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 Educational Publishers 
 778 \V ABASH AVENUE CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 
 
Cbe Xafce jenoHsb Classics 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 LINDSAY TODD DAMON, A. B. 
 Prefteaor of Rhetoric in Brown University 
 
Hafte JEngliab Classics 
 
 EDMUND BURKE S 
 
 i 
 
 SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 WITH AMERICA 
 
 EDITED FOR SCHOOL USE 
 
 JOSEPH VILLIERS DENNEY 
 
 PROFESSOR IX OHIO STATE UXI VKKSITTI 
 
 OF THE 
 
 f UNIVERSITY 
 
 SCOTT, FORESMAN AND COMPANY 
 
Copyright 1898, 
 By SCOTT, FORESMAN AND COMPANY 
 
 ROBERT O. LAW COMPANY, 
 PRINTERS AND BINDERS, CHICAGO 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 PREFACE 7 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF BURKE - 11 
 
 A BRIEF BIBLIOGRAPHY 21 
 
 TEXT OF THE SPEECH 25 
 
 QUESTIONS ON THE LITERARY AND RHETORICAL 
 
 QUALITIES OF THE SPEECH - - 127 
 
 A STUDY OF THE LOGICAL STRUCTURE OF THE 
 
 SPEECH 132 
 
 NOTES 138 
 
 INDEX 153 
 
 204495 
 
PREFACE 
 
 In this edition, the aim of the editor has been to 
 direct the pupil to the j.o^ical^ structure as well as 
 to the literary and rhetorical qualities of the Speech 
 on Conciliation. The logical structure, each pupil 
 may discover for himself, by making a brief of the 
 speech as he reads the groups of paragraphs which 
 mark the successive steps in the argument. (See 
 page 132 . ) The literary and rhetorical qualities are 
 sought through the medium of suggestive questions 
 and topics for individual study. (See page 127.) 
 The Introduction, therefore, does not discuss 
 Burke s style. 
 
 The books to which the editor is chiefly indebted 
 are mentioned on page 21, and in the notes. In 
 the preparation of the notes, the editor also 
 acknowledges indebtedness to the long line of 
 editors who have preceded him. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
It is no exaggeration to say that they [the Speech on 
 American Taxation, the Speech on Conciliation, and 
 the Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol\ compose the most 
 perfect manual in our literature, or in any literature, 
 for one who approaches the study of public affairs, 
 whether for knowledge or for practice. They are an 
 example without fault of all the qualities which the 
 critic, whether a theorist or an actor, of great political 
 situations should strive by night and by day to possess. 
 If the subject with which they deal were less near than 
 it is to our interests and affections as free citizens, these 
 three performances would still abound in the lessons of 
 an incomparable political method. If their subject 
 were as remote as the quarrel between Corinthians and 
 Corcyra, or the war between Rome and the Allies, 
 instead of a conflict to which the world owes the oppor 
 tunity of the most important of political experiments, 
 we should still have everything to learn from the 
 author s treatment; the vigorous grasp of masses of 
 compressed detail, the wide illumination from great 
 principles of human experience, the strong and mascu 
 line feeling for the two great political ends of Justice 
 and Freedom, the large and generous interpretation of 
 expediency, the morality, the vision, the noble temper. 
 Morley. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 EDMUND BUKKE 
 
 Edmund Burke was born in Dublin in 1729. 
 His father, a lawyer in good practice, was a 
 Protestant ; his mother, a Catholic, Edmund was 
 reared a Protestant, but he always respected the 
 faith of his mother, and in after years worked 
 with zeal to secure to his Catholic countrymen 
 their political rights. For two years (1741-1743) 
 he went to school at Ballitore, to Abraham Shackle- 
 ton, a Quaker, of whose good influence Burke 
 always spoke in the highest terms. Then he 
 went to Trinity College, Dublin, where he 
 remained until he took his degree in 1748. From 
 1744 to 1749 Oliver Goldsmith was at Trinity, but 
 there is no evidence that he and Burke were 
 acquainted in college, though they were afterwards 
 friends and comrades in London. Burke did not 
 excel in the studies prescribed for him at Trinity, 
 but, following his bent, read widely in natural 
 philosophy, logic, metaphysics, history, and 
 poetry. 
 
 His father, intending to make a London lawyer 
 of him. entered him as a student at the Middle 
 Temple ; and Burke accordingly took up his resi- 
 
12 INTRODUCTION 
 
 dence in London, in 1750. He did not apply 
 himself with diligence to his legal studies, but 
 continued his college habit of reading at large in 
 literature and philosophy, finding time also to 
 attend the theatres and the debating clubs and to 
 travel in England and on the continent. In spite 
 of his neglect of routine legal study Burke some 
 how gained a wonderful mastery over fundamental 
 legal principles, especially those underlying the 
 science of government. His father however was 
 greatly disappointed at Burke s course in London, 
 stopped the young man s allowance, in 1755, and 
 left him to support himself by writing for the 
 book-sellers. The next year he published two 
 books which won him distinction : A Vindication 
 of Natural Society, and A Philosophical Inquiry 
 into the Origin of Our Ideas on the Sublime and 
 Beautiful. The same year (1756), he married 
 Jane Nugent, whose calm, even temper, and 
 ability in household management made her 
 unusually helpful to him. Their home life was 
 very happy. 
 
 In 1759 began Burke s thirty-year connection 
 with the Annual Register, a summary of impor 
 tant events, published by Dodsley. The articles 
 which Burke contributed to this publication 
 marked him at once as a man of keen political 
 insight and broad judgment, and brought him to 
 the notice of the party leaders. From 1761 to 
 1763, Burke was in Ireland as a secretary to Wil- 
 
INTRODUCTION 13 
 
 Ham Gerard Hamilton (who was chief secretary to 
 the Lord Lieutenant), receiving through Hamil 
 ton s influence a pension of three hundred pounds. 
 But it soon became evident that what was wanted 
 of Burke was a slavish devotion of all his talents 
 to the fortunes of Hamilton, and Burke indig 
 nantly left him, resigned the pension, and returned 
 to the service of Dodsley in London. There he 
 soon became one of the famous Literary Club, 
 which numbered among its members such men as 
 Johnson, Goldsmith, Garrick and Reynolds. 
 
 When Lord Rockingham, the leader of a party 
 of Old Whigs or Conservative Whigs, became 
 Prime Minister in 1765, he made Burke his private 
 secretary. In December of the same year, Burke 
 was elected to Parliament from the borough of 
 Wendover, and, very soon after taking his seat in 
 January, 1766, he spoke brilliantly ai:d most 
 effectively in favor of the repeal of the Stamp Act, 
 urging that it was unwise and inexpedient to tax 
 the colonies even if Parliament had a legal right to 
 do so. After the Rockingham ministry was dis 
 missed in 1766, Burke might have held office 
 under Pitt, Rockingham s successor, the leader of 
 the Xew Whigs or Radical Whigs, but he refused 
 to abandon his political associates for the sake of 
 personal advancement. 
 
 In Parliament, Burke did all that he could in 
 opposition to the policy of George the Third, who 
 was trying to make his power absolute. He spoke 
 
14 INTRODUCTION 
 
 against excluding Wilkes from Parliament. Wilkes 
 had incurred the King s displeasure because of his 
 radical opinions fearlessly expressed. He had been 
 repeatedly elected to the House of Commons, and 
 had been as often kept from his seat by a majority 
 subservient to the King s wishes. Burke main 
 tained the right of the voters to elect whomsoever 
 they thought fit. As a result of the arbitrary 
 course pursued by Parliament in the Wilkes affair 
 there was general discontent among the people, and 
 some rioting. In 1770, Burke published his 
 Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents, 
 in which he averred that all of England s troubles 
 had arisen from the pursuit of selfish ends by the 
 King and his secret counsellors, who were breaking 
 up ordeily party government and introducing con 
 fusion and disorder. The same year (1770) Lord 
 North s Tory ministry began its fateful career of 
 twelve years, at the end of which George the Third 
 found himself stripped of his American colonies. 
 During these years, Burke s voice was often heard 
 in Parliament, warning the King s ministers of 
 the disasters that would surely follow their arbi 
 trary acts, expounding a philosophy of government 
 based upon reason and righteousness, trying all 
 questions by tests of truth. He never relaxed his 
 efforts, although he knew beforehand that they 
 were doomed to failure at the hands of a Parlia 
 ment in control of the "King s friends." 
 
 In 1774, Bristol, then the second city in Eng- 
 
INTRODUCTION 15 
 
 laud, elected Burke as its representative in Parlia 
 ment. Bristol had a large trade with America, 
 and had much to lose if the troubles with the eolo 
 nies should grow into war. While he was member 
 for Bristol he delivered the Speech on American 
 Taxation (April 19, 1774), in which he urged the 
 repeal of the tea tax ; the Speech on Conciliation 
 with the Colonies (March 22, 1775) ; and wrote 
 the Letter to the Slier iff s of Bristol on the Affairs 
 of America (April 3, 1777), in which he justified 
 his course in Parliament. Burke felt through all 
 these years of war that the cause of liberty in Eng 
 land itself was endangered by the employment of 
 armed force against the colonies. If the King 
 could use an army against Englishmen in the colo 
 nies, in a controversy over a question of constitu 
 tional right, what was to prevent him from using 
 an army against Englishmen at home whenever in 
 the future they should make a similar claim of 
 constitutional right against him? It was indeed 
 fortunate for English liberty that the colonies were 
 finally victorious. Burke represented Bristol until 
 1780, when he failed of re-election because, con 
 trary to the narrow and selfish instructions of his 
 constituents, he had voted in favor of a bill to 
 relieve Irish commerce of some grievous restric 
 tions. Burke did not believe that a representative 
 is bound to vote according to the wishes of his 
 constituents if so to vote be against his own judg 
 ment of what is right and best. Rejected by 
 
16 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Bristol, he was elected by the borough of Mai- 
 ton. 
 
 When, after Yorktown, Lord North s ministry 
 came to an end (1782), the Rockingham party 
 again came into power. Burke now had a right to 
 expect a cabinet office. He was the ablest and 
 most conspicuous member of the party; he had 
 kept it together against the King s efforts to 
 destroy it ; he ha,d brought great honor to it by his 
 speeches. Yet he was not admitted to the cabinet, 
 but was appointed to a second-rate position as 
 Paymaster of the Forces. Some of the reasons 
 why it was not considered good politics, in the 
 England of the eighteenth century, to give Burke 
 a cabinet position were his nationality and his 
 obscure origin ; his.poverty and his debts ; his liberal 
 views on the Catholic question; charges (never 
 proved) against his honesty, arising from his close 
 intimacy with relatives of his who were known to 
 have engaged in certain questionable speculations ; 
 an irritability of temper which increased with age ; 
 and the large number of political enemies he had 
 made. For such reasons the first political thinker 
 of the age was set aside by his party associates on 
 the one occasion when they had the opportunity of 
 rewarding him. Burke felt the neglect keenly. 
 Rockingham died in three months. Burke refused 
 office under Shelburne; went into opposition with 
 Fox, Shelburne s rival for the leadership; the 
 Wliig party was consequently split in twain, ard 
 
INTRODUCTION 17 
 
 the Shelbiirne ministry went to pieces in 1783. 
 Then the Coalition ministry was formed, including 
 such incongruous elements as the Whig, Fox, and 
 the Tory, Lord North, with Burke as Paymaster 
 again. Fox brought in a bill to reform the govern 
 ment of India. Burke advocated the bill, and it 
 passed the House of Commons, but the Kin^ 
 procuring its defeat in the House of Lords, dis 
 missed Fox at the close of 1783. With the 
 advent of the Pitt ministry Burke went out of 
 executive office forever. 
 
 Of the three great subjects that engaged Burke s 
 powers during his public career, America, India, 
 and France, the second had now become prom 
 inent. For many years Burke had studied the 
 history and the workings of English rule in India. 
 He had made himself the best-informed man in 
 England on that subject. He knew that the East 
 India Company had become terribly corrupt and 
 cruel ; that it had plundered whole provinces, and 
 had reduced millions of people to wretchedness. 
 He believed that it was now exercising a corrupt 
 influence in Parliament itself. He had no 
 sympathy with the men who had overthrown the 
 native governments in India and had established 
 in their stead an irresponsible system of tyranny. 
 In 1785 he gave expression to some of his indigna 
 tion and wrath at the condition of affairs in India 
 in his Speech on the Nabob of Arcofs Debts. For 
 the policy of Warren Hastings, Governor General 
 
18 INTRODUCTION 
 
 of India, Burke entertained feelings of positive 
 horror, and in 1786 articles prepared by Burke 
 impeaching Hastings of high crimes and mis 
 demeanors were presented to the House of Com 
 mons. The trial of Hastings began in 1788, 
 Burke making the greatest speech of his life at 
 the opening (The Impeachment of Warren 
 Hastings). The case was not finally concluded 
 until 1795, when Hastings was acquitted. The 
 trial had, however, convinced the nation of the 
 need of reform in the government of India, and to 
 Burke s unsuccessful attack on Hastings must be 
 attributed the improvement that followed in the 
 government of India. 
 
