 
Council  in  charge  of  colonial  affairs.  Both  were  royal  hench- 
men. Townshend  believed  in  holding  the  colonies  with  a  firm 
hand,  in  depriving  them  of  the  right  of  self-government,  and  in 
maintaining  authority  by  a  standing  army  supported  by  taxes 
assessed  on  the  Americans  by  Parliament.  To  such  lengths 
Grenville  was  unwilling  to  go,  but  he  was  ready  to.  lay  a  tax  in 
order  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  French  and  Indian  War 
which  had  closed  in  1756, -  -to  lay  a  tax  in  spite  of  the  fact, 
fully  acknowledged  by  Parliament,1  that  the  colonists  had  already 
borne  more  than  their  share  of  the  burden.  For  carrying  out  his 
purpose  he  introduced  into  the  Commons  in  1764  a  resolution2 
asserting  the  propriety  of  raising  an  American  revenue  by 
requiring  stamps  on  all  legal  documents.  He  soon  heard 
protests,3  however,  from  the  assemblies  of  Massachusetts, 
Connecticut,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Virginia  and  South 
Carolina.  These  bodies  held  that  Parliament  had  no  right  to 
tax  the  colonies  without  their  consent,  but  declared  that  in 
response  to  a  request  from  the  king  the  colonies  would  con- 
tribute, according  to  their  means,  to  the  needs  of  the  British 
Empire.  Notwithstanding  these  remonstrances,  Grenville  got 
his  Stamp  Act  passed  in  1765.  America  was  furious.  In 
October  a  congress  of  delegates  from  Massachusetts,  Rhode 
Island,  Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania, 
Delaware,  Maryland  and  South  Carolina  met  at  New  York 
and  framed  formal  protests;  merchants  agreed  to  import  no 
more  goods  from  England  ;  in  some  colonies  the  people  threw 


1  See  page  55. 

2  Parliamentary  History,  XV,  1427. 
8  Fiske,  I,  1 6,  17. 


xvi  INTRODUCTION. 

the  boxes  of  stamps  into  the  sea ;  in  most  they  compelled  the 
stamp  officers  to  resign  ;  and  in  Massachusetts  a  mob  sacked 
the  house  of  Chief  Justice  Hutchinson. 

At  this  juncture  Lord  Rockingham,  leader  of  that  faction  of 
the  Old  Whigs  with  which  Burke  usually  acted,  became  Prime 
Minister,  and  proposed  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  on  the 
ground  of  policy.  During  the  hot  debates  over  this  motion 
and  over  all  subsequent  proceedings  in  regard  to  America,  the 
"king's  friends  "  l  were  firm  against  the  colonies,  because  defeat 
for  the  royal  plan  for  America  might  mean  defeat  for  it  in 
England.  They  argued  that  the  colonists  were  actuated  by 
nothing  but  the  rankest  ingratitude  and  a  sordid  wish  to  get 
the  protection  of  England  without  paying  for  it,2  and  that  - 
as  Burke  phrases  the  idea  —  the  "right  of  taxation  is  neces- 
sarily involved  in  the  general  principle  of  legislation."8  To 
this  view  Pitt  and  his  adherents  were  violently  opposed,  for 
they  understood  that  the  cause  of  America  was  exactly  the 
same  as  that  for  which  they  were  fighting  in  England.4  They 
maintained  that  representation  is  a  natural  right.5  Between 
these  two  extremes  the  Rockingham  Whigs  steered  a  middle 
course.  They  held  that  even  if  Parliament  had  a  right  to 
tax  the  colonies,  the  exercise  of  it  was  the  height  of  folly.6 
Finally,  in  1766,  the  Rockingham  ministry,  with  the  help  of 
New  Whigs,  carried  the  repeal,  and  at  the  same  time,  with  the 
help  of  Tories,  a  Declaratory  Act,  asserting  the  power  to  make 

1  See  17  8,  note. 

2  See  speech  of  George  Grenville,  Jan.  14,  1766,  Parliamentary  History, 
XVI,  101,  102. 

See  37  11, 12 ;  also  the  speech  of  Grenville,  above. 

*  See  speech  of  Colonel  Barre,  Jan.  26,  1775,  Parliamentary  History, 
XVIII,  191. 

'  See  37  6-10;  the  speech  of  Pitt,  Jan.  14,  1766,  Parliamentary  History, 
XVI,  97-101 ;  his  speech  May  27,  1774,  XVII,  1353-1356  ;  and  the  speech 
of  Governor  Johnstone,  Feb.  6,  1775,  XVIII,  253-262.  ' 

6  See  37  23-38  3,  and  57  16-18. 


INTRODUCTION.  xvii 

laws  for  the  colonies  "  in  all  cases  whatsoever." A  The  repeal 
so  pleased  the  people  of  London  that  in  the  streets  they 
cheered  Pitt  and  hissed  Grenville.  It  so  pleased  the  Ameri- 
cans that  they  kindled  bonfires,  and,  regarding  the  Declaratory 
Act  as  a  mere  empty  form,  voted  addresses  of  thanks  and 
loyalty. 

No  sooner  was  England  out  of  this  scrape  than  she  blundered 
into  another.  In  a  few  months  the  Rockingham  ministry  was 
succeeded  by  the  Grafton  ministry,  in  which  Townshend  was 
the  leading  spirit.  In  accordance  with  his  own  views  and 
those  of  the  king,  he  brought  in  a  bill  to  lay  duties  on  wine, 
oil  and  fruits  carried  directly  to  America  from  Spain  and 
Portugal,  and  on  glass,  paper,  lead,  painters'  colors  and  tea.2 
The  resulting  revenue  he  proposed  to  use  for  the  salaries  of 
royal  governors,  justices  appointed  at  the  king's  pleasure,  and 
civil  officers  responsible  only  to  the  crown,3 — a  blow  at  the 
principle  of  self-government,  as  regards  both  taxation  and  the 
control  of  officers.  The  purpose  of  George  the  Third  was  even 
more  nakedly  set  forth  when  Parliament  suspended  the  assem- 
bly of  New  York  for  refusal  to  provide  certain  supplies  for  the 
army.4  It  is  true  that  in  1769  Parliament  repealed  all  the 
duties  except  that  on  tea,  but  England  had  let  the  time  slip  by 
for  conciliating  America  by  a  partial  surrender. 

During  the  next  six  years  the  efforts  of  England  to  compel 
submission  made  the  resistance  of  the  colonies  only  the  more 
stubborn.  When  revenue  officers  enforced  the  laws  with  rigor 
and  intolerable  insolence,  merchants  renewed  their  agreements 
not  to  import  English  goods,  and  women  pledged  themselves 
to  wear  homespun  clothes  and  abstain  from  tea.  When  in 
Rhode  Island  the  captain  of  the  revenue  schooner  "  Gaspee  " 

1  Parliamentary  History,  XVI,  177. 

2  See  36  4,  note. 

8  Parliamentary  History,  XVI,  375,  376. 
331-341. 


INTRODUCTION. 

made  illegal  seizures  and  stole  hogs  and  sheep  from  the 
farmers,  they  retaliated  by  burning  his  vessel.  When  John 
Hancock's  sloop  "  Liberty  "  was  seized  in  Boston,  a  riot  broke 
out.  When  England  sent  troops  to  overawe  the  inhabitants, 
the  latter  refused  to  provide  quarters.  WThen  the  soldiers 
irritated  the  populace,  another  riot  resulted.  In  1772  the  king 
attempted  to  control  the  judiciary  by  ordering  that  all  Massa- 
chusetts judges  holding  office  during  his  pleasure  should  be 
paid  by  the  crown :  the  colonists,  unable  to  obtain  redress 
through  the  regular  government,  organized  committees  of  cor- 
respondence which  bound  the  whole  country  together  in 
common  action.1  The  next  year,  in  the  hope  of  driving  the 
Americans  to  buy  tea,  England  despatched  shiploads  of  it  to 
Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia  and  Charleston  :  the  commit- 
tees of  correspondence  decided  that  the  cargoes  must  go  back. 
The  governor  of  Massachusetts  would  not  issue  clearance 
papers  for  a  return :  the  people  of  Boston  threw  the  tea  into 
the  harbor.  Thereupon  Parliament,  spurred  on  by  the  king, 
proceeded  to  measures  yet  more  vigorous.  It  closed  the  port 
of  Boston;2  practically  annulled  the  charter  of  Massachusetts  ;3 
ordered  that  soldiers  or  revenue  officers  indicted  for  murder 
in  Massachusetts  should  be  tried  in  Great  Britain;4  provided 
for  the  quartering  of  troops ; 6  and  extended  the  boundaries  of 
Canada  to  the  Ohio  River6  in  defiance  of  the  claims  which 
Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New  York  and  Virginia  laid  to 
the  territory.  By  this  last  law,  known  as  the  Quebec  Act, 
England  managed  also  to  offend  deeply  both  the  religious  and 
the  political  prejudices  of  the  colonists  ; 7  for  the  act  sanctioned 
Roman  Catholicism  throughout  Canada,  and  established  a 

1  Fiske,  I,  78-80.  8  See  27  18,  note. 

2  See  36  4,  note.  *  See  36  4,  note. 
5  Parliamentary  History,  XVII,  1353-1356. 

5  Ibid.,  1357-1400,  1402-1406. 

7  Journals  of  Congress,  I,  22,  23,  30,  37,  40-45,  47. 


INTRODUCTION,  xix 

government  recognizing  neither  trial  by  jury  nor  habeas  corpus 
nor  popular  meetings.  To  enforce  the  first  three  of  these  laws 
the  government  stationed  General  Gage  at  Boston  with  more 
troops.  Although  England  had  aimed  most  of  this  hostile 
legislation  especially  at  Massachusetts,  she  had  struck  all  the 
colonies  so  hard  that  they  instantly  forgot  local  jealousies,  and 
made  the  cause  of  the  sufferer  their  own.  When  the  royal 
governors  dissolved  the  provincial  assemblies  for  expressing 
sympathy,1  the  colonies  united  in  the  Congress  at  Philadelphia 
in  the  autumn  of  1774.  This  body  heartily  supported  Massa- 
chusetts ; 2  it  asserted  the  freedom  of  the  provincial  legislatures 
"  in  all  cases  of  taxation  and  internal  polity";8  it  demanded 
the  repeal  of  the  obnoxious  acts  of  Parliament ; 4  it  formed 
an  agreement  to  stop  trade  with  Great  Britain,  Ireland  and 
the  British  West  Indies  ; 5  and  it  issued  addresses  to  the 
people  of  Great  Britain,6  to  the  colonists,7  to  the  inhabitants  of 
Quebec,8  and  to  the  king.9  When  in  reply  Parliament  declared 
a  rebellion 10  and  proposed  further  restraints  upon  the  New  Eng- 
land commerce  and  fisheries,11  America  hastened  her  prepara- 
tions for  war. 

IV. 

EDMUND  BURKE. 

In  this  long  struggle  between  the  king  and  his  subjects, 
Burke,  though  by  temperament  a  conservative,  was  on  the  side 

1  See  letter  of  General  Gage  from  Salem,  June  26,  1774,  Parliamentary 
History,  XVIII,  85,  86  ;  letter  of  Governor  Wentworth  of  New  Hampshire, 
June  8,  1774,  ibid.,  109;  and  letter  of  Governor  Dunmore  of  Virginia,  May 
29,  1774,  ibid.,  136. 

2  Journals  of  Congress,  I,  14,  17.  7  Ibid.,  31-38. 
8  Ibid.,  20,  21.                                                      8  Ibid.,  40-54. 

4  Ibid.,  21,  22.  9  Ibid.,  46-49. 

5  Ibid.,  23,  24.  10  See  35  93,  note. 

6  Ibid.,  26-31-  u  See  3  8,  note. 


XX 


INTRODUCTION, 


of  the  people.  This  sympathy  may  be  due  in  part  to  the  fact 
that  he  was  a  native  of  a  country  which  had  suffered  long  under 
oppression.  He  was  born  in  Ireland  in  1729,*  the  son  of  a 
solicitor  in  good  practice.  Though  Burke's  mother  was  a 
Roman  Catholic  and  brought  up  his  sister  in  the  same  faith, 
yet  he  and  his  two  brothers  adopted  the  religion  of  their 
Protestant  father.  Throughout  his  life,  however,  he  was  always 
so  tolerant  of  Catholics  that  he  was  sometimes  charged  with 
being  a  Jesuit. 

At  the  age  of  about  twelve  he  went  to  school  to  a  Quaker, 
Abraham  Shackleton,  for  whose  character  he  had  the  highest 
regard,2  and  to  whom  he  always  professed  to  owe  the  best  part 
of  his  education.  After  two  years  with  Mr.  Shackleton,  of 
whose  son  Richard  he  made  a  lasting  friend,  Burke  entered 
Trinity  College,  Dublin,  where  he  took  his  bachelor's  degree  in 
1748.  In  the  half-dozen  letters  which  he  wrote  from  college 
to  Shackleton,  he  stands  before  us  full  of  attraction,  -  -  a  young 
man  brimming  with  life,  serious  in  thought,  and  eager  for 
knowledge.  In  some  pages  he  gives  vivacious  accounts  of 
his  walks  in  the  country,3  and  in  others  he  considers  such 
matters  as  the  still  unsettled  question  of  the  salvation  of  the 
heathen :  "  I  am  of  your  opinion  that  those  poor  souls  who 
never  had  the  happiness  of  hearing  that  saving  name  shall  in 
no  wise  be  damned.  But,  as  you  know,  .  .  .  there  are  several 
degrees  of  felicity  :  a  lower  one,  which  the  mercy  of  God  will 
suffer  them  to  enjoy,  but  not  anything  to  be  compared  to  that 
of  those  who  have  lived  and  died  in  Christ." 4  A  bishop  could 

1  Of  the  several  biographies  of  Burke  the  best  are    James   Prior's,  2 
vols.,  London,  1854;  John  Morley's  small  volume  in  the  English  Men  of 
Letters,  and  the  twenty  pages  in  the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography.     In 
connection  with  any  of  them  the  Correspondence,  London,  1844,  is  very 
interesting.     Accounts  of  Burke's  life,  in  some  respects  prejudiced,  but 
showing  contemporary   opinion,    appeared    in    the   Annual  Register  for 
1797  and  1798.     The  present  narrative  is  based  upon  Morley's. 

2  Correspondence,  I,  254. 


INTRODUCTION.  xxi 

not  be  more  cocksure.  In  his  pursuit  of  knowledge  Burke 
seems  to  have  been  rather  unsystematic.  Of  his  fits  of  "  mad- 
ness "  over  various  studies  he  wrote  :  "  First  I  was  greatly  taken 
with  natural  philosophy,  which,  while  I  should  have  given  my 
mind  to  logic,  employed  me  incessantly.  This  I  call  my  furor 
mathematicus .  But  this  worked  off  as  soon  as  I  began  to  read 
it  in  the  college,  as  men  by  repletion  cast  off  their  stomachs 
all  they  have  eaten.  Then  I  turned  back  to  logic  and  meta- 
physics. Here  I  remained  a  good  while,  and  with  much 
pleasure ;  and  this  was  my  furor  logicus,  a  disease  very  com- 
mon in  the  days  of  ignorance  and  very  uncommon  in  these 
enlightened  times.  Next  succeeded  the.  furor  historicus,  which 
also  had  its  day,  but  is  now  no  more,  being  entirely  absorbed 
in  fat  furor  poeticus"1  By  the  furor poeticus  he  was  inspired 
to  some  hundred  and  fifty  lines  which  have  been  printed  in  the 
Correspondence,  -  -  and  no  one  knows  how  much  more,  —  of 
such  verse  as  might  be  expected  of  the  average  sophomore 
when  Pope's  fame  was  at  its  height.  Unsystematic  though 
Burke  may  have  been,  he  nevertheless  kept  at  work :  "  I 
spend  three  hours  almost  every  day  in  the  public  library,"  he 
says.2  "  I  have  read  some  history.  I  am  endeavoring  to  get  a 
little  into  the  accounts  of  this  our  own  poor  country."3 

The  seventeen  years  between  graduation  and  1765,  when 
Burke's  career  was  finally  determined  by  his  election  to  Par- 
liament, he  spent  in  various  employments.  He  went  to  Lon- 
don with  the  intention  of  taking  up  law,  but  succumbed  to 
the  attractions  of  literature  and  philosophy.  Prevented  by  ill 
health  from  steady  application,  he  traveled  considerably  in 
England  and  on  the  Continent ; 4  he  frequented  debating  clubs 
and  theatres,  and  he  did  more  or  less  hack  work  for  the  book- 
sellers. He  published  nothing,  however,  with  which  his  name 
is  connected  till  the  two  books  of  1756  :  A  Vindication  of 

1  Correspondence,  I,  22.  8  Ibid.,  20. 

2  Ibid.,  19.  *  Ibid.,  32. 


INTRODUCTION. 

Natural  Society  and  A  Philosophical  Inquiry  into  the  Origin 
of  our  Ideas  on  the  Sublime  and  Beautiful.  In  the  first  he 
attempted  to  refute  Bolingbroke's  arguments  against  revealed 
religion  by  showing  that  they  might  be  urged  with  equal  force 
against  the  thing  which  in  his  eyes  was  scarcely  less  sacred, 
the  social  organization  by  which  the  rights  of  the  individual 
are  maintained.  In  the  second  book  he  took  up  a  subject 
much  discussed  at  the  time  ;  and,  though  his  speculations 
have  been  superseded,  he  has  the  credit  of  stimulating  Les- 
sing  to  the  production  of  Laocoon,  which  is  regarded  as  the 
most  valuable  contribution  of  that  age  to  aesthetic  thought.1 
Burke  also  wrote,  or  helped  to  write,  an  Account  of  the  Euro- 
pean Settlements  in  America  and  an  Abridgment  of  the  History  oj 
England.  Then  in  1759  he  began  to  edit  for  Dodsley  that 
summary  of  important  events,  the  Annual  Register,  with  which 
he  was  connected  for  thirty  years.  In  1761  he  went  to  Ireland, 
attached  in  some  indefinite  way,  perhaps  as  a  sort  of  secretary, 
to  William  Gerard  Hamilton,  —  "  Single-speech  "  Hamilton,  - 
who  was  secretary  to  the  lord-lieutenant.  Here  Burke  studied 
on  the  spot  those  evil  effects  of  oppression  on  which  he  dwells 
in  this  speech  ;2  for  the  punishment  of  Irish  rebellion  by 
restricting  commerce  and  manufactures,  by  taking  many  of  the 
ordinary  rights  of  citizens  from  the  Catholics,  who  were  in  an 
enormous  majority,  and  by  confiscating  land  and  outlawing 
owners,8  had  impoverished  the  country  and  rendered  the  people 
ferocious.  After  two  years  in  Dublin,  Burke,  finding  that, 
contrary  to  agreement,  he  must  give  all  his  time  and  energy  to 
Hamilton  and  resign  his  literary  ambitions,  indignantly  broke 
with  his  patron4  and  returned  to  England.  There  he  joined 

1  Morley's  Burke,  18. 

8  See  pages  43-46. 

8  Green,  IV,  54  ;  Burke's  Tract  on  the  Popery  Laws,  Works,  VI,  299. 

See  Correspondence,  I,  46-51,  55-78,  83,84;  and  Augustine  Birrell's 
Obiter  Dicta,  Second  Series,  New  York,  1887,  165-170. 


INTRODUCTION,  xxiii 

the  famous  Literary  Club  with  which  are  associated  the  names 
of  Johnson,  Goldsmith,  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  and  Garrick. 

In  this  brilliant  circle  Burke  stood  among  the  first.  "  That 
fellow,"  said  Johnson,  "calls  forth  all  my  powers."1  In  recog- 
nition of  his  general  abilities  and  of  the  knowledge  of  politics 
which  he  had  shown  in  the  Annual  Register,  he  was  offered  the 
post  of  private  secretary  to  Lord  Rockingham  when  the  latter 
became  Prime  Minister  in  1765.  This  place  Burke  accepted, 
and  just  at  the  close  of  the  year  he  was  elected  a  member  of 
Parliament  from  Wendover.  Within  a  week  or  two  after  taking 
his  seat,  at  the  beginning  of  1766,  he  had  spoken  twice  for  the 
repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act.  That  he  produced  a  strong  impres- 
sion is  evident  from  one  of  Dr.  Johnson's  letters  :  "  He  has 
gained  more  reputation  than  perhaps  any  man  at  his  [first] 
appearance  ever  gained  before.  He  made  two  speeches  in  the 
House  for  repealing  the  Stamp  Act  which  were  publicly  com 
mended  by  Mr.  Pitt,  and  have  filled  the  town  with  wonder." 2 
Upon*  the  fall  of  the  Rockingham  ministry,  Burke,  who  might 
have  had  a  place  under  the  new  administration,  remained  with  his 
friends.  Turning  to  their  account  his  literary  powers,  he  began 
his  series  of  great  political  tracts  which  have  outlived  so  much 
other  writing  of  the  kind,  because  he  treats  of  passing  events 
in  the  light  of  enduring  wisdom.  First  in  1769  he  put  forth 
the  Observations  on  the  Present  State  of  the  Nation,  a  reply  to  a 
pamphlet  by  George  Grenville,  who  had  accused  his  successors 
of  ruining  the  country.  In  this  controversy  Burke  showed 
himself  a  master  of  the  intricate  details  of  revenue  and  finance. 

At  this  point  in  his  career  he  took  part  in  some  transactions 
which  gave  his  enemies  a  handle  against  him.  Though  he  had 
been  living  almost  from  hand  to  mouth  till  he  entered  Parlia- 
ment, he  bought  in  1768  an  estate  worth  upwards  of  one  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  in  our  money,  and  correspondingly 
expensive  to  maintain.  The  matter  has  been  much  discussed 

1  Boswell's  Life  of  Johnson,  II,  450.  2  Ibid.,  16. 


XXIV 


INTROD  UCTION. 


by  biographers  and  critics,  but  has  never  been  settled  with  com- 
plete  satisfaction.  This  much,  however,  is  clear  :  Burke  lived 
on  terms  of  close  intimacy  with  his  brother  Richard  and  a 
distant  kinsman,  William  Burke.  Richard  and  William,  together 
with  Lord  Verney,  a  political  patron  of  Edmund,  speculated 
wildly  in  stock  of  the  East  India  Company,  and  later  Richard 
was  engaged  in  some  questionable  dealings  in  West  Indian 
lands.  That  these  ventures  were  shared  by  Burke  has  been 
charged  but  never  proved.  In  vindication  of  his  conduct  it 
can  be  shown  that  most  of  the  money  for  the  purchase  of  his 
estate,  Beaconsfield,  he  raised  on  a  mortgage  and  on  his  bond 
to  Lord  Rockingham.  After  getting  the  place,  he  was  so  strait- 
ened for  means  to  keep  it  up  that  he  borrowed  right  and  left 
from  his  friends.  For  example,  he  was  in  debt  thirty  thousand 
pounds  to  Lord  Rockingham  at  the  death  of  the  latter  in  1782, 
and  Rockingham  directed  that  the  debt  should  be  cancelled  in 
view  of  Burke's  faithful  services.  From  these  facts  and  others 
it  appears  that  Burke's  faults  were  neither  dishonesty  in  specu- 
lation nor  venality  in  Parliament,  but  rather  a  desire  to  live  as 
he  thought  became  a  man  in  high  position,  a  free-handed  care- 
lessness and  improvidence  which  led  him  to  lend  or  give  even 
more  readily  than  he  borrowed  or  accepted,  and  an  adherence 
to  eighteenth-century  standards  of  propriety,  which  in  such 
things  were  lower  than  ours. 

Whatever  may  have  been  his  shortcomings  in  these  private 
affairs,  his  public  services  outweigh  them  a  thousand  times. 
For  one  thing,  he  was  on  the  right  side  in  the  long  contest  over 
Wilkes.  This  man,  a  radical  writer  who  had  been  outlawed  for 
libel,  was  in  1768  elected  to  Parliament  from  the  county  of 
Middlesex.  Parliament,  subservient  to  the  king,  expelled  him. 
Then  he  was  returned  three  times  in  quick  succession,  and 
each  time  the  House  pronounced  his  election  void.1  Having 

1  Green,  IV,  243-247.  Parliamentary  History,  XVI,  532-596.  The  case 
forms  the  basis  of  many  of  the  attacks  of  Junius  upon  the  government. 


INTRODUCTION.  xxv 

by  this  action  wrought  the  people  up  to  the  pitch  of  rioting,  the 
government,  in  order  to  quell  disturbances,  called  out  a  military 
force  which  killed  some  twenty  people.  When  the  question  of 
excluding  Wilkes  was  pending,  Burke  in  several  speeches 
defended  the  right  of  a  constituency  to  elect  whom  it  pleases. 
The  dispute,  he  said,  was  not  "  between  the  House  and  the 
freeholders  of  Middlesex,  but  between  the  House  and  all  the 
voters  in  England,  who  would  easily  perceive  their  franchises 
invaded." l  The  matter  of  the  riot  Burke  also  brought  before 
the  House  in  a  motion  for  a  committee  of  inquiry.  In  the 
debate  he  declared:  "When  this  House  shall  be  found  .  .  . 
ready  to  punish  the  excesses  of  the  people,  and  slow  to  listen 
to  their  grievances ;  .  .  .  ready  to  entertain  notions  of  the 
military  power  as  incorporated  with  the  Constitution,2  .  .  . 
then  the  House  of  Commons  will  change  that  character  which 
it  receives  from  the  people  only." 3 

Since  these  sentiments  were,  in  general,  those  of  the  Letters 
of  Junius,  and  since  Burke  was  known  to  be  one  of  the  most 
powerful  writers  of  the  day,  he  was  by  many  suspected  of  being 
Junius.  This  accusation,  however,  he  denied,4  and  when  he 
published  his  Thoughts  on  the  Cause  of  the  Present  Discontents 
in  1770,  he  presented  convincing  evidence  to  all  doubters.  For 
aside  from  differences  of  opinion  between  the  Letters  and  the 
Thoughts,  Burke  did  not  use  as  his  weapon  the  railing  and  invec- 
tive of  Junius,  but  argument.  In  this  pamphlet  Burke  reviewed 
the  whole  policy  which  led  to  the  outbreak.  He  showed 
how  the  king  and  his  small  knot  of  secret  advisers  were  build- 
ing up  authority  for  themselves.6  He  argued  that  the  powers 

1  Parliamentary  History,  XVI,  587.     Speech  on  the  Middlesex  Election, 
Works,  VII,  59-67.     See  also  35  4  and  the  note  on  this  line,  and  17  8, 
note. 

2  Compare  31  34,  note. 
8  Morley's  Burke,  45. 

*  Correspondence,  I,  265-269,  272-275. 

6  See  19  24,  note  ;  17  8,  note  ;    Works,  I,  496. 


xxvi  INTRODUCTION. 

of  the  government  are  held  in  trust  for  the  people,1  and,  there- 
fore, popular  impatience  must  be  indulged.  True  to  his  con- 
servative  instincts,  he  rejected  the  commonly  proposed  reforms, 
— universal  suffrage,  the  disfranchisement  of  "rotten  boroughs," 
representation  for  the  new  trading  towns,  triennial  Parliaments, 
and  the  exclusion  from  the  House  of  men  holding  offices  under 
the  crown.  These  plans  he  regarded  as  too  radical.  "  Our 
Constitution,"  he  urged,. "stands  on  a  nice  equipoise,  with  steep 
precipices  and  deep  waters  upon  all  sides  of  it.  In  removing 
it  from  a  dangerous  leaning  towards  one  side,  there  may  be  a 
risk  of  oversetting  it  on  the  other."2  He  therefore  contented 
himself  with  suggesting  that  the  people  be  stimulated  to  scru- 
tinize more  closely  the  conduct  of  their  representatives,  and 
that  lists  of  votes  in  Parliament  be  published.  But  above  all 
he  emphasized  the  truth  upon  which  he  dwells  so  often  in  the 
Speech  on  Conciliation, — the  necessity  of  adapting  the  govern- 
ment to  the  circumstances  and  temper  of  the  people.3  A  gov- 
ernment not  so  adapted  he  held  to  be  merely  "  a  scheme  upon 
paper,  and  not  a  living,  active,  effective  constitution." 4 

During  the  years  immediately  following  1770,  Burke  devoted 
his  energies  to  keeping  the  Rockingham  Whigs  united  against 
the  efforts  of  the  king  to  win  them  over.  Without  Burke,  says 
Morley,  "  the  Rockingham  connection  would  undoubtedly  have 
fallen  to  ruin,  and  with  it  the  most  upright,  consistent  and  dis- 
interested body  of  men  then  in  public  life."  5  For  the  sake  of 
this  party  Burke  refused  a  flattering  offer  to  go  to  India  as  one 
of  three  commissioners  to  overhaul  the  affairs  of  the  East  India 
Company;6  for  the  sake  of  this  party  he  drummed  up  his 

1  See  4  8  and  the  note  on  this  line. 

8  Works,  I,  520.     Compare  also  51  27,  note. 

8  See  9  31  and  the  note ;  19  8  and  the  note. 

*  Works,  I,  470. 

6  Burke,  62. 

6  Correspondence,  I,  339. 


INTRODUCTION.  xxvii 

associates  by  letter  and  personal  appeal.  In  carrying  out  this 
task  he  reproached  the  Duke  of  Richmond  for  being  "  some- 
what languid  .  .  .  and  unsystematic "  ; l  and  the  latter  made 
the  admission  :  "  Indeed,  Burke,  you  have  more  credit  than  any 
man  in  keeping  us  together."  2  Even  in  this  employment  as  a 
political  whip  Burke  did  not  advance  the  usual  cheap  arguments 
for  temporary  partisan  success,  but,  with  that  conservatism 
which  deepened  with  his  advancing  years,  he  dwelt  rather  on 
the  considerations  of  permanent  policy.  "  Persons  in  your 
station  of  life,"  he  wrote  to  the  Duke  of  Richmond,  "  ought  to 
have  long  views.  You  people  of  great  families  and  hereditary 
trusts  and  fortunes,  ...  if  you  are  what  you  ought  to  be,  are 
in  my  eye  the  great  oaks  that  shade  a  country,  and  perpetuate 
your  benefits  from  generation  to  generation.  The  immediate 
power  of  a  Duke  of  Richmond  or  a  Marquis  of  Rockingham  is 
not  so  much  of  moment ;  but,  if  their  conduct  and  example 
hand  down  their  principles  to  their  successors,  then  their 
houses  become  the  public  repositories  and  offices  of  record  for 
the  Constitution  ;  not  like  the  tower  or  Rolls-chapel,  where  it 
is  searched  for  and  sometimes  in  vain,  in  rotten  parchments 
under  dripping  and  perishing  walls,  but  in  full  vigor,  and  act- 
ing with  vital  energy  and  power,  in  the  character  of  the  leading 
men  and  natural  interests  of  the  country."  8 

From  this  political  activity  Burke  withdrew  for  a  little  while 
in  1773  for  a  trip  to  France.  There  he  saw  those  royal  splen- 
dors against  which  the  populace  had  even  then  begun  to 
mutter,  and  he  observed  in  the  brilliant  society  into  which  he 
was  cordially  received  two  things  which  he  strongly  dreaded, 
atheism  and  an  eager  questioning  of  the  "  allowed  opinions 
which  contribute  so  much  to  the  public  tranquillity."4  This 
atheism  and  this  speculation,  he  perceived, — and  he  was  one 
of  the  few  who  were  so  clear-sighted,  —  were  working  toward 

1  Correspondence,  I,  375.  8  Ibid.,  381,  382. 

2  Ibid.,  371.  *  See  28  2. 


xxviii  INTRODUCTION. 

revolution.  His  fear  of  these  tendencies  he  passionately 
expressed  in  Parliament1  not  long  after  his  return.  When  a 
bill  was  pending  to  abolish  the  penalties  inflicted  on  religious 
teachers  and  schoolmasters  who  dissented  from  the  doctrines 
of  the  Church  of  England,  Burke  favored  such  toleration  on  the 
ground  that  the  men  from  whom  the  country  stood  in  danger 
were  not  the  dissenters,  but  the  atheists.  "  These,"  he  cried, 
"  are  the  people  against  whom  you  ought  to  aim  the  shaft  of  the 
law ;  these  are  the  men  to  whom,  arrayed  in  all  the  terrors  of 
government  I  would  say,  'You  shall  not  degrade  us  into 
brutes  ! '  .  .  .  The  infidels  are  outlaws  of  the  constitution, 
not  of  this  country,  but  of  the  human  race.  They  are  never, 
never  to  be  supported,  never  to  be  tolerated.  Under  the  sys- 
tematic attacks  of  these  people,  I  see  some  of  the  props  of 
good  government  already  begin  to  fail."2 

By  this  time  Burke  had  won  a  substantial  reputation  through- 
out the  United  Kingdom.  Indeed,  as  early  as  the  autumn  of 
1766  several  Irish  municipalities  had  voted  him  the  freedom  of 
the  city,  whereupon  his  gratified  mother  had  written,  "  I  assure 
you  that  it's  no  honor  that  is  done  him  that  makes  me  vain  of 
him,  but  the  goodness  of  his  heart,  which  I  believe  no  man 
living  has  a  better."  3  During  the  succeeding  years  a  number 
of  English  mercantile  organizations  also  passed  resolutions  com- 
mending his  labors  in  behalf  of  commerce.4  Finally,  in  1774, 
when  the  troubles  with  America  were  thickening,  Bristol,  the 
trading  centre  of  the  west  of  England,  the  city  which  had  every- 
thing to  lose  and  nothing  to  gain  from  a  war  with  the  colonies, 
honored  him  by  electing  him  as  its  representative  in  Parliament. 

This  election  from  Bristol  furnished  Burke  with  an  opportu- 
nity to  prove  that  in  character  as  well  as  in  abilities  he  was 
removed  from  the  ordinary  politician  by  a  whole  world  of  dif- 

1  Mar.  17,  1773. 

2  Speech  on  the  Relief  of  the  Protestant  Dissenters,  Works,  VII,  35-37. 
8  Correspondence,  I,  112.  *  Ibid.,  455,  456. 


INTRODUCTION.  xxix 

ference.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  poll  his  colleague  had 
promised  obedience  to  the  instructions  of  his  constituents. 
Burke,  however,  with  unexampled  boldness,  declared  his  inde- 
pendence :  "  His  [the  representative's]  unbiased  opinion,  his 
mature  judgment,  his  enlightened  conscience,  he  ought  not  to 
sacrifice  to  you,  to  any  man  or  to  any  set  of  men  living.  .  .  . 
Your  representative  owes  you,  not  his  industry  only,  but  his 
judgment ;  and  he  betrays  you  instead  of  serving  you,  if  he 
sacrifices  it  to  your  opinion.  .  .  .  Government  and  legislation 
are  matters  of  reason  and  judgment,  and  not  of  inclination  ; 
and  what  sort  of  reason  is  that  in  which  the  determination 
precedes  the  discussion,  in  which  one  set  of  men  deliberate  and 
another  decide,  and  where  those  who  form  the  conclusion  are 
perhaps  three  hundred  miles  distant  from  those  who  hear  the 
arguments  ? "  l  These  principles  he  heartily  followed  in  practice. 
For  example,  in  1778  a  bill  was  proposed  for  relaxing  some  of 
the  restrictions  upon  Irish  commerce.  At  once  the  English 
merchants,  those  of  Bristol  among  the  rest,  with  short-sighted 
jealousy  raised  a  cry  of  protest.  But  Burke  was  unmoved.  He 
boldly  spoke  and  voted  for  the  right  side ;  and  when  his  con- 
stituents besought  him  to  advocate  their  ideas,  he  gave  such 
an  answer  as  few  representatives  in  England  or  any  other 
country  have  ever  dared  to  give :  "  Is  Ireland  united  to  the 
crown  of  Great  Britain  for  no  other  purpose  than  that  we  should 
counteract  the  bounty  of  Providence  in  her  favor  ?  .  .  .  Indeed, 
Sir,  England  and  Ireland  may  flourish  together.  The  world  is 
large  enough  for  us  both.  Let  it  be  our  care  not  to  make  our- 
selves too  little  for  it.2  .  .  .  You  obligingly  lament  that  you  are 
not  to  have  me  for  your  advocate  ;  but  if  I  had  been  capable  of 
acting  as  an  advocate  in  opposition  to  a  plan  so  perfectly  con- 
sonant to  my  known  principles  and  to  the  opinions  I  had  pub- 
licly declared  on  an  hundred  occasions,  I  should  only  disgrace 

1  Speech  at  the  Conchision  of  the  Poll,  Works,  II,  95,  96. 

2  Two  Letters  to  Gentlemen  in  Bristol,  Works,  II,  252,  253. 


INTRODUCTION. 

myself  without  supporting  with  the  smallest  degree  of  credit  or 
effect  the  cause  you  wished  me  to  undertake.  I  should  have 
lost  the  only  thing  which  can  make  such  abilities  as  mine  of  any 
use  to  the  world  now  or  hereafter :  I  mean  that  authority  which 
is  derived  from  an  opinion  that  a  member  speaks  the  language 
of  truth  and  sincerity,  and  that  he  is  not  ready  to  take  up  or 
lay  down  a  great  political  system  for  the  convenience  of  an 
hour,  that  he  is  in  Parliament  to  support  his  opinion  of  the  public 
good,  and  does  not  form  his  opinion  in  order  to  get  into  Parlia- 
ment, or  to  continue  in  it." l  These  eloquent  words  fell  on  deaf 
ears.  Burke  was  never  forgiven  for  his  liberality,  and  in  the 
election  of  1780  he  was  forced  to  seek  a  new  constituency. 

It  was  during  his  six  years  as  member  for  Bristol  that,  in  the 
contest  over  America,  Burke  rose  to  his  full  height  as  a  states- 
man. Through  all  the  confusion  and  tangle  of  the  govern- 
ment's temporary  shifts  and  expedients,  he  steadily  urged  the 
necessity  of  a  consistent  policy  based  on  the  character  of  the 
Americans  and  the  permanent  relations  which  should  exist 
between  England  and  her  colonies.2  He  was  almost  alone 
among  the  speech-makers  of  that  decade  of  debate  in  always 
going  below  the  superficial  considerations  of  the  moment,  —  a 
desire  for  more  revenue,  irritation  at  the  obstinacy  of  the  colo- 
nists, greed  of  power,  -  -  to  the  fundamental  fact  that  in  the 
long  run  restraint  and  violence  defeat  themselves.  Though 
most  members  of  Parliament  seemed  incurably  ignorant  of 
America  and  incapable  of  understanding  her  point  of  view, 
Burke  was  always  well-informed  and  sympathetic.  Indeed,  his 
sympathy,  which  had  led  the  province  of  New  York  to  employ 
him  as  its  London  agent,3  drew  upon  him  many  attacks.  "  I 

Two  Letters  to  Gentlemen  in  Bristol,  Works,  II,  257. 

2  See  4  18,  note. 

;  This  incident  is  fully  discussed  by  Calvin  Stebbins  in  a  paper  read 
before  the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  Oct.  21,  1893,  and  published  in 
the  Proceedings  of  that  body. 


INTRODUCTION.  xxxi 

am  charged  with  being  an  American,"  he  wrote  to  the  sheriffs 
of  Bristol.  "  If  warm  affection  toward  those  over  whom  I  claim 
any  share  of  authority  be  a  crime,  I  am  guilty  of  this  charge."  1 
Certainly  he  could  plead  guilty  of  doing  more  than  any  other 
Englishman  to  enlighten  his  countrymen  about  America.  In 
addition  to  many  minor  speeches  scattered  through  the  Parlia- 
mentary History,  he  made  three  great  contributions  to  the  sub- 
ject:  the  Speech  on  American  Taxation,  April  19,  1774;  the 
Speech  on  Conciliation,  March  22,  1775  ;  and  the  Letter  to  the 
Sheriffs  of  Bristol,  April  3,  1777.  In  the  first  he  argued  that 
the  Tea  Duty  was  of  no  use  to  England  for  revenue  ;  that  it 
only  served  to  irritate  the  Americans ;  and  that  by  winning  the 
loyalty  of  the  colonists  England  could  get  more  than  she  could 
ever  take  by  force.  In  the  second  speech  Burke  maintained 
that  affairs  had  come  to  such  a  pass  that  England  must  con- 
ciliate, and  that  the  only  way  was  by  yielding.  In  the  Letter  he 
reviewed  the  struggle,  and  in  the  light  of  results  justified  his 
own  position.  Of  the  three  pieces  that  on  Conciliation  is  the 
best.  Not  even  when  dealing  with  India  does  Burke  excel  this 
in  grasp  of  details,  in  lucid  presentation  of  a  large  mass  of 
facts  and  opinions,  and  in  ripened  political  wisdom.  He 
virtually  summed  up  everything  said  on  America  since  he  had 
entered  Parliament ;  he  refuted  every  opposing  argument  worth 
serious  consideration  ;  and  he  put  every  favorable  argument  in 
its  most  convincing  form.  Then,  too,  he  saw  what  so  many 
failed  to  see,  that  the  real  cause  of  the  contest  lay  deeper  than 
the  casual  orders  of  a  governor  or  the  retaliation  of  a  mob,  and 
that  America,  in  resisting  the  encroachments  of  royal  pre- 
rogative, was  fighting  a  battle  for  the  liberties  of  Englishmen 
at  home.  Thus,  with  the  utmost  breadth  of  view,  with  an 
elevation  of  style  which  he  never  surpassed,  and  with  a  temper- 
ance of  expression  which  he  perhaps  never  again  attained,  he 
enunciated  principles  which  are  as  true  for  America  to-day  as 

1  Works,  II,  222. 


xxxii  rNTRODUCTION. 

they  were  for  England  in  1775  :  that  since  laws  do  not  work 
in -a  vacuum,  they  should  not  be  based  upon  abstract  theory, 
but  upon  experience  and  policy  ; 1  that  the  first  duty  of  a  states- 
man is,  therefore,  to  study  the  character  and  circumstances  of 
the  people  whom  he  governs  ;2  that  it  is  impossible  to  treat  a 
nation  as  a  criminal,  —  I  do  not  know  the  method  of  drawing  up 
an  indictment  against  a  whole  people?  —  and  that  the  surest  con- 
quests are  those  of  peace. 

Though  Burke  could  not  win  over  Parliament  to  his  views 
on  America,  yet  in  1780  he  had  better  fortune  in  securing 
economies  in  government  expenditure.  He  saw  the  people 
staggering  under  the  debt  from  the  American  war,  and  agitating 
for  a  general  reform  of  Parliament  and  curtailment  of  the  royal 
prerogative.  Such  changes,  however,  he  regarded  as  too 
radical.  The  fault,  he  argued,  was  not  with  the  constituencies, 
but  with  the  representatives,  whom  the  king  had  bribed  with 
sinecure  offices.  He  proposed,  therefore,  to  abolish  some 
offices,  to  consolidate  others,  and  to  readjust  salaries.  In  this 
plan  he  gave  further  evidence  of  his  grasp  of  details,  for  he 
comprehended  in  his  scheme  of  reorganization  the  vast  machine 
of  the  whole  civil  service  and  a  part  of  the  military.  Burke's 
triumph  in  this  undertaking  was  the  more  striking,  because  so 
many  members  of  Parliament  were  directly  or  indirectly  inter- 
ested in  retaining  the  old  abuses.  Doubtless  he  would  never 
have  succeeded  had  he  not  in  every  step  been  consistently 
conservative,  reluctant  to  touch  so  much  as  the  semblance  of 
a  vested  right.  "I  would  never  suffer  any  man,  ..."  he  said, 
"to  suffer  from  errors  that  naturally  have  grown  out  of  the 
abusive  constitution  of  those  offices  which  I  propose  to  regulate. 
If  I  cannot  reform  with  equity,  I  will  not  reform  at  all."  4 

1  See  37  23-37,  and  7  14  and  the  note  on  that  line. 

2  See  9  27-34. 

8  See  33  22,  23. 

*  Speech  on  the  Plan  for  Economical  Reform,  Works,  II,  322. 


INTRODUCTION.  xxxiii 

One  of  the  offices  which  Burke  had  reformed,  that  of  Pay- 
master of  the  Forces,  he  himself  occupied  in  1782.  At  that  time 
the  North  ministry  yielded  to  the  Whigs,  who  were  temporarily 
united  under  Lord  Rockingham,  Charles  James  Fox  and  Lord 
Shelburne.  Burke,  to  whom,  as  we  have  seen,  the  party  was 
so  deeply  indebted,  did  not  get  a  cabinet  place,  but  only  the 
third-rate  position  mentioned  above.  At  this  exclusion  he 
seems  to  have  been  bitterly  mortified,  for  thirteen  years  later 
he  wrote  :  "  There  were  few  indeed  that  did  not  at  that  time 
acknowledge  .  .  .  that  no  man  in  the  kingdom  better  deserved 
an  honorable  provision  should  be  made  for  him." l  But  in 
spite  of  his  deserts  he  never  received  any  official  post  except 
this,  which  he  held  for  only  a  little  while.  This  neglect  was 
due  to  several  causes  :  he  came  of  an  obscure  family  ;  he  was 
needy  and  improvident ;  he  was  suspected  of  complicity  in  the 
dubious  transactions  of  Richard  and  of  William  Burke  ;  he  had 
many  enemies  in  public  life ;  he  was  too  proud  to  push  his 
claims  ;  and,  as  he  grew  old,  he  so  far  lost  control  of  his 
temper  that  he  became  a  troublesome  colleague.  For  these 
reasons  the  leading  statesman  of  the  day  was  compelled  to  stand 
aside  while  his  inferiors  snatched  the  prizes  won  by  his  toil. 

The  Whigs  were  scarcely  in  their  seats,  when  Lord  Rocking- 
ham died  and  Lord  Shelburne  became  head  of  the  administra- 
tion. At  once  Fox  and  Burke  refused  to  work  with  him,  and 
by  joining  their  old  enemy,  Lord  North,  in  what  is  known  as 
the  Coalition,  they  broke  up  the  Whig  party.  In  this  proceed- 
ing Burke  is  accused  of  deserting  his  principles  for  purely  per- 
sonal motives.  Certainly  his  behavior  is  hard  to  defend,  for  he 
attacked  Shelburne  with  unparalleled  asperity;  and,  when  the 
Coalition  overthrew  Shelburne,  Burke  resumed  for  a  few 
months  the  office  of  Paymaster. 

However  much  his  motives  or  his  discretion  in  regard  to  most 
measures  of  the  Coalition  may  be  questioned,  yet  surely  he 

1  Letter  to  a  Noble  Lord,  Works,  V,  184. 


xxxiv  INTRODUCTION. 

merits  the  highest  praise  for  his  strenuous  advocacy  of  reform 
in  the  government  of  India.  That  unhappy  country  was  then 
in  the  hands  of  the  East  India  Company,  whose  system  was 
corrupt  and  cruel  beyond  description,  —  as  Burke  puts  the 
case,  unequalled  by  "  all  the  acts  and  monuments  of  pecula- 
tion, the  consolidated  corruption  of  ages,  the  patterns  of 
exemplary  plunder  in  the  heroic  times  of  Roman  iniquity."  * 
Burke  knew  what  he  was  talking  about,  knew  better  than 
any  man  in  England,  for  he  had  been  a  member  of  select  com- 
mittees upon  Indian  affairs,  and  he  had  drawn  two  of  the  most 
important  reports.  He  is  also  supposed  to  have  framed  the 
East  India  bill  commonly  known  as  Fox's.  At  any  rate  he 
defended  it 2  in  a  speech  which,  as  a  whole,  ranks  but  little 
below  his  best,  and  which,  in  spite  of  some  extravagance  and 
some  outbursts  of  temper,  perhaps  pardonable,  contains  several 
passages  in  his  finest  style.  It  is  interesting  to  compare  this 
plea  for  India  with  his  plea  for  America.  In  both  he  displays 
the  same  conservatism,  the  same  distrust  of  mere  theories,  and 
the  same  intense  hatred  of  all  schemes  of  government  which 
rest  upon  brute  force  and  rob  the  people  of  their  happiness 
and  freedom.  In  beginning  his  discussion  of  India  he  said  : 
"  I  feel  an  insuperable  reluctance  to  giving  my  hand  to  destroy 
any  established  institution  of  government,  upon  a  theory,  how- 
ever plausible  it  may  be." 8  He  then  proved  that  his  charges 
against  the  East  India  Company  were  in  no  sense  theoretical. 
With  brilliant  description  and  an  overwhelming  abundance  of 
evidence  he  set  forth  the  results  of  a  tyranny  which,  as  he 
said,  disgraced  England  and  destroyed  a  large  part  of  the 
human  species.4  He  could  not,  however,  contend  against  the 
potent  influence  of  the  plunder  wrung  from  India  ;  and  thus, 
notwithstanding  his  passionate  appeals,  the  bill  was  defeated, 
and  the  Coalition,  which  supported  it,  was  driven  from  office. 

1  Speech  on  the  Nabob  of  Arcofs  Debts,  Works,  III,  49. 

2  Dec.  !,  1783.  a  Works,  II,  442.  *  Ibid.,  536. 


INTRODUCTION.  v     xxxv 

• 

The  loss  of  the  bill  is  not  to  be  regretted ;  for  in  many 
respects  the  measure  was  unwise,  and  the  reforms  at  which  it 
aimed  Burke  finally  secured  in  another  way.  Early  in  1785  he 
renewed  his  attack  in  the  Speech  on  the  Nabob  of  Arcot's  Debts. 
Dealing  with  many  complicated  financial  accounts,  with  sys- 
tems of  taxation,  and  with  a  mass  of  minute  technicalities,  - 
topics  which  are  usually  the  dryest  of  the  dry,  —  Burke  never- 
theless rose  almost  to  the  height  attained  in  his  Conciliation 
with  America.  His  description  of  the  ravages  of  Hyder  AH 
perhaps  surpasses  anything  of  the  kind  in  English  oratory,  but 
the  total  effect  of  the  speech  is  somewhat  marred  by  vitupera- 
tion. This  speech  was  but  preliminary  to  the  famous  proceed- 
ings against  Warren  Hastings.  When  the  latter  returned  to 
England  laden  with  the  spoils  of  India,  Burke  felt  that  the 
time  had  come  for  a  telling  blow.  Accordingly  he  drew  up 
articles  charging  Hastings  with  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors, 
and  in  1786  had  the  case  presented  to  the  House.  The  story 
of  the  trial  need  not  be  repeated  here,  for  it  has  been  told  by 
Macaulay  in  a  passage  familiar  to  every  one.1  On  this  occasion 
Burke  fairly  outdid  himself  as  an  orator.  As  he  described 
some  of  the  scenes  of  havoc  in  India,  every  listener,  even  the 
prisoner,  it  is  said,  was  breathless  with  horror.  The  trial 
dragged  on  till  1795  ;  and,  though  the  verdict  at  last  was  for 
acquittal,  Burke  had  none  the  less  succeeded  in  reforming  the 
government  of  India,  for  he  had  trumpeted  the  wrongs  of  that 
"  emptied  and  emboweled  " 2  land  until  public  sentiment  would 
no  longer  tolerate  them.  He  was  justified  in  writing,  near  the 
close  of  his  life :  "  If  I  were  to  call  for  a  reward,  ...  it  should 
be  for  [the  services]  in  which  for  fourteen  years  without  inter- 
mission I  showed  the  most  industry  and  had  the  least  success  : 
I  mean  the  affairs  of  India.  They  are  those  on  which  I  value 
myself  the  most :  most  for  the  importance,  most  for  the  labor, 

1  Essay  on  Warren  Hastings. 

2  Speech  on  the  Nabob  ofArcot's  Debts,  Works,  III,  65. 


xxxvi  INTRODUCTION. 

tt 

most  for  the  judgment,  most  for  the  constancy  and  perseverance 
in  the  pursuit."1- 

Before  the  trial  of  Hastings  had  closed,  the  French  Revolu- 
tion had  broken  out.     Burke,  who  looked  upon  this,  not  as  the 
emancipation  of  oppressed  masses,  but  as  an  effort  of  atheists 2 
and  political  theorists 3  to  uproot  the  settled  order  of  society 
and  all  hereditary  rights  in  church  and  state,  was  horrified. 
Since  his  views  were  hostile  to  those  of  the  more  radical  of  the 
Whigs,  who  on  general  principles  were  delighted  with  a  popular 
uprising,  he  soon  began  to  draw  apart  from  the  men  with  whom 
he  had  been  allied  against  the  encroachments  of  the  crown  in 
England  and  in  America.     In  1790  he  widened  the  breach  still 
further  by  an  aggressive  proclamation  of  his  opinions  in  Reflec- 
tions on  the  Revolution  in  France,  his  first  publication  on  the 
subject.     The  book  had,  for  that  day,  an  enormous  sale,  and 
created  a  profound  sensation  throughout  England,  and  indeed 
all  Europe.     It  divided  Great  Britain  into  two  parties :   one 
composed  of  Burke  and  an  uncongenial  company  of  Tories  and 
supporters  of  royal  despotism ;  the  other  composed  of  Liberals, 
many  of  whom  had  been  Burke's  life-long  associates.     On  both 
sides  the  feeling  ran  high  ;  and  Burke,  already  irritated  by  the 
disapproval  of  men  whom  he  held  in  esteem,  was  not  in  a  frame 
of  mind  to  endure  assaults  calmly.     When  he  was  jeered  in  the 
House  by  his  former  friends,  lampooned  in  the  newspapers, 
and  branded  as  a  renegade  and  traitor,  he  violently  quarreled 
with  Fox,  with  whom  he  had  been  intimate  for  years,  replied  to 
taunts  with  pamphlets  of  increasing  acrimony,  but  never  flinched 
from  his  course.     Notwithstanding  the  censure  heaped  upon 
him,  his  attitude  is   not  surprising  to  any  one  who  carefully 
studies  his  writings  and  speeches  in  their  chronological  order, 
for   he  had  been    steadily  growing   more    conservative.     The 

1  Letter  to  a  Noble  Lord,  Works,  V,  192. 

8  Reflections  on  the  Re-volution  in  France,  Works,  III,  378. 

8  Ibid.,  399,  418. 


INTRODUCTION.  xxxvii 

seeming  contradiction  between  his  early  adherence  to  the  cause  of 
the  people  and  his  later  adherence  to  the  cause  of  the  sovereign 
was  due  in  part  to  this  natural  change  and  in  part  to  his  desire 
to  preserve  the  balance  between  king  and  subject :  in  England 
the  crown  had  been  the  transgressor  ;  in  France,  he  thought,  the 
people.1  Moreover,  he  had  always  insisted  that  liberty  is  "  in- 
separable from  order"; 2  and  in  the  French  Revolution  he  saw 
nothing  but  disorder.3  He  had  always  insisted  that  no  institu- 
tion should  be  overturned  unless  corrupt  beyond  reform  ;  *  and 
he  believed  that  the  institutions  of  France  could  be  reformed.5 
In  the  Reflections,  in  spite  of  bitterness  against  the  National 
Assembly  and  the  Englishmen  who  commended  it,  Burke  dis- 
played much  real  wisdom.  He  saw  from  the  beginning  the 
advancing  shadow  of  the  Reign  of  Terror ; 6  he  predicted  the 
rise  of  a  military  dictator,7  and  he  pointed  out  the  fatal  defect 
of  the  several  theoretical  devices  of  the  constitution  of  France, 
such  as  the  geometrical  division  of  representative  districts.8 
But  the  Reflections  contains  almost  the  last  of  his  sober  think- 
ing on  the  matter ;  for,  as  the  Revolution  progressed,  he  became 
more  and  more  wrought  up,  so  that  in  each  of  his  succeeding 
utterances, — Letter  to  a  Member  of  the  National  Assembly, 
Appeal  from  the  New  to  the  Old  Whigs,  Thoughts  on  French 
Affairs,  Remarks  on  the  Policy  of  the  Allies,  Observations  on  the 
Conduct  of  the  Minority  and  Letters  on  a  Regicide  Peace,  —  the 
reasoning  grew  feebler,  the  scolding  shriller.  At  last  he  was 
nearly  frantic  with  rage  at  the  slaughters  during  the  Reign  of 
Terror,  and  frantic  with  fear  of  a  revolution  in  England.  So 

1  Appeal  from  the  New  to  the  Old  Whigs,  Works,  IV,  92-94. 

2  Letter  to  a  Noble  Lord,  Works,  V,  183. 

8  Appeal  from  the  New  to  the  Old  Whigs,  Works,  IV,  97. 
4  Pages  xxxii,  xxxiv  ;  Appeal  from  the  New  to  the  Old  Whigs,    Workst 
IV,  80  ;  Reflections  on  the  Revolution  in  France,  Works,  III,  562. 
6  Letter  to  a  Member  of  the  National  Assembly,  Works,  IV,  42-52. 

6  Works,  III,  339.  8  Ibid.,  461-476. 

7  Ibid.,  524,  525. 


xxxvni  INTRODUCTION. 

irrational  is  public  excitement,  however,  that,  while  his  opinions 
were  losing  real  value,  his  influence  was  strengthening.  As 
the  events  which  he  had  predicted  came  to  pass  one  by  one, 
the  laughter  of  his  enemies  turned  to  alarm  ;  and  finally,  when 
Louis  the  Sixteenth  was  executed  in  1793,  England,  though  in 
no  serious  danger,  was  filled  with  consternation  and  looked  to 
Burke  as  her  most  far-sighted  statesman.  Yet  to  his  credit  be 
it  said  that,  even  with  the  nation  applauding  his  frenzy,  he  now 
and  then  fell  back  into  his  early  habit  of  examining  a  question 
in  all  lights.  In  such  a  moment  of  clear  vision,  when  he  per- 
ceived that  the  movement  in  France  might  be  one  of  actual 
progress,  when  he  caught  a  glimpse  of  himself  as  posterity 
views  him,  he  penned  the  solemn  close  of  his  Thoughts  on 
French  Affairs :  "  I  have  done  with  this  subject,  I  believe,  for- 
ever. It  has  given  me  many  anxious  moments  for  the  two  last 
years.  If  a  great  change  is  to  be  made  in  human  affairs,  the 
minds  of  men  will  be  fitted  to  it,  the  general  opinions  and 
feelings  will  draw  that  way.  Every  fear,  every  hope,  will  for- 
ward it ;  and  then  they  who  persist  in  opposing  this  mighty 
current  in  human  affairs  will  appear  rather  to  resist  the  decrees 
of  Providence  itself  than  the  mere  designs  of  men.  They  will 
not  be  resolute  and  firm,  but  perverse  and  obstinate." 1 

Burke's  mistakes  in  regard  to  the  French  Revolution  are  by 
some  critics  ascribed  in  part  to  his  imperfect  acquaintance 
with  the  subject.2  However  that  may  be,  it  is  certain  that 
during  the  same  period,  when  he  was  dealing  with  a  subject 
on  which  he  was  thoroughly  informed,  Ireland,  he  showed  his 
old  qualities  of  statesmanship.  He  had  always  been  a  cham- 
pion of  his  down-trodden  native  land,  just  as  he  had  been  a 
champion  of  America  and  India.  In  his  boyhood,  as  we  have 
seen,  he  endeavored  to  master  the  history  of  his  "  poor  coun- 
try" ;  and  later  he  tried  to  secure  justice  for  it,  though  at  the 

1  Works,  IV,  377. 

2  Morley's  Burke,  160. 


INTRODUCTION.  xxxix 

expense  of  offending  his  Bristol  constituents.  Then,  when 
Ireland  caught  the  contagion  of  the  French  Revolution,  and 
when  the  war  between  England  and  France  rendered  the  situ- 
ation still  more  threatening,  Burke  urged  for  Ireland  the  same 
policy  which  he  had  urged  for  America  seventeen  years  before, 
-conciliation.  In  letter  and  pamphlet  he  unceasingly  advo- 
cated relieving  the  Catholics  of  their  disabilities.  "  It  passes 
my  comprehension,"  he  wrote,  "  in  what  manner  it  is  that  men 
can  be  reconciled  to  the  practical  merits  of  a  constitution  .  .  . 
by  being  practically  excluded  from  any  of  its  advantages."  1 
This  is  surely  a  return  to  the  high  level  of  the  dictum,  "  I  do 
not  know  the  method  of  drawing  up  an  indictment  against  a 
whole  people." 

The  incidents  connected  with  the  close  of  the  trial  of  Warren 
Hastings,  with  the  excitement  over  the  French  Revolution,  and 
with  the  agitation  for  toleration  in  Ireland  mark  the  end  of 
Burke's  public  career.  In  1794,  with  his  fame  restored,  he 
retired  from  Parliament.  He  was  to  have  received  a  peerage 
with  the  title  Lord  Beaconsfield;  but,  since  the  death  of  his  son 
left  him  without  a  direct  heir  to  whom  to  transmit  the  honor, 
he  accepted  instead  a  pension  granted  in  recognition  of  his 
services  to  the  country.  This  pension  was  the  occasion  of 
a  fresh  attack  upon  him  by  his  enemies.  He  replied  in  the 
Letter  to  a  Noble  Lord,  which  from  a  rhetorical  point  of  view 
is  one  of  his  best  pieces  of  work.  He  survived  but  three 
years,  during  which  he  wrote  the  Letters  on  a  Regicide  Peace. 
He  died  on  the  ninth  of  July,  1797. 

The  personality  of  Burke,  which  in  his  public  life  seems  a 
little  vague  and  distant,  appears  with  more  distinctness  in  his 
private  life.  As  described  by  Madame  D'Arblay  he  was  tall, 
his  figure  noble,  his  air  commanding,  his  address  graceful,  his 
voice  clear,  penetrating,  sonorous  and  powerful,  his  language 

1  Second  Letter  to  Sir  Hercules  Langrishe  on  the  Catholic  Question,  Works* 
VI,  382. 


xl  INTRODUCTION. 

copious,  various  and  eloquent,  his  manners  attractive,  his  con- 
versation delightful.  "  Since  we  lost  Garrick,"  she  wrote,  "  I 
have  seen  nobody  so  enchanting."1  The  range  of  Burke's 
conversation  was  an  indication  of  the  variety  of  his  interests, 
—  politics,  economics,  social  problems,  history,  philosophy, 
poetry,  drama,  painting,  sculpture,  science,  agriculture,  manu- 
factures. Whatever  subject  he  took  up,  he  pursued  with  the 
same  furor  that  possessed  him  in  studying  at  college  and  in 
mastering  the  details  of  finance  and  the  affairs  of  America  and 
India.  When  he  turned  from  the  cares  of  state  to  his  farm  at 
Beaconsfield,  he  was  eager  over  carrots  and  pigs,  just  as  he 
had  been  eager  over  the  Stamp  Act. 2 

Furthermore,  his  zeal  in  behalf  of  the  wretched  and  the 
oppressed  was  not  a  mere  vague  sentiment  which  expended 
itself  in  words  :  it  was  a  ruling  motive  in  his  daily  conduct. 
When  the  poet  Crabbe  was  obscure  and  penniless,  Burke  took 
him  into  the  family  at  Beaconsfield,  found  a  printer  for  his 
verses,  and  finally  obtained  for  him  a  living  in  the  church. 
Burke  sent  the  painter  Barry  abroad  and  for  five  years  fur- 
nished him  with  money  for  study  and  travel.3  During  the 
Revolution  he  kept  open  house  for  the  French  refugees,  gave 
from  his  own  slender  purse  to  acquaintances  whose  estates  had 
been  confiscated,4  and  established  near  Beaconsfield  a  school 
for  French  orphans  and  children  of  Emigres  who  had  suffered 
losses.*  Such  open-handed  liberality  could  not  but  win  him 
troops  of  staunch  friends.  Richard  Shackleton  was  devoted 
to  him  from  boyhood  to  old  age  ;  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  ap- 
pointed him  an  executor  and  left  him  a  large  legacy  ;  Dr. 
Johnson,  the  stout  Tory  who  declared  that  "  the  first  Whig  was 

1  Diary  and  Letters,  June,  1782. 

*  Correspondence,  I,  245-251,  257-265. 

8  Ibid.,  86-92,  116-129. 

*/#</.,  IV,  246-251.  ' 

*Ibid.,  331-341. 


INTRODUCTION.  xli 

the  devil,"1  admired  and  loved  him.  Burke's  faults  were  clearly 
those  of  an  ardent  temperament,-  -at  times  unreasoning  zeal 
for  persons,  parties  or  causes,  and  an  impatience  of  contradic- 
tion and  delay  which  betrayed  him  into  fiery  outbursts  of 
passion.  His  virtues  were  also  those  of  an  ardent  tempera- 
ment, -  -  unquenchable  energy,  exhaustless  generosity. 

In  his  family  relations  he  was  very  happy.  In  the  winter  of 
1756-1757  he  had  married  Jane  Nugent,  the  daughter  of  a 
physician.  She  was  a  woman  of  gentle  manners,  even  temper, 
and  a  capacity  for  management  which  lifted  many  burdens  from 
her  husband's  shoulders.  Though  Burke's  only  son,  Richard, 
was  not  generally  liked,  he  was  idolized  by  his  father,  who 
with  characteristic  eagerness  had  indulged  in  the  most  extrav- 
agant hopes  of  a  brilliant  future  for  him.  The  death  of 
Richard  in  1794  was  a  blow  from  which  Burke  never  recovered : 
it  filled  his  last  days  with  gloom,  and  hastened  his  end.  "  I 
am  alone,"  he  wrote.  "I  have  none  to  meet  my  enemies  in 
the  gate."  * 

» 
V. 

BURKE  AS  A  STATESMAN.* 

Burke's  principles  of  statesmanship,  when  briefly  set  down, 
seem  almost  too  bald  and  simple  to  be  worth  much  attention. 
One  should  remember,  however,  that  theories  of  government 

1  Boswell's  Life  of  Johnson,  III,  326. 

2  Letter  to  a  Noble  Lord,  Works,  V,  208. 

8  Able  discussions  of  Burke's  statesmanship  are  to  be  found  in  section  9  of 
chapter  xii  of  Leslie  Stephen's  History  of  English  Thought  in  the  Eigh- 
teenth Century,  New  York,  1876;  and  in  John  Morley's  Edmund  Burke: 
a  Historical  Study,  London,  1867.  The  latter  book  should  not  be  con- 
founded with  Morley's  life  of  Burke  in  the  English  Men  of  Letters,  to 
which  reference  has  already  been  made.  Stephen  dwells  on  a  matter  for 
which  there  is  no  space  in  this  introduction,  the  sources  from  which  Burke 
drew  his  ideas  in  statesmanship 


xlii  INTRODUCTION. 

had  not  in  Burke's  day  been  discussed  and  developed  as  they 
have  been  since,  so  that  what  is  trite  now  may  have  been  novel 
then:  moreover,  statesmanship  does  not  consist  in  a  mere 
knowledge  of  maxims,  —  in  which  a  modern  schoolboy  might 
equal  Burke, — but  in  understanding  when  and  how  to  apply 
them. 

The  basis  of  Burke's  system  is  explained  in  a  sentence  from 
one  of  his  letters  :  "  The  principles  of  true  politics  are  those  of 
morality  enlarged  ;  and  I  neither  now  do,  nor  ever  will,  admit 
of  any  other."  l  But  had  he  never  written  this  sentence,  his 
works  are  full  of  proofs  that  his  aim  was  the  triumph  of  the 
good  :  among  the  orators  of  his  time  he  is  notable  for  his  fre- 
quent appeals  to  the  love  of  right  rather  than  to  the  love  of 
might.  It  is  better,  he  held,  to  try  to  make  a  government  wise 
and  honest  than  to  try  to  make  it  strong.2  His  hatred  of  the 
French  Revolutionists  was  due  partly  to  his  conviction  that 
they  were  enemies  to  sound  morals :  they  were  overturning  the 
church,  a  bulwark  of  morality ;  they  were  dishonestly  repudiat- 
ing debts  ^  they  were  unjustly  confiscating  property.  Of  their 
action  he  wrote :  "As  no  one  of  us  men  can  dispense  with  pub- 
lic or  private  faith,  or  with  any  other  tie  of  moral  obligation, 
so  neither  can  any  number  of  us.  The  number  engaged  in 
crimes,  instead  of  turning  them  into  laudable  acts,  only  aug- 
ments the  quantity  and  intensity  of  the  guilt."  8 

The  first  of  the  moral  principles  on  which  Burke  rested  great 
weight  was  justice.  Where  duller  men  would  have  been 
stolidly  indifferent,  his  powerful  imagination  enabled  him  to 
feel  keenly  the  burdens  of  the  oppressed.  Thus  it  was  for 
justice  to  the  clergy  and  the  nobility  of  France,  to  the  disfran- 
chised Catholics,  and  to  the  swarming  millions  of  India,  that  he 
made  his  most  fervent  pleas.  Such  pleas  were  not  "  splendid 

1  Letter  to  the  Bishop  of  Chester,  1771,  Correspondence,  I,  332. 

2  Letter  to  the  Sheriffs  of  Bristol,  Works,  II,  220. 

8  Appeal  from  the  New  to  the  Old  Whigs,  Works,  IV,  163. 


INTRODUCTION.  xliii 

commonplaces '  at  that  time  ;  for  the  idea  that  a  nation  was 
bound  by  the  same  code  of  justice  as  an  individual  was  far  less 
generally  accepted  than  now.  Every  European  power  regarded 
the  acquisition  of  territory  as  ample  excuse  for  unprovoked 
rapine  and  slaughter,  —  as  is  proved  by  the  very  crimes  of 
Hastings  which  Burke  labored  to  punish,  by  the  general  sympa- 
thy for  the  great  criminal,  by  the  defence  that  he  had  extended 
the  bounds  of  the  British  Empire,  and  by  his  final  acquittal. 
Such  pleas  as  Burke's  are  not  " splendid  commonplaces"  to- 
day ;  for  although  the  civilized  world  ought  long  since  to  have 
discovered  the  "  ill-husbandry  of  injustice,"  l  scarcely  a  year 
passes  without  some  outrage  committed  against  a  weaker  nation 
by  a  stronger. 

A  second  principle  to  which  Burke  often  appealed  is,  —  as 
might  be  expected  from  his  character,  —  generosity.  When 
leading  statesmen  held  the  belief,  still  common  among  ignorant 
people,  that  the  surest  method  of  enlarging  national  commerce 
is  to  restrict  and  retaliate,  Burke  advocated  liberality.  His 
narrow-minded  constituents  remonstrated,  but  he  replied  with 
a  truth  which  is  not  yet  well  understood :  "  It  is  but  too  natu- 
ral for  us  to  see  our  own  certain  ruin  in  the  possible  prosperity 
of  other  people.  It  is  hard  to  persuade  us  that  everything 
which  is  got  by  another  is  not  taken  from  ourselves.  But  it  is 
fit  that  we  should  get  the  better  of  these  suggestions,  which 
come  from  what  is  not  the  best  and  soundest  part  of  our 
nature." 2  When  Burke's  colleagues  maintained  that  they 
were  dealing  justly  with  America,  he  answered  that  they  should 
not  be  content  with  mere  grudging  justice,  but  should  follow 
the  higher  policy  of  generosity.  This  idea  underlies  all  his 
utterances  on  America,  and  the  special  emphasis  which  he 
lays  on  it  in  the  Speech  on  Conciliation  is  perhaps  the  one  thing 
which  makes  that  the  noblest  of  his  productions.  "Magna- 

1  See  45  21. 

2  Two  Letters  to  Gentlemen  in  Bristol,  Works,  II,  260. 


xliv  INTRODUCTION. 

nimityin  politics,"  he  said  in  closing,  "is  not  seldom  the  truest 
wisdom  ;  and  a  great  empire  and  little  minds  go  ill  together. 
.  .  .  Our  ancestors  have  made  the  most  extensive,  and  the 
only  honorable  conquests,  not  by  destroying  but  by  promoting 
the  wealth,  the  number,  the  happiness  of  the  human  race."1 
This  same  ideal,  which  seems  almost  as  far  from  realization 
to-day  as  it  was  in  1797,  he  presented  again  in  almost  his  last 
piece  of  writing  :  "  Not  ...  a  sort  of  England  detached  from 
the  rest  of  the  world,  and  amusing  herself  with  the  puppet- 
show  of  a  naval  power,  .  .  .  but  .  .  .  that  sort  of  England 
who,  sympathetic  with  the  adversity  or  the  happiness  of  man- 
kind, felt  that  nothing  in  human  affairs  was  foreign  to  her." 

Many  men  have  been  as  zealous  as  Burke  for  justice  and 
generosity,  but  comparatively  few  have  added  to  their  zeal  the 
saving  knowledge  that  perfect  justice  can  never  be  attained  in 
this  world  ;  that  human  institutions  are  at  best  "  compromises, 
sometimes  between  good  and  evil  and  sometimes  between  evil 
and  evil."3  By  this  knowledge  he  was  kept  from  being  a 
stickler  for  abstract  principles,  a  theorist.  He  never  advo- 
cated, except  in  the  case  of  the  French  Revolution,  mere 
technical  rights,  which  may  be  "  the  most  odious  of  all  wrongs 
and  the  most  vexatious  of  all  injustice."4  The  thing  for 
which  he  looked  was  the  utilitarian  effect,  "  the  happiness  of 
the  whole,"5  or,  to  use  Bentham's  phrase,  "the  greatest  happi- 
ness of  the  greatest  number."  In  theory  the  British  Constitu- 
tion, for  example,  might  be  as  illogical  as  possible  :  if  as  a  matter 
of  fact  it  protected  person  and  property,  Burke  was  well  content 
to  let  it  stand  unchanged.  "A  man  of  warm  speculative 
benevolence,"  he  wrote,  "  may  wish  his  society  otherwise  con- 

1  Pages  73,  74. 

2  First  Letter  on  a  Regicide  Peace,  Works,  V,  244,  245. 

8  Reflections  on  the  Revolution  in  France,  Works,  III,  313. 

4  See  35  8-10 ;  7  14,  note. 

6  Speech  on  the  Petition  of  the  Unitarians,  Works,  VII,  450 


INTRODUCTION.  xlv 

. 

stituted  than  he  finds  it  ;  but  a  good  patriot,  and  a  true  politi- 
cian, always  considers  how  he  shall  make  the  most  of  the 
existing  materials  of  his  country." l 

Burke's  antipathy  to  mere  theories  also  saved  him  from  the 
fallacy  of  supposing  that  the  machinery  of  government  may 
be  constructed  as  if  men  were  uniform,  passive  units.  This 
error,  which  was  rife  among  his  predecessors  and  contempora- 
ries, 2  persists  to  this  day  in  the  minds  of  those  who  attempt  to 
suppress  evil  or  reorganize  society  on  the  assumption  that  the 
enactment  of  a  law  will  make  men  wise,  temperate,  industrious, 
frugal  or  unselfish.  Burke,  however,  seized  every  opportunity 
to  sneer  at  such  "  speculative  projects  "  3  and  "  paper  govern- 
ment."4 He  invariably  tried,  as  in  the  Speech  on  Conciliation, b 
to  take  into  account  temper  and  environment.  "  I  never,"  he 
protested,  "was  wild  enough  to  conceive  that  one  method 
would  serve  for  the  whole,  that  the  natives  of  Hindostan  and 
those  of  Virginia  could  be  ordered  in  the  same  manner."  6 

These  several  phases  of  Burke's  bent  for  the  practical  rather 
than  the  theoretical  point  of  view  are,  in  the  last  analysis,  a 
trust  in  experience,  —  a  theme  on  which  he  was  never  tired  of 
dwelling.  Men  might  offer  any  number  of  a  priori  arguments  : 
he  simply  replied  that  conjectures  were  interesting,  but  not 
convincing.  "  Fortunately  I  am  not  obliged  to  tax  my  own 
unproductive  invention.  ...  I  only  wish  you  to  return  to  that 
mode  which  a  uniform  experience  has  marked  out  to  you  as 
best."7 

A  man  who  clings  so  tenaciously  to  experience  is  likely  to  be 
an  uncompromising  conservative  ;  and  Burke  was  no  exception 

.        • 

1  Reflections  on  the  Revolution  in  France,  Works,  III,  440. 

2  Stephen's  History   of  English    Thought  in   the   Eighteenth    Century, 
II,  211.  4See  6  15. 

*  See  6  15,  note.  5  See  pages  9-25. 

6  Letter  to  the  Sheriffs  of  Bristol,  Works,  II,  227. 

7  See  49  15-27. 


xlvi  INTRODUCTION. 

to  the  rule.  Changes,  he  thought,  should  always  be  grad- 
ual, and  should  be  made  only  when  imperatively  necessary. 
Indeed,  so  strong  was  his  reverence  for  the  wisdom  of  the 
ages  that  he  was  willing  to  tolerate  abuses  till  they  actually 
struck  "at  the  root  of  order."1  Then  he  was  moved  to  act, 
for  few  things  were  dearer  to  his  heart  than  a  quiet,  well-regu- 
lated state.  Whatever  interfered  with  this,  whether  rebellion, 
riot,  usurpation,  radical  reforms,  agitation,  or  the  questioning 
of  traditional  beliefs  in  religion  or  politics,  he  was  prompt  to 
withstand.  Such  a  man,  with  his  face  set  toward  the  past,  is 
not  well  fitted  to  deal  with  new  social  and  political  conditions, 
which  demand  experiments  ;  and  yet  without  the  restraining 
influence  of  such  men  a  whole  nation  might  by  a  rash  leap  lose 
the  fruit  of  much.toil  and  pain.  Each  age,  then,  must  have  its 
conservatives  as  well  as  its  progressives  ;  and  Burke,  with  his 
passion  for  good  government,  whether  in  England,  America, 
Ireland,  India  or  France,  was  for  his  generation — as  indeed 
he  has  been  for  all  generations  since  —  "the  great  pleader  for 
conservatism." 

VI. 

BURKE  AS  AN  ORATOR.* 

Though  it  is  customary  to  speak  of  Burke  as  a  great  orator, 
the  fact  is  that  he  frequently  produced  no  immediate  effect. 
These  failures  were  due  to  several  causes,  one  of  which  was 
his  unprepossessing  appearance.  However  much  Miss  Burney 3 
may  have  been  charmed  when  she  first  met  him,  yet  as  he  rose 
in  Parliament  he  was  not  attractive  with  his  heavy,  Quaker-like 

1  Tract  on  the  Popery  Laws,  Works,  VI,  340. 

2  Burke's  oratory  and  his  style  are  discussed  at  some  length  in  Morley's 
Burke,  in  Goodrich's  Select  British  Eloquence,  and  the  introductions  to 
Payne's  edition  of  fas  Select  Works  and  to  Professor  Bliss  Perry's  Selections 
from  Burke,  Henry  Holt  Company,  New  York,  1896. 

8  Afterwards  Madame  D'Arblay. 


INTRODUCTION.  xlvii 

figure,  scratch  wig,  round  spectacles  and  a  cumbrous  roll  of 
paper  loading  his  pocket. l  To  these  disadvantages  he  added 
clumsy  gestures,  a  voice  somewhat  harsh  when  he  spoke  in 
public,  a  strong  Irish  brogue,  and  at  times  a  hurried  articula- 
tion. Moreover  in  later  years  he  now  and  then  spoiled  a 
speech  by  losing  his  temper.  But  above  all,  he  was  deficient 
in  tact  :  often  he  either  overestimated  the  capacity  of  his 
hearers  or  else  he  refused  to  condescend  to  it.  They  wanted  a 
concise  presentation  of  leading  points  :  he  insisted  upon  view- 
ing the  matter  from  every  side  and  in  every  light.  They  were 
too  slow-witted  to  comprehend  anything  except  the  obvious  :  he 
insisted  upon  applying  profound  principles.  They  were  looking 
for  personal  or  partisan  advantage  :  he  offered  them  maxims  of 
statesmanship.  He  was,  as  Goldsmith  drew  him,  a  speaker 

Who,  too  deep  for  his  hearers,  still  went  on  refining, 
And  thought  of  convincing  while  they  thought  of  dining.2 

Indeed,  by  some  of  the  younger  wits  he  was  called  "  the 
dinner-bell."  So  widely  did  he  miss  the  mark  that  the  Speech 
on  the  Nabob  of  Arco?  s  Debts  did  not  impress  Pitt  and  Grenville 
as  worth  a  reply,  and  the  Speech  on  Conciliation  emptied  the 
benches. 

In  spite  of  these  mistakes  in  casting  pearls  of  philosophy  and 
statesmanship  before  the  House,  Burke  was  at  times  unsur- 
passed. His  first  speeches,  as  has  been  said,  "  filled  the  town 
with  wonder  " ;  and  during  his  earlier  career  many  of  his  con- 
tributions to  the  debates  were  so  compact,  pointed,  and  telling 3 
that  he  was  everywhere  recognized  as  one  of  the  ablest  speakers 
in  Parliament.  Finally,  at  the  trial  of  Hastings  he  swept  his 
audience  up  to  a  pitch  of  uncontrollable  emotion.  These 

1  Green's  History  of  the  English  People,  IV,  234. 

2  Retaliation. 

3  Few  of  these  speeches  have  been  printed  in  his  collected  Works,  but 
some  of  them  appear  in  brief  reports  in  the  Parliamentary  History. 


xlviii  INTRODUCTION. 

triumphs,  which  establish  beyond  peradventure  his  fame  as  an 
orator,  were  due  in  part  to  his  natural  ardor,  which  in  his 
happiest  moments  kindled  all  who  came  within  range  of  his 
voice.  He  owed  yet  more  of  his  success  to  his  amazing  knowl- 
edge of  his  subjects.  He  had  never  visited  India,  for  example  : 
nevertheless  he  had  read  and  studied  huge  masses  of  facts 
about  that  country,  and  had  animated  them  by  his  imagination 
until,  as  Macaulay  puts  it,  "  India  and  its  inhabitants  were  not 
to  him,  as  to  most  Englishmen,  mere  names  and  abstractions, 
but  a  real  country  and  a  real  people.  The  burning  sun,  the 
strange  vegetation  of  the  palm  and  the  cocoa-tree,  the  ricefield, 
the  tank,  the  huge  trees  older  than  the  Mogul  Empire,  under 
which  the  village  crowds  assemble,  the  thatched  roof  of  the 
peasant's  hut,  the  rich  tracery  of  the  mosque  where  the  imaum 
prays  with  his  face  to  Mecca,  the  drums  and  banners  and  gaudy 
idols,  the  devotee  swinging  in  the  air,  the  graceful  maiden  with 
the  pitcher  on  her  head,  descending  the  steps  to  the  river-side, 
the  black  faces,  the  long  beards,  the  yellow  streaks  of  sect,  the 
turbans  and  the  flowing  robes,  the  spears  and  the  silver  maces, 
the  elephants  with  their  canopies  of  state,  the  gorgeous  palan- 
quin of  the  prince,  and  the  close  litter  of  the  noble  lady,  —  all 
these  things  were  to  him  as  the  objects  amidst  which  his  own 
life  had  been  passed,  as  the  objects  which  lay  on  the  road 
between  Beaconsfield  and  St.  James's  Street."  l  With  all  India 
thus  present  to  his  eye,  Burke  drew  pictures  of  such  startling 
reality,  he  showed  such  thorough  and  easy  mastery  of  every 
detail,  that  his  listeners  could  not  but  value  his  opinion  as  that 
of  a  man  who  knew  everything  to  be  known  about  the  matter ; 
they  could  not  help  feeling  with  him  that  "  oppression  in  Ben- 
gal was  the  same  thing  as  oppression  in  the  streets  of  London." 2 

1  Essay  on  Warren  Hastings.  Goodrich  has  already  quoted  this  pas- 
sage to  illustrate  the  same  point. 

2Macaulay's  Essay  on  Warren  Hastings.  The  phrase  was  evidently 
suggested  by  a  sentence  from  Burke's  Speech  in  Opening  the  Impeachment 


INTRODUCTION.  xlix 

Other  important  elements  in  Burke's  oratory  are  the  brilliancy 
of  expression  and  the  logical  development  of  ideas,  —  elements 
which  have  helped  to  give  lasting  influence  to  some  of  the 
speeches  which  at  the  moment  were  failures.  An  instance  in 
point  is  the  Speech  on  the  Nabob  of  Arcots  Debts,  which  Erskine 
is  said  to  have  slept  through,  but  which  he  afterwards  thumbed 
to  pieces  in  the  printed  copy.  These  qualities,  however,  may 
be  discussed  more  properly  in  relation  to  Burke's  style. 

VII. 

BURKE  AS  A  WRITER. 

One  of  the  first  things  to  strike  the  reader  of  Burke  is  the 
vigor  which  he  displays  in  nearly  every  kind  of  prose  :  in 
never-to-be-forgotten  descriptions  of  the  soft  beauty  of  Marie 
Antoinette  or  of  the  horrors  of  war  in  India  ;  in  blood-curdling 
tales  of  the  cruelty  of  Debi  Sing  at  Rungpore  ;  in  clear-cut 
expositions  of  the  effect  of  poetry  upon  the  emotions,  or  the 
effect  of  Popery  laws  in  Ireland  ;  in  arguments  for  toleration 
or  conciliation  which  carry  one  along  with  the  rush  of  rapid 
narrative  ;  in  the  pathos  of  his  laments  for  the  death  of  his 
son;  in  the  irony  of  the  Vindication  of  Natural  Society ;  in  the 
terrific  invective  of  the  Letters  on  a  Regicide  Peace ;  in  the 
splendor  of  the  appeal  at  the  close  of  the  Speech  on  Conciliation  ; 
in  the  unadorned  gravity  of  the  Address  to  the  King.  Through 
all  this  range,  from  which  humor  alone  is  excluded,  Burke 
moves  with  a  sure  and  imperious  stride. 

Since  there  is  no  notable  piece  of  description  in  the  Speech 
on  Conciliation,  the  student  of  Burke's  style  should  read  such  a 

of  Warren  Hastings,  Second  Day,  Works,  IX,  448  :  "  The  laws  of  morality 
are  the  same  everywhere,  and  .  .  .  there  is  no  action  which  would  pass  for 
an  act  of  extortion,  of  peculation,  of  bribery  and  of  oppression  in  England, 
that  is  not  an  act  of  extortion,  of  peculation,  of  bribery  and  oppression  in 
Europe,  Asia,  Africa  and  all  the  world  over." 


1  INTRODUCTION. 

passage  as  that  which  tells  of  the  tortures  at  Rungpore 1  or  of 
the  devastation  of  the  Carnatic  by  Hyder  Ali.2  Two  fragments 
from  the  latter  are  worth  quoting  here  to  show  in  what  large 
measure  Burke  had  the  poet's  power  of  realizing  by  the  imagi- 
nation a  scene  on  which  his  eyes  had  never  rested  :  "  All  the 
horrors  of  war  before  known  or  heard  of  were  mercy  to  that 
new  havoc.  A  storm  of  universal  fire  blasted  every  field,  con- 
sumed every  house,  destroyed  every  temple.  The  miserable 
inhabitants,  flying  from  their  flaming  villages,  in  part  were 
slaughtered  ;  others,  without  regard  to  sex,  to  age,  to  the 
respect  of  rank  or  sacredness  of  function,  fathers  torn  from 
children,  husbands  from  wives,  enveloped  in  a  whirlwind  of 
cavalry,  and  amidst  the  goading  spears  of  drivers  and  the 
trampling  of  pursuing  horses,  were  swept  into  captivity  in  an 
unknown  and  hostile  land.  Those  who  were  able  to  evade 
this  tempest  fled  to  the  walled  cities ;  but  escaping  from  fire, 
sword  and  exile,  they  fell  into  the  jaws  of  famine.  .  .  .  For 
eighteen  months  without  intermission  this  destruction  raged 
from  the  gates  of  Madras  to  the  gates  of  Tanjore ;  and  so  com- 
pletely did  these  masters  in  their  art,  Hyder  Ali  and  his  more 
ferocious  son,  absolve  themselves  of  their  impious  vow,  that, 
when  the  British  armies  traversed,  as  they  did,  the  Carnatic 
for  hundreds  of  miles  in  all  directions,  through  the  whole  line 
of  their  march  they  did  not  see  one  man,  not  one  woman,  not 
one  child,  not  one  four-footed  beast  of  any  description  whatever. 
One  dead,  uniform  silence  reigned  over  the  whole  region." 8 

In  exposition  Burke  has  done  nothing  better  in  small  com- 
pass than  his  explanation  of  the  causes  of  the  American  love 
of  freedom  in  this  Speech  on  Conciliation. 4  As  regards  choice 

1  Speech  in  Opening  the  Impeachment  of  Warren  Hastings,  Third  Day, 
Works,  X,  83-90. 

2  This  bit    is  in  Professor  Perry's  Selections  from  Burke,  a  book  which, 
though  it  contains  nothing  from  the  Speech  on  Conciliation,  is  useful  for 
the  study  of  Burke's  style  in  general. 

8  Works,  III,  63-65.  *  Pages  19-25. 


INTRO  D  UCTION, 


li 


of  words  as  well  as  arrangement  of  ideas  the  English  language 
hardly  furnishes  a  better  model  of  expository  method.  Here, 
as  in  Burke's  descriptions  and  narrations,  definite  words  bite 
the  meaning  into  the  mind,  and  concrete  examples  vivify  the 
general  statements.  The  effect  of  such  specific  terms  is  well 
brought  out  by  Payne,1  who  compares  a  quotation  from  this 
passage  with  one  from  Lord  Brougham  which  is  made  up  of 
general,  or  abstract,  words  : 


In  large  bodies  the  circulation  of 
power  must  be  less  vigorous  at  the 
extremities.  Nature  has  said  it. 
The  Turk  cannot  govern  Egypt 
and  Arabia  and  Kurdistan  as  he 
governs  Thrace ;  nor  has  he  the 
same  dominion  in  Crimea  and  Al- 
giers which  he  has  at  Brusa  and 
Smyrna.  Despotism  itself  is  obliged 
to  truck  and  huckster.  The  Sultan 
gets  such  obedience  as  he  can. — 
Pages  24,  25. 


In  all  the  despotisms  of  the  East 
it  has  been  observed  that  the  fur- 
ther any  part  of  the  empire  is  re- 
moved from  the  capital  the  more 
do  its  inhabitants  enjoy  some  sort 
of  rights  and  privileges;  the  more 
inefficacious  is  the  power  of  the 
monarch  ;  and  the  more  feeble  and 
easily  decayed  is  the  organization 
of  the  government.  —  Inquiry  into 
the  Colonial  Policy  of  the  European 
Powers. 


These  two  bits  show  clearly  enough  Burke's  superiority  and 
one  of  the  sources  of  it. 

Another  excellent  example-  -this  time  argumentative --is  the 
paragraph  beginning  "Ireland  before  the  English  conquest."2 
Here  figurative  touches  are  not  infrequent,  but  the  figures  are 
simple,  even  colloquial  :  "  The  roots  of  our  primitive  constitu- 
tion were  early  transplanted  into  that  soil,  and  grew  and  flour- 
ished there";3  "Your  ancestors  did  not  churlishly  sit  down 
alone  to  the  feast  of  Magna  Charta  "  ; 4  "  Your  standard  could 
never  be  advanced  an  inch  before  your  privileges." 5  The  whole 
speech,  in  fact,  is  strewn  with  such  turns,  which  perhaps  do 
more  than  anything  else  to  impart  vitality  to  a  style  :  "  The 


1  Burke's  Select  Works,  I,  xxxix. 
a  42  17.  3  42  26-28. 


4  42  31,  32. 
6  43  2,  3. 


jji  INTRODUCTION. 

public  would  not  have  patience  to  see  us  play  the  game  out  "  ;  J 
"  They  are  not  squeezed  into  this  happy  form  by  the  constraints 
of  watchful  and  suspicious  government  "  ;  2  "  They  will  cling  2^^. 
grapple  to  you  "  ;3  "I  put  my  foot  in  the  tracks  of  our  forefathers, 
where  I  can  neither  wander  nor  stumble" 

But  Burke's  exuberant  imagination  would  not  allow  him  to 
stop  at  such  simple  tropes.  His  mind  was  teeming  with  sug- 
gestions of  subtle  likenesses  and  relations,  —  suggestions  which, 
when  translated  into  words,  became  similes  or  metaphors,  many 
of  which  surpass  in  poetic  force  most  of  the  verse  of  his  cen- 
tury. Oddly  enough,  as  Macaulay  notes,  his  imagination  grew 
more  active,  his  style  more  florid,  with  his  advancing  years.  In 
his  youth,  in  the  Inquiry  into  the  Origin  of  our  Ideas  on  the 
Sublime  and  Beautiful,  "  he  wrote  on  the  emotions  produced  by 
mountains  and  cascades,  by  the  masterpieces  of  painting  and 
sculpture,  by  the  faces  and  necks  of  beautiful  women,  in  the 
style  of  a  parliamentary  report.  In  his  old  age  he  discussed 
treaties  and  tariffs  in  the  most  fervid  and  brilliant  language  of 
romance."  6  It  is  interesting  to  notice  the  gradual  change. 
The  Inquiry  contains  only  one  or  two  bits  which  can  be  called 
flowery,  such  as  "In  the  morning  of  our  days,  when  the  senses 
are  unworn  and  tender."  6  There  is  one  bold  metaphor,  "  In 
this  description  the  terrible  and  sublime  blaze  out  together."  7 
At  the  period  of  the  Speech  on  Conciliation  Burke  was  at  his 
best,  splendid  and  yet  restrained.  The  page  8  containing  the 
sentence,  "If  ...  that  angel  should  have  drawn  up  the  cur- 
tain and  unfolded  the  rising  glories  of  his  country,"  and  the 
impassioned  peroration  with  the  imagery  of  "  the  sanctuary  of 
liberty,  the  sacred  temple  consecrated  to  our  common  faith,"  9 

-  these  passages,  though  in   a  manner  to   be  attempted  by  a 
genius  only,  and  even  then  too  ornate  for  modern  taste,  were 


1  5  24,  25.  451  27,  28. 

2  17  13,  14.  5  Essay  on  Lord  Bacon.  8  14. 

8  72  2.  6  Works,  I,  97.  9  72  10,  11. 


INTRODUCTION.  liii 

for  the  time  and  place  proper  and  effective.  But  ten  years 
later  in  the  Speech  on  the  Nabob  of  Arcofs  Debts  Burke  passed 
the  bounds  set  by  an  age  when  the  florid  was  more  admired 
than  now,  the  repulsive  more  readily  tolerated.  Of  all  the 
"purple  patches,"  however,  the  most  gorgeous  is  in  the  Reflec- 
tions on  the  Revolution,  the  description  of  Marie  Antoinette, 
which  begins,  "  Surely  never  lighted  on  this  orb,  which  she 
hardly  seemed  to  touch,  a  more  delightful  vision.  I  saw  her 
just  above  the  horizon,  decorating  and  cheering  the  elevated 
sphere  she  just  began  to  move  in,-  -glittering  like  the  morning 
star,  full  of  life  and  splendor  and  joy."  1 

Such  opulence  of  style  was  in  no  sense  an  affectation.  But 
though  it  was  his  natural  mode  of  expression,  he  has  left  two 
noteworthy  exceptions,  the  austerely  phrased  Report  on  the 
Lords'  Journal,  1794,  and  the  sober  Address  to  the  King,  1777. 
The  latter  contains  a  passage  deemed  by  some  the  noblest 
Burke  ever  wrote.  It  begins,  "  What,  gracious  sovereign,  is 
the  empire  of  America  to  us,  or  the  empire  of  the  world,  if  we 
lose  our  own  liberties  ?  " 2 

This  sentence,  which  is  modeled  upon  the  well-known  verse 
from  St.  Matthew,  "What  is  a  man  profited  if  he  shall  gain 
the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul  ? " 8  is  one  of 
many  in  which  Burke,  though  an  independent  writer,  has 
enriched  his  style  either  by  direct  quotation  or  by  adaptation 
from  the  Bible.  In  this  very  Speech  on  Conciliation  there  are 
upwards  of  twenty  of  these  passages,  4  such  as,  "  When  the  day- 
star  of  the  English  Constitution  had  arisen  in  their  hearts."  6 
In  like  manner  Burke  drew  upon  the  Roman  and  the  English 
poets,  especially  Virgil,  Horace  and  Juvenal,  Shakspere,  Milton 

1  Works,  III,  331.  2  Ibid.,  VI,  177.  »  xvi,  26. 

4  The  parallels  are  pointed  out  in  the  notes  to  the  following  lines  :  4  16, 
13  32,  14  31,  24  29,  30  4,  30  6,  31  16,  31  27,  37  1,  38  5,  46  6,  49  8,  50  33,  51  22, 
51  30,  51  31,  63  16,  72  12,  72  20,  73  25,  73  34. 

6 46  6, 7. 


JNTR  OD  UCTION. 

and  Pope. l  Indeed  it  is  said  that  whenever  he  wrote,  he  kept 
a  "  ragged  Delphin  Virgil "  near  his  elbow.  He  was  thoroughly 
acquainted,  not  only  with  the  writers  just  mentioned,  but  with 
others  of  the  best,  including  Plutarch,  Plautus,  Terence,  Cicero, 
Lucretius,  Bacon  and  Dry  den.  In  spite  of  his  knowledge  of 
literature  and  in  spite  of  the  current  fashion  of  quoting,  partic- 
ularly from  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics,  Burke  seldom  erred  by 
quoting  too  frequently  or  by  patching  an  incongruous  element 
into  the  context.  Having  reached  the  right  pitch  of  thought  or 
expression,  then,  by  the  poetic  force  of  a  borrowed  turn,  by  the 
familiarity  and  power  of  suggestion  or  by  the  aptness,  he  added 
the  finishing  touch. 

Brilliant  as  Burke's  phrasing  is,  he  did  not  rely  upon  mere 
brilliancy  :  he  was  generally  careful  to  arrange  his  thoughts  so 
that  each  fell  into  its  proper  place  and  contributed  its  due 
share  towards  the  total  effect.  His  skill  in  planning  need  not 
be  discussed  here,  for  at  a  glance  it  is  evident  in  the  analysis 
of  the  Speech  on  Conciliation  a  few  pages  farther  on. 

Moreover,  Burke  took  every  precaution  to  make  the  logical 
relations  of  his  ideas  unmistakable.  For  this  purpose  he  used 
many  connective  words  or  phrases.  For  example,  the  first  line 
of  each  paragraph  on  pages  35  and  36  contains  a  phrase  which 
serves  as  a  connective  with  what  precedes  :  "  There  is,  Sir, 
also  a  circumstance  which  convinces  me  that  th is  mode  of  crim- 
inal proceeding" ;z  "In  this  situation,  let  us  seriously  and 
coolly  ponder  "  ; 8  "  If  then  the  removal  of  the  causes  of  this 
spirit  of  American  liberty";*  "If  we  adopt  this  mode."6 
Another  of  Burke's  methods  was  to  construct  the  paragraph  so 
as  to  throw  as  much  emphasis  as  possible  upon  the  main  idea 
in  it.  By  a  word  or  phrase  at  the  beginning  he  would  indicate 

1  See  14  10, 17  4,  18  6,  19  31,  22  31,  24  8,  24  25,  25  18,  26  2,  30  4,  31  9, 32  33, 
37  19,  46  9,  49  2,  49  21,  51  16,  51  20,  63  2,  69  27,  70  29,  70  33,  71  34,  72  2,  73  i. 
73  n. 

2  35  19,  20.  *  36  1.  •«  36  12,  13.  &  36  19. 


INTRODUCTION,,  lv 

the  topic ;  he  would  next  present  the  various  details ;  and  he 
would  close  with  a  summarizing  phrase  or  sentence.  A  good 
instance  is  the  paragraph  beginning  "  The  proposition  is 
peace."  1  This  sentence  names  the  topic,  peace.  Then  come 
several  explanations,  and  at  the  end  the  gist  of  the  whole 
matter,  "  To  reconcile  them  to  each  other  in  the  same  act 
and  by  the  bond  of  the  same  interest  which  reconciles  them  to 
the  British  government."  The  next  two  paragraphs  are  con- 
structed in  much  the  same  way.  The  artifices  just  mentioned 
are  but  two  out  of  many,  for  Burke  was  expert  in  most  of  the 
devices  used  in  writing  good  prose. 

Every  criticism  of  Burke's  style,  however,  is  wholly  inade- 
quate. To  say  that  he  is  vigorous,  brilliantly  imaginative,  at 
times  severely  simple,  at  times  florid,  to  say  that  he  quotes  aptly, 
arranges  his  ideas  logically  and  is  dexterous  in  constructing 
sentences  and  paragraphs,  —  all  this  is  much  like  saying  that  a 
human  being  is  made  up  of  water,  iron,  lime,  carbon  and 
sodium.  The  most  important  element  still  eludes  the  analysis 
of  the  chemist  and  the  critic.  The  only  way,  then,  to  under- 
stand Burke  and  his  style  is  to  study  him  and  see  for  oneself 
how  "  a  generous  nature  took  her  own  way  to  perfection." 


VIII. 

STRUCTURE  OF  THE  SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION. 

The  Speech  on  Conciliation  is  one  of  the  best  examples  of 
Burke's  skill  in  organizing  material  so  that  each  idea  falls  into 
its  proper  place  and  contributes  its  due  share  to  the  total 
effect.  This  perfection  of  structure  is  most  easily  seen  in  a 
skeleton,  or  outline,  in  which  the  divisions  stand  out  clearly. 
Such  an  outline  may  be  drawn  in  several  forms,  but  the  one 
here  chosen  is  the  argumentative  brief,  which  is  treated 

1710. 


Ivi  INTRODUCTION. 

minutely  in  the  third  chapter  of  Professor  G.  P.  Baker's  Prin- 
ciples of  Argumentation.^  According  to  this  scheme  the  main 
body  of  the  argument  is  included  in  the  brief  pi-op er.  In  this 
part  the  lettering  and  numbering  of  heads  does  not  indicate 
the  relative  importance  of  'arguments,  but  merely  their  relation 
to  the  chief  proposition.  Thus  arguments  marked  with  capital 
Roman  numerals  directly  support  the  proposition  ;  those  marked 
with  capital  letters  support  the  arguments  marked  with  capital 
Roman  numerals,  and  so  on.  The  arguments  in  support  of  a 
statement  are  always  arranged  under  it  —  the  reverse  of  the 
order  of  the  syllogism.  In  cases  where  Burke  has  presented 
his  material  in  the  form  of  the  syllogism,  arguments  first  and 
then  conclusion,  his  order  has  been  changed  for  a  few  sen- 
tences. The  numbers  in  parentheses  in  the  following  partial  brief 
refer  to  pages  and  lines  of  the  text.  It  is  suggested  that  the  pupil 
substitute  a  sentence  for  each  dash,  but  that  he  be  given  a  good 
deal  of  help  in  the  case  of  references  without  dashes. 

INTRODUCTION. 

I.  The  return  of  the  "grand  penal  bill"  gives  a  fresh  opportunity 

to  choose  a  plan  for  dealing  with  America.     (3  1-25) 
II.  The  subject  is  a  most  serious  one.     (4  i) 

A.  Since  it  was  the  most  important  matter  before  Parliament 
when  Burke  took  his  seat,  he  was  at  more  than  common  pains 
to  instruct  himself  in  regard  to  it.  (4  2-19) 

B. (4  20-27) 

C. (4  28-31) 

D.  -  (4  32-5  8) 

III.  It  is  evident  that  those  who  are  opposing  the  action  of  the  govern- 
ment must  present  a  definite  policy.     (5  9-32) 

A.  (5  33-6  13) 

B'  (6  14-25) 

C.  (6  26-7  9) 

1  Boston,  1895.     See  also  revised  edition  by  Baker  and  Huntington, 
1905. 


INTRODUCTION.  Ivii 

IV.  Burke's  proposition  is  to  secure  peace  by  removing  the  grounds 

of  difference.     (7  10-25) 

V.  This  simple  plan,  though  it  has  none  of  the  splendor  of  Lord 
North's  project,  and  does  not  propose  an  auction  of  finance, 
derives  advantage  from  the  proposition  and  registry  of   Lord 
North's  project  (7  26-8  is) ;  for 
A. (8  16-20) 

B.  (821-32) 

C.  (833-94) 

VI.  The  proposal  for  peace  ought  to  come  from  England  (9  8, 9);  for 

A.  (9  6,  7) 

B.  (9  lo-is) 

VII.  There  are  two  leading  questions  to  consider:    (9  19) 

A.  (920) 

B.  (9  21) 

VIII.  The  determination  of  both  these  questions  depends,  not  upon 
abstract  ideas  and  general  theories,  but  upon  the  nature  and 
circumstances  of  America.  (9  22-10  4) 


BRIEF    PROPER. 

England  should  secure  peace  by  conciliation,  because 

I.  The  condition  of  America  requires  this  method;  for 

A.  •       -  (10  5-11  7) 

B.  -(lie-is);  for 

(11  13-15  19) 

C.  -    -  (16  1-13) 

D. (16  14-17  21) 

Refutation. 

II.  The  argument   that  we  should  use  force   because  America  is 
worth  fighting  for  is  untenable  (17  22-18  3) ;  for 

A.  Force  is  temporary.     (18  4-7) 

B.  It  is  uncertain.     (18  8-14) 

C.  It  impairs  the  object.     (18  15-27) 

D.  We  have  no  experience  in  favor  of  force.     (18  28-34) 


iVlii  INTRODUCTION. 

Direct  Proof. 

III.  The  temper  and  character  of  the  Americans  make  it  necessary  for 
us  to  conciliate  them  (19  1-9) ;  for 

A.  The  spirit  of  liberty  is  stronger  among  them  than  among  any 
other  people  on  earth  (19  10-25  12) 

IV.  Coercion (25  24-26  23) ;  for 

(26  24-28  12) 

V.  Of  the  three  possible  methods  of  dealing  with  America, , , 

and ,  the  last  is  the  only  one  possible  (28  13-30) ;  for 

A.  -     —(2831-292);  for 

1.  -    -(293-319) 

2.  •     —(31  10-11);  for 

(31  12-33  3) 

B.  -(33  4-n);  for 
(33  12-36  n) 

C.  —    -  (36  12-is) ;  for 

1.  (36  19-si) 

""  Refutation. 

2.  (3632-3725);  for 

(37  26-38  is) 

3-  -(39i-2o);  for 
(40  3-41  n) 

4-  (41  12-19) ;  for 

(41  20-27) 


Direct  Proof. 

5-  —    -  (41  28-42  13) ;  for 

(42  H-48  3) 
6.         -(484-7);  for 

(48  8-31) 

7-  -    -  (48  32-49  14) ;  for 

a-         -(4915-522);  for 

[Here  are  inserted  from  time  to  time  the  resolutions  which  express  in 
formal  terms  the  ideas  already  presented.] 

Refutation. 

i.  —    -  (52  3-53  4) 
ii-  (5320-547) 


INTRODUCTION,  lix 


Direct  Proof. 

iii.  (548-14);  for 

?•  —    -  (54  15-56  2) 

Refutation, 
z.  — = — (563-ia);  for 

(56  13-28) 

Direct  Proof. 

iv.  (5629-5728) 

b.  (5729-5827);  for 

(58  28-59  34) 

c.  (60  1-15) ;  for 

(60  16-33) 

Refutation. 

d.  (61  9-n) ;  for 

(61  18-63  34) 

e. (64  1-9) ;  for 

(64  10-22) 
/•  (64  23-34) ;  for 

(65  1-68  27) 
g-         -  (69  17,  is) ;  for 

(69  19-71  6) 

h.    (71  7-28) 

Direct  Proof. 

8.         -(71  29-72  19);  for 
(72  20-74  10) 


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BIBLIOGRAPHICAL    NOTE. 


There  is  so  much  material  of  interest  in  the  study  of  the  Speech  on  Con' 
dilation  and  of  Burke's  writings  and  speeches  in  general  that  a  complete 
bibliography  is  out  of  the  question  in  this  volume.  The  books  named 
below  are,  however,  the  more  important.  Most  of  them  are  specifically 
referred  to  in  the  Introduction  or  the  Notes. 

The  most  accessible  American  edition  of  Burke's  Works  is  that  in  twelve 
volumes,  Little,  Brown  &  Company,  Boston,  1894.  The  Account  of  the 
European  Settlements  in  America  is  not  in  this  edition,  though  it  was  in  an 
earlier  edition  published  by  the  same  firm,  and  now  rather  hard  to  get. 
The  European  Settlements  may  now  and  then  be  bought  in  one  of  the  two- 
volume  editions  published  in  London  in  the  last  century.  There  are 
several  English  editions  of  Burke,  of  which  that  by  Bohn,  1893,  in  eight 
volumes,  is  on  the  whole  the  best.  No  edition  contains  Burke's  contribu- 
tions to  the  Annual  Register ;  which  are  often  difficult  to  identify.  No 
edition  contains  more  than  a  fraction  of  the  many  fragmentary  reports 
of  his  speeches  scattered  through  the  Parliamentary  History  and  other 
collections.  Indeed,  he  himself  prepared  for  press  but  very  few  speeches 
and  left  notes  on  but  few  more.  His  Correspondence  was  published  at 
London  in  four  volumes  in  1844. 

The  Speech  on  Conciliation  is  printed  with  annotations  in  the  following 
editions  :  C.  A.  Goodrich,  Select  British  Eloquence,  Harpers,  New  York ; 
E.  J.  Payne,  Burke's  Select  Works,  Clarendon  Press,  1892,  vol.  I ;  F. 
G.  Selby,  Burke's  Speeches,  Macmillan,  New  York,  1895 ;  A.  S.  Cook, 
Speech  on  Conciliation,  Longmans,  New  York,  1896;  Henry  Morley,  Uni- 
versal Library,  London,  1892.  The  volume  of  Perry's  Selections  from 
Burke,  though  it  does  not  contain  the  Speech  on  Conciliation,  presents  well- 
chosen  specimens  of  the  whole  range  of  Burke's  writing  and  oratory. 

The  above-mentioned  annotated  editions,  except  that  of  the  Universal 
Library,  devote  more  or  less  space  to  an  account  of  Burke's  life  and  a 
criticism  of  his  style.  The  best  life,  however,  is  that  by  John  Morley  in 
the  English  Men  of  Letters.  Morley  has  also  considered  Burke's  states- 
manship in  an  earlier  work,  Edmund  Btirke  :  a  Historical  Study,  London, 


BIBLIO  GRAPHY. 


Ixvii 


1869.  A  more  detailed  biography  is  that  of  James  Prior,  two  volumes, 
London,  1854.  A  later  and  better  work  is  Thomas  MacKriight's  History 
of  the  Life  and  Times  of  Edmund  Burke,  three  volumes,  London,  1858. 
The  life  in  the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography  furnishes  many  references 
and  a  bibliography.  Several  other  short  accounts  of  Burke  are  also  valu- 
able: those  in  the  Annual  Register  for  1797  and  1798;  J.  R.  Green's  in 
chapter  X  of  the  History  of  the  English  People ;  H.  T.  Buckle's  in  volume 
I  of  his  History  of  Civilization  in  Europe ;  Sir  Joseph  Napier's  lecture  on 
Burke  before  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  of  Dublin,  in  1862 ; 
Lord  Brougham's  sketch  in  his  Statesmen  of  the  Time  of  George  the  Third ; 
Augustine  Birrell's  in  Obiter  Dicta,  Second  Series,  New  York,  1887;  F.  D. 
Maurice's  lecture  on  Burke  in  Friendship  of  Books,  1874;  and  Woodrow 
Wilson's  essay,  7"he  Interpreter  of  English  Liberty,  in  the  volume  Mere 
Literature,  1896.  In  the  Proceedings  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society 
for  October,  1893,  Calvin  Stebbins  discusses  Burke's  agency  for  the  prov- 
ince of  New  York. 

Vivid  pictures  of  the  time,  and  often  of  Burke  himself,  are  presented  in 
Boswell's  Life  of  Johnson,  Horace  Walpole's  Letters  and  Memoirs,  Madame 
D'Arblay's  Diary  and  Letters,  Jesse's  George  Selwyn  and  His  Contempora- 
ries and  Memoirs  of  George  the  Third,  Wraxall's  Historical  and  Posthu- 
mous Memoirs,  the  Rockingham  Memoirs,  the  Grenville  Papers,  Lord 
Chesterfield's  Letters,  Thackeray's  Four  Georges  and  English  Humorists, 
and  Macaulay's  essays  on  Warren  Hastings  and  Chatham.  There  is  also 
an  interesting  passage  on  Burke  in  Macaulay's  Essay  on  Bacon. 

Of  the  English  historians  who  deal  with  the  period  of  the  Speech  on  Con- 
ciliation, Adolphus,  in  the  History  of  England  from  the  Accession  to  the 
Decease  of  George  the  Third,  is  prejudiced  against  the  Americans  ;  W.  E.  H. 
Lecky,  in  the  History  of  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  is  not  an 
ardent  admirer  of  republican  institutions,  but  he  is  fair  in  his  statements  ; 
J.  R.  Green,  in  History  of  the  English  People,  and  H.  T.  Buckle,  in  History 
of  Civilization  in  Europe,  are  more  decidedly  pro-American  in  tone  ;  Leslie 
Stephen,  in  the  History  of  English  Thought  in  the  Eighteenth  Century, 
treats  more  especially  the  development  of  political  ideas.  Goldwin  Smith's 
residence  in  Canada  has  given  him  a  more  intimate  knowledge  of  America 
than  most  Englishmen  possess,  and  accordingly  in  his  United  States  he  has 
given  perhaps  the  best  succinct  account  written  by  an  Englishman.  Of 
the  Americans  Bancroft  is  decidedly  unfair  to  England  ;  E.  B.  Andrews,  in 
his  History  of  the  United  States,  and  John  Fiske,  in  the  American  Revolu- 
tion, are  both  brief  and  impartial. 

Many  details  which  are  omitted  from  the  regular  histories  but  which 
form  the  basis  for  the  generalizations  of  history  may  be  found  in  the  Par- 


Ixviii  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

liamentary  History,  the  Journals  of  the  American  Congress,  the  Statutes  at 
Large,  and  the  Annual  Register.  Low  and  Polling's  Dictionary  of  English 
History  and  J.  F.  Jameson's  Dictionary  of  United  States  History,  1492- 
1894,  Boston,  1894,  are  very  convenient  for  reference. 

The  attitude  of  Burke's  contemporaries  may  be  studied  in  the  speeches 
of  Chatham  and  of  Fox,  in  the  Letters  of  Junius,  in  the  writings  of  Frank- 
lin, and  in  the  innumerable  political  tracts  of  the  time,  such  as  Dr.  Johnson's 
Taxation  No  Tyranny,  Dean  Tucker's  Four  Tracts  on  Political  and  Com- 
mercial Subjects,  Thomas  Paine's  Common  Sense,  and  Richard  Price's  Civil 
Liberty, 


THE 


SPEECH 


OF 


EDMUND    BURKE,    Efq; 


ON 


MOVING   HIS    RESOLUTIONS 


FOR 


CONCILIATION  with  the  COLONIES, 


MARCH    22,    1775. 


LONDON: 
PRINTED    FOR   J.   DODSLEY0 


MDCCLXXV. 


SPEECH    ON 
CONCILIATION   WITH   AMERICA. 


-*o»- 


I  HOPE,  Sir,  that  notwithstanding  the  austerity  of  the 
Chair,  your  good  nature  will  incline  you  to  some  degree  of 
indulgence  towards  human  frailty.  You  will  not  think  it 
unnatural  that  those  who  have  an  object  depending  which 
strongly  engages  their  hopes  and  fears  should  be  somewhat  5 
inclined  to  superstition.  As  I  came  into  the  House,  full  of 
anxiety  about  the  event  of  my  motion,  I  found,  to  my  infi- 
nite surprise,  that  the  grand  penal  bill  by  which  we  had 
passed  sentence  on  the  trade  and  sustenance  of  America  is 
to  be  returned  to  us  from  the  other  House.  I  do  confess,  10 
I  could  not  help  looking  on  this  event  as  a  fortunate  omen. 
I  look  upon  it  as  a  sort  of  providential  favor  by  which  we 
are  put  once  more  in  possession  of  our  deliberative  capacity, 
upon  a  business  so  very  questionable  in  its  nature,  so  very 
uncertain  in  its  issue.  By  the  return  of  this  bill,  which  15 
seemed  to  have  taken  its  flight  forever,  we  are  at  this  very 
instant  nearly  as  free  to  choose  a  plan  for  our  American 
government  as  we  were  on  the  first  day  of  the  session.  If, 
Sir,  we  incline  to  the  side  of  conciliation,  we  are  not  at  all 
embarrassed  (unless  we  please  to  make  ourselves  so)  by  any  20 
incongruous  mixture  of  coercion  and  restraint.  We  are 
therefore  called  upon,  as  it  were  by  a  superior  warning 
voice,  again  to  attend  to  America ;  to  attend  to  the  whole 
of  it  together  ;  and  to  review  the  subject  with  an  unusual 
degree  of  care  and  calmness.  25 


4          SPEECH  ON-  CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICA. 

Surely  it  is  an  awful  subject,  or  there  is  none  so  on  this 
side  of  the  grave.  When  I  first  had  the  honor  of  a  seat  in 
this  House,  the  affairs  of  that  continent  pressed  themselves 
upon  us  as  the  most  important  and  most  delicate  object  of 
5  parliamentary  attention.  My  little  share  in  this  great  delib- 
eration oppressed  me.  I  found  myself  a  partaker  in  a  very 
high  trust ;  and  having  no  sort  of  reason  to  rely  on  the 
strength  of  my  natural  abilities  for  the  proper  execution  of 
that  trust,  I  was  obliged  to  take  more  than  common  pains 

10  to  instruct  myself  in  everything  which  relates  to  our  colo- 
nies. I  was  not  less  under  the  necessity  of  forming  some 
fixed  ideas  concerning  the  general  policy  of  the  British 
Empire.  Something  of  this  sort  seemed  to  be  indispen- 
sable, in  order,  amidst  so  vast  a  fluctuation  of  passions 

15  and  opinions,  to  concentre  my  thoughts,  to  ballast  my 
conduct,  to  preserve  me  from  being  blown  about  by  every 
wind  of  fashionable  doctrine.  I  really  did  not  think  it  safe 
or  manly  to  have  fresh  principles  to  seek  upon  every  fresh 
mail  which  should  arrive  from  America. 

20  At  that  period  I  had  the  fortune  to  find  myself  in  perfect 
concurrence  with  a  large  majority  in  this  House.  Bowing 
under  that  high  authority,  and  penetrated  with  the  sharp- 
ness and  strength  of  that  early  impression,  I  have  continued 
ever  since,  without  the  least  deviation,  in  my  original  senti- 

25  ments.  Whether  this  be  owing  to  an  obstinate  persever- 
ance in  error,  or  to  a  religious  adherence  to  what  appears 
to  me  truth  and  reason,  it  is  in  your  equity  to  judge. 

Sir,    Parliament    having   an   enlarged   view   of    objects, 
made,  during  this  interval,  more  frequent  changes  in  their 

3°  sentiments  and  their  conduct  than  could  be  justified  in 
a  particular  person  upon  the  contracted  scale  of  private 
information.  But  though  I  do  not  hazard  anything  ap- 
proaching to  a  censure  on  the  motives  of  former  Parlia- 
ments to  all  those  alterations,  one  fact  is  undoubted,  —  that 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DISCUSSION.  5 

under  them  the  state  of  America  has  been  kept  in  continual  ^ 
agitation.    Everything  administered  as  remedy  to  the  public 
complaint,  if  it  did  not  produce,  was  at  least  followed  by, 
an   heightening  of   the    distemper;    until  by  a  variety  of 
experiments  that  important  country  has  been  brought  into    5 
her  present  situation  —  a  situation  which  I  will  not  miscall, 
which  I  dare  not  name,  which  I  scarcely  know  how  to  com- 
prehend in  the  terms  of  any  description, 

In  this  posture,  Sir,  things  stood  at  the  beginning 'of  the 
session.     About  that  time  a  worthy  member,  of  great  par-  10 
liamentary  experience,  who  in  the  year  1766  filled  the  Chair 
of  the  American   Committee  with  much   ability,   took  me 
aside   and,  lamenting  the  present   aspect  of  our   politics, 
told  me  things  were  come  to  such  a  pass  that  our  former 
methods  of  proceeding  in  the  House  would  be  no  longer  15 
tolerated  ;  that  the  public  tribunal  (never  too  indulgent  to 
a  long  and  unsuccessful  opposition)  would  now  scrutinize 
our  conduct  with  unusual  severity ;   that  the  very  vicissi- 
tudes and  shiftings  of  ministerial  measures,  instead  of  con- 
victing their   authors  of  inconstancy  and  want  of  system,  20 
would  be  taken  as  an  occasion  of  charging  us  with  a  prede- 
termined discontent  which  nothing  could  satisfy,  whilst  we 
accused  every  measure  of  vigor  as  cruel,  and  every  proposal 
of  lenity  as  weak  and   irresolute.      The  public,   he  said, 
would  not  have  patience  to  see  us  play  the  game  out  with  25 
our  adversaries  ;  we  must  produce  our  hand :  it  would  be 
expected  that  those  who  for  many  years  had  been  active  in 
such  affairs  should  show  that  they  had  formed  some  clear 
and  decided  idea  of  the  principles  of  colony  government ; 
and  were  capable  of  drawing  out  something  like  a  platform  30 
of  the  ground  which  might  be  laid  for  future  and  permanent 
tranquillity. 

I  felt  the  truth  of  what  my  honorable  friend  represented  ; 
but  I  felt  my  situation  too.     His  application  might  have 


6         SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICA. 

been  made  with  far  greater  propriety  to  many  other  gentle- 
men. No  man  was  indeed  ever  better  disposed,  or  worse 
qualified,  for  such  an  undertaking  than  myself.  Though  I 
gave  so  far  into  his  opinion  that  I  immediately  threw  my 

5  thoughts  into  a  sort  of  parliamentary  form,  I  was  by  no 
means  equally  ready  to  produce  them.  It  generally  argues 
some  degree  of  natural  impotence  of  mind,  or  some  want  of 
knowledge  of  the  world,  to  hazard  plans  of  government, 
except  from  a  seat  of  authority.  Propositions  are  made, 

10  not  only  ineffectually,  but  somewhat  disreputably,  when  the 
minds  of  men  are  not  properly  disposed  for  their  reception  ; 
and  for  my  part,  I  am  not  ambitious  of  ridicule,  not  abso- 
lutely a  candidate  for  disgrace. 

Besides,  Sir,  to  speak  the  plain  truth,  I  have  in  general 

15  no  very  exalted  opinion  of  the  virtue  of  paper  government, 
nor  of  any  politics  in  which  the  plan  is  to  be  wholly  sepa- 
rated from  the  execution.  But  when  I  saw  that  anger  and 
violence  prevailed  every  day  more  and  more,  and  that  things 
were  hastening  towards  an  incurable  alienation  of  our  colo- 

20  nies,  I  confess  my  caution  gave  way.  I  felt  this  as  one  of 
those  few  moments  in  which  decorum  yields  to  an  higher 
duty.  Public  calamity  is  a  mighty  leveller ;  and  there  are 
occasions  when  any,  even  the  slightest,  chance  of  doing 
good  must  be  laid  hold  on,  even  by  the  most  inconsiderable 

25  person. 

To  restore  order  and  repose  to  an  empire  so  great  and  so 
distracted  as  ours,  is,  merely  in  the  attempt,  an  undertaking 
that  would  ennoble  the  flights  of  the  highest  genius  and 
obtain  pardon  for  the  efforts  of  the  meanest  understanding. 

30  Struggling  a  good  while  with  these  thoughts,  by  degrees  I 
felt  myself  more  firm.  I  derived,  at  length,  some  confidence 
from  what  in  other  circumstances  usually  produces  timidity. 
I  grew  less  anxious,  even  from  the  idea  of  my  own  insignifi- 
cance. » For  judging  of  what  you  are  by  what  you  ought  to 


THE  PROPOSITION  IS  PEACE.  7 

be,  I  persuaded  myself  that  you  would  not  reject  a  reason- 
able proposition,  because  it  had  nothing  but  its  reason  to 
recommend  it.  On  the  other  hand,  being  totally  destitute 
of  all  shadow  of  influence,  natural  or  adventitious,  I  was 
very  sure  that  if  my  proposition  were  futile  or  dangerous,  5 
if  it  were  weakly  conceived  or  improperly  timed,  there  was 
nothing  exterior  to  it,  of  power  to  awe,  dazzle  or  delude 
you.  You  will  see  it  just  as  it  is,  and  you  will  treat  it  just 
as  it  deserves. 

The  proposition  is  peace.  Not  peace  through  the  medium  10 
of  war ;  not  peace  to  be  hunted  through  the  labyrinth  of 
intricate  and  endless  negotiations  ;  not  peace  to  arise  out 
of  universal  discord  fomented  from  principle  in  all  parts 
of  the  empire  ;  not  peace  to  depend  on  the  juridical  deter- 
mination of  perplexing  questions,  or  the  precise  marking  15 
the  shadowy  boundaries  of  a  complex  government.  It  is 
simple  peace,  sought  in  its  natural  course  and  its  ordinary 
haunts.  It  is  peace  sought  in  the  spirit  of  peace,  and 
laid  in  principles  purely  pacific.  I  propose,  by  removing 
the  ground  of  the  difference,  and  by  restoring  the  former  20 
unsuspecting  confidence  of  the  colonies  in  the  mother  country,  to 
give  permanent  satisfaction  to  your  people ;  and  (far  from  a 
scheme  of  ruling  by  discord)  to  reconcile  them  to  each  other 
in  the  same  act  and  by  the  bond  of  the  very  same  interest 
which  reconciles  them  to  British  government.  25 

My  idea  is  nothing  more.  Refined  policy  ever  has  been 
the  parent  of  confusion ;  and  ever  will  be  so,  as  long  as  the 
world  endures.  Plain  good  intention,  which  is  as  easily 
discovered  at  the  first  view  as  fraud  is  surely  detected  at 
last,  is,  let  me  say,  of  no  mean  force  in  the  government  of  30 
mankind.  Genuine  simplicity  of  heart  is  an  healing  and 
cementing  principle.  My  plan,  therefore,  being  formed 
upon  the  most  simple  grounds  imaginable,  may  disappoint 
some  people  when  they  hear  it.  It  has  nothing  to  recom- 


8        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICA. 

mend  it  to  the  pruriency  of  curious  ears.  There  is  nothing 
at  all  new  and  captivating  in  it.  It  has  nothing  of  the 
splendor  of  the  project  which  has  been  lately  laid  upon  your 
table  by  the  noble  lord  in  the  blue  ribbon.  It  does  not 
5  propose  to  fill  your  lobby  with  squabbling  colony  agents, 
who  will  require  the  interposition  of  your  mace  at  every 
instant  to  keep  the  peace  amongst  them.  It  does  not  in- 
stitute a  magnificent  auction  of  finance,  where  captivated 
provinces  come  to  general  ransom  by  bidding  against  each 

10  other,  until  you  knock  down  the  hammer,  and  determine  a 
proportion  of  payments  beyond  all  the  powers  of  algebra  to 
equalize  and  settle. 

The  plan  which  I  shall  presume  to  suggest  derives,  how- 
ever, one  great  advantage  from  the  proposition  and  registry 

15  of  that  noble  lord's  project.  The  idea  of  conciliation  is 
admissible.  First,  the  House,  in  accepting  the  resolution 
moved  by  the  noble  lord,  has  admitted,  notwithstanding  the 
menacing  front  of  our  address,  notwithstanding  our  heavy 
bill  of  pains  and  penalties,  that  we  do  not  think  ourselves 

20  precluded  from  all  ideas  of  free  grace  and  bounty. 

.  The  House  has  gone  farther  :  it  has  declared  conciliation 
admissible,  previous  to  any  submission  on  the  part  of  Amer- 
ica. It  has  even  shot  a  good  deal  beyond  that  mark,  and 
has  admitted  that  the  complaints  of  our  former  mode  of 

25  exerting  the  right  of  taxation  were  not  wholly  unfounded. 
That  right  thus  exerted  is  allowed  to  have  had  something  rep- 
rehensible in  it,  something  unwise  or  something  grievous ; 
since,  in  the  midst  of  our  heat  and  resentment,  we  of  our- 
selves have  proposed  a  capital  alteration;  and,  in  order  to 

30  get  rid  of  what  seemed  so  very  exceptionable,  have  instituted 

a  mode  that  is  altogether  new,  -  -  one  that  is,  indeed,  wholly 

alien  from  all  the  ancient  methods  and  forms  of  Parliament. 

The  principle  of  this  proceeding  is  large  enough  for  my 

purpose.     The  means  proposed  by  the  noble  lord  for  carry- 


THE   TWO  CAPITAL  QUESTIONS.  9 

ing  his  ideas  into  execution,  I  think,  indeed,  are  very  indif- 
ferently suited  to  the  end  ;  and  this  I  shall  endeavor  to 
show  you  before  I  sit  down.  But,  for  the  present,  I  take 
my  ground  on  the  admitted  principle.  I  mean  to  give  peace. 
Peace  implies  reconciliation ;  and  where  there  has  been  a  $ 
material  dispute,  reconciliation  does  in  a  manner  always 
imply  concession  on  the  one  part  or  on  the  other.  In  this 
state  of  things  I  make  no  difficulty  in  affirming  that  the 
proposal  ought  to  originate  from  us.  Great  and  acknowl- 
edged force  is  not  impaired,  either  in  effect  or  in  opinion,  10 
by  an  unwillingness  to  exert  itself.  The  superior  power 
may  offer  peace  with  honor  and  with  safety.  Such  an  offer 
from  such  a  power  will  be  attributed  to  magnanimity.  But 
the  concessions  of  the  weak  are  the  concessions  of  fear. 
When  such  a  one  is  disarmed,  he  is  wholly  at  the  mercy  of  15 
his  superior ;  and  he  loses  forever  that  time  and  those 
chances  which,  as  they  happen  to  all  men,  are  the  strength 
and  resources  of  all  inferior  power. 

The  capital  leading  questions  on  which  you  must  this 
day  decide  are  these  two  :  first,  whether  you  ought  to  con-  20 
cede  ;  and  secondly,  what  your  concession  ought  to  be. 
On  the  first  of  these  questions  we  have  gained  (as  I  have 
just  taken  the  liberty  of  observing  to  you)  some  ground. 
But  I  am  sensible  that  a  good  deal  more  is  still  to  be  done. 
Indeed,  Sir,  to  enable  us  to  determine  both  on  the  one  and  25 
the  other  of  these  great  questions  with  a  firm  and  precise 
judgment,  I  think  it  may  be  necessary  to  consider  distinctly 
the  true  nature  and  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  the  object 
which  we  have  before  us  :  because  after  all  our  struggle, 
whether  we  will  or  not,  we  must  govern  America  according  30 
to  that  nature  and  to  those  circumstances,  and  not  according 
to  our  own  imaginations,  not  according  to  abstract  ideas  of 
right ;  by  no  means  according  to  mere  general  theories  of 
government,  the  resort  to  which  appears  to  me  in  our  pres- 


10        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICA. 

ent  situation  no  better  than  arrant  trifling.  I  shall  there- 
fore endeavor,  with  your  leave,  to  lay  before  you  some  of  the 
most  material  of  these  circumstances  in  as  full  and  as  clear 
a  manner  as  I  am  able  to  state  them. 

5  The  first  thing  that  we  have  to  consider  with  regard  to 
the  nature  of  the  object  is  the  number  of  people  in  the 
colonies.  I  have  taken  for  some  years  a  good  deal  of  pains 
on  that  point.  I  can  by  no  calculation  justify  myself  in 
placing  the  number  below  two  millions  of  inhabitants  of  our 

10  own  European  blood  and  color  ;  besides  at  least  500,000 
others,  who  form  no  inconsiderable  part  of  the  strength  and 
opulence  of  the  whole.  This,  Sir,  is,  I  believe,  about  the 
true  number.  There  is  no  occasion  to  exaggerate  where 
plain  truth  is  of  so  much  weight  and  importance.  But 

15  whether  I  put  the  present  numbers  too  high  or  too  low  is  a 
matter  of  little  moment.  Such  is  the  strength  with  which 
population  shoots  in  that  part  of  the  world,  that,  state  the 
numbers  as  high  as  we  will,  whilst  the  dispute  continues, 
the  exaggeration  ends.  Whilst  we  are  discussing  any  given 

20  magnitude,  they  are  grown  to  it.  Whilst  we  spend  our  time 
in  deliberating  on  the  mode  of  governing  two  millions,  we 
shall  find  we  have  millions  more  to  manage.  Your  children 
do  not  grow  faster  from  infancy  to  manhood  than  they 
spread  from  families  to  communities,  and  from  villages  to 

25  nations. 