 The French Revolution was the occasion of 
 Burke s separating from his former AVhig associ 
 ates. Burke, always a_conservative, had now 
 become much more conservative than his party. 
 The Whigs very generally applauded the Revolu 
 tion in France, and at one time there was some 
 danger of a sympathetic outbreak in England. 
 Burke, however, saw in the Revolution nothing 
 but destruction. He believed it to be the work of 
 atheists and theorists who were waging relentless 
 war upon the institutions which, he thought, pre 
 serve order in society, upon King, Nobles, and 
 Clergy. It was charged against him that he had 
 lost his sympathy for the people ; that he thought 
 only of preserving the privileges of the ruling 
 classes. For the common people of France, who 
 
INTRODUCTION 19 
 
 had suffered a thousand-fold more wrongs than the 
 Americans, Burke had, indeed, no word but obedi 
 ence. When, in 1790, he published his Reflections 
 on the Revolution in France, his old enemies the 
 Tories, King George himself, and all the other 
 arbitrary monarchs in Europe, looked upon Burke 
 as their defender and shield. As the Revolution 
 developed its worst features, Burke s hatred of it 
 grew ; he became more violent in temper and less 
 capable of calm discussion. In his subsequent 
 papers on the subject, from the Letter to a Mem 
 ber of the National Assembly to the Letters on 
 a Regicide Peace, there is a steady decline of those 
 powers of reasoning and persuasion which are seen 
 at their best in the Speech on Conciliation. 
 
 Burke retired from Parliament three years before 
 his death, having urged for Ireland a policy similar 
 to that which he had urged for America. He was 
 to have been made a peer with the title of Lord 
 Beaconsfield, but the death of his son Richard left 
 him without an heir, and he accepted a pension of 
 2,500 a year instead of a peerage. His enemies 
 attacked him for taking a pension, and he replied 
 in the Letter to a Noble Lord, in which he vindi 
 cated his course completely. He died in 1797. 
 
 Burke s leading characteristic was a high and 
 noble_dYDtioii to principle, regardless of conse 
 quences to his own fortunes. Though lie loved 
 social order, based on strict justice, he believed in 
 magnanimity in government. He himself was 
 
20 . INTRODUCTION 
 
 generous and open-handed in his relations with 
 others, but careless about incurring debts. His 
 desire to live as other men in high position lived 
 in that day caused him, in 1768, to purchase with 
 borrowed money an estate costing more than a 
 hundred thousand dollars, apiece of extravagance 
 that led to false insinuations of dishonesty. Burke 
 was enthusiastic in working for any cause that he 
 took up. His vigor and industry were astonishing. 
 His reading was prodigious, and his power of 
 marshalling facts and of filling them with meaning 
 was extraordinary. "That fellow calls forth all 
 my powers," said Dr, Johnson. Macaulay con 
 sidered Burke the greatest man since Milton. 
 Certain it is that few statesmen have ever lived 
 whose speeches have possessed that quality of 
 permanence, that value to other generations, whicli 
 marks the utterances of Burke. He who would 
 attain "large and liberal ideas in politics" should 
 give Burke thorough study. Said Fox, "I have 
 learned more from him than from all the books I 
 ever read. 
 
A BRIEF BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 JOHN MORLEY. Burke (in the English Men of Letters 
 
 Series}. This is the standard biography of Burke. 
 JOHN MORLEY. Burke (in the Encyclopcedia Britannica). 
 JOHN MORLEY. Burke: An Historical Study. This 
 
 work deals with Burke s political side alone. 
 LESLIE STEPHEN. History of English Thought in the 
 
 Eighteenth Century, volume ii. Burke s political 
 
 theories are carefully set forth in their historical 
 
 relationships. 
 DICTIONARY OF NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY. Burke. A 
 
 valuable bibliography is attached to the biography. 
 AUGUSTINE BIRRELL. Burke (in Obiter Dicta, second 
 
 series). 
 WOODROW WILSON. The Interpreter of English Liberty 
 
 (in Mere Literature). A suggestive and entertaining 
 
 essay. For bibliography of other essays on Burke 
 
 consult Poole s Index. 
 
 The principal events of the controversy with which 
 the Speech on Conciliation is concerned are summed up 
 in every good history of the United States (Fiske, An 
 drews, Johnston). They are treated more at length in 
 the following: 
 W. H. LECKY. History of England in the Eighteenth 
 
 Century. 
 
 GEORGE BANCROFT. A History of the United States. 
 HOSMER. Samuel Adams (in the American Statesmen 
 
 Series}. 
 
 J. R. GREEN. A Short History of the English People. 
 21 
 
In the common principles of all social and civil order, 
 Burke is unquestionably our best and wisest teacher. 
 In handling the particular questions of his time he 
 always involves those principles, and brings them to 
 their practical bearings, where they most "come home 
 to the business and bosoms of men." And his pages 
 are everywhere bright with the highest and purest 
 political morality, whilo at the same time he is a con 
 su inmate master in the intellectual charms and graces 
 of authorship, Hudson 
 
SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH 
 AMERICA 
 
Perhaps the greatest speech Burke ever made was 
 that on Conciliation with America; the wisest in its 
 temper, the most closely logical in its reasoning, the 
 amplest in appropriate topics, the most generous and 
 conciliatory in the substance of its appeals. Morley. 
 
SPEECH 
 
 ox 
 MOVING HIS RESOLUTIONS 
 
 FOR 
 
 CONCILIATION WITH THE COLONIES,. 
 
 MARCH 22, 1775. 
 
 [1] I hope, Sir, that, notwithstanding the austerity 
 of the Chair, your good-nature will incline you to 
 eome 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 inclined 
 to superstition. As I came into the House full of 
 anxiety about the event of my motion, I found, to 
 my infinite 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, I could not help 
 Booking on this event as a fortunate omen. I look 
 upon it as a sort of providential favour ; by which 
 we are put once more in possession of our delibera 
 tive capacity, upon a business so very questionable 
 in its nature, so very uncertain in its issue. By 
 , the return of this bill, which seemed to have taken 
 
 25 
 
26 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 its flight for ever, we are at this very instant nearly 
 as free to choose a plan for our American govern 
 ment 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 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. 
 
 [2] Surely it is an awful subject ; or there is none so 
 on this side of the grave. When I first had the 
 honour of a seat in this House, the affairs of that 
 continent pressed themselves upon us, as the most 
 important and most delicate object of parlia 
 mentary attention. My little share in this great 
 deliberation oppressed me. I found myself a par 
 taker 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 
 to instruct myself in everything which relates 
 to our colonies. I was not less under the necessity 
 of forming some fixed ideas concerning the 
 general policy of the British empire. Some 
 thing of this sort seemed to be indispensable ; in 
 order, amidst so vast a fluctuation of passions and 
 opinions, to concentre my thoughts; to ballast my 
 
 / conduct; to preserve me from being blown about 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 2? 
 
 oy eyery^wind __pf fashionable doctrine. I really > 
 did not think it safe, or manly, to have fresh prin 
 ciples to seek upon every fresh mail which should 
 arrive from America. 
 
 [3] 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 sharpness and strength of 
 that early impression, I have continued ever since, 
 without the least deviation, in my original senti 
 ments. Whether this be owing to an obstinate per 
 severance in error, or to a religious adherence to 
 what appears to me truth and reason, it is in your 
 equity to judge. 
 
 "*J Sir, Parliament, having an enlarged view of 
 objects, made, during this interval, more frequent 
 changes in their 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 approaching to 
 censure on the motives of former parliaments to 
 all those alterations, one fact is undoubted, that 
 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 her 
 present situation; a situation which I will not 
 miscall, which I dare not name; which I scarcely 
 
28 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 know how to comprehend in the terms of any 
 description. 
 
 In this posture, Sir, things stood at the begin 
 ning of the session. About that time, a worthy 
 member of great parliamentary 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 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 vicissitudes and 
 shiftings of ministerial measures, instead of convict 
 ing their authors of inconstancy and want of 
 system, would be taken as an occasion of charging 
 us with a predetermined discontent, which nothing 
 could satisfy ; whilst we accused every measure of 
 vigour 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 
 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 
 of the ground which might be laid for future and 
 permanent tranquillity. 
 

 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 23 
 
 [6] I felt the truth of what my honourable friend 
 represented; but I felt my situation, too. His 
 application might have been made with far greater 
 propriety to many other gentlemen. No man was 
 indeed ever better disposed, or worse qualified, for 
 such an undertaking, than myself. Though I 
 gave so far in to his opinion, that I immediately 
 threw my 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 sejitjofjmthority. Propositions are made, 
 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 absolutely a candidate 
 for disgrace. 
 
 [?] Besides, Sir, to speak the plain truth, I have in 
 general no very exalted opinion of the virtue of 
 paper government; nor of any politics in which 
 the plan is to be wholly separated from the execu 
 tion. But when I saw that anger* and violence 
 prevailed every day more and more; and that 
 things were hastening towards an incurable aliena 
 tion of our colonies; I confess my caution gave 
 way. I felt this, as one of those few moments in 
 which decorum yields to a higher duty. Public 
 calamity is a mighty leveller; and there are 
 occasions \fhen any, even the slightest, chance of 
 
30 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 f 
 
 doing good, must be laid hold on, even by the 
 most inconsiderable person. 
 
 [8j 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. 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 insignificance. 
 For, judging of what you are by what you ought 
 to be, I persuaded myself that you would not 
 reject a reasonable proposition because it had noth 
 ing but its reason to recommend it. On the other 
 hand, being totally destitute of all shadow of influ 
 ence, natural or adventitious, I was very sure, that, 
 if my proposition were futile or dangerous ; 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 i f is : and 
 you will treat it just as it deserves. 
 
 \9] The proposition is peace. Not peace through 
 the medium of war; not peace to be hunted 
 through the labyrinth of intricate and endless H, 
 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 
 determination of perplexing questions, or the 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 31 
 
 precise marking the shadowy boundaries of a com 
 plex government. It is simple peace; sought in 
 its natural course, and in its ordinary haunts. It 
 is peace sought in the spirit of peace ; and laid in 
 principles purely pacific. I propose, bj^remoTJnj^ 
 the ground of the difference, and by restoring the 
 former unsuspecting confidence of tlie 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 inter 
 est which reconciles them to British government. 
 [10] 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 man- - 
 kind. Genuine simplicity of heart is an healing 
 and cementing principle. My plan, therefore, 
 being formed upon the most simple grounds imagi 
 nable, may disappoint some people, when they 
 hear it. It has nothing to recommend it to the 
 pruriency of curious ears. There is nothing at all 
 new and captivating in it. It has nothing of the 
 splendour of the project, which has been lately laid , 
 upon your table by the noble lord in the blue 
 riband. It does not propose to fill your lobby 
 with squabbling colony agents, who will require 
 the interposition of your mace, at every instant, tc 
 
32 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 keep the peace amongst them. It does not insti 
 tute a magnificent auction of finance, where capti 
 vated provinces come to general ransom by bidding 
 against each other, until you knock down the ham 
 mer, and determine a proportion of paymentsbeyond 
 all the powers of algebra to equalize and settle. 
 
 fit]- The plan which I shall presume to suggest, 
 derives, however, one great advantage from the 
 proposition and registry of that noble lord s pro 
 ject. 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, notwithstand 
 ing our heavy bills of pains and penalties that we 
 do not think ourselves precluded from all ideas of 
 free grace and bounty. 
 
 -2j The House has gone further; it has declared 
 conciliation admissible, previous to any submission 
 on the part of America. It has even shot a good 
 deal beyond that mark, and has admitted, that the 
 complaints of our former mode of exerting the right 
 
 / of taxation were not wholly unfounded. That 
 right thus exerted is allowed to have had something 
 reprehensible in it ; something unwise, or something 
 grievous; since, in the midst of our heat and resent 
 ment, we, of ourselves, have proposed a capital altera 
 tion ; and, in order to get rid of what seemed so very 
 exceptionable, have instituted a mode that is alto 
 gether new; one that is, indeed, wholly alien from 
 All the ancient methods and forms of parliament, 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 33 
 
 [13] The principle of this proceeding is large enough 
 for my purpose. The means proposed by the 
 noble lord for carrying his ideas into execution, I 
 think, indeed, are very indifferently suited to the 
 end ; and this I shall endeavour to show you before 
 I sit down. But, for the present, I take my 
 ground on the admitted principle. {l mean to give 
 peace. Peace implies reconciliation; and, where 
 there has been n material dispute, reconciliation 
 does in a manner always imply concession on the 
 one part or on the other. InTihis 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, by an unwillingness to exert itself. The 
 superior power may offer peace with honour 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, liejs jvhoj.ly_at the mercy 
 of his superior ; and he loses for ever that time and 
 those chances, which, as they happen to all men, 
 are the strength and resources of all inferior powerT\ 
 
 [14] The capital leading questions on which you must 
 this day decide, are these two: First, whether you 
 ought to concede; and secondly, what your con 
 cession ought to be. On the first of these ques 
 tions weTiave 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. 
 