I  put  this  consideration  of  the  present  and  the  growing 
numbers  in  the  front  of  our  deliberation  ;  because,  Sir,  this 
consideration  will  make  it  evident  to  a  blunter  discernment 
than  yours,  that  no  partial,  narrow,  contracted,  pinched, 

30  occasional  system  will  be  at  all  suitable  to  such  an  object. 
It  will  show  you  that  it  is  not  to  be  considered  as  one  of 
those  minima  which  are  out  of  the  eye  and  consideration  of 
the  law  ;  not  a  paltry  excrescence  of  the  »tate  ;•  not  a  mean 
dependent,  who  may  be  neglected  with  little  damage  and 


COMMERCE   OF  THE   COLONIES.  11 

provoked  with  little  danger.  It  will  prove  that  some  degree 
of  care  and  caution  is  required  in  the  handling  such  an 
object ;  it  will  show  that  you  ought  not,  in  reason,  to  trifle 
with  so  large  a  mass  of  the  interests  and  feelings  of  the 
human  race.  You  could  at  no  time  do  so  without  guilt ;  5 
and  be  assured  you  will  not  be  able  to  do  it  long  with 
impunity. 

But  the  population  of  this  country,  the  great  and  growing 
population,  though  a  very  important  consideration,  will  lose 
much  of  its  weight,  if  not  combined  with  other  circum-  10 
stances.  The  commerce  of  your  colonies  is  out  of  all  pro- 
portion beyond  the  numbers  of  the  people.  This  ground  of 
their  commerce,  indeed,  has  been  trod  some  days  ago,  and 
with  great  ability,  by  a  distinguished  person  at  your  bar. 
This  gentleman,  after  thirty-five  years,  —  it  is  so  long  since  15 
he  first  appeared  at  the  same  place  to  plead  for  the  com- 
merce of  Great  Britain,  —  has  come  again  before  you  to 
plead  the  same  cause,  without  any  other  effect  of  time 
than  that  to  the  fire  of  imagination  and  extent  of  erudition, 
which  even  then  marked  him  as  one  of  the  first  literary  20 
characters  of  his  age,  he  has  added  a  consummate  knowl- 
edge in  the  commercial  interest  of  his  country,  formed  by  a 
long  course  of  enlightened  and  discriminating  experience. 

Sir,  I  should  be  inexcusable  in  coming  after  such  a  person 
with  any  detail,  if  a  great  part  of  the  members  who  now  fill  25 
the  House  had  not  the  misfortune  to  be  absent  when  he 
appeared  at  your  bar.     Besides,  Sir,  I  propose  to  take  the 
matter   at   periods    of   time    somewhat  different  from   his. 
There  is,  if  I  mistake  not,  a  point  of  view  from  whence,  if 
you  will  look  at  this  subject,  it  is  impossible  that  it  should  3° 
not  make  an  impression  upon  you. 

I  have  in  my  hand  two  accounts  :  one  a  comparative  state 
of  the  export  trade  of  England  to  its  colonies,  as  it  stood  in 
the  year  1704,  and  as  it  stood  in  the  year  1772  ;  the  other 


12         SPEECH  ON  CONCILIA  TION  WITH  AMERICA. 

a  state  of  the  export  trade  of  this  country  to  its  colonies 
alone,  as  it  stood  in  1772,  compared  with  the  whole  trade  of 
England  to  all  parts  of  the  world  (the  colonies  included)  in 
the  year  1704.  They  are  from  good  vouchers  :  the  latter 
5  period  from  the  accounts  on  your  table  ;  the  earlier  from  an 
original  manuscript  of  Davenant,  who  first  established  the 
Inspector-General's  office,  which  has  been  even  since  his 
time  so  abundant  a  source  of  parliamentary  information. 

The  export  trade  to  the  colonies  consists  of  three  great 
10  branches  :   the  African,  which,  terminating   almost  wholly 
in  the  colonies,  must  be  put  to  the  account  of  their  com- 
merce ;  the  West  Indian ;  and   the    North  American.     All 
these  are  so  interwoven  that  the  attempt  to  separate  them 
would  tear  to  pieces  the  contexture  of  the  whole;  and  if  not 
15  entirely  destroy,  would  very  much  depreciate,  the  value  of 
all  the  parts.     I  therefore  consider  these  three  denomina- 
tions to  be,  what  in  effect  they  are,  one  trade. 

The  trade  to  the  colonies,  taken  on  the  export  side,  at 
the  beginning  of  this  century,  that  is,  in  the  year  1704,  stood 
20  thus :  — 

Exports  to  North  America  and  the  West  Indies,   ,£483,265     * 
To  Africa 86,665 

^569.930 

In  the  year  1772,  which  I  take  as  a  middle  year  between 
25  the  highest  and  lowest  of  those  lately  laid  on  your  table, 
the  account  was  as  follows  :  — 

To  North  America  and  the  West  Indies  .     .  .£4,791,734 

To  Africa 866,398 

To  which  if  you  add  the  export  trade  from 

30                     Scotland,  which  had  in  1704  no  existence  364,000 

£6,022,132 

From  five  hundred  and  odd  thousand  it  has  grown  to  six 
millions.     It  has  increased  no  less  than  twelvefold.     This  is 


TRADE    WITH  THE   COLONIES.  13 

the  state  of  the  colony  trade,  as  compared  with  itself  at 
these  two  periods  within  this  century;  and  this  is  matter 
for  meditation.  But  this  is  not  all.  Examine  my  second 
account.  See  how  the  export  trade  to  the  colonies  alone  in 
1772  stood  in  the  other  point  of  view,  that  is,  as  compared  to  5 
the  whole  trade  of  England  in  1704  :  — 

The  whole  export  trade  of  England,  including 

that  to  the  colonies,  in  1704      ....     ^6,509,000 
Export  to  the  colonies  alone  in  1772    .     .     .-      6,024,000 

Difference     ....        ,£485,000  10 

The  trade  with  America  alone  is  now  within  less  than 
£5  oo,  ooo  of  being  equal  to  what  this  great  commercial 
nation,  England,  carried  on  at  the  beginning  of  this  century 
with  the  whole  world  !  If  I  had  taken  the  largest  year  of 
those  on  your  table,  it  would  rather  have  exceeded.  But,  it  15 
will  be  said,  is  not  this  American  trade  an  unnatural  protu- 
berance that  has  drawn  the  juices  from  the  rest  of  the  body  ? 
The  reverse.  It  is  the  very  food  that  has  nourished  every 
other  part  into  its  present  magnitude.  Our  general  trade 
has  been  greatly  augmented,  and  augmented  more  or  less  in  20 
almost  every  part  to  which  it  ever  extended,  but  with  this 
material  difference :  that  of  the  six  millions  which  in  the 
beginning  of  the  century  constituted  the  whole  mass  of  our 
export  commerce,  the  colony  trade  was  but  one-twelfth  part ; 
it  is  now  (as  a  part  of  sixteen  millions)  considerably  more  25 
than  a  third  of  the  whole.  This  is  the  relative  proportion 
of  the  importance  of  the  colonies  at  these  two  periods  :  and 
all  reasoning  concerning  our  mode  of  treating  them  must 
have  this  proportion  as  its  basis ;  or  it  is  a  reasoning  weak, 
rotten  and  sophistical.  30 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  cannot  prevail  on  myself  to  hurry  over 
this  great  consideration.  It  is  good  for  us  to  be  here.  We 
stand  where  we  have  an  immense  view  of  what  is,  and  what 


14        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIA  TION  WITH  AMERICA. 

is  past.  Clouds,  indeed,  and  darkness  rest  upon  the  future. 
Let  us,  however,  before  we  descend  from  this  noble  emi- 
nence, reflect  that  this  growth  of  our  national  prosperity  has 
happened  within  the  short  period  of  the  life  of  man.  It  has 
5  happened  within  sixty-eight  years.  There  are  those  alive 
whose  memory  might  touch  the  two  extremities.  For 
instance,  my  Lord  Bathurst  might  remember  all  the  stages 
of  the  progress.  He  was  in  1704  of  an  age  at  least  to  be 
made  to  comprehend  such  things.  He  was  then  old  enough 

10  acta  parentum  jam  legere,  et  quae  sit  poterit  cognoscere  virtus. 
Suppose,  Sir,  that  the  angel  of  this  auspicious  youth,  fore- 
seeing the  many  virtues  which  made  him  one  of  the  most 
amiable,  as  he  is  one  of  the  most  fortunate,  men  of  his  age, 
had  opened  to  him  in  vision,  that  when  in  the  fourth  gener- 

15  ation  the  third  prince  of  the  House  of  Brunswick  had  sat 
twelve  years  on  the  throne  of  that  nation  which  (by  the 
happy  issue  of  moderate  and  healing  counsels)  was  to  be 
made  Great  Britain,  he  should  see  his  son,  Lord  Chancellor 
of  England,  turn  back  the  current  of  hereditary  dignity  to  its 

20  fountain,  and  raise  him  to  an  higher  rank  of  peerage,  whilst 
he  enriched  the  family  with  a  new  one ;  -  -  if,  amidst  these 
bright  and  happy  scenes  of  domestic  honor  and  prosperity, 
that  angel  should  have  drawn  up  the  curtain  and  unfolded 
the  rising  glories  of  his  country,  and,  whilst  he  was  gazing 

25  with  admiration  on  the  then  commercial  grandeur  of  England, 
the  genius  should  point  out  to  him  a  little  speck,  scarcely 
visible  in  the  mass  of  the  national  interest,  a  small  seminal 
principle  rather  than  a  formed  body,  and  should  tell  him,  - 
"Young  man,  there  is  America,  which  at  this  day  serves 

3°  for  little  more  than  to  amuse  you  with  stories  of  savage  men 
and  uncouth  manners ;  yet  shall,  before  you  taste  of  death, 
show  itself  >equal  to  the  whole  of  that  commerce  which  now 
attracts  the  envy  of  the  world.  Whatever  England  has  been 
growing  to  by  a  progressive  increase  of  improvement 


TRADE    WITH  PENNSYLVANIA.  15 

brought  in  by  varieties  of  people,  by  succession  of  civilizing 
conquests  and  civilizing  settlements  in  a  series  of  seventeen 
hundred  years,  you  shall  see  as  much  added  to  her  by 
America  in  the  course  of  a  single  life  ! '  If  this  state  of  his 
country  had  been  foretold  to  him,  would  it  not  require  all  5 
the  sanguine  credulity  of  youth  and  all  the  fervid  glow  of 
enthusiasm  to  make  him  believe  it  ?  Fortunate  man,  he  has 
lived  to  see  it !  Fortunate  indeed,  if  he  lives  to  see  nothing 
that  shall  vary  the  prospect  and  cloud  the  setting  of  his  day  1 

Excuse  me,  Sir,  if,  turning  from  such  thoughts,  I  resume  10 
this  comparative  view  once  more.     You  have  seen  it  on  a 
large  scale  ;  look  at  it  on  a  small  one.     I  will  point  out  to 
your  attention  a  particular  instance  of  it  in  the  single  prov- 
ince of  Pennsylvania.     In  the  year  1704  that  province  called 
for  ;£ii,459  m  value  of  your  commodities,  native  and  for-  15 
eign.     This  was  the  whole.     What  did  it  demand  in  1772  ? 
Why,  nearly  fifty  times  as  much ;  for  in  that  year  the  export 
to  Pennsylvania  was  £507,909,  nearly  equal  to  the  export  to 
all  the  colonies  together  in  the  first  period. 

I  choose,  Sir,  to  enter  into  these  minute  and  particular  20 
details ;  because  generalities,  which  in  all  other  cases  are 
apt  to  heighten  and  raise  the  subject,  have  here  a  tendency 
to  sink  it.  When  we  speak  of  the  commerce  with  our 
colonies,  fiction  lags  after  truth,  invention  is  unfruitful,  and 
imagination  cold  and  barren.  25 

So  far,  Sir,  as  to  the  importance  of  the  object  in  the  view 
of  its  commerce,  as  concerned  in  the  exports  from  England. 
If  I  were  to  detail  the  imports,  I  could  show  how  many  en- 
joyments they  procure  which  deceive  the  burden  of  life, 
how  many  materials  which  invigorate  the  springs  of  national  3° 
industry,  and  extend  and  animate  every  part  of  our  foreign 
and  domestic  commerce.  This  would  be  a  curious  subject 
indeed, — but  I  must  prescribe  bounds  to  myself  in  a  matter 
so  vast  and  various. 


16        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIA  TION  WITH  AMERICA. 

I  pass,  therefore,  to  the  colonies  in  another  point  of  view, 

!  —  their  agriculture.  This  they  have  prosecuted  with  such 
a  spirit  that,  besides  feeding  plentifully  their  own  growing 
multitude,  their  annual  export  of  grain,  comprehending  rice, 
5  has  some  years  ago  exceeded  a  million  in  value.  Of  their 
last  harvest,  I  am  persuaded,  they  will  export  much  more. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  century  some  of  these  colonies 
imported  corn  from  the  mother  country.  For  some  time  past 
the  Old  World  has  been  fed  from  the  New.  The  scarcity 

10  which  you  have  felt  would  have  been  a  desolating  famine,  if 
this  child  of  your  old  age,  with  a  true  filial  piety,  with  a 
Roman  charity,  had  not  put  the  full  breast  of  its  youthful 
exuberance  to  the  mouth  of  its  exhausted  parent. 

As  to  the  wealth  which  the  colonies  have  drawn  from  the 

15  sea  by  their  fisheries,  you  had  all  that  matter  fully  opened 
at  your  bar.  You  surely  thought  those  acquisitions  of  value, 
for  they  seemed  even  to  excite  your  envy ;  and  yet  the  spirit 
by  which  that  enterprising  employment  has  been  exercised 
ought  rather,  in  my  opinion,  to  have  raised  your  esteem  and 

20  admiration.  And  pray,  Sir,  what  in  the  world  is  equal  to 
it?  Pass  by  the  other  parts,  and  look  at  the  manner  in 
which  the  people  of  New  England  have  of  late  carried  on 
the  whale  fishery.  Whilst  we  follow  them  among  the  tum- 
bling mountains  of  ice,  and  behold  them  penetrating  into 

25  the  deepest  frozen  recesses  of  Hudson  Bay  and  Davis 
Strait,  whilst  we  are  looking  for  them  beneath  the  Arctic 
Circle,  we  hear  that  they  have  pierced  into  the  opposite 
region  of  polar  cold,  that  they  are  at  the  antipodes  and 
engaged  under  the  frozen  Serpent  of  the  south.  Falkland 

3°  Island,  which  seemed  too  remote  and  romantic  an  object 
for  the  grasp  of  national  ambition,  is  but  a  stage  and  resting- 
place  in  the  progress  of  their  victorious  industry.  Nor  is 
the  equinoctial  heat  more  discouraging  to  them  than  the 
accumulated  winter  of  both  the  poles.  We  know  that  whilst 


AMERICAN  FISHERIES.  17 

some  of  them  draw  the  line  and  strike  the  harpoon  on  the 
coast  of  Africa,  others  run  the  longitude  and  pursue  their 
gigantic  game  along  the  coast  of  Brazil.     No  sea  but  what 
is  vexed  by  their  fisheries.     No  climate  that  is  not  witness 
to  their  toils.     Neither  the  perseverance  of  Holland  nor  the    5 
activity  of  France  nor  the  dexterous  and  firm  sagacity  of 
English  enterprise  ever  carried  this  most  perilous  mode  of 
hardy  industry  to  the  extent  to  which  it  has  been  pushed  by 
this  recent  people  -  -  a  people  who  are  still,  as  it  were,  but  • 
in  the  gristle,  and  not  yet  hardened  into  the  bone  of  man-  10 
hood.    When  I  contemplate  these  things ;  when  I  know  that 
the  colonies  in  general  owe  little  or  nothing  to  any  care  of 
ours,  and  that  they  are  not  squeezed  into  this  happy  form 
by  the  constraints  of  watchful  and  suspicious  government, 
but  that   through  a  wise  and  salutary  neglect  a  generous  15 
nature  has  been  suffered  to  take  her  own  way  to  perfec- 
tion ;  —  when  I  reflect  upon  these  effects,  when  I  see  how 
profitable  they  have  been  to  us,  I  feel  all  the  pride  of  power 
sink,  and  all  presumption  in  the  wisdom  of  human  contriv- 
ances melt  and  die  away  within  me.      My  rigor  relents.     I  20 
pardon  something  to  the  spirit  of  liberty. 

I  am  sensible,  Sir,  that  all  which  I  have  asserted  in  my 
detail  is  admitted  in  the  gross,  but  that  quite  a  different 
conclusion  is  drawn  from  it.  America,  gentlemen  say,  is  a 
noble  object  ;  it  is  an  object  well  worth  fighting  for.  Cer-  25 
tainly  it  is,  if  fighting  a  people  be  the  best  way  of  gaining 
them.  Gentlemen  in  this  respect  will  be  led  to  their  choice 
of  means  by  their  complexions  and  their  habits.  Those 
who  understand  the  military  art  will  of  course  have  some 
predilection  for  it.  Those  who  wield  the  thunder  of  the  30 
state  may  have  more  confidence  in  the  efficacy  of  arms.  But 
I  confess,  possibly  for  want  of  this  knowledge,  my  opinion  is 
much  more  in  favor  of  prudent  management  than  of  force, — 
considering  force  not  as  an  odious,  but  a  feeble,  instrument 


18        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIA  TION  WITH  AMERICA. 

for  preserving  a  people  so  numerous,  so  active,  so  growing, 
so  spirited  as  this,  in  a  profitable  and  subordinate  connec- 
tion with  us. 

First,  Sir,  permit  me  to  observe  that  the  use  of  force 

5  alone  is  but  temporary.     It  may  subdue  for  a  moment,  but 

it  does  not  remove  the  necessity  of  subduing  again  :  and  a 

nation  is  not  governed  which  is  perpetually  to  be  conquered. 

My  next  objection  is  its  uncertainty.    Terror  is  not  always 

the  effect  of  force  ;  and  an  armament  is  not  a  victory.     If 

10  you  do  not  succeed,  you  are  without  resource :  for  concilia- 
tion failing,  force  remains  ;  but  force  failing,  no  further  hope 
of  reconciliation  is  left.  Power  and  authority  are  sometimes 
bought  by  kindness  ;  but  they  can  never  be  begged  as  alms 
by  an  impoverished  and  defeated  violence. 

15  A  further  objection  to  force  is  that  you  impair  the  object 
by  your  very  endeavors  to  preserve  it.  The  thing  you 
fought  for  is  not  the  thing  which  you  recover;  but  depre- 
ciated, sunk,  wasted  and  consumed  in  the  contest.  Noth- 
ing less  will  content  me  than  whole  America.  I  do  not 

20  choose  to  consume  its  strength  along  with  our  own  ;  because 
in  all  parts  it  is  the  British  strength  that  I  consume.  I  do 
not  choose  to  be  caught  by  a  foreign  enemy  at  the  end  of 
this  exhausting  conflict ;  and  still  less  in  the  midst  of  it.  I 
may  escape  ;  but  I  can  make  no  insurance  against  such  an 

25  event.  Let  me  add  that  I  do  not  choose  wholly  to  break 
the  American  spirit ;  because  it  is  the  spirit  that  has  made 
the  country. 

Lastly,  we  have  no  sort  of  experience  in  favor  of  force  as 
an  instrument  in  the  rule  of  our  colonies.     Their  growth 

30  and  their  utility  has  been  owing  to  methods  altogether 
different.  Our  ancient  indulgence  has  been  said  to  be  pur- 
sued to  a  fault.  It  may  be  so  ;  but  we  know,  if  feeling  is 
evidence,  that  our  fault  was  more  tolerable  than  our  attempt 
to  mend  it,  and  our  sin  far  more  salutary  than  our  penitence. 


AMERICAN  LOVE   OF  FREEDOM.  19 

These,  Sir,  are  my  reasons  for  not  entertaining  that  high 
opinion  of  untried  force,  by  which  many  gentlemen,  for 
whose  sentiments  in  other  particulars  I  have  great  respect, 
seem  to  be  so  greatly  captivated.  But  there  is  still  behind 
a  third  consideration  concerning  this  object,  which  serves  to  5 
determine  my  opinion  on  the  sort  of  policy  which  ought  to 
be  pursued  in  the  management  of  America,  even  more  than 
its  population  and  its  commerce  :  I  mean  its  temper  and 
character. 

In  this  character  of  the  Americans  a  love  of  freedom  is  10 
the  predominating  feature  which  marks  and  distinguishes 
the  whole  :  and  as  an  ardent  is  always  a  jealous  affection, 
your  colonies  become  suspicious,  restive  and  untractable, 
whenever  they  see  the  least  attempt  to  wrest  from  them  by 
force  or  shuffle  from  them  by  chicane  what  they  think  the  15 
only  advantage  worth  living  for.    This  fierce  spirit  of  liberty 
is  stronger  in  the  English  colonies  probably  than  in  any 
other  people  of  the  earth  ;  and  this  from  a  great  variety  of 
powerful  causes,  which,  to  understand  the  true  temper  of 
their  minds  and  the  direction  which  this  spirit  takes,  it  will  20 
not  be  amiss  to  lay  open  somewhat  more  largely. 

First,  the  people  of  the  colonies  are  descendants  of 
Englishmen.  England,  Sir,  is  a  nation  which  still,  I  hope, 
respects,  and  formerly  adored,  her  freedom.  The  colonists 
emigrated  from  you  when  this  part  of  your  character  was  25 
most  predominant ;  and  they  took  this  bias  and  direction 
the  moment  they  parted  from  your  hands.  They  are  there- 
fore not  only  devoted  to  liberty,  but  to  liberty  according  to 
English  ideas  and  on  English  principles.  Abstract  liberty, 
like  other  mere  abstractions,  is  not  to  be  found.  Liberty  30 
inheres  in  some  sensible  object ;  and  every  nation  has 
formed  to  itself  some  favorite  point,  which  by  way  of  emi- 
nence becomes  the  criterion  of  their  happiness.  It  hap- 
pened, you  know,  Sir,  that  the  great  contests  for  freedom  in 


20        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIA  TION  WITH  AMERICA. 

this  country  were  from  the  earliest  times  chiefly  upon  the 
question  of  taxing.  Most  of  the  contests  in  the  ancient 
commonwealths  turned  primarily  on  the  right  of  election  of 
magistrates  or  on  the  balance  among  the  several  orders  of 

5  the  state.  The  question  of  money  was  not  with  them  so 
immediate.  But  in  England  it  was  otherwise.  On  this 
point  of  taxes  the  ablest  pens  and  most  eloquent  tongues 
have  been  exercised,  the  greatest  spirits  have  acted  and 
suffered.  In  order  to  give  the  fullest  satisfaction  concern- 

10  ing  the  importance  of  this  point,  it  was  not  only  necessary 
for  those  who  in  argument  defended  the  excellence  of  the 
English  Constitution  to  insist  on  this  privilege  of  granting 
money  as  a  dry  point  of  fact,  and  to  prove  that  the  right 
had  been  acknowledged  in  ancient  parchments  and  blind 

15  usages  to  reside  in  a  certain  body  called  a  House  of  Com- 
mons. They  went  much  further :  they  attempted  to  prove, 
and  they  succeeded,  that  in  theory  it  ought  to  be  so,  from 
the  particular  nature  of  the  House  of  Commons  as  an  imme- 
diate representative  of  the  people,  whether  the  old  records 

20  had  delivered  this  oracle  or  not.  They  took  infinite  pains 
to  inculcate  as  a  fundamental  principle,  that  in  all  mon- 
archies the  people  must  in  effect  themselves,  mediately  or 
immediately,  possess  the  power  of  granting  their  own  money, 
or  no  shadow  of  liberty  could  subsist.  The  colonies  draw 

25  from  you,  as  with  their  life-blood,  these  ideas  and  principles. 
Their  love  of  liberty,  as  with  you,  fixed  and  attached  on  this 
specific  point  of  taxing.  Liberty  might  be  safe  or  might  be 
endangered  in  twenty  other  particulars  without  their  being 
much  pleased  or  alarmed.  Here  they  felt  its  pulse ;  and  as 

30  they  found  that  beat,  they  thought  themselves  sick  or  sound. 
I  do  not  say  whether  they  were  right  or  wrong  in  applying 
your  general  arguments  to  their  own  case.  It  is  not  easy, 
indeed,  to  make  a  monopoly  of  theorems  and  corollaries. 
The  fact  is  that  they  did  thus  apply  those  general  argu- 


PROTESTANTISM  OF  THE  AMERICANS.  21 

ments  ;  and  your  mode  of  governing  them,  whether  through 
lenity  or  indolence,  through  wisdom  or  mistake,  confirmed 
them  in  the  imagination  that  they,  as  well  as  you,  had  an 
interest  in  these  common  principles. 

They  were  further  confirmed  in  this  pleasing  error  by  the    5 
form  of  their  provincial  legislative  assemblies.     Their  gov- 
ernments are  popular  in  an  high  degree  :  some  are  merely 
popular;    in    all   the    popular   representative    is   the   most 
weighty;    and  this  share  of   the  people   in  their  ordinary 
government  never  fails   to   inspire  them  with  lofty  senti-  10 
ments  and  with  a  strong  aversion  from  whatever  tends  to 
deprive  them  of  their  chief  importance. 

If  anything  were  wanting  to  this  necessary  operation  of 
the  form  of  government,  religion  would  have  given  it  a  com- 
plete effect.  Religion,  always  a  principle  of  energy,  in  this  15 
new  people  is  no  way  worn  out  or  impaired ;  and  their  mode 
of  professing  it  is  also  one  main  cause  of  this  free  spirit. 
The  people  are  Protestants,  and  of  that  kind  which  is  the 
most  adverse  to  all  implicit  submission  of  mind  and  opinion. 
This  is  a  persuasion  not  only  favorable  to  liberty,  but  built  20 
upon  it.  I  do  not  think,  Sir,  that  the  reason  of  this  averse- 
ness  in  the  dissenting  churches  from  all  that  looks  like 
absolute  government  is  so  much  to  be  sought  in  their 
religious  tenets  as  in  their  history.  Every  one  knows  that 
the  Roman  Catholic  religion  is  at  least  coeval  with  most  of  25 
the  governments  where  it  prevails  ;  that  it  has  generally 
gone  hand  in  hand  with  them,  and  received  great  favor  and 
every  kind  of  support  from  authority.  The  Church  of  Eng- 
land too  was  formed  from  her  cradle  under  the  nursing  care 
of  regular  government.  But  the  dissenting  interests  have  30 
sprung  up  in  direct  opposition  to  all  the  ordinary  powers  of 
the  world,  and  could  justify  that  opposition  only  on  a 
strong  claim  to  natural  liberty.  Their  very  existence  de- 
pended on  the  powerful  and  unremitted  assertion  of  that 


22        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIA  TION  WITH  AMERICA. 

claim.  All  Protestantism,  even  the  most  cold  and  passive, 
is  a  sort  of  dissent.  But  the  religion  most  prevalent  in  our 
northern  colonies  is  a  refinement  on  the  principle  of  resist- 
ance :  it  is  the  dissidence  of  dissent  and  the  Protestantism 
5  of  the  Protestant  religion.  This  religion,  under  a  variety  of 
denominations  agreeing  in  nothing  but  in  the  communion  of 
the  spirit  of  liberty,  is  predominant  in  most  of  the  northern 
provinces,  where  the  Church  of  England,  notwithstanding 
its  legal  rights,  is  in  reality  no  more  than  a  sort  of  private 

10  sect,  not  composing  most  probably  the  tenth  of  the  people. 
The  colonists  left  England  when  this  spirit  was  high,  and  in 
the  emigrants  was  the  highest  of  all ;  and  even  that  stream 
of  foreigners  which  has  been  constantly  flowing  into  these 
colonies  has,  for  the  greatest  part,  been  composed  of  dis- 

15  senters  from  the  establishments  of  their  several  countries, 
and  have  brought  with  them  a  temper  and  character  far 
from  alien  to  that  of  the  people  with  whom  they  mixed. 

Sir,  I  can  perceive  by  their  manner  that  some  gentlemen 
object  to  the   latitude  of   this  description,  because  in  the 

20  southern  colonies  the  Church  of  England  forms  a  large 
body  and  has  a  regular  establishment.  It  is  certainly  true. 
There  is,  however,  a  circumstance  attending  these  colonies, 
which,  in  my  opinion,  fully  counterbalances  this  difference 
and  makes  the  spirit  of  liberty  still  mqre  high  and  haughty 

25  than  in  those  to  the  northward.  It  is,  that  in  Virginia  and 
the  Carolinas  they  have  a  vast  multitude  of  slaves.  Where 
this  is  the  case  in  any  part  of  the  world,  those  who  are  free 
are  by  far  the  most  proud  and  jealous  of  their  freedom. 
Freedom  is  to  them  not  only  an  enjoyment,  but  a  kind  of 

30  rank  and  privilege.  Not  seeing  there  that  freedom,  as  in 
countries  where  it  is  a  common  blessing  and  as  broad  and 
general  as  the  air,  may  be  united  with  much  abject  toil,  with 
great  misery,  with  all  the  exterior  of  servitude,  liberty  looks, 
amongst  them,  like  something  that  is  more  noble  and  liberal. 


LEGAL  STUDIES  IN  AMERICA.  23 

I  do  not  mean,  Sir,  to  commend  the  superior  morality  of 
this  sentiment,  which  has  at  least  as  much  pride  as  virtue 
in  it ;  but  I  cannot  alter  the  nature  of  man.  The  fact  is 
so  ;  and  these  people  of  the  southern  colonies  are  much 
more  strongly  and  with  a  higher  and  more  stubborn  spirit  5 
attached  to  liberty  than  those  to  the  northward.  Such 
were  all  the  ancient  commonwealths ;  such  were  our  Gothic 
ancestors  ;  such  in  our  days  were  the  Poles  ;  and  such  will 
be  all  masters  of  slaves,  who  are  not  slaves  themselves.  In 
such  a  people  the  haughtiness  of  domination  combines  with  10 
the  spirit  of  freedom,  fortifies  it,  and  renders  it  invincible. 

Permit  me,  Sir,  to  add  another  circumstance  in  our  colo- 
nies, which  contributes  no  mean  part  towards  the  growth 
and  effect  of  this  untractable  spirit:  I  mean  their  education. 
In  no  country  perhaps  in  the  world  is  the  law  so  general  a  15 
study.  The  profession  itself  is  numerous  and  powerful,  and 
in  most  provinces  it  takes  the  lead.  The  greater  number  of 
the  deputies  sent  to  the  Congress  were  lawyers.  But  all 
who  read  (and  most  do  read)  endeavor  to  obtain  some  smat- 
tering in  that  scierce.  I  have  been  told  by  an  eminent  20 
bookseller  that  in  no  branch  of  his  business,  after  tracts  of 
popular  devotion,  were  so  many  books  as  those  on  the  law 
exported  to  the  plantations.  The  colonists  have  now  fallen 
into  the  way  of  printing  them  for  their  own  use.  I  hear 
that  they  have  sold  nearly  as  many  of  Blackstone's  Commen-  25 
taries  in  America  as  in  England.  General  Gage  marks  out 
this  disposition  very  particularly  in  a  letter  on  your  table. 
He  states  that  all  the  people  in  his  government  are  lawyers 
or  smatterers  in  law  ;  and  that  in  Boston  they  have  been 
enabled  by  successful  chicane  wholly  to  evade  many  parts  3° 
of  one  of  your  capital  penal  constitutions.  The  smartness 
of  debate  will  say  that  this  knowledge  ought  to  teach  them 
more  clearly  the  rights  of  legislature,  their  obligations  to 
obedience  and  the  penalties  of  rebellion.  All  this  is  mighty 


24        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIA  TION  WITH  AMERICA. 

/ 

well.  But  my  honorable  and  learned  friend  on  the  floor, 
who  condescends  to  mark  what  I  say  for  animadversion, 
will  disdain  that  ground.  He  has  heard,  as  well  as  I,  that 
when  great  honors  and  great  emoluments  do  not  win  over 
5  this  knowledge  to  the  service  of  the  state,  it  is  a  formidable 
adversary  to  government.  If  the  spirit  be  not  tamed  and 
broken  by  these  happy  methods,  it  is  stubborn  and  litigious. 
Abeunt  studio,  in  mores.  This  study  renders  men  acute, 
inquisitive,  dexterous,  prompt  in  attack,  ready  in  defence, 

10  full  of  resources.  In  other  countries  the  people,  more  sim- 
ple and  of  a  less  mercurial  cast,  judge  of  an  ill  principle  in 
government  only  by  an  actual  grievance  ;  here  they  antici- 
pate the  evil  and  judge  of  the  pressure  of  the  grievance  by 
the  badness  of  the  principle.  They  augur  misgovernment 

15  at  a  distance  and  snuff  the  approach  of  tyranny  in  every 
tainted  breeze. 

The  last  cause  of  this  disobedient  spirit  in  the  colonies  is 
hardly  less  powerful  than  the  rest,  as  it  is  not  merely  moral, 
but  laid  deep  in  the  natural  constitution  of  things.  Three 

20  thousand  miles  of  ocean  lie  between  you  and  them.  No 
contrivance  can  prevent  the  effect  of  this  distance  in  weak- 
ening government.  Seas  roll  and  months  pass  between 
the  order  and  the  execution  ;  and  the  want  of  a  speedy 
explanation  of  a  single  point  is  enough  to  defeat  a  whole 

25  system.  You  have,  indeed,  winged  ministers  of  vengeance, 
who  carry  your  bolts  in  their  pounces  to  the  remotest  verge 
of  the  sea.  But  there  a  power  steps  in  that  limits  the 
arrogance  of  raging  passions  and  furious  elements,  and 
says,  "  So  far  shalt  thou  go,  and  no  farther."  Who  are  you, 

30  that  should  fret  and  rage,  and  bite  the  chains  of  Nature  ? 
Nothing  worse  happens  to  you  than  does  to  all  nations  who 
have  extensive  empire ;  and  it  happens  in  all  the  forms  into 
which  empire  can  be  thrown.  In  large  bodies  the  circu- 
lation of  power  must  be  less  vigorous  at  the  extremities. 


DISTANCE  FROM  CENTRE   OF  AUTHORITY.         25 

Nature  has  s^id  it.  The  Turk  cannot  govern  Egypt  and 
Arabia  and  Kurdistan  as  he  governs  Thrace ;  nor  has  he 
the  same  dominion  in  Crimea  and  Algiers  which  he  has  at 
Brusa  and  Smyrna.  Despotism  itself  is  obliged  to  truck 
and  huckster.  The  sultan  gets  such  obedience  as  he  can.  5 
He  governs  with  a  loose  rein,  that  he  may  govern  at  all ; 
and  the  whole  of  the  force  and  vigor  of  his  authority  in  his 
centre  is  derived  from  a  prudent  relaxation  in  all  his  bor- 
ders. Spain,  in  her  provinces,  is  perhaps  not  so  well  obeyed 
as  you  are  in  yours.  She  complies  too ;  she  submits  ;  she  10 
watches  times.  This  is  the  immutable  condition,  the  eternal 
law,  of  extensive  and  detached  empire. 

Then,  Sir,  from  these  six  capital  sources :  of  descent,  of 
form  of  government,  of  religion  in  the  northern  provinces,  of 
manners  in  the  southern,  of  education,  of  the  remoteness  15 
of  situation  from  the  first  mover  of  government,  —  from  all 
these  causes  a  fierce  spirit  of  liberty  has  grown  up.  It  has 
grown  with  the  growth  of  the  people  in  your  colonies,  and 
increased  with  the  increase  of  their  wealth :  a  spirit,  that 
unhappily  meeting  with  an  exercise  of  power  in  England,  20 
which,  however  lawful,  is  not  reconcilable  to  any  ideas  of 
liberty,  much  less  with  theirs,  has  kindled  this  flame  that  is 
ready  to  consume  us. 

I  do  not  mean  to  commend  either  the  spirit  in  this  excess 
or  the  moral  causes  which  produce  it.  Perhaps  a  more  25 
smooth  and  accommodating  spirit  of  freedom  in  them  would 
be  more  acceptable  to  us.  Perhaps  ideas  of  liberty  might 
be  desired  more  reconcilable  with  an  arbitrary  and  bound- 
less authority.  Perhaps  we  might  wish  the  colonists  to  be 
persuaded  that  their  liberty  is  more  secure  when  held  in  30 
trust  for  them  by  us,  as  their  guardians  during  a  perpetual 
minority,  than  with  any  part  of  it  in  their  own  hands.  The 
question  is  not  whether  their  spirit  deserves  praise  or  blame, 
but  what,  in  the  name  of  God,  shall  we  do  with  it  ?  You 


26        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIA  TION  WITH  AMERICA. 

have  before  you  the  object,  such  as  it  is,  with  all  its  glories, 
with  all  its  imperfections  on  its  head.  You  see  the  magni- 
tude, the  importance,  the  temper,  the  habits,  the  disorders. 
By  all  these  considerations  we  are  strongly  urged  to  deter- 

5  mine  something  concerning  it.  We  are  called  upon  to  fix 
some  rule  and  line  for  our  future  conduct,  which  may  give  a 
little  stability  to  our  politics  and  prevent  the  return  of  such 
unhappy  deliberations  as  the  present.  Every  such  return 
will  bring  the  matter  before  us  in  a  still  more  untractable 

10  form.  For  what  astonishing  and  incredible  things  have  we 
not  seen  already  !  What  monsters  have  not  been  generated 
from  this  unnatural  contention  !  Whilst  every  principle  of 
authority  and  resistance  has  been  pushed,  upon  both  sides, 
as  far  as  it  would  go,  there  is  nothing  so  solid  and  certain, 

15  either  in  reasoning  or  in  practice,  that  has  not  been  shaken. 
Until  very  lately  all  authority  in  America  seemed  to  be 
nothing  but  an  emanation  from  yours.  Even  the  popular 
part  of  the  colony  constitution  derived  all  its  activity,  and 
its  first  vital  movement,  from  the  pleasure  of  the,  crown. 

20  We  thought,  Sir,  that  the  utmost  which  the  discontented 
colonists  could  do  was  to  disturb  authority  ;  we  never  dreamt 
they  could  of  themselves  supply  it,  knowing  in  general  what 
an  operose  business  it  is  to  establish  a  government  abso- 
lutely new.  But  having  for  our  purposes  in  this  conten- 

25  tion  resolved  that  none  but  an  obedient  assembly  should 
sit,  the  humors  of  the  people  there,  finding  all  passage 
through  the  legal  channel  stopped,  with  great  violence  broke 
out  another  way.  Some  provinces  have  tried  their  experi- 
ment, as  we  have  tried  ours  ;  and  theirs  has  succeeded. 

30  They  have  formed  a  government  sufficient  for  its  purposes, 
without  the  bustle  of  a  revolution  or  the  troublesome 
formality  of  an  election.  Evident  necessity  and  tacit  con- 
sent have  done  the  business  in  an  instant.  So  well  they 
have  done  it,  that  Lord  Dunmore  (the  account  is  among  the 


SELF-GOVERNMENT  IN  AMERICA.  27 

fragments  on  your  table)  tells  you  that  the  new  institution 
is  infinitely  better  obeyed  than  the  ancient  government  ever 
was  in  its  most  fortunate  periods.     Obedience  is  what  makes- 
government,  and  not  the  names  by  which  it  is  called  :  not 
the  name  of  governor,  as   formerly ;    or  committee,  as  at    5 
present.     This  new  government  has  originated  directly  from 
the  people,  and  was  not  transmitted  through  any  of  the  ordi- 
nary artificial  media  of  a  positive  constitution.     It  was  not  a 
manufacture  ready  formed,  and  transmitted  to  them  in  that 
condition  from  England.      The  evil  arising  from  hence  is  ic 
this  :  that  the  colonists  having  once  found  the  possibility  of 
enjoying  the  advantages  of  order  in  the  midst  of  a  struggle 
for  liberty,  such  struggles  will  not  henceforward   seem  so 
terrible  to  the  settled  and  sober  part  of  mankind,  as  they 
had  appeared  before  the  trial.  15 

Pursuing  the  same  plan  of  punishing  by  the  denial  of  the 
exercise  of  government  to  still  greater  lengths,  we  wholly 
abrogated  the  ancient  government  of  Massachusetts.  We 
were  confident  that  the  first  feeling,  if  not  the  very  prospect 
of  anarchy,  would  instantly  enforce  a  complete  submission.  20 
The  experiment  was  tried.  A  new,  strange,  unexpected 
face  of  things  appeared.  Anarchy  is  found  tolerable.  A 
vast  province  has  now  subsisted,  and  subsisted  in  a  consider- 
able degree  of  health  and  vigor,  for  near  a  twelvemonth, 
without  governor,  without  public  council,  without  judges,  25 
without  executive  magistrates.  How  long  it  will  continue 
in  this  state,  or  what  may  arise  out  of  this  unheard-of  situa- 
tion, how  can  the  wisest  of  us  conjecture  ?  Our  late  experi- 
ence has  taught  us  that  many  of  those  fundamental  principles 
formerly  believed  infallible  are  either  not  of  the  importance  30 
they  were  imagined  to  be,  or  that  we  have  not  at  all  adverted 
to  some  other  far  more  important  and  far  more  powerful 
principles,  which  entirely  overrule  those  we  had  considered 
as  omnipotent.  I  am  much  against  any  further  experiments 


28        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIA  TION  WITH  AMERICA, 

which  tend  to  put  to  the  proof  any  more  of  these  allowed 

opinions  which  contribute  so  much  to  the  public  tranquillity. 

•In  effect,  we  suffer  as  much  at  home  by  this  loosening  of  all 

ties  and  this  concussion  of  all  established  opinions,  as  we  do 

5  abroad.     For,  in  order  to  prove  that  the  Americans  have  no 

right  to  their  liberties,  we  are  every  day  endeavoring  to  sub- 

l/vert  the  maxims  which  preserve  the  whole  spirit  of  our  own. 

To  prove  that  Americans  ought  not  to  be  free,  we  are  obliged 

to  depreciate  the  value  of  freedom  itself  ;  and  we  never  seem 

10  to   gain  a  paltry  advantage  over    them  in  debate,  without 

attacking  some  of  those  principles,  or  deriding  some  of  those 

feelings,  for  which  our  ancestors  have  shed  their  blood. 

But,  Sir,  in  wishing  to  put  an  end  to  pernicious  experi- 
ments, I  do  not  mean  to  preclude  the  fullest  inquiry.     Far 
15  from  it.      Far  from  deciding  on  a  sudden  or  partial  view,  I 
would  patiently  go  round  and  round  the  subject,  and  survey 
it  minutely  in  every  possible  aspect.     Sir,  if  I  were  capable 
of  engaging  you  to  an  equal  attention,  I  would  state  that,  as 
far  as  I  am  capable  of  discerning,  there  are  but  three  ways 
20  of  proceeding  relative  to  this  stubborn  spirit  which  prevails 
in  your  colonies  and  disturbs  your  government.     These  are  : 
to  change  that  spirit  as  inconvenient,  by  removing  the  causes ; 
to  prosecute  it  as  criminal ;  or  to  comply  with  it  as  neces- 
sary.    I  would  not  be  guilty  of  an  imperfect  enumeration  ; 
25  I  can  think  of  but  these  three.     Another  has  indeed  been 
started,  that  of  giving  up  the  colonies ;  but  it  met  so  slight  a 
reception   that   I  do  not  think  myself   obliged  to  dwell  a 
great  while  upon  it.     It  is  nothing  but  a  little  sally  of  anger, 
like  the  frowardness  of  peevish  children,  who,  when  they 
30  cannot  get  all  they  would  have,  are  resolved  to  take  nothing. 
The  first  of  these  plans,  to  change  the  spirit  as  inconven- 
ient, by  removing  the  causes,  I  think  is  the  most  like  a  sys- 
tematic proceeding.      It  is  radical  in  its  principle  ;  but  it  is 
attended  with  great  difficulties,  some  of  them  little  short,  as 


POPULATION  CANNOT  BE   CHECKED.  29 

I  conceive,  of  impossibilities.     This  will  appear  by  examin- 
ing into  the  plans  which  have  been  proposed. 

As  the  growing  population  in  the  colonies  is  evidently  one 
cause  of  their  resistance,  it  was  last  session  mentioned  in 
both  Houses  by  men  of  weight,  and  received  not  without    5 
applause,  that  in  order  to  check  this  evil,  it  would  be  proper 
for  the  crown  to  make  no  further  grants  of  land.     But  to 
this  scheme  there  are  two  objections.     The  first,  that  there 
is  already  so  much  unsettled  land  in  private  hands  as  to 
afford  room  for  an  immense  future  population,  although  the  10 
crown  not  only  withheld  its  grants,  but  annihilated  its  soil. 
If  this  be  the  case,  then  the  only  effect  of  this  avarice  of 
desolation,  this  hoarding  of  a  royal  wilderness,  would  be  to 
raise  the  value  of  the  possessions  in  the  hands  of  the  great 
private   monopolists,  without   any  adequate   check   to   the  15 
growing  and  alarming  mischief  of  population. 

But  if  you  stopped  your  grants,  what  would  be  the  conse- 
quence ?  The  people  would  occupy  without  grants.  They 
have  already  so  occupied  in  many  places.  You  cannot  sta- 
tion garrisons  in  every  part  of  these  deserts.  If  you  drive  20 
the  people  from  one  place,  they  will  carry  on  their  annual 
tillage  and  remove  with  their  flocks  and  herds  to  another. 
Many  of  the  people  in  the  back  settlements  are  already  little 
attached  to  particular  situations.  Already  they  have  topped 
the  Appalachian  Mountains.  From  thence  they  behold  25 
before  them  an  immense  plain,  one  vast,  rich,  level  meadow ; 
a  square  of  five  hundred  miles.  Over  this  they  would 
wander  without  a  possibility  of  restraint ;  they  would  change 
their  manners  with  the  habits  of  their  life  ;  would  soon 
forget  a  government  by  which  they  were  disowned ;  would  30 
become  hordes  of  English  Tartars,  and  pouring  down  upon 
your  unfortified  frontiers  a  fierce  and  irresistible  cavalry, 
become  masters  of  your  governors  and  your  counsellors, 
your  collectors  and  comptrollers,  and  of  all  the  slaves  that 


30        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIA  TION  WITH  AMERICA. 

adhered  to  them.  Such  would,  and  in  no  long  time  must, 
be  the  effect  of  attempting  to  forbid  as  a  crime,  and  to  sup- 
press as  an  evil,  the  command  and  blessing  of  Providence, 
"  Increase  and  multiply."  Such  would  be  the  happy  result 
5  of  an  endeavor  to  keep  as  a  lair  of  wild  beasts  that  earth 
which  God,  by  an  express  charter,  has  given  to  the  children 
of  men.  Far  different  and  surely  much  wiser  has  been  our 
policy  hitherto.  Hitherto  we  have  invited  our  people,  by 
every  kind  of  bounty,  to  fixed  establishments.  We  have 

10  invited  the  husbandman  to  look  to  authority  for  his  title. 
We  have  taught  him  piously  to  believe  in  the  mysterious 
virtue  of  wax  and  parchment.  We  have  thrown  each  tract 
of  land,  as  it  was  peopled,  into  districts,  that  the  ruling 
power  should  never  be  wholly  out  of  sight.  We  have  settled 

15  all  we  could;  and  we  have  carefully  attended  every  settle- 
ment with  government. 

Adhering,  Sir,  as  I  do,  to  this  policy,  as  well  as  for  the 
reasons  I  have  just  given,  I  think  this  new  project  of  hedg- 
ing-in  population  to  be  neither  prudent  nor  practicable. 

20  To  impoverish  the  colonies  in  general,  and  in  particular 
to  arrest  the  noble  course  of  their  marine  enterprises,  would 
be  a  more  easy  task.  I  freely  confess  it.  We  have  shown 
a  disposition  to  a  system  of  this  kind,  —  a  disposition  even 
to  continue  the  restraint  after  the  offence,  looking  on  our- 

25  selves  as  rivals  to  our  colonies,  and  persuaded  that  of 
course  we  must  gain  all  that  they  shall  lose.  Much  mis- 
chief we  may  certainly  do.  The  power  inadequate  to  all 
other  things  is  often  more  than  sufficient  for  this.  I  do  not 
look  on  the  direct  and  immediate  power  of  the  colonies  to 

30  resist  our  violence  as  very  formidable.  In  this,  however,  I 
may  be  mistaken.  But  when  I  consider  that  we  have  colo- 
nies for  no  purpose  but  to  be  serviceable  to  us,  it  seems 
to  my  poor  understanding  a  little  preposterous  to  make 
them  unserviceable  in  order  to  keep  them  obedient.  It  is, 


UNALTERABLE   CHARACTER  OF  AMERICANS.       31 

in  truth,  nothing  more  than  the  old  and,  as  I  thought, 
exploded  problem  of  tyranny,  which  proposes  to  beggar  its 
subjects  into  submission.  But  remember,  when  you  have 
completed  your  system  of  impoverishment,  that  Nature  still 
proceeds  in  her  ordinary  course  ;  that  discontent  will  in-  5 
crease  with  misery  ;  and  that  there  are  critical  moments  in 
the  fortune  of  all  states,  when  they  who  are  too  weak  to 
contribute  to  your  prosperity  may  be  strong  enough  to  com- 
plete your  ruin.  Spoliatis  arma  supersunt. 

The  temper  and  character  which  prevail  in  our  colonies  10 
are,  I  am  afraid,  unalterable  by  any  human  art.     We  can- 
not, I  fear,  falsify  the  pedigree  of  this   fierce  people  and 
persuade  them  that  they  are  not  sprung  from  a  nation  in 
whose  veins  the  blood  of  freedom  circulates.     The  language 
in  which  they  would  hear  you  tell  them  this  tale  would  de-  15 
tect  the  imposition ;  your  speech  would  betray  you.      An 
Englishman  is  the  unfittest  person  on  earth  to  argue  another 
Englishman  into  slavery. 

I  think  it  is  nearly  as  little  in  our  power  to  change  their 
republican  religion  as  their  free  descent,  or  to  substitute  the  20 
Roman  Catholic  as  a  penalty,  or  the  Church  of  England  as 
an  improvement.  The  mode  of  inquisition  and  dragooning 
is  going  out  of  fashion  in  the  Old  World  ;  and  I  should  not 
confide  much  to  their  efficacy  in  the  New.  The  education 
of  the  Americans  is  also  on  the  same  unalterable  bottom  with  25 
their  religion.  You  cannot  persuade  them  to  burn  their  books 
of  curious  science  ;  to  banish  their  lawyers  from  their  courts 
of  laws  ;  or  to  quench  the  lights  of  their  assemblies  by  refus- 
ing to  choose  those  persons  who  are  best  read  in  their  privi- 
leges. It  would  be  no  less  impracticable  to  think  of  wholly  30 
annihilating  the  popular  assemblies  in  which  these  lawyers  sit. 
The  army,  by  which  we  must  govern  in  their  place,  would 
be  far  more  chargeable  to  us ;  not  quite  so  effectual ;  and 
perhaps  in  the  end  full  as  difficult  to  be  kept  in  obedience. 


32         SPEECH  ON  CONCILIA  TION  WITH  AMERICA. 

With  regard  to  the  high  aristocratic  spirit  of  Virginia  and 
the  southern  colonies,  it  has  been  proposed,  I  know,  to  re- 
duce it  by  declaring  a  general  enfranchisement  of  their 
slaves.  This  project  has  had  its  advocates  and  panegyrists  ; 
5  yet  I  never  could  argue  myself  into  any  opinion  of  it.  Slaves 
are  often  much  attached  to  their  masters.  A  general  wild 
offer  of  liberty  would  not  always  be  accepted.  History  fur- 
nishes few  instances  of  it.  It  is  sometimes  as  hard  to  per- 
suade slaves  to  be  free  as  it  is  to  compel  freemen  to  be 

10  slaves  ;  and  in  this  auspicious  scheme  we  should  have  both 
these  pleasing  tasks  on  our  hands  at  once.  But  when  we 
talk  of  enfranchisement,  do  we  not  perceive  that  the  Ameri- 
can master  may  enfranchise  too,  and  arm  servile  hands  in 
defence  of  freedom  ?  —  a  measure  to  which  other  people 

15  have  had  recourse  more  than  once,  and  not  without  success, 
in  a  desperate  situation  of  their  affairs. 

Slaves  as  these  unfortunate  black  people  are,  and  dull  as 
all  men  are  from  slavery,  must  they  not  a  little  suspect  the 
offer  of  freedom  from  that  very  nation  which  has  sold  them 

20  to  their  present  masters  ?  from  that  nation,  one  of  whose 
causes  of  quarrel  with  those  masters  is  their  refusal  to  deal 
any  more  in  that  inhuman  traffic?  An  offer  of  freedom 
from  England  would  come  rather  oddly,  shipped  to  them  in 
an  African  vessel,  which  is  refused  an  entry  into  the  ports 

25  of  Virginia  or  Carolina,  with  a  cargo  of  three  hundred  An- 
gola negroes.  It  would  be  curious  to  see  the  Guinea  captain 
attempting  at  the  same  instant  to  publish  his  proclamation 
of  liberty  and  to  advertise  his  sale  of  slaves. 

But  let  us  suppose  all  these  moral  difficulties  got  over. 

30  The  ocean  remains.  You  cannot  pump  this  dry;  and  as 
long  as  it  continues  in  its  present  bed,  so  long  all  the  causes 
which  weaken  authority  by  distance  will  continue. 

Ye  gods,  annihilate  but  space  and  time, 
And  make  two  lovers  happy  ! 


INDICTING  A    WHOLE  PEOPLE.  33 

was  a  pious  and  passionate  prayer,  but  just  as  reasonable 
as  many  of  the  serious  wishes  of  very  grave  and  solemn 
politicians. 

If  then,  Sir,  it  seems  almost  desperate  to  think  of  any 
alterative  course  for  changing  the  moral  causes   (and  not    5 
quite  easy  to  remove  the  natural)  which  produce  prejudices 
irreconcilable  to  the  late  exercise  of  our  authority,  but  that 
the  spirit  infallibly  will  continue  ;  and  continuing,  will  pro- 
duce such  effects  as  now  embarrass  us,  —  the  second  mode 
under  consideration  is  to  prosecute  that  spirit  in  its  overt  10 
acts  as  criminal. 

At  this  proposition  I  must  pause  a  moment.  The  thing 
seems  a  great  deal  too  big  for  my  ideas  of  jurisprudence. 
It  should  seem  to  my  way  of  conceiving  such  matters,  that 
there  is  a  very  wide  difference  in  reason  and  policy  between  15 
the  mode  of  proceeding  on  the  irregular  conduct  of  scattered 
individuals,  or  even  of  bands  of  men,  who  disturb  order 
within  the  state,  and  the  civil  dissensions  which  may,  from 
time  to  time,  on  great  questions,  agitate  the  several  commu- 
nities which  compose  a  great  empire.  It  looks  to  me  to  be  20 
narrow  and  pedantic  to  apply  the  ordinary  ideas  of  criminal 
justice  to  this  great  public  contest.  I  do  not  know  the 
method  of  drawing  up  an  indictment  against  a  whole  people. 
I  cannot  insult  and  ridicule  the  feelings  of  millions  of  my 
fellow-creatures,  as  Sir  Edward  Coke  insulted  one  excellent  25 
individual  (Sir  Walter  Ralegh)  at  the  bar.  I  am  not  ripe 
to  pass  sentence  on  the  gravest  public  bodies,  entrusted 
with  magistracies  of  great  authority  and  dignity,  and  charged 
with  the  safety  of  their  fellow-citizens,  upon  the  very  same 
title  that  I  am.  I  really  think  that  for  wise  men  this  is  not  30 
judicious  ;  for  sober  men,  not  decent  ;  for  minds  tinctured 
with  humanity,  not  mild  and  merciful. 

Perhaps,  Sir,  I  am  mistaken  in  my  idea  of  an  empire  as 
distinguished  from  a  single  state  or  kingdom.     But  my  idea 


34        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIA  TION  WITH  AMERICA. 

of  it  is  this  :  that  an  empire  is  the  aggregate  of  many  states 
under  one  common  head,  whether  this  head  be  a  monarch 
or  a  presiding  republic.  It  does  in  such  constitutions  fre- 
quently happen  (and  nothing  but  the  dismal,  cold,  dead  uni- 
5  formity  of  servitude  can  prevent  its  happening)  that  the  sub- 
ordinate parts  have  many  local  privileges  and  immunities. 
Between  these  privileges  and  the  supreme  common  authority 
the  line  may  be  extremely  nice.  Of  course  disputes  —  often, 
too,  very  bitter  disputes  —  and  much  ill  blood  will  arise.  But 

10  though  every  privilege  is  an  exemption  (in  the  case)  from 
the  ordinary  exercise  of  the  supreme  authority,  it  is  no  denial 
of  it.  The  claim  of  a  privilege  seems  rather,  ex  vi  termini, 
to  imply  a  superior  power ;  for  to  talk  of  the  privileges  of  a 
state,  or  of  a  person  who  has  no  superior,  is  hardly  any 

15  better  than  speaking  nonsense.  Now  in  such  unfortunate 
quarrels  among  the  component  parts  of  a  great  political 
union  of  communities,  I  can  scarcely  conceive  anything 
more  completely  imprudent  than  for  the  head  of  the  empire 
to  insist  that,  if  any  privilege  is  pleaded  against  his  will  or 

20  his  acts,  [that]  his  whole  authority  is  denied  ;  instantly  to  pro- 
claim rebellion,  to  beat  to  arms,  and  to  put  the  offending  prov- 
inces under  the  ban.  Will  not  this,  Sir,  very  soon  teach  the 
provinces  to  make  no  distinctions  on  their  part  ?  Will  it 
not  teach  them  that  the  government  against  which  a  claim 

25  of  liberty  is  tantamount  to  high  treason  is  a  government  to 
which  submission  is  equivalent  to  slavery?  It  may  not 
always  be  quite  convenient  to  impress  dependent  communi- 
ties with  such  an  idea. 

We  are,  indeed,  in  all  disputes  with  the  colonies,  by  the 

30  necessity  of  things,  the  judge.  It  is  true,  Sir.  But  I  confess 
that  the  character  of  judge  in  my  own  cause  is  a  thing  that 
frightens  me.  Instead  of  filling  me  with  pride,  I  am  exceed- 
ingly humbled  by  it.  I  cannot  proceed  with  a  stern,  assured, 
judicial  confidence,  until  I  find  myself  in  something  more 


CRIMINAL   PROSECUTION  INEXPEDIENT.  35 

like  a  judicial  character.  I  must  have  these  hesitations  as 
long  as  I  am  compelled  to  recollect  that,  in  my  little  read- 
ing upon  such  contests  as  these,  the  sense  of  mankind  has 
at  least  as  often  decided  against  the  superior  as  the  subor- 
dinate power.  3ir,  let  me  add,  too,  that  the  opinion  of  my  5 
having  some  abstract  right  in  my  favor  would  not  put  me 
much  at  my  ease  in  passing  sentence,  unless  I  could  be  sure 
that  there  were  no  rights  which,  in  their  exercise  under  cer- 
tain circumstances,  were  not  the  most  odious  of  all  wrongs 
and  the  most  vexatious  of  all  injustice.  Sir,  these  considera-  10 
tions  have  great  weight  with  me,  when  I  find  things  so  cir- 
cumstanced, that  I  see  the  same  party  at  once  a  civil  litigant 
against  me  in  point  of  right  and  a  culprit  before  me,  while 
I  sit  as  a  criminal  judge  on  acts  of  his,  whose  moral  quality 
is  to  be  decided  upon  the  merits  of  that  very  litigation.  15 
Men  are  every  now  and  then  put,  by  the  complexity  of 
human  affairs,  into  strange  situations  ;  but  justice  is  the 
same,  let  the  judge  be  in  what  situation  he  will. 

There  is,  Sir,  also  a  circumstance  which  convinces  me 
that  this  mode  of  criminal  proceeding  is  not  (at  least  in  the  20 
present  stage  of  our  contest)  altogether  expedient,  which  is 
nothing  less  than  the  conduct  of  those  very  persons  who 
have  seemed  to  adopt  that  mode,  by  lately  declaring  a  rebel- 
lion in  Massachusetts  Bay,  as  they  had  formerly  addressed 
to  have  traitors  brought  hither,  under  an  act  of  Henry  the  25 
Eighth,  for  trial.  For  though  rebellion  is  declared,  it  is  not 
proceeded  against  as  such  ;  nor  have  any  steps  been  taken 
towards  the  apprehension  or  conviction  of  any  individual 
offender,  either  on  our  late  or  our  former  address ;  but  modes 
of  public  coercion  have  been  adopted,  and  such  as  have  much  3° 
more  resemblance  to  a  sort  of  qualified  hostility  towards  an 
independent  power  than  the  punishment  of  rebellious  subjects. 
All  this  seems  rather  inconsistent ;  but  it  shows  how  difficult 
it  is  to  apply  these  juridical  ideas  to  our  present  case. 


36        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICA. 

In  this  situation,  let  us  seriously  and  coolly  ponder.  What 
is  it  we  have  got  by  all  our  menaces,  which  have  been  many 
and  ferocious  ?  What  advantage  have  we  derived  from  the 
penal  laws  we  have  passed,  and  which,  for  the  time,  have 
5  been  severe  and  numerous  ?  What  advances  have  we  made 
towards  our  object,  by  the  sending  of  a  force  which,  by  land 
and  sea,  is*  no  contemptible  strength  ?  Has  the  disorder 
abated  ?  Nothing  less.  When  I  see  things  in  this  situa- 
tion, after  such  confident  hopes,  bold  promises  and  active 

10  exertions,  I  cannot  for  my  life  avoid  a  suspicion  that  the 
plan  itself  is  not  correctly  right. 

If,  then,  the  removal  of  the  causes  of  this  spirit  of  Ameri- 
can liberty  be  for  the  greater  part,  or  rather  entirely,  imprac- 
ticable ;  if  the  ideas  of  criminal  process  be  inapplicable,  or, 

15  if  applicable,  are  in  the  highest  degree   inexpedient;  what 
way  yet  remains  ?     No  way  is  open  but  the  third  and  last,  - 
to  comply  with  the  American  spirit  as  necessary  ;  or,  if  you 
please,  to  submit  to  it  as  a  necessary  evil. 

If  we  adopt  this  mode,  if  we  mean  to  conciliate  and  con- 

20  cede,  let  us  see  of  what  nature  the  concession  ought  to  be. 
To  ascertain  the  nature  of  our  concession,  we  must  look  at 
their  complaint.  The  colonies  complain  that  they  have  not 
the  characteristic  mark  and  seal  of  British  freedom.  They 
complain  that  they  are  taxed  in  a  Parliament  in  which  they 

25  are  not  represented.  If  you  mean  to  satisfy  them  at  all, 
you  must  satisfy  them  w^ith  regard  to  this  complaint.  If 
you  mean  to  please  any  people,  you  must  give  them  the 
boon  which  they  ask,  —  not  what  you  may  think  better  for 
them,  but  of  a  kind  totally  different.  Such  an  act  may  be 

3°  a  wise  regulation,  but  it  is  no  concession  ;  whereas  our  pres- 
ent theme  is  the  mode  of  giving  satisfaction. 

Sir,  I  think  you  must  perceive  that  I  am  resolved  this 
day  to  have  nothing  at  all  to  do  with  the  question  of  the 
right  of  taxation.  Some  gentlemen  startle,  -  -  but  it  is  true ; 


NOT  A   QUESTION  OF  ABSTRACT  RIGHT.  37 

I  put  it  totally  out  of  the  question.  It  is  less  than  nothing 
in  my  consideration.  I  do  not  indeed  wonder,  nor  will  you, 
Sir,  that  gentlemen  of  profound  learning  are  fond  of  display- 
ing it  on  this  profound  subject.  But  my  consideration  is 
narrow,  confined,  and  wholly  limited  to  the  policy  of  the  5 
question.  I  do  not  examine  whether  the  giving  away  a 
man's  money  be  a  power  excepted  and  reserved  out  of  the 
general  trust  of  government ;  and  how  far  all  mankind,  in 
all  forms  of  polity,  are  entitled  to  an  exercise  of  that  right 
by  the  charter  of  Nature  ;  or  whether,  on  the  contrary,  a  10 
right  of  taxation  is  necessarily  involved  in  the  general  princi- 
ple of  legislation  and  inseparable  from  the  ordinary  supreme 
power.  These  are  deep  questions,  where  great  names  mili- 
tate against  each  other;  where  reason  is  perplexed;  and  an 
appeal  to  authorities  only  thickens  the  confusion  :  for  high  15 
and  reverend  authorities  lift  up  their  heads  on  both  sides  ; 
and  there  is  no  sure  footing  in  the  middle.  This  point  is 

the  great 

Serbonian  bog, 

Betwixt  Damiata  and  Mount  Casius  old,  20 

Where  armies  whole  have  sunk. 

I  do  not  intend  to  be  overwhelmed  in  that  bog,  though  in 
such  respectable  company.^  The  question  with  me  is  not 
whether  you  have  a  right  to  render  your  people  miserable, 
but  whether  it  is  not  your  interest  to  make  them  happy.  It  25 
is  not  what  a  lawyer  tells  me  I  may  do,  but  what  humanity, 
reason  and  justice  tell  me  I  ought  to  do.  Is  a  politic  act 
the  worse  for  being  a  generous  one  ?  Is  no  concession 
proper  but  that  which  is  made  from  your  want  of  right  to 
keep  what  you  grant  ?  Or  does  it  lessen  the  grace  or  dig-  30 
nity  of  relaxing  in  the  exercise  of  an  odious  claim,  because 
you  have  your  evidence-room  full  of  titles  and  your  magazines 
stuffed  with  arms  to  enforce  them  ?  What  signify  all  those 
titles  and  all  those  arms?  Of  what  avail  are  they,  when 


38        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICA. 

t. 

the  reason  of  the  thing  tells  me  that  the  assertion  of  my 
title  is  the  loss  of  my  suit ;  and  that  I  could  do  nothing  but 
wound  myself  by  the  use  of  my  own  weapons  ? 