34 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 Indeed, Sir, to enable us to determine both on the 
 one and 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 pe^uHar^^cumstances of the object which we 
 have before us. Because after all our struggle, 
 whether we will or not, we. must govern America 
 according to that nature, and to those circum 
 stances ; and not according to our own imagina- 
 , tions ; nor 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 present situation, no better than arrant trifling. 
 I shall therefore endeavour, 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. 
 
 (15] The first thing that we have to consider with 
 *~ regard to the nature of the object is the number 
 of people in. the. jcolojries. 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 own 
 European blood and colour; besides at least 500,- 
 
 000 others, who form no inconsiderable part of the 
 strength and opulence of the whole. This, Sir, is, 
 
 1 believe, about the true number. There is no 
 occasion to exaggerate, where plain truth is of so 
 much weight and importance. But whether I put 
 the present numbers too high or too low, is a mat- 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 35 
 
 ter 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 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 nations. 
 
 [16] I put this consideration of the present and the 
 growing numbers in the front of our deliberation ; 
 because, Sir, this consideration will make it evi 
 dent to a blunter discernment than yours, that no 
 partial, narrow, contracted, pinched, 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 state; not a mean dependent, who maybe 
 neglected with little damage, and 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 inter 
 ests and feelings of the human race. You could at 
 no time do so without guilt ; and be assured you will 
 not be able to do it long with impunity. 
 
 [17] But the population of this country, the great and 
 
36 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 growing population, though a very important con 
 sideration, will lose much of its weight, if not com 
 bined with other circumstances. The commerce of 
 your colonies is out of all proportion 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 he first appeared at the 
 same place to plead for the commerce 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 erudi 
 tion, which even then marked him as one of the 
 first literary characters of his age, he has added a 
 consummate knowledge in the commercial interest 
 of his country, formed by a long course of enlight 
 ened and discriminating experience. 
 
 .[18] Sir, I should be inexcusable in coming after such 
 a person with any detail, if a great part of the 
 members who now fill the House had not the mis 
 fortune 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 not make an impression upon you. 
 
 J19] I have in my hand two accounts; one a com 
 parative state G." the export trade of England to its 
 colonies, as it stood in the year 1704, and as it 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 3? 
 
 stood in the year 1772. The other 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 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 ever since his time 
 so abundant a source of parliamentary information. 
 
 [20] The export trade to the colonies consists of three 
 great branches. The African, which, terminating 
 almost wholly in the colonies, must be put to the 
 account of their commerce; 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 
 entirely destroy, would very much depreciate the 
 value of all the parts. I therefore consider these 
 three denominations to be, what in effect they are, 
 one trade. 
 
 [21] The trade to the colonies, taken on the export 
 side, at the beginning of thi? century, that is, ia 
 the year 1704, stood thus : 
 
 Exports to North America, and 
 
 the West Indies, .... 483,265 
 To Africa, 86,665 
 
 569,930 
 
38 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 [22] In the year 1772, which I take as a middle year 
 between 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 Scotland, which had 
 in 1704 no existence, .... 364,000 
 
 6,022,188 
 
 (23] From five hundred and odd thousand, it has 
 grown to six millions. It has increased no less 
 than twelve-fold. This is the state of the colony 
 trade, as compared with itself at these two periods, 
 within this century ; and this is matter for medi 
 tation. 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 the whole trade of England ID 
 1704. 
 
 The whole export trade of Eng 
 land, including that to the col 
 onies, in 1704, 6,509,000 
 
 Export to the colonies alone, in 
 
 1772, 6,024,000 
 
 Difference, 485,000 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 39 
 
 f24] The trade with America alone is now within less 
 than 500,000 of being equal to wW 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. Bnt, it will 
 be said, is not this American trade an unnatural 
 protuberance, that has drawn the juices from the 
 rest of tlie body? The reverse. It is the ver 
 food that has nourished every other part into its 
 present magnitude. Our general trade has been 
 greatly augmented, and augmented more or less in 
 almost every part to which it ever extended ; but 
 with this material difference, that of the six mil 
 lions which in the beginning of the century consti 
 tuted the whole mass of our export commerce, the 
 colony trade wa^ but one-ijveTfth _pa r t ; it is now 
 (as a part of sixteen millions) considerably more 
 than a third oJLthe 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 propor 
 tion as its basis, or it is a reasoning weak, rotten, 
 and sophistical. 
 
 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 is past.:-. 
 Clouds, indeed, and darkness rest upon the future. 1 
 Let us, however, before we descend from this noble 
 
40 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 eminence, reflect that this growth of our national 
 prosperity has happened within the short period of 
 the life of man. It has 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 acta parentum jam legere, et quce 
 sit poterit cognoscere virtus 1 Suppose, Sir, that 
 the angel of this auspicious youth, foreseeing 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 generation, 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 councils) was to be made 
 Great Britain, he should see his son, Lord Chancel 
 lor of England, turn back the current of hereditary 
 dignity to its fountain, and raise him to a higher 
 rank of peerage, whilst he enriched the family 
 with a new one If amidst these bright and happy 
 scenes of domestic honour and prosperity, that 
 angel should have drawn up the curtain, and 
 unfolded the rising glories of his country, and 
 whilst he was gazing with admiration on the then 
 
 1 To read about the deeds of his forefathers and to 
 comprehend what manliness is. Adapted from Vergil. 
 Eclogues, IV, 26, 27, 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 41 
 
 commercial grandeur of England, the genius should 
 point out to him a little speck, scarce visible in the 
 mass of the national interest, a small seminal prin 
 ciple, rather than a formed body, and should tell 
 him "Young man, there is America which at 
 this day serves for little more than to amuse you 
 with stories of savage men, and uncouth manners ; 
 yet shall, before you taste of death, showjtself 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, 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 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! 
 
 126) Excuse, me, Sir, if turning from such thoughts 
 I resume 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 particu. 
 lar instance of it in the single province of Pennsyl 
 vania. In the year 1704, that province called for 
 11,459 in value of your commodities, native and 
 
42 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 foreign. 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. 
 
 (27] I choose, Sir, to enter into these minute and 
 j /particular details because generalities, which in all 
 other cases are apt to heighten and raise the sub 
 ject, have here a tendency .tp_sin_k it. When we 
 speak of the commerce with our colonies, fiction 
 lags after truth; invention is unfruitful, and 
 imagination cold and barren. 
 
 (28] So far, Sir, as to the importance of the object 
 in view of its commerce, as concerned in the 
 exports from England. If I were to detail the 
 imports, I could show how many enjoyments they 
 procure, which deceive the burthen of life; how r 
 many materials which invigorate the springs of 
 national 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. 
 
 f29] I pass therefore to the colonies in another point 
 of view, their agriculture. This they have prose 
 cuted with such a spirit, that, besides feeding 
 plentifully their own growing multitude, their 
 annual export of grain, comprehending rice, has 
 some years ago exceeded a million in value. Of 
 their last harvest, I am persuaded they will export 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 43 
 
 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 heen fed from the New. The scarcity 
 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. 
 
 [80] As to the wealth which the colonies have drawn ^~ 
 from the sea by their fisheries, you had all that 
 matter fully opened at your bar. You surely 
 thought these acquisitions of value, for they 
 seemed even to excite your envy; and yet the 
 spirit by ivhich that enterprising employment has 
 been exercised, ought rather, in my opinion, to 
 have raised your esteem and 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 tumbling mountains. of ice, and behold them 
 penetrating into the deepest frozen recesses of 
 Hudson s Bay and Davis s Straits, 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 Island, which seemed too remote and 
 romantic an object for the grasp of national ambi 
 
44 BUKKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 tion, 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 accumu 
 lated winter of both the poles. We know that 
 whilst 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 coastjof 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 activity of France, nor the dexterous *nd 
 firm sagacity of English enterprise, ever carried 
 this most perilous mode of hard industry to the 
 extent to which it has been pushed by this recent 
 people; a people who are still, as it w r ere, but in 
 the gristle, and not yet hardened into the bone of 
 manhoocL When I contemplate these things; 
 when I know that the colonies in general owe little 
 or nothing to any care ofj)urs, and that they are 
 not squeezed into this happy form by the con 
 straints of watchful and suspicious government, 
 but that, through a wise and salutary neglect, a 
 generous nature has been suffered to take her own 
 way to perfection; when 1 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 contrivances 
 melt and die away within me. My rigour relents 
 I pardon something to the spirit of liberty. 
 [31] I am sensible, Sir, that all which I have asserted 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 45 
 
 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 ia 
 an object well worth fighting for. Certainly it is, 
 if fighting a people be the best tfay 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 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 favour of prudent management, than 
 of force; considering force not as an odious, but 
 a feeble instrument, for preserving a people so 
 nu mere us, so active, so growing, so spirited as 
 this, in a profitable and subordinate connexion 
 with us. 
 
 [32J First, Sir, permit me to observe, that the use of 
 force 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. 
 
 [33] My next objection is its uncertainty. Terror is 
 not always the effect of force; and an armament 
 is not a victory. If you do not succeed, you are 
 without resource; for, conciliation failing^ Jprce 
 remains; but, force failing, no further hope of 
 reconciliation is left. Power and authority are 
 sometimes bought by kindness; but they can never 
 
46 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 be begged as alms by an impoverished and defeated 
 violence. 
 
 t34J A further objection to force is, that youjLWg&iL. 
 thfLJll&t-^y your very endeavours to preserve it. 
 The thing you fought for is not the thing which 
 you recover; but depreciated, sunk, wasted, and 
 consumed in the contest. Nothing less will con 
 tent me, than whole America. I do not choose to 
 consume its strength along with our own ; because 
 in all parts it is the British strength that I con 
 sume. 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 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. 
 
 [35] Lastly, we have no sort of experience in favour of 
 force as an instrument in the rule of our colonies. 
 Their growth and their utility has been owing to 
 methods altogether different. Our ancient indul 
 gence has been said to be pursued 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. 
 
 [36] These, Sir, are my reasons for not entertaining 
 that high opinion of untried force, by which many 
 gentlemen, for whose sentiments in other particu 
 lars I have great respect, seem to be so greatly 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 47 
 
 captivated. (But there is still behind a third con 
 sideration concerning this object, which serves to 
 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. 
 
 [37] In this "ciHSracter of the Americans, a love j}f 
 freedom is 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 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 not be amiss to lay open somewhat more 
 largely. 
 
 r L 38] 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 most predominant ; 
 and they took this bias and direction the moment 
 they parted from your hands. They are therefore 
 not only devoted to_liberty, but to liberty accord 
 ing to English ideas, and on English principles. 
 
48 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 Abstract liberty, like other mere abstractions, is 
 not to be found. Liberty inheres in some sensible 
 object ; and every nation has formed to itself some 
 favourite point, which by way of eminence becomes 
 the criterion of their happiness. It happened, you 
 know, Sir, that the great contests for freedom in 
 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 bal 
 ance among the several orders of the state. The 
 question of money was not with them so imme 
 diate. 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 full 
 est satisfaction concerning 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 usages, to reside in a certain 
 body called a House of Commons. They went 
 much farther ; they attempted to prove, and they 
 succeeded, that in theory it ought to be so, from 
 the particular nature of a House of Commons, as an 
 immediate representative of the people; whether 
 the old records had delivered this oracle or not. 
 They took infinite pains to inculcate, as a funda- 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIA nON 19 
 
 mental principle, that in all monarchies the people 
 must in effect themselves, mediately or immedi 
 ately, possess the power of granting their own 
 money, or no shadow of liberty could subsist. 
 The colonies draw 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 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 arguments ; and your 
 mode of governing them, whether through lenity 
 or indolence, tlirough wisdom or mistake, con 
 firmed them in the imagination, that they, as well 
 as you, had an interest in these common principles. 
 f39] They were further confirmed in this pleasing 
 error by the form of their provincial legislative 
 assemblies. Their governments are popular in a 
 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 sentiments, 
 and with a strong aversion from whatever tends to 
 deprive them of their chief importance. 
 
30 BURKE S SPEECH OX CONCILIATION 
 
 [40] If anything were wanting to this necessary opera 
 tion of the form of governmen^jreligion would 
 have given it a complete effect. Religion^ always 
 a principle of energy, in this 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 favour 
 able to liberty, but built upon it. I do not think, 
 Sir, that the reason of this averseness in the dis 
 senting churches, from all that looks like absolute 
 government, is so much to be sought in their reli 
 gious tenets, as in their history. Every one knows 
 that the Roman Catholic religion is at least coeval 
 with most of the governments where it prevails ; 
 that it has generally gone hand in hand with them, 
 and received great favour and every kind of sup 
 port from authority. The Church of England too 
 was formed from her cradle under the nursing care 
 of regular government. But the dissenting inter 
 ests have 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 depended on the 
 powerful and unremitted assertion of that claim. 
 All Protestantism, even the most cold and passive, 
 is a sort of dissent. But the religion most prev 
 alent in our northern colonies is v a refinement on 
 the principle of resistance ; it is the dissidence of 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 5] 
 
 dissent, and tne Protestantism of the Protestant 
 religion. This religion, under a variety of denomi 
 nations agreeing in nothing but in the communion 
 of the spirit of liberty, is predominant in most of 
 the northern province? ; where the Church of Eng 
 land, notwithstanding its legal rights, is in reality 
 no more than a sort of private 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 dissenters 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. 
 