Such  is  steadfastly  my  opinion  of  the  absolute  necessity 
5  of  keeping  up  the  concord  of  this  empire  by  a  unity  of 
spirit,  though  in  a  diversity  of  operations,  that  if  I  were 
sure  the  colonists  had  at  their  leaving  this  country  sealed  a 
regular  compact  of  servitude,  that  they  had  solemnly  abjured 
all  the  rights  of  citizens,  that  they  had  made  a  vow  to  re- 

10  nounce  all  ideas  of  liberty  for  them  and  their  posterity  to 
all  generations;  yet  I  should  hold  myself  obliged  to  conform 
to  the  temper  I  found  universally  prevalent  in  my  own  day, 
and  to  govern  two  million  of  men,  impatient  of  servitude, 
on  the  principles  of  freedom.  I  am  not  determining  a  point 

15  of  law;  I  am  restoring  tranquillity:  and  the  general  char- 
acter and  situation  of  a  people  must  determine  what  sort  of 
government  is  fitted  for  them.  That  point  nothing  else  can 
or  ought  to  determine. 

My  idea,  therefore,  without  considering  whether  we  yield 

20  as  matter  of  right  or  grant  as  matter  of  favor,  is  to  admit  the 
people  of  our  colonies  into  an  interest  in  the  Constitution ;  and 
by  recording  that  admission  in  the  journals  of  Parliament, 
to  give  them  as  strong  an  assurance  as  the  nature  of  the 
thing  will  admit,  that  we  mean  forever  to  adhere  to  that 

25  solemn  declaration  of  systematic  indulgence. 

Some  years  ago,  the  repeal  of  a  revenue  act,  upon  its 
understood  principle,  might  have  served  to  show  that  we 
intended  an  unconditional  abatement  of  the  exercise  of  a 
taxing  power.  Such  a  measure  was  then  sufficient  to  re- 

30  move  all  suspicion  and  to  give  perfect  content.  But  unfor- 
tunate events  since  that  time  may  make  something  further 
necessary  ;  and  not  more  necessary  for  the  satisfaction  of 
the  colonies  than  for  the  dignity  and  consistency  of  our  own 
future  proceedings. 


TAX  A  TION  IS  USELESS.  39 

I  have  taken  a  very  incorrect  measure  of  the  disposition 
of  the  House,  if  this  proposal  in  itself  would  be  received 
with  dislike.  I  think,  Sir,  we  have  few  American  financiers. 
But  our  misfortune  is,  we  are  too  acute  ;  we  are  too  exquisite 
in  our  conjectures  of  the  future,  for  men  oppressed  with  5 
such  great  and  present  evils.  The  more  moderate  among 
the  opposers  of  parliamentary  concession  freely  confess  that 
they  hope  no  good  from  taxation  ;  but  they  apprehend  the 
colonists  have  further  views,  and  if  this  point  were  con- 
ceded, they  would  instantly  attack  the  trade  laws.  These  10 
gentlemen  are  convinced  that  this  was  the  intention  from 
the  beginning,  and  the  quarrel  of  the  Americans  with  taxa- 
tion was  no  more  than  a  cloak  and  cover  to  this  design. 
Such  has  been  the  language,  even  of  a  gentleman  of  real 
moderation  and  of  a  natural  temper  well  adjusted  to  fair  15 
and  equal  government.  I  am,  however,  Sir,  not  a  little  sur- 
prised at  this  kind  of  discourse  whenever  I  hear  it ;  and  I 
am  the  more  surprised  on  account  of  the  arguments  which 
I  constantly  find  in  company  with  it,  and  which  are  often 
urged  from  the  same  mouths  and  on  the  same  day.  20 

For  instance,  when  we  allege  that  it  is  against  reason  to 
tax  a  people  under  so  many  restraints  in  trade  as  the  Ameri- 
cans, the  noble  lord  in  the  blue  ribbon  shall  tell  you  that 
the  restraints  on  trade  are  futile  and  useless,  of  no  advan- 
tage to  us,  and  of  no  burden  to  those  on  whom  they  are  25 
imposed ;  that  the  trade  to  America  is  not  secured  by  the 
Acts  of  Navigation,  but  by  the  natural  and  irresistible 
advantage  of  a  commercial  preference. 

Such  is  the  merit  of  the  trade  laws  in  this  posture  of  the 
debate.  But  when  strong  internal  circumstances  are  urged  30 
against  the  taxes ;  when  the  scheme  is  dissected ;  when  ex- 
perience and  the  nature  of  things  are  brought  to  prove,  and 
do  prove,  the  utter  impossibility  of  obtaining  an  effective 
revenue  from  the  colonies ;  -  -  when  these  things  are  pressed, 


40        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICA. 

or  rather  press  themselves,  so  as  to  drive  the  advocates  of 
colony  taxes  to  a  clear  admission  of  the  futility  of  the  scheme-, 
then,  Sir,  the  sleeping  trade  laws  revive  from  their  trance, 
and  this  useless  taxation  is  to  be  kept  sacred,  not  for  its  own 
5  sake,  but  as  a  counterguard  and  security  of  the  laws  of 
trade. 

Then,  Sir,  you  keep  up  revenue  laws  which  are  mischiev- 
ous, in  order  to  preserve  trade  laws  that  are  useless.  Such 
is  the  wisdom  of  our  plan  in  both  its  members.  They  are 

10  separately  given  up  as  of  no  value;  and  yet  one  is  always  to 
be  defended  for  the  sake  of  the  other.  But  I  cannot  agree 
with  the  noble  lord  nor  with  the  pamphlet  from  whence  he 
seems  to  have  borrowed  these  ideas  concerning  the  inutility 
of  the  trade  laws;  for  without  idolizing  them,  I  am  sure  they 

15  are  still  in  many  ways  of  great  use  to  us,  and  in  former 
times  they  have  been  of  the  greatest.  They  do  confine,  and 
they  do  greatly  narrow,  the  market  for  the  Americans.  But 
my  perfect  Conviction  of  this  does  not  help  me  in  the  least 
to  discern  how  the  revenue  laws  form  any  security  what- 

20  soever  to  the  commercial  regulations ;  or  that  these  commer- 
cial regulations  are  the  true  ground  of  the  quarrel;  or  that 
the  giving  way  in  any  one  instance  of  authority  is  to  lose  all 
that  may  remain  unconceded. 

One  fact  is  clear  and  indisputable:  the  public  and  avowed 

25  origin  of  this  quarrel  was  on  taxation.  This  quarrel  has 
indeed  brought  on  new  disputes  on  new  questions;  but 
certainly  the  least  bitter  and  the  fewest  of  all  on  the  trade 
laws.  To  judge  which  of  the  two  be  the  real,  radical  cause 
of  quarrel,  we  have  to  see  whether  the  commercial  dispute 

3°  did,  in  order  of  time,  precede  the  dispute  on  taxation  ? 
There  is  not  a  shadow  of  evidence  for  it.  Next,  to  enable 
us  to  judge  whether  at  this  moment  a  dislike  to  the  trade 
laws  be  the  real  cause  of  quarrel,  it  is  absolutely  necessary 
to  put  the  taxes  out  of  the  question  by  a  repeal.  See  how 


DEFIANCE   OF  FACT  AND  EXPERIENCE.  41 

the  Americans  act  in  this  position,  and  then  you  will  be  able 
to  discern  correctly  what  is  the  true  object  of  the  contro- 
versy, or  whether  any  controversy  at  all  will  remain.  Unless 
you  consent  to  remove  this  cause  of  difference,  it  is  impos- 
sible with  decency  to  assert  that  the  dispute  is  not  upon  what  5 
it  is  avowed  to  be.  And  I  would,  Sir,  recommend  to  your 
serious  consideration,  whether  it  be  prudent  to  form  a  rule 
for  punishing  people,  not  on  their  own  acts,  but  on  your 
conjectures.  Surely  it  is  preposterous  at  the  very  best.  It 
is  not  justifying  your  anger  by  their  misconduct,  but  it  is  10 
converting  your  ill-will  into  their  delinquency. 

But  the  colonies  will  go  further.  Alas !  alas !  when  will 
this  speculating  against  fact  and  reason  end  ?  What  will 
quiet  these  panic  fears  which  we  entertain  of  the  hostile 
effect  of  a  conciliatory  conduct  ?  Is  it  true  that  no  case  can  15 
exist  in  which  it  is  proper  for  the  sovereign  to  accede  to  the 
desires  of  his  discontented  subjects?  Is  there  anything 
peculiar  in  this  case  to  make  a  rule  for  itself?  Is  all 
authority  of  course  lost,  when  it  is  not  pushed  to  the 
extreme  ?  Is  it  a  certain  maxim  that  the  fewer  causes  of  20 
dissatisfaction  are  left  by  government,  the  more  the  subject 
will  be  inclined  to  resist  and  rebel  ? 

All  these  objections  being  in  fact  no  more  than  suspicions, 
conjectures,  divinations,  formed  in  defiance  of  fact  and  ex- 
perience, they  did  not,  Sir,  discourage  me  from  entertaining  25 
the  idea  of  a  conciliatory  concession,  founded  on  the  prin- 
1  ciples  which  I  have  just  stated. 

In  forming  a  plan  for  this  purpose,  I  endeavored  to  put 
myself  in  that  frame  of  mind  which  was  the  most  natural 
and  the  most  reasonable,  and  which  was  certainly  the  most  30 
probable  means  of  securing  me  from  all  error.  I  set  out 
with  a  perfect  distrust  of  my  own  abilities,  a  total  renuncia- 
tion of  every  speculation  of  my  own;  and  with  a  profound 
reverence  for  the  wisdom  of  our  ancestors,  who  have  left  us 


42        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICA. 

the  inheritance  of  so  happy  a  constitution  and  so  flourishing 
an  empire,  and,  what  is  a  thousand  times  more  valuable,  the 
treasury  of  the  maxims  and  principles  which  formed  the  one 
and  obtained  the  other. 

5  During  the  reigns  of  the  kings  of  Spain  of  the  Austrian 
family,  whenever  they  were  at  a  loss  in  the  Spanish  councils, 
it  was  common  for  their  statesmen  to  say  that  they  ought  to 
consult  the  genius  of  Philip  the  Second.  The  genius  of 
Philip  the  Second  might  mislead  them;  and  the  issue  of 

10  their  affairs  showed  that  they  had  not  chosen  the  most 
perfect  standard.  But,  Sir,  I  am  sure  that  I  shall  not  be 
misled,  when  in  a  case  of  constitutional  difficulty  I  consult 
the  genius  of  the  English  Constitution.  Consulting  at  that 
oracle  (it  was  with  all  due  humility  and  piety),  I  found  four 

15  capital  examples  in  a  similar  case  before  me:  those  of 
Ireland,  Wales,  Chester  and  Durham. 

Ireland  before  the  English  conquest,  though  never 
governed  by  a  despotic  power,  had  no  Parliament.  How 
far  the  English  Parliament  itself  was  at  that  time  modelled 

20  according  to  the  present  form  is  disputed  among  antiquarians. 
But  we  have  all  the  reason  in  the  world  to  be  assured  that 
a  form  of  Parliament  such  as  England  then  enjoyed  she 
instantly  communicated  to  Ireland;  and  we  are  equally  sure 
that  almost  every  successive  improvement  in  constitutional 

25  liberty,  as  fast  as  it  was  made  here,  was  transmitted  thither. 
The  feudal  baronage  and  the  feudal  knighthood,  the  roots  of 
our  primitive  constitution,  were  early  transplanted  into  that 
soil,  and  grew  and  flourished  there.  Magna  Charta,  if  it 
did  not  give  us  originally  the  House  of  Commons,  gave  us 

30  at  least  an  House  of  Commons  of  weight  and  consequence. 
But  your  ancestors  did  not  churlishly  sit  down  alone  to  the 
feast  of  Magna  Charta.  Ireland  was  made  immediately  a 
partaker.  This  benefit  of  English  laws  and  liberties,  I  con- 
fess, was  not  at  first  extended  to  all  Ireland.  Mark  the 


THE   CASE   OF  IRELAND.  43 

consequence.  English  authority  and  English  liberties  had 
exactly  the  same  boundaries.  Your  standard  could  never 
be  advanced  an  inch  before  your  privileges.  Sir  John  Davies 
shows  beyond  a  doubt  that  the  refusal  of  a  general  commu- 
nication of  these  rights  was  the  true  cause  why  Ireland  was  5 
five  hundred  years  in  subduing;  and  after  the  vain  projects 
of  a  military  government,  attempted  in  the  reign  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  it  was  soon  discovered  that  nothing  could  make 
that  country  English  in  civility  and  allegiance,  but  your  laws 
and  your  forms  of  legislature.  It  was  not  English  arms,  but  10 
the  English  Constitution,  that  conquered  Ireland.  From 
that  time  Ireland  has  ever  had  a  general  Parliament,  as  she 
had  before  a  partial  Parliament.  You  changed  the  people, 
you  altered  the  religion,  but  you  never  touched  the  form  or 
the  vital  substance  of  free  government  in  that  kingdom.  15 
You  deposed  kings;  you  restored  them;  you  altered  the 
succession  to  theirs  as  well  as  to  your  own  crown ;  but  you 
never  altered  their  constitution,  the  principle  of  which  was 
respected  by  usurpation,  restored  with  the  restoration  of 
monarchy,  and  established,  I  trust,  forever  by  the  glorious  20 
Revolution.  This  has  made  Ireland  the  great  and  flourish- 
ing kingdom  that  it  is;  and  from  a  disgrace  and  a  burden 
intolerable  to  this  nation,  has  rendered  her  a  principal  part 
of  our  strength  and  ornament.  This  country  cannot  be  said 
to  have  ever  formally  taxed  her.  The  irregular  things  done  25 
in  the  confusion  of  mighty  troubles  and  on  the  hinge  of  great 
revolutions,  even  if  all  were  done  that  is  said  to  have  been 
done,  form  no  example.  If  they  have  any  effect  in  argu- 
ment, they  make  an  exception  to  prove  the  rule.  None  of 
your  own  liberties  could  stand  a  moment,  if  the  casual  30 
deviations  from  them  at  such  times  were  suffered  to  be 
used  as  proofs  of  their  nullity.  By  the  lucrative  amount  of 
such  casual  breaches  in  the  Constitution,  judge  what  the 
stated  and  fixed  rule  of  supply  has  been  in  that  kingdom. 


44        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICA. 

Your  Irish  pensioners  would  starve,  if  they  had  no  other 
fund  to  live  on  than  taxes  granted  by  English  authority. 
Turn  your  eyes  to  those  popular  grants  from  whence  all  your 
great  supplies  are  come,  and  learn  to  respect  that  only 
5  source  of  public  wealth  in  the  British  Empire. 

My  next  example  is  Wales.  This  country  was  said  to  be 
reduced  by  Henry  the  Third.  It  was  said  more  truly  to  be 
so  by  Edward  the  First.  But  though  then  conquered,  it  was 
not  looked  upon  as  any  part  of  the  realm  of  England.  Its 

10  old  constitution,  whatever  that  might  have  been,  was 
destroyed,  and  no  good  one  was  substituted  in  its  place. 
The  care  of  that  tract  was  put  into  the  hands  of  Lords 
Marchers,  —  a  form  of  government  of  a  very  singular  kind, 
a  strange,  heterogeneous  monster,  something  between  hos- 

15  tility  and  government;  perhaps  it  has  a  sort  of  resemblance, 
according  to  the  modes  of  those  times,  to  that  of  commander- 
in-chief  at  present,  to  whom  all  civil  power  is  granted  as 
secondary.  The  manners  of  the  Welsh  nation  followed  the 
genius  of  the  government :  the  people  were  ferocious,  restive, 

20  savage  and  uncultivated,  sometimes  composed,  never  paci- 
fied. Wales,  within  itself,  was  in  perpetual  disorder;  and 
it  kept  the  frontier  of  England  in  perpetual  alarm.  Benefits 
from  it  to  the  state  there  were  none.  Wales  was  only  known 
to  England  by  incursion  and  invasion. 

25  Sir,  during  that  state  of  things  Parliament  was  not  idle. 
They  attempted  to  subdue  the  fierce  spirit  of  the  Welsh  by 
all  sorts  of  rigorous  laws.  They  prohibited  by  statute  the 
sending  all  sorts  of  arms  into  Wales,  as  you  prohibit  by 
proclamation  (with  something  more  of  doubt  on  the  legality) 

30  the  sending  arms  to  America.  They  disarmed  the  Welsh 
by  statute,  as  you  attempted  (but  still  with  more  question 
on  the  legality)  to  disarm  New  England  by  an  instruction. 
They  made  an  act  to  drag  offenders  from  Wales  into  Eng- 
land for  trial,  as  you  have  done  (but  with  more  hardship) 


THE  CASE  OF  WALES.  45 

with  regard  to  America.  By  another  act,  where  one  of  the 
parties  was  an  Englishman,  they  ordained  that  his  trial 
should  be  always  by  English.  They  made  acts  to  restrain 
trade,  as  you  do ;  and  they  prevented  the  Welsh  from  the 
use  of  fairs  and  markets,  as  you  do  the  Americans  from  5 
fisheries  and  foreign  ports.  In  short,  when  the  statute-book 
was  not  quite  so  much  swelled  as  it  is  now,  you  find  no 
less  than  fifteen  acts  of  penal  regulation  on  the  subject  of 
Wales. 

Here  we  rub  our  hands  —  A  fine  body  of  precedents  for  10 
the  authority  of  Parliament  and  the  use  of  it !  —  I  admit  it 
fully;  and  pray  add  likewise  to  these  precedents,  that  all 
the  while  Wales  rid  this  kingdom  like  an  incubus ;  that  it 
was  an  unprofitable  and  oppressive  burden ;    and  that  an 
Englishman  travelling  in  that  country  could  not  go  six  yards  15 
from  the  highroad  without  being  murdered. 

The  march  of  the  human  mind  is  slow.  Sir,  it  was  not 
until  after  two  hundred  years  discovered  that  by  an  eternal 
law  Providence  had  decreed  vexation  to  violence,  and  pov- 
erty to  rapine.  Your  ancestors  did,  however,  at  length  open  20 
their  eyes  to  the  ill-husbandry  of  injustice.  They  found 
that  the  tyranny  of  a  free  people  could  of  all  tyrannies  the 
least  be  endured ;  and  that  laws  made  against  an  whole  nation 
were  not  the  most  effectual  methods  for  securing  its  obedi- 
ence. Accordingly,  in  the  twenty-seventh  year  of  Henry  the  25 
Eighth,  the  course  was  entirely  altered.  With  a  preamble 
stating  the  entire  and  perfect  rights  of  the  crown  of  Eng- 
land, it  gave  to  the  Welsh  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of 
English  subjects.  A  political  order  was  established ;  the 
military  power  gave  way  to  the  civil ;  the  marches  were  30 
turned  into  counties.  But  that  a  nation  should  have  a  right 
to  English  liberties,  and  yet  no  share  at  all  in  the  funda- 
mental security  of  these  liberties,  —  the  grant  of  their  own 
property,  —  seemed  a  thing  so  incongruous  that  eight  years 


46        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICA. 

after,  —  that  is,  in  the  thirty-fifth  of  that  reign,  -  -  a  com- 
plete and  not  ill-proportioned  representation  by  counties 
and  boroughs  was  bestowed  upon  Wales  by  act  of  Parlia- 
ment. From  that  moment,  as  by  a  charm,  the  tumults  sub- 
5  sided ;  obedience  was  restored  ;  peace,  order  and  civilization 
followed  in  the  train  of  liberty.  When  the  day-star  of  the 
English  Constitution  had  arisen  in  their  hearts,  all  was 
harmony  within  and  without :  — 

,         —  Simul  alba  nautis 
10  Stella  refulsit, 

Defluit  saxis  agitatus  humor  ; 
Concidunt  venti,  fugiuntque  nubes, 
Et  minax  (quod  sic  voluere)  ponto 
Unda  recumbit. 

15  The  very  same  year  the  County  Palatine  of  Chester  re- 
ceived the  same  relief  from  its  oppressions  and  the  same 
remedy  to  its  disorders.  Before  this  time  Chester  was  little 
less  distempered  than  Wales.  The  inhabitants,  without 
rights  themselves,  were  the  fittest  to  destroy  the  rights  of 

20  others ;  and  from  thence  Richard  the  Second  drew  the 
standing  army  of  archers  with  which  for  a  time  he  op- 
pressed England.  The  people  of  Chester  applied  to  Par- 
liament in  a  petition  penned  as  I  shall  read  to  you :  — 

To  the  King  our  Sovereign  Lord,  in  most  humble  wise  shewen 
25  unto  your  most  excellent  Majesty  the  inhabitants  of  your  Grace's 
County  Palatine  of  Chester  :  (i)  That  where  the  said  County  Pala- 
tine of  Chester  is  and  hath  been  always  hitherto  exempt,  excluded 
and  separated  out  and  from  your  high  court  of  Parliament,  to 
have  any  knights  and  burgesses  within  the  said  court ;  by  reason 
30  whereof  the  said  inhabitants  have  hitherto  sustained  manifold 
disherisons,  losses  and  damages,  as  well  in  their  lands,  goods 
and  bodies,  as  in  the  good,  civil  and  politic  governance  and 
maintenance  of  the  commonwealth  of  their  said  country.  (2) 
And  forasmuch  as  the  said  inhabitants  have  always  hitherto  been 


THE  CASE   OF  CHESTER.  47 

bound  by  the  acts  and  statutes  made  and  ordained  by  your  said 
Highness  and  your  most  noble  progenitors,  by  authority  of  the 
said  court,  as  far  forth  as  other  counties,  cities  and  boroughs 
have  been,  that  have  had  their  knights  and  burgesses  within  your 
said  court  of  Parliament,  and  yet  have  had  neither  knight  ne  5 
burgess  there  for  the  said  County  Palatine ;  the  said  inhabitants, 
for  lack  thereof,  have  been  oftentimes  touched  and  grieved  with 
acts  and  statutes  made  within  the  said  court,  as  well  derogatory 
unto  the  most  ancient  jurisdictions,  liberties  and  privileges  of 
your  said  County  Palatine,  as  prejudicial  unto  the  commonwealth,  10 
quietness,  rest  and  peace  of  your  Grace's  most  bounden  subjects 
inhabiting  within  the  same. 

What  did  Parliament  with  this  audacious  address  ?     Re- 
ject it  as  a  libel  ?     Treat  it  as  an  affront  to  government  ? 
Spurn  it  as  a  derogation  from  the  rights  of  legislature  ?  15 
Did  they  toss  it  over  the  table  ?     Did  they  burn  it  by  the 
hands  of  the  common  hangman  ?     They  took  the  petition 
of   grievance,   all   rugged  as  it  was,  without  softening  or 
temperament,  unpurged  of  the  original  bitterness  and  in- 
dignation of  complaint ;  they  made  it  the  very  preamble  to  20 
their   act  of   redress,  and  consecrated  its  principle  to  all 
ages  in  the  sanctuary  of  legislation. 

Here  is  my  third  example.  It  was  attended  with  the 
success  of  the  two  former.  Chester,  civilized  as  well  as 
Wales,  has  demonstrated  that  freedom,  and  not  servitude,  25 
is  the  cure  for  anarchy;  as  religion,  and  not  atheism,  is  the 
true  remedy  for  superstition.  Sir,  this  pattern  of  Chester 
was  followed  in  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Second  with  regard 
to  the  County  Palatine  of  Durham,  which  is  my  fourth 
example.  This  county  had  long  lain  out  of  the  pale  of  30 
free  legislation.  So  scrupulously  was  the  example  of  Ches- 
ter followed,  that  the  style  of  the  preamble  is  nearly  the 
same  with  that  of  the  Chester  act ;  and  without  affecting 
the  abstract  extent  of  the  authority  of  Parliament,  it  recog- 


48        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICA. 

nizes  the  equity  of  not  suffering  any  considerable  district 
in  which  the  British  subjects  may  act  as  a  body,  to  be  taxed 
without  their  own  voice  in  the  grant. 

Now  if  the  doctrines  of  policy  contained  in  these  pre- 
5  ambles  and  the  force  of  these  examples  in  the  acts  of 
Parliaments  avail  anything,  what  can  be  said  against  apply- 
ing them  with  regard  to  America  ?  Are  not  the  people  of 
America  as  much  Englishmen  as  the  Welsh  ?  The  preamble 
of  the  act  of  Henry  the  Eighth  says  the  Welsh  speak  a 

10  language  no  way  resembling  that  of  his  Majesty's  English 
subjects.  Are  the  Americans  not  as  numerous  ?  If  we 
may  trust  the  learned  and  accurate  Judge  Barrington's 
account  of  North  Wales,  and  take  that  as  a  standard  to 
measure  the  rest,  there  is  no  comparison.  The  people 

15  cannot  amount  to  above  200,000,  — not  a  tenth  part  of  the 
number  in  the  colonies.  Is  America  in  rebellion  ?  Wales 
was  hardly  ever  free  from  it.  Have  you  attempted  to  gov- 
ern America  by  penal  statutes  ?  You  made  fifteen  for 
Wales.  But  your  legislative  authority  is  perfect  with  re- 

20  gard  to  America.  Was  it  less  perfect  in  Wales,  Chester, 
and  Durham  ?  But  America  is  virtually  represented. 
What  !  does  the  electric  force  of  virtual  representation 
more  easily  pass  over  the  Atlantic  than  pervade  Wales, 
which  lies  in  your  neighborhood  ?  or  than  Chester  and 

25  Durham,  surrounded  by  abundance  of  representation  that 
is  actual  and  palpable  ?  But,  Sir,  your  ancestors  thought 
this  sort  of  virtual  representation,  however  ample,  to  be 
totally  insufficient  for  the  freedom  of  the  inhabitants  of 
territories  that  are  so  near  and  comparatively  so  inconsid- 

3°  erable.  How  then  can  I  think  it  sufficient  for  those  which 
are  infinitely  greater  and  infinitely  more  remote  ? 

You  will  now,  Sir,  perhaps  imagine  that  I  am  on  the 
point  of  proposing  to  you  a  scheme  for  a  representation  of 
the  colonies  in  Parliament.  Perhaps  I  might  be  inclined  to 


REPRESENTA  TION  IMPOSSIBLE.  49 

entertain  some  such  thought ;  but  a  great  flood  stops  me  in 
my  course.  Opposuit  natura  -  - 1  cannot  remove  the  eternal 
barriers  of  the  creation.  The  thing,  in  that  mode,  I  do  not 
know  to  be  possible.  As  I  meddle  with  no  theory,  I  do 
not  absolutely  assert  the  impracticability  of  such  a  represen-  5 
tatio.n  :  but  I  do  not  see  my  way  to  it ;  and  those  who  have 
been  more  confident  have  not  been  more  successful.  How- 
ever, the  arm  of  public  benevolence  is  not  shortened,  and 
there  are  often  several  means  to  the  same  end.  What 
Nature  has  disjoined  in  one  way  Wisdom  may  unite  in  10 
another.  When  we  cannot  give  the  benefit  as  we  would 
wish,  let  us  not  refuse  it  altogether.  If  we  cannot  give  the 
principal,  let  us  find  a  substitute.  But  how  ?  Where  ?  What 
substitute  ? 

Fortunately  I  am  not  obliged  for  the  ways  and  means  of  15 
this  substitute  to  tax  my  own  unproductive  invention.  I  am 
not  even  obliged  to  go  to  the  rich  treasury  of  the  fertile 
framers  of  imaginary  commonwealths,  not  to  the  Republic 
of  Plato,  not  to  the  Utopia  of  More,  not  to  the  Oceana  of 
Harrington.  It  is  before  me  ,•  it  is  at  my  feet,  -  20 

And  the  rude  swain 
Treads  daily  on  it  with  his  clouted  shoon. 

I  only  wish  you  to  recognize,  for  the  theory,  the  ancient 
constitutional  policy  of  this  kingdom  with  regard  to  repre- 
sentation, as  that  policy  has  been  declared  in  acts  of  Parlia-  25 
ment ;  and  as  to  the  practice,  to  return  to  that  mode  which 
an  uniform  experience  has  marked  out  to  you  as  best,  and 
in  which  you  walked  with  security,  advantage  and  honor, 
until  the  year  1763. 

My  resolutions  therefore  mean  to  establish  the  equity  and  30 
justice  of  a  taxation  of  America  by  grant,  and  not  by  impo- 
sition; to  mark  the  legal  competency  of  the  colony  assemblies 
for  the  support  of  their  government  in  peace  and  for  public 


50        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICA. 

aids  in  time  of  war ;  to  acknowledge  that  this  legal  com- 
petency has  had  a  dutiful  and  beneficial  exercise ;   and  that 

1    experience  has   shown   the   benefit  of  their  grants  and  the 

futility  of  parliamentary  taxation  as  a  method  of  supply. 
5  These  solid  truths  compose  six  fundamental  propositions. 
There  are  three  more  resolutions  corollary  to  these.  If  you 
admit  the  first  set,  you  can  hardly  reject  the  others.  But 
if  you  admit  the  first,  I  shall  be  far  from  solicitous  whether 
you  accept  or  refuse  the  last.  I  think  these  six  massive 

10  pillars  will  be  of  strength  sufficient  to  support  the  temple 
of  British  concord.  I  have  no  more  doubt  than  I  entertain 
of  my  existence  that,  if  you  admitted  these,  you  would  com- 
mand an  immediate  peace  and,  with  but  tolerable  future 
management,  a  lasting  obedience  in  America.  I  am  not 

15  arrogant  in  this  confident  assurance.  The  propositions  are 
all  mere  matters  of  fact ;  and  if  they  are  such  facts  as  draw 
irresistible  conclusions  even  in  the  stating,  this  is  the  power 
of  truth,  and  not  any  management  of  mine. 

Sir,  I  shall  open  the  whole  plan  to    you  together,  with 

20  such  observations  on  the  motions  as  may  tend  to  illus- 
trate them  where  they  may  want  explanation.  The  first  is 
a  resolution,  — 

That  the  colonies  and  plantations  of  Great  Britain  in  North 
America,  consisting  of  fourteen  separate  governments,  and  con- 
25  taining  two  millions  and  upwards  of  free  inhabitants,  have  not 
had  the  liberty  and  privilege  of  electing  and  sending  any  knights 
and  burgesses,  or  others,  to  represent  them  in  the  high  court  of 
Parliament. 

This  is  a  plain  matter  of  fact,  necessary  to  be  laid  down, 
30  and  (excepting  the  description)  it  is  laid  down  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  constitution ;  it  is  taken  nearly  verbatim  from 
acts  of  Parliament. 

The  second  is  like  unto  the  first,  — 


THE  SECOND  RESOLUTION.  51 

That  the  said  colonies  and  plantations  have  been  liable  to, 
and  bounden  by,  several  subsidies,  payments,  rates  and  taxes, 
given  and  granted  by  Parliament,  though  the  said  colonies  and 
plantations  have  not  their  knights  and  burgesses  in  the  said  high 
court  of  Parliament,  of  their  own  election,  to  represent  the  condi-  5 
tion  of  their  country  ;  by  lack  whereof  they  have  been  oftentimes 
touched  and  grieved  by  subsidies  given,  granted  and  assented  to, 
in  the  said  court,  in  a  manner  prejudicial  to  the  commonwealth, 
quietness,  rest  and  peace  of  the  subjects  inhabiting  within  the 
same.  I0 

Is  this  description  too  hot  or  too  cold,  too  strong  or  too 
weak?  Does  it  arrogate  too  much  to  the  supreme  legis- 
lature ?  Does  it  lean  too  much  to  the  claims  of  the  people  ? 
If  it  runs  into  any  of  these  errors,  the  fault  is  not  mine.  It 
is  the  language  of  your  own  ancient  acts  of  Parliament  : —  15 

Non  meus  hie  sermo,  sed  quae  praecepit  Ofellus, 
Rusticus,  abnormis  sapiens. 

It  is  the  genuine  produce  of  the  ancient,  rustic,  manly,  home- 
bred sense  of  this  country,  —  I  did  not  dare  to  rub  off  a 
particle  of  the  venerable  rust  that  rather  adorns  and  pre-  20 
serves,  than  destroys,  the  metal.  It  would  be  a  profanation 
to  touch  with  a  tool  the  stones  which  construct  the  sacred 
altar  of  peace.  I  would  not  violate  with  modern  polish  the 
ingenuous  and  noble  roughness  of  these  truly  constitutional 
materials.  Above  all  things,  I  was  resolved  not  to  be  guilty  25 
of  tampering,  —  the  odious  vice  of  restless  and  unstable 
minds.  I  put  my  foot  in  the  tracks  of  our  forefathers, 
where  I  can  neither  wander  nor  stumble.  Determining  to 
fix  articles  of  peace,  I  was  resolved  not  to  be  wise  beyond 
what  was  written ;  I  was  resolved  to  use  nothing  else  than  30 
the  form  of  sound  words,  to  let  others  abound  in  their  own 
sense,  and  carefully  to  abstain  from  all  expressions  of  my 
own.  What  the  law  has  said,  I  say.  In  all  things  else  I 


52       SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICA. 

am  silent.     I  have  no  organ  but  for  her  words.     This,  if  it 
be  not  ingenious,  I  am  sure  is  safe. 

There  are  indeed  words  expressive  of  grievance  in  this 
second  resolution,  which  those  who  are  resolved  always  to, 
5  be  in  the  right  will  deny  to  contain  matter  of  fact,  as  ap- 
plied to  the  present  case,  although  Parliament  thought  them 
true  with  regard  to  the  counties  of  Chester  and  Durham. 
They  will  deny  that  the  Americans  were  ever  "  touched  and 
grieved  "  with  the  taxes.  If  they  consider  nothing  in  taxes 

10  but  their  weight  as  pecuniary  impositions,  there  might  be 
some  pretence  for  this  denial.  But  men  may  be  sorely 
touched  and  deeply  grieved  in  their  privileges  as  well  as  in 
their  purses.  Men  may  lose  little  in  property  by  the  act 
which  takes  away  all  their  freedom.  When  a  man  is  robbed 

15  of  a  trifle  on  the  highway,  it  is  not  the  twopence  lost  that 
constitutes  the  capital  outrage.  This  is  not  confined  to 
privileges.  Even  ancient  indulgences  withdrawn,  without 
offence  on  the  part  of  those  who  enjoyed  such  favors, 
operate  as  grievances.  But  were  the  Americans  then  not 

20  touched  and  grieved  by  the  taxes,  in  some  measure,  merely 
as  taxes  ?  If  so,  why  were  they  almost  all  either  wholly 
repealed  or  exceedingly  reduced  ?  Were  they  not  touched 
and  grieved  even  by  the  regulating  duties  of  the  sixth  of 
George  the  Second  ?  Else  why  were  the  duties  first  reduced 

25  to  one- third  in  1764,  and  afterwards  to  a  third  of  that  third 
in  the  year  1766  ?  Were  they  not  touched  and  grieved  by 
the  Stamp  Act?  I  shall  say  they  were,  until  that  tax  is 
revived.  Were  they  not  touched  and  grieved  by  the  duties 
of  1767,  which  were  likewise  repealed,  and  which  Lord 

3°  Hillsborough  tells  you  (for  the  ministry)  were  laid  contrary 
to  the  true  principle  of  commerce  ?  Is  not  the  assurance 
given  by  that  noble  person  to  the  colonies  of  a  resolution 
to  lay  no  more  taxes  on  them,  an  admission  that  taxes  would 
touch  and  grieve  them  ?  Is  not  the  resolution  of  the  noble 


COMPETENCE  OF  COLONIAL  ASSEMBLIES.          53 

lord  in  the  blue  ribbon,  now  standing  on  your  journals,  the 
strongest  of  all  proofs  that  parliamentary  subsidies  really 
touched  and  grieved  them?  Else, why  all  these  changes, 
modifications,  repeals,  assurances  and  resolutions  ? 

The  next  proposition  is, —  5 

That,  from  the  distance  of  the  said  colonies  and  from  other 
circumstances,  no  method  hath  hitherto  been  devised  for  procuring 
a  representation  in  Parliament  for  the  said  colonies. 

This  is   an  assertion  of  a  fact.      I  go  no  further  on  the 
paper ;  though  in  my  private  judgment  a  useful  representa-  10 
tion  is  impossible.     I  am  sure  it  is  not  desired  by  them;  nor 
ought  it,  perhaps,  by  us:  but  I  abstain  from  opinions. 
The  fourth  resolution  is,  — 

That  each  of  the  said  colonies  hath  within  itself  a  body,  chosen 
in  part  or  in  the  whole  by  the  freemen,  freeholders  or  other  free  15 
inhabitants  thereof,  commonly  called  the  general  assembly,  or 
general  court ;  with  powers  legally  to  raise,  levy  and  assess,  ac- 
cording to  the  several  usage  of  such  colonies,  duties  and  taxes 
towards  defraying  all  sorts  of  public  services. 

This  competence  in  the  colony  assemblies  is  certain.     It  20 
is  proved  by  the  whole  tenor  of  their  acts  of  supply  in  all  the 
assemblies,  in  which  the  constant  style  of  granting  is,  "An 
aid  to  his  Majesty  " ;  and  acts  granting  to  the  crown  have 
regularly  for  near  a  century  passed  the  public  offices  without 
dispute.     Those  who  have  been   pleased  paradoxically  to  25 
deny  this  right,  holding  that  none  but  the  British  Parliament 
can  grant  to  the  crown,  are  wished  to  look  to  what  is  done, 
not  only  in  the  colonies,  but  in  Ireland,  in  one  uniform,  un- 
broken tenor  every  session.     Sir,  I  am  surprised  that  this 
doctrine  should  come  from  some  of  the  law  servants  of  the  3c 
crown.     I  say  that  if  the  crown  could  be  responsible,  his 
Majesty  -  -  but  certainly  the  ministers,  and  even  these  law 
officers    themselves   through    whose    hands  the    acts   pass, 


54        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICA. 

biennially  in  Ireland  or  annually  in  the  colonies,  are  in  an 
habitual  course  of  committing  impeachable  offences.     What 
habitual  offenders  have  been  all  presidents  of  the  council,  all 
secretaries  of  state,  all  first  lords  of  trade,  all  attorneys  and 
5  all  solicitbrs-general  !     However,  they  are  safe,  as  no  one 
impeaches  them ;  and  there  is  no  ground  of  charge  against 
them,  except  in  their  own  unfounded  theories. 
The  fifth  resolution  is  also  a  resolution  of  fact,  — 

That  the   said  general   assemblies,   general  courts,  or   other 

10  bodies  legally  qualified  as  aforesaid,  have  at  sundry  times  freely 

granted  several  large  subsidies  and  public  aids  for  his  Majesty's 

service,  according  to  their  abilities,  when  required  thereto  by  letter 

from  one  of  his  Majesty's  principal  secretaries  of  state:  and  that 

their  right  to  grant  the  same  and  their  cheerfulness  and  sufficiency 

15  in  the  said  grants  have  been  at  sundry  times  acknowledged  by 

Parliament. 

To  say  nothing  of  their  great  expenses  in  the  Indian  wars, 
and  not  to  take  their  exertion  in  foreign  ones  so  high  as  the 
supplies  in  the  year  1695,  not  to  go  back  to  'their  public 

*D  contributions  in  the  year  1710,  I  shall  begin  to  travel  only 
where  the  journals  give  me  light,  — resolving  to  deal  in 
nothing  but  fact  authenticated  by  parliamentary  record,  and 
to  build  myself  wholly  on  that  solid  basis. 

On  the  4th  of  April,  1748,  a  committee  of  this  House  came 

25  to  the  following  resolution:  — 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  committee  that  it  is  just 
and  reasonable  that  the  several  provinces  and  colonies  of  Massa- 
chusetts Bay,  New  Hampshire,  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island, 
be  reimbursed  the  expenses  they  have  been  at  in  taking  and 
30  securing  to  the  crown  of  Great  Britain  the  island  of  Cape  Breton 
and  its  dependencies. 

These  expenses  were  immense  for  such  colonies.  They 
were  above  ,£200,000  sterling:  money  first  raised  and  ad- 
vanced on  their  public  credit. 


LIBERALITY  OF  THE   COLONIES.  55 

On  the  28th  of  January,  1756,  a  message  from  the  king 
came  to  us  to  this  effect  :  — 

His  Majesty,  being  sensible  of  the  zeal  and  vigor  with  which 
his  faithful  subjects  of  certain  colonies  in  North  America  have 
exerted  themselves  in  defence  of  his  Majesty's  just  rights  and  5 
possessions,  recommends  it  to  this  House  to  take  the  same  into 
their  consideration,  and  to  enable  his  Majesty  to  give  them  such 
assistance  as  may  be  a  proper  reward  and  encouragement. 

On  the  3d  of  February,  1756,  the  House  came  to  a  suit- 
able resolution,  expressed  in  words  nearly  the  same  as  those  10 
of   the   message;   but   with   the   further  addition  that  the 
money  then  voted  was  as  an  encouragement  to  the  colonies  to 
exert  themselves  with  vigor.     It  will  not  be  necessary  to  go 
through  all  the  testimonies  which  your  own  records  have 
given  to  the  truth  of  my  resolutions.     I  will  only  refer  you  15 
to  the  places  in  the  journals:  — 

Vol.  XXVI I.-  -i 6th  and  I9th  May,  1757. 

Vol.  XXVIII.  —  June  1st,  1758;  April  26th  and  3oth,  1759; 
March  26th  and  3 1  st,  and  April  28th,  1 760 ;  Jan.  Qth  and  2oth,  1 761 . 

Vol.  XXIX.  —  Jan.  22nd   and  26th,    1762;    March    I4th    and  20 
1 7th,  1763. 

Sir,  here  is  the  repeated  acknowledgment  of  Parliament 
that  the  colonies  not  only  gave,  but  gave  to  satiety.  This 
nation  has  formaLy  acknowledged  two  things  :  first,  that  the 
colonies  had  gone  beyond  their  abilities,  Parliament  having  25 
thought  it  necessary  to  reimburse  them  ;  secondly,  that  they 
had  acted  legally  and  laudably  in  their  grants  of  money 
and  their  maintenance  of  troops,  since  the  compensation 
is  expressly  given  as  reward  and  encouragement.  Reward 
is  not  bestowed  for  acts  that  are  unlawful ;  and  encourage-  30 
ment  is  not  held  out  to  things  that  deserve  reprehension. 
My  resolution  therefore  does  nothing  more  than  collect  into 
one  proposition  what  is  scattered  through  your  journals.  I  , 


56        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICA. 

give  you  nothing  but  your  own ;  and  you  cannot  refuse  in 
the  gross  what  you  have  so  often  acknowledged  in  detail. 
The  admission  of  this,  which  will  be  so  honorable  to  them 
and  to  you,  will  indeed  be  mortal  to  all  the  miserable  stories 
5  by  which  the  passions  of  the  misguided  people  have  been 
engaged  in  an  unhappy  system.  The  people  heard,  indeed, 
from  the  beginning  of  these  disputes,  one  thing  continually 
dinned  in  their  ears,  —  that  reason  and  justice  demanded 
that  the  Americans,  who  paid  no  taxes,  should  be  compelled 

10  to  contribute.  How  did  that  fact  of  their  paying  nothing 
stand  when  the  taxing  system  began  ?  When  Mr.  Gren- 
ville  began  to  form  his  system  of  American  revenue,  he 
stated  in  this  House  that  the  colonies  were  then  in  debt  two 
millions  six  hundred  thousand  pounds  sterling  money,  and 

15  was  of  opinion  they  would  discharge  that  debt  in  four  years. 
On  this  state,  those  untaxed  people  were  actually  subject  to 
the  payment  of  taxes  to  the  amount  of  six  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  a  year.  In  fact,  however,  Mr.  Grenville  was  mis- 
taken. The  funds  given  for  sinking  the  debt  did  not  prove 

20  quite  so  ample  as  both  the  colonies  and  he  expected.  The 
calculation  was  too  sanguine  :  the  reduction  was  not  com- 
pleted till  some  years  after,  and  at  different  times  in  different 
colonies.  However,  th'e  taxes  after  the  war  continued  too 
great  to  bear  any  addition  with  prudence  or  propriety ;  and 

25  when  the  burdens  imposed  in  consequence  of  former  requisi- 
tions were  discharged,  our  tone  became  too  high  to  resort 
again  to  requisition.  No  colony  since  that  time  ever  has  had 
any  requisition  whatsoever  made  to  it. 

We  see  the  sense  of  the  crown  and  the  sense  of  Parliament 

30  on  the  productive  nature  of  a  revenue  by  grant.  Now  search 
the  same  journals  for  the  produce  of  the  revenue  by  imposi- 
tion. Where  is  it  ?  Let  us  know  the  volume  and  the  page. 
What  is  the  gross,  what  is  the  net  produce  ?  To  what  ser- 
vice is  it  applied  ?  How  have  you  appropriated  its  surplus  ? 


THEORY  VS.  EXPERIENCE.  57 

What,  can  none  of  the  many  skilful  index-makers  that  we 
are  now  employing  find  any  trace  of  it?  Well,  let  them 
and  that  rest  together.  But  are  the  journals,  which  say 
nothing  of  the  revenue,  as  silent  on  the  discontent?  Oh, 
no !  a  child  may  find  it.  It  is  the  melancholy  burden  and  $ 
blot  of  every  page. 

I  think,  then,  I  am,  from  those  journals,  justified  in  the 
sixth  and  last  resolution,  which  is,  — 

That  it  hath  been  found  by  experience  that  the  manner  of 
granting  the  said  supplies  and  aids  by  the  said  general  assemblies  ic 
hath  been  more  agreeable  to  the  said  colonies,  and  more  beneficial 
and  conducive  to  the  public  service,  than  the  mode  of  giving  and 
granting  aids  in  Parliament,  to  be  raised  and  paid  in  the  said 
colonies. 

This  makes  the  whole  of  the  fundamental  part  of  the  plan.  15 
The  conclusion  is  irresistible.     You  cannot   say  that   you 
were  driven  by  any  necessity  to  an  exercise  of  the  utmost 
rights  of  legislature.     You  cannot  assert  that  you  took  on 
yourselves  the  task  of  imposing  colony  taxes,  from  the  want 
of  another  legal  body  that  is  competent  to  the  purpose  of  20 
supplying  the  exigencies  of  the  state  without  wounding  the 
prejudices  of  the  people.     Neither  is  it  true  that  the  body  so 
qualified  and  having  that  competence  had  neglected  the  duty. 

The  question  now,  on  all  this  accumulated  matter,  is, — 
whether  you  will  choose  to  abide  by  a  profitable  experience  25 
or  a  mischievous  theory  ;  whether  you  choose  to  build  on 
imagination  or  fact ;  whether  you  prefer  enjoyment  or  hope  ; 
satisfaction  in  your  subjects  or  discontent  ? 

If  these  propositions  are  accepted,,  everything  which  has 
been  made  to  enforce  a  contrary  system  must,  I  take  it  for  30 
granted,  fall  along  with  it.     On  that  ground  I  have  drawn 
the  following  resolution,  which,  when  it  comes  to  be  moved, 
will  naturally  be  divided  in  a  proper  manner :  — 


58        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICA. 

That  it  may  be  proper  to  repeal  an  act  made  in  the  seventh 
year  of  the  reign  of  his  present  Majesty,  entitled,  "  An  act  for 
granting  certain  duties  in  the  British  colonies  and  plantations  in 
America  ;  for  allowing  a  drawback  of  the  duties  of  customs  upon 
5  the  exportation  from  this  kingdom,  of  coffee  and  cocoanuts  of  the 
produce  of  the  said  colonies  or  plantations  ;  for  discontinuing  the 
drawbacks  payable  on  China  earthenware  exported  to  America ; 
and  for  more  effectually  preventing  the  clandestine  running  of 
goods  in  the  said  colonies  and  plantations." — And  that  it  may  be 

10  proper  to  repeal  an  act  made  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  the  reign 
of  his  present  Majesty,  entitled,  "  An  act  to  discontinue,  in  such 
manner  and  for  such  time  as  are  therein  mentioned,  the  landing 
and  discharging,  lading  or  shipping,  of  goods,  wares  and  merchan- 
dise, at  the  town  and  within  the  harbor  of  Boston,  in  the  province 

15  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  North  America." —  And  that  it  may  be 
proper  to  repeal  an  act  made  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  the  reign 
of  his  present  Majesty,  entitled,  "  An  act  for  the  impartial  admin- 
istration of  justice  in  the  cases  of  persons  questioned  for  any  acts 
done  by  them  in  the  execution  of  the  law,  or  for  the  suppression 

2Q  of  riots  and  tumults,  in  the  province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  New 
England."  —  And  that  it  may  be  proper  to  repeal  an  act  made  in 
the  fourteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  his  present  Majesty,  entitled, 
"  An  act  for  the  better  regulating  the  government  of  the  province 
of  the  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  New  England."  —  And  also,  that  it 

25  may  be  proper  to  explain  and  amend  an  act  made  in  the  thirty- 
fifth  year  of  the  reign  of  King  Henry  the  Eighth,  entitled,  "  An 
act  for  the  trial  of  treasons  committed  out  of  the  king's  dominions." 

I  wish,  Sir,  to  repeal  the  Boston  Port  Bill,  because  (inde- 
pendently of  the  dangerous  precedent  of  suspending  the 

3°  rights  of  the  subject  during  the  king's  pleasure)  it  was 
passed,  as  I  apprehend,  with  less  regularity  and  on  more 
partial  principles  than  it  ought.  The  corporation  of  Boston 
was  not  heard  before  it  was  condemned.  Other  towns,  full 
as  guilty  as  she  was,  have  not  had  their  ports  blocked  up. 

35  Even  the  Restraining  Bill  of  the  present  session  does  not  go 


REASONS  FOR  REPEAL.  59 

to  the  length  of  the  Boston  Port  Act.  The  same  ideas  of 
prudence  which  induced  you  not  to  extend  equal  punishment 
to  equal  guilt,  even  when  you  were  punishing,  induced  me, 
who  mean  not  to  chastise  but  to  reconcile,  to  be  satisfied 
with  the  punishment  already  partially  inflicted.  5 

Ideas  of  prudence  and  accommodation  to  circumstances 
prevent  you  from  taking  away  the  charters  of  Connecticut 
and  Rhode  Island,  as  you  have  taken  away  that  of  Massa- 
chusetts Colony,  though  the  crown  has  far  less  power  in  the 
two  former  provinces  than  it  enjoyed  in  the  latter,  and  10 
though  the  abuses  have  been  full  as  great  and  as  flagrant  in 
the  exempted  as  in  the  punished.  The  same  reasons  of 
prudence  and  accommodation  have  weight  with  me  in  restor- 
ing the  charter  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  Besides,  Sir,  the  act 
which  changes  the  charter  of  Massachusetts  is  in  many  par-  15 
ticulars  so  exceptionable  that,  if  I  did  not  wish  absolutely  to 
repeal,  I  would  by  all  means  desire  to  alter  it,  as  several  of 
its  provisions  tend  to  the  subversion  of  all  public  and  private 
justice.  Such,  among  others,  is  the  power  in  the  governor 
to  change  the  sheriff  fit  his  pleasure,  and  to  make  a  new  20 
returning  officer  for  every  special  cause.  It  is  shameful  to 
behold  such  a  regulation  standing  among  English  laws. 

The  act  for  bringing  persons  accused  of  committing 
murder  under  the  orders  of  government  to  England  for  trial 
is  but  temporary.  That  act  has  calculated  the  probable  25 
duration  of  our  quarrel  with  the  colonies,  and  is  accomo- 
dated  to  that  supposed  duration.  I  would  hasten  the  happy 
moment  of  reconciliation;  and  therefore  must,  on  my  princi- 
ple, get  rid  of  that  most  justly  obnoxious  act. 

The  act  of  Henry  the  Eighth  for  the  trial  of  treasons  I  do  3° 
not  mean   to   take    away,  but   to    confine  it   to  its  proper 
bounds  and  original  intention;  to  make  it  expressly  for  trial 
of  treasons  (and  the  greatest  treasons  may  be  committed)  in 
places  where  the  jurisdiction  of  the  crown  does  not  extend. 


60        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICA. 

Having  guarded  the  privileges  of  local  legislature,  I  would 
next  secure  to  the  colonies  a  fair  and  unbiased  judicature  ; 
for  which  purpose,  Sir,  I  propose  the  following  resolution  :- 

That,  from  the  time  when  the  general  assembly,  or  general 
5  court,  of  any  colony  or  plantation  in  North  America  shall  have 
appointed  by  act  of  assembly  duly  confirmed,  a  settled  salary  to 
the  offices  of  the  chief  justice  and  other  judges  of  the  superior 
court,  it  may  be  proper  that  the  said  chief  justice  and  other  judges 
of  the  superior  courts  of  such  colony  shall  hold  his  and  their  office 

10  and  offices  during  their  good  behavior,  and  shall  not  be  removed 
therefrom  but  when  the  said  removal  shall  be  adjudged  by  his 
Majesty  in  council,  upon  a  hearing  on  complaint  from  the  general 
assembly,  or  on  a  complaint  from  the  governor  or  council  or  the 
house  of  representatives,  severally,  of  the  colony  in  which  the  said 

1 5  chief  justice  and  other  judges  have  exercised  the  said  offices. 

The  next  resolution  relates  to  the  courts  of  admiralty.  It 
is  this  :  — 

That  it  may  be  proper  to  regulate  the  courts  of  admiralty  or 
vice-admiralty  authorized  by  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  the  fourth  of 
20  George  the  Third,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  make  the  same  more 
commodious  to  those  who  sue  or  are  sued  in  the  said  courts  ;  and 
to  provide  for  the  more  decent  maintenance  of  the  judges  in 
the  same. 

These  courts  I  do  not  wish  to  take  away :  they  are  in 
25  themselves  proper  establishments.     This  court  is  one  of  the 
capital  securities  of  the  Act  of  Navigation.     The  extent  of 
its  jurisdiction,  indeed,  has  been  increased ;  but  this  is  alto- 
gether as   proper,  and  is  indeed   on  many  accounts  more 
eligible,  where  new  powers  were  wanted,  than  a  court  abso- 
30  lutely  new.     But  courts  incommodiously  situated  in  effect 
deny  justice ;  and  a  court  partaking  in  the  fruits  of  its  own 
condemnation  is  a  robber.     The    Congress   complain,  and 
complain  justly,  of  this  grievance. 


PARLIAMENTARY  PRECEDENTS.  61 

These  are  the  three  consequential  propositions.  I  have 
thought  of  two  or  three  more  ;  but  they  come  rather  too  near 
detail  and  to  the  province  of  executive  government,  which  I 
wish  Parliament  always  to  superintend,  never  to  assume.  If 
the  first  six  are  granted,  congruity  will  carry  the  latter  three.  5 
If  not,  the  things  that  remain  unrepealed  will  be,  I  hope, 
rather  unseemly  incumbrances  on  the  building  than  very 
materially  detrimental  to  its  strength  and  stability. 

Here,  Sir,  I  should  close  ;  but  I  plainly  perceive  some 
objections  remain,  which  I  ought,  if   possible,  to  remove.  10 
The  first  will  be  that,  in  resorting  to  the  doctrine  of  our 
ancestors  as  contained  in  the  preamble  to  the  Chester  Act, 
I  prove  too  much ;  that  the  grievance  from  a  want  of  repre- 
sentation, stated  in  that  preamble,  goes  to  the  whole  of  legis- 
lation as  well  as  to  taxation  ;  and  that  the  colonies,  ground-  1 5 
ing  themselves  upon  that  doctrine,  will  apply  it  to  all  parts 
of  legislative  authority. 

To  this  objection,  with  all  possible  deference  and  humility, 
and  wishing  as  little  as  any  man  living  to  impair  the  smallest 
particle  of  our  supreme  authority,  I  answer  that  the  words  are  20 
the  words  of  Parliament,  and  not  mine  ;  and  that  all  false  and 
inconclusive  inferences  drawn  from  them  are  not  mine,  for  I 
heartily  disclaim  any  such  inference.  I  have  chosen  the 
words  of  an  act  of  Parliament  which  Mr.  Grenville,  surely  a 
tolerably  zealous  and  very  judicious  advocate  for  the  sov-  25 
ereignty  of  Parliament,  formerly  moved  to  have  read  at  your 
table  in  confirmation  of  his  tenets.  It  is  true  that  Lord 
Chatham  considered  these  preambles  as  declaring  strongly 
in  favor  of  his  opinions.  He  was  a  no  less  powerful  advo- 
cate for  the  privileges  of  the  Americans.  Ought  I  not  from  30 
hence  to  presume  that  these  preambles  are  as  favorable  as 
possible  to  both,  when  properly  understood, --favorable  both 
to  the  rights  of  Parliament  and  to  the  privilege  of  the  de- 
pendencies of  this  crown?  But,  Sir,  the  object  of  grievance 


62        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICA. 

in  my  resolution  I  have  not  taken  from  the  Chester,  but 
from  the  Durham  Act,  which  confines  the  hardship  of  want 
of  representation  to  the  case  of  subsidies,  and  which  there- 
fore falls  in  exactly  with  the  case  of  the  colonies.  But 
5  whether  the  unrepresented  counties  were  de  jure  or  de  facto 
bound,  the  preambles  do  not  accurately  distinguish  ;  nor 
indeed  was  it  necessary ;  for  whether  de  jure  or  defacto,  the 
legislature  thought  the  exercise  of  the  power  of  taxing,  as  of 
right  or  as  of  fact  without  right,  equally  a  grievance  and 

10  equally  oppressive. 

I  do  not  know  that  the  colonies  have,  in  any  general  way 
or  in  any  cool  hour,  gone  much  beyond  the  demand  of 
immunity  in  relation  to  taxes.  It  is  not  fair  to  judge  of  the 
temper  or  disposition  of  any  man  or  any  set  of  men,  when 

15  they  are  composed  and  at  rest,  from  their  conduct  or  their 
expressions  in  a  state  of  disturbance  and  irritation.  It  is, 
besides,  a  very  great  mistake  to  imagine  that  mankind 
follow  up  practically  any  speculative  principle,  either  of 
government  or  of  freedom,  as  far  as  it  will  go  in  argument 

20  and  logical  illation.  We  Englishmen  stop  very  short  of  the 
principles  upon  which  we  support  any  given  part  of  our 
Constitution,  or  even  the  whole  of  it  together.  I  could 
easily,  if  I  had  not  already  tired  you,  give  you  very  striking 
and  convincing  instances  of  it.  This  is  nothing  but  what  is 

25  natural  and  proper.  All  government,  indeed  every  human 
benefit  and  enjoyment,  every  virtue,  and  every  prudent  act, 
is  founded  on  compromise  and  barter.  We  balance  incon- 
veniencies ;  we  give  and  take  ;  we  remit  some  rights  that  we 
may  enjoy  others ;  and  we  choose  rather  to  be  happy 

30  citizens  than  subtle  disputants.  As  we  must  give  away 
some  natural  liberty  to  enjoy  civil  advantages,  so  we  must 
sacrifice  some  civil  liberties  for  the  advantages  to  be  derived 
from  the  communion  and  fellowship  of  a  great  empire.  But 
in  all  fair  dealings  the  thing  bought  must  bear  some  proper- 


UNION  OF  INTERESTS  DESIRABLE.  63 

tion  to  the  purchase  paid.  None  will  barter  away  the  imme- 
diate jewel  of  his  soul.  Though  a  great  house  is  apt  to 
make  slaves  haughty,  yet  it  is  purchasing  a  part  of  the  arti- 
ficial importance  of  a  great  empire  too  dear  to  pay  for  it  all 
essential  rights  and  all  the  intrinsic  dignity  of  human  nature.  5 
None  of  us  who  would  not  risk  his  life  rather  than  fall  under 
a  government  purely  arbitrary.  But  although  there  are 
some  amongst  us  who  think  our  Constitution  wants  many 
improvements  to  make  it  a  complete  system  of  liberty,  per- 
haps none  who  are  of  that  opinion  would  think  it  right  to  10 
aim  at  such  improvement  by  disturbing  his  country  and  risk- 
ing everything  that  is  dear  to  him.  In  every  arduous  enter- 
prise we  consider  what  we  are  to  lose  as  well  as  what  we 
are  to  gain :  and  the  more  and  better  stake  of  liberty  every 
people  possess,  the  less 'they  will  hazard  in  a  vain  attempt  15 
to  make  it  more.  These  are  the  cords  of  man.  Man  acts 
from  adequate  motives  relative  to  his  interest,  and  not  on 
metaphysical  speculations.  Aristotle,  the  great  master  of 
reasoning,  cautions  us,  and  with  great  weight  and  propriety, 
against  this  species  of  delusive  geometrical  accuracy  in  20 
moral  arguments,  as  the  most  fallacious  of  all  sophistry. 

The  Americans  will  have  no  interest  contrary  to  the 
grandeur  and  glory  of  England,  when  they  are  not  oppressed 
by  the  weight  of  it ;  and  they  will  rather  be  inclined  to  re- 
spect the  acts  of  a  superintending  legislature,  when  they  see  25 
them  the  acts  of  that  power  which  is  itself  the  security,  not 
the  rival,  of  their  secondary  importance.  In  this  assurance 
my  mind  most  perfectly  acquiesces  ;  and  I  confess  I  feel  not 
the  least  alarm  from  the  discontents  which  are  to  arise  from 
putting  people  at  their  ease  ;  nor  do  I  apprehend  the  destruc-  30 
tion  of  this  empire  from  giving,  by  an  act  of  free  grace  and 
indulgence,  to  two  millions  of  my  fellow-citizens,  some  share 
of  those  rights  upon  which  I  have  always  been  taught  to 
value  myself. 


64        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICA. 

It  is  said,  indeed,  that  this  power  of  granting,  vested  in 
American  assemblies,  would  dissolve  the  unity  of  the  empire, 
which  was  preserved  entire,  although  Wales  and  Chester  and 
Durham  were  added  to  it.  Truly,  Mr.  Speaker,  I  do  not 

5  know  what  this  unity  means ;  nor  has  it  ever  been  heard  of, 
that  I  know,  in  the  constitutional  policy  of  this  country. 
The  very  idea  of  subordination  of  parts  excludes  this  notion 
of  simple  and  undivided  unity.  England  is  the  head,  but 
she  is  not  the  head  and  the  members  too.  Ireland  has  ever 

10  had  from  the  beginning  a  separate,  but  not  an  independent, 
legislature,  which,  far  from  distracting,  promoted  the  union 
of  the  whole.  Everything  was  sweetly  and  harmoniously 
disposed  through  both  islands  for  the  conservation  of  Eng- 
lish dominion  and  the  communication  of  English  liberties. 

15  I  do  not  see  that  the  same  principles  might  not  be  carried 
into  twenty  islands,  and  with  the  same  good  effect.  This  is 
my  model  with  regard  to  America,  as  far  as  the  internal  cir- 
cumstances of  the  two  countries  are  the  same.  I  know  no 
other  unity  of  this  empire  than  I  can  draw  from  its  example 

20  during  these  periods  when  it  seemed  to  my  poor  understand- 
ing more  united  than  it  is  now,  or  than  it  is  likely  to  be  by 
the  present  methods. 

But  since  I  speak  of  these  methods,  I  recollect,  Mr. 
Speaker,  almost  too  late,  that  I  promised,  before  I  finished, 

25  to  say  something  of  the  proposition  of  the  noble  lord  on  the 
floor,  which  has  been  so  lately  received,  and  stands  on  your 
journals.  I  must  be  deeply  concerned  whenever  it  is  my 
misfortune  to  continue  a  difference  with  the  majority  of 
this  House.  But  as  the  reasons  for  that  difference  are 

30  my  apology  for  thus  troubling  you,  suffer  me  to  state  them 
in  a  very  few  words.  I  shall  compress  them  into  as 
small  a  body  as  I  possibly  can,  having  already  debated 
that  matter  at  large  when  the  question  was  before  the 
committee. 


RANSOM  BY  AUCTION  A   MERE  PROJECT.  65 

First,  then,  I  cannot  admit  that  proposition  of  a  ransom 
by  auction,  because  it  is  a  mere  project.  It  is  a  thing  new, 
unheard  of,  supported  by  no  experience,  justified  by  no 
analogy,  without  example  of  our  ancestors  or  root  in  the 
Constitution.  It  is  neither  regular  parliamentary  taxation  5 
nor  colony  grant.  Experimentum  in  corpore  vili  is  a  good 
rule,  which  will  ever  make  me  adverse  to  any  trial  of  experi- 
ments on  what  is  certainly  the  most  valuable  of  all  subjects, 
-the  peace  of  this  empire. 

Secondly,  it  is  an  experiment  which  must  be  fatal  in  the  10 
end  to  our  Constitution.     For  what  is  it  but  a  scheme  for 
taxing  the  colonies  in  the  antechamber  of  the  noble  lord  and 
his  successors  ?     To  settle  the  quotas  and  proportions  in 
this  House  is  clearly  impossible.     You,  Sir,  may  flatter  your- 
self you  shall  sit  a  state  auctioneer  with  your  hammer  in  15 
your  hand,  and  knock  down  to  each  colony  as  it  bids.     But 
to  settle  (on  the  plan  laid  down  by  the  noble  lord)  the  true 
proportional  payment  for  four  or  five  and  twenty  governments, 
according  to  the  absolute  and  the  relative  wealth  of  each, 
and   according   to   the    British,   proportion   of   wealth   and  20 
burden,  is  a  wild  and  chimerical  notion.     This  new  taxation 
must  therefore  come  in  by  the  back  door  of  the  Constitution. 
Each  quota  must  be  brought  to  this  House  ready  formed. 
You  can  neither  add  nor  alter.     You  must  register  it.     You 
can  do  nothing  further.     For  on  what  grounds   can   you  25 
deliberate  either  before  or  after  the  proposition  ?     You  can- 
not hear  the  counsel  for  all  these  provinces,  quarrelling  each 
on  its  own  quantity  of  payment  and  its  proportion  to  others. 
If  you  should  attempt  it,  the  committee  of  provincial  ways 
and  means,  or  by  whatever  other  name  it  will  delight  to  be  3° 
called,  must  swallow  up  all  the  time  of  Parliament. 

Thirdly,  it  does  not  give  satisfaction  to  the  complaint  of 
the  colonies.  They  complain  that  they  are  taxed  without 
their  consent :  you  answer  that  you  will  fix  the  sum  at  which 


66        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICA. 

they  shall  be  taxed.  That  is,  you  give  them  the  very  griev 
ance  for  the  remedy.  You  tell  them,  indeed,  that  you  will 
leave  the  mode  to  themselves.  I  really  beg  pardon  ;  it 
gives  me  pain  to  mention  it ;  but  you  must  be  sensible  that 
5  you  will  not  perform  this  part  of  the  compact.  For  suppose 
the  colonies  were  to  lay  the  duties  which  furnished  their 
contingent  upon  the  importation  of  your  manufactures,  you 
know  you  would  never  suffer  such  a  tax  to  be  laid.  You 
know,  too,  that  you  would  not  suffer  many  other  modes  of 

10  taxation.  So  that  when  you  come  to  explain  yourself,  it 
will  be  found  that  you  will  neither  leave  to  themselves  the 
quantum  nor  the  mode ;  nor  indeed  anything.  The  whole 
is  delusion  from  one  end  to  the  other. 

Fourthly,  this  method  of  ransom  by  auction,  unless  it  be 

15  universally  accepted,  will  plunge  you  into  great  and  inex- 
tricable difficulties.  In  what  year  of  our  Lord  are  the  pro- 
portions of  payments  to  be  settled?  To  say  nothing  of  the 
impossibility  that  colony  agents  should  have  general  powers 
of  taxing  the  colonies  at  their  discretion,  consider,  I  implore 

20  you,  that  the  communication  by  special  messages  and  orders 
between  these  agents  and  their  constituents  on  each  variation 
of  the  case,  when  the  parties  come  to  contend  together  and 
to  dispute  on  their  relative  proportions,  will  be  a  matter  of 
delay,  perplexity  and  confusion  that  never  can  have  an 

25  end. 

If  all  the  colonies  do  not  appear  at  the  outcry,  what  is  the 
condition  of  those  assemblies  who  offer,  by  themselves  or 
their  agents,  to  tax  themselves  up  to  your  ideas  of  their 
proportion  ?  The  refractory  colonies  who  refuse  all  com- 

3°  position  will  remain  taxed  only  to  your  old  impositions, 
which,  however  grievous  in  principle,  are  trifling  as  to  pro- 
duction. The  obedient  colonies  in  this  scheme  are  heavily 
taxed ;  the  refractory  remain  unburdened.  What  will  you 
do  ?  Will  you  lay  new  and  heavier  taxes  by  Parliament  on 


A  LABYRINTH  OF  DETAIL.  67 

the  disobedient  ?  Pray  consider  in  what  way  you  can  do  it. 
You  are  perfectly  convinced  that  in  the  way  of  taxing  you 
can  do  nothing  but  at  the  ports.  Now  suppose  it  is  Virginia 
that  refuses  to  appear  at  your  auction,  while  Maryland  and 
North  Carolina  bid  handsomely  for  their  ransom,  and  are  5 
taxed  to  your  quota,  how  will  you  put  these  colonies  on  a 
par  ?  Will  you  tax  the  tobacco  of  Virginia  ?  If  you  do, 
you  give  its  death-wound  to  your  English  revenue  at  home 
and  to  one  of  the  very  greatest  articles  of  your  own  foreign 
trade.  If  you  tax  the  import  of  that  rebellious  colony,  what  10 
do  you  tax  but  your  own  manufactures  or  the  goods  of  some 
other  obedient  and  already  well-taxed  colony  ?  Who  has 
said  one  word  on  this  labyrinth  of  detail  which  bewilders 
you  more  and  more  as  you  enter  into  it  ?  Who  has  pre- 
sented, who  can  present  you  with  a  clue  to  lead  you  out  of  15 
it  ?  I  think,  Sir,  it  is  impossible  that  you  should  not  recol- 
lect that  the  colony  bounds  are  so  implicated  in  one  another 
(you  know  it  by  your  other  experiments  in  the  bill  for  prohib- 
iting the  New  England  fishery)  that  you  can  lay  no  possible 
restraints  on  almost  any  of  them  which  may  not  be  presently  20 
eluded,  if  you  do  not  confound  the  innocent  with  the  guilty, 
and  burden  those  whom,  upon  every  principle,  you  ought  to 
exonerate.  He  must  be  grossly  ignorant  of  America  who 
thinks  that,  without  falling  into  this  confusion  of  all  rules  of 
equity  and  policy,  you  can  restrain  any  single  colony,  espe-  25 
daily  Virginia  and  Maryland,  the  central  and  most  important 
of  them  all. 

Let  it  also  be  considered  that,  either  in  the  present  con- 
fusion you  settle  a  permanent  contingent,  which  will  and 
must  be  trifling,  and  then  you  have  no  effectual  revenue  ;  3° 
or  you  change  the  quota  at  every  exigency,  and  then  on 
every  new  repartition  you  will  have  a  new  quarrel. 

Reflect  besides,  that  when    you  have  fixed  a  quota  for 
every  colony,  you  have  not  provided  for  prompt  and  punctual 


68       SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICA. 

payment.  Suppose  one,  two,  five,  ten  years'  arrears.  You 
cannot  issue  a  treasury  extent  against  the  failing  colony. 
You  must  make  new  Boston  Port  Bills,  new  restraining  laws, 
new  acts  for  dragging  men  to  England  for  trial.  You  must 
5  send  out  new  fleets,  new  armies.  All  is  to  begin  again. 
From  this  day  forward  the  empire  is  never  to  know  an 
hour's  tranquillity.  An  intestine  fire  will  be  kept  alive  in 
the  bowels  of  the  colonies,  which  one  time  or  other  must 
consume  this  whole  empire.  I  allow  indeed  that  the  empire 

10  of  Germany  raises  her  revenue  and  her  troops  by  quotas 
and  contingents ;  but  the  revenue  of  the  empire  and  the 
army  of  the  empire  is  the  worst  revenue  and  the  worst  army 
in  the  world. 

Instead  of  a  standing  revenue,  you  will  therefore  have  a 

15  perpetual  quarrel.  Indeed,  the  noble  lord  who  proposed 
this  project  of  a  ransom  by  auction  seemed  himself  to  be  of 
that  opinion.  His  project  was  rather  designed  for  breaking 
the  union  of  the  colonies  than  for  establishing  a  revenue. 
He  confessed  he  apprehended  that  his  proposal  would  not 

20  be  to  their  taste.  I  say  this  scheme  of  disunion  seems  to  be 
at  the  bottom  of  the  project ;  for  I  will  not  suspect  that  the 
noble  lord  meant  nothing  but  merely  to  delude  the  nation 
by  an  airy  phantom  which  he  never  intended  to  realize. 
But  whatever  his  views  may  be,  as  I  propose  the  peace  and 

25  union  of  the  colonies  as  the  very  foundation  of  my  plan, 
it  cannot  accord  with  one  whose  foundation  is  perpetual 
discord. 

Compare  the  two.     This  I  offer  to  give  you  is  plain  and 
simple :    the  other  full  of   perplexed   and  intricate  mazes. 

30  This  is  mild  :  that  harsh.  This  is  found  by  experience 
effectual  for  its  purposes:  the  other  is  a  new  project.  This 
is  universal  :  the  other  calculated  for  certain  colonies  only. 
This  is  immediate  in  its  conciliatory  operation  :  the  other 
remote,  contingent,  full  of  hazard.  Mine  is  what  becomes 


THE  POWER  OF  REFUSAL.  69 

the  dignity  of  a  ruling  people,  —  gratuitous,  unconditional, 
and  not  held  out  as  a  matter  of  bargain  and  sale.  I  have 
done  my  duty  in  proposing  it  to  you.  I  have  indeed  tired 
you  by  a  long  discourse ;  but  this  is  the  misfortune  of  those 
to  whose  influence  nothing  will  be  conceded,  and  wht>  must  5 
win  every  inch  of  their  ground  by  argument.  You  have 
heard  me  with  goodness.  May  you  decide  with  wisdom  ! 
For  my  part,  I  feel  my  mind  greatly  disburdened  by  what  I 
have  done  to-day.  I  have  been  the  less  fearful  of  trying 
your  patience,  because  on  this  subject  I  mean  to  spare  it  10 
altogether  in  future.  I  have  this  comfort,  that  in  every 
stage  of  the  American  affairs  I  have  steadily  opposed  the 
measures  that  have  produced  the  confusion,  and  may  bring 
on  the  destruction,  of  this  empire.  I  now  go  so  far  as  to 
risk  a  proposal  of  my  own.  If  I  cannot  give  peace  to  my  15 
country,  I  give  it  to  my  conscience. 

"  But  what,"  says  the  financier,  "  is  peace  to  us  without 
money  ?  Your  plan  gives  us  no  revenue."  No  !  But  it 
does  ;  for  it  secures  to  the  subject  the  power  of  REFUSAL, 
the  first  of  all  revenues.  Experience  is  a  cheat  and  fact  a  20 
liar,  if  this  power  in  the  subject  of  proportioning  his  grant, 
or  of  not  granting  at  all,  has  not  been  found  the  richest  mine 
of  revenue  ever  discovered  by  the  skill  or  by  the  fortune  of 
man.  It  does  not  indeed  vote  you  ^152,750  us.  2^ths,  nor 
any  other  paltry  limited  sum ;  but  it  gives  the  strong-box  25 
itself,  the  fund,  the  bank,  from  whence  only  revenues  can 
arise  amongst  a  people  sensible  of  freedom :  Posita  luditur 
area.  Cannot  you  in  England,  cannot  you  at  this  time  of 
day,  cannot  you,  an  House  of  Commons,  trust  to  the  principle 
which  has  raised  so  mighty  a  revenue  and  accumulated  a  30 
debt  of  near  1 40  millions  in  this  country  ?  Is  this  principle 
to  be  true  in  England  and  false  everywhere  else  ?  Is  it  not 
true  in  Ireland  ?  Has  it  not  hitherto  been  true  in  the  colo- 
nies ?  Why  should  you  presume  that  in  any  country  a  body 


70        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICA. 

duly  constituted  for  any  function  will  neglect  to  perform  its 
duty  and  abdicate  its  trust  ?  Such  a  presumption  would  go 
against  all  governments  in  all  modes.  But  in  truth  this 
dread  of  penury  of  supply  from  a  free  assembly  has  no 
5  foundation  in  nature.  For  first  observe,  that  besides  the 
desire  which  all  men  have  naturally  of  supporting  the  honor 
of  their  own  government,  that  sense  of  dignity  and  that 
security  to  property  which  ever  attends  freedom  has  a 
tendency  to  increase  the  stock  of  the  free  community. 

10  Most  may  be  taken  where  most  is  accumulated.  And  what 
is  the  soil  or  climate  where  experience  has  not  uniformly 
proved  that  the  voluntary  flow  of  heaped-up  plenty,  bursting 
from  the  weight  of  its  own  rich  luxuriance,  has  ever  run 
with  a  more  copious  stream  of  revenue  than  could  be 

15  squeezed  from  the  dry  husks  of  oppressed  indigence  by 
the  straining  of  all  the  politic  machinery  in  the  world? 

Next,  we  know  that  parties  must  ever  exist  in  a  free 
country.  We  know,  too,  that  the  emulations  of  such  parties, 
their  contradictions,  their  reciprocal  necessities,  their,  hopes 

20  and  their  fears,  must  send  them  all  in  their  turns  to  him 
that  holds  the  balance  of  the  state.  The  parties  are  the 
gamesters ;  but  government  keeps  the  table,  and  is  sure  to 
be  the  winner  in  the  end.  When  this  game  is  played,  I 
really  think  it  is  more  to  be  feared  that  the  people  will 

25  be  exhausted  than  that  government  will  not  be  supplied. 
Whereas,  whatever  is  got  by  acts  of  absolute  power,  ill 
obeyed  because  odious,  or  by  contracts  ill  kept  because  con- 
strained, will  be  narrow,  feeble,  uncertain  and  precarious. 

Ease  would  retract 
30  Vows  made  in  pain,  as  violent  and  void. 

I,  for  one,  protest  against  compounding  our  demands  :  I 
declare  against  compounding  for  a  poor  limited  sum  the 
immense,  ever-growing,  eternal  debt  which  is  due  to  gen- 


REVENUE  FROM  AMERICA  IMPOSSIBLE.  71 

erous  government  from  protected  freedom.  And  so  may  I 
speed  in  the  great  object  I  propose  to  you,  as  I  think  it 
would  not  only  be  an  act  of  injustice,  but  would  be  the  worst 
economy  in  the  world,  to  compel  the  colonies  to  a  sum  cer- 
tain, either  in  the  way  of  ransom  or  in  the  way  of  compulsory  5 
compact. 

But  to  clear  up  my  ideas  on  this  subject,  —  a  revenue 
from  America  transmitted  hither,  —  do  not  delude  your- 
selves:  you  never  can  receive  it,  —  no,  not  a  shilling.  We 
have  experience  that  from  remote  countries  it  is  not  to  be  10 
expected.  If,  when  you  attempted  to  extract  revenue  from 
Bengal,  you  were  obliged  to  return  in  loan  what  you  had 
taken  in  imposition,  what  can  you  expect  from  North 
America  ?  For  certainly,  if  ever  there  was  a  country  quali- 
fied to  produce  wealth,  it  is  India  ;  or  an  institution  fit  for  15 
the  transmission,  it  is  the  East  India  Company.  America  has 
none  of  these  aptitudes.  If  America  gives  you  taxable  ob- 
jects on  which  you  lay  your  duties  here,  and  gives  you  at 
the  same  time  a  surplus  by  a  foreign  sale  of  her  commodi- 
ties to  pay  the  duties  on  these  objects  which  you  tax  at  20 
home,  she  has  performed  her  part  to  the  British  revenue. 
But  with  regard  to  her  own  internal  establishments,  she  may, 
—  I  doubt  not  she  will,  —  contribute  in  moderation.  I  say 
in  moderation  ;  for  she  ought  not  to  be  permitted  to  exhaust 
herself.  She  ought  to  be  reserved  to  a  war,  the  weight  of  25 
which,  with  the  enemies  that  we  are  most  likely  to  have, 
must  be  considerable  in  her  quarter  of  the  globe.  There 
she  may  serve  you,  and  serve  you  essentially. 

For  that  service,  for  all  service,  whether  of  revenue,  trade 
or  empire,  my  trust  is  in  her  interest  in  the  British  Constitu-  30 
tion.  My  hold  of  the  colonies  is  in  the  close  affection  which 
grows  from  common  names,  from  kindred  blood,  from  simi- 
lar privileges  and  equal  protection.  These  are  ties  which, 
though  light  as  air,  are  as  strong  as  links  of  iron.  Let  the 


72        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICA. 

colonies  always  keep  the  idea  of  their  civil  rights  associated 
with  your  government,  —  they  will  cling  and  grapple  to  you, 
and  no  force  under  heaven  will  be  of  power  to  tear  them 
from  their  allegiance.  But  let  it  be  once  understood  that 
5  your  government  may  be  one  thing  and  their  privileges 
another ;  that  these  two  things  may  exist  without  any 
mutual  relation,  the  cement  is  gone,  the  cohesion  is  loosened 
and  everything  hastens  to  decay  and  dissolution.  As  long 
as  you  have  the  wisdom  to  keep  the  sovereign  authority  of 

10  this  country  as  the  sanctuary  of  liberty,  the  sacred  temple 
consecrated  to  our  common  faith,  wherever  the  chosen  race 
and  sons  of  England  worship  freedom,  they  will  turn  their 
faces  towards  you.  The  more  they  multiply,  the  more 
friends  you  will  have ;  the  more  ardently  they  love  liberty, 

15  the  more  perfect  will  be  their  obedience.  Slavery  they  can 
have  anywhere.  It  is  a  weed  that  grows  in  every  soil.  They 
may  have  it  from  Spain  ;  they  may  have  it  from  Prussia. 
But  until  you  become  lost  to  all  feeling  of  your  true  interest 
and  your  natural  dignity,  freedom  they  can  have  from  none 

20  but  you.  This  is  the  commodity  of  price,  of  which  you  have 
the  monopoly.  This  is  the  true  Act  of  Navigation  which 
binds  to  you  the  commerce  of  the  colonies,  and  through 
them  secures  to  you  the  wealth  of  the  world.  Deny  them 
this  participation  of  freedom,  and  you  break  that  sole  bond 

25  which  originally  made  and  must  still  preserve  the  unity  ot 
the  empire.  Do  not  entertain  so  weak  an  imagination  as 
that  your  registers  and  your  bonds,  your  affidavits  and  your 
sufferances,  your  cockets  and  your  clearances,  are  what  form 
the  great  securities  of  your  commerce.  Do  not  dream  that 

30  your  letters  of  office  and  your  instructions  and  your  suspend- 
ing clauses  are  the  things  that  hold  together  the  great  con- 
texture of  the  mysterious  whole.  These  things  do  not  make 
your  government.  Dead  instruments,  passive  tools  as  they 
are,  it  is  the  spirit  of  the  English  communion  that  gives  all 


MAGNANIMITY  THE   TRUEST  WISDOM.  73 

their  life  and  efficacy  to  them.  It  is  the  spirit  of  the  English 
Constitution,  which,  infused  through  the  mighty  mass,  per- 
vades, feeds,  unites,  invigorates,  vivifies  every  part  of  the 
empire,  even  down  to  the  minutest  member. 

Is  it  not  the  same  virtue  which  does  everything  for  us  here  5 
in  England  ?  Do  you  imagine,  then,  that  it  is  the  Land  Tax 
Act  which  raises  your  revenue  ?  that  it  is  the  annual  vote  in 
the  Committee  of  Supply  which  gives  you  your  army  ?  or 
that  it  is  the  Mutiny  Bill  which  inspires  it  with  bravery  and 
discipline  ?  No  !  surely  no  !  It  is  the  love  of  the  people :  10 
it  is  their  attachment  to  their  government,  from  the  sense 
of  the  deep  stake  they  have  in  such  a  glorious  institution, 
which  gives  you  your  army  and  your  navy,  and  infuses  into 
both  that  liberal  obedience  without  which  your  army  would 
be  a  base  rabble,  and  your  navy  nothing  but  rotten  timber.  15 

All  this,  I  know  well  enough,  will  sound  wild  and  chimer- 
ical to  the  profane  herd  of  those  vulgar  and  mechanical 
politicians  who  have  no  place  among  us,  -  -  a  sort  of  people 
who  think  that  nothing  exists  but  what  is  gross  and  material  ; 
and  who,  therefore,  far  from  being  qualified  to  be  directors  20 
of  the  great  movement  of  empire,  are  not  fit  to  turn  a  wheel 
in  the  machine.  But  to  men  truly  initiated  and  rightly 
taught,  these  ruling  and  master  principles,  which  in  the 
opinion  of  such  men  as  I  have  mentioned  have  no  substan- 
tial existence,  are  in  truth  everything  and  all  in  all.  Mag-  25 
nanimity  in  politics  is  not  seldom  the  truest  wisdom ;  and  a 
great  empire  and  little  minds  go  ill  together.  If  we  are  con- 
scious of  our  situation  and  glow  with  zeal  to  fill  our  places 
as  becomes  our  station  and  ourselves,  we  ought  to  auspicate 
all  our  public  proceedings  on  America  with  the  old  warning  30 
of  the  church,  Sursum  corda!  We  ought  to  elevate  our 
minds  to  the  greatness  of  that  trust  to  which  the  order  of 
Providence  has  called  us.  By  adverting  to  the  dignity  of 
this  high  calling,  our  ancestors  have  turned  a  savage  wilder- 


74        SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICA. 

ness  into  a  glorious  empire  ;  and  have  made  the  most  ex- 
tensive, and  the  only  honorable  conquests,  not  by  destroying, 
but  by  promoting  the  wealth,  the  number,  the  happiness  of 
the  human  race.  Let  us  get  an  American  revenue  as  we 
5  have  got  an  American  empire.  English  privileges  have 
made  it  all  that  it  is  ;  English  privileges  alone  will  make  it 
all  it  can  be. 

In  full  confidence  of  this  unalterable  truth,  I  now  (quod 
felix  faustumque  sit  /)  lay  the  first  stone  of  the  Temple  of 
10  Peace  ;  and  I  move  you,  — 

That  the  colonies  and  plantations  of  Great  Britain  in  North 
America,  consisting  of  fourteen  separate  governments,  and  con- 
taining two  millions  and  upwards  of  free  inhabitants,  have  not  had 
the  liberty  and  privilege  of  electing  and  sending  any  knights  and 
15  burgesses,  or  others,  to  represent  them  in  the  high  court  of 
Parliament. 


Upon  this  resolution  the  previous  question  was  put  and 
carried:  for  the  previous  question,  270;  against  it,  78. 

As  the  propositions  were  opened  separately  in  the  body 

ao  of  the  speech,  the  reader  perhaps  may  wish  to  see  the  whole 

of  them  together  in  the  form  in  which  they  were  moved  for. 

The  first  four  motions  and  the  last  had  the  previous  question 

put  on  them.     The  others  were  negatived.     The  words  in 

italics  were,  by  an  amendment  that  was  carried,  left  out  of 

25  the  motion. 

Moved, 

That  the  colonies  and  plantations  of  Great  Britain  in  North 
America,  consisting  of  fourteen  separate  governments,  and  con- 
taining two  millions  and  upwards  of  free  inhabitants,  have  not  had 
30  the  liberty  and  privilege  of  electing  and  sending  any  knights 
and  burgesses,  or  others,  to  represent  them  in  the  high  court  of 
Parliament. 


THE  RESOLUTIONS.  75 

That  the  said  colonies  and  plantations  have  been  made  liable  to, 
and  bounden  by,  several  subsidies,  payments,  rates  and  taxes,  given 
and  granted  by  Parliament,  though  the  said  colonies  and  planta- 
tions have  not  their  knights  and  burgesses  in  the  said  high  court 
of  Parliament,  of  their  own  election,  to  represent  the  condition  of    5 
their  country  ;  by  lack  whereof  they  have  been  oftentimes  touched 
and  grieved  by  subsidies  givex,  granted  and  assented  to,  in  the 
said  court,  in  a  manner  prejudicial  to  the  commonwealth,  quiet- 
ness, rest  and  peace  of  the  subjects  inhabiting  within  the  same. 

That,  from  the  distance  of  the  said  colonies  and  from  other  10 
circumstances,  no  method  hath  hitherto  been  devised  for  procuring 
a  representation  in  Parliament  for  the  said  colonies. 

That  each  of  the  said  colonies  hath  within  itself  a  body,  chosen 
in  part  or  in  the  whole  by  the  freemen,  freeholders  or  other  free 
inhabitants  thereof,  commonly  called  the  general  assembly,  or  15 
general  court ;  with  powers  legally  to  raise,  levy  and  assess, 
according  to  the  several  usage  of  such  colonies,  duties  and  taxes 
towards  defraying  all  sorts  of  public  services. 

That  the  said  general  assemblies,  general  courts,  or  other  bodies 
legally  qualified  as  aforesaid,  have  at  sundry  times  freely  granted  20 
several  large  subsidies  and  public  aids  for  his  Majesty's  service, 
according  to  their  abilities,  when  required  thereto  by  letter  from 
one  of  his 'Majesty's  principal  secretaries  of  state  ;  and  that  their 
right  to  grant  the  same  and  their  cheerfulness  and  sufficiency  in 
the   said  grants  have   been  at   sundry  times   acknowledged   by  25 
Parliament. 

That  it  hath  been  found  by  experience  that  the  manner  of 
granting  the  said  supplies  and  aids  by  the  said  general  assemblies 
hath  been  more  agreeable  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  said  colonies, 
and  more  beneficial  and  conducive  to  the  public  service,  than  the  30 
mode  of  giving  and  granting  aids  in  Parliament,  to  be  raised  and 
paid  in  the  said  colonies. 

That  it  may  be  proper  to  repeal  an  act  made  in  the  seventh 
year  of  the  reign  of  his  present  Majesty,  entitled,  "An  act  for 
granting  certain  duties  in  the  British  colonies  and  plantations  in  35 


76       SPEECH  ON-  CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICA. 

America  ;  for  allowing  a  drawback  of  the  duties  of  customs  upon 
the  exportation  from  this  kingdom,  of  coffee  and  cocoanuts  of  the 
produce  of  the  said  colonies  or  plantations  ;  for  discontinuing  the 
drawbacks  payable  on  China  earthenware  exported  to  America ; 
5  and  for  more  effectually  preventing  the  clandestine  running  of 
goods  in  the  said  colonies  and  plantations." 

That  it  may  be  proper  to  repeal  an  act  made  in  the  fourteenth 
year  of  the  reign  of  his  present  Majesty,  entitled,  "  An  act  to  dis- 
continue, in  such  manner  and  for  such  time  as  are  therein  mentioned, 
10  the  landing  and  discharging,  lading  or  shipping,  of  goods,  wares 
and  merchandise,  at  the  town  and  within  the  harbor  of  Boston,  in 
the  province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  North  America." 

That  it  may  be  proper  to  repeal  an  act  made  in  the  fourteenth 
year  of  the  reign  of  his  present  Majesty,  entitled,  "  An  act  for  the 
15  impartial  administration  of  justice  in  the  cases  of  persons  ques- 
tioned for  any  acts  done  by  them  in  the  execution  of  the  law,  or 
for  the  suppression  of  riots  and  tumults,  in  the  province  of  Massa- 
chusetts Bay,  in  New  England." 

That  it  may  be  proper  to  repeal  an  act  made  in  the  fourteenth 

20  year  of  the  reign  of  his  present  Majesty,  entitled,  "An  act  for 

the   better  regulating   the   government  of   the   province  of   the 

Massachusetts  Bay,  in  New  England." 

i 

That  it  may  be  proper  to  explain  and  amend  an  act  made  in 
the   thirty-fifth   year   of   the   reign   of   King  Henry  the   Eighth, 
25  entitled,  "  An  act  for  the  trial  of  treasons  committed  out  of  the 
king's  dominions." 

That  from  the  time  when  the  general  assembly,  or  general 
court,  of  any  colony  or  plantation  in  North  America  shall  have 
appointed  by  act  of  assembly  duly  confirmed,  a  settled  salary  to 

30  the  offices  of  the  chief  justice  and  other  judges  of  the  superior 
court,  it  may  be  proper  that  the  said  chief  justice  and  other  judges 
of  the  superior  courts  of  such  colony  shall  hold  his  and  their  office 
and  offices  during  their  good  behavior,  and  shall  not  be  removed 
therefrom  but  when  the  said  removal  shall  be  adjudged  by  his 

35  Majesty  in  council,  upon  a  hearing  on  complaint  from  the  general 


THE  RESOLUTIONS.  77 

assembly,  or  on  a  complaint  from  the  governor  or  council  or  the 
house  of  representatives,  severally,  of  the  colony  in  which  the 
said  chief  justice  and  other  judges  have  exercised  the  said  offices. 

That  it  may  be  proper  to  regulate  the  courts  of  admiralty  or 
vice-admiralty  authorized  by  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  the  fourth  of 
George  the  Third,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  make  the  same  more 
commodious  to  those  who  sue  or  are  sued  in  the  said  courts  ;  and 
to  provide  for  the  more  decent  maintenance  of  the  judges  of  the 
same. 


NOTES. 


References  to  passages  in  Burke's  other  writings  are  to  the  twelve-volume  edition 
of  the  Works  (abbreviation  W.),  Little,  Brown  and  Company,  Boston,  1894  ;  and  to 
the  four  volumes  of  the  Correspondence  (C),  Rivington,  London,  1844.  Both  sets  of 
books,  especially  the  first,  are  desirable  for  the  reference  library  of  any  school  where 
Burke  is  studied.  References  to  Dodsley's  Annual  Register  are  marked  A.  R. ;  those 
to  the  Parliamentary  History,  London,  1806-1820,  P.H.,  and  unless  otherwise  noted 
are  to  volume  XVIII ;  those  to  the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography,  D.  N.  B. 
References  to  Bancroft  are  to  the  History  of  the  United  States,  six  volumes,  Apple- 
ton,  New  York,  1888;  to  Lecky,  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  eight  volumes, 
Appleton,  New  York,  1878-1890 ;  to  Green,  History  of  the  English  People,  four  vol 
umes,  Harper,  New  York,  1880 ;  to  Journals  of  the  American  Congress,  the  edition 
published  at  Washington,  1823.  References  to  volumes  are  in  capital  Roman  numer- 
als ;  to  chapters  or  similar  subdivisions,  in  small  Roman. 

3  i.  Sir,  that  notwithstanding  the  austerity  of  the  Chair.  In  the 
House  of  Commons  and  similar  bodies-  speeches  are  nominally  addressed, 
nojt  to  the  members,  but  to  the  presiding  officer,  called  the  Speaker,  the 
Chairman,  or  often  the  Chair.  Instances  of  this  form  of  address  are 
found  in  the  following  passages  :  10  27-29  and  28  17.  The  Speaker  at  this 
time  was  Sir  Fletcher  Norton,  who  held  the  office  from  1770  to  1780. 
Any  one  interested  in  his  career  may  study  it  in  the  Dictionary  of  National 
Biography.  He  is  bitterly  attacked  in  letter  xxxix  of  Junius.  The  phrase 
austerity  of  the  Chair  refers  to  the  fact  that  in  impartially  preserving  order 
the  Speaker  is  necessarily  austere  and  sometimes  even  severe. 

3  7.  event.  Result,  my  motion.  The  motion  made  at  the  end  of 
the  speech. 

3  8.  grand  penal  bill.  A  bill  to  prevent  the  New  England  colonies 
from  trading  with  any  countries  except  Great  Britain,  Ireland,  and  the 
British  Islands  in  the  West  Indies  ;  and  to  prohibit  the  colonies  from 
the  Newfoundland  fisheries  except  under  certain  conditions.  When  Lord 
North  brought  in  this  bill,  February  10,  1775  (?-  &••>  299)>  ne  defended  it 
on  the  ground  that,  because  the  Americans  refused  to  trade  with  England, 
England  should  not  suffer  them  to  trade  with  any  other  nation.  Burke 


80  NOTES. 

• 

replied  (ibid.,  304)  that  the  bill  by  destroying  the  source  of  the  colonists* 
income  would  make  it  impossible  for  them  to  pay  their  large  debts  to 
English  merchants  and  manufacturers.  The  bill  came  up  again  February 
24  and  28  and  March  6.  On  the  last  of  these  days  Burke  attacked  it 
again  (ibid.,  389),  declaring  that  it  attempted  to  preserve  authority  by 
destroying  dominion;  and  that  it  passed  sentence  of  beggary,  if  not 
famine,  on  four  great  provinces.  In  another  debate  on  May  8,  when  the 
bill  was  passed,  Burke  said  (ibid.,  396)  that  it  "  did  not  mean  to  shed  blood; 
but,  to  suit  some  gentleman's  humanity,  it  only  meant  to  starve  five  hun- 
dred thousand  people."  For  an  account  of  the  bill  and  the  debates  on  it, 
see  P.  H.,  298-305,  379-400,  421-461.  For  another  good  account,  perhaps 
written  by  Burke  himself,  see  A.  JR.,  1775,  chapter  vi.  Since  chapters  i  to 
viii  all  deal  with  American  affairs,  they  contain  much  matter  of  interest  in 
connection  with  this  speech. 

3  10.  returned  to  us  from  the  other  House.  The  House  of  Lords 
thought  the  provisions  of  the  bill  might  well  be  extended  to  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  South  Carolina,  and  therefore  re- 
turned it  to  the  Commons  for  amendment.  See  P.  H.,  455-458. 

3  13.  once  more  in  possession  of  our  deliberative  capacity.  On  the 
return  of  the  bill  the  Commons  could  again  discuss  it. 

3  is.    first  day.     November  29,  1774.    P.  H.,  i. 

3  21.     mixture  of  coercion  and  restraint.     The  coercion  was  the  at- 
tempt to   crush  the   resistance   of  New  England  to  the  tea  duty;    the 
restraint,  the  restrictions  upon  trade.    Such  a  "  mixture  "  is  not  "  incon- 
gruous "  in  itself,  but  is  "  incongruous  "  with  "  conciliation." 

4  2.     first.     In  1765  Burke  was  elected  to  Parliament  as  member  for 
the  borough  of  Wendover,  but  he  did  not  take  his  seat  till  early  in  1766. 

4  4.  delicate.  Requiring  careful  treatment.  Compare,  "  These  deli- 
cate points  ought  to  be  wholly  left  to  the  crown."  Letter  to  the  Sheriff's  of 
Bristol,  W.,  II,  222. 

4  8.  trust.  The  idea  that  powers  of  government  are  held  in  trust  for 
the  people  comes  out  again  and  again  in  Burke's  writings.  Compare  the 
following  passages:  "They  [Parliament  and  the  crown]  all  are  trustees 
for  the  people."  Thoughts  on  the  Cause  of  the  Present  Discontents,  W.,  I, 
492.  "  I  had  .  .  .  very  earnest  wishes  to  keep  the  whole  body  of  this 
authority  perfect  .  .  .  principally  for  the  sake  of  those  on  whose  account 
all  just  authority  exists:  I  mean  the  people  to  be  governed."  Letter  to  the 
Sheriffs  of  Bristol,  W.,  II,  223,  224. 

4  9.  more  than  common  pains.  Burke  had  in  1757  written,  or  helped 
to  write,  an  Account  of  the  European  Settlements  in  America,  and  since  that 
date  his  work  in  Parliament  and  on  the  Annual  Register  had  kept  him 


NOTES.  81 

thoroughly  informed  on  American  affairs.  As  a  result,  he  probably  knew 
more  about  the  subject  than  any  one  in  England.  In  his  Letter  to  the 
Sheriffs  of  Bristol,  W.,  II,  209,  he  says :  "  I  think  I  know  America.  —  If  I 
do  not,  my  ignorance  is  incurable,  for  I  have  spared  no  pains  to  under- 
stand it." 

4  16.  blown  about  by  every  wind  of  fashionable  doctrine.  Compare, 
"  Henceforth  be  no  more  children,  tossed  to  and  fro,  and  carried  about 
with  every  wind  of  doctrine."  Ephesians,  iv,  14. 

4  18.  fresh  principles.  Burke  is  constantly  urging  the  necessity  of 
more  fixed  principles  in  public  policy.  For  example,  in  a  letter  to  Charles 
James  Fox,  October  8,  1777,  he  says :  "  I  have  ever  wished  a  settled  plan 
of  our  own,  founded  in  the  very  essence  of  the  American  business,  wholly 
unconnected  with  the  events  of  the  war."  W.,  VI,  137.  See  also  26  7. 

4  20.  that  period.  In  1766  Parliament  was  inclined  to  conciliate  the 
colonies,  and  so  repealed  the  Stamp  Act  by  a  vote  of  275  to  161.  See 
P.  H.,  XVI,  161-206  ;  and  A,  R.,  1766,  chapter  viii. 

4  29.    more  frequent  changes.     See  Introduction,  xv-xviii. 

5  3.    complaint.     Disease. 

5  10.  a  worthy  member.  Mr.  Rose  Fuller,  member  for  Rye.  It  was 
during  a  debate  on  April  19,  1774,  on  a  motion  by  Mr.  Fuller  to  repeal  the 
American  tea  duty,  that  Burke  made  what  is  known  as  the  Speech  on 
American  Taxation.  See  W.,  II,  5;  and  P.  If.,  XVII,  1210-1273. 

5  11.  filled  the  Chair  of  the  American  Committee.  Presided  when  the 
whole  House  sat  as  a  committee  on  American  affairs. 

5  14.  our  former  methods.  Both  Burke  and  Fuller  belonged  to  the 
minority  which  had  been  criticising  the  action  of  the  majority  in  regard  to 
America. 

5  26.  produce  our  hand.  Show  the  cards  in  our  hand  ;  that  is,  set 
forth  our  own  policy.  The  prevalence  of  gambling  in  Burke's  day  made 
allusions  to  it  more  natural  than  they  would  be  now.  See  69  27,  70  22,  23 ; 
also  George  Selwyn  and  His  Contemporaries,  London,  1843,  I»  J8>  27>  28. 

5  30.     platform.     Outline,  ground  plan. 

6  4.     gave  so  far  into   his  opinion.      Compare,  "  This   [the   natural 
slavery  of  barbarians]  was  so  general  a  notion,  that  Aristotle  himself,  with 
all  his  penetration,  gave  into  it  very  seriously."   European  Settlements  in 
America,  London,  1757,  I,  31.      (Payne.) 

6  10.  disreputably.  To  the  damage  of  the  reputation  of  those  who 
make  them. 

6  15.  paper  government.  Burke's  contempt  for  a  plan  based  on  theory 
rather  than  experience  is  often  strongly  expressed,  not  only  in  this  speech, 
but  throughout  his  writings.  Compare  9  30-34,  18  28,  41  24,  49  16-18,  65  3  j 


82  NOTES. 

also  the  following  passages  :  "  It  is  proposed  merely  as  a  project  of  specu- 
lative improvement."  Present  State  of  the  Nation,  W.,  I,  372.  "  I  reprobate 
no  form  of  government  merely  upon  abstract  principles."  Reflections  on 
the  Revolution  in  France,  III,  396.  "  But  the  practice  and  knowledge  of 
the  world  will  not  suffer  us  to  be  ignorant  that  the  Constitution  on  paper 
is  one  thing,  and  in  fact  and  experience  is  another."  Speech  on  the  Dura- 
tion of  Parliaments,  VII,  77. 

6  24.    most  inconsiderable  person.      Compare,  "When  the  affairs  of 
the  nation  are  distracted,  private  people  are  .  .  .  justified  in  stepping  a  little 
out  of  their  ordinary  sphere."    Thoughts  on  the  Cause  of  the  Present  Discon- 
tents, W.,  I,  435. 

7  4.     natural.     Arising  from  natural,  or  inborn,  abilities,     adventitious. 
Due  to  external  causes,  such  as  rank  or  wealth. 

7  13.  discord  fomented  from  principle.  On  February  20,  1775,  Lord 
North  brought  in  a  resolution  (P.  H.,  319)  that  when  any  colony  made 
proper  provision  for  contributing  its  proportion  for  the  common  defence 
and  for  maintaining  civil  government,  Parliament  should  no  longer  levy 
taxes  on  it,  except  for  the  regulation  of  commerce.  In  the  course  of  the 
debate  Colonel  Barre  said  (ibid.,  333)  :  "  Though  the  noble  lord's  new 
motion  will  cause  no  new  divisions  amongst  us  here,  yet  it  is  founded  on 
that  wretched,  low,  shameful,  abominable  maxim  which  has  predominated 
in  every  measure  of  our  late  minister,  divide  et  impera.  This  is  to  divide 
the  Americans ;  this  is  to  break  those  associations,  to  dissolve  that  gener- 
ous union  in  which  the  Americans,  as  one  man,  stand  in  defence  of  their 
rights  and  liberties."  Lord  North  answered  (334) :  "  The  gentleman  has 
charged  me  with  mean,  low  and  foolish  policy  in  grounding  my  measures 
on  that  maxim,  divide  et  impera.  Is  it  foolish,  is  it  mean,  when  a  people, 
heated  and  misled  by  evil  councils,  are  running  into  unlawful  combina- 
tions, to  hold  out  those  terms  which  will  sift  the  reasonable  from  the 
unreasonable  ?  that  will  distinguish  those  who  act  upon  principle  from 
those  who  only  wish  to  profit  of  the  general  confusion  ?  If  propositions 
that  the  conscientious  and  the  prudent  will  accept  will  at  the  same  time 
recover  them  from  the  influence  and  fascination  of  the  wicked,  I  avow  the 
using  that  principle  which  will  thus  divide  the  good  from  the  bad,  and  give 
support  to  the  friends  of  peace  and  good  government."  Later  in  the 
debate  Mr.  Temple  Luttrell  asked  (349) :  "  What  is  the  aim  and  scope  of 
the  resolution  ?  To  lure  some  of  the  less  refractory  provinces  of  America 
to  dissociate  from  and  betray  their  fellow-suff erers ;  to  join  in  raising  a 
contribution  throughout  one  half  of  the  colonies  to  support  your  armaments 
and  outrages  against  the  other  half,  with  a  view  to  annihilate  trade,  cut  off 
every  natural  channel  of  livelihood  and  subsistence,  and  butcher  the  dis- 


NOTES.  83 

obedient  ;  and  how  are  these  seceders  to  be  recompensed  for  such  signal 
perfidy  ? "  For  a  full  account  of  this  debate,  to  which  Burke  evidently 
alludes,  see  P.  H.,  319-358,  and,  A.  JR.,  1775,  chapter  vii.  See  also  68 

17-21. 

7  14.  juridical  determination.  Juridical  is  sometimes  used  as  if  exactly 
synonymous  -w\\h  judicial.  The  latter,  according  to  the  Century  Dictionary, 
means  pertaining  to  a  judge,  proper  to  the  character  of  a  judge,  pertaining 
to  the  administration  of  justice :  juridical,  however,  means  founded  upon, 
or  in  accordance  with  the  strict  forms  of  law,  or  abstract  legal  conceptions, 
rather  than  with  general  principles  of  justice.  A  juridical  determination  is 
one  which  might  be  reached  on  purely  legal  grounds,  according  to  the 
technical  forms  of  law.  The  idea  that  an  act  of  government  should  be 
based  not  so  much  on  strict  legal  forms  as  on  a  broad  policy  of  reason 
and  justice,  is  a  favorite  one  with  Burke,  and  is  frequently  urged  in  this 
and  other  speeches.  Compare  37  26,  38  14  ;  also,  "  Men  of  sense,  when 
new  projects  come  before  them,  always  think  a  discourse  proving  the  mere 
right  or  mere  power  of  acting  in  the  manner  proposed,  to  be  no  more  than  a 
very  unpleasant  way  of  misspending  time."  Present  State  of  the  Nation,  W., 
I,  367.  "Those  reasonings  which  infer  from  the  many  restraints  under 
which  we  have  already  laid  America  to  our  right  to  lay  it  under  still  more, 
and  indeed  under  all  manner  of  restraints,  are  conclusive  ;  conclusive  as  to 
right ;  but  the  very  reverse  as  to  policy  and  practice."  Ibid.,  396.  "  Whether 
all  this  can  be  reconciled  in  legal  speculation  is  a  matter  of  no  consequence. 
It  is  reconciled  in  policy :  and  politics  ought  to  be  adjusted,  not  to  human 
reasonings,  but  to  human  nature."  398. 

7  16.  boundaries.  Not  geographical  boundaries,  but  limits  of  power, — 
especially  in  regard  to  taxing,  the  question  in  dispute.  Compare,  "  I  am 
not  here  going  into  distinctions  of  rights  nor  attempting  to  mark  their 
boundaries."  Speech  on  American  Taxation,  W.,  II,  73. 

7  21.  unsuspecting  confidence.  These  words  refer  to  a  passage  in  a 
declaration  by  the  Continental  Congress,  which  met  at  Philadelphia,  Sep- 
tember 5,  1774.  On  October  21  this  Congress  issued  two  addresses,  one 
to  Great  Britain  and  one  to  the  colonies.  In  the  latter  occurs  the  follow- 
ing paragraph :  "  After  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act,  having  again  resigned 
ourselves  to  our  ancient  unsuspicious  affections  for  the  parent  state,  and 
anxious  to  avoid  any  controversy  with  her,  in  hopes  of  a  favorable  altera- 
tion in  sentiments  and  measures  towards  us,  we  did  not  press  our  objec- 
tions against  the  above-mentioned  statutes  made  subsequent  to  that 
repeal."  Journals  of  Congress,  I,  33.  In  the  Letter  to  the  Sheriffs  of  Bristol, 
1777,  Burke,  in  speaking  of  the  Stamp  Act,  again  brings  up  this  declaration: 
"  After  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act,  '  the  colonies  fell,'  says  this  assembly, 


84 


NOTES. 


1  into  their  ancient  state  of  unsuspecting  confidence  in  the  mother  country. 
This  unsuspecting  confidence  is  the  true  centre  of  gravity  amongst  man* 
kind,  about  which  all  the  parts  are  at  rest.  It  is  this  unsuspecting  confi- 
dence that  removes  all  difficulties  and  reconciles  all  the  contradictions 
which  occur  in  the  complexity  of  all  ancient  puzzled  political  establish* 
ments.  Happy  are  the  rulers  which  have  the  secret  of  preserving  it  I " 
W.,  II,  234. 

7  26.     Refined.    Fine-spun,  elaborate.    Compare,  "  This  fine-spun  scheme 
had  the  usual  fate  of  all  exquisite  policy."     American  Taxation,  W.,  II,  68. 

8  1.     pruriency..    The  primary  meaning  is  itching;  the  secondary,  de- 
sire, or  appetite.     The  word  is  always  used  in  a  bad  sense. 

8  3.  project.  See  7  13,  note.  This  resolution  moved  by  Lord  North 
was  finally  passed,  February  27. 

8  4.  noble  lord.  Lord  North:  born  1732;  Prime  Minister  from  1770 
to  1782;  died  1792.  He  steadily  opposed  all  concessions  to  the  Ameri- 
cans, though  it  is  said  that  in  this  mistaken  policy  he  often  followed  the 
king's  judgment  rather  than  his  own.  He  has  been  so  bitterly  attacked  by 
all  partisans  of  America,  that  few  of  us  are  aware  that  he  was  able  and 
fluent  in  debate  ;  that  he  had  a  remarkably  quick  wit  and  a  temper  which 
scarcely  anything  could  ruffle ;  and  that  in  all  private  intercourse  he  was 
scrupulously  honorable.  An  interesting  sketch  of  his  character  may  be 
found  in  Brougham's  Statesmen  of  the  Time  of  George  the  Third,  First 
Series.  For  the  best  short  account  of  his  life,  see  D.  N.  B.  The  presence 
of  a  so-called  lord  in  the  House  of  Commons  is  due  to  the  custom  of  giving 
a  title  by  courtesy  to  the  eldest  son  of  a  peer  while  the  father  is  yet  living. 
blue  ribbon.  The  badge  of  a  Knight  of  the  Garter,  to  which  order  Lord 
North  had  belonged  since  1772.  Though  the  order  was  instituted  in  1344, 
the  honor  of  membership  has  been  bestowed  on  only  three  other  com- 
moners,  Sir  Robert  Walpole,  Lord  Castlereagh,  and  Lord  Palmerston. 

8  5.  colony  agents.  The  colonies  had  agents  in  England  to  look  after 
their  interests.  At  one  time  Franklin,  for  example,  was  agent  for  Pennsyl- 
vania, Massachusetts,  Maryland,  and  Georgia. 

8  6.  mace.  The  sergeant-at-arms,  the  executive  officer  of  the  House, 
bears  a  mace  as  the  sign  of  his  authority. 

8s.  auction  of  finance.  See  65  15.  When  Lord  North  introduced  his 
resolution,  February  20,  1775,  Burke  is  reported  as  saying  during  the 
debate :  "  They  [the  colonists]  are  to  be  held  prisoners  of  war,  unless  they 
consent  to  a  ransom  by  bidding  at  an  auction  against  each  other  and 
against  themselves,  until  the  king  and  Parliament  shall  strike  down  the 
hammer  and  say,  '  Enough.'  This  species  of  auction,  to  be  terminated, 
not  at  the  discretion  of  the  bidder,  but  at  the  will  of  the  sovereign  power, 


NOTES.  85 

is  a  kind  of  absurd  tyranny  which  I  challenge  the  ministers  to  produce  any 
example  of  in  the  practice  of  this  or  of  any  other  nation."  P.  If.,  336. 
In  the  report  of  the  debate  in  A.  R.,  *ioo,  this  sentence  occurs;  "The 
House  is  to  be  converted  into  an  auction  room,  the  Speaker  to  hold  the 
hammer." 

8  18.  address.  February  9,  1775,  the  houses  of  Parliament  had  pre- 
sented to  the  king  a  joint  address  on  the  disturbances  in  America,  declar- 
ing that  no  part  of  the  sovereign  authority  over  the  colonies  should  be 
relinquished,  and  closing  with  this  sentence :  "  We  consider  it  as  our 
indispensable  duty  humbly  to  beseech  your  Majesty  that  you  will  take  the 
most  effectual  measures  to  enforce  due  obedience  to  the  laws  and  authority 
of  the  supreme  legislature  ;  and  we  beg  leave  in  the  most  solemn  manner 
to  assure  your  Majesty  that  it  is  our  fixed  resolution,  at  the  hazard  of  our 
lives  and  properties,  to  stand  by  your  Majesty  against  all  rebellious 
attempts,  in  the  maintenance  of  the  just  rights  of  your  Majesty  and  the 
two  houses  of  Parliament."  P.  H.,  297,  298. 

8  19.  bill.  See  3  8.  In  the  debate  in  the  House  of  Lords,  March  16, 
Lord  Shelburne  said  that  "he  entirely  coincided  in  sentiments  with  the 
noble  lord  [Camden]  who  called  this  a  bill  of  pains,  penalties,  and  coer- 
cion." P.  H.,  448. 

8  20.  grace  and  bounty.  Lord  North's  resolutions  were  entitled 
Propositions  for  Conciliating  the  Differences  with  America.  P.  H.t  319.  In 
the  course  of  the  debate  Lord  North  referred  to  "  the  idea  of  the  indul- 
gence which  the  address  held  out,"  and  said  the  same  idea  appeared  in  his 
propositions.  334.  In  the  report  in  A.  R.,  *95,  he  is  made  to  say  that 
Parliament  meant  to  show  its  "  tenderness  and  conciliatory  disposition." 

8  22.  previous  to  any  submission.  On  February  6,  during  a  debate 
on  the  address  to  the  king  touching  the  disturbances  in  North  America, 
Mr.  Hans  Stanley  "  said  he  wanted  nothing  but  the  Americans  to  submit ; 
would  then  hang  out  the  olive  branch,  propose  an  amnesty,  an  act  of  grace 
and  oblivion."  P.  ff.,  248.  On  February  27,  Mr.  Ackland  expressed  the 
same  view.  340. 

8  29.     capital.     Important  or  fundamental.     Compare  9  19,  23  31. 

9  31.    that  nature  and  those  circumstances.     Compare,  "A  statesman, 
never  losing  sight  of  principles,  is  to  be  guided  by  circumstances ;  and 
judging  contrary  to  the  exigencies  of  the  moment,  he  may  ruin  his  country 
forever."    Speech  on  the  Petition  of  the  Unitarians,  W.,  VII,  41.   "The  happi- 
ness or  misery  of  mankind,  estimated  by  their  feelings  and  sentiments  and 
not  by  any  theories  of  their  rights,  is,  and  ought  to  be,  the  standard  for 
the  conduct  of  legislators  towards  the  people."     Ibid.,  45. 

9  33.    mere  general  theories.     Compare  6  15,  note. 


86  NOTES. 

10  9.  two  millions.  Bancroft  (II,  390)  puts  the  number  in  1770  as 
1,850,000  whites  and  462,000  blacks,  total,  2,312,000;  in  1780,  as  2,383,000 
whites,  562,000  blacks,  total,  2,945,000.  Lecky  says  the  number  of  whites 
slightly  exceeded  two  millions  at  the  time  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. Ill,  290.  Burke's  estimate  for  1775  seems,  therefore,  to  be 
pretty  accurate. 

10  30.  occasional.  Designed  merely  for  the  occasion.  See  4  18,  note ; 
18  5.  Compare,  "  Sir,  it  is  not  a  pleasant  consideration,  but  nothing  in 
the  world  can  read  so  awful  and  so  instructive  a  lesson  as  the  conduct  of 
ministry  in  this  business,  upon  the  mischief  of  not  having  large  and  liberal 
ideas  in  the  management  of  great  affairs.  Never  have  the  servants  of  the 
state  looked  at  the  whole  of  your  complicated  interests  in  one  connected 
view.  They  have  taken  things  by  bits  and  scraps,  some  at  one  time  and 
one  pretence,  and  some  at  another,  just  as  they  pressed,  without  any  sort 
of  regard  to  their  relations  or  dependencies.  They  never  had  any  kind  of 
system,  right  or  wrong;  but  only  invented  occasionally  some  miserable 
tale  for  the  day  in  order  meanly  to  sneak  out  of  difficulties  into  which  they 
had  proudly  strutted."  Speech  on  American  Taxation,  W.,  II,  14. 

10  32.     minima.     A  reference  to  the  maxim,  De  minimis  non  curat  lex, 
the  law  takes  no  account  of  trifles. 

11  4.     so  large  a  mass.     Compare,  "  This  consideration  of  the  magni- 
tude of  the  object  ought  to  attend  us  through  the  whole  inquiry  :  if  it 
does  not  always  affect  the  reason,  it  is  always  decisive  on  the  importance 
of  the  question."     Tract  on  the  Popery  Laws,  W.,  VI,  319. 

11  13.  some  days  ago.  March  16.  The  American  Congress,  which 
met  in  Philadelphia  in  the  autumn  of  1774,  passed  a  resolution  October  20, 
declaring  that  to  obtain  redress  of  grievances  a  non-importation  agree- 
ment was  necessary,  under  the  terms  of  which  the  colonies  should  not 
import  any  goods  from  Great  Britain  or  Ireland,  and  should  not  import 
"  molasses,  syrups,  paneles,  coffee,  or  pimento  "  from  the  West  Indies. 
Journals  of  Congress,  I,  23.  Alarmed  at  this  threat,  the  West  India 
planters  presented  to  Parliament,  February  2,  1775,  a  petition  "praying 
the  House  to  take  into  their  most  serious  consideration  that  great  political 
system  of  the  colonies  heretofore  so  very  beneficial  to  the  mother  country 
and  her  dependencies,  and  adopt  such  measures  as  to  them  shall  seem 
meet  to  prevent  the  evils  with  which  the  petitioners  are  threatened,  and  to 
preserve  the  intercourse  between  the  West  India  Islands  and  the  northern 
colonies,  to  the  general  harmony  and  lasting  benefit  of  the  whole  British 
Empire."  P.  H.,  219-221.  On  March  16  Mr.  Richard  Glover  appeared  for 
the  petitioners  and  discussed  in  detail  the  trade  of  the  colonies.  Ibid., 
461-478. 


NOTES.  87 

11  14.  distinguished  person.  Mr.  Glover,  who  was  born  in  1712,  pub- 
lished in  1737  Leonidas,  an  epic  in  nine  books,  which  gave  him  great  repu- 
tation at  the  time,  and  which  was  often  reprinted  during  the  eighteenth 
century.  In  1787,  two  years  after  his  death,  another  epic  of  his,  the 
Athenaid,  was  published.  One  of  his  popular  ballads,  Admiral  Hosier's 
Ghost,  is  in  book  vi  of  Percy's  Reliques.  In  1761  he  was  elected  to  Parlia- 
ment. Nineteen  years  before,  however,  he  had  appeared  before  the  House 
in  behalf  of  the  merchants  of  London,  who  had  petitioned  for  the  protec- 
tion of  their  commerce  from  the  Spanish  privateers.  The  petition  was 
presented  January  20,  1742,  and  January  27  Mr.  Glover  summed  up  the 
evidence  in  the  matter.  Since  1742  is  the  date  in  D.  N.  B.,  XXII,  6, 
and  in  the  History  and  Proceedings  of  the  House  of  Commons,  Chandler, 
London,  1743,  XXII,  109,  it  is  to  be  inferred,  as  Cook  notes,  that  Burke, 
speaking  in  1775,  should  have  said  thirty-three  instead  of  thirty-five  years. 
bar.  A  rod  across  the  entrance  to  the  chamber  of  Parliament.  Members 
and  officers  only  are  admitted  within. 

11  32.     state.     Statement.     Compare,  "  They  who  are  inclined  to  think 
favorably  of  that  event  [the  French  Revolution]  will  undoubtedly  object, 
to  every  state  of  facts  which  comes  only  from  the  authority  of  a  royalist." 
Preface  to  Brissofs  Address,  W.,  V,  67. 

12  5.    on  your  table.     Officially  presented  to  the  House. 

12  6.  Davenant.  Charles  Davenant:  born,  1656;  appointed  inspector- 
general  of  exports  and  imports,  1705;  died,  1714.  He  was  a  writer  on 
economics,  author  of  Discourses  on  Re-venue  and  Trade.  See  D.  N.  B. 

12  10.    terminating  almost  wholly  in  the  colonies.    English  wares 
were   carried  to  Africa  and  exchanged  for  slaves  who  were  sold  in  the 
colonies. 

13  33.     It  is  good  for  us  to  be  here.     Compare  Matthew,  xvii,  1-4  : 
"  And  after  six  days  Jesus  taketh  Peter,  James,  and  John  his  brother,  and 
bringeth  them  up  into  a  high  mountain  apart,  and  was  transfigured  before 
them :  and  his  face  did  shine  as  the  sun,  and  his  raiment  was  white  as  the 
light.     And  behold,  there  appeared  unto  them  Moses  and  Elias  talking 
with  him.     Then  answered  Peter,  and  said  unto  Jesus,  '  Lord,  it  is  good 
for  us  to  be  here.' " 

14  7.     Lord   Bathurst.      Allen   Bathurst:    born,    1684;    made    Baron 
Bathurst,  1712.     After  his  son  Henry  was  in  1771  made  Lord  Chancellor, 
the  highest  judicial  officer  of  the  crown,  the  father  was  in  1772  raised  to 
the  rank  of  earl.     He  was  a  friend  of  Pope,  Swift,  Prior,  and  the  other 
wits  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne.     He  died  in  September,  1775,  six  months 
after  this  speech.     See  D.  N.  B. 

14  10.    acta  parentum.     He  was  able  to  study  the  deeds  of  his  fore- 


88  NOTES. 

fathers  and  to  learn  what  virtue  is.     Altered  from  Virgil's  Eclogues,  iv, 
26,  27 : 

Facta  parentis 
Jam  legere  et  quae  sit  poteris  cognoscere  virtus. 

14  11.    auspicious.     Favored. 

14  14.  fourth  generation  the  third  prince.  George  the  Second  was 
succeeded  by  his  grandson  George  the  Third,  who  thus  belonged  to  the* 
fourth  generation. 

14  16.    twelve  years.     George  the  Third  came  to  the  throne  in  1760. 

14  17.  was  to  be  made.  It  was  not  until  1707  that  the  Act  of  Union 
made  England  and  Scotland  one  nation. 

14  20.  fountain.  The  sovereign,  who  bestows  titles  of  nobility,  is 
represented  as  the  fountain  of  hereditary  dignities. 

14  31.    taste  of  death.     Compare  Matthew,  xvi,  28 :  "  There  be  some 
standing  here,  which  shall  not  taste  of  death  till  they  see  the  Son  of  man 
coming  in  his  kingdom."     John,  viii,  52 :  "  If  a  man  keep  my  saying,  he 
shall  never  taste  of  death."     Shakspere's  Julius  Caesar,  act  ii,  scene  2,  33  : 
"The  valiant  never  taste  of  death  but  once." 

15  29.     Deceive.     A  Latinism:  the  Latin  fallere  —  deceive  —  sometimes 
means  to  cause  anything  not  to  be  observed  or  felt,  to  lighten  anything 
difficult.       Compare    Horace,   Satires,   ii,   7,  114:     "Jam   somno  fallere 
curam,"   by   sleep   to   lighten   care.     Ovid,   Tristia,  iii,  2,  16 :    "  Fallebat 
curas  aegraque  corda  labor,"  work  was  lightening  our  cares  and  our  heavy 
hearts. 

15  30.  materials.  England  received,  and  still  receives,  from  America 
many  of  the  raw  materials  for  her  manufactures. 

15  32.     curious.     Interesting. 

16  12.     Roman  charity.     A  reference  to  a  story  told  by  Hyginus  in  his 
Fabularum  Liber.      Cymon,  condemned  to  death  by  starvation  in  prison, 
was  visited  by  his  daughter  Xanthippe,  who  kept  him  alive  with  the  milk 
from  her  breast. 

16 15.  fully  opened.  See  3  8,  note.  In  the  course  of  the  debate  on  restrict- 
ing the  colonies  from  the  Newfoundland  fisheries,  the  general  question 
of  the  fisheries  was  pretty  fully  discussed,  and  most  of  the  facts  mentioned 
in  this  paragraph  were  brought  out.  Testimony  was  offered  at  the  bar  of 
the  lords  by  merchants,  fishermen,  and  others.  See  P.  H.,  381-385, 
387-390,  423-430,  433,  437,  438,  459.  See  also  A.  R.,  1775,  chapter  vi. 

16  17.  excite  your  envy.  A  reference  to  some  of  the  remarks  during 
the  discussion  of  the  fisheries.  On  February  28  a  petition  was  presented 
from  the  inhabitants  of  Pool,  an  English  fishing  town,  who  said  the 


NOTES.  89 

restrictions  "  will  not  by  any  means  be  injurious  to  commerce,  .  .  .  because 
the  foreign  markets  can  be  ampl]j,supplied  by  extending  the  Newfoundland 
fishery  of  subjects  resident  in  England."  P.  H.,  382.  On  March  15  Mr 
Brooke  Watson,  a  merchant,  testified  that  "  the  greatest  part  of  the  profits, 
arising  from  the  American  fishery  centres  in  America  "  (427) ;  and  "  that  if 
New  England  was  restrained  forever  from  this  fishery,  it  would  be  a  benefit 
to  Great  Britain."  428.  Mr.  George  Davis,  a  merchant,  added  "  that  if 
this  act  should  pass,  he  should  reap  benefit  from  it ;  that  he  has  already 
enlarged  his  capital,  and  shall  enlarge  it  more,  if  the  act  passes."  429. 
Molyneux  Shuldham,  governor  of  Newfoundland,  declared  "that  if  this 
temporary  restraint  on  the  New  England  fishery  was  made  perpetual,  it 
would  be  a  benefit  to  Great  Britain."  430.  Sir  Hugh  Palliser,  formerly  a 
governor  of  Newfoundland,  testified  "  that  whether  the  restraining  of  the 
New  England  fishery  is  temporary  or  perpetual,  it  will  be  an  advantage  to 
Great  Britain."  430. 

16  29.     Serpent.     The  Hydras,  or  Water  Serpent,  a  small  constellation 
within  the  Antarctic  Circle.      Falkland  Island.     The  Falkland  Islands, 
southeast  of  South  America,  were  discovered  in  1 592,  but  were  not  regarded 
as  worth  occupying  till  in  1763  the  French  built  Port  Louis  on  East  Falk- 
land.    Then  the  Spanish  laid  claim  to  the  islands  ;   and  finally  in  1770 
and  1771  Spain  and  England  disputed  possession.     Although  many  Eng- 
lishmen thought  the  islands  not  worth  fighting  for,  —  a  fact  to  which 
Burke  may  refer  in  line  31,  —  both  nations  were  preparing  for  war,  when 
in  1771  the  Spanish  yielded  to  the  English.     Later  the  islands  became  a 
place  where  whalers  obtained  provisions  and  water.     The  Annual  Register, 
1771,  chapters  i-v,  contains  a  long  account  of  the  islands  and  the  trouble 
with  Spain.     Cook  notes  that  just  a  week  before  Burke's  speech,  Seth 
Jenkins,  a  sailor,  testified  before  the  House  of  Lords  that  the  "limits  of 
the  whale  fishery  extend  to  Falkland's  Island  and  the  coast  of  Africa." 
P.  H.,  423. 

17  2.     run  the  longitude.     Run  the  course  of  the  meridian,  go  north  or 
south.   While  some  New  Englanders  go  to  Africa,  others  sail  south  to  Brazil. 

17  4.  vexed.  A  Latinism  founded  on  similar  uses  of  the  Latin  vexare. 
Compare,  "  From  the  still-vex'd  Bermoothes."  Tempest,  act  i,  scene  2,  229. 
"  As  mad  as  the  vex'd  sea."  King  Lear,  iv,  4,  2. 

When  with  fierce  winds  Orion  arm'd 
Hath  vex'd  the  Red  Sea  coast. 

Paradise  Lost,  i,  305,  306. 

No  climate.     Compare,  "  Quae  regio  in  terris  nostri  non  plena  laboris  ?  " 
What  region  of  the  earth  is  not  full  of  our  toils  ?     Virgil's  Aeneid,  i,  460. 


90  NOTES. 

17  8.  hardy.  Bold,  adventurous.  Compare,  "  In  the  last  session  the 
corps  called  the  king's  friends  made  a  hardy  attempt,  all  at  once,  to  alter 
the  right  of  election  itself."  Thoughts  on  the  Cause  of  the  Present  Discon- 
tents, W.y  I,  496. 

17  15.  generous.  High-spirited  :  originally  high-born ;  then  having  the 
qualities  which  should  accompany  high  birth. 

17  25.  well  worth  fighting  for.  This  argument  had  been  more  than 
once  advanced  in  Parliament.  For  example,  on  January  26  Mr.  Hans 
Stanley  had  said  that  "  to  support  the  sovereignty  was  to  support  the  trade 
of  Great  Britain  ;  and  if  in  attempting  this  arduous  task,  our  commerce 
should  be  suspended,  our  funds  should  sustain  a  shock,  and  the  landed 
property  of  individuals  should  experience  a  diminution,  yet  all  these  were 
evils  gentlemen  should  patiently  endure  with  firmness  and  magnanimity ; 
the  merchants  should  forego  their  own  interests  for  the  sake  of  those  per- 
manent advantages  which  they  would  undoubtedly  reap  when  the  Americans 
were  subdued."  P.  H.,  186. 

17  28.  complexions.  Used  in  the  old  sense  of  temperaments  or 
characters. 

17  29.  military  art.  Several  members  of  the  House  who  were,  or  had 
been,  in  the  army  were  urging  force.  On  February  2  Colonel  Grant  had 
declared  that  force  would  overawe  the  Americans,  for  "  they  would  never 
dare  to  face  an  English  army."  P.  H.,  226.  Four  days  later  Captain 
Harvey  had  demanded  the  most  firm  and  vigorous  measures.  243.  Then 
on  February  27  General  Burgoyne  had  made  a  fiery  speech  in  favor  of 
force.  He  said :  "  It  must  not  be  forgot  we  are  contending  in  the  crisis 
and  for  the  fate  of  the  British  Empire.  ...  Is  there  a  man  in  England 
(I  am  confident  there  is  not  an  officer  or  soldier  in  the  king's  service)  who 
does  not  think  the  parliamentary  rights  of  Great  Britain  a  cause  to  fight 
for,  to  bleed  and  die  for  ?  .  .  .  If  this  [unwillingness  to  use  force]  be  our 
wretched  state,  I  agree  that  the  sooner  a  formal  surrender  is  made,  the 
better;  let  Great  Britain  revert  to  her  primitive  insignificancy  in  the  map 
of  the  world,  and  the  Congress  of  Philadelphia  be  the  legislature  to  dis- 
pense the  blessings  of  empire.  Let  us  spare  the  blood  of  our  subjects,  let 
us  spare  the  treasures  of  the  state ;  but  let  us  at  the  same  time  confess  we 
are  no  longer  a  people."  355-357. 