 [41] Sir, I can perceive by their manner, that some 
 gentlemen object to the latitude of this descrip 
 tion ; because in the 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 more 
 high and haughty than in those to the northward. 
 It is, that in Virginia and the Carolines 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 oftheir freedom. 
 
52 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 Freedom is to them not only an enjoyment, but a 
 kind of 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. I do not mean, Sir, to com 
 mend the superior morality of this sentiment, 
 which has at least as much pride as virtue in it ; 
 
 U 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, attached to liberty, than those to 
 the northward. Such were all the ancient com 
 monwealths; 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 the spirit of freedom, fortifies it, 
 and renders it invincible. 
 
 [42] Permit me, Sir, to add another circumstance in 
 our colonies, 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 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 con 
 gress were lawyers. But all who read, and most 
 
BURKE ! S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 53 
 
 do read, endeavour to obtain some smattering in 
 that science. I have been told by an eminent 
 bookseller, that in no branch of his business, after 
 tracts of popular devotion, were Rodman y hooka-aa 
 those on J&o low-^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 Blacks tone s Com 
 mentaries 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 
 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 well. 
 But my honourable 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 honours and 
 great emoluments do not win over 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. 1 
 
 1 Pursuits (or studies) pass into character. Ovid, 
 Heroides, XV, 83, Compare Bacon s Essay (Of Studies"). 
 
54 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 This study renders men acute, inquisitive, dex 
 terous, prompt in attack, ready in defence, full of 
 rcsonrc-es. In other countries, the people, more 
 simple, and of a less mercurial cast, judge of an ill 
 principle in government only by an actual griev 
 ance; here they anticipate the evil, and judge of 
 the pressure of the grievance by the badness of the 
 principle. They augur misgovernment at a dis 
 tance ; and snuff the approach of tyranny in every 
 tainted breeze. 
 
 [43] 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 thousand miles of 
 ocean lie between you and them. No contrivance 
 can prevent the effect of this distance in weaken 
 ing 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 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, 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. Nature has said it. The Turk can 
 not govern Egypt, and Arabia, and Curdistan, as 
 he governs Thrace ; nor has he the same dominion 
 in Crimea and Algiers, which he has at Brusa and 
 Smyrna. Despotism itself is olfljgyl fa ^ rnr ^\ Ar} ^ 
 huckster. TEe" Sultan gets such obedience as he 
 can. He governs with a loose. rein, that he may 
 govern at all; and the whole of the force and 
 vigour of his authority in his centre is derived from 
 a prudent relaxation in all his borders. Spain, in 
 her provinces, is, perhaps, not so well obeyed as 
 you are in yours. She complies too; she submits; 
 she watches times This is the immutable condi 
 tion, the eternal law, of extensive and detached 
 empire. 
 
 [44] 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 of situation from 
 the first mover of government; from all these 
 causes a fierce spirit of liberty has grown np. 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, which, however law 
 ful, is not reconcilable to any ideas of liberty, much 
 less with theirs, has kindled this flame that is ready 
 to consume us. 
 
 [45] I do not mean to commend either the spirit in 
 
56 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 this excess, or the moral causes which produce it. 
 Perhaps a more 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 boundless 
 authority. Perhaps we might wish the colonists to 
 be persuaded, that their liberty is more secure 
 when held in trust for them by us (as their guard 
 ians during a perpetual minority) than with any 
 part of it in their own hands. The question is, 
 
 JT ^ J - ._ J^ 
 
 not whether their spirit deserves praise or blame, 
 but what, in the name of God, shall we do with 
 If? You have before you the object, such as it is, 
 " with all its glories, with all its imperfections on its 
 head. You see the magnitude; the importance; 
 the temper; the habits; the disorders. By all these 
 considerations we are strongly urged to determine 
 something concerning it. We are called upon to 
 fix dome 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 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, 
 either in reasoning or in practice, that has not 
 
BURKES SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 87 
 
 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. 
 We thought, Sir, that the utmost which the dis 
 contented colonists could do, was to disturb 
 authority; we never dreamt they could of them- 
 selvea supply it; knowing in general what an 
 operose business it is to establish a government 
 absolutely new. But having, for our purposes in 
 this contention, resolved, that none but an obedient 
 assembly should sit; the humours of the people 
 there, finding all passage through the legal chan 
 nel stopped, with great violence broke out another 
 way. Some provinces have tried their experi 
 ment, as we have tried ours; and theirs has 
 succeeded. 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 consent, 
 have done the business in an instant. So well 
 they have done it, that Lord Dunmore (the 
 account is among the 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 present. This new 
 
58 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 government has originated directly _frqm tbe 
 people; and was not transmitted through any of 
 the ordinary artificial media of a. positive consti 
 tution. It was not a manufacture ready formed, and 
 transmitted to them in that condition from Eng 
 land. The evil arising from hence is this; that 
 the colonists having once found the possibility of 
 enjoying the advantageToTorcTer in the midst of a 
 struggle for liberty, such struggles will not hence 
 forward seemjBQ terriblejto the _ settled and sober 
 part of mankind as they had appeared before the 
 trial. 
 
 146] Pursuing the same plan of punishing by the 
 denial of the exercise of government to still greate r 
 lengths, we wholly abrogated the ancient govern 
 ment of Massachusetts. We were confident that 
 the first feeling, if not the very prospect of anarchy, 
 would instantly enforce a complete submission. 
 The experiment was tried. A new, strange, unex 
 pected face of things appeared. Anarchy is found 
 tolerable. A vast province has now subsisted, and 
 subsisted in a considerable degree of nealth and 
 vigour, for near a twelvemonth, without governor, 
 without public council, without judges, without 
 executive magistrates. How long it will continue 
 in this state, or what may arise out of this unheard- 
 of situation, how can the wisest of us conjecture? 
 Our late experience has taught us that many of 
 those fundamental principles, formerly believed 
 infallible, are either not of the importance they 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 59 
 
 were imagined to be; or that we have not at all 
 adverted to some other far more important and faf 
 more powerful principles, which entirely overrule 
 those we had considered as omnipotent. J am 
 much against any further experiments, 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 w r e do abroad. For, in 
 order to prove that the Americans have no right to 
 their liberties, we are every day endeavouring to 
 subvert the maxims which preserve the whole spirit 
 of our own. To prove that the Americans ought 
 not to be free, we are obliged to depreciate the 
 value of freedom itself; and we never seem to gain 
 a paltry advantage over them in debate, without 
 attacking some of those principles, or deriding 
 Borne of those feelings, for which our ancestors have 
 
 shed their bl 
 
 
 [47] But, Sir, in wishing to put an end to 
 
 experiments, I do not mean to preclude the fullest 
 inquiry. Far 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 of proceeding relative to thia 
 stubborn spirit, which prevails in your colonies, 
 
 / * -L. / * ) 
 
 Lo>AtU &U^Ta^rUiM , 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 and disturbs your government. These are To 
 Change that spirit, as inconvenient, by removing 
 the causes. To prosecute it as criminal. Or, to 
 comply witfTit as necessary. I wouMTTot be guilty 
 of an imperfect enumeration; 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 cannot get all they would 
 have, are resolved to take nothing. 
 
 148] The first of these plans, to change the spirit as 
 inconvenient, by removing the causes, I think is the 
 most like a systematic proceeding. It is radical in 
 its principle; but it is attended with great diffi 
 culties, some of them little short, as I conceive, of 
 impossibilities. This will appear by examining 
 into the plans which have been proposed. 
 
 49] As the growing population in the colonies is evi 
 dently one cause of their resistance, it was last 
 session mentioned in both Houses, by men of 
 weight, and received not without 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 crown not only 
 withheld its grants, but annihilated its soil. If 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 61 
 
 this be the case, then the only effect of this avarice 
 of desolation, this hoarding of a royal wilder 
 ness, would be to raise the value of the possessions 
 in the hands of the great private monopolists, with 
 out any adequate check to the growing and alarm 
 ing mischief of population. 
 
 [50] But if you stopped your grants, what would be 
 the consequence? The people would occupy . 
 without grants. They have already so occupied in 
 many places. You cannot station garrisons in 
 every part of these deserts. If you drive 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 settle 
 ments are already little attached to particular situ 
 ations. Already they have topped the Appalachian 
 mountains. From thence they behold 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 become hordes 
 of English Tartars ; and pouring down upon your 
 r.nfortified frontiers a fierce and irresistible cavalry, 
 become masters of your governors and your coun 
 sellors, your collectors and comptrollers, and of all 
 the slaves that adhered to them. Such would, 
 and, in no long time, must be, the effect of 
 attempting to forbid as a crime, and to suppress as 
 
62 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 an evil, the command and blessing of Providence, 
 "Increase and multiply." Such would be the 
 happy result of an endeavour 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 "sTirely much wiser, has oeen our 
 policy hitherto. Hitherto we have invited our 
 people, by every kind of bounty, to fixed establish 
 ments. We have 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 all we could ; and we have care 
 fully attended every settlement with govern 
 ment. 
 
 [51] Adhering, Sir, as I do, to this policy, as well as 
 for the reasons I have just given, I think this new 
 project of hedging-in population to be neither pru 
 dent nor practicable. 
 
 [52] To impoverish the colonies in general, and in 
 particular to arrest the noble course of their marine 
 enterprises, would he 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 ourselves 
 as rivals to our colonies, and persuaded that of 
 course we must gain all that they shall lose. 
 Much mischief we may certainly do. The power 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 63 
 
 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 resist our 
 violence as very formidable. In this, however, I 
 may be mistaken. But when I consider, that we 
 have colonies 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, 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 increase with misery ; and that 
 there are critical molnenTs~in"tne fortune of all 
 states, when they w^ho are too weak to con 
 tribute to your prosperity, may be strong enpjigh 
 to complete your ruin. Spoliatis arma super- 
 sunt. 1 
 
 [53] The temper and character which prevail in our 
 colonies are, I am afraid, unalterable by any 
 human art. We cannot, I fear, falsify the pedi 
 gree 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 detect the imposition; your speech would 
 
 1 Those who have been despoiled may still resort to 
 a^ms, Juvenal, Satires, VIII, 12 J^ 
 
64 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 betray you. An Englishman is the unfittest per 
 son on earth to argue another Englishman into 
 slavery. 
 
 [54] I think it is nearly as little in our power to 
 change their republican religion, as their free 
 descent; or to substitute the Roman Catholic, as a 
 penalty; or the Church of England, as an improve 
 ment. 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 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 refusing to choose those persons who 
 are best read in their privileges. It would be no 
 less impracticable to think of wholly 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. 
 
 J55] With regard to the high aristocratic spirit of 
 Virginia and the southern colonies, it has been 
 proposed I know to reduce it, by declaring a gen 
 eral enfranchisement of their slaves. This project 
 has had its advocates and panegyrists ; yet I never 
 could argue myself into any opinion of it. Slaves 
 are often much attached to their mastery A 
 
BfJRKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 65 
 
 general wild offer of liberty would not always be 
 accepted. History furnishes few instances of it. 
 It is sometimes as hard to persuade slaves to be 
 free, as it is to compel freemen to be slaves; and 
 in this auspicious scheme, we should have both 
 these pleasing tasks on our hands at once. But 
 \vhen we talk of enfranchisement, do we not 
 perceive that the American master may enfranchise 
 too ; and arm servile hands in defence of freedom? 
 A measure to which other people have had recourse 
 more than once, and not without success, in a 
 desperate situation of their affairs. 
 
 [56] 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, w^iich. has sold them to their present mas 
 ters? from that nation one of whose causes of quar 
 rel 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 of Virginia or Carolina, 
 with a cargo of three hundred Angola 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. The ocean remains. Yon cannot pump 
 this dry ; and as long as it continues in its present 
 
66 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 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! 
 
 y\ 
 
 was a pious and passionate prayer ; but just as 
 reasonable, as many of the serious wishes of very 
 grave and solemn politicians. 
 
 [58] If then, Sir, it seems almost desperate to think 
 of any alterative course, for changing .the. moral 
 causes (and not 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 acts, as criminal. 
 