17  30.     wield  the  thunder.     An  allusion  to  Jove  and  his  thunderbolts. 
Lord  North,  it  will  be  remembered,  advocated  force. 

18  5.    temporary.     See  10  30,  note. 

18  6.     subduing  again.     Compare  Milton,  Paradise  Lost,  i,  648,  649 : 

Who  overcomes 
By  force,  hath  overcome  but  half  his  foe. 


NOTES.  91 

18  10.  without  resource.  It  had  been  argued  in  Parliament  that  since 
the  Americans  now  refused  to  obey,  England,  even  after  a  war,  could  be 
no  worse  off  than  at  present.  Lord  North  is  reported  to  have  said :  "  If 
we  fail  in  our  attempt  of  forcing  America,  we  shall  still  be  in  the  same 
situation  we  are  in  at  present."  P.  H.,  262. 

18  13.  never  be  begged.  Compare,  "  Power  and  eminence  and  con- 
sideration are  things  not  to  be  begged ;  they  must  be  commanded :  and 
they  who  supplicate  for  mercy  from  others  can  never  hope  for  justice 
through  themselves.  What  justice  they  are  to  obtain,  as  the  alms  of  an 
enemy,  depends  upon  his  character."  First  Letter  on  a  Regicide  Peace,  W., 
V,  242. 

18  15.    impair  the  object.     See  3  8,  note;  30  34  ;  38  1. 

18  21.  British  strength.  A  little  later,  26  12,  Burke  calls  this  contest 
of  Englishmen  with  English  an  "  unnatural  contention." 

18  22.  foreign  enemy.  Throughout  the  debates  on  American  affairs 
the  fact  was  constantly  urged  that  France  or  Spain  might  take  advantage 
of  England,  when  she  was  weakened  by  war  with  her  colonies.  For  exam- 
ple, on  February  2  Captain  Luttrell  had  used  this  argument  (P.  If.,  231); 
and  February  6  Lord  Irnham  had  brought  it  up  again.  251. 

18  26.  break  the  American  spirit.  Members  of  both  houses  had 
argued  that  it  was  desirable  to  break  the  rebellious  spirit  of  the  colonies. 
On  January  20  in  the  Lords  the  Earl  of  Suffolk  "  insisted  strongly  that 
the  mother  country  should  never  relax  till  America  confessed  her  suprem- 
acy." P.  H.,  161.  On  February  6  in  the  Commons  Mr.  Hans  Stanley 
urged  forcing  the  colonists  to  submission.  248.  On  February  27  Lord 
North  wanted  them  reduced  to  "unconditional  obedience"  (352);  and 
on  March  6  Mr.  Henry  Dundas  wished  to  give  them  the  alternative  of 
starvation  or  submission.  388. 

18  28.    experience.     See  6  15,  note. 

18  31.     indulgence.     On  April  19, 1774,  during  the  debate  on  the  motion 
to  repeal  the  American  Tea  Duty  Bill,  General  Burgoyne  said :  "  1  look 
upon  America  to  be  our  child,  which  I  think  we  have  already  spoiled  by 
too  much  indulgence."     P.  H.,  XVII,  1271.     Similar  expressions  may  be 
found  in  the  remarks  of  Mr.  Harris  (ibid.,  1282)  and  Mr.  Stanley.    1304. 

19  8.     temper.     Compare,  "  The  temper  of  the  people  amongst  whom 
he  presides  ought  therefore  to  be  the  first  study  of  a  statesman."    Thoughts 
on  the  Cause  of  the  Present  Discontents,  W.,  I,  436. 

19  13.  restive.  Disposed  to  rest,  or  stay,  unwilling  to  move  forward, 
balky,  obstinate,  impatient  under  restraint. 

19  22.  descendants  of  Englishmen.  In  a  proposed  address  to  the 
king,  drawn  up  two  years  later,  Burke  says:  "  Your  English  subjects  in 


92  NOTES. 

the  colonies,  still  impressed  with  the  ancient  feelings  of  the  people  from 
whom  they  are  derived,  cannot  live  under  a  government  which  does  not 
establish  freedom  as  its  basis."  W.,  VI,  164. 

19  24.  formerly  adored.  Burke,  in  his  Thoughts  on  the  Cause  of  the 
Present  Discontents,  published  in  1770,  argued  that  Englishmen  were  losing 
their  zeal  for  liberty  and  allowing  the  crown  to  encroach  on  their  rights. 

19  25.  emigrated  from  you.  During  the  struggles  against  the  Stuarts 
in  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

19  29.  abstract  liberty.  Compare,  "  There  are  people  who  have  split 
and  anatomized  the  doctrine  of  free  government,  as  if  it  were  an  abstract 
question  concerning  metaphysical  liberty  and  necessity,  and  not  a  matter 
of  moral  prudence  and  natural  feeling.  .  .  .  Civil  freedom,  Gentlemen,  is 
not,  as  many  have  endeavored  to  persuade  you,  a  thing  that  lies  hid  in  the 
depth  of  abstruse  science.  It  is  a  blessing  and  a  benefit,  not  an  abstract 
speculation."  Letter  to  the  Sheriffs  of  Bristol,  W.,  II,  228,  229.  (Cook.) 

19  31.  sensible.  The  primary  meaning,  capable  of  being  perceived  by 
the  senses.  There  is  a  similar  passage  in  Burke's  speech  upon  his  arrival  at 
Bristol  the  preceding  October:  "  It  [liberty]  inheres  in  good  and  steady 
government,  as  in  its  substance  and  vital  principle."  W.,  II,  87.  every 
nation.  Compare  Goldsmith's  Traveller,  93-96  : 

Hence  every  state  to  one  lov'd  blessing  prone, 
Conforms  and  models  life  to  that  alone. 
Each  to  the  favorite  happiness  attends, 
And  spurns  the  plan  that  aims  at  other  ends. 

19  34.    great  contests.     For  example,  the  contest  for  Magna  Charta. 

20  2.    ancient  commonwealths.     Rome  and  the  states  of  Greece. 

20  4.     several  orders.     For  example,  the  patricians  and  the  plebeians. 
20  7.    ablest  pens.     Pym,  Hampden,  Selden,  St.  John.     (Payne.) 

20  14.     blind  usages.     Usages  for  which  no  clear  reason  can  be  given. 

21  1.     mode  of  governing.      "  The  colonies  were  from  the  beginning 
subject  to  the  legislature  of  Great  Britain  on  principles  which  they  never 
examined  ;  and  we  permitted  to  them  many  local  privileges,  without  ask- 
ing how  they  agreed  with  that  legislative  authority."    Letter  to  the  Sheriffs 
of  Bristol,  W.,  II,  231. 

21  6.  provincial  legislative  assemblies.  "The  colonies  .  .  .  had  formed 
within  themselves,  either  by  royal  instruction  or  royal  charter,  assemblies 
so  exceedingly  resembling  a  Parliament  in  all  their  forms,  functions,  and 
powers,  that  it  was  impossible  they  should  not  imbibe  some  opinion  of  a 
similar  authority.  At  ...  first  .  .  .  these  assemblies  .  .  .  were  probably  not 
intended  for  anything  more  than  the  municipal  corporations  within  this 
island.  .  .  .  But  nothing  in  its  progression  can  rest  on  its  original  plan.  . . . 


NOTES.  93 

Therefore,  as  the  colonies  prospered,  ...  it  was  natural  that  they  should 
attribute  to  assemblies  so  respectable  .  .  .  some  part  of  the  dignity  of  the 
great  nations  which  they  represented.  No  longer  tied  to  by-laws,  these 
assemblies  made  acts  of  all  sorts  and  in  all  cases  whatsoever."  Letter  to 
the  Sheriffs  of  Bristol,  W.,  II,  232. 

21  7.  popular.  Used  in  the  primary  sense  of  belonging  directly  to  the 
people.  See  Bryce's  American  Commonwealth,  New  York,  1888,  I,  562 : 
"  Each  [early  New  England  settlement]  was  a  religious  as  well  as  a  civil 
body  politic,  gathered  round  the  church  as  its  centre ;  and  the  equality 
which  prevailed  in  the  congregation  prevailed  also  in  civil  affairs,  the 
whole  community  meeting  under  a  president  or  moderator  to  discuss 
affairs  of  common  interest.  Each  such  settlement  was  called  a  town,  or 
township,  and  was  in  fact  a  miniature  commonwealth,  exercising  a  practical 
sovereignty  over  the  property  and  persons  of  its  members,  —  for  there  was 
as  yet  no  state,  and  the  distant  home  government  scarcely  cared  to  interfere, 
—  but  exercising  it  on  thoroughly  democratic  principles."  merely.  Wholly. 
Compare,  "The  one  sort  we  may  for  distinction  call  mixedly,  and  the  other 
merely  human."  Hooker's  Ecclesiastical  Polity,  i,  10.  (Payne.) 

21  11.     aversion  from.     Aversion  to  is  now  more  common. 

21  18.  •  that  kind.     Dissenters  from  the  Church  of  England. 

22  3.    refinement  on  the  principle  of  resistance.     Burke  has  a  fondness 
for  this  mode  of  phrasing.     See  the  next  two  lines.     Compare  also  the  fol- 
lowing passages :  "  The  first  fruits  of  that  insurrection  grafted  on  insurrec- 
tion and  of  that  rebellion  improving  upon  rebellion."    Preface  to  Brissofs 
Address  to- his  Constituents,  W.,  ¥,85,86.    "They  have  apostatized  from 
their  apostasy."    Fourth  Letter  on  a  Regicide  Peace,  W.,  VI,  86. 

22  6.     communion.     Union  in  doctrine  and  discipline. 
22  11.     this  spirit  was  high.     See  19  25,  note. 
22  15.    establishments.     Churches  supported  by  the  state. 
22  21.    has  a  regular  establishment.     Is  the  formally  established  state 
church. 
22  26.    vast  multitude.     See  10  9,  note. 

22  31.    as  broad  and  general  as  the  air.     Compare  Macbeth, ni,  4,  23: 
"  As  broad  and  general  as  the  casing  air." 

23  7.     Gothic.      A   word   which    Burke   and    other   eighteenth-century 
writers  often  use  in  the  general  sense  of  Germanic  or  Teutonic.     Compare, 
"  The  whole  of  the  polity  and  economy  of  every  country  in  Europe  has 
been  derived  from  the  same  sources.     It  was  drawn  from  the  old  Germanic, 
or  Gothic,  custumary."    First  Letter  on  a  Regicide  Peace,  W.,  V,  319.     The 
English  are  not  descended  from  the  Goths,  properly  so  called. 

23  8.     Poles.     Till  the  partition  of  Poland  in  1772,  the  peasants  were 


94  NOTES. 

serfs  attached  to  the  soil.  See  A.  R.^  1763,  45:  "Each  noble  Pole  ...  is 
absolute  master  of  life  and  death  on  his  own  estate,  all  his  tenants  being  in 
the  strictest  sense  his  slaves." 

23  15.  law.  Among  the  papers  presented  to  Parliament  in  1766,  relat- 
ing to  the  disturbances  over  the  Stamp  Act,  is  one  written  from  New  York, 
December  13,  1765,  containing  the  following  passages  :  "  The  gentlemen  of 
the  law,  both  the  judges  and  the  principal  practitioners  at  the  bar,  are 
either  owners  or  strongly  connected  in  family  interest  with  the  proprietors 
in  general.  The  gentlemen  of  the  law  some  years  since  entered  into  an 
association,  with  intention  among  other  things  to  assume  the  direction  of 
government  upon  them  by  the  influence  they  had  in  the  assembly,  gained 
by  their  family  connection  and  by  the  profession  of  the  law,  whereby  they 
are  unavoidably  in  the  secrets  of  many  families.  Many  court  their  friend- 
ship, and  all  dread  their  hatred ;  by  these  means,  though  few  of  them  are 
members,  they  rule  the  house  of  the  assembly  in  all  matters  of  importance. 
...  By  this  association,  united  in  interest  and  family  connections  with  the 
proprietors  of  the  great  tracts,  a  domination  of  lawyers  was  formed  in  this 
province,  which  for  some  years  past  has  been  too  strong  for  the  executive 
powers  of  government."  P.  H.,  XVI,  125.  Lecky,  in  chapter  xii,  discusses 
the  influence,  not  only  of  the  study  of  law,  but  of  general  education  in  the 
colonies.  Ill,  315-317. 

23  25.  Blackstone's  Commentaries.  Sir  William  Blackstone  was  born 
in  1723  and  died  in  1780.  His  Commentaries  on  the  Laws  of  England  was 
published  in  1765-1769,  and  is  still  the  great  authority  on  the  subject. 

23  26.  General  Gage.  Thomas  Gage  was  born  in  1721  and  died  in 
1787.  His  part  in  the  Revolutionary  War  is  pretty  well  known  to  every 
schoolboy.  In  1760  he  became  governor  of  Montreal.  Three  years  later 
he  was  appointed  commander-in-chief  of  the  English  forces  in  America. 
Then  in  1774  he  was  made  governor-in-chief  and  captain-general  of  Massa- 
chusetts. See  D.  N.  B. 

23  27.  letter  on  your  table.  During  the  previous  session,  Parliament, 
acting  on  the  idea  that  town-meetings  were  likely  to  stir  up  sedition,  passed 
an  act  forbidding  them  in  Massachusetts,  except  by  permission  of  the  gov- 
ernor. This  act  Governor  Gage  was  called  upon  to  enforce.  A  letter 
which  he  wrote  from  Salem,  August  27,  1774,  and  which  Lord  North  laid 
before  the  House  January  19,  1775,  tells  of  the  result  of  his  attempts  :  "  My 
former  letters  have  acquainted  your  lordship  that  the  acts  in  question  had 
been  published  here,  and  people  have  had  leisure  to  consider  means  to 
elude  them,  in  doing  which  they  are  very  expert.  At  a  town-meeting  held 
in  Boston  in  July,  in  order  to  avoid  the  calling  a  meeting  afterwards,  they 
adjourned  themselves  to  the  ninth  of  August,  and  adjourned  again  on  that 


NOTES.  95 

day  to  some  time  in  October.  I  assembled  the  selectmen  in  Boston,  had 
the  clause  read  respecting  town-meetings,  told  them  I  expected  their  obe- 
dience to  it,  that  I  should  put  the  act  in  force,  and  that  they  would  be 
answerable  for  any  bad  consequences.  They  replied  they  had  called  no 
meeting,  that  a  former  meeting  had  only  adjourned  themselves.  I  laid  the 
affair  of  adjournments  before  the  new  council,  and  found  some  of  opinion 
that  the  clause  was  thereby  clearly  evaded,  and  nearly  the  whole  unwilling 
to  debate  upon  it,  terming  it  a  point  of  law  which  ought  to  be  referred  to 
the  crown  lawyers,  whose  opinion  is  to  be  taken  upon  it,  and  by  which  I 
must  govern  myself."  P.  H.,  90,  91.  In  a  letter  of  September  2,  General 
Gage  writes  :  "  With  regard  to  the  clause  in  the  new  acts  relative  to  town- 
meetings,  so  many  elusions  are  discovered  under  various  pretensions  of 
adjournments,  electing  to  vacant  offices,  people  assembling  peaceably  with- 
out notification,  upon  their  own  affairs,  and  withal  no  penalty,  that  no 
persons  I  have  advised  with  can  tell  what  to  do  with  it ;  at  a  distance  they 
go  on  as  usual,  but  worse  transactions  make  that  matter  of  little  conse 
quence  in  the  present  moment."  P.  H.,  95.  See  21  7,  note. 

24  1.  friend.  Lord  Edward  Thurlow,  who  was  appointed  attorney- 
general  in  1771,  and  who  was  a  warm  supporter  of  Lord  North.  He  was 
the  first  speaker  to  reply  to  Burke,  floor.  The  benches  of  the  House  of 
Commons  are  arranged  in  tiers.  The  lowest,  that  on  the  floor,  to  the  right 
of  the  Speaker,  is  occupied  by  cabinet  members,  in  which  number  the 
attorney-general  is  included. 

24  8.  Abeunt  studia  in  mores.  One's  studies  (or  pursuits)  become  a 
part  of  one's  character.  Ovid,  Heroides,  xv,  83.  Compare  Bacon's  essay 
Of  Studies  :  "  Histories  make  men  wise ;  poets,  witty  ;  the  mathematics, 
subtle  ;  natural  philosophy,  deep  ;  moral,  grave ;  logic  and  rhetoric,  able 
to  contend.  Abeunt  studia  in  mores" 

24  25.  winged  ministers.  Ships,  which  are  compared  to  the  eagle  that 
carried  Jupiter's  thunderbolts  in  its  pounces,  or  talons.  The  image  may 
have  been  suggested  to  Burke  by  Lord  Chatham,  who  in  a  speech,  January 
22,  1770,  said  of  the  army:  "They  [the  ministers]  have  disarmed  the 
imperial  bird,  the  'ministrum  fulminis  alitem.'  [Horace,  Odes,  iv,  4,  i.] 
The  army  is  the  thunder  of  the  crown.  The  ministry  have  tied  up  the  hand 
which  should  direct  the  bolt."  P.  //.,  XVI,  750.  (Goodrich.) 

24  29.  "  So  far  shalt  thou  go."  Compare  Job,  xxxviii,  n:  "  Hitherto 
shalt  thou  come,  but  no  further  ;  and  here  shall  thy  proud  waves  be  stayed." 
Payne  and  Selby  think  there  is  a  reference  to  the  story  of  Canute,  popular- 
ized by  Hume  about  a  dozen  years  before.  In  order  to  teach  his  flatterers 
a  lesson,  the  king  ordered  his  chair  to  be  set  on  the  seashore  while  the  tide 
was  rising,  and  then  commanded  the  waves  to  retire-  "  But  when  the  sea 


96  NOTES. 

still  advanced  towards  him,  and  began  to  wash  him  with  its  billows,  he 
turned  to  his  courtiers  and  remarked  to  them  that  every  creature  in  the  uni- 
verse was  feeble  and  impotent,  and  that  power  resided  with  one  being  alone, 
in  whose  hands  were  all  the  elements  of  nature ;  who  could  say  to  the 
ocean,  Thus  far  shalt  thou  go,  and  no  farther  ;  and  who  could  level  with 
his  nod  the  most  towering  piles  of  human  ambition."  History  of  England, 
chapter  iii. 

24  so.     fret  and  rage.     This  phrase  occurs  in  one  of  the  earliest  known 
bits  of  Burke's  writing,  —  a  familiar  letter  sent  to  a  schoolmate,  Richard 
Shackleton,  in  1745,  when  Burke  was  sixteen  years  old.     "Shall  I  rage, 
fret,  and  accuse  Providence  of  injustice?"  C.,  I,  13. 

25  l.    Egypt.     Practically  under  English  control  since  1883. 

25  3.  Crimea.  Under  Russian  rule  since  1783.  Algiers.  In  control 
of  the  French  since  1830. 

25  4.    truck.     Barter. 

25  5.  huckster.  A  verb  from  the  noun  huckster,  a  peddler  of  small 
wares.  Huckster  is  in  turn  from  the  old  verb  huck,  to  haggle  in  trading. 

25  16.  first  mover.  Burke  must  have  had  in  mind  the  primum  mobile 
of  the  Ptolemaic  astronomy.  According  to  this  system  the  heavenly  bodies 
were  set  in  a  series  of  spheres  revolving  about  the  earth  as  a  common  cen- 
tre. The  outermost  sphere,  called  the  primum  mobile,  or  "  first  moved," 
communicated  its  motion  to  the  inner  spheres. 

25  18.     grown  with  the  growth.     Compare  Pope's  Essay  on  Man,  ii, 
136:  "  Grows  with  his  growth  and  strengthens  with  his  strength." 

26  2.    with  all  its  imperfections.     Compare  Hamlet,  i,  5,  78,  79 : 

But  sent  to  my  account 
With  all  my  imperfections  on  my  head. 

26  7.    a  little  stability.     See  4  18,  note. 

26  12.    unnatural  contention.     See  18  21. 

26  15.  not  been.  The  Second  Edition  reads  "  been  not,"  which  later 
editors  have  agreed  in  changing. 

26  17.  popular  part.  The  reference  is  to  the  representative  assemblies 
which  were  convoked  by  the  governors,  who  were  in  turn  nominated  by 
the  crown. 

26  25.  none  but  an  obedient  assembly.  The  Virginia  Assembly  was 
dissolved  by  Governor  Dunmore  in  May,  1774,  because  on  receiving  news 
of  the  closing  of  the  port  of  Boston,  this  body  had  passed  resolutions 
denying  the  authority  of  Parliament.  The  result,  to  which  Burke  refers  a 
few  lines  below,  is  told  by  Governor  Dunmore  in  a  letter  sent  from  Williams- 
burg,  December  24,  1774,  and  laid  before  the  House  February  15,  1775. 


NOTES.  97 

"  As  to  the  power  of  government  which  your  lordship  .  .  .  directs  should  be 
exerted  to  counteract  the  dangerous  measures  pursuing  here,  I  can  assure 
your  lordship  that  it  is  entirely  disregarded,  if  not  wholly  overturned.  There 
is  not  a  justice  of  peace  in  Virginia  that  acts,  except  as  a  committee  man 
[under  direction  of  the  local  committees  organized  to  carry  out  the  non- 
importation and  non-exportation  agreements  of  the  Continental  Congress]. 
The  abolishing  the  courts  of  justice  was  the  first  step  taken,  in  which 
the  men  of  fortune  joined  equally  with  the  lowest  and  meanest.  The  gen- 
eral court  of  judicature  of  the  colony  is  much  in  the  same  predicament ; 
for  though  there  are  at  least  a  majority  of  his  Majesty's  council  who, 
with  myself,  are  the  judges  of  that  court,  that  would  steadily  perform 
their  duty,  yet  the  lawyers  have  absolutely  refused  to  attend,  nor  indeed 
would  the  people  allow  them  to  attend,  or  evidences  to  appear.  .  .  . 
Independent  companies,  etc.,  so  universally  supported,  who  have  set 
themselves  up  superior  to  all  other  authority,  under  the  auspices  of  their 
Congress,  the  laws  of  which  they  talk  of  in  a  style  of  respect,  and  treat 
with  marks  of  reverence  which  they  never  bestowed  on  their  legal  govern- 
ment or  the  laws  proceeding  from  it,  —  I  can  assure  your  lordship  that  I 
have  discovered  no  instance  where  the  interposition  of  government,  in  the 
feeble  state  to  which  it  is  reduced,  could  serve  any  other  purpose  than  to 
suffer  the  disgrace  of  a  disappointment,  and  thereby  afford  matter  of  great 
exultation  to  its  enemies,  and  increase  their  influence  over  the  minds  of 
the  people."  P.  H.y  314,  315. 

26  26.  humors.  An  allusion  to  the  old  theory  that  the  body  contained 
various  humors,  or  fluids,  which  might  become  diseased,  and,  finding  no 
vent  in  natural  channels,  break  out  in  boils  or  other  eruptions. 

26  34.     Lord  Dunmore.     John  Murray,  fourth  Earl  of  Dunmore :  born, 
1732  ;  died,  1809.     In  1770  he  was  appointed  governor  of  New  York,  and 
later  of  Virginia.     In  1775  the  feeling  against  him  ran  so  high  that  he  had 
to  flee  for  refuge  to  a  man-of-war.     For  a  time  he  carried  on   hostilities 
against  the  colony,  burning  the  important  town  of  Norfolk.     See  D.  N.  B. 

27  3.     Obedience.     See  4  8,  note.     Compare  also,  "  Whether  the  imme- 
diate and  instrumental  cause  of  the  law  be  a  single  person  or  many,  the 
remote  and  efficient  cause  is  the  consent  of  the  people,  either  actual  or 
implied  ;  and  such  consent  is  absolutely  essential  to  its  validity."     Tract  on 
the  Popery  Laws,  W.,  VI,  320.     This  suggests  a  sentence  in  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,   "To    secure   these    rights,   governments  'are   instituted 
among  men,  deriving  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed." 

27  18.  abrogated.  The  reference  is  to  an  act  passed  May  n,  1774, 
entitled  "  An  Act  for  the  better  regulating  the  government  of  the  province 
of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  in  New  England."  See  58  23.  By  this  act, 


98 


NOTES. 


which  changed  the  charter  of  the  province,  the  council,  or  upper  chamber 
of  the  legislature,  hitherto  elected  by  the  assembly,  or  lower  chamber 
directly  representative  of  the  people,  was  appointed  by  the  crown  ;  the 
judges  and  magistrates  of  all  kinds,  including  sheriffs,  were  appointed  by 
the  royal  governor,  who  could  remove  at  pleasure ;  jurymen,  instead  of 
being  chosen  by  popular  election,  were  summoned  by  the  sheriffs ;  and  no 
town-meetings  could  be  held  without  permission  of  the  governor.  See 
Lecky,  III,  431;  P.  H.,  XVII,  1192-1199,  1277-1289,  1297-1316,  1321- 
1325;  A.  R.,  1774,  69-72. 

27  19.  confident.  In  the  parliamentary  debates  over  the  changes  in 
the  charter  of  Massachusetts  the  opinion  was  more  than  once  expressed 
that  this  act  would  settle  the  troubles.  On  March  28,  1774,  Lord  North 
said  he  thought  the  bill  would  "  effectually  purge  "  the  constitution  of 
Massachusetts  of  its  crudities,  and  give  strength  and  spirit  to  the  civil 
magistracy  and  the  executive.  P.  H.,  XVII,  1193.  On  the  same  day  Lord 
George  Germain  declared :  "  I  make  no  doubt  but  by  a  manly  and  steady 
perseverance  things  may  be  restored  from  a  state  of  anarchy  and  confusion 
to  peace,  quietude,  and  a  due  obedience  to  the  laws  of  this  country."  Ibid., 
1196.  On  April  19  Mr.  Cornwall  said:  "If  you  persist  in  the  measures 
you  have  begun  with,  I  think  there  is  not  a  doubt  of  your  succeeding,  and 
of  becoming,  if  I  may  use  the  word,  victorious."  Ibid.,  1215.  On  the  same 
day  Lord  North  again  said  :  "  Let  us  conduct  ourselves  with  firmness  and 
resolution  throughout  the  whole  of  these  measures,  and  there  is  not  the 
least  doubt  but  peace  and  quietude  will  soon  be  restored."  Ibid.,  1273. 

27  22.  Anarchy  is  found  tolerable.  General  Gage,  in  a  letter  from 
Boston,  November  2,  1774,  said  that  the  province  was  "without  courts  of 
justice  or  legislature  "  ;  and  also  that  the  edicts  of  the  provincial  Congress 
were  "  implicitly  obeyed  throughout  the  country."  P.  H.,  105.  The  account 
in  the  Annual  Register  for  1775,  17,  is  as  follows  :  "The  old  constitution 
being  taken  away  by  act  of  Parliament,  and  the  new  one  being  rejected  by 
the  people,  an  end  was  put  to  all  forms  of  law  and  government  in  the 
province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  the  people  were  reduced  to  that  state 
of  anarchy  in  which  mankind  are  supposed  to  have  existed  in  the  earliest 
ages.  The  degree  of  order,  however,  which  by  the  general  concurrence  of 
the  people  was  preserved  in  this  state  of  anarchy  will  forever  excite  the 
astonishment  of  mankind,  and  continue  among  the  strongest  proofs  of  the 
efficacy  of  long-established  habits  and  of  a  constant  submission  to  laws. 
Excepting  the  general  opposition  to  the  new  government,  and  excesses 
arising  from  it,  in  the  outrages  offered  to  particular  persons  who  were  upon 
that  account  obnoxious  to  the  people,  no  other  very  considerable  marks 
appeared  of  the  cessation  of  law  or  of  government." 


NOTES.  99 

28  5.  in  order  to  prove.  Compare  19  22,  note ;  31  17  ;  also,  "  The  feel- 
ings of  the  colonies  were  formerly  the  feelings  of  Great  Britain.  Theirs 
were  formerly  the  feelings  of  Mr.  Hampden,  when  called  upon  for  the 
payment  of  twenty  shillings.  Would  twenty  shillings  have  ruined  Mr. 
Hampden's  fortune  ?  No  !  but  the  payment  of  half  twenty  shillings  on 
the  principle  it  was  demanded  would  have  made  him  a  slave."  Speech  on 
American  Taxation,  W.,  II,  17.  "As  it  will  be  impossible  long  to  resist 
the  powerful  and  equitable  arguments  in  favor  of  the  freedom  of  these 
unhappy  people  that  are  to  be  drawn  from  the  principle  of  our  own  liberty, 
attempts  will  be  made,  attempts  have  been  made,  to  ridicule  and  to  argue 
away  this  principle,  and  to  inculcate  into  the  minds  of  your  people  other 
maxims  of  government  and  other  grounds  of  obedience  than  those  which 
have  prevailed  at  and  since  the  glorious  Revolution."  Address  to  the  King, 
W.,  VI,  177,  178. 

28  19.  but  three  ways.  Later  in  the  speech  Burke  touches  on  a 
fourth  plan,  that  of  giving  the  colonies  representation.  See  53  6-12.  This 
method  he  discusses  at  some  length  in  the  Present  State  of  the  Nation,  W., 

I>  372-376. 

28  26.     giving  up  the  colonies.    This  plan,  as  Cook  notes,  was  proposed 
in  1774  by  Dr.  Josiah  Tucker,  Dean  of  Gloucester,  in  a  publication,  Four 
Tracts  on  Political  and  Commercial  Subjects.     In  the  last  paper  in  the  vol- 
ume, entitled  The  True  Interest  of  Great  Britain  set  forth  in  regard  to  the 
Colonies,  and  the  only  Means  of  living  in  Peace  and  Harmony  with  them, 
he  urged  that  the  colonies  be  allowed  to  separate  from  England.    They  were, 
he  argued,  of  no  advantage  to  the  mother  country,  except  for  trade.    If  Eng- 
land offered  America  the  best  markets,  England  would  get  the  trade,  even 
were  America  independent.     If  England  failed  to  offer  the  best  markets, 
she  would  inevitably  lose  the  trade,  and  she  might  at  the  same  time  be  at 
a  heavy  loss  in  trying  to  retain  the  colonies.     These  tracts  and  others  by 
Dean  Tucker  —  including  a  reply  to   this  very  speech  by  Burke  —  were 
often  reprinted  in  England  and  America.     See  Lecky,  III,  421-424. 

29  25.     Appalachian  Mountains.     See  Bancroft,  III,  467  :  "  An  intrepid 
population,  heedless  of  proclamations,  was  pouring  westward  through  all 
the  gates  of  the  Alleghanies ;  seating  themselves  on  the  New  River  and 
the  Greenbrier,  on  the  branches  of  the  Monongahela,  or  even  making  their 
way  to  the  Mississippi."     (Cook.) 

29  34.     comptrollers.     The  common  spelling  or   controller,  an  officer 
who  keeps  a  counter  roll,  or  duplicate  account,  by  which  to  control,  or 
supervise,  the  accounts  of  another  officer,  usually  a  treasurer. 

30  4.     "  Increase  and  multiply."     Compare  Genesis,  i,  28  :  "God  said 
unto  them,  '  Be  fruitful  and  multiply.' '      Paradise  Lost,  x,  729,  730  : 


100  NOTES. 

O  voice  once  heard 
Delightfully,  "  Increase  and  multiply." 

30  6.  given  to  the  children  of  men.  Compare  Psalms,  cxv,  16 :  "  The 
earth  hath  he  given  .to  the  children  of  men."  Also,  "  God  has  given  the 
earth  to  the  children  of  men."  Two  Letters  to  Gentlemen  in  Bristol,  W., 
II,  260. 

30  21.    marine  enterprises.     See  3  8,  note ;  16  17,  note. 

30  26.  we  must  gain.  Compare,  "  It  is  hard  to  persuade  us  that  every- 
thing which  is  got  by  another  is  not  taken  from  ourselves.  But  it  is  fit 
that  we  should  get  the  better  of  these  suggestions,  which  come  from  what 
is  not  the  best  and  soundest  part  of  our  nature."  Two  Letters  to  Gentlemen 
in  Bristol,  W.,  II,  260. 

30  34.    unserviceable.     See  3  8,  note  ;  38  i. 

31  2.     exploded.     From  ex  and  plaudere,  to  clap  the  hands.     The  word 
was  sometimes  applied  to  a  play  which  was  hooted  off  the  stage,  arid  it  is 
here  used  in  a  similar  sense.     Compare,  "  If  the  affections  and  opinions  of 
mankind  be  not  exploded  as  principles  of  connection,  I  conceive  it  would 
be  happy  for  us  if  they  [the  Americans]  were  taught  to  believe  that  there 
was  even  a  formed  American  party  in  England."    Letter  to  the  Sheriffs  of 
Bristol,  W.,  II,  215. 

31  9.  Spoliatis  arma  supersunt.  Freely  translated,  The  plundered  yet 
have  a  resource  in  arms.  From  Juvenal,  Satires,  viii,  124. 

31  12.    this  fierce  people.     See  Introduction,  xiii. 

31  16.  your  speech.  Compare -Mztf/fow,  xxvi,  73:  "Thy  speech  be  wray- 
eth  thee." 

31  17.    unfittest  person.     See  19  22,  note ;  28  5,  note. 

31  27.  books  of  curious  science.  Law  books.  Compare  Acts,  xix,  19: 
"  Many  of  them  also  which  used  curious  arts  brought  their  books  together 
and  burned  them." 

31  33.    chargeable.     Costly. 

31  34.  obedience.  Compare,  "  Fierce  licentiousness  begets  violent 
restraints.  The  military  arm  is  the  sole  reliance  ;  and  then,  call  your 
constitution  what  you  please,  it  is  the  sword  that  governs.  The  civil 
power,  like  every  other  that  calls  in  the  aid  of  an  ally  stronger  than  itself, 
perishes  by  the  assistance  it  receives."  Thoughts  on  the  Cause  of  the  Pres- 
ent Discontents,  W.,  I,  484.  "  That  the  establishment  of  such  a  [military] 
power  in  America  will  utterly  ruin  our  finances  —  though  its  certain  effect 
-  is  the  smallest  part  of  our  concern.  It  will  become  an  apt,  powerful, 
and  certain  engine  for  the  destruction  of  our  freedom  here.  Great  bodies 
of  armed  men,  trained  to  a  contempt  of  popular  assemblies  representative 
of  an  English  people,  —  kept  up  for  the  purpose  of  exacting  impositions 


NOTES.  101 

without  their  consent,  and  maintained  by  that  exaction,  —  instruments  in 
subverting,  without  any  process  of  law,  great  ancient  establishments  and 
respected  forms  of  governments,  —  set  free  from,  and  therefore  above,  the 
ordinary  English  tribunals  of  the  country  where  they  serve,  —  these  men 
cannot  so  transform  themselves  merely  by  crossing  the  sea,  as  to  behold 
with  love  and  reverence,  and  submit  with  profound  obedience  to,  the  very 
same  things  in  Great  Britain  which  in  America  they  had  been  taught  to 
despise,  and  had  been  accustomed  to  awe  and  humble."  Address  to  the 
King,  W.,  VI,  176,  177. 

32  4.  advocates  and  panegyrists.  For  example,  Dr.  Johnson,  in  his 
Taxation  No  Tyranny,  published  not  long  before  this  speech  was  delivered, 
had  said  :  "  It  has  been  proposed  that  the  slaves  should  be  set  free,  an 
act  which  surely  the  lovers  of  liberty  cannot  but  commend.  If  they  are 
furnished  with  firearms  for  defence  and  utensils  for  husbandry,  and  settled 
in  some  simple  form  of  government  within  the  country,  they  may  be  more 
grateful  and  honest  than  their  masters."  Johnson's  Works,  London,  1820, 
VIII,  201,  202.  (Cook.) 

32  7.  would  not  always  be  accepted.  In  November,  1775,  Governor 
Dunmore  of  Virginia  proclaimed  an  emancipation  of  the  slaves  and  sum- 
moned them  to  his  standard.  Comparatively  few,  however,  joined  him. 
The  account  may  be  found  in  most  American  histories ;  for  example,  Ban- 
croft, IV,  318. 

32  14.  other  people.  "  See  Aristophanes,  Ranae,  27,  from  which  it 
appears  that  the  slaves  who  had  distinguished  themselves  at  the  battle  of 
Arginusae  were  presented  with  their  freedom.  Plutarch  says  that  Cleo- 
menes  armed  two  thousand  Helots  to  oppose  the  Macedonian  Leucaspedae, 
in  his  war  with  that  people  and  the  Achaeans.  According  to  Pausanias 
the  Helots  were  present  at  the  battle  of  Marathon.  Among  the  Romans, 
as  Virgil  (Aeneid,  ix,  547)  tells  us,  it  was  highly  criminal  for  slaves  to  enter 
the  army  of  their  masters  ;  but  in  the  Hannibalian  war,  after  the  battle  of 
Cannae,  eight  thousand  of  them  were  armed,  and  by  their  valor  in  subse- 
quent actions  earned  their  liberty.  See  Livy,  Book  xxiv."  (Payne.) 

32  21.  their  refusal.  During  the  years  preceding  the  Revolution,  sev- 
eral of  the  colonies  attempted  to  restrict  the  slave  trade,  but  the  English 
government  interfered,  and  this  interference  was  one  cause  of  grievance  to 
the  Americans.  In  1761  Virginia  proposed  to  abandon  the  trade  (Ban- 
croft, II,  549),  but  in  behalf  of  English  merchants,  the  home  government 
refused  to  allow  restrictions.  In  the  same  year  South  Carolina  made  a 
similar  proposal  (ibid.,  550),  which  met  with  similar  opposition.  In  1772 
Virginia  again  protested  (III,  411);  and  one  of  Lord  Dunmore's  last  acts 
was  to  veto  a  bill  to  check  the  trade  by  a  heavy  duty  on  slaves.  IV,  202. 


102  NOTES. 

When  he  issued  his  proclamation  of  freedom,  "  the  Virginians,"  says  Ban 
croft  (IV,  318),  "could  plead  and  did  plead  that  'their  assemblies  had 
repeatedly  attempted  to  prevent  the  horrid  traffic  in  slaves,  and  had  been 
frustrated  by  the  cruelty  and  covetousness  of  English  merchants,  who  had 
prevailed  on  the  king  to  repeal  their  merciful  acts.' ' 

32  26.     Guinea  captain.      English   captain  of  a  ship  engaged  in  the 
Guinea  trade. 

32  33.     "  Ye  gods."     From  Martinus  Scriblerus,  of  the  Art  of  Sinking 
in  Poetry,  written  by  Pope,  Swift,  and  Arbuthnot,  —  chiefly  the  last  men- 
tioned;  published  in  1741.     The  two  lines  are  in  the  first  part  of  chapter 
xi,  as  an  example  of  hyperbole.     Pope's  Works,  1776,  IV,  169. 

33  7.    late.     Recent. 

33  11.  criminal.  The  idea  of  punishing  the  colonists  as  criminals  was 
repeatedly  urged  by  the  adherents  of  the  ministry.  On  March  23,  1774, 
during  the  debate  on  the  Boston  Port  Bill,  Mr.  Rose  Fuller  said  :  "  We  all 
agree  that  the  Bostonians  ought  to  be  punished."  P.  H.,  XVII,  1176.  On 
the  same  day  Mr.  Van  said  he  agreed  to  the  flagitiousness  of  the  offence 
of  the  Americans,  and  therefore  was  of  opinion  that  the  town  of  Boston 
ought  to  be  knocked  about  their  ears  and  destroyed.  "  Delenda  est  Car- 
thago''' said  he,  "  I  am  of  opinion  you  will  never  meet  with  proper  obedience 
to  the  laws  of  this  country  until  you  have  destroyed  that  nest  of  locusts." 
Ibid,,  1178.  On  April  15  of  the  same  year  Mr.  Van  advocated  burning 
the  forests  and  leaving  the  country  open,  so  that  the  Americans  might  be 
deprived  of  protection.  Ibid.,  1210.  On  March  6,  1775,  Mr.  Henry 
Dundas  declared  the  "  grand  penal  bill  "  just,  because  it  was  "  provoked  by 
the  most  criminal  disobedience :  it  was  merciful,  because  that  disobedience 
would  have  justified  the  severest  military  execution."  P.  H.,  XVIII,  387. 
On  March  16,  during  a  debate  in  the  Lords  on  the  same  bill,  the  Duke  of 
Grafton  said  the  measure  was  "  founded  on  the  principle  of  retaliation 
and  punishment."  Ibid.,  451. 

33  23.  indictment  against  a  whole  people.  Compare,  "  I  am  not  for 
a  total  indemnity,  nor  a  general  punishment.  And  first,  the  body  and 
mass  of  the  people  never  ought  to  be  treated  as  criminal.  They  may 
become  an  object  of  more  or  less  constant  watchfulness  and  suspicion,  as 
their  preservation  may  best  require,  but  they  can  never  become  an  object 
of  punishment.  This  is  one  of  the  few  fundamental  and  unalterable  prin- 
ciples of  politics."  On  the  Policy  of  the  Allies,  1793,  W.,  IV,  462. 

33  25.  Sir  Edward  Coke.  An  eminent  lawyer:  born,  1552  ;  died,  1634. 
In  1603,  while  serving  as  attorney-general,  he  conducted  the  trial  of  Sir 
Walter  Ralegh  for  treason.  On  this  occasion,  according  to  the  D.  N.  B., 
XI,  230,  231,  "he  exhibited  a  spirit  of  rancor,  descending  even  to  brutality, 


NOTES.  103 

for  which  no  one  has  attempted  a  defence,  his  biographers  one  and  all 
agreeing  that  his  conduct  toward  Ralegh  was  simply  infamous.  '  Thy 
Machiavelian  and  devilish  policy,'  '  thou  hast  a  Spanish  heart,  and  thyself 
art  a  spider  of  hell,'  '  I  will  now  make  it  appear  to  the  world  that  there 
never  lived  a  viler  viper  upon  the  face  of  the  earth  than  thou,'  —  these  are 
some  of  the  flowers  of  his  speech.  '  The  extreme  weakness  of  the  evi- 
dence,' says  Sir  James  Stephen,  '  was  made  up  for  by  the  rancorous  ferocity 
of  Coke,  who  reviled  and  insulted  Ralegh  in  a  manner  never  imitated,  so 
far  as  I  know,  before  or  since  in  any  English  court  of  justice,  except  per- 
haps in  those  in  which  Jeffreys  presided.'  " 

33  26.  Sir  Walter  Ralegh.  Explorer,  author,  statesman:  born,  1552; 
executed,  1618.  He  was  accused  of  complicity  in  the  plots  against  James 
the  First. 

33  29.    very  same  title.     Members  of  the  colonial  assemblies,  like  mem- 
bers of  Parliament,  were  chosen  by  popular  vote. 

34  2.    one  common  head.     Compare,  "  The  Parliament  of  Great  Britain 
sits  at  the  head  of  her  extensive  empire  in  two  capacities :  one  as  the  local 
legislature  of  this  island,  providing  for  all  things  at  home,  immediately  and 
by  no  other  instrument  than  the  executive  power ;  the  other,  and  I  think 
her  nobler  capacity,  is  what  I  call  her  imperial  character,  in  which,  as  from 
the  throne  of  heaven,  she  superintends  all  the  several  inferior  legislatures, 
and  guides  and  controls  them  all  without  annihilating  any."     Speech  on 
American  Taxation,  W.,  II,  75. 

34  8.  nice.  "Apprehending  slight  differences  or  delicate  distinc- 
tions." 

34  12.  ex  vi  termini.  From  the  force  of  the  term,  or  meaning  of  the 
word.  The  Roman  privilegium  was  a  law  giving  an  individual  some 
special  privilege,  or  laying  him  under  some  special  restriction. 

34  20.  [that].  This  word,  though  in  the  Second  Edition,  is  clearly 
unnecessary,  and  is  therefore  bracketed.  (Cook.) 

34  31.  judge  in  my  own  cause.  Compare,  "  One  of  the  first  motives 
to  civil  society,  and  which  becomes  one  of  its  fundamental  rules,  is  that  no 
man  should  be  judge  in  his  own  cause.  By  this  each  person  has  at  once 
divested  himself  of  the  first  fundamental  right  of  uncovenanted  man,  that 
is,  to  judge  for  himself  and  to  assert  his  own  cause."  Reflections  on  the  Rev- 
olution in  France,  W.,  Ill,  309,  310.  On  February  6,  1775,  during  a  debate 
in  the  Commons  over  an  address  to  the  king  concerning  the  disturbances 
in  America,  Governor  Johnstone  said :  "  Judge  Robert  says,  '  If  an  act  of 
Parliament  was  made  constituting  a  man  a  judge  in  his  own  cause,  it  would 
be  void  by  the  law  of  nature.'  Yet  such  is  the  precise  situation  in  which 
we  contend  we  ought  to  be  placed  respecting  the  Americans,  and  for  the 


104 


NOTES. 


denial  of  which  we  are  ready  to  condemn  our  fellow  subjects  to  all  the 
tortures  enacted  by  the  laws  of  treason."  P.  H.,  254. 

35  4.  against  the  superior.  Compare,  "  In  all  disputes  between  them 
[the  people]  and  their  rulers,  the  presumption  is  at  least  upon  a  par  in 
favor  of  the  people.  Experience  may  perhaps  justify  me  in  going  further. 
When  popular  discontents  have  been  very  prevalent,  it  may  well  be  affirmed 
and  supported  that  there  has  been  generally  something  found  amiss  in  the 
constitution  or  in  the  conduct  of  government."  Thoughts  on  the  Cause  of  the 
Present  Discontents,  W.,  I,  440.  "  We  are  convinced  that  the  disorders  of 
the  people  in  the  present  time  and  in  the  present  place  are  owing  to  the 
usual  and  natural  cause  of  such  disorders  at  all  times  and  in  all  places 
where  such  have  prevailed,  —  the  misconduct  of  government."  Address  to 
the  King,  W.,  VI,  163. 

35  6.    abstract  right.     See  7  14,  note. 

35  10.  injustice.  An  allusion  to  the  maxim,  Summum  jus,  summa 
injuria,  The  extreme  of  the  law  is  the  extreme  of  injustice,  Cicero,  De  OJfi- 
ciis,  i,  10.  Compare,  "  When  confidence  is  once  restored,  the  odious  and 
suspicious  summum  jus  will  perish  of  course."  Speech  on  American  Taxa- 
tion, W.,  II,  71. 

35  12.  civil  litigant.  A  litigant  in  a  suit  in  which  legal  rights  but  not 
crimes  are  involved.  The  first  question  was  whether  England  had  a  right 
to  tax  the  colonies ;  the  second,  whether  America  was  criminal  in  resisting. 

35  22.     those  very  persons.     The  majority  in  Parliament. 

35  23.  declaring  a  rebellion.  On  February  9,  1775,  both  Houses  joined 
in  an  address  to  the  king  containing  the  following  passage  :  "  We  find  that 
a  part  of  your  Majesty's  subjects  in  the  province  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay 
have  proceeded  so  far  to  resist  the  authority  of  the  supreme  legislature 
that  a  rebellion  at  this  time  actually  exists  within  the  said  province."  P.  H., 
297.  Against  this  address  the  minority  of  the  Lords  offered  a  protest 
which  seems  to  express  Burke 's  view :  "  No  legal  grounds  were  laid  in 
argument  or  in  fact  to  show  that  a  rebellion,  properly  so  called,  did  exist  in 
Massachusetts  Bay  when  the  papers  of  the  latest  date,  and  from  whence 
alone  we  derive  our  information,  were  written.  The  overt  acts  to  which 
the  species  of  treason  affirmed  in  the  address  ought  to  be  applied  were  not 
established,  nor  were  any  offenders  marked  out.  But  a  general  mass  of 
the  acts  of  turbulence,  said  to  be  done  at  various  times  and  places,  were  all 
thrown  together  to  make  out  one  general  constructive  treason.  Neither 
was  there  any  sort  of  proof  of  the  continuance  of  any  unlawful  force  from 
whence  we  could  infer  that  a  rebellion  does  now  exist.  And  we  are  the 
more  cautious  of  pronouncing  any  part  of  his  Majesty's  dominion  to  be 
in  rebellion,  because  the  cases  of  constructive  treason  under  that  branch  of 


NOTES.  105 

the  twenty-fifth  of  Edward  the  Third  which  describes  the  crime  of  rebellion 
have  been  already  so  far  extended  by  the  judges,  and  the  distinctions  there- 
upon so  nice  and  subtle,  that  no  prudent  man  ought  to  declare  any  single 
person  in  that  situation  without  the  clearest  evidence  of  uncontrovertible 
overt  acts  to  warrant  such  a  declaration.  Much  less  ought  so  high  an 
authority  as  both  Houses  of  Parliament  to  denounce  so  severe  a  judgment 
against  a  considerable  part  of  his  Majesty's  subjects,  by  which  his  forces 
may  think  themselves  justified  in  commencing  a  war  without  any  further 
order  or  commission."  P.  H.,  294,  295. 

35  24.  formerly  addressed.  On  February  13,  1769,  a  joint  address 
was  presented  to  the  king,  pledging  support  in  any  measures  needful  to 
maintain  authority  in  Massachusetts.  The  address  continues :  "  As  .  .  . 
nothing  can  be  more  immediately  necessary  .  .  .  than  to  proceed  in  the 
most  speedy  and  effectual  manner  for  bringing  to  condign  punishment  the 
chief  authors  and  instigators  of  the  late  disorders,  we  most  humbly  beseech 
your  Majesty  ...  to  direct  your  Majesty's  governor  of  Massachusetts  Bay 
to  take  the  most  effectual  methods  for  procuring  the  fullest  information 
that  can  be  obtained  touching  all  treasons,  or  misprision  of  treason,  com- 
mitted within  this  government  since  the  3Oth  day  of  December  last,  .  .  . 
together  with  the  names  of  the  persons  who  were  most  active  in  the  com- 
mission of  such  offences,  ...  in  order  that  your  Majesty  may  issue  a  special 
commission  for  inquiring  of,  hearing  and  determining  the  said  offences 
within  this  realm,  pursuant  to  the  provisions  of  the  statute  of  the  thirty- 
fifth  year  of  the  reign  of  King  Henry  the  Eighth."  P.  ff.,  XVI,  479,  480. 
In  the  Letter  to  the  Sheriffs  of  Bristol,  1777,  W.,  II,  192,  Burke  explains 
the  practical  operation  of  the  act  referred  to  in  the  address  :  "  It  is  neces- 
sary, Gentlemen,  to  apprise  you  that  there  is  an  act,  made  so  long  ago 
as  in  the  reign  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  before  the  existence  or  thought  of  any 
English  colonies  in  America,  for  the  trial  in  this  kingdom  of  treasons  com- 
mitted out  of  the  realm.  In  the  year  1769  Parliament  thought  proper  to 
acquaint  the  crown  with  their  construction  of  that  act  in  a  formal  address, 
wherein  they  entreated  his  Majesty  to  cause  persons  charged  with  high 
treason  in  America  to  be  brought  into  this  kingdom  for  trial.  By  this  act 
of  Henry  the  Eighth,  so  construed  and  so  applied,  almost  all  that  is  sub- 
stantial and  beneficial  in  a  trial  by  jury  is  taken  away  from  the  subject  in 
the  colonies.  This  is,  however,  saying  too  little  ;  for  to  try  a  man  under 
that  act  is,  in  effect,  to  condemn  him  unheard.  A  person  is  brought  hither 
in  the  dungeon  of  a  ship's  hold  ;  thence  he  is  vomited  into  a  dungeon  on 
land,  loaded  with  irons,  unfurnished  with  money,  unsupported  by  friends, 
three  thousand  miles  from  all  means  of  calling  upon  or  confronting  evi- 
dence, where  no  one  local  circumstance  that  tends  to  detect  perjury  can 


106  NOTES. 

possibly  be  judged  of ;  —  such  a  person  may  be  executed  according  to  form, 
but  he  can  never  be  tried  according  to  justice."  See  59  30-34.  The  act  in 
question  was  passed  during  the  session  of  1543-1544. 

35  34.     juridical.     See  7  14,  note. 

36  2.     menaces.     During  the  previous  decade  Parliament  in  addresses 
to  the  king  had  made  many  direct  and  indirect  threats  against  the  colonies. 
On  January  14,  1766,  at  the  time  of  the  agitations  over  the  Stamp  Act,  the 
Lords  addressed  the  king,  saying :  "  We  will  exert  our  utmost  endeavors 
to  assert  and  support  your  Majesty's  dignity  and  honor  and  the  legislative 
authority  of  this  kingdom  over  its  colonies."     P.  H.,  XVI,  94.     On  Novem- 
ber 8,  1768,  at  the  opening  of  Parliament  the  Lords,  in  an  address  echoed 
by  the  Commons,  declared  :  "  We  most  unfeignedly  give  your  Majesty  the 
strongest  assurances  that  we  shall  ever  zealously  concur  in  support  of  such 
just  and  necessary  measures  as  may  best  enable  your  Majesty  to  repress 
that  daring  spirit  of  disobedience,  and  to  enforce  a  due  submission  to  the 
laws;   always  considering  that  it  is  one  of  our  most  essential  duties  to 
maintain  inviolate  the  supreme  authority  of  the  legislature  of  Great  Britain 
over  every  part  of  the  dominions  of  your  Majesty's  crown."    Ibid.,  471. 
For  the  next  menace,  that  of   February  13,  1769,  see  35  24,  note.     On 
January  9,  1770,  the  Lords  and  Commons,  in  addresses  practically  the 
same  in  sentiment,  said  :  "  We  shall  be  ready  to  give  every  assistance  in  our 
power  .  .  .  for  discountenancing  those  unwarrantable  measures  practiced  in 
some  of  your  Majesty's  colonies,  which  appear  calculated  to  destroy  the 
commercial  connection  between  them  and  the  mother  country."     Ibid.,  667. 
On  November  13  or  the  same  year  both  Houses  declared  :  "  We  will  neglect 
no  means  of  ...  providing  for  the  protection  of  your  Majesty's  good  sub- 
jects there  [in  the  colonies]  from  every  degree  of  violence  and  oppression." 
Ibid.,  1080.     On  November  30,  1774,  the  Lords  expressed  their  detestation 
of  the  disobedience  to  the  laws  in  Massachusetts,  and  promised  cheerful 
cooperation  in  all  efforts  to  suppress  it  (XVIII,  39);  and  on  December  5 
the  Commons  made  the  king  even  stronger  assurances  of  support.    Ibid., 
46.     For  the  last  threat,  that  of  February  9,  1775,  see  8  18,  note. 

36  4.  penal  laws.  For  a  list  of  laws  which  Burke  regarded  as  penal 
and  wished  to  suspend,  see  58  1-24.  The  first,  "  An  act  for  granting  cer- 
tain duties,"  passed  in  1767,  provided  for  a  duty  on  glass,  paper,  red  and 
white  lead,  painters'  colors,  and  tea.  P.  H.,  XVI,  375,  376  ;  also  Statutes  at 
Large,  chapter  46  of  7  George  the  Third.  All  the  duties  except  those 
on  tea  were  repealed  in  1769,  and  thus  the  act  is  often  known  as  the  Tea 
Duty  Bill.  The  second,  "An  act  to  discontinue,"  passed  March,  1774, 
provided  for  the  closing  of  the  port  of  Boston,  and  is  known  as  the  Boston 
Port  Bill.  P.  If.,  XVII,  1164;  also  Statutes  at  Large,  chapter  19  of  14 


NOTES.  107 

George  the  Third.  The  third,  "An  act  for  the  impartial  administration  of 
justice,"  passed  May,  1774,  provided  that  if  any  person  in  Massachusetts 
were  indicted  for  murder  or  any  other  capital  offence,  and  if  it  should 
appear  to  the  governor  that  the  incriminated  act  was  committed  in  aiding 
the  magistrates  to  suppress  tumult  and  riot,  and  also  that  a  fair  trial  could 
not  be  had  in  the  provinces,  the  prisoner  should  be  sent  for  trial  to  any 
other  colony  or  to  Great  Britain.  P.  H.,  XVII,  1200 ;  also  Statutes  at  Large, 
chapter  39  of  14  George  the  Third.  The  fourth,  "An  act  for  the  better 
regulating  the  government,"  is  explained  in  27  18,  note.  To  this  last  may 
be  added  two  or  three  other  acts,  some  of  them  merely  temporary  in  effect. 
In  1765  a  bill  had  been  passed,  commonly  called  the  American  Mutiny 
Act,  requiring  the  colonists  to  supply  the  English  troops  with  some  of  the 
necessaries  of  life.  On  the  refusal  of  New  York  to  comply,  a  bill  was 
passed  temporarily  suspending  the  Assembly.  P.  H.,  XVI,  331 ;  also  Stat- 
utes at  Large,  chapter  59  of  7  George  the  Third.  See  Introduction,  xv-xix. 

36  6.  a  force.  During  a  debate  on  the  navy  estimate  in  the  Commons 
on  December  12,  1774,  it  was  stated  that  nineteen  vessels  containing  2835 
seamen  were  on  duty  along  the  American  coast.  P.  H.,  54.  On  February 
15,  1775,  in  answer  to  a  message  from  the  king,  the  Commons  took  up  a 
bill  to  increase  the  army,  so  that  there  might  be  about  ten  thousand  men 
In  Boston.  P.  H.,  316. 

36  9.     confident  hopes.     See  27  19,  note. 

36  11.     correctly.     Precisely. 

36  22.  colonies  complain.  See  the  resolution  passed  by  the  American 
Congress,  October  14,  1774:  "  Resolved,  That  the  foundation  of  English 
liberty  and  all  free  government  is  a  right  of  the  people  to  participate  in 
their  legislative  council  :  and  as  the  English  colonists  are  not  represented, 
and  from  their  local  and  other  circumstances  cannot  properly  be  represented, 
in  the  British  Parliament,  they  are  entitled  to  a  free  and  exclusive  power 
of  legislation  in  their  several  provincial  legislatures,  where  their  right  of 
representation  can  alone  be  preserved,  in  all  cases  of  taxation  and  internal 
polity,  subject  only  to  the  negative  of  their  sovereign  in  such  manner 
as  has  been  heretofore  used  and  accustomed."  Journals  of  Congress, 
I,  20. 

36  34.     startle.      Now    used   transitively.      Compare   Addison's    Cato, 

iii,  2,  80,  8 1  : 

My  frightened  thoughts  run  back, 

And  startle  into  madness  at  the  sound. 

37  l.     less  than  nothing.     Compare  Isaiah,  xl,  17  :  "  All  nations  before 
him  are  as  nothing ;  and  they  are  counted  to  him  less  than  nothing,  and 
vanity."     Also,  "  In  matters  of  state  a  constitutional  competence  to  act  is 


108  NOTES. 

in  many  cases  the  smallest  part  of  the  question."  First  Letter  on  a  Regicide 
Peace,  W.,  V,  283. 

37  4.  profound  subject.  For  a  decade  the  question  of  the  legal  right 
of  Parliament  to  tax  the  colonies  had  been  debated.  Whenever  American 
affairs  had  been  discussed  in  Parliament,  and  whenever  it  was  possible  to 
interject  remarks  on  America  into  the  discussion  of  other  subjects,  this 
question  had  appeared  in  one  form  or  another.  The  pages  of  the  Parlia- 
mentary History  and  of  various  contemporary  accounts  of  the  proceedings 
are  filled  with  arguments  on  the  subject ;  the  periodicals  on  both  sides  of 
the  water  gave  much  space  to  it,  and  both  England  pnd  America  were 
flooded  with  pamphlets  on  it.  Of  these  last,  Dr.  Johnson's  Taxation  No 
Tyranny  is  a  sample.  One  of  the  best  summaries  of  the  whole  discussion 
is  to  be  found  in  the  Annttal  Register  for  1766,  reprinted  in  P.  H.,  XVI, 
193-206.  This  summary  shows  that  the  two  questions  which  Burke  men- 
tions, lines  6-13,  were  the  ones  most  often  urged.  On  the  one  side  it  was 
argued  that  by  natural  and  inalienable  right  no  man  could  "  be  taxed  but 
by  himself  or  by  his  representative."  XVI,  195.  This  argument  was 
presented  at  considerable  length  by  Mr.  Wilkes,  February  6,  1775.  XVIII, 
234-240.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  urged  that  the  very  existence  of 
government  and  the  supremacy  of  Parliament  implied  the  right  to  tax. 
XVIII,  241.  Each  side  tried  to  support  its  contention  (see  lines  13-16) 
by  the  authority  of  great  lawyers  or  students  of  government.  "  As  to  the 
right  of  taxation,  the  gentlemen  who  opposed  it  produced  many  learned 
authorities  from  Locke,  Selden,  Harrington,  and  Puffendorf."  P.  H.,  XVI, 
194.  Burke  himself  seems  to  have  been  of  opinion  that  Parliament  had  a 
technical  right  which  it  was  foolish  to  exercise.  "  Mr.  Burke  observed  .  .  . 
that  we  had  an  undoubted  right  to  tax  them  [the  Americans] ,  but  that  the 
expediency  of  putting  that  right  in  execution  should  be  very  evident  before 
anything  of  that  sort  passed."  Debate  of  March  14,  1769,  P.  H.,  XVI, 
605.  See  Introduction,  xvi. 

37  19.  Serbonian  bog.  From  Paradise  Losf,  ii,  592-594.  The  refer- 
ence is  to  Lake  Serbonis,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Nile. 

37  26.    a  lawyer  tells  rne.     See  7  14,  note. 

38  9.    loss  of  my  suit.     Compare  3  8,  note ;  18  15  ;  also,  "  It  would 
have  been  a  poor  compensation  that  we  had  triumphed  in  a  dispute,  whilst 
we  lost  an  empire."    Letter  to  the  Sheriffs  of  Bristol,  W.,  II,  227. 

38  5.  unity  of  spirit.  Compare  I  Corinthians,  xii,  4 :  "  Now  there  are 
diversities  of  gifts,  but  the  same  spirit."  Ephesians,  iv,  3  :  "  Endeavoring 
to  keep  the  unity  of  the  spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace." 

38  9.  abjured  all  the  rights  of  citizens.  Dr.  Johnson  says  in  Taxa- 
tion  No  Tyranny :  "  The  Americans  have  voluntarily  resigned  the  power 


NOTES.  109 

of  voting,  to  live  in  distant  and  separate  governments  ;  and  what  they 
have  voluntarily  quitted,  they  have  no  right  to  claim."  Works,  VIII,  183. 
38  21.  interest  in  the  Constitution.  Compare,  "  It  passes  my  compre- 
hension in  what  manner  it  is  that  men  can  be  reconciled  to  the  practical 
merits  of  a  constitution  ...  by  being  practically  excluded  from  any  of  its 
advantages."  Second  Letter  on  the  Catholic  Question,  W.,  VI,  382. 

38  27.     understood  principle.     As  an  act  for  raising  revenue,  not  con- 
trolling trade. 

39  3.    American  financiers.     Men  who  expect  much  actual  revenue  from 
America. 

39  4.     exquisite.      Curious,  careful,  as  in  "Over-exquisite  to  cast  the 
fashion  of  uncertain  evils."     Comus,  359. 

39  9.  further  views.  This  argument  was  common  from  the  beginning 
of  the  discussion  ten  years  before.  Burke  clearly  alludes  to  several  of  the 
more  recent  expressions  of  it.  On  April  19,  1774,  during  a  debate  on  a 
motion  to  repeal  the  Tea  Duty  Act,  Mr.  Rice  said :  "  Whenever  we  have 
made  the  least  concession,  they  have  always  required  more;  they  will 
think  that  we  acknowledge  that  we  have  no  right,  if  we  should  repeal  this 
law.  ...  I  am  greatly  afraid  that  if  you  give  up  this,  you  will  be  required 
to  give  up  much  more."  P.  H.,  XVII,  1211,  1212.  On  the  same  day  Mr. 
Solicitor-General  Wedderburn  argued :  "  If  you  give  up  this  tax,  it  is  not 
here  that  you  must  stop  ;  you  will  be  required  to  give  up  much  more,  nay, 
to  give  up  all."  Ibid.,  1270.  In  a  debate  in  the  Lords,  January  20,  1775, 
on  Lord  Chatham's  motion  to  withdraw  the  troops  from  Boston,  Lord 
Lyttelton  declared  that  if  Great  Britain  should  give  way  from  mistaken 
motives  of  present  advantages  in  trade,  such  a  concession  would  inevitably 
defeat  its  own  object ;  for  it  was  plain  that  the  Navigation  Act  and  all 
other  regulatory  acts,  which  formed  the  great  basis  on  which  those  advan- 
tages rested,  and  the  true  interests  of  both  countries  depended,  would  fall 
a  victim  to  the  interested  and  ambitious  views  of  America.  Every  concession 
would  produce  a  new  demand,  and  in  the  end  bring  about  that  state  of 
traitorous  independency  at  which  America  was  aiming.  XVIII,  163.  On 
January  23,  while  the  Commons  were  considering  some  petitions  for  con- 
ciliation from  merchants  of  London  and  Bristol,  Lord  Stanley  insisted  that 
if  England  gave  way,  the  Americans  would  desire  a  repeal  of  the  Naviga- 
tion Act  and  every  other  act  on  the  statute  book  that  in  the  least  degree 
affected  them.  Ibid.,  177.  On  March  6,  during  the  argument  on  Lord 
North's  "  grand  penal  bill,"  Mr.  Rice  again  said  the  Americans  were  aiming 
at  independence,  and  intended  to  throw  off  the  commercial  restrictions  as 
well  as  the  taxes.  On  this  latter  point  he  was  as  much  inclined  to  relax 
as  any  other  member,  if  he  could  be  sure  that  such  relaxation  would  not 


110  NOTES. 

be  introductory  to  a  further  and  worse  opposition  on  their  part,  389.  To 
this  last  speech  Burke  directly  refers  in  lines  14,  15.  See  41  12,  note. 

39  10.  trade  laws.  There  had  been  many  laws,  some  of  them  called 
Navigation  Acts,  passed  for  restricting  the  trade  of  the  provinces.  By  the 
terms  of  one  act,  all  colonial  exports  to  England  were  to  be  shipped  only 
in  American  or  English  vessels ;  by  a  second,  colonial  exports  were  to  go 
only  to  England  or  English  colonies  ;  by  a  third,  the  colonies  could  not 
export  hats ;  and  by  a  fourth,  they  were  forbidden  to  erect  mills  for  rolling 
iron  or  furnaces  for  making  steel.  These  are  but  a  few  of  the  many  har- 
assing regulations  laid  on  the  colonies. 

39  14.    gentleman.     Mr.  Rice.     See  39  9,  note. 

39  23.    noble  lord.     See  8  4,  note. 

39  24.     futile  and  useless.     The  speech  in  which   Lord  North  made 
the  remarks  here  attributed  to  him  does  not  appear  in  the  reports  of  the 
debates  of  1774  or  1775.     On  March  5,  1770,  during  a  discussion  of  the 
Tea  Duty  Bill,  North  argued  that  American  agreements  not  to  buy  British 
goods  must  speedily  be  broken,  because   the  colonists  could  buy  more 
cheaply  in  England  than  anywhere  else.     P.  H.,  XVI,  855. 

40  12.    the  pamphlet.     By  Dr.  Tucker.     See  28  26,  note. 

40  14.  idolizing.  Compare,  "  Among  regulations  that  which  stood  first 
in  reputation  was  his  [George  Grenville's]  idol :  I  mean  the  Act  of  Navi- 
gation. He  has  often  professed  it  to  be  so."  Speech  on  American  Taxa- 
tion, W.,  II,  38. 

40  31.    not  a  shadow  of  evidence.     An  assertion  which  Burke  could 
hardly  have  supported.     For  a  century  the  Americans  had  been  complain- 
ing of  the  trade  laws,  as  any  colonial  history  will  show.     For  example, 
when  in  1733  Parliament  had  proposed  that  after  the  northern  colonies  had 
sold  their  fish,  lumber,  and  provisions  in  the  West  Indies,  a  return  cargo 
of  molasses,  sugar,  or  rum  from  any  but  the  British  West  India  islands 
should  be  subject  to  a  duty,  Rhode  Island  strongly  remonstrated,  and  the 
New  York  merchants  declared  :  "  The  bill  is  divesting  them  [the  merchants] 
of  their  rights  as  the  king's  natural-born  subjects  and  Englishmen,  in  levy- 
ing subsidies  on  them  against  their  consent,  when  they  are  annexed  to  no 
county  in  Britain,  have  no  representation  in  Parliament,  nor  are  any  part 
of  the  legislature  of  this  kingdom.     It  will  be  drawn  into  a  precedent  here- 
after."    Bancroft,  II,  244. 

41  12.    colonies  will  go  further.     See  39  9,  note.     Compare  also,  "  But 
still  it  sticks  in  our  throats,  if  we  go  so  far,  the  Americans  will  go  farther. 
We  do  not  know  that.     We  ought  from  experience  rather  to  presume  the 
contrary.     Do  we  not  know  for  certain  that  the  Americans  are  going  on  as 
fast  as  possible,  whilst  we  refuse  to  gratify  them  ?   Can  they  do  more,  or  can 


NOTES.  Ill 

they  do  worse,  if  we  yield  this  point  ?  I  think  this  concession  will  rather 
fix  a  turnpike  to  prevent  their  further  progress."  Speech  on  American  Taxa- 
tion, W.,  II,  29.  (Cook.) 

42  5.  Austrian  family.  Emperor  Charles  the  Fifth  of  Austria  inherited 
the  throne  of  Spain  from  his  mother.  This  dynasty  continued  till  1700. 

42  8.  Philip  the  Second.  A  son  of  Charles  the  Filth :  born  in  1 527  ; 
married  Queen  Mary  of  England  in  1554;  came  to  the  throne  of  Spain  in 
1556  ;  fitted  out  the  Spanish  Armada  in  1588;  and  died  in  1598.  He  was 
far  from  a  "  perfect  standard,"  for  he  was  a  dull,  bigoted  man.  issue  of 
their  affairs.  In  1775  Spain,  though  relatively  stronger  than  to-day,  had 
already  lost  much  of  her  ancient  power. 

42  13.  English  Constitution.  This  is  not,  like  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  a  definite  document ;  the  phrase  refers  to  the  body  of  tra- 
ditions, customs,  precedents,  laws,  and  institutions,  and  to  the  general 
spirit  of  the  English  government. 

42  16.  Ireland,  Wales,  Chester  and  Durham.  These  cases  had  often  been 
cited  in  the  parliamentary  debates.  See  P.  U.,  XVI,  195-198;  XVIII,  235. 

42  17.  English  conquest.  By  Henry  the  Second,  in  1172.  For  an 
account  of  the  conquest,  see  Green,  I,  175—178. 

42  18.  no  Parliament.  Before  the  conquest  Ireland  was  governed  by  a 
number  of  independent  chiefs,  each  at  the  head  of  a  sept,  corresponding  to 
a  Scottish  clan. 

42  22.  such  as  England  then  enjoyed.  "  The  great  councils  of  barons 
and  prelates  which  he  [Henry  the  Second]  summoned  year  by  year."  Green, 
I,  167. 

42  28.  Magna  Charta.  The  Great  Charter  of  rights  which  the  barons 
forced  King  John  to  sign  in  1215.  It  provides  among  other  things  that 
"  No  scutage  or  aid  .  .  .  shall  be  imposed  in  our  realm  save  by  the  com- 
mon council  of  the  realm."  Green,  I,  246. 

42  34.     all  Ireland.     English  laws  and  liberties  were  enjoyed  by  Eng- 
lish settlers  only  who  lived  within  a  certain  district  called  the  "  Pale."     It 
was  not  until  the  time  of  James  the  First  that  the  privileges  of  the  Pale 
were  extended  to  the  whole  country.     See  Green,  I,  514-517. 

43  3.     Sir  John  Davies.     Born,  1569  ;  speaker  of  the  first  Irish  House 
of  Commons  ;  died  in  1626.     He  published  a  number  of  poems,  and  in 
1612  a  book  called  Discovery  of  the  true  Causes  why  Ireland  was  never 
entirely  Subdued  nor  brought  under  Obedience  of  the  Crown  of  England 
until  the  Beginning  of  his  Majesty's  happy  Reign. 

43  7.  military  government.  A  reference  to  the  attempts  of  the  Earl 
of  Essex  and  Lord  Mountjoy  to  put  down  rebellions  at  the  close  of  the  six- 
teenth century.  Green,  II,  496,  497. 


112  NOTES. 

43  9.    civility.     Civilization. 

43  13.  changed  the  people.  A  considerable  part  of  the  country  was 
settled  by  the  English  and  Scotch  at  the  Plantation  of  Ulster,  in  1610. 
Green,  III,  154. 

43  14.  altered  the  religion.  From  the  Church  of  Rome  to  the  Church 
of  England. 

43  16.  deposed  kings.  Charles  the  First  hi  1649  an<^  James  the  Second 
in  1688.  restored  them.  Charles  the  Second  was  restored  in  1660. 
altered  the  succession.  In  1714,  from  the  House  of  Stuart  to  the  House 
of  Hanover. 

43  19.    usurpation.     The  protectorate  of  Cromwell,  1649-1660. 

43  20.  glorious  Revolution.  Burke  calls  the  Revolution  of  1 688  glori- 
ous because  it  was  a  triumph  of  the  Whig  principles,  in  which  he  believed. 
His  views  are  very  fully  set  forth  in  his  Appeal  from  the  New  to  the  Old 
Whigs.  See  28  5,  note. 

43  22.  disgrace  and  a  burden.  For  centuries  the  government  of 
Ireland  was  one  of  the  most  serious  questions  with  which  England  had 
to  deal. 

43  24.  strength  and  ornament.  Though  at  this  time  Ireland  was  caus- 
ing comparatively  little  trouble,  Burke  certainly  exaggerates. 

43  26.  mighty  troubles.  The  rebellions  put  down  by  Cromwell  and 
William  the  Third. 

43  32.    lucrative.     Used  ironically. 

43  34.    supply.     Revenue.     Compare  50  4. 

44  1.    Irish  pensioners.     Government  pensioners  paid  out  of  the  Irish 
revenues. 

44  7.  Henry  the  Third.  Fought  with  Wales,  1265-1267.  See  Green, 
I,  280-312. 

44  8.  Edward  the  First.  Invaded  Wales,  1277  and  1282.  "The 
Statute  of  Wales  which  Edward  promulgated  at  Ruddlan  in  1 284  proposed 
to  introduce  English  law  and  the  English  administration  of  justice  and 
government  into  Wales.  But  little  came  of  the  attempt ;  and  it  was  not 
till  the  time  of  Henry  the  Eighth  that  the  country  was  actually  incorporated 
with  England  and  represented  in  the  English  Parliament."  Green,  I,  334. 
See  also  ibid.,  324,  325. 

44  12.  Lords  Marchers.  Lords  of  the  borders.  From  march,  a  boundary, 
or  border.  The  English  kings  before  Edward  the  First  had  granted  to 
the  lords  such  lands  as  they  could  win  from  the  Welsh,  and  each  lord 
executed  the  law  in  his  territory.  After  the  conquest,  these  lords  retained 
their  jurisdiction,  though  no  new  ones  were  created. 

44  29.    proclamation.     "  While  providing  for  reinforcement  to  its  army 


NOTES.  113 

England  enjoined  the  strictest  watchfulness  on  its  consuls  and  agents  in 
every  part  of  Europe  to  intercept  all  munitions  of  war  destined  for  the 
colonies."  Bancroft,  IV,  129. 

44  32.  disarm  New  England.  General  Gage,  acting  under  instructions 
from  the  home  government,  had  made  the  attempt  in  the  autumn  of  1774. 
"  He  seized  upon  the  ammunition  and  stores  which  were  lodged  in  the 
provincial  arsenal  at  Cambridge,  and  had  them  brought  to  Boston.  He 
also  at  the  same  time  seized  upon  the  powder  which  was  lodged  in  the 
magazines  at  Charlestown  and  some  other  places,  being  partly  private 
property  and  partly  provincial."  A.  >?.,  1775,  18.  General  Gage's  own 
account  of  the  affair  appears  in  a  letter  dated  November  2,  and  laid  before 
the  House  January  19,  1/75.  P.  ff-,  104. 

44  34.     more  hardship.     See  35  24,  note. 

45  6.    fisheries.     See  3  8,  note,    foreign  ports.     See  39  10,  note. 

45  8.  penal  regulation.  In  addition  to  the  restrictions  Burke  mentions, 
no  Welshman  could  buy  land  in  a  town  or,  with  a  few  exceptions,  hold  a 
castle  or  fortress. 

45  23.    laws  made  against  a  whole  people.     Compare  33  23,  note. 

4525.    twenty-seventh  year.     1535. 

45  27.  rights  of  the  crown.  "  Wherefore  the  king's  most  royal  majesty 
of  mere  droit  and  very  right  is  very  head,  king,  lord,  and  ruler."  Statutes  of 
the  Realm,  1817,  III,  563.  Chapter  26  of  27  Henry  the  Eighth. 

45  33.    fundamental  security.     Compare  20  21-24. 

46  6.     day-star.      Compare  //  Peter,  i,  19:  "Until  the  day  dawn  and 
the  day-star  arise  in  your  hearts." 

46  9.  Simul  alba.  Horace,  Odes,  i,  12,  27-32:  "When  once  their  fair 
star  has  shone  upon  the  mariner,  the  troubled  water  flows  down  from  the 
rocks,  the  winds  fall,  the  clouds  flee  away,  and,  since  they  [Castor  and 
Pollux]  have  so  willed,  the  threatening  wave  reposes  on  the  deep." 

46  15.  County  Palatine.  A  county  in  which  the  owner  possessed  royal 
rights,  the  same  as  those  of  the  king  in  his  palace.  Palatine  is  from  the 
Latin  palatium,  a  palace.  At  the  time  referred  to,  Chester  had  its  own 
courts,  judges,  and  other  such  officers,  and  also  a  Parliament. 

46  20.     Richard  the  Second.     Deposed  for  tyranny,  1399. 

46  21.     archers.     About  2000  in  number. 

46  23.  petition.  The  text,  modernized  in  spelling,  has  been  altered 
slightly  from  that  of  Dodsley  in  order  to  correspond  to  that  of  the 
Statutes  of  the  Realm,  1817,  III,  911.  It  forms  part  of  chapter  13  of  34 
and  35  Henry  the  Eighth.  (Cook.) 

46  24.     shewen.     An  obsolete  form. 

46  26.     where.     Whereas. 


114 


NOTES. 


46  29.     knights.     Members  of  Parliament  representing  a  county,    bur- 
gesses.    Members  from  boroughs. 
46  31.     disherisons.     Deprivations. 

46  33.     commonwealth.     Common  welfare. 

47  5.     ne.     Old  form  for  nor. 

47  14.  libel.  About  the  middle  of  June,  1774,  the  council  of  Massa- 
chusetts sent  to  Governor  Gage,  then  recently  appointed,  an  address 
reflecting  severely  on  the  policy  of  his  two  predecessors.  Of  this  incident 
he  says  in  a  letter  to  the  home  government  dated  June  26 :  "  The  council 
sent  me  the  enclosed  libel  on  my  predecessors  in  this  government,  in  an 
address  ;  on  which  account  I  refused  to  receive  it."  P.  ff.,  86.  According 
to  the  account  in  the  Annual  Register,  1775,  7  :  •"  The  address  was  rejected 
by  the  governor,  who  would  not  suffer  the  chairman  of  the  committee  to 
proceed  any  further,  when  he  had  read  the  part  which  reflected  on  his  pre- 
decessors. He  afterwards  returned  an  answer  to  the  council  in  writing,  in 
which  he  informed  them  that  he  could  not  receive  an  address  which  con- 
tained indecent  reflections  on  his  predecessors,  who  had  been  tried  and 
honorably  acquitted  by  the  Privy  Council,  and  their  conduct  approved  by 
the  king ;  that  he  considered  the  address  as  an  insult  upon  his  Majesty 
and  the  lords  of  his  Privy  Council,  and  an  affront  to  himself." 

47  15.  derogation.  The  argument  that  a  petition  questioning  or  deny- 
ing the  power  of  Parliament  in  any  point  should  not  be  received,  because 
it  was  a  derogation  from  the  rights  of  Parliament,  was  urged  against  the 
petitions  from  America.  For  instance,  on  March  14,  1769,  the  general 
assembly  of  New  York  offered  a  representation  denying  the  right  of  Parlia- 
ment to  tax  the  colony.  "  Lord  North  opposed  its  being  brought  up,  see- 
ing they  denied  the  right  of  the  Parliament  to  tax  them  ;  if  they  petitioned 
to  remove  any  grievance,  it  was  another  thing;  but  Parliament  having 
passed  a  law  declaratory  of  its  right  to  tax  America,  nothing  should  be 
received  arraigning  that  right."  P.  H.,  XVI,  604. 

47  19.    temperament.     Tempering,  or  modification. 

48  10.     no  way  resembling.     "  And  also  by  cause  that  the  people  of  the 
same  dominion  have  and  do  daily  use  a  speech  nothing  like  ne  consonant 
to  the   natural  mother  tongue  used  within  this  realm."     Statutes  of  the 
Realm,  1817,  III,  563,  chapter  26  of  27  Henry  the  Eighth. 

48  12.  Judge  Barrington.  Daines  Barrington :  born,  1727;  appointed 
justice  of  the  counties  of  Merioneth,  Carnarvon,  and  Anglesey,  all  in 
Wales,  1757;  died,  1800. 

48  ifi.     rebellion.    See  35  23,  note. 

48  19.  legislative  authority  is  perfect.  This  argument  had  been  urged 
again  and  again.  For  example,  on  February  6,  during  a  discussion  of  the 


NOTES.  115 

affairs  in  America,  Solicitor-General  Wedderburn  said  that  "  the  clearest 
rights  "  of  the  legislative  power  were  invaded  and  denied.     P.  H.,  233. 

48  21.    virtually  represented.     Another  common  argument.     The  fol- 
lowing is  a  passage  from  the  summary  of  the  debates  on  the  Stamp  Act  in 
1766:  "There  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  colonies 
are  as  much  represented  in  Parliament  as  the  greatest  part  of  the  people 
of  England  are,  among  nine  millions  of  whom  there  are  eight  who  have  no 
votes  in  electing  members  of  Parliament.     Every  objection,  therefore,  to 
the  dependency  of  the  colonies  upon  Parliament,  which  arises  to  it  upon 
the  ground  of  representation,  goes  to  the  whole  present  Constitution  of 
Great  Britain.     A  member  of  Parliament  chosen  for  any  borough  repre- 
sents, not  only  the  constituents  and  inhabitants  of  that  particular  place, 
but  he  represents  the  inhabitants  of  every  other  borough  in  Great  Britain ; 
he  represents  the  city  of  London  and  all  the  other  commons  of  the  land, 
and  the  inhabitants  of  all  the  colonies  and  dominions  of  Great  Britain, 
and  is  in  duty  and  conscience  bound  to  take  care  of  their  interests."     P.  ff.t 
XVI,  201,  202.      Cook   notes   that  Dr.  Johnson   also,   in    Taxation  No 
Tyranny,  had  written  :  "  It  must  always  be  remembered  that  they  [the 
Americans]  are   represented   by  the  same  virtual  representation   as   the 
greater  part  of  Englishmen ;  and  that  if  by  change  of  place  they  have  less 
share  in  the  legislature  than  is  proportionate  to  their  opulence,  they  by 
their  removal  gained  that  opulence,  and  had  originally,  and  have  now, 
their  choice  of  a  vote  at  home  or  riches  at  a  distance."     Works ;  VIII,  183. 

49  2.     Opposuit  natura.     Nature  opposed.     Juvenal,  Satires,  x,  152. 
49  4.     meddle  with  no  theory.     See  6  15,  note. 

49  6.  those  who  have  been  more  confident.  In  this  number  Franklin 
may  be  reckoned.  In  a  letter  to  Governor  Shirley  February  22,  1754,  he 
expressed  approval  of  the  plan.  See  Sparks's  edition  of  Franklin,  Boston, 
1840,  III,  64.  But  during  his  examination  before  the  House  of  Commons 
January  28,  1766,  he  said  that  before  the  Stamp  Act  Pennsylvania,  at  least, 
had  no  desire  for  representation.  P.  ff.,  XVI,  158.  Writing  in  1769  he 
seems  to  have  lost  faith  in  the  desirability  of  the  plan.  "  It  is  in  my 
opinion  by  no  means  impracticable  to  bring  representatives  conveniently 
from  America  to  Great  Britain  ;  but  I  think  the  present  mode  of  letting 
them  govern  themselves  by  their  own  assemblies  much  preferable."  Obser- 
vations on  Passages  in  "An  Inquiry  into  the  Nature  and  Causes  of  the 
Disputes  between  the  British  Colonies  in  America  and  their  Mother  Co^^n• 
try."  Sparks's  Franklin,  IV,  283.  (Cook.) 

49  8.  arm  ...  is  not  shortened.  Compare/raw/^, lix,  i :  "The  Lord's1 
hand  is  not  shortened,  that  it  cannot  save." 

49  18.     Republic.     A  sketch  of  an  ideal  commonwealth. 


116 


NOTES. 


49  19.  Utopia.  A  similar  plan  published  in  1516  by  Sir  Thomas  More, 
who  lived  1478-1535.  Oceana.  Published  in  1656  by  James  Harrington, 
who  lived  1611-1677. 

49  21.  rude  swain.  Misquoted  from  Milton's  Comus,  634,  635  :  '•'•dull 
swain." 

49  22.  clouted  shoon.  Furnished  with  clout-nails.  See  the  New  Eng- 
lish Dictionary. 

49  29.  1763.  The  beginning  of  the  Grenville  administration,  which 
passed  the  Stamp  Act. 

49  31.  grant.  A  voluntary  contribution.  See  57  9-14.  imposition. 
A  tax  imposed. 

49  33.    legal  competency.     See  53  20-33,  54  1-7. 

50  4.     supply.     See  43  34,  note. 

50  11.  temple  of  British  concord.  An  allusion  to  the  Roman  Temple 
of  Concord.  Compare  72  10-11. 

50  24.  fourteen.  The  government  of  Quebec  and  the  thirteen  colonies 
which  formed  the  Union. 

50  30.  description.  The  parties  named;  that  is,  the  colonies  and 
plantations. 

50  33.     The  second  is  like  unto.     Compare  Matthew,  xxii,  39:  "  And 
the  second  [commandment]  is  like  unto  it,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself." 

51  16.     Non  meus.     Horace,  Satires,  ii,  2,  2,  3 :  "  This  is  not  my  own 
doctrine,  but  that  taught  by  Ofellus,  a  rustic,  wise  without  rules." 

51  20.  rust  that  rather  adorns.  Compare  Juvenal,  Satires,  xiii,  147- 
149: 

Confer  et  hos,  veteris  qui  tollunt  grandia  templi 
Pocula  adorandae  robiginis  et  populorum 
Dona  vel  antique  positas  a  rege  coronas. 

"  Compare  also  those  who  despoil  some  old  temple  of  its  massive  chalices 
with  their  venerable  rust,  and  the  gifts  of  nations,  or  crowns  dedicated  by 
some  ancient  monarch."  (Cook.)  Burke  had  used  the  phrase  "venerable 
rust"  before.  On  November  27,  1770,  in  a  debate  on  the  power  of  the 
attorney-general,  he  said  :  "  They  have  set  before  our  eyes  in  every  engag- 
ing light  the  respect  and  reverence  which  it  [the  power  of  the  attorney- 
general]  has  derived  from  the  savory  mouldiness  and  the  venerable  rust  of 
ages."  P.  H.,  XVI,  1 151.  In  another  report  of  the  speech  Burke  is  made 
to  say :  "  Several  gentlemen  have  expressed  a  kind  of  superstitious  rever- 
ence for  the  power  of  the  attorney-general  to  file  official  informations,  upon 
account  of  its  supposed  antiquity,  as  the  father  of  Scriblerus  venerated  the 
rust  and  canker  which  exalted  a  brazen  pot-lid  into  the  shield  of  a  hero. 


NOTES.  117 

I  hope  to  scour  off  the  false  marks  of  antiquity  which  have  made  this 
power  venerable,  as  effectually  as  the  honest  housewife  scoured  off  the 
false  honors  of  the  pot-lid."  Ibid.,  1190.  The  passage  here  referred  to  is 
from  the  Memoirs  of  Martinus  Scriblerus,  chapter  iii :  "  Behold  the  shield. 
Behold  this  rust,  or  rather  let  me  call  it  this  precious  aerugo,  —  behold  this 
beautiful  varnish  of  time,  this  venerable  verdure  of  so  many  ages."  Pope's 
Works,  London,  1776,  IV,  79.  Possibly  this  passage  rather  than  that  from 
Juvenal  suggested  to  Burke  the  phrase  "venerable  rust";  for,  as  the  quo- 
tation at  32  33,  34  indicates,  he  seems  to  have  been  familiar  with  the  Scrib- 
lerus  papers. 

51  22.  touch  with  a  tool.  Compare  Exodus,  xx,  25  :  "And  if  thou 
wilt  make  me  an  altar  of  stone,  thou  shalt  not  build  it  of  hewn  stone  ;  for 
if  thou  lift  up  thy  tool  upon  it,  thou  hast  polluted  it." 

51  27.  tracks  of  our  forefathers.  The  conservatism  which  appears  so 
often  in  this  speech  runs  throughout  his  work.  Compare,  "  The  old  build- 
ing stands  well  enough,  though  part  Gothic,  part  Grecian,  and  part  Chinese, 
until  an  attempt  is  made  to  square  it  into  uniformity.  Then  it  may  come 
down  upon  our  heads  altogether,  in  much  uniformity  of  ruin."  Present 
State  of  the  Nation,  W.,  I,  368.  "  Has  he  well  considered  what  an  immense 
operation  any  change  in  our  Constitution  is  ?  how  many  discussions, 
parties,  and  passions  it  will  necessarily  excite  ?  and  when  you  open  it  to 
inquiry  in  one  part,  where  the  inquiry  will  stop  ?  "  Ibid.,  371.  "  The  most 
dangerous  of  all  principles,  that  of  mending  what  is  well."  Ibid.,  421.  "  The 
dislike  I  feel  to  revolutions,  the  signals  for  which  have  so  often  been  given 
from  pulpits  ;  the  spirit  of  change  that  is  gone  abroad;  the  total  contempt 
which  prevails  with  you,  and  may  come  to  prevail  with  us,  of  all  ancient 
institutions,  when  set  in  opposition  to  a  present  sense  of  convenience  or  to 
the  bent  of  present  inclination  ;  —  all  these  considerations  make  it  not 
unadvisable  in  my  opinion  to  call  back  our  attention  to  the  true  principles 
of  our  own  domestic  laws."  Reflections  on  the  Revolution  in  France,  III, 
264. 

51  30.  wise  beyond  what  was  written.  Compare  /  Corinthians,  iv, 
6 :  "TO  fi$i  birlp  o  ytypairrai  <ppovetv."  Authorized  version  :  "  That  ye  might 
learn  in  us  not  to  think  of  men  above  that  which  is  written."  Revised  ver- 
sion :  "  Ye  might  learn  not  to  go  beyond  the  things  which  are  written."  See 
also,  "  He  is  resolved  not  '  to  be  wise  beyond  what  is  written  '  in  the  legis- 
lative record  and  practice."  Appeal  from  the  New  to  the  Old  Whigs,  W., 
IV,  134- 

51  31.     form  of  sound  words.     Compare  II  Timothy,\,  13  :  "  Holdfast 
the  form  of  sound  words." 

52  13.    little  in  property.     Compare  28  5,  note. 


118  NOTES. 

52  22.  repealed.  See  36  4,  note.  Compare,  "  About  two  years  after 
this  act  [of  1767]  passed,  the  ministry,  I  mean  the  present  ministry,  thought 
it  expedient  to  repeal  five  of  the  duties  and  to  leave  .  .  .  only  the  sixth 
standing."  Speech  on  American  Taxation,  W.,  II,  10. 

52  23.  regulating  duties.  A  reference  to  what  is  called  the  Molasses 
Act,  passed  in  1733.  For  the  provisions  and  the  remonstrance,  see  40  31, 
note.  "  The  title  of  this  act  of  George  the  Second  .  .  .  considers  it  merely 
as  a  regulation  of  trade :  An  act  for  the  better  securing  the  trade  of  his 
Majesty's  sugar  colonies  in  America."  Speech  on  American  Taxation,  W.t 

II,  31. 

52  28.     duties  of  1767.     See  36  4,  note  ;  52  22,  note. 

52  30.  Lord  Hillsborough.  Born,  1718;  secretary  of  state  for  the 
colonies,  1768-1772  ;  died,  1793.  Though  in  general  opposed  to  concessions 
to  America,  yet  on  May  13,  1769,  he  sent  to  the  colonies  a  public  circular 
letter  from  which  Burke  quotes  the  following  passage  in  the  Speech  on 
American  Taxation,  W.,  II,  20 :  "I  can  take  upon  me  to  assure  you,  not- 
withstanding insinuations  to  the  contrary  from  men  with  factious  and  sedi- 
tious views,  that  his  Majesty's  present  administration  have  at  no  time 
entertained  a  design  to  propose  to  Parliament  to  lay  any  further  taxes  upon 
America  for  the  purpose  of  raising  a  revenue  ;  and  that  it  is  at  present  their 
intention  to  propose  the  next  session  of  Parliament  to  take  off  the  duties 
upon  glass,  paper,  and  colors,  upon  consideration  of  such  duties  having 
been  laid  contrary  to  the  true  principles  of  commerce." 

52  34.    resolution  of  the  noble  lord.     See  7  13,  note ;  8  30,  note. 

53  8.    representation  in  Parliament.    See  28  19,  note  ;  49  6. 

53  15.  freemen.  Those  who  have  full  rights  of  citizenship,  free- 
holders. Those  who  possess  absolutely  or  for  life  a  piece  of  property. 

53  24.  passed  the  public  offices.  Approved  by  the  proper  authorities. 
In  regard  to  the  possible  royal  veto,  see  36  22,  note. 

53  25.  Those  who  have  been  pleased.  An  allusion  to  Grenville.  "  He 
was  of  opinion,  which  he  has  declared  in  this  House  an  hundred  times,  that 
the  colonies  could  not  legally  grant  any  revenue  to  the  crown,  and  that 
infinite  mischiefs  would  be  the  result  of  such  a  power."  Speech  on  Ameri- 
can Taxation,  W.,  II,  43. 

53  30.  some  of  the  law  servants.  OH  February  10,  1766,  during  a 
debate  in  the  Lords  on  the  disturbances  in  America,  Lord  Chief  Justice 
Mansfield  argued  that  no  money  could  be  raised  without  the  consent  of 
Parliament ;  for  the  agreement  of  any  number  of  people  to  raise  money  for 
the  king  would  be  unconstitutional.  By  the  Declaration  of  Right,  pronoun- 
cing it  illegal  to  levy  money  except  by  act  of  Parliament,  all  levies,  said 
Mansfield,  by  "  loan,  gift,  or  benevolence  "  are  void.  P.  H.,  XVI,  174. 


NOTES.  119 

53  31.     if  the  crown  could  be  responsible.     Whatever  the  English  sov- 
ereign does  officially  is  done  by  the  advice  of  his  ministers,  who  are  held 
responsible. 

54  3.     council.     A  body  of  specially  selected  and  sworn  advisers  of  the 
king. 

54  4.  first  lords  of  trade.  A  reference  to  a  committee  of  the  privy 
council  having  supervision  of  commerce  and  industry.  See  Introduction, 
xv.  attorney-general.  One  of  the  chief  legal  advisers  of  the  crown, 
solicitor-general.  An  officer  associated  with  the  attorney-general  in  the 
legal  business  of  the  crown. 

54  17.  great  expenses.  On  January  28,  1766,  Dr.  Franklin  testified  to 
the  House :  "  The  colonies  raised,  paid,  and  clothed  near  25,000  men  during 
the  last  war  [the  French  and  Indian],  a  number  equal  to  those  sent  from 
Britain,  and  far  beyond  their  proportion.  They  went  deeply  into  debt  in 
doing  this,  and  all  their  taxes  and  estates  are  mortgaged  for  many  years 
to  come  for  discharging  that  debt.  .  .  .  The  sums  reimbursed  to  them 
were  by  no  means  adequate  to  the  expense  they  incurred  beyond  their 
proportion."  P.  ff.,  XVI,  153. 

54  18.     so  high.     So  far  back. 

54  19.  1695.  During  the  long  struggle  between  the  French  and  the 
English  colonists. 

54  20.  1710.  The  year  of  the  successful  expedition  against  Acadia,  in 
which  a  number  of  New  England  troops  took  part. 

54  24.     1748.     The  year  of  the  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  the  end  of  what 
is  known  as  Kir.g  George's  War.     England  then  restored  to  France  Cape 
Breton,  which  had  been  colonized  by  the  French  but  captured  by  the  English. 

55  ].     1756.     The  time  of  the  French  and  Indian  War. 

55  17-21.     Vol.  XXVII.     The  passages  referred  to  are  similar  in  phras- 
ing to  those  quoted  above. 

56  4.     miserable  stories.    In  Franklin's  testimony  the  following  sentence 
occurs  :  "  America  has  been  greatly  misrepresented  and  abused  here  in 
papers  and  pamphlets  and  speeches,  as  ungrateful  and  unreasonable  and 
unjust,  in  having  put  this  nation  to  immense  expense  for  their  defence  and 
refusing  to  bear  any  part  of  that  expense."     P.  H.,  XVI,  152,  153. 

56  5.     misguided  people.     The  English. 

56  9.  paid  no  taxes.  An  argument  which  appeared  in  nearly  every 
debate  on  America.  See,  for  example,  the  speech  of  the  Duke  of  Grafton, 
February  10,  1766,  when  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  was  proposed.  P.  H., 
XVI,  165. 

56  11.  Mr.  Grenville.  George  Grenville:  born,  1712;  prime  minister, 
1763-1765:  died,  1770. 


120  NOTES. 

56  25.     requisition.     Note  the  distinction  which  Burke  makes  between 
money  asked  for  and  taxes  imposed.     See  54  12. 

57  17.    utmost  rights.     See  37  4,  note. 

58  2.    An  act  for  granting.     See  36  4,  note. 

58  4.  drawback.  Rebate.  Duties  collected  upon  the  goods  mentioned 
were  partly  or  wholly  repaid  if  the  goods  were  again  exported. 

58  8.    clandestine  running.     Smuggling. 

58  11.    An  act  to  discontinue.     See  36  4,  note. 

58  17.    An  act  for  the  impartial  administration.     See  36  4,  note. 

58  23.    An  act  for  the  better  regulating.     See  27  18,  note. 

58  27.    An  act  for  the  trial.     See  35  24,  note. 

58  so.  during  the  king's  pleasure.  According  to  a  clause  of  the  bill, 
the  decision  as  to  reopening  the  port  was  to  rest  with  the  crown.  P.  H.t 
XVII,  1165. 

58  33.  was  not  heard.  On  March  14,  1774,  during  the  debate  on  the 
bill,  Mr.  Dowdeswell  asked  if  the  House  would  not  hear  what  Boston  had 
to  say  in  defence  ;  if  the  House  would  condemn  without  evidence  in  the 
absence  of  the  parties.  P.  H.,  XVII,  1168.  other  towns.  On  March  25, 
Mr.  Dowdeswell  inquired  :  "  What  is  the  reason  that  you  single  out  Boston 
for  your  particular  resentment?  Have  there  been  no  other  towns  in 
America  which  have  disobeyed  your  orders  ?  Has  not  Philadelphia,  New 
York,  and  several  other  provinces  sent  back  their  tea? "  Ibid.,  1180. 

58  35.    Restraining  Bill.     See  3  8,  note. 

59  9.     less  power.     In  all  the  colonies,  except  Maryland,  Connecticut, 
and  Rhode  Island,  the  crown  had  power  of  veto.     See  Lecky,  III,  324. 

59  11.  as  great  and  as  flagrant.  "  A  similar  language  was  everywhere 
held  ;  or  if  there  was  any  difference  in  the  language,  the  measures  that 
were  adopted  were  everywhere  directed  to  the  same  object."  A.  />.,  1775, 
13.  See  26  25,  note.  The  argument  used  against  Boston  was  that  it  had 
been  the  ringleader  in  the  disturbances.  "  Boston  has  been  the  ringleader 
in  all  riots,"  said  Lord  North,  when  on  March  14,  1774,  he  introduced  the 
Boston  Port  Bill.  P.  H.,  XVII,  1165. 

59  21.  returning  officer.  The  officer  who  summoned  the  jury.  This 
duty  was  now  put  into  the  hands  of  the  sheriff,  who  was  appointed  by  the 
crown.  The  object,  of  course,  was  to  obtain  juries  favorable  to  the  govern- 
ment. See  27  18,  note. 

59  25.    temporary.     The  act  was  to  continue  in  force  three  years  after 
June  i,  1774. 

60  10.     during  good  behavior.     Bancroft  thus  relates  an  incident  of  the 
autumn   of   1761 :  "  On   the   death   of  the  chief  justice   of    New   York, 
his  successor  .  .  .  was  appointed  at  the  king's  pleasure,  and  not  during 


NOTES.  121 

good  behavior,  as  had  been  done  before.  .  .  .  The  assembly  held  the  new 
tenure  of  judicial  power  to  be  inconsistent  with  American  liberty.  .  .  . 
But  in  November  the  board  of  trade  reported  to  the  king  against  the  tenure 
of  good  behavior  as  '  a  pernicious  proposition,'  '  subversive  of  all  true 
policy,'  '  and  tending  to  lessen  the  just  dependence  of  the  colonies  upon  .  .  . 
the  mother  country.'  The  representation  found  favor  with  the  king  ;  and 
as  the  first  fruits  of  the  new  system,  on  the  ninth  of  December,  1761,  the 
instruction  went  forth  through  Egremont  to  all  colonial  governors  to  grant 
no  judicial  commissions  but  during  pleasure.  .  .  .  The  assembly  of  New 
York  rose  up  against  the  encroachment,  deeming  it  a  deliberate  step 
toward  despotic  authority ;  the  standing  instruction,  they  resolved,  should 
be  changed,  or  they  would  grant  no  salary  whatever  to  the  judges." 
II,  551,  552.  (Cook.)  "  Hardy,  governor  of  New  Jersey,  having  violated 
his  instructions  by  issuing  a  commission  to  the  judges  during  good  behav- 
ior, was  promptly  dismissed."  Ibid.,  557. 

60  18.  courts  of  admiralty.  "  The  jurisdiction  of  the  courts  of  admi- 
ralty, which  tried  smuggling  cases  without  a  jury,  was  strengthened  and 
enlarged,  and  all  the  officers  of  ships  of  war  stationed  on  the  coasts  of 
America  were  made  to  take  the  custom  house  oaths  and  act  as  revenue 
officers."  Lecky,  III,  336.  "  The  custom  house  and  revenue  officers, 
unlike  other  officials  in  America,  were  not  paid  by  the  local  legislatures. 
They  were  appointed  directly  by  the  crown  or  by  the  governors."  Ibid., 
328. 

60  22.  more  decent  maintenance.  Since  the  judges  were  paid  by  fines 
imposed  on  goods  that  were  condemned,  there  was  a  temptation  to  make  large 
seizures.  See  Bancroft,  II,  553.  The  original  edition  of  the  speech  con- 
tains the  following  note  :  "  The  solicitor-general  informed  Mr.  B.  when  the 
resolutions  were  separately  moved,  that  the  grievance  of  the  judges  partak- 
ing of  the  profits  of  the  seizure  had  been  redressed  by  office ;  accordingly 
the  resolution  was  amended."  See  77  8. 

60  32.  Congress  complain.  In  an  address  to  the  people  of  Great 
Britain  issued  by  the  Congress  at  Philadelphia,  October  21,  1774,  occurs 
this  passage  :  "  It  was  ordained  that  whenever  offences  should  be  com- 
mitted in  the  colonies  against  particular  acts  imposing  various  duties  and 
restrictions  upon  trade,  the  prosecutor  might  bring  his  action  for  the 
penalties  in  the  courts  of  admiralty  ;  by  which  means  the  subject  lost  the 
advantage  of  being  tried  by  an  honest,  uninfluenced  jury  of  the  vicinage, 
and  was  subjected  to  the  sad  necessity  of  being  judged  by  a  single  man,  a 
creature  of  the  crown,  and  according  to  the  course  of  law  which  exempts 
the  prosecutor  from  the  trouble  of  proving  his  accusation,  and  obliges  the 
defendant  either  to  evince  his  innocence  or  to  suffer.  To  give  this  new 


122  NOTES. 

judicatory  the  greater  importance,  and  as  if  with  design  to  protect  false 
accusers,  it  is  further  provided  that  the  judge's  certificate  of  their  having 
been  probable  causes  of  seizure  and  prosecution  shall  protect  the  prose- 
cutor from  actions  at  common  law  for  recovery  of  damages."  Journals  of 
Congress,  I,  28. 

61  13.  prove  too  much.  When  the  Stamp  Act  was  repealed  in  1766, 
thirty-four  of  the  lords  signed  a  protest,  urging  that  if  America  pleaded  lack 
of  representation  as  a  reason  for  disobeying  the  Stamp  Act,  the  same  rea- 
soning extended  "  to  all  other  laws  of  what  nature  soever,  which  that  Par- 
liament has  enacted,  or  shall  enact,  to  bind  them  in  times  to  come,  and 
must  (if  admitted)  set  them  absolutely  free  from  any  obedience  to  the 
power  of  the  British  legislature."  P.  If.,  XVI,  185. 

61  25.  advocate  for  the  sovereignty  of  Parliament.  During  a  speech 
of  January  14,  1766,  Mr.  Grenville  had  said:  "That  this  kingdom  has  the 
sovereign,  the  supreme  legislative  power  over  America,  is  granted.  It 
cannot  be  denied ;  and  taxation  is  a  part  of  that  sovereign  power.  It  is 
one  branch  of  the  legislation.  It  is,  it  has  been  exercised,  over  those  who 
are  not,  who  were  never  represented.  It  is  exercised  over  the  India  Com- 
pany, the  merchants  of  London,  the  proprietors  of  the  stocks,  and  over 
many  great  manufacturing  towns.  It  was  exercised  over  the  palatinate  of 
Chester  and  the  bishopric  of  Durham,  before  they  sent  any  representatives 
to  Parliament.  I  appeal  for  proof  to  the  preambles  of  the  acts  which  gave 
them  representatives  :  the  one  in  the  reign  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  the  other 
in  that  of  Charles  the  Second."  Mr.  Grenville  then  quoted  the  acts  and 
desired  that  they  might  be  read.  P.  If.,  XVI,  101. 

61  28.  Lord  Chatham.  The  leading  champion  of  America  in  Parlia- 
ment. Born,  1708;  though  not  nominally  the  prime  minister,  he  was  in 
fact  head  of  the  government,  1757-1761  ;  died,  1778. 

61  29.     in  favor  of  his  opinions.     Part  of  the  speech  of  Lord  Chatham, 

—  then  Mr.  Pitt,  —  in  reply  to  Mr.  Grenville  was  as  follows  :  "  I  come  not 
here  armed  at  all  points  with  law  cases  and  acts  of  Parliament,  with  the 
statute  book  doubled  down  in  dog's-ears,  to  defend  the  cause  of  liberty  ;  if 
I  had,  I  myself  would  have  cited  the  two  cases  of  Chester  and  Durham.     I 
would  have  cited  them  to  have  shown  that  even  under  any  arbitrary  reigns 
Parliaments  were  ashamed   of  taxing  people  without  their  consent,  and 
allowed  them  representatives.     Why  did  the  gentleman  confine  himself  to 
Chester  and  Durham  ?     He  might  have  taken  a  higher  example  in  Wales, 

—  Wales   that  never  was  taxed  by  Parliament  till  it  was  incorporated." 
P.  If.,  XVI,  104. 

62  5.    de  jure.     Legally,     de  facto.     In  fact. 

62  27.    compromise  and  barter.     Burke  is  fond  of  applying  this  princl 


NOTES.  123 

pie  in  his  arguments.  Compare,  "  Of  one  thing  I  am  perfectly  clear  :  that 
it  is  not  by  deciding  the  suit  but  by  compromising  the  difference  that  peace 
can  be  restored  or  kept."  Letter  to  the  Sheriffs  of  Bristol ',  W.,  II,  231. 
"  Men  cannot  enjoy  the  rights  of  an  uncivil  and  of  a  civil  state  together. 
That  he  may  obtain  justice,  he  gives  up  his  right  of  determining  what  it  is 
i»  points  the  most  essential  to  him.  That  he  may  secure  some  liberty,  he 
makes  a  surrender  in  trust  of  the  whole  of  it."  Reflections  on  the  Revolu- 
tion in  France,  W.,  Ill,  310.  "The  rights  of  men  in  goverments  are  their 
advantages ;  and  these  are  often  in  balances  between  differences  of  good, 
—  in  compromises  sometimes  between  good  and  evil,  and  sometimes 
between  evil  and  evil."  Ibid.,  313. 

62  33.     communion  and  fellowship.     From  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer 
of  the  Church  of  England  ;  the  beginning  of  the  collect  for  All  Saints' 
Day :  "  O  Almighty  God,  who  hast  knit  together  thine  elect  in  one  com- 
munion and  fellowship." 

63  2.    immediate  jewel  of  his  soul.     Compare  Othello,  iii,  3,  155,  156: 

Good  name  in  man  and  woman,  dear  my  lord, 
Is  the  immediate  jewel  of  their  souls. 

"  Our  ruin  will  be  disguised  in  profit,  and  the  sale  of  a  few  wretched 
baubles  will  bribe  a  degenerate  people  to  barter  away  the  most  precious 
jewel  of  their  souls."  Fourth  Letter  on  a  Regicide  Peace,  W.,  VI,  98.  a 
great  house  is  apt.  Compare  Juvenal,  Satires,  v,  66 :  "  Maxima  quaeque 
domus  servis  est  plena  superbis,"  Every  great  house  is  full  of  haughty 
slaves. 

63  11.     improvement  by  disturbing.     See  51  27,  note. 

63  16.  cords  of  man.  Compare  Hosea,  xi,  4  :  "  I  drew  them  with  cords 
of  a  man,  with  bands  of  love." 

63  19.  cautions  us.  Aristotle,  Ethics,  i,  3  :  "  It  will  be  our  endeavor 
to  attain  that  accuracy  which  the  nature  of  the  subject  admits ;  for  perfec- 
tion is  not  required  in  all  the  labors  of  the  mind  any  more  than  in  all  the 
works  of  the  hand.  Political  justice  or  virtue  seems  liable  to  this  uncer- 
tainty. .  .  .  In  matters  so  little  stable  we  must  be  contented,  therefore, 
with  catching  the  general  features  of  truth  ;  and  our  conclusions  will 
deserve  to  be  approved,  if  in  most  cases  they  are  found  to  be  useful  and 
applicable  ;  for  it  is  the  part  of  wisdom  to  be  satisfied  in  each  subject  with 
that  kind  of  evidence  which  the  nature  of  the  subject  allows ;  it  not  being 
less  absurd  to  require  demonstrations  from  an  orator  than  to  be  contented 
with  probabilities  from  a  mathematician."  Gillies's  Translation,  London, 
1813,  I,  242. 

63  25.    superintending  legislature.     See  34  2.  note. 


124  NOTES. 

64  2.  unity  of  the  empire.  On  January  20,  during  the  debate  on 
Lord  Chatham's  motion  to  withdraw  the  troops  from  Boston,  the  Earl  of 
Rochford  held  that  the  "  unity  of  the  empire  should  supersede  every  inferior 
consideration,  because  on  that  its  prosperity,  stability,  and  external  grandeur 
immediately  depended  " ;  and  he  felt  that  any  yielding  would  destroy  this 
unity.  P.  H.,  166.  In  another  debate  of  February  7,  Lord  Lyttelton 
"  contended  for  the  universality  and  unity  of  the  British  Empire."  Ibid., 
276. 

64  10.  separate.  The  separate  Parliament  for  Ireland  was  abolished 
in  1800.  See  Green,  IV,  338. 

64  24.    promised.     See  9  2-3. 

64  25.    proposition.     See  7  13,  note. 

64  32.    having  already  debated.     See  8  8,  note. 

64  33.    before  the  committee.     When  the  whole  house  sat  as  a  com- 
mittee on  the  bill,  February  20.    P.  ff.t  319-338. 

65  2.    mere  project.     See  6  15,  note. 

65  6.  Experimentum  in  corpore  vili.  Commonly,  Fiat  experimentum 
in  corpore  vili,  Let  us  make  the  experiment  on  something  worthless. 

65  12.  antechamber  of  the  noble  lord.  In  the  cabinet  or  a  committee 
of  it. 

65  15.    state  auctioneer.     See  8  8,  note. 

65  27.    quarrelling.     See  8  5. 

65  33.    complain.     See  36  22,  note. 

66  29.     composition.     Adjustment  or  agreement. 

67  8.    English  revenue.     England  derived  revenue  from  an  import  duty 
on  tobacco,  and  also  dealt  largely  in  this  commodity  with  foreign  countries. 

67  21.  confound  the  innocent.  When  the  Restraining  Bill  was  pro- 
posed (see  3  8,  note)  the  objection  was  at  once  raised  by  Mr.  Dunning 
that  New  Hampshire,  Rhode  Island,  and  Connecticut  ought  not  to  be 
included  in  the  punishment  of  Massachusetts.  P.  H.,  300.  On  February 
28  a  petition  was  presented  from  the  Quakers,  saying  that  on  Nantucket 
about  4500  members  of  that  sect,  "entirely  innocent  in  respect  to  the  pres- 
ent disturbances  in  America,"  "  would  be  exposed  to  all  the  hardships  of 
famine."  Ibid.y  383.  On  the  same  day  a  number  of  witnesses  were  exam- 
ined, and  Mr.  David  Barclay,  agent  for  the  committee  of  North  American 
merchants,  summed  up  the  evidence  as  showing  that  "  a  great  number  of 
innocent  subjects  [would]  undergo  a  punishment  which  they  do  not  de- 
serve, as  by  their  occupation  the  majority  of  them  are  the  most  part  of  the 
year  at  sea,  and  consequently  must  have  been  absent  from  disturbances  at 
home."  Ibid.,  384.  On  March  6  "  Mr.  T.  Townshend  urged  the  cruelty 
and  injustice  of  an  act  which  made  no  discrimination  between  innocence 


NOTES.  125 

| 

and  guilt."  Ibid.,  387.  On  March  15  the  same  evidence  and  on  March 
1 6  and  21  much  the  same  arguments  were  offered  in  the  Lords.  Ibid., 
421-461. 

68  2.  treasury  extent.  A  writ  for  valuing  lands  to  satisfy  a  debt  to 
the  crown. 

68  10.     quotas  and  contingents.     Apportioned  to  the  several  states. 

68  17.    breaking  the  union.     See  7  13,  note. 

68  20.  their  taste.  On  the  very  day  that  Lord  North  introduced  his 
so-called  proposition  for  conciliating  America,  February  20,  he  said  :  "  I 
agree,  Sir,  that  it  is  very  probable  the  propositions  contained  in  this  resolu- 
tion may  not  be  acceptable  to  the  Americans  in  general."  P.  H.,  334. 

68  32.    certain  colonies  only.     See  7  13,  note. 

69  4.    long  discourse.     Three  hours. 

69  10.  mean  to  spare  it.  Before  the  year  1775  closed,  Burke  must 
have  spoken  at  least  a  dozen  times  more  on  America;  and  on  November 
1 6  he  offered  another  bill  for  conciliating  the  colonies.  P.  H.,  963. 

69  12.  steadily  opposed.  In  nearly  every  debate  on  American  affairs 
Burke  had  spoken  more  or  less  at  length  in  behalf  of  the  colonies. 

69  27.  Posita  luditur  area.  The  chest  (that  is,  the  whole  fortune)  is 
put  up  as  a  stake.  Juvenal,  Satires,  i,  90.  See  5  26,  note. 

69  31.     debt.     An    evidence    of    the   strength    of    the   credit    of    the 
government. 

70  29.     Ease  would  retract.     Paradise  Lost,  iv,  96,  97.     Burke  has  sub- 
stituted retract  for  the  original  recant. 

70  33.     immense,  ever-growing,  eternal  debt.     Compare  Paradise  Lost, 
iv,  52,  "The  debt  immense  of  endless  gratitude." 

71  12.     return  in  loan.     "  The  Bengal  famine  of  1770  was  followed  by 
Lord  North's  Regulating  Act,  by  which,  in  exchange  for  the  loan  of  a 
million  which  the  company  required  and  the  remission  of  the  annual  pay- 
ment to  the  government  of  ^400,000  a  year,  a  new  council  was  appointed 
by  Parliament;  a  supreme  court,  of  which  the  judges  were  appointed  by 
the  crown,  was  established  ;  and  the  governor  of  Bengal  was  made  gov- 
ernor-general of  India."     Low  and  Pulling's  Dictionary  of  English  History, 
London,  1884,  398,  399.     The  reference  was  well  calculated  to  appeal  to 
Burke's  listeners,  because  for  the  last  five  years  Parliament  had  spent  a 
great  deal  of  time  over  the  affairs  of   India  and  the  East  India  Com- 
pany.    This   powerful   corporation  was  organized  in   1600  and  did   not 
finally  go  out  of  existence  till  1873. 

71  17.    taxable  objects.     See  67  8,  note. 

71  26.     enemies.     See  18  22,  note. 

71  34.     light  as  air.     Compare  Othello,  iii,  3,  322-324  : 


126  NOTES.     . 

Trifles  light  as  air 

Are  to  the  jealous  confirmations  strong 
As  proofs  of  holy  writ.  • 

links  of  iron.     Compare  Julius  Caesar,  i,  3,  94,  95  : 

Nor  airless  dungeon  nor  strong  links  of  iron 
Can  be  retentive  to  the  strength  of  spirit. 

72  2.  grapple  to  you.  Compare  Hamlet,  i,  3,  63  :  "  Grapple  them  to 
thy  soul  with  hooks  of  steel." 

72  10.    sacred  temple.     See  50  10. 

72  12.  turn  their  faces.  An  allusion  to  a  practice  which  the  Jews, 
the  "  chosen  race,"  observed  of  turning  their  faces  toward  Jerusalem  to 
worship.  See  /  Kings,  viii,  44,  45  :  "  If  thy  people  go  out  to  battle  against 
their  enemy,  whithersoever  thou  shalt  send  them,  and  shall  pray  unto  the 
Lord  toward  the  city  which  thou  hast  chosen  and  toward  the  house  that  I 
have  built  for  thy  name,  then  hear  thou  in  heaven  their  prayer  and  their 
supplication,  and  maintain  their  cause." 

72  20.  of  price.  Compare  Matthew,  xiii,  46 :  "  Who,  when  he  had 
found  one  pearl  of  great  price,  went  and  sold  all  that  he  had  and  bought  it." 

72  28.     sufferances.      Permits,      cockets.     Sealed  certificates  that  the 
duties  have  been  paid  on  goods. 

73  1.     spirit.     Compare  Aeneid,  vi,  726,  727: 

Spiritus  intus  alit ;  totamque  infusa  per  artus, 
Mens  agitat  molem,  et  magno  se  corpore  miscet. 

One  common  soul 

Inspires  and  feeds  and  animates  the  whole. 
This  active  mind  infus'd  through  all  the  space 
Unites  and  mingles  with  the  mighty  mass. 

Dryden's  Translation,  982-985. 

73  6.     Land  Tax  Act.     An  act  annually  passed  for  raising  revenue. 

73  9.  Mutiny  Bill.  In  order  to  keep  the  army  under  control  of  Parlia- 
ment, two  bills  were  passed  annually  :  one  for  military  supply,  and  the 
Mutiny  Bill,  providing  for  the  trial  of  soldiers  by  military  law. 

73  17.  profane  herd.  Compare  Horace,  Odes,  iii,  i,  i  :  "Odi  profanum 
vulgus  et  arceo,"  I  hate  the  profane  herd  and  drive  it  from  me. 

73  25.  all  in  all.  Compare  /  Corinthians,  xv,  28  :  "  That  God  may  be 
all  in  all." 

73  29.  auspicate.  To  give  a  favorable  turn  to  in  commencing,  —  a 
sense  derived  from  the  Roman  practice  of  taking  the  auspicium,  or  inspec- 
tion of  birds,  before  entering  upon  any  important  business. 


NOTES.  127 

73  31.  Sursum  corda.  In  the  mass  of  the  Church  of  Rome  this  phrase, 
or  in  the  communion  service  of  the  Church  of  England  the  equivalent, 
"  Lift  up  your  hearts,"  is  used  just  before  the  priest  turns  to  the  altar  to 
consecrate  the  elements. 

73  34.     high  calling.     Compare  Philippians,  iii,  14 :  "I  press  toward 
the  mark  for  the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus." 

74  9.     quod  felix.     May  it  be  happy  and  prosperous. 

74  17.    previous  question.     The  motion  for  closing  debate. 


INDEX 


Abeunt  studia  in  mores,  24,  95. 

abjured  all  the  rights  of  citizens, 
1 08. 

ablest  pens,  92. 

Abridgment  of  the  History  of  Eng- 
land, xxii,  Ixvi. 

abrogation  of  Charter  of  Massa- 
chusetts, see  Massachusetts. 

abstract  liberty,  92. 

abstract  theories,  Burke's  oppo- 
sition to,  see  theories. 

Acadia,  119. 

Account  of  the  European  Settle- 
ments in  America,  xxii,  Ixvi, 
Ixx,  80,  81. 

Achaeans,  101. 

Ackland,  Mr.,  85. 

Act  of  Union,  88. 

acta  parentum,  etc.,  14,  87. 

Acts,  100. 

Acts  of  Navigation,  see  Naviga- 
tion Acts. 

Adams,  John,  president,  Ixix. 

adaptation  of  government  to  tem- 
per and  circumstances,  see  tem- 
per and  circumstances. 

Addison,  Joseph,  x. 

Address  to  the  King,  xlix,  liii,  Ixviii, 
91,  99,  101,  104. 

addresses  to  the  king,  8,  85,  106. 

Admiral  Hosier's  Ghost,  Glover, 
87. 


admiralty,  courts  of,  Ixiii,  60,  121. 

Adolphus,    History     of  England 

from  the  Accession  to  the  Decease 

of  George  the  Third,  xiii,  Ixxi. 
adventitious,  82. 
advocate  for  the   sovereignty   of 

Parliament,  122. 
advocates  and  panegyrists,  101. 
j&neid,  89,  101,  126. 
Africa.-  xlix,  17,  32,  89. 
African  trade,  12,  87. 
against  the  superior,  104. 
Age  of  Reason,  Paine,  Ixix. 
agents  for  the  colonies,  see  colony 

agents, 
agitation  over  the  Stamp  Act,  see 

Stamp  Act. 

agriculture  of  the  colonies,  Iviii,  16. 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  Peace  of,  119. 
Algiers,  li,  25,  96. 
Ali,  Hyder,  ravages  of,  xxxv,  1. 
all  in  all,  126. 
all  Ireland,  in. 
Alleghanies,  99. 
altered  the  religion,  112. 
altered  the  succession,  IC2. 
America,  English  opinion  of,  xiii. 
American    Antiquarian    Society, 

xxx,  Ixxi. 

American  Committee,  see  Chair. 
American    Commonwealth,  James 

Bryce,  see  Bryce. 


130 


INDEX. 


American  Congress,  see  Congress; 
Journals  of,  See  Journals  of  the 
American  Congress. 

American  financiers,  39,  109. 

American  imports,  duties  on,  see 
imports. 

American  love  of  freedom,  1,  Iviii, 
19-25. 

American  Mutiny  Act,  107. 

American  revenue  impossible,  see 
revenue. 

American  Revolution,  John  Fiske, 
see  Fiske. 

American  Taxation,  Speech  on, 
see  Speech,  etc. 

Americans,  descendants  of  Eng- 
lishmen, 19-21. 

Analogy,  Butler,  see  Butler. 

Anarchy  is  found  tolerable,  98. 

ancient  commonwealths,  92. 

And  the  rude  swain,  etc.,  see  rude 
swain. 

Andrews,  E.  B.,  History  of  the 
United  States,  xii,  Ixxi. 

Anglesey,  114. 

Angola,  32. 

Anne,  Queen,  xi,  87. 

Annual  Register,  v,  xiii,  xx,  Ixxii, 
79,  80,  81,  83,  85,  88,  89,  94,  98, 
1 08,  113,  114,  120;  Burke's  con- 
nection with,  xxii,  Ixvi,  Ixx,  Ixxi. 

Anstey,  Christopher,  New  Bath 
Guide,  xi. 

antechamber  of  the  noble  lord, 
124. 

Anti-Jacobin,  Ixix. 

Antiquarian  Society,  American, 
see  American,  etc. 

anti-slavery  movement,  xi. 

Antoinette,  Marie,  Burke's  de- 
scription of,  xlix,  lfii. 


Appalachian  Mountains,  29,  99. 
Appeal  from  the  New  to  the  Old 

Whigs,   xxxvii,   xlii,   Ixix,    112, 

117. 

Arabia,  li,  25. 
Arbuthnot,  Dr.,  102. 
archers,  113. 
Arcot,    Speech    on    the    Nabob  oj 

Ar  cot's  Debts,  see  Speech,  etc. 
Arginusae,  battle  of,  101. 
Argumentation,  Principles  of,  see 

Baker. 

Aristophanes,  101. 
Aristotle,  63,  81,  123. 
arm  is  not  shortened,  115. 
Armada,  in. 
as  broad  and  general  as  the  air, 

93- 
as  great  and  as  flagrant,  120. 

Asia,  xlix. 

assemblies,  colonial,  dissolved,  xix, 

26,    107;   form   of,  21,  92,  93; 

their  competency,  Ixii,  53. 
atheism,  Burke's  dread  of,  xxvii, 

xxviii. 

Athenaid,  Glover,  87. 
attack  upon    judiciary,  see  judi- 

ciary. 

attorney-general,  119. 
auction  of  finance,  Ivii,  8,  65,  84, 

see  also  ransom  by  auction. 
auspicate,  126. 
auspicious,  88. 
austerity  of  the  Chair,  79. 
Austrian  family,  in. 
aversion  from,  93. 


Bacon,  Francis,  liv,  95  ;  Essay 
Macaulay,  see  Macaulay. 

Baker,  G.  P.,  Principles  of  Argu 
mentation,  Ivi. 


INDEX. 


131 


Bancroft,  George,  History  of  the 
United  States,  v,  xii,  Ixxi,  79, 

86,99,    101,    102,    IIO,    113,    120, 
121. 

bar,  87. 

Barclay,  David,  124. 

Barre,  Colonel,  xvi. 

Barrington,  Daines,  48,  114. 

Barry,    James,    befriended    by 
Burke,  xl. 

barter  and  compromise,  see  com- 
promise. 

Bath  Guide,  New,  Christopher 
Anstey,  see  Anstey. 

Bathurst,  Lord,  14,  87. 

Beaconsfield,  xlviii ;  Burke's  pur- 
chase of,  xxiv,  Ixvii ;  Lord,  title 
to  have  been  given  to  Burke, 
xxxix. 

Bee,  Goldsmith,  Ixvi. 

before  the  committee,  124. 

beggar  subjects  into   submission, 

31- 

Bengal,  xlviii,  71  ;  famine,  125. 

Bentham,  Jeremy,  xliv. 

Bible,  81,  87,  88,  95,  99,  100,  107, 
108,  113,  115,  116, 117,  123,  126, 
127  ;  Burke's  quotations  from, 
liii. 

Birmingham,  xiv. 

Birrell,  Augustine,  Obiter  Dicta, 
Second  Series,  xxii,  Ixxi. 

Black  Hole  of  Calcutta,  Ixvi. 

Blackstone,  Sir  William,  Commen- 
taries, Ixvii,  23,  94 

Blake,  William,  Ixvi,  Ixviii. 

blind  usages,  92. 

blown  about  by  every  wind  of 
fashionable  doctrine,  see  wind. 

blue  ribbon,  84. 

Bolingbroke,  Lord,  Ixv,  Ixvi. 


Bonaparte,  Napoleon,  Italian  cam- 
paign, Ixix ;  puts  down  rising  of 
1 3th  Vendemiaire,  Ixix. 

Book  of  Common  Prayer,  see  Com- 
mon Prayer. 

books  of  curious  science,  31,  100. 

Boston,  xviii,  94,  98 ;  Massacre, 
xviii,  Ixvii ;  motion  to  withdraw 
troops  from,  see  Chatham ;  Port 
Bill,  xviii,  Ixii,  Ixvii,  58,  59,  68, 
1 02,  1 06,  120;  Tea  Party,  see 
Tea  Party. 

BoswelPs  Life  of  Johnson,  ix,  xxiii, 
xli,  Ixix,  Ixxi. 

boundaries,  83. 

Brazil,  17. 

break  the  American  spirit,  91. 

Breton,  Cape,  see  Cape. 

Brissofs  Address,  Preface  to,  see 
Preface,  etc. 

Bristol  chooses  Burke  as  repre- 
sentative, xxviii,  Ixvii;  refuses 
to  reelect  Burke,  xxx,  Ixviii. 

British  Eloquence,  Select,  C.  A. 
Goodrich,  see  Goodrich. 

British  strength,  91. 

broad  and  general  as  the  air,  see 
as  broad. 

Brougham,  Lord,  Inquiry  into  the 
Colonial  Policy  of  the  European 
Powers,  li;  Statesmen  of  the 
Time  of  George  the  Third,  Ixxi, 

84. 

Brusa,  li,  25. 

Bryce,  James,  American  Common' 
wealth,  93. 

Buckle,  H.  T.,  History  of  Civiliza- 
tion in  Europe,  Ixxi. 

Bunker  Hill,  battle  of,  Ixvii. 

burgesses,  46,  50,  51,  114. 

Burgoyne,  General,  90,  91. 


132 


INDEX. 