 [59] 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 con 
 ceiving such matters, that there is a very wide 
 difference in reason and policy, between the mode 
 of proceeding on their regular 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 communities which compose a 
 great empire. It looks to me to be narrow and 
 pedantic, to apply the ordinary ideas of criminal 
 justice to this great public contest. I do not know 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 67 
 
 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 individual 
 (Sir Walter Raleigh) at the bar. I hope I am not 
 ripe to pass sentence on the gravest public bodies, 
 intrusted 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 
 judicious; for sober men, not decent; for minds 
 tinctured with humanity, not mild and merciful 
 [60] Perhaps, Sir, I am mistaken in my idea of an 
 empire, as distinguished from a single state or 
 kingdom. But my idea of it is this; that all 
 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 constitu 
 tions, frequently happen (and nothing but the 
 dismal, cold, dead uniformity of servitude can 
 prevent its happening) that the subordinate 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 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 
 
68 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 talk of the privileges o^_a state, or of a person, who 
 has no sirperior, is hardly any better than speaking 
 nonsense. Now, in such unfortunate quarrels 
 among the component parts of a great political 
 union of communities, I can scarcely conceive any 
 thing more completely imprudent, than for the 
 head of the empire to insist, that, if any privilege 
 is pleaded against his will, or his acts, his whole 
 authority is denied; instantly to proclaim rebel 
 lion, 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 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 depend 
 ent communities with such an idea. 
 [61] We are indeed, in all disputes with the colonies, 
 by the 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 exceedingly 
 humbled by it. I cannot proceed with a stern, 
 assured, judicial confidence, until I find myself in 
 something more like a judicial character. I must 
 have these hesitations as long as I am compelled to 
 recollect, that, in my little reading upon such 
 contests as these, the sense of mankind has, at 
 least, as often decided against the superior as the 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 69 
 
 subordinate power. Sir, Jet me add too, that the 
 opinion of my having some abstract right in my 
 favour, 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 considerations have great weight with 
 me, when I find things so circumstanced, 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. 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. 
 [62J There is, Sir, also a circumstance which con 
 vinces me, that tEIslnode of criminal proceeding 
 is not (at least in the present stage of our contest) 
 altogether expedient; which is nothing less than 
 thlfconcfuct of those very persons who have seemed 
 to adopt that mode, by lately declaring a rebellion 
 in Massachusetts Bay, as they had formerly 
 addressed to have traitors brought hither, under an 
 act of Henry the Eighth, for trial. For though 
 rebellion is declared, it is not proceeded against as 
 such; nor have any steps been taken towards Uie 
 apprehension or conviction of any individual 
 offender, either on our late or our former address ; 
 
70 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 but modes of public coercion have been adopted, 
 and such as have much 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. 
 
 [63] 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 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 situation, after 
 such confident hopes, bold promises, and active 
 exertions, I cannot, for my life, avoid a suspicion, 
 that the plan itself is not correctly right. 
 
 (64] If then the removal of the causes of this spirit of 
 American liberty be, for the greater part, or rather 
 entirely, impracticable; if the ideas of criminal 
 process be inapplicable, or 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 a& T^flftaaftry ; or, if you 
 please, to submit to it as a necessary evil. 
 
 (65] If we adopt this mode ; id; we mean to conciliate 
 and concede ; let us see of what nature the con- 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 7l 
 
 cession ought to be : to ascertain the nature of our 
 concession, we must look at their complaint. The 
 colonies complain, that they have not the char 
 acteristic mark and seal of British freedom. They 
 complain, that they are taxed in a parliament in ^ 
 which they are not represented. If you mean to 
 satisfy them at all, you must satisfy them with re 
 gard 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 a 
 wise regulation, but it is no concession: whereas 
 our present theme is the mode of giving satisfaction, 
 (66] Sir, I think you must perceive, that I am resolvec 
 this day to have nothing at all to do with the 
 question of the right of taxation. Some gentle 
 men startle but it is true ; I put it totally out of 
 the question. It is less than nothing in my con 
 sideration. I do not indeed wonder, nor will you, 
 Sir, that gentlemen of profound learning are fond 
 of displaying it on this profound subject. But my 
 consideration is narrow, confined, and wholly 
 limited to the policy of the question. I do not 
 examine, whether the giving away a man s money 
 be a power excepted and reserved out of the gen 
 eral 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 right of taxation is necessarily 
 involved in the general principle of legislation, and 
 
72 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 inseparable from the ordinary supreme power. 
 These are deep questions, where great names 
 militate against each other; where reason is per 
 plexed ; and an appeal to authorities only thickens 
 the confusion. For high 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, 
 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 is not, what a 
 lawyer tells me I may do ; but what humanity, rea 
 son, and justice tell me I ought to do. Is a politic 
 act che worse for being a generous one? Is no con 
 cession proper, but that which is made from your 
 want of right to keep what you grant? Or does it 
 lessen the grace or dignity 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 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 
 nse of my own weapons? 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 73 
 
 [67] Such is steadfastly my opinion of the absolute 
 necessity of keeping up the concord of this empire 
 by a unityj)f spirit, though in a diversity of oper 
 ations, 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 
 renounce 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 millions of men, impatient of servitude, on the 
 principles of freedom. I am not determining a 
 point of law; I am restoring tranquillity; and the 
 general character and situation of a people must 
 determine \hat sort of government is fitted for 
 them. That point nothing else can or ought to 
 determine. 
 
 [68] My idea therefore, without considering whether 
 we yield as matter of right, or grant as matter of 
 favour, is to n ]^2LJ 1}p M(ti$P n f m/> 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 for ever to 
 adhere to that solemn declaration of systematic 
 indulgence. 
 
 [69] Some years ago, the repeal of a revenue act, 
 upon its understood principle, might have served 
 to show, that we intended an unconditional abate- 
 
74 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 ment of the exercise of a taxing power. Such a 
 measure was then sufficient to remove all suspicion, 
 and to give perfect content. But unfortunate 
 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 pro 
 ceedings. 
 
 [70] I have taken a very incorrect measure of the dis 
 position 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 
 such great and present evils. The more moderate 
 among the opposers of parliamentary concession 
 freely confess, that they hope no good from taxa 
 tion ; but they apprehend the colonists have further 
 views ; and if this point were conceded, they would 
 instantly attack t^e trade laws. These gentlemen 
 are convinced, that this was the intention from the 
 beginning ; and the quarrel of the Americans with 
 taxation 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 and equal government. 
 I am, however, Sir, not a little surprised 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 w r ith it, and 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 75 
 
 which are often urged from the same mouths, and 
 on the same day. 
 
 [71] For instance, when we allege that it is against 
 reason to tax a people under so many restraints in 
 trade as the Americans, the noble lord in the blue 
 riband shall tell you, that the restraints on trade 
 are futile and useless; of no advantage to us, and 
 of no burthen to those on whom they are 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. 
 
 [72] Such is the merit of the trade laws in this posture 
 of the debate. But when strong internal circum 
 stances are urged against the taxes; when the 
 scheme is dissected ; when experience and the na 
 ture 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, or rather press themselves, so as to drive 
 the advocates of colony taxes to a clear admis 
 sion 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 sake, but as a counter-guard and security of 
 the laws of trade. 
 
 [73] Then, Sir, you keep up revenue laws which 
 are mischievous, in order to preserve trade laws 
 that are useless. Such is the wisdom of our plan 
 in both its members. They are separately given 
 upas of no value; and yet one is always to be 
 
76 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 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 imitility of the trade laws. 
 For, without idolizing them, I am sure they 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 whatsoever 
 to the commercial regulations; or that these com 
 mercial 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. 
 
 [74] One fact is clear and indisputable. The public 
 and avowed origin of this quarrel wjis 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^Jrade laws. To 
 judge which of the two be the real, radical cause 
 of quarrel, we have to see whether the commercial 
 dispute 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 
 the Americans act in this position, and then you 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 77 
 
 will be able to discern correctly what is the true 
 object of the controversy, or whether any contro 
 versy at all will remain. Unless you consent to 
 remove this cause of difference, it is impossible, 
 with decency, to assert that the dispute is not upon 
 what it is avowed to be. And I would, Sir, recom 
 mend 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 converting your ill-will into their delin 
 quency. 
 
 [75] But the colonies will go further. Alas! alas! 
 when will this speculating against fact and reason 
 end? AVhat will quiet these panic fears which we 
 entertain of the hostile effect of a conciliatory con 
 duct? Is it true, that no case can exist, in which 
 it is proper for the sovereign to accede to the 
 desires of his discontented subjects? Is there any 
 thing 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 maximj 
 that the fewer causes of dissatisfaction are left b7 
 government, the more the subject will be inclined 
 to resist and rebel? 
 
 T76] All these objections being in fact no more than 
 suspicions, conjectures, divinations, formed in 
 defiance of fact and experience ; they did not, Sir, 
 discourage me from entertaining the idea of a con- 
 
78 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 dilatory concession, founded on the principles 
 which I have just stated. 
 
 [77] In forming a plan for this purpose, I endeavoured 
 to put myself in that frame of mind which was the 
 most natural, and the most reasonable; and which 
 was certainly the most probable means of semiring 
 me from all error. I set out with a perfect dis 
 trust of my own abilities ; a total renunciation of 
 every speculation of my own ; and with a profound 
 reverence for the wisdom of our ancestors, who 
 have left us the inheritance of so happy a con 
 stitution, 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. 
 
 [78] 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 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 capital examples in a similar case before 
 me; those of Ireland, Wales, Chester, and Dur 
 ham. 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 79 
 
 [79] Ireland, before the English conquest, though 
 never governed by a despotic power, had no parlia 
 ment. How far the English parliament itself was 
 at that time modelled 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 suc 
 cessive improvement in constitutional 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 origi 
 nally the House of Commons, gave us at least a 
 House of Commons of weight and consequence. 
 A/r But your ancestors did not chuxJishly sit down alone 
 /^to the feast of Magna Charta. Ireland was made 
 immediately a partaker. This benefit of English 
 laws and liberties, I confess, was not at first 
 extended to all Ireland. Mark the consequence, 
 English authority and English liberties had 
 exactly the same boundaries. Your standard could 
 never be advanced an inch before your privileges. 
 Sir John Davis shows beyond a doubt, that the 
 refusal of a general communication of these rights 
 was the true cause why Ireland was five hundred 
 years in subduing ; and after the vain projects of 
 a military government, attempted in the reign of 
 
80 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 Queen Elizabeth, it was soon discovered, that noth 
 ing could make that country English, in civility 
 and allegiance, but your laws and your forms of 
 legislature. It wa,s not Rnfrlisfa flrrps n but 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 sub 
 stance of free -government in that kingdom. You 
 deposed kings ; you restored them ; you altered the 
 succession to theirs, as well as to your own crown ; 
 but you never altered then-constitution ; the 
 principle of which was respected by usurpation; 
 restored with the restoration of monarchy, and 
 established, I trust, for ever, by the glorious 
 Revolution. This has made Ireland the great and 
 flourishing kingdom that it is; and from a dis 
 grace and a burthen 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 
 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 argument, they make 
 an exception to prove the rule. Xone of your 
 own liberties could stand a moment if the casual 
 deviations from them, at such times, were suffered 
 to be used as proofs of their nullity. By the 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 81 
 
 lucrative amount of such casual breaches in the 
 constitution, judge what the stated and fixed rule 
 of supply has been in that kingdom. 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 source of public wealth in the 
 British empire.- 
 
 (80] 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 
 old constitution, whatever that might have been, 
 was destroj^ed ; 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 hostility and govern 
 ment ; perhaps it has a sort of resemblance, accord 
 ing to the modes of those times, to that of com 
 mander -in-chief at present, to whom all civil power 
 is granted as secondary. The manners of the 
 Welsh nation followed the genius of the govern 
 ment; the people were ferocious, restive, savage, 
 and uncultivated; sometimes composed, never 
 pacified. Wales, within itself, was in perpetual 
 disorder ; and it kept the frontier of England in 
 perpetual alarm. Benefits from it to the state 
 
82 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 there were none. Wales was only known to Eng 
 land by incursion and invasion. 
 
 [81] 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 proc 
 lamation (with something more of doubt on the 
 legality) the sending arms to America. They dis 
 armed 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 England for 
 trial, as you have done (but with more hardship) 
 vnth regard to America. By another act, where 
 one of the parties was an Englishman, they 
 ordained, that his trial should be always by Eng- 
 lish. 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 
 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. 
 
 [82] Here we rub our hands A fine body of prec 
 edents for the authority of parliament and the 
 use of it! I admit it fully; and pray add likewise 
 to these precedents, that alf the while, Wales rid 
 this kingdom like an incubus; that it was an 
 unprofitable and oppressive burthen ; and that an 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 83 
 
 Englishman travelling in that country could not go 
 six yards- from the high road without being 
 murdered. 
 
 [83] 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 poverty to rapine. Your 
 ancestors did however at length open their eyes^ 
 to the ill husbandry of injustice. They found 
 that the tyranny of a free people could of call 
 tyrannies the least be endured; and that laws 
 made against ITwhole nation were not the most 
 effectual methods for securing its obedience. 
 Accordingly, in the twenty-seventh year of Henry 
 VIII. the course was entirely altered. With a 
 preamble stating the entire and perfect rights of 
 the crown of England, 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 turned 
 into counties. But that a nation should have a 
 right to English liberties, and yet no share at all 
 in the fundamental security of these liberties the 
 grant of their own property seemed a thing so 
 incongruous, that, eight years after, that is, in 
 the thirty-fifth of that reign, a complete and not 
 ill-proportioned representation by counties and 
 boroughs was bestowed upon Wales, by act of par 
 liament. From that moment, as by a charm, the 
 tumults subsided, obedience was restored, peace, 
 
84 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 order, and civilization followed in the train of 
 liberty. When the day-star of the English con 
 stitution had arisen in their hearts, all was harmony 
 within and without 
 
 Simul alba nautis 
 
 Stella refulsit 
 
 Defluit saxis agitatus humor; 
 Concidunt venti, fugiuntque nubes, 
 Et minax (qudd sic valuer e) ponto 
 
 Unda recumbit. 1 
 
 |84] The very same year the county palatine of 
 Chester received the same relief from its oppres 
 sions, and the same remedy to its disorders. 
 Before this time Chester was little less distempered 
 than Wales. The inhabitants, without rights them 
 selves, were the fittest to destroy the rights of 
 others; and from thence Richard II. drew the 
 standing army of archers, with which for a time 
 he oppressed England. The people of Chester 
 applied to parliament in a petition penned as I 
 shall read to you : 
 
 IS.-)] "To the king our sovereign lord, in most humble 
 wise shown unto your excellent Majesty, the 
 inhabitants of your Grace s county palatine of 
 Chester ; That where the said county palatine of 
 
 1 As soon as the bright star has shone upon the sailors, 
 the troubled water recedes from the rocks, the winds 
 die away, the clouds scatter, and, because they [Castor 
 and Pollux] have so willed, the threatening wave sub 
 sides upon the deep. Horace, Odes, I. xii, $7-32. 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION S5 
 
 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 courb; by reason whereof 
 the said inhabitants have hitherto sustained mani 
 fold 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 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 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, quietness , rest., and peace of your 
 Grace s most bounden subjects inhabiting withia 
 the same/ 
 
 What did parliament with this audacious address? 
 Reject it as a libel? Treat it as an affront to 
 government? Spurn it as a derogation from the 
 rights of legislature? Did they toss it over the 
 
86 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 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 bitter 
 ness and indignation of complaint ; they made it the 
 very preamble to their act of redress ; and conse 
 crated its principle to all ages in the sanctuary of 
 legislation. 
 
 (87] 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, is the cure of anarchy ; 
 as religion, and not atheism, is the true remedy 
 for superstition. Sir, this pattern of Chester was 
 followed in the reign of Charles II. with regard to 
 the county palatine of Durham, which is my 
 fourth example. This county had long lain out 
 of the pale of free legislation. So scrupulously 
 was the example of Chester ^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 
 recognises the equity of not suffering any consider 
 able district, in which the British subjects may act 
 as a body, to be taxed without their own voice in 
 the grant. 
 
 [88] Now if the doctrines of policy contained in 
 these preambles, and the force of these examples 
 in the acts of parliament, avail anything, what 
 can be said against applying them with regard to 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION S? 
 
 America? Are not the people of America as much 
 Englishmen as the Welsh? The preamble of the 
 act of Henry VIII. says, the Welsh speak a 
 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 Harrington s account of Korth 
 Wales, and take that as a standard to measure the 
 rest, there is no comparison. The people 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 govern America by penal statutes? 
 You made fifteen for Wales. But your legislative 
 authority is perfect with regard 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 neighbourhood; or than 
 Chester and 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 
 inconsiderable. How then can I think ifc sufficient 
 for those which are infinitely greater, and infinitely 
 more remote? 
 [89) You will now, Sir, perliaps, imagine, that I am 
 
88 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 on the point of proposing to you a scheme for a 
 representation of the colonies in parliament. Per 
 haps I might be inclined to entertain some such 
 thought; but a great flood stops me in my course. 
 Opposuit natural I cannot remove the eternal 
 barriers qf the creation. The thing, in that 
 mode, I do not know to be possible. As I med 
 dle with no theory, I do not absolutely assert the 
 impracticability of such a representation. But I 
 do not see my way to it ; and those who have been 
 more confident have not been more successful. 
 However, the arm of public benevolence is not 
 shortened; and there are often several means to 
 the same end. What nature h 
 
 way, wisdom may unite in 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? 
 
 [90] Fortunately I am not obliged for the ways and 
 means of this substitute to tax my own unproduc 
 tive invention. I am not even obliged to go to 
 the rich treasury of the fertile framers of imaginary 
 i commonwealths; not to the Eepublic of Plato; 
 not to the Utopia of More ; not to the Oceana of 
 Harrington. It is before me it is at my feet, 
 
 and the rude swain 
 Treads daily on it with his clouted shoon. 
 
 Mature has opposed. Juvenal, Satires, x, 152. 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 89 
 
 1 only wish you to recognise, for the theory, the 
 ancient constitutional policy of this kingdom with 
 regard to representation, as that policy has been 
 declared in acts of parliament; 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 honour, until the year 1763. 
 
 191] My resolutions therefore mean to establish the 
 equity and justice of a taxation of America, by 
 grant, and not by imposition. To mark the legal 
 competency of the colony assemblies for the support 
 of their government in peace, and for public aids 
 in time of war. To acknowledge that this legal 
 competency has had n. dutjfi^ and beneficial 
 exerjise; and that experience has shown tFe 
 benefit o/ their grants, and the futility of par 
 liamentary taxation as a method of supply. 
 
 [92] 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 mas 
 sive 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 command an immediate 
 peace; and, with but tolerable future manage 
 ment, a lasting obedience in America. I am not 
 
90 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 arrogant in this confident assurance. The propo 
 sitions 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. 
 
 J93] Sir, I shall open the whole plan to you, together 
 with such observations on the motions as may tend 
 to illustrate 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 
 containing two millions and upwards of free inhab 
 itants, 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, and (excepting the 
 description) it is laid down in the language of the 
 constitution ; it is taken nearly verbatim from acts 
 of parliament. 
 
 [94] The second ..is. like .unto the first "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 
 condition of their country ; by lack whereof they 
 have been oftentimes touched and grieved by sub 
 sidies given, granted, .and assented to, in the said 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 91 
 
 court, in a manner prejudicial to the common 
 wealth, quietness, rest, and peace of the subjects 
 inhabiting within the same." 
 
 [95] Is this description too hot, or too cold, too 
 strong, or too weak? Does it arrogate too much to 
 the supreme legislature? 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. 
 
 Non meus hie senno, sed quce prcecepit Ofellus, 
 Rnsticus, abnormis sapiens. 1 
 
 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 preserves, 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 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 the form of sound words ; to 
 
 1 This language is not mine, but that taught by Ofellus, 
 a rustic, but unusually wise. Horace, Satires, II, ii, 2, 3. 
 
92 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 let others abound in their own sense; and care 
 f ally to abstain from all expressions of my own. 
 What the law has said, I say. In all things else I 
 am silent. I have no organ but for her words. 
 This, if it be not ingenious, I am sure is safe. 
 [96] There are indeed words expressive of grievance 
 in this second resolution, which those who are 
 resolved always to be in the right will deny to 
 contain matter of fact, as applied 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 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. \Vhen a man is robbed of a trifle on 
 the highway, it is not the two-pence lost that con 
 stitutes the capital outrage. This is not confined 
 to privileges. Even ancient indulgences with 
 drawn, without offence, on the part of those who 
 enjoyed such favours, openate as grievances. But 
 were the Americans then not 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 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 93 
 
 the sixth of George II.? Else why were the duties 
 first reduced to one-third in 17G4, and afterwards 
 to a third of that third in the year 17GG? 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 dutiu 
 of 1767, which were likewise repealed, and which. 
 Lord Hillsborough tells you (for the ministry) 
 were laid contrary to the true principle of com 
 merce? 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 lord in the blue riband, 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? 
 
 [97] The next proposition is "That from the dis 
 tance of the said colonies, and from other circum 
 stances, 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, an useful representation is impossible; 
 I am sure it is not desired by them ; nor ought it 
 perhaps by us; but I abstain from opinions 
 
 [98] 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 
 
94 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 free inhabitants thereof, commonly called the Gen 
 eral Assembly, or 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." 
 [99] This competence in the colony assemblies is 
 certain. It 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 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 uni 
 form unbroken tenor every session. Sir, I am 
 surprised that this doctrine should come from some 
 of the law servants of the 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 
 biennially in Ireland, or annually in the colonies, 
 are in an habitual course of committing impeach- 
 able offences. What habitual offenders have been 
 all presidents of the council, all secretaries of state, 
 all first lords of trade, all attorneys and all solicitors 
 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. 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 06 
 
 f 100 J The fifth resolution is also a resolution of fact 
 "That the said general assemblies, general courts, 
 or other bodies legally qualified as aforesaid, have 
 at sundry times freely granted several large sub 
 sidies and public aids for his Majesty s service, 
 according to their abilities, when required thereto 
 by letter from one of his Majesty s principal secre 
 taries 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 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 con 
 tributions 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. 
 
 101] On the 4th of April, 1748, a committee of this 
 House came 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 Massachusetts Bay, Kew Hamp 
 shire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, be reim 
 bursed the expenses they have been at in taking 
 and securing to the crown of Great Britain the 
 island of Cape Breton and its dependencies." 
 flOSJ These expenses were immense for such colonies 
 
96 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 They were above 200,000 sterling; money first 
 raised and advanced on their public credit. 
 [103] 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 vigour with which 
 his faithful subjects of certain colonies in North 
 America have exerted themselves in defence of his 
 Majesty s just rights and possessions, recommends 
 it to this House to take the same into their con 
 sideration, and to enable his Majesty to give them 
 such assistance as may be a proper reward and 
 encouragement. " 
 
 f 104] On the third of February, 1756, the House came 
 to a suitable resolution, expressed in words nearly 
 the same as those of the message: but with the 
 further addition, that the money then voted was 
 an encouragement to the colonies to exert them 
 selves with vigour. 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 to the places in the journals : 
 Vol. xxvii. 16th and 19th May, 1757. 
 Vol. xxviii. June 1st, 1758 April 26th and 
 30th, 1759 March 26th and 31st, 
 and April 28th, 1760 Jan. 9th 
 and 20th, 1761. 
 Vol. xxix. Jan. 22nd and 26th, 1762 March 
 
 14th and 17th, 1763. 
 
 1051 Sir, here is the repeated acknowledgment of 
 parliament, that the colonies not only gave, but 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 07 
 
 gave to satiety. This nation has formally 
 acknowledged two things; first, that the colonies 
 had gone beyond their abilities, parliament having 
 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 encouragement is not 
 held out to things that deserve reprehension. My 
 resolution therefore does nothing more than col 
 lect into one proposition, what is scattered through 
 your journals. I 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 honourable to them and to 
 you, will, indeed, be mortal to all the miserable 
 stories, 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 com 
 pelled to contribute. How did that fact, of their 
 paying nothing, stand, when the taxing system 
 began? When Mr. Grenville began to form his 
 system of American revenue, he stated in this 
 House, that the colonies were then in debt two 
 million six hundred thousand pounds sterling 
 money ; and was of opinion they would discharge 
 
98 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 that debt in four years. On this state, those 
 untaxed people were actually subject to the pay 
 ment of taxes to the amount of six hundred and 
 fifty thousand a year. In fact, however, Mr. 
 Grenville was mistaken. The funds given for 
 sinking the debt did not prove quite so ample as 
 both the colonies and he expected. The calcula 
 tion was too sanguine ; the reduction was not com 
 pleted till some years after, and at different times 
 in different colonies. However, the taxes after the 
 war continued too great to bear any addition, with 
 prudence or propriety ; and when the burthens im 
 posed in consequence of former requisitions 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, on the productive nature of a revenue 
 by grant. Now search the same journals for the 
 produce of the revenue ~by imposition Where is 
 it? let us know the volume and the page what is 
 the gross, what is the net produce? to what 
 service is it applied? how have you appropriated 
 its surplus? 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 burthen 
 and blot of every page. 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 90 
 
 ti07] 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, 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. 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 com 
 petent to the purpose of supplying the exigencies 
 of the state without wounding the prejudices of the 
 people. Neither is it true that the body so quali 
 fied, and having that competence, had neglected 
 the duty. 
 
 [108] The question now, on all this accumulated 
 matter, is ; whether you will choose to abide by a 
 profitable experience, 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? 
 
 [109J If these propositions are accepted, everything 
 which has been made to enforce a contrary system, 
 must, I take it for granted, fall along with it. 
 On that ground, I have drawn the following resolu- 
 
100 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 tion, which, when it comes to be moved, will 
 naturally be divided in a proper manner: "That it 
 may be proper to repeal an act, made in the 
 seventh year of the reign of his present Majesty, 
 intituled, An act for granting certain duties in the 
 British colonies and plantations in America; for 
 allowing a drawback of the duties of customs upon 
 the exportation from this kingdom, of coifee and 
 cocoa-nuts of the produce of the said colonies or 
 plantations ; for discontinuing the drawbacks pay 
 able on China earthenware exported to America; 
 and for more effectually preventing the clandestine 
 running of goods in the said colonies and planta 
 tions. And that it maybe proper to repeal an act, 
 made in the fourteenth year of the reign of his 
 present Majesty, intituled, 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 merchandise, at the 
 town and within the harbour of Boston, in the 
 province 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, intituled, An act for the impartial admin 
 istration 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 Massachusetts Bay, in 
 New England. And that it may be proper to 
 repeal an act, made in the fourteenth year of the 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 101 
 
 reign of his present Majesty, intituled, An act for 
 the better regulating the government of the prov 
 ince of Massachusetts Bay, in New England. 
 And, also, 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, intituled, An act 
 for the trial of treasons committed out of the 
 king s dominions." 
 
 [110] I wish, Sir, to repeal the Boston Port Bill, 
 because (independently of the dangerous precedent 
 of suspending the 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 coiporation of Boston was not 
 heard before it was condemned. Other towns, 
 full as guilty as she was, have not had their ports 
 blocked up. Even the restraining bill of the 
 present session does not go 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. 
 