Burke,  Edmund,  a  troublesome 
colleague,  xxxiii;  accused  of 
dishonesty,  xxiii,  xxiv,  xxxiii ; 
acquaintance  with  literature,  liii, 
liv ;  acquaintance  with  the  clas- 
sics, liv ;  advocates  economical 
reform,  xxxii ;  advocates  reform 
in  India,  xxxiii-xxxv,  xxxviii, 
xlii ;  agent  for  New  York,  xxx, 
Ixvii,  Ixxi:  aim  at  utilitarian 
effect,  xliv,  xlv ;  appeals  to  love 
of  right,  xlii ;  arrival  in  London, 
Ixv ;  attitude  in  the  Wilkes  con- 
test, xxiv,  xxv ;  attitude  toward 
America,  xxx-xxxii,  xxxviii ; 
attitude  toward  Ireland,  xxix, 
xxxviii,  xxxix,  xlii;  attitude 
toward  parliamentary  reform, 
xxvi,  xxxii;  attitude  toward 
the  French  Revolution,  xxxvi, 
xxxvii,  xxxviii;  birth,  xx,  Ixv; 
college  life,  xx,  xxi,  Ixv;  com- 
mended by  Chatham,  xxiii; 
conservatism,  xxvi,  xxvii,  xxxii, 
xxxiv,  xxxvii,  xlv,  xlvi,  51,  117  ; 
Correspondence,  xx,  xxi,  xxii, 
xxv,  xxvi,  xxvii,  xxviii,  xl,  xlii, 
Ixx,  79,  96;  dies,  xxxix,  Ixix; 
dread  of  atheism,  xxvii,  xxviii; 
efforts  to  keep  the  Rocking- 
ham  Whigs  united,  xxvi,  xxvii ; 
elected  member  for  Bristol, 
xxviii,  Ixvii;  elected  to  Parlia- 
ment, xxiii,  Ixvii,  80 ;  enthusiasm 
for  study,  xxi ;  establishes  school 
for  children  of  French  Emigres, 
xl;  excluded  from  cabinet,  xxxiii; 
failure  to  control  temper,  xxxiii; 
faults,  xli;  friendship  with  Dr. 
Johnson,  ix,  xl,  xli;  gradua- 
tion from  college,  Ixv;  grief 


over  death  of  son,  xli ;  improvi- 
dence, xxiv;  in  Ireland,  xxii, 
Ixvi ;  in  London,  xxi,  xxii,  xxxiii; 
in  the  Literary  Club,  x,  xxiii, 
Ixvii;  indebted  to  Rockingham, 
xxiv;  independent  of  constitu- 
ents, xxix,  xxx;  liberality,  xliii, 
xliv;  life  of,  xix-xli;  loses  seat 
at  Bristol,  xxx,  Ixviii;  love  of 
justice,  xlii;  marriage,  xli,  Ixvi; 
member  for  Wendover,  xxiii, 
Ixvii,  80;  method  of  construct- 
ing paragraphs,  liv,  Iv;  method  of 
quoting,  liv ;  offered  Indian  com- 
missionership,  xxvi ;  opposed  to 
commercial  restriction,  xxix ;  op- 
posed to  theories,  xxxii,  xxxiv, 
xliv,  xlv,  Ivii,  9,  57 ;  opposed  to 
use  of  force,  xxv,  xxx,  xxxiv, 
Iviii,  17,  18,  31,  32,  100,  101; 
oratory,  xlvi-xlix ;  Paymaster  of 
the  Forces,  xxxiii,  Ixviii ;  person- 
ality, xxxix,  xl;  philanthropy, 
xl ;  political  tracts,  xxiii ;  power 
of  his  imagination,  xlii,  xlviii, 
1,  lii;  prosecution  of  Hastings, 
xxxv,  xxxvi,  xxxix,  xliii,  xlvii, 
Ixviii,  Ixix;  purchase  of  Bea- 
consfield,  xxiv,  Ixvii;  quarrels 
with  Fox,  xxxvi,  Ixix;  quarrels 
with  Hamilton,  xxii;  quarrels 
with  Sheridan,  Ixix ;  receives  a 
pension,  xxxix;  relations  with 
Richard  and  William  Burke, 
xxiv,  xxxiii;  reliance  on  expe- 
rience, xlv,  Iviii,  Ixi,  18,  41,  57, 
65 ;  religion,  xx ;  retires  from 
Parliament,  xxxix,  Ixix;  school 
days,  xx ;  secretary  to  Lord 
Rockingham,  xxiii,  Ixvii ;  Select 
Works,  edited  by  E.  J.  Payne, 


INDEX. 


133 


vi,  xlvi,  li,  Ixx,  81,  92,  93,  95, 
101;  speaks  against  the  Stamp 
Act,  xxiii;  Speeches,  edited  by 
F.  G.  Selby,  iv,  xii,  Ixx,  95 ; 
statesmanship,  xli-xlvi ;  study 
of  Irish  history,  xxi;  study  of 
law,  xxi;  style,  xlix-lv;  sub- 
stantial reputation,  xxviii ;  suc- 
cess on  entering  Parliament, 
xxiii;  supported  by  mercantile 
organizations,  xxviii;  suspected 
of  being  Junius,  xxv ;  travels, 
xxi;  use  of  connectives,  liv; 
visit  to  France,  xxvii,  xxviii, 
Ixvii ;  work  on  Annual  Register, 
xxii,  Ixvi,  Ixx,  Ixxi. 

Burke,  Morley,  xx,  xxii,  xxv,  xxvi, 
xxxviii,  xli,  xlvi,  Ixx. 

Burke,  Richard,  brother  of  Ed- 
mund, xxiv,  xxxiii. 

Burke,  Richard,  son  of  Edmund, 
dies,  xxxix,  xli,  Ixvi,  Ixix ;  unpop- 
ularity, xli. 

Burke,  William,  xxiv,  xxxiii. 

Burns,  Robert,  Ixvi,  Ixviii. 

but  three  ways,  99. 

Bute  ministry.  Ixvi. 

Butler's  Analogy,  Ixv. 

Byron,  Lord,  born,  Ixviii. 

Calcutta,  Black  Hole  of,  see  Black 

Hole. 

Cambridge  arsenal,  113, 
Camden,  Lord,  85. 
Canada,  xviii. 
Candide,  Voltaire,  Ixvi. 
Cannae,  101. 
Canute,  95. 
Cape  Breton,  54,  119. 
capital,  85. 
Carlyle,  Thomas,  birth,  Ixix. 


Carnarvon,  114. 

Carnatic,  1. 

Carolinas,  effects  of  slavery  there, 

22,  32. 

Casius,  Mount,  37. 

Castle  of  Otranto,  Walpole,  Ixvii. 

Castlereagh,  Lord,  84. 

Castor,  113. 

Catholic  Question,  Letters  on,  see 
First  Letter,  Second  Letter,  etc. 

Catholics,  disabilities  of,  xxxix, 
xlii. 

Cato,  Addison,  107. 

Cause  of  the  Present  Discontents, 
Thoughts  on,  see  Thoughts,  etc. 

cautions  us,  123. 

Century  Dictionary,  83. 

Chair,  79. 

Chair  of  the  American  Committee, 
81. 

changed  the  people,  112. 

character  and  circumstances  of 
people,  see  temper  and  cir- 
cumstances. 

chargeable,  100. 

charity,  Roman,  see  Roman  charity. 

Charles  the  Fifth,  in. 

Charles  the  First,  112. 

Charles  the  Second,  112,  122. 

Charleston,  xviii. 

Charlestown,  113. 

Charter  of  Massachusetts  abro- 
gated, see  Massachusetts. 

Chatham,  Earl  of,  xi,  xvi,  xvii, 
Ixviii,  Ixxii,  95,  122;  advocates 
American  cause,  61 ;  commends 
Burke's  speeches,  xxiii ;  leader 
of  the  New  Whigs,  see  New 
Whigs;  motion  to  withdraw 
troops  from  Boston,  109,  124; 
Essay  on,  Macaulay,  Ixxi. 


134 


INDEX. 


Chatham  ministry,  Ixvii. 

checking  of  population,  see  popu- 
lation. 

Chester  an  example  for  deaiing 
with  America,  Ixi,  46,  47,  48,  52, 
61,  62,  64,  in,  113,  122. 

Chesterfield's  Letters,  Ixxi. 

children  of  men,  see  given  to, 
etc. 

china  earthenware,  58. 

Chinese,  117. 

Church  of  England,  93,  112,  123, 
127;  in  the  colonies,  21,  22,  31. 

Church  of  Rome,  see  Roman 
Catholic. 

Cicero,  liv,  104. 

circumstances  and  temper  of 
people,  see  temper  and  circum- 
stances. 

Civil  Liberty,  R.  Price,  Ixxii. 

civil  litigant,  104. 

civility,  112. 

Civilization  in  Europe,  History  of, 
H.  T.  Buckle,  Ixxi. 

clandestine  running,  1 20. 

Clarissa  Harlowe,  Richardson,  x, 
Ixv. 

classics.,  Burke's  knowledge  of,  liv. 

Cleomenes,  101. 

cling  and  grapple,  lii,  72. 

closing  of  Boston  Port,  see  Boston 
Port  Bill. 

clouted  shoon,  116. 

Club,  The,  see  Literary  Club. 

Coalition  ministry,  xxxiii,  xxxiv, 
Ixviii. 

cockets,  126. 

coercion  and  restraint,  80. 

Coke,  Sir  Edward,  rancor  toward 
Ralegh,  33,  102,  103. 

Coleridge,  Samuel  Taylor,  Ixvii. 


colonial  agriculture,  see  agricul 
ture. 

colonial  assemblies,  see  assem- 
blies. 

colonial  commerce,  see  commerce. 

colonial  fisheries,  see  fisheries. 

Colonial  Policy  of  the  European 
Powers,  Inquiry  into,  see 
Brougham. 

colonies  complain,  107 ;  irritated 
at  England,  xiii;  protest,  xv,  107 ; 
will  go  further,  no. 

colony  agents,  84. 

Commentaries,  Blackstone,  see 
Blackstone. 

commerce,  expansion  of,  xi,  xii, 
11-15;  n°t  secured  by  Naviga- 
tion Acts,  see  Navigation;  of 
colonies,  Ivii,  Iviii,  i  i-i  5. 

commercial  advantages  of  concili- 
ation, xii,  11-15. 

commercial  policy  of  England, 
xiii. 

commercial  restriction,  Burke 
opposed  to,  xxix. 

commercial  restrictions,  see  com* 
mercial  policy. 

committees  of  correspondence, 
xviii,  97. 

common  head,  see  one  common 
head. 

Common  Prayer,  Book  of,  123. 

Common  Sense,  Paine,  Ixviii,  Ixxii. 

commonwealth,  114. 

communion,  93. 

communion  and  fellowship,  123. 

competence  of  colonial  assemblies, 
see  assemblies. 

complaint,  81. 

complaints  of  the  colonies,  see 
colonies  complain. 


INDEX. 


135 


complexions,  90. 

composition,  124. 

compromise  and  barter,  62,  122, 
123. 

comptrollers,  99. 

Comus,  109,  1 1 6. 

Conciliation,  Speech  on,  see  Speech, 
etc. 

Conclusion  of  the  Poll,  Speech  at, 
see  Speech,  etc. 

confidence  of  the  colonies  in  the 
mother  country,  see  unsuspect- 
ing confidence. 

confident,  98. 

confound  the  innocent,  124. 

Congress,  xix,  Ixvii,  83,  86;  com- 
plaint of,  60,  107,  121  ;  Journals 
of,  see  Journals  of  the  American 
Congress ;  largely  composed  of 
lawyers,  23,  94 ;  respected  by  the 
colonists,  97. 

Connecticut,  xviii,  54,  59,  120, 124; 
protests  against  Stamp  Act,  xv. 

connectives,  Burke's  use  of,  liv. 

conservatism  of  Burke,  xxvi,  xxvii, 
xxxii,  xxxiv,  xxxvii,  xlv,  xlvi, 
51,  117. 

Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
in;  framed,  Ixviii. 

Constitution  of  the  year  III,  Ixix. 

Continental  Congress,  see  Con- 
gress. 

Contrat  Social,  Ixvi. 

converting  ill-will  into  delinquency, 
41. 

Cook,  A.  S.,  editor,  Speech  on  Con- 
ciliation, iv,  v,  Ixx,  87,  89,  92, 
99,  101,  103,  in,  113,  115,  116, 

121. 

cords  of  man,  123. 
Corinthians,  I,  1 08,  117,  126. 


Cornwall,  Mr.,  98. 

Cornwallis  surrenders,  Ixviii. 

correctly,  107. 

Correspondence,  Burke's,  xx,  xxi, 
xxii,  xxv,  xxvi,  xxvii,  xxviii,  xl, 
xlii,  Ixx,  79,  96. 

correspondence,  committees  of, 
see  committees. 

County  Palatine,  see  Palatine. 

courts  of  admiralty,  see  admiralty. 

Cowper,  William,  Ixviii. 

Crabbe,  George,  befriended  by 
Burke,  xl. 

Crimea,  li,  25,  96. 

criminal  prosecution  of  the  colo- 
nies, Ix,  33-36,  102. 

Cromwell's  protectorate,  112. 

crown  could  be  responsible,  see  ii 
the  crown,  etc. 

curious,  88. 

Cymon,  88. 

Damiata,  37. 

D'Arblay,  Madame,  Ixviii ;  descrip- 
tion of  Burke,  xxxix,  xl,  xlvi; 
Diary  and  Letters,  ix,  x,  xl,  Ixxi. 

Davenant,  Charles,  12,  87. 

Davies,  Sir  John,  43,  in. 

Davis,  George,  89. 

Davis  Strait,  16. 

day-star  of  the  English  Constitu- 
tion, liii,  46,  113. 

de  facto,  122. 

de  jure,  122. 

De  minimis  non  curat  lex,  86. 

De  Officiis,  Cicero,  104. 

Debi  Sings,  see  Sing. 

debt,  125. 

debts  of  the  colonies,  56. 

deceive  the  burden  of  life,  14, 
88. 


136 


INDEX. 


Declaration  of  Independence,  Ixviii, 
86,  97. 

Declaration  of  Right,  118. 

Declaratory  Act,  xvi,  xvii. 

declaring  a  rebellion,  see  Massa- 
chusetts. 

Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  Gibbon,  Ixviii. 

Delaware,  xv. 

delicate,  80. 

deposed  kings,  112. 

derogation,  fi  1 4. 

descendants  of  Englishmen,  Iviii, 
91. 

description,  116. 

Deserted  Village,  Goldsmith,  Ixvii. 

Diary  and  Letters  of  Madame 
D'Arblay,  see  D'Arblay. 

Dictionary,  Johnson,  Ixvi. 

Dictionary  of  English  History, 
Low  and  Pulling,  see  Low  and 
Pulling. 

Dictionary  of  National  Biography, 
xx,  Ixxi,  79,  84,  87,  94,  97,  102. 

Dictionary  of  United  States  His- 
tory, J.  F.  Jameson,  Ixxii. 

dinner-bell,    epithet    applied    to 
Burke,  xlvii. 

disarm  New  England,  113. 

discord  fomented  from  principle, 
82. 

Discourses  on  Revenue  and  Trade, 
Davenant,  87. 

Discovery  of  the  True  Causes, 
Davies,  in. 

disgrace  and  a  burden,  112. 

disherisons,  114. 

disreputably,  81. 

dissidence  of  dissent,  22. 

dissolution  of  provincial  assem- 
blies, see  assemblies. 


divide  et  impera,  82. 

Dodsley's    Annual    Register,   see 

Annual  Register. 
Dowdeswell,  Mr.,  120. 
drawback,  120. 
drawing  up  an  indictment  against 

a  whole  people,  see  indictment. 
Dryden,  John,  x,  liv,  126. 
Dundas,  Henry,  advocates  sever- 
ity towards  colonies,  91,  102. 
Dunmore,  Governor,  xix. 
Dunmore,  Governor,  emancipates 

slaves,  101. 
Dunmore,     Governor,     suspends 

Virginia  assembly,   lix,  26,  27, 

96,  97. 

Dunning,  Mr.,  124. 
Duration   of  Parliaments,  Speech 

on,  see  Speech,  etc. 
Durham  an   example  for  dealing 

with   America,   Ixi,   47,  48,   52, 

62,  64,  in,  122. 
during  good  behavior,  1 20. 
during  the  king's  pleasure,  120. 
duties    on    imports,    see    import 

duties. 

Ease  would  retract,  etc.,  70,  125. 
East  India  Bill,  Fox's,  see  Fox ; 

Speech  on,  see  Speech,  etc. 
East  India  Company,  xxiv,  xxvi, 

71,    122,    125;     cruel     system, 

xxxiv. 
Ecclesiastical  Polity,  Hooker,  see 

Hooker. 

Eclogues,  Virgil,  88. 
economical  reforms,  xxxii. 
Economical  Reform,  Speech  on  the 

Plan,  see  Speech,  etc. 
Edmund    Burke:      a    Historical 

Study,  John  Morley,  xli,  Ixx. 


INDEX. 


137 


education   of   the   colonists,  Iviii, 

23,  24. 
Edward  the  First   in    Wales,  44, 

112. 
Edward  the  Third,  act  of,  defining 

rebellion,  105. 
Egypt,  li,  25,  96. 
Elegy,  Gray,  Ixvi. 
Elizabeth,    Queen,    attempts    to 

subdue  Ireland,  43. 
England,     France     declares    war 

against,  Ixix. 
England  from  the  Accession  to  the 

Decease  of   George  the    Third, 

History    of,     Adolphus,    see 

Adolphus. 

England  in  the  Eighteenth   Cen- 
tury, History  of,  W.  E.  H.  Lecky, 

see  Lecky. 

England,  social  condition,  ix-xii. 
English  conquest  of  Ireland,  1 1 1 . 
English  Constitution,  in. 
English     Humorists,    Thackeray, 

see  Thackeray. 
English  Men  of  Letters,  see  Mor- 

ley,  John. 

English  opinion  of  America,  xiii. 
English  People,  History  of,  J.  R. 

Green,  see  Green. 
English  revenue,  124. 
English  Tartars,  29. 
English  Thought  in  the  Eighteenth 

Century,  History  of,  Leslie  Ste- 
phen, see  Stephen. 
Ephesians,  81,  108. 
Erskine,  Lord,  xlix. 
Esprit  des  Lois,  Montesquieu,  Ixv. 
Essay   on   Bacon,   Macaulay,   see 

Macaulay. 
Essay    on     Chatham,     Macaulay, 

Ixxi. 


Essay  on  Man,  Pope,  Ixv,  96. 

Essay  on  Warren  Hastings,  Ma- 
caulay, see  Macaulay. 

Essex,  Earl  of,  in. 

establishments,  93. 

eternal  debt,  see  immense. 

Ethics,  Aristotle,  123. 

Europe,  xlix. 

European  Settlements  in  America, 
see  Account  of. 

evangelical  movement,  see  Metho- 
dist movement. 

Evelina,  Madame  D'Arblay,  Ixviii. 

event,  79. 

ever-growing,  eternal  debt,  see 
immense. 

ex  vi  termini,  34,  103. 

excite  your  envy,  88. 

Exodus,  117. 

experience,  Burke's  reliance  on, 
xlv,  Iviii,  Ixi,  18,  41,  57,  65. 

Experimentum  in  corpore  vili,  65, 
124. 

exploded,  100. 

export  trade  of  England,  11-15. 

exquisite,  109. 

Falkland  Island,  16,  89. 
Fielding,  Henry,  x,  Ixv,  Ixvi. 
filled  the  Chair  of  the  American 

Committee,  see  Chair,  etc. 
First  Letter  on  a  Regicide  Peace, 

xliv,  91,  93,  1 08. 

first  lords  of  trade,  see  lord,  etc. 
first  mover,  96. 
fisheries  of  the  colonies,  Iviii,  16, 

i?»  67,  79,  88,  89. 
Fiske,  John,  American  Revolution, 

xii,  xiii,  xv,  xviii,  Ixxi 
floor,  95. 
force,  Burke's  opposition  to,  xxv, 


138 


INDEX. 


xxx,  xxxiv,  Iviii,  17,  18,  31,  32, 
100,  101. 

foreign  enemy,  91. 

form  of  sound  words,  117. 

formerly  addressed,  105. 

formerly  adored,  92. 

fountain  of  hereditary  dignities,  88. 

Pour  Georges,  Thackeray,  see 
Thackeray. 

Four  Tracts  on  Political  and  Com- 
mercial Subjects,  Josiah  Tucker, 
see  Tucker. 

fourteen  separate  governments, 
1 1 6. 

Fourth  Letter  on  a  Regicide  Peace, 

93»  I23- 
Fox,   Charles    James,   xi,   xxxiii, 

Ixxii,  8 1  ;  Burke's  quarrel  with, 
xxxvi,  Ixix;  East  India  Bill, 
xxxiv;  East  India  Bill,  Speech 
on,  see  Speech,  etc. 

France  declares  war  against  Eng- 
land, Holland  and  Spain,  Ixix. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  Ixxii;  agent 
for  the  colonies,  84;  letter  to 
Governor  Shirley,  115;  testi- 
mony before  Parliament,  119. 

freedom,  American  love  of,  see 
American. 

freemen,  118. 

freeholders,  118. 

French  and  Indian  War,  xv,  Ixvi, 
119. 

French  tmigrh  befriended  by 
Burke,  xl. 

French  National  Assembly,  xxxvii. 

French  Revolution  begins,  Ixviii ; 
Burke's  attitude,  xxxvi,  xxxvii, 
xxxviii,  xlii;  Reflections  on,  see 
Reflections,  etc. 

fresh  principles,  4,  81. 


fret  and  rage,  96. 
friend,  95. 

Friendship  of  Books,  F.  D.  Mau- 
rice, Ixxi. 

frozen  Serpent,  see  Serpent. 
Fuller,  Rose,  81,  102. 
further  views,  109. 
futile  and  useless,  no. 

Gage,  General,  23,  94 ;  at  Boston, 
xix,  94,  95,  98,  113,  114. 

Garrick,  David,  x,  xxiii,  xl. 

Garter,  Knight  of,  84. 

"  Gaspee,"  burning  of,  xvii,  xviii. 

gave  so  far  into  his  opinion,  81. 

generosity  of  the  colonies,  Ixii,  54- 
56,  119. 

generous,  90. 

Genesis,  99. 

George  Seltuyn  and  His  Contempo- 
raries, Jesse,  x,  Ixxi,  81. 

George  the  First,  Ixvi. 

George  the  Second,  x,  52,  88. 

George  the  Second,  Thackeray,  xi. 

George  the  Third,  x,  14,  88 ;  ac- 
cession, xiv,  88;  Memoirs  of, 
Jesse,  Ixxi ;  policy  of,  xiv,  xvi, 
xvii,  xxv. 

Georgia,  Franklin  agent  for,  84. 

Germain,  Lord  George,  98. 

Germany,  68. 

Gibbon,  Edward,  Ixviii ;  born,  Ixv. 

given  to  the  children  of  men. 
100. 

giving  up  the  colonies,  99. 

glorious  Revolution,  see  Revolu- 
tion. 

Glover,  Richard,  Ivii,  n,  86,  87. 

Goethe,  Ixv. 

Goldsmith,  Oliver,  x,  xxiii,  xlvii, 
Ixvi,  Ixvii,  Q2. 


INDEX. 


139 


good  for  us  to  be  here,  see  it  is, 
etc. 

Goodrich,  C.  A.,  Select  British  Elo- 
quence^ iv,  xlvi,  xlviii,  Ixx,  95. 

Gordon  riots,  Ixviii. 

Gothic,  117  ;  ancestors,  23,  93. 

government  a  trust  for  the  people, 
see  trust. 

government  keeps  the  table,  70. 

grace  and  bounty,  85. 

Grafton,  Duke  of,  102,  119. 

Grafton  ministry,  xvii,  Ixvii. 

grand  penal  bill,  Ivi,  3,  79,  109. 

grant,  Ixii,  49,  50,  56,  57,  116. 

Grant,  Colonel,  90. 

grapple  to  you,  126. 

Gray,  Thomas,  Ixvi,  Ixvii. 

great  contests,  92. 

great  expenses  of  the  colonies, 
119. 

great  house  is  apt,  123. 

Grecian,  117. 

Greece,  92. 

Green,  J.  R.,  History  of  the  Eng- 
lish People,  x,  xi,  xii,  xxii,  xxiv, 
xlvii,  Ixxi,  79,  in,  112. 

Greenbrier  River,  99. 

Grenville,  George,  xvi,  xvii,  xxiii, 
no,  116,  118,  119;  on  the  sover- 
eignty of  Parliament,  61,  122. 
proposes  Stamp  Act,  xv,  56. 

Grenville  ministry,  Ixvii. 

Grenville  Papers,  Ixxi. 

grown  with  the  growth,  96. 

Guinea  captain,  32,  102. 

habeas  corpus  not  recognized  in 
Quebec  Act,  xix;  suspended, 

•  •  • 

Xlll. 

Hamilton,  William  Gerard,  xxii, 
Ixvi. 


Hamlet,  96,  126. 

Hampden,  John,  92,  99. 

Hancock,  John,  seizure  of  his 
sloop  "  Liberty,"  xviii. 

Hannibalian  war,  101. 

Hanover,  House  of,  112. 

hardy,  90. 

Hardy,  Governor,  121. 

Harrington,  Sir  James,  49,  108, 
116. 

Harris,  Mr.,  91. 

Harvey,  Captain,  90. 

has  a  regular  establishment,  see 
regular  establishment. 

Hastings,  Warren,  Essay  on,  Ma- 
caulay,  see  Macaulay ;  Speech  in 
Opening  the  Impeachment  of,  see 
Speech,  etc ;  trial  of,  xxxv,  xxxvi, 
xxxix,  xliii,  xlvii,  Ixviii,  Ixix. 

Helots,  101. 

Henry  the  Eighth,  Ixi,  45,  48,  112, 
122;  act  of,  for  the  trial  of 
treasons,  Ixii,  35,  58,  59,  105. 

Henry  the  Second,  in. 

Henry  the  Third  in  Wales,  44, 
112. 

Heroides,  Ovid,  95. 

high  calling,  127. 

Hill,  G.  Birkbeck,  edition  of  Bos- 
well's  Life  of  Johnson,  see  Bos- 
well. 

Hillsborough,  Lord,  52,  118. 

Hindostan,  xlv. 

Historical  and  Posthumous  Me- 
moirs, Wraxall,  Ixxi. 

History  and  Proceedings  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  87. 

History  of  Civilization  in  Europe, 
H.  T.  Buckle,  Ixxi. 

History  of  England,  Burke,  xxii, 
Ixvi. 


140 


INDEX. 


History  of  England,  Hume,  Ixvi,  95. 

History  of  England  from  the  Ac- 
cession to  the  Decease  of  George 
the  Third,  Adolphus,  xiii,  Ixxi. 

History  of  England  in  the  Eighteenth 
Century,  W.  E.  H.  Lecky,  v,  x, 
xi,  xii,  Ixxi,  79,  86,  94,  98,  99, 

I2O,   121. 

History  of  English  Thought  in 
the  Eighteenth  Century,  Leslie 
Stephen,  x,  xli,  xlv,  Ixxi. 
History  of  the  English  People,  J.  R. 
Green,  x,  xi,  xii,  xxii,  xxiv,  xlvii, 
Ixxi,  79,  in,  112. 

History  of  the  Life  and  Times  of 
Edmund  Burke,  Thomas  Mac- 
Knight,  Ixxi. 

History  of  the  United  States,  E.  B. 
Andrews,  xii,  Ixxi. 

History  of  the  United  States,  George 
Bancroft,  v,  xii,  Ixxi,  79,  86,  99, 
101,  102,  no,  113,  120,  121. 

Hobert,  Judge,  103. 

Hogarth,  William,  x. 

Holland,  17  ;  France  declares  war 
against,  Ixix. 

Hooker,  Ecclesiastical  Polity,  93. 

Horace,  88,  95,  113,  116,  126; 
Burke's  quotations  from,  liii. 

Hosea,  123. 

House  of  Hanover,  112. 

House  of  Stuart,  112. 

Howard,  John,  xi. 

huckster,  96. 

Hudson  Bay,  16. 

Hume,ffistory  of  England,  Ixvi,  95. 

humors,  97. 

Humphrey  Clinker,  Smollett,  x, 
Ixvii. 

Hutchinson,  Chief  Justice,  the 
sacking  of  his  house,  xvi. 


Hyder  All,  see  AIL 
Hydrus,  see  Serpent. 
Hyginus,  88. 

Idea   of  a   Patriot  King,  Boling- 

broke,  Ixv. 
Idler,  Johnson,  Ixvi. 
idolizing,  no. 
if  the  crown  could  be  responsible, 

119. 

ill-husbandry  of  injustice,  45. 
imagination,  Burke's,  see  Burke, 
immediate  jewel  of  his  soul,  123. 
immense,     ever-growing,     eternal 

debt,  125. 

impair  the  object,  91. 
impeachment  of  Warren  Hastings, 

see  Hastings ;  Speech  in  Opening, 

see  Speech,  etc. 
imperial  character  of  Great  Britain. 

103. 

import  duties,  xvii. 
imposition,  Ixii,  49,  50,  56,  57, 116. 
improvement  by  disturbing,  1 23. 
in  favor  of  his  opinions,  122. 
increase  and  multiply,  99. 
indebtedness  of  the  colonies,  see 

debts. 
Independence,     Declaration     of, 

Ixviii,  86,  97. 

independence  of  Burke,  xxix,  xxx. 
India,  xlix ;  Burke's  championship 

of,     xxxiii-xxxv,    xxxviii,    xlii; 

Burke's    knowledge    of,   xlviii; 

revenue  from,  Ixiv,  71. 
indictment  against  a  whole  people, 

xxxii,  xxxix,  Ix,  33,  102. 
indulgence  toward  the  colonies,  91. 
infidelity,    Burke's   dread   of,   see 

atheism, 
injustice,  104. 


INDEX. 


141 


Inquiry  into  the  Colonial  Policy  of 
the  European  Powers,  Brougham, 
li. 

Inquiry  into  the  Origin  of  our  Ideas 
on  the  Sublime  and  Beautiful, 
xxii,  lii,  Ixvi. 

inquisition  and  dragooning,  31. 

inspector-general's  office,  12,  87. 

interest  in  the  Constitution,  109. 

Interpreter  of  English  Liberty, 
Woodrow  Wilson,  Ixxi. 

Ireland,  112;  an  example  for  deal- 
ing with  America,  Ixi,  Ixiii,  42- 
44,  64,  69,  in;  before  the  con- 
quest, li,  1 1 1  ;  Burke's  liberality 
toward,  xxix,  xxxviii,  xxxix,  xlii; 
catches  contagion  of  French 
Revolution,  xxxix;  effect  of 
Popery  laws,  xlix ;  Parliament 
of,  124. 

Irish  pensioners,  112. 

Irnham,  Lord,  91. 

Irving,  Washington,  born,  Ixviii. 

Isaiah,  107,  115. 

issue  of  their  affairs,  1 1 1 . 

It  is  good  for  us  to  be  here,  87. 

Italian  campaign  of  Napoleon 
Bonaparte,  Ixix. 

Jacobite  Rebellion,  Ixv. 

James  the  First  and  Ralegh,  103. 

James  the    Second   deposed,  xiv, 

112. 
Jameson,     J.    F.,    Dictionary    of 

United  States  History,  1492-1894, 

Ixxii. 

Jeffreys,  Judge,  103. 
Jenkins,  Seth,  89. 
Jerusalem,  126. 
Jesse,     George    Selwyn    and    His 

Contemporaries,  see  George  Sel- 


wyn, etc ;  Memoirs  of  George  the 

Third,  Ixxi. 
jewel  of  his  soul,  see  immediate 

jewel,  etc. 
Jews  praying  toward   Jerusalem, 

126. 

Job,  95. 
John,  88. 
John,  King,  in. 
Johnson,    Dr.,   x,   Ixv,  Ixvi,  Ixvii, 

Ixviii,  Ixxii ;  account  of  Burke's 

success    in    Parliament,    xxiii; 

death,    Ixviii;    dislike    of    the 

Whigs,  xl,  xli ;  Life  of,  Bos  well, 

see  Boswell ;  regard  for  Burke, 

ix,  xl,  xli ;  Taxation  no  Tyranny, 

see  Taxation,  etc. 
Johnstone,  Governor,  xvi,  103. 
Joseph  Andrews,  Fielding,  Ixv. 
Journals  of  the  American  Congress, 

xiii,  xviii,  xix,  Ixxii,  79,  83,  86, 

107,  122. 

judge  in  my  own  cause,  34,  103. 
judiciary,  attack  upon,  120,  121. 
Julius  Caesar,  88,  126. 
Junius,  xi,  xiii,  xxiv,  Ixvii,  Ixxii,  79 ; 

supposed  to  be  Burke,  xxv. 
juridical  determination,  83. 
justice,  Burke's  love  of,  xlii. 
Juvenal,  100,  115,  116,  117,  123, 

125;    Burke's  quotations  from, 

liii. 

Keats,  John,  birth,  Ixix. 
King  George's  War,  119. 
King  Lear,  89. 
Kings,  I,  126. 
"king's  friends,"  xvi,  90. 
Knight  of  the  Garter,  see  Garter. 
knights,  46,  50,  51,  114. 
Kurdistan,  li,  25. 


142 


INDEX. 


Lake  Serbonis,  see  Serbonis. 

Lamb,  Charles,  born,  Ixviii. 

Land  Tax  Act,  73,  126. 

Laocoon,  Lessing,  see  Lessing. 

late,  102. 

law  servants,  118. 

law,  study  of,  in  the  colonies,  23, 94. 

laws  made  against  a  whole  people, 

US- 
lawyers  in  Congress,  see  Congress. 

Lecky,  W.  E.  H.,  England  in  the 
Eighteenth  Century,  v,  x,  xi, 
xii,  Ixxi,  79,  86,  94,  98,  99,  120, 
121. 

Leeds,  xiv. 

legislative  authority  is  perfect,  114. 

Leonidas,  Glover,  87. 

less  power,  120. 

less  than  nothing,  107. 

Lessing,  xxii,  Ixv,  Ixvii. 

letter  on  your  table,  94. 

Letter  to  a  Member  of  the  National 
Assembly,  xxxvii,  Ixix. 

Letter  to  a  Noble  Lord,  xxxiii,  xxxvi, 
xxxvii,  xxxix,  xli,  Ixix. 

Letter  to  the  Sheriffs  of  Bristol, 
xxxi,  xlii,  xlv,  Ixviii,  80,  81,  83, 
92,  93,  100,  105,  108,  123. 

Letters,  Lord  Chesterfield,  Ixxi. 

Letters,  Junius,  xi,  xiii,  xxiv,  Ixvii, 
Ixxii,  79. 

Letters,  Walpole,  ix,  Ixxi. 

Letters  on  a  Regicide  Peace,  xxxvii, 
xxxix,  xlix,  Ixix,  see  also  First 
Letter,  Second  Letter,  etc. 

Letters  on  the  Catholic  Question,  see 
First  Letter,  Second  Letter,  etc. 

Letters  to  Gentlemen  in  Bristol, 
xxix,  xxx,  xliii,  100. 

Leucaspedae,  see  Macedonian. 

Lexington,  battle  of,  Ixvii. 


libel,  114. 

liberality  of  Burke,  xliii,  xliv. 

liberty,    American    love    of,    see 

American. 
"  Liberty,"  John  Hancock's  sloop, 

see  Hancock. 
Life  and  Times  of  Edmund  Burke, 

History  of,  Thomas  MacKnight, 

Ixxi. 
Life  of  Johnson,  Boswell,  ix,  xxiii, 

xli,  Ixix,  Ixxi. 
light  as  air,  125. 
links  of  iron,  126. 
Literary  Club,  x,  xxiii,  Ixvii. 
literature,    Burke's     acquaintance 

with,  liii,  liv. 

Lives  of  the  Poets,  Johnson,  Ixviii. 
Livy,  101. 
Locke,  John,  108. 
long  discourse,  125. 
Lord  of  Trade,  xv,  119. 
Lord  North,  see  North. 
Lord    Rockingham,  see  Rocking- 

ham. 

lords  marchers,  44,  112. 
loss  of  my  suit,  108. 
Louis    the     Sixteenth     executed, 

xxxviii,  Ixix ;  suspension  of,  Ixix. 
love  of  freedom,   American,   see 

American. 
Low  and   Pulling's  Dictionary  of 

English  History,  Ixxii,  125. 
lucrative,  112. 
Lucretius,  liv. 
Luttrell,  Temple,  82,  91. 
Lyttelton,  Lord,  109,  124. 

Macaulay,  Essay  on  Bacon,  Hi, 
Ixxi;  Essay  on  Chatham,  Ixxi; 
Essay  on  Warren  Hastings,  xxxv, 
xlviii,  Ixxi. 


INDEX. 


143 


Macbeth,  93. 

mace,  84. 

Macedonian  Leucaspedae,  101. 

MacKnight,  Thomas,  History   of 

the  Life  and  Times  of  Edmund 

Burke,  Ixxi. 

Macpherson,  James,  Ixvi. 
Madras,  1. 

Magna  Charta,  li,  42,  92,  in. 
magnanimity  in  politics,  Ixiv,  73. 
Malton,  Burke  member  for,  Ixviii. 
Mansfield,  Lord  Chief  Justice,  1 18. 
Marathon,  101.       . 
march,  112. 

Marie  Antoinette,  see  Antoinette, 
mark  and  seal  of  British  freedom, 

36. 

marriage  of  Burke,  see  Burke. 

MartinusScriblerus,  Pope, 102, 117. 

Mary,  Queen,  in. 

Maryland,  67,  80,  120;  Franklin 
agent  for,  84 ;  protests  against 
Stamp  Act,  xv. 

Massachusetts,  xvi,  xviii,  54,  114, 
1 24 ;  abrogation  of  charter,  xviii, 
xix,  lix,  Ixii,  Ixvii,  27,  58,  59,  97, 
98,  107 ;  declared  in  rebellion, 
xix,  Ix,  35,  104;  Franklin  agent 
for,  84 ;  protests  against  Stamp 
Act,  xv  ;  threatened,  106. 

Matthew,  liii,  87,  88,  100,  116, 126. 

Maurice,  F.  D.,  lecture  on  Burke, 
Ixxi. 

mean  to  spare  it,  125. 

Mecca,  xlviii. 

Memoirs  of  George  the  Third, 
Jesse,  Ixxi. 

Memoirs,  Historical  and  Post- 
humous, Wraxall,  Ixxi. 

Memoirs,  Horace  Walpole,  Ixxi. 

Memoirs,  Rockingham,  Ixxi. 


menaces  to  the  colonies,  106. 

mere  general  theories,  85. 

Mere  Literature,  Woodrow  Wil- 
son, Ixxi. 

merely,  93. 

Merioneth,  114. 

Methodist  movement,  xi,  Ixv. 

Middlesex  Election,  Speech  on,  see 
Speech,  etc. 

mighty  troubles,  112. 

military  art,  90. 

military  force,  Burke's  dread  of, 
xxv,  xxx,  xxxiv,  Iviii,  17,  18,  31, 
32,  100,  101. 

military  government,  in. 

Milton,  John,  89,  90,  99,  108,  109, 
1 1 6,  125;  Burke's  quotations 
from,  liii. 

minima,  86. 

ministers  of  vengeance,  see  winged 
ministers. 

miserable  stories,  119. 

misguided  people,  119. 

Mississippi,  99. 

mode  of  governing,  92. 

Mogul  Empire,  xlviii. 

Molasses  Act,  118. 

Monongahela,  99. 

monopoly  of  theorems  and  corolv 
laries,  20. 

Montesquieu,  Ixv. 

more  decent  maintenance,  121. 

More,  Sir  Thomas,  49,  116. 

Morley,  Henry,  Universal  Library, 
xii,  Ixx. 

Morley,  John,  Burke,  in  English 
Men  of  Letters,  xx,  xxii,  xxv, 
xxvi,  xxxviii,  xli,  xlvi,  Ixx;  Ed- 
mund Burke:  a  Historical 
Study,  xli,  Ixx. 

most  inconsiderable  person,  82. 


144 


INDEX. 


motion  to  withdraw  troops  from 
Boston,  Chatham's,  see  Chatham. 
Mount  Casius,  see  Casius. 
Mount  joy,  Lord,  in. 
Murray,  John,  see  Dunmore. 
Mutiny  Act,  American,  107  ;  Mu- 
tiny Bill,  73,  126. 

Nabob  of  Arcot  's  Debts,  Speech  on, 
see  Speech,  etc. 

Nantucket,  124. 

Napier,  Sir  Joseph,  lecture  on 
Burke,  Ixxi. 

National  Biography,  Dictionary 
of,  see  Dictionary. 

natural,  82. 

Natural  Society,  Vindication  of, 
see  Vindication. 

nature  and  circumstances,  see 
temper  and  circumstances. 

Navigation  Acts,  60,  72,  109,  no; 
not  a  security  to  trade,  39. 

ne,  114. 

never  be  begged,  91. 

New  Bath  Guide,  Christopher 
Anstey,  see  Anstey. 

New  English  Dictionary,  1 1 6. 

New  Hampshire,  54,  124. 

New  Jersey,  80,  121  ;  protests 
against  Stamp  Act,  xv. 

New  River,  99. 

New  Whigs,  xiv. 

New  York,  xv,  xviii,  97,  120; 
assembly  suspended,  xvii,  107 ; 
attack  upon  judiciary  of,  120, 
121 ;  denies  Parliament's  right 
to  tax,  114;  protests  against 
Stamp  Act,  xviii ;  secures  Burke 
as  agent,  xxx,  Ixvii,  Ixxi. 

Newfoundland  fisheries,  89 ;  colo- 
nists restricted  from,  79,  88. 


nice,  103. 

Night  Thoughts,  Young,  Ixv. 

Nile,  1 08. 

no  climate,  89. 

no  Parliament,  in. 

no  way  resembling,  114. 

noble  lord,  84. 

Noble  Lord,  Letter  to,  see  Letter,  etc. 

Non  meus  hie  sermo,  etc.,  51,  116. 

non-exportation  agreement,  97. 

non-importation  agreement,  xv, 
xvii,  xix,  86,  97. 

none  but  an  obedient  assembly,  96. 

Norfolk  burned,  97. 

North  Carolina,  67. 

North,  Lord,  xxxiii,  84,  94,  95, 
114,  120;  advocates  force,  90, 
91,  98;  character  of,  84;  grand 
penal  bill,  79,  109;  leader  of 
the  Tories,  xiv;  propositions  for 
conciliation,  Ivii,  Ixiii,  8,  53,  64, 
82,  84,  85,  125;  regards  trade 
restraints  as  useless,  Ix,  39,  40, 
no. 

North  ministry,  Ixvii. 

Norton,  Sir  Fletcher,  79. 

not  a  shadow  of  evidence,  see 
shadow. 

Nugent,  Jane,  xli,  Ixvi. 

obedience,  100. 

obedience  is  what  makes  govern- 
ment, 27,  97. 

Obiter  Dicta,  Augustine  Birrell, 
see  Birrell. 

Observations  on  the  Conduct  of  the 
Minority,  xxxvii,  Ixix. 

Observations  on  the  Present  State 
of  the  Nation,  xxiii,  Ixvii,  82,  83, 
99,  117. 

occasional,  86. 


INDEX. 


145 


Oceana,  Harrington,  49,  116. 

Odes,  Horace,  95,  113,  126. 

of  price,  126. 

Ofellus,  51,  1 1 6. 

Old  Whigs,  xiv,  xvi. 

On   the  Policy   of  the  Allies,  see 

Remarks. 
on  your  table,  87;  see  also  letter 

on  your  table, 
one  common  head,  103. 
Opposuit  natura,  49,  115. 
Origin  of  our  Ideas  on  the  Sublime 

and  Beautiful,  see  Philosophical 

Inquiry. 

Ossian,  Macpherson,  IxvL 
Othello,  123,  125. 
other  people,  101. 
other  towns,  120. 
Ovid,  88,  95. 

paid  no  taxes,  119. 

Paine,  Thomas,  Ixviii,  Ixix,  Ixxii. 

Palatine,  County,  46,  47,  113. 

"Pale,"  the,  in. 

Palliser,  Sir  Hugh,  testimony  on 

fisheries,  89. 
Palmerston,  Lord,  a  Knight  of  the 

Garter,  84. 

Pamela,  Richardson,  Ixv. 
paper  government,  xxvi,  xlv,  6,  81, 

82. 
Paradise  Lost,    89,    90,    99,    108, 

125. 
paragraphs,    Burke's    method    of 

constructing,  liv,  Iv. 
Parliamentary  History,  v,  xi,  xii, 

xiii,  xv,  xvi,  xvii,  xviii,  xix,  xxiv, 

xxv,  xxxi,  xlvii,  Ixx,  Ixxii,  79,  80, 

81,82,83,85,86,  88,89,90,91, 

94>  95»  97»  98>  I02>  I03>  I04>  105, 
106,  107,  108,  109,  no,  111,113, 


114,  115,  116,  118, 119, 120, 122, 
124,  125. 

parliamentary  reform,  attitude  of 
Burke  toward,  xxvi,  xxxii ;  atti- 
tude of  Whigs  toward,  xiv. 

passed  the  public  offices,  118. 

Patriot  King,  Idea  of,  see  Idea. 

Pausanias,  101. 

Payne,  E.  J.,  editor,  Burke's  Select 
Works,  iv,  xlvi,  li,  Ixx,  81,  92, 93, 
95,  101. 

Peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  see  Aix- 
la-Chapelle. 

penal  bill,  see  grand  penal  bill. 

penal  laws,  106,  107. 

penal  regulation,  113. 

Pennsylvania,  Iviii,  80, 1 1 5 ;  Frank- 
lin agent  for,  84 ;  protests  against 
Stamp  Act,  xv;  trade  of,  15. 

people  generally  in  the  right,  35, 
104. 

Percy,  Reliques,  Ixvii,  87. 

Perry,  Bliss,  Selections  from  Burke, 
xlvi,  1,  Ixx. 

personality  of  Burke,  see  Burke. 

Peter,  II,  113. 

petition  of  Chester,  46,  47,  113. 

Petition  of  the  Unitarians,  Speech 
on,  see  Speech,  etc. 

Philadelphia,  xviii,  120. 

philanthropy  in  England,  xi. 

Philip  the  Second,  42,  in. 

Philippians,  127. 

Philosophical  Inquiry  into  the 
Origin  of  our  Ideas  on  the 
Sublime  and  Beautiful,  xxii,  Hi, 
Ixvi. 

Pitt,  William,  the  Elder,  see  Chat- 
ham; William,  the  Younger, 
xlvii. 

Pitt  ministry,  IxviiL 


146 


INDEX. 


Plan    for    Economical     Reform, 

Speech  on,  see  Speech,  etc. 
Plantation  of  Ulster,  see  Ulster, 
platform,  81. 
Plato,  Republic,  49,  115. 
Plautus,  liv. 
Plutarch,  liv,  101. 
Poems  Chiefly  in  the  Scottish  Dia- 
lect, Burns,  Ixviii. 
Poles,  23,  93. 
Policy  of  the  Allies,  Remarks  on, 

see  Remarks. 
political  condition  of  England,  xii- 

xix. 

Pollux,  113. 
Fool,  88. 
Pope,  Alexander,  x,  xxi,  Ixv,  87, 

96,  102,  117;  Burke's  quotations 

from,  liv. 
Popery  laws,  effect  of,  xlix  ;  Tract 

on,  xxii,  xlvi,  86,  97. 
popular,  93. 
popular  part,  96. 
population  of  the  colonies,  Ivii,  10, 

n,  cannot  be  checked,  lix,  29. 
Port  Bill,  Boston,  see  Boston. 
Port  Louis,  89. 
Portugal,  American  imports  from, 

xvii. 

Posita  luditur  area,  69,  125. 
pounces,  24,  95. 
poverty  to  rapine,  45. 
powers  of  government  in  trust  for 

the  people,  see  trust. 
Preface  to   Brissofs   Address,  87, 

93- 

Present  Discontents,  Thoughts  on 
the  Cause  of,  see  Thoughts,  etc. 

Present  State  of  the  Nation,  Ob- 
servations on,  see  Observations, 
etc. 


previous  question,  127. 

previous  to  any  submission,  85. 

Price,  Richard,  Civil  Liberty,  IxxiL 

primum  mobile,  96. 

Principles  of  Argumentation, 
Baker,  see  Baker. 

Prior,  James,  Life  of  Burke,  xx, 
hod. 

Prior,  Matthew,  87. 

privilegium,  103. 

Privy  Council,  xv,  114,  119. 

proclamation,  112.          • 

produce  our  hand,  81. 

profane  herd,  126. 

profound  subject,  108. 

prosecution,  criminal,  see  criminal. 

Protestant  Dissenters,  Speech  on 
the  Relief  of ,  see  Speech,  etc. 

Protestantism  of  the  Protestant 
religion,  22. 

protests  of  the  colonies,  xv. 

prove  too  much,  122. 

provincial  assemblies,  see  assem- 
blies. 

Provincial  Congress,  see  Congress. 

Prussia,  72. 

pruriency,  84. 

Psalms,  100. 

Ptolemaic  system,  96. 

Public  Advertiser,  xi,  Ixvii. 

Puffendorf,  108. 

purple  patches,  liii. 

Pym,  92. 

Quakers,  124. 

Quebec,  116;  Act,  xviii;  capture, 

Ixvi. 

Queensberry,  Marquis  of,  x. 
quod  felix  faustumque  sit,  74,  127 
quotas  and  contingents,  125. 
quotations,  Burke's  use  of,  liv. 


INDEX. 


147 


Ralegh,  Sir  Walter,  trial  for 
treason,  33,  102,  103. 

Rambler,  Johnson,  Ixv. 

Ranae,  Aristophanes,  101. 

ransom  by  auction,  68. 

Rasselas,  Johnson,  Ixvi. 

ravages  of  Hyder  Ali,  see  Ali. 

rebellion  declared  in  Massachu- 
setts, see  Massachusetts ;  defined 
by  act  of  Edward  the  Third, 
105 ;  Jacobite,  see  Jacobite. 

refined,  84. 

refinement  on  the  principle  of  re- 
sistance, 22,  93. 

Reflections  on  the  Revolution  in 
France,  xxxvi,  xxxvii,  xliv,  xlv, 
liii,  Ixix,  82,  103,  117,  123. 

reform  of  Parliament,  see  parlia- 
mentary reform. 

reform  in  India,  see  India. 

Regicide  Peace,  Letters  on,  see 
First  Letter,  Second  Letter,  etc. 

Register,  Annual,  see  Annual 
Register. 

regular  establishment,  93. 

regulating  duties,  1 18. 

Reign  of  Terror,  xxxvii,  Ixix. 

reliance  on  experience,  see  experi- 
ence. 

Relief  of  the  Protestant  Dissenters, 
Speech  on,  see  Speech,  etc. 

religion  of  the  colonists,  Iviii,  21, 

22. 

Reliques,  Percy,  see  Percy. 
Remarks  on  the  Policy  of  the  Allies, 

xxxvii,  Ixix,  1 02. 
repeal  of  Stamp  Act,  see  Stamp 

Act. 

repealed,  118. 

Report  on  the  Lords1  Journal,  liii. 
representation  in    Parliament  im- 


possible for  America,  Ixi,  49,  53, 

107,  115. 

Republic,  Plato,  see  Plato, 
requisition,  120. 
responsibility  of  the  crown,  see  if 

the  crown, 
restive,  91. 
restored  them,  112. 
Restraining  Bill,  58,  1 24. 
restriction  of  commerce,  see  com- 
mercial policy. 
Retaliation,  Goldsmith,  xlvii. 
return  in  loan,  125. 
returning  officer,  120. 
revenue  by  grant,  see  grant;  by 

imposition,  see  imposition;  from 

America  impossible,  7 1 ;    from 

India,  see  India. 
Revolution,  American,  John  Fiske, 

xii,  xiii,  xv,  xviii,  Ixxi. 
Revolution,  glorious,  43,  112. 
Revolution   in  France,  Reflections 

on,  xxxvi,  xxxvii,  xliv,  xlv,  liii, 

Ixix,  82,  103,  117,  123. 
Reynolds,  Sir  Joshua,  xxiii;  legacy 

to  Burke,  xl. 
Rhode   Island,  54,   59,   120,  124; 

burning   of   the  "  Gaspee,"  see 

"  Gaspee  " ;       protests    against 

Molasses    Act,    no;     protests 

against  Stamp  Act,  xv. 
Rice,  Mr.,  109,  no. 
Richard  the  Second,  46,  113. 
Richardson,  Samuel,  Ixv. 
Richmond,  Duke  of,  xxvii. 
Rights  of  Man,  Paine,  Ixix. 
rights  of  the  crown,  113. 
rising   of    i3th   Vendemiaire   put 

down  by  Bonaparte,  Ixix. 
Robespierre,  fall  of,  Ixix. 
Rochford,  Earl  of, 


148 


INDEX. 


Rockingham,     Lord,     death      of, 

xxxiii,  Ixviii ;  first  ministry,  xvi. 

xxiii;   first  ministry  ends,  xvii, 

xxiii;  generosity  to  Burke,  xxiv; 

prime  minister,  xvi,  xxiii,  xxvii, 

Ixvii;     second   ministry,   xxxiii, 

Ixviii. 

Rockingham  Memoirs,  Ixxi. 
Rockingham  Whigs,  xvi;  Burke's 

efforts    to    keep    them   united, 

xxvi,  xxvii. 

Roderick  Random,  Smollett,  Ixv. 
Rolls-chapel,  xxvii. 
Roman    Catholic    Church,    127  ; 

religion,  21,  31. 
Roman  charity,  16,  88. 
Roman  Temple  of  Concord,  see 

Temple,  etc. 
Rome,  92. 

"  rotten  boroughs,"  xiv,  xxvi. 
Rousseau,  J.  J.,  x,  Ixvi. 
Ruddlan,  112. 
rude  swain,  116. 
run  the  longitude,  89. 
Rungpore,  xlix,  1. 
rust  that  rather  adorns,  51, 1 16, 1 17. 

St.  James's  Street,  xlviii. 

St.  John,  98. 

Salem,  94. 

Satires,  Horace,  88,  166;  Juvenal, 

100,  115,116,  123,  125. 
Schiller,  Ixvi. 
Scott,  Sir  Walter,  Ixvii. 
second  is  like  unto,  116. 
Second    Letter     on    the     Catholic 

Question,  xxxix,  109. 
seizure    of    sloop   "  Liberty,"  see 

Hancock. 
Selby,  F.  G.,  Burke's  Speeches,  iv, 

xii,  Ixx,  95. 


Selden,  92,  108. 

Select  British  Eloquence,  C.  A. 
Goodrich,  see  Goodrich. 

Select  Works  of  Burke,  edited  by 
E.  J.  Payne,  see  Payne. 

Selections  from  Burke,  Perry,  see 
Perry. 

Selwyn,  George,  and  His  Contem- 
poraries, Jesse,  see  George  Sel- 
wyn, etc. 

seminal  principle,  14. 

sensible,  92. 

separate  Parliament  of  Ireland, 
124. 

sept,  in. 

Serbonian  bog,  37,  108. 

Serbonis,  Lake,  108.          , 

Serpent,  frozen,  16,  89. 

several  orders,  92. 

Shackleton,  Abraham,  xx. 

Shackleton,  Richard,  xx,  xl,  96. 

shadow  of  evidence,  no. 

Shakspere,  88,  89,  93,  96,  123, 
125,  126;  Burke's  quotations 
from,  liii. 

Shelburne,  Lord,  xxxiii,  85. 

Shelburne  ministry,  Ixviii. 

Shelley,  P.  B.,  birth,  Ixix. 

Sheridan,  R.  B.,  Ixvi;  Burke's 
quarrel  with,  Ixix. 

Sheriff's  of  Bristol,  Letter  to,  see 
Letter,  etc. 

shewen,  113. 

Shirley,  Governor,  Franklin's 
letter  to,  see  Franklin. 

Shuldham,  Molyneux,  89. 

Simul     alba     nautis,     etc.,     46, 

US- 
Sing,  Debi,  cruelties  of,  xlix. 

"Single-Speech"  Hamilton  ree 
Hamilton. 


INDEX. 


149 


slavery  in  the  colonies,  Iviii,  22,  23 ; 
objection  of  colonies  to,  32,  101. 

slaves,  enfranchisment  of,  lix,  Ix, 
32,  101. 

Smith,  Adam,  Ixviii. 

Smith,  Goldwin,  United  States,  xii, 
Ixxi. 

Smollett,  Tobias  George,  x,  Ixv, 
Ixvii. 

Smyrna,  li,  25. 

So  far  shalt  thou  go,  95. 

so  high,  119. 

so  large  a  mass,  86. 

social  conditions  of  England,  ix-xii. 

solicitor-general,  1 19. 

some  of  the  law  servants,  see  law 
servants. 

Songs  of  Innocence,  Blake,  Ixviii. 

South  Carolina,  80;  protests 
against  slave  trade,  101 ;  pro- 
tests against  Stamp  Act,  xv. 

Spain,  25,42,  72,  ill;  American 
imports  from,  xvii;  France  de- 
clares war  against,  Ixix. 

Spanish  Armada,  see  Armada. 

Speaker,  79. 

Spectator,  x. 

speculative  projects,  xlv. 

Speech  at  the  Conclusion  of  the  Poll, 
xxix. 

Speech  in  Opening  the  Impeachment 
of  Warren  Hastings,  xlviii,  1. 

Speech  on  American  Taxation,  xxxi, 
Ixvii,  8 1,  83,  84,  86,  99,  103,  104, 
no,  in,  118. 

Speech  on  Conciliation,  ix,  xi,  xxvi, 
xxxi,  XXXY,  xliii,  xlv,  xlvii,  xlix,  1, 
Hi,  liii,  liv,  Iv,  Ixvii,  Ixx ;  edited  by 
A.  S.  Cook,  iv,  v,  Ixx,  87,  89,  92, 
99,  101,  103,  in,  113,  115,  116, 
121 ;  structure  of,  Iv-lxiv. 


Speech  on  Fox's  East  India  Bill, 
xxxiv,  Ixviii. 

Speech  on  the  Duration  of  Parlia- 
ments, 82. 

Speech  on  the  Middlesex  Election, 

XXV. 

Speech  on  the  Nabob  of  Arcofs 
Debts,  xii,  xxxiv,  xxxv,  xlvii,  xlix, 
liii,  Ixviii. 

Speech  on  the  Petition  of  the  Uni- 
tarians, xliv,  85. 

Speech  on  the  Plan  for  Economical 
Reform,  xxxii,  Ixviii. 

Speech  on  the  Relief  of  the  Protestant 
Dissenters,  xxviii. 

Speech  would  betray  you,  100. 

Speeches,  Burke's,  edited  by  F.  G. 
Selby,  see  Selby. 

spirit,  126. 

Spoliatis  arma  super sunt,  31,  100. 

Stamp  Act,  xl,  115;  agitation 
over,  94,  106;  Burke  speaks 
against,  xxiii ;  grieved  the  Amer- 
icans, 52;  passed,  xv,  Ixvii; 
proposed,  xv;  repeal  of,  xvi, 
xvii,  Ixvii,  83,  119, 122. 

Stanley,  Hans,  85,  90,  91. 

Stanley,  Lord,  109. 

startle,  107. 

state,  87. 

State  of  the  Nation,  Observations  on 
the  Present,  see  Observations, 
etc. 

Statesmen  of  the  Time  of  George  the 
Third,  Brougham,  see  Brougham. 

Statutes  at  Large,  Ixxii,  106,  107. 

Statutes  of  the  Realm,  113,  114. 

steadily  opposed,  125. 

Stebbins,  Calvin,  paper  on  Burke 
as  agent  of  New  York,  xxx,  Ixxi. 

Steele,  Richard,  x. 


150 


INDEX. 


Stephen,  Leslie,  History  of  English 
Thought  in  the  Eighteenth  Cen- 
tury, x,  xli,  xlv,  Ixxi. 

Stephen,  Sir  James,  on  Coke's 
rancor,  103. 

Sterne,  Laurence,  x,  Ixvi. 

strength  and  ornament,  112. 

Stuart,  House  of,  112. 

study  of  law  in  the  colonies,  see 
law. 

style  of  Burke,  xlix-lv. 

subduing  again,  90. 

Sublime  and  Beautiful,  see  Philo- 
sophical Inquiry. 

s*uch  as  England  then  enjoyed, 
in. 

sufferances,  126. 

Suffolk,  Earl  of,  91. 

Summum  jus,  etc.,  104. 

superintending  legislature,  1 23. 

supply,  112. 

Sursum  cor  da,  73,  127. 

suspension  of  habeas  corpus,  see 
habeas  corpus. 

Swift,  Jonathan,  x,  xi,  Ixv,  87, 
102. 

table,  see  letter. 

Tanjore,  1. 

Tartars,  English,  see  English. 

Task,  Cowper,  Ixviii. 

taste  of  death,  14,  88. 

Tatler,  x. 

Taxation  no  Tyranny,  Dr.  John- 
son, Ixvii,  Ixxii,  101,  108,  115. 

Taxation,  right  of,  xvi,  37,  108. 

taxes  on  American  imports,  see 
import  duties. 

Tea  Duty  Bill,  xvii,  xxxi,  91,  no; 
repeal  of,  xvii,  109. 

Party,"  Boston,  xviii,  Ixvii. 


temper  and  circumstances  of 
people,  adaptation  of  govern- 
ment to,  xxvi,  xxxii,  xlv,  Iviii, 
9,  19,  85,  91. 

temperament,  114. 

Tempest,  89. 

temple  of  British  concord,  50,  116: 
of  Concord,  Roman,  116;  of 
Peace,  74. 

temporary,  120. 

Terence,  liv. 

terminating  almost  wholly  in  the 
colonies,  87. 

Thackeray,  W.  M.,  English  Hu- 
morists, x,  Ixxi ;  Four  Georges, 
x,  xi,  Ixxi. 

"  The  Club,"  see  Literary  Club. 

The  second  is  like  unto,  see 
second. 

their  taste,  125. 

theories,  Burke's  opposition  to, 
xxxii,  xxxiv,  xliv,  xlv,  Ivii,  9,  57. 

those  who  have  been  more  confi- 
dent, 115. 

Those  who  have  been  pleased, 
118. 

Thoughts  and  Details  on  Scarcity, 
Ixix. 

Thoiights  on  French  Affairs,  xxxvii, 
xxxviii,  Ixix. 

Thoughts  on  the  Cause  of  the  Pres- 
ent Discontents,  xxv,  Ixvii,  80, 
82,  90,  91,  92,  100,  104. 

Thrace,  li,  25. 

threats  against  the  colonies,  see 
menaces. 

three  ways,  99. 

Thurlow,  Lord  Edward,  95. 

Timothy,  II,  117. 

tobacco,  tax  on,  67. 

Tom  Jones,  Ixv. 


INDEX. 


151 


i  ories,  attitude  toward  the  French 
Revolution,  xxxvi;  their  sup- 
port of  George  ihe  Third,  xiv, 
xvi. 

touch  with  a  tool,  117. 

Townshend,  Charles,  xv. 

Townshend,  T.,  124. 

tracks  of  our  forefathers,  117. 

Tract  on  the  Popery  Laws,  xxii, 
xlvi,  86,  97. 

Tracts  on  Political  and  Commer- 
cial Subjects,  Josiah  Tucker,  see 
Tucker. 

trade,  see  commerce. 

trade  laws,  see  Navigation  Acts. 

trade,  lord  of,  xv,  119. 

Traveller,  Goldsmith,  92. 

treasons  under  act  of  Henry  the 
Eighth,  see  Henry  the  Eighth. 

treasury  extent,  125. 

trial  of  Warren  Hastings,  see 
Hastings. 

Trinity  College,  Burke  at,  xx,  Ixv. 

Tristia,  Ovid,  88. 

Tristram  Shandy,  Sterne,  Ixvi. 

truck,  96. 

True  Interest  of  Great  Britain, 
Josiah  Tucker,  see  Tucker. 

trust,  government  a  trust  for  the 
people,  xxv,  xxvi,  4.  37,  80. 

Tucker,  Josiah,  Four  Tracts  on 
Political  and  Commercial  Sub- 
jects, Ixxii,  99,  no. 

Turk,  his  government,  li,  25. 

Turk's  Head,  x. 

turn  their  faces,  126. 

two  leading  questions,  Ivii,  9. 

Two  Letters  to  Gentlemen  in  Bris- 
tol, xxix,  xxx,  xliii,  100. 

Ulster,  Plantation  of,  112. 


understood  principle,  109. 
Union,  Act  of,  see  Act,  etc. 
United  States,  Goldwin  Smith,  xii, 

Ixxi. 
United  States  History,  Dictionary 

of,  J.  F.  Jameson,  Ixxii. 
unity  of  spirit,  108. 
unity  of  the  empire,  Ixiii,  1 24. 
Universal  Library,  Henry  Morley, 

see  Morley. 

unnatural  contention,  96. 
unsuspecting    confidence    of    the 

colonies,  7,  83. 
usurpation,  112. 
Utopia,  More,  see  More. 

Van,      Mr.,     advocates     severity 

toward  the  colonies,  102. 
Vauxhall  Gardens,  x. 
Vendemiaire,  i3th,  rising  of,   put 

down  by  Bonaparte,  Ixix. 
venerable  rust,  see  rust. 
Verney,  Lord,  political  patron  of 

Burke,  xxiv. 
very  same  title,  103. 
vexation  to  violence,  45. 
Vicar    of   Wakefield,    Goldsmith, 

Ixvii. 
Vindication    of  Natural    Society, 

xxi,  xxii,  xlix,  Ixvi. 
Virgil,   88,  89,  101,  126;  Burke's 

quotations  from,  liii ;    Delphin, 

liv. 
Virginia,  xviii,  xlv,  67,  80 ;  assenv 

bly,   see   Dunmore ;    effects  of 

slavery  there,   22,  32 ;  protests 

against   slave   trade,   101,   102; 

protests    against     Stamp    Act, 

xv. 

virtual  representation,  48,  115. 
Voltaire,  Ixvi. 


152 


INDEX. 


Wales,  112,  114;  an  example  for 
dealing  with  America,  Ixi,  44- 
46,  48,  64,  in,  122  ;  Statute  of, 

112. 

Walpole,  Horace,  Ixvii;  Letters, 
ix,  Ixxi. 

Walpole,  Sir  Robert,  xi,  84. 

was  not  heard,  120. 

Washington,  George,  first  presi- 
dent, Ixix. 

Watson,  Brooke,  89. 

we  must  gain,  100. 

Wealth  of  Nations,  Adam  Smith, 
Ixviii. 

Webster,  Daniel,  born,  Ixviii. 

Wedderburn,  Solicitor-General, 
109,  115. 

well  worth  fighting  for,  see  worth. 

Wendover,  xxiii,  Ixvii,  80. 

Wentworth,  Governor,  xix. 

Wesley,  John,  xi. 

where,  113. 

Whigs,  attitude  toward  French 
Revolution,  xxxvi ;  condition  of 
the  party,  xiv;  New,  see  New 
Whigs;  Old,  see  Old  Whigs. 

Whitfield,  George,  xi. 

wield  the  thunder,  90. 


Wilkes,  John,  argument  on  taxa- 
tion, 1 08  ;  contest  over  his  elec- 
tion, xxiv,  xxv,  Ixvii. 

Williamsburg,  96. 

William  the  Third,  112. 

Wilson,  Woodrow,  Ixxi. 

wind  of  fashionable  doctrine,  4, 
81. 

winged  ministers  of  vengeance,  24, 

95- 
wise    beyond    what  was  written, 

117. 

with  all  its  imperfections,  96. 

withdrawal  of  troops  from  Boston, 
see  Chatham. 

without  resource,  91. 

Wordsworth,  William,  Ixvii. 

worth  fighting  for,  90. 

Wraxall's  Historical  and  Posthu- 
mous Memoirs,  Ixxi. 

Xanthippe,  88. 

Ye  gods,  annihilate  but  space  and 

time,  32,  1 02. 
Young,  Edward,  Ixv. 
your  speech  would    betray   you, 

100. 


E 

211 
B978 
1897a 


Burke,  Edmund 

Speech  on  conciliation 
with  America 


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