 [Ill] Ideas of prudence and accommodation to cir 
 cumstances, prevent you from taking away the 
 charters of Connecticut and Rhode Island, as you 
 have taken away that of Massachusetts colony, 
 though the crown has far less power in the two 
 former provinces than it enjoyed in the latter ; and 
 
102 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 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 restoring the charter of Massa 
 chusetts Bay. Besides, Sir, the act which changes 
 the charter of Massachusetts is in many particulars 
 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 at his pleasure ; and to make a new return 
 ing officer for every special cause. It is shameful 
 to behold such a regulation standing among English 
 laws. 
 
 fllS) The act for bringing persons accused of commit 
 ting murder under the orders of government to 
 England for trial is but temporary. That act has 
 calculated the probable duration of our quarrel 
 with the colonies; and is accommodated to that 
 supposed duration, I would hasten the happy 
 moment of reconciliation ; and therefore must, on 
 my principle, get rid of that most justly obnoxious 
 act. 
 
 HIS] The act of Henry the Eighth, for the trial of 
 treasons, I do not mean to take away, but to con 
 fine 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. 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 103 
 
 (114] Having guarded the privileges of local legisla 
 ture, I would next secure to the colonies a fair and 
 unbiassed judicature; for which purpose, Sir, I 
 propose the following resolution: "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 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 
 behaviour ; and shall not be removed therefrom, 
 but when the said removal shall be adjudged by 
 his Majesty in council, upon a hearing on com 
 plaint from the general assembly, or on a complaint 
 from the governor, or council, or the house of rep 
 resentatives severally, of the colony in which the 
 said chief justice and other judges have exercised 
 the said offices." 
 
 [115] 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 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." 
 
 fH6 These courts I do not wish to take away; they 
 
104 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 are in 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 altogether as 
 proper, and is indeed on many accounts more 
 eligible, where new powers were wanted, than a 
 court absolutely new. But courts incommodiously 
 situated, in effect, deny justice ; and a court, par 
 taking in the fruits of its own condemnation, is a 
 robber. The congress complain, and complain 
 justly, of this grievance. 
 
 O17J 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. If not, the things that remain unrepealed 
 will be, I hope, rather unseemly encumbrances on 
 the building, than very materially detrimental to 
 its strength and stability. 
 
 [118] Here, Sir, I should close ; but I plainly perceive 
 some objections remain, which I ought, if possible, 
 to remove. 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 representation, 
 stated in that preamble, goes to the whole of 
 legislation as well as to taxation. And that 
 the colonies, grounding themselves upon that 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 105 
 
 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 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 sovereignty of par 
 liament, 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 favour of his opinions. He was a no 
 less powerful advocate for the privileges of the 
 Americans. Ought I not from hence to presume, 
 that these preambles are as favourable as possible 
 to both, when properly understood; favourable 
 both to the rights of parliament, and to the 
 privilege of the dependencies of this crown? But, 
 Sir, the object of grievance 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 
 therefore falls in exactly with the case of the colo 
 nies. But whether the unrepresented counties 
 were de jure, or de facto, -bound, the preambles do 
 not accurately distinguish ; nor indeed was it neces- 
 
106 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 sary; for, whether de jure or de facto, the legisla 
 ture thought the exercise of the power of taxing, 
 as of right, or as of fact without right, equally a 
 grievance, and equally oppressive. 
 
 [120] 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 
 dispositions of any man, or any set of men, when 
 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 and log 
 ical 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 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 
 inconveniences ; we give and take ; we remit some 
 rights that we may enjoy others ; and we choose 
 rather to be happy 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 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 10? 
 
 communion and fellowship of a great empire. But, 
 in all fair dealings, the thing bought must bear 
 some proportion to the purchase paid. None will 
 barter away the immediate jewel of his soul. 
 Though a great house is apt to make slaves haughty, 
 yet it is purchasing a part of the artificial impor 
 tance of a great empire too dear, to pay for it all 
 essential rights, and all the intrinsic dignity of 
 human nature. 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 improve 
 ments, to make it a complete system of liberty; 
 perhaps none who are of that opinion would think 
 it right to aim at such improvement, by disturbing 
 his country, and risking everything that is dear to 
 him. In every arduous enterprise, we consider 
 what we are to lose as well as what we are to gain ; tf 
 and the more and better stake of liberty every 
 people possess, the less they will hazard in a vain 
 attempt to make it more. These are the cords of 
 man. Man acts from adequate motives jr^elativejo >. 
 
 speculations M 
 
 Aristotle, the great master of reasoning, cautions 
 us, and with great weight and propriety, against 
 this species of delusive geometrical accuracy in 
 moral arguments, as the most fallacious of all 
 sophistry. 
 
 f!21] The Americans will have no interest contrary to 
 the grandeur and glory of England, when they ar 
 
108 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 not oppressed by the weight of it ; and they will 
 rather be inclined to respect the acts }f a superin 
 tending legislature, when they see 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 dis 
 contents which are to arise from putting people at 
 their ease; nor do I apprehend the destruction 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. 
 (122] 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 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 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 English dominion, and the 
 communication of English liberties. I do not see 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 109 
 
 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 circumstances of the two countries are 
 the same. I know no other unity of this empire, 
 than I can draw from its example during these 
 periods, when it seemed to my poor understanding 
 more united than it is now, or than it is likely to 
 be by the present methods. 
 
 [123] But since I speak of these methods, I recollect, 
 Mr. Speaker, almost too late, that I promised, 
 before I finished, to say something of the proposi 
 tion 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 mis 
 fortune to continue a difference with the majority 
 of this House. But as the reasons for that differ 
 ence are 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, 
 \vhen the question was before the committee. 
 
 [ 1.34] 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 exum- 
 xr root in the constitution. 
 
 ,--- 
 
 It is neither regular parliamentary taxation, nor 
 colony grant. Experimentitm in corpore vili* is a 
 
 1 Let us make the experiment on something worthless. 
 
110 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 good rule, which will ever make me adverse to any 
 trial of experiments on what is certainly the most 
 valuable of all subjects, the peace of this empire. 
 [125] * Secondly, it is an experiment which must be 
 x fatal in the 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. Yon, Sir, may natter your 
 self you shall sit a state auctioneer, with your ham 
 mer in 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 
 burthen, 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 deliberate either before or after the proposi 
 tion? You cannot 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 called, must swallow up all the time 
 of parliament. 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 111 
 
 (126] Thirdly, it does not give satisfaction to the com 
 plaint of the colonies. They complain, that they 
 are taxed without their consent ; you answer, that 
 you will fix the sum at which they shall be taxed. 
 That is, you give them the very grievance for the 
 remedy. You tell them, indeed, that you will 
 leave the mode to themselves. I really beg par 
 don : it gives me pain to mention it ; but you must 
 be sensible that 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 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. 
 
 [127] Fourthly, this method of ransom by auction, 
 unless it be universally accepted, will plunge yoi> 
 into great and inextricable difficulties. In what 
 year of our Lord are the proportions of payment? 
 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 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 dis 
 
112 BCJRKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 pute on their relative proportions, will be a matter 
 of delay, perplexity, and confusion that never can 
 have an end. 
 
 (128] 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 refrac 
 tory colonies, who refuse all composition, will 
 remain taxed only to your old impositions, which, 
 however grievous in principle, are trifling as to 
 production. The obedient colonies in this scheme 
 are heavily taxed; the refractory remain unbur- 
 thened. What will you do? Will you lay new and 
 heavier taxes by parliament on the disobedient? 
 Pray consider in what way you can doit. You are 
 perfectly convinced, that, in the way of taxing, 
 you can do nothing but at the ports. Now sup 
 pose it is Virginia that refuses to appear at your 
 auction, while Maryland and North Carolina bid 
 handsomely for their ransom, and are 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 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? 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 113 
 
 Who has presented, who can present you with a 
 clue, to lead you out of it? I think, Sir, it is 
 impossible, that you should not recollect that the 
 colony bounds are so implicated in one another, 
 (you know it by your other experiments in the bill 
 for prohibiting the New England fishery,) that you 
 can lay no possible restraints on almost any cf them 
 which may not be presently eluded, if you do not 
 confound the innocent with the guilty, and 
 burthen 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, especially Vir 
 ginia and Maryland, the central and most important 
 of them all. 
 
 [129] Let it also be considered, that, either in the 
 present confusion you settle a permanent con 
 tingent, which will and must be trifling; and then 
 you have no effectual revenue : or 3 T ou change the 
 quota at every exigency ; and then on every new 
 repartition you will have a new quarrel. 
 
 [130] Reflect besides, that when you have fixed a quota 
 for every colony, you have not provided for prompt 
 and punctual 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 send out new fleets, new armies. All is to 
 
114 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 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 
 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 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 be to their taste. I say, this scheme of dis 
 union seems to be at the bottom of the project ; for 
 I will not suspect that the noble lord meant noth 
 ing 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 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. This is mild; that harsh. This 
 is found by experience effectual for its purposes; 
 the other is a new project. This is universal ; the 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 115 
 
 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 dignity of a ruling people; gratuitous, 
 unconditional, and not held out as matter of bar 
 gain and sale. I have done my duty in proposing 
 it to you. I have indeed tired you by a long dis 
 course; but this is the misfortune of those to 
 whose influence nothing will be conceded, and who 
 must 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 disburthened 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 altogether 
 in future. I have this comfort, that in every stagb 
 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 country, I give it to^ 
 my conscience. 
 
 [133] But what (says the financier) is peace to us with 
 out 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 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 
 
116 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 the fortune of man. It does not indeed vote you 
 152,750: 11: 2fths, nor any other paltry limited 
 sum. But it gives the strong box itself, the fund, 
 the bank, from whence only revenues can arise 
 amongst a people sensible of freedom: Posita 
 luditur area. 1 Cannot you in England; cannot 
 you at this time of day ; cannot you, a House of 
 Commons, trust to the principle which has raised 
 so mighty a revenue, and accumulated a debt of 
 near 140 millions in this country? Is this prin 
 ciple to.be true in England, and false everywhere 
 else? Is it not true in Ireland? Has it not 
 hitherto been true in the colonies? Why should 
 you presume, that, in any country, a body duly 
 constituted for any function, will neglect to per 
 form 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 foundation in 
 nature. For first observe, that, besides the desire 
 which all men have naturally of supporting the 
 honour 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. 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 
 
 The strong-box (the whole fortune) is put up as a 
 stake. Juvenal, Satires. I, 90 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 117 
 
 plenty, bursting from the weight of its own rich 
 luxuriance, has ever run with a more copious 
 stream of revenue, than could be squeezed from the 
 dry husks of oppressed indigence, by the straining 
 of all the politic machinery in the world. 
 134] Next we know, that parties must ever exist in a 
 free country. We know, too, that the emulations 
 of such parties, their contradictions, then reciprocal 
 necessities, their hopes, and their fears, must send 
 them all in their turns to him that holds the bal 
 ance 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 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 constrained, will 
 be narrow, feeble, uncertain, and precarious. 
 
 Ease would retract 
 Vou s made in pain, as violent and void. 
 
 35] I, for one, protest against compounding our 
 demands: I declare against compounding for a 
 poor limited sum, the immense, evergrowing, 
 eternal debt, which is due to generous 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 
 
118 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 colonies to a sum certain, either in the way of ran 
 som, or in the way of compulsory compact. 
 
 [136] But to clear up my ideas on this subject a 
 revenue from America transmitted hither do not 
 delude yourselves you never can receive it No, 
 not a shilling. We have experience that from 
 remote countries it is not to be 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 qualified to produce wealth, it is 
 India; or an institution fit for the transmission, it 
 is the East India Company. America has none of 
 these aptitudes. If America gives you taxable 
 objects, on which you lay your duties here, and 
 gives you, at the same time, a surplus by a foreign 
 sale of her commodities to pay the duties on these 
 objects, which you tax at 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 per 
 mitted to exhaust herself. She ought to be 
 reserved to a war; the weight of 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. 
 
 [187] For that service, for all service, whether of 
 revenue, trade, or empire, my trust is in her inter- 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 119 
 
 est in the British constitution. My hold of the 
 colonies is in the close affection which grows from 
 common names, from kindred blood, from similar 
 privileges, and equal protection. These are ties, 
 which, though light_as air, areas strong as links 
 of iron. Let the colonies always keep the idea .of 
 their civil rights associated with your government ; V 
 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 your government may be one thing, and their 
 privileges another; that these t\vo things may exist 
 without anjnnutiial 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 this 
 country as the sanctuary^ liberty, the sacred 
 temple consecrated to our common faith, wherever 
 the chosen racTe aiicTsons trf England worship free 
 dom, they will turn their faces towards you. The 
 more they multiply, the more friends you will 
 have; the more ardently they love liberty, 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 but you. 
 This is the commodity of price, of which you have 
 the monopoly. This is the true act of navigation, 
 
120 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 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, which originally 
 made, and must still preserve, the unity of the 
 empire. Do not entertain so weak an imagination, 
 as that your registers and your bonds, your affi 
 davits and your sufferances, your cockets and your 
 clearances, are what form the great securities of 
 your commerce. Do not dream that your letters 
 of office, and your instructions, and your suspend 
 ing clauses, are the things that hold together the 
 great contexture 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 their life 
 and efficacy to them. It is the spirit of the Eng 
 lish constitution, which, infused through the 
 mighty mass, pervades, feeds, unites, invigorates, 
 vivifies every part of the empire, even down to the 
 minutest member. 
 
 J138] Is it not the same virtue which does everything 
 for us here 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 ; it is their attachment to their government 
 from the sense of the deep stake they have in such 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 121 
 
 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. 
 
 [139] All this, I know well enough, will sound wild 
 and chimerical to the profane herd of those vul 
 gar 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 l - 
 therefore, far from being qualified to be directors 
 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 substantial 
 existence, are in truth everything, and all in all. 
 Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest * 
 wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill 
 together. If we are conscious of our situation and 
 glow with zeal to fill our place as becomes our 
 station and ourselves, we ought to auspicate all our 
 public proceedings on America with the old warn 
 ing of the church, Sursum corda! 1 We ought to 
 elevate our minds to the greatness of that trustTt<> 
 which_the_order ; pJJProvideiice has called us. By 
 adverting to the dignity of this high calling, our 
 ancestors have turned a savage wilderness into a 
 glorious empire ; and have made the most extensive, 
 
 1 Lift up your hearts. 
 
122 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 and the only honourable conquests, not by destroy 
 ing, but by promoting the wealth, the number, 
 the happiness of the human race, Let us get an 
 American revenue as we have got an American 
 empire. English privileges have made it all that 
 it is ; English privileges alone will make it all it 
 can be. 
 
 [140] In full confidence of this unalterable truth, I 
 now (quod felix faustumque sit) 1 lay the first stone 
 of the temple of peace; and I move you, 
 
 " That the colonies and plantations of Great 
 Britain in North America, consisting of fourteen 
 separate governments, and containing 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." 
 
 (141] Upon this resolution the previous question was 
 put, bat the resolution failed of adoption; yeas 
 78, noes 270. 
 
 As the propositions were opened separately in the 
 body 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 amendment, left out of the motion. 
 
 2 May it be happy and fortunate. 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 123 
 
 41 Moved, 
 
 f!43] "That the colonies and plantations of Great 
 Britain in North America, consisting of fourteen 
 separate governments, and containing two millions 
 and upwards of free inhabitants, have not had the 
 liberty and privilege of electing and sending an) 
 knights and burgesses, or others, to represent 
 them in the high court of parliament. " 
 
 (144] "That the said colonies and plantations have 
 been made liable to, and bounden by, several sub 
 sidies, payments, rates, and taxes, given and 
 granted by parliament; though the said colonies 
 and plantations have not their knights and bur 
 gesses, in the said high court of parliament, of 
 their own election, to represent the condition 
 of their country ; by lack ivhereof, 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, quiet 
 ness, rest, and peace, of the subjects inhabiting 
 within the same. 11 
 
 (145] "That from the distance of the said colonies, 
 and from other circumstances, no method hath 
 hitherto been devised for procuring a representa 
 tion in parliament for the said colonies." 
 
 {146J "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, 01 
 general court; with powers legally to raise, levy, 
 
124 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 and assess, according to the several usage of sucn 
 colonies, duties and taxes towards defraying all 
 sorts of public services." 
 
 (147] "That the said general assemblies, general 
 courts, or other bodies, legally qualified as afore 
 said, 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 prin 
 cipal 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 parliament." 
 
 [148] "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 mode of giving and granting aids 
 and subsidies in parliament to be raised and paid 
 in the said colonies." 
 
 149] "That it may be proper to repeal an act, made 
 in the seventh year of the reign of his present 
 Majesty, intituled, An act for granting certain 
 duties in the British colonies and plantations in 
 America; for allowing a drawback of the duties of 
 customs, upon the exportation from this kingdom, 
 of coffee and cocoa-nuts, of the produce of the said 
 colonies or plantations; for discontinuing the 
 drawbacks payable on China earthenware exported 
 
BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 125 
 
 to America; and for more effectually preventing 
 the clandestine ranning of goods in the said colo 
 nies and plantations," 
 
 "That it may be proper to repeal an act, made 
 in the fourteenth year of the reign of his present 
 Majesty, intituled, An act to discontinue, in such 
 manner., and for such time, as are therein men 
 tioned, tho landing and discharging, lading or 
 shipping of goods, rares, and merchandise, at the 
 town, and within the harbour of Boston, in the 
 province of Massachusetts Bay, in North America. " 
 
 JL51) "That it may be proper to repeal an act, made 
 in the fourteenth year of the reign of his present 
 Majesty, intituled, An act for the impartial admin 
 istration of justice, in cases of persons questioned 
 for any acts done by them in the execution of the 
 law, or for the suppression of riots and tumults in tho 
 province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England. 
 
 1152] "That it is proper to repeal an act, made in the 
 fourteenth year of the reign of his present Majesty, 
 intituled, An act for the better regulating the gov 
 ernment of the province of Massachusetts Bay, in 
 New England." 
 
 [153] "That it is proper to explain and amend an act 
 made in the thirty-fifth year of the reign of King 
 Henry VIII. , intituled, An act for the trial of 
 treasons committed out of the king s dominions." 
 
 (154] "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 
 
126 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 assembly duly confirmed, a settled salary to the 
 offices of the chief justice and other judges of the 
 superior courts, 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 behaviour; 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 represent 
 atives, severally, of the colony in which the said 
 chief justice and other judges have exercised the 
 eaid office." 
 
 (155] "That it may be proper to regulate the courts 
 of admiralty, or vice-admiralty, authorized by the 
 fifteenth chapter of the fourth of George III., in 
 such a manner, as to make the same more com 
 modious 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. 9 
 
QUESTIONS ON THE LITERARY AND RHETORI 
 CAL QUALITIES OF THE SPEECH ON 
 CONCILIATION 
 
 One reading of the speech, preferably the first 
 or the second, should be devoted to a study of the 
 literary and rhetorical qualities. The following 
 questions are intended merely to indicate topics for 
 study. The work may be extended as time, and 
 the attainments of the class permit. The order 
 of the questions is perhaps not the best for all 
 classes. Some of the questions may be assigned 
 for reports or brief essays. Numbers in parentheses 
 refer to paragraphs of the speech : 
 
 1. What power over words is seen in the use of 
 event (1), delicate (2), comprehend (4), capital 
 (12), occasional (16), auspicious (25), the genius, 
 (25), determine (36), sensible (38), auspicate 
 (139)? Compare the etymological meaning of 
 these words with their usual meaning. 
 
 2. What argumentative or persuasive force is 
 there in the use of squabbling (10), auction (10), 
 indifferently (13), partial (16), occasional (16), 
 adored (38)? Find other single words which 
 condense a whole argument. 
 
 3. One element of Burke s power is his use of 
 specific, concrete, incisive terms. Find examples 
 
 127 
 
128 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 in (42) last sentence, (43), (50), (56), or other 
 paragraphs. 
 
 4. What characteristic of vocabulary is seen in 
 such a pass (5), play the game out (5), produce our 
 hand (5), fave so far in to (6), a good while (8), 
 knock down the hammer (10), shot a good deal (12), 
 smartness of debate (42), mighty well (42), have 
 done the business (45), are wished to look (99)? 
 Find other examples. 
 
 5. The words which Burke uses close together 
 fit one another s meaning; as, "In this posture 
 things stood" (5). While his phraseology is not 
 always smooth and nice, he makes effective phrases. 
 Find illustrations in (25), (66), and (72), or in 
 other paragraphs. 
 
 6. What does Burke s phraseology owe to the 
 English Bible? 
 
 7. Similes, metaphors, and tropes (slightly 
 figurative turns of expression) are very numerous 
 in all of Burke s writings. Cite a few examples 
 from this speech. 
 
 8. Burke uses a good many reference words and 
 words of transition and connection to make it easy 
 for the reader to follow his course of reasoning. 
 Mark all there are in (36). Note words and 
 phrases of transition at the beginning of many 
 paragraphs. 
 
 9. What evidences of the oratorical temperament 
 are seen in the diction of (1), (4), (15), (25), (30), 
 (43), (45)? 
 
RHETORICAL DUALITIES 129 
 
 10. Does Bnrke use the rhetorical question and 
 fc he exclamation? 
 
 11. Find cases of parallelism and balance in 
 sentences. A case of climax. Notice in the Brief 
 Proper the forward inarch of the three main 
 propositions. 
 
 12. Find a wise political maxim expressed in a 
 short sentence in (10), in (13), (45), (5!)), (05), 
 ((50), (83), (88), (96), (120), and (139). 
 
 13. Examine the variety in length and structure 
 and kinds of sentences in (25), (45), (55), (56). 
 
 1-t. What characteristics of the introduction are 
 perhaps explained by the fact that he knew his 
 audience to be strongly opposed to his views? 
 
 1 5. Do you find that usually each paragraph deals 
 with only one topic? that it is possible to state 
 4 he principal thought of each paragraph in a single 
 sentence? What quality of composition is indi 
 cated by these facts? 
 
 16. In (59) point out the sentence which best 
 expresses the topic. Show how each of the other 
 sentences introduces, or proves, or repeats, or 
 explains, or exemplifies, the main idea. 
 
 17. Show in what orderly sequence the ideas of 
 (60) come along. Make a list of them. Notice 
 the proportion of space and the relative prominence 
 given to each of them. Do these correspond with 
 their importance relatively to the thought? 
 
 18. In the group (47-64) have we the inductive 
 or the deductive order of thought? How is it in 
 
130 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 most of the speech? Is Burke s plan fully 
 announced at the beginning? Arc we kept in sus 
 pense as to just what Burke wants? Where do we 
 find out in full? 
 
 19. In (47) Burke says he "would patiently go 
 round and round the subject, and survey it 
 minutely in every possible aspect," Burke has 
 been accused of making too many fine distinctions in 
 his speeches. Do you think the criticism just? Is 
 there a distinction made in this speech that is unnec 
 essary to the argument? Consult the Brief Proper. 
 
 20. Do you find any passages that would sound 
 too highly oratorical in a speech nowadays? IIo\v 
 about the Latin quotations? 
 
 21. Notice a few of the quotations and allusions 
 and see if there is not a bit of argument or persua 
 sion concealed in each of them. Point it out. 
 Can you find any purely ornamental passage in 
 this speech? 
 
 22. AVhat passages in this speech indicate espe 
 cially that Burke was a believer in the "sacredness 
 of law," and that he reverenced the past? How 
 often does he appeal to experience as proof of what 
 he says? 
 
 23. If you had read nothing about Burke the 
 man, could you tell from this speech what some of 
 his personal qualities (mental, moral, religious) 
 must have been? Could you tell also whether or 
 not he had read much? what his favorite books 
 were? what his political ideals were? 
 
RHETORICAL QUALITIES 131 
 
 24. Matthew Arnold says that Burke "is so 
 .jreat because, almost alone in England, he brings 
 thought to bear upon politics; he saturates politics 
 with thought." Of what passage in this speech 
 does this statement seem to you to be especially 
 true? 
 
 25. "Burke bases his reasoning on facts in 
 human nature." Verify this. 
 
 26. Professor Goodrich says that the secret of 
 Burke s richness of thought "consisted, to a great 
 extent, in his habit of viewing things in their 
 causes, or tracing them out in their results." 
 Verify. 
 
 27. Report the steps in the reductio aa almirdum 
 in (70-73). 
 
 28. What form of argument is used in (81) and 
 (88)? Notice the use of words of comparison, 
 more, 7w?.s, as, as mud. 
 
 20. Do you find evidences of a powerful imagi 
 nation in this speech? Do you find any poetic 
 touches? 
 
 30. Which of the following adjectives might be 
 used truthfully in speaking of the style of Burke s 
 Speech on Conciliation? Cite passages in sup 
 port of your answer. Suggestive, picturesque, 
 pathetic, sublime, serious, sincere, keeri^ judicious, 
 ironical, beautiful, grand, clear", emphatic^ pre 
 cise, simple^ colloquial, harsh, intense, diffuse, 
 repetitious, 
 
A STUDY OF THE LOGICAL STRUCTURE OF THE 
 SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 One reading, preferably the second or the third, 
 may profitably be devoted exclusively to a study of 
 the logical structure of the speech, to an examina 
 tion of the arguments separately and in their 
 inter-relations. Experience has shown that the 
 arguments will be best appreciated if the para 
 graphs are condensed into sentences and these 
 sentences are arrayed according to their rank 
 in the argumentative scheme. This kind of 
 work is difficult, but rewards the pupil by giv 
 ing him a comprehension of the argument such as 
 he can hardly gain in any other way. Fully one- 
 half of the time devoted to this speech may profit 
 ably be spent in the making of a Brief. The 
 following suggestions are intended to afford the 
 pupil needed help towards making his Brief. A 
 Brief of Burke s introduction to the speech is 
 given in full in order to illustrate the form 
 preferred. Complete sentences, reading as rea 
 sons, should everywhere be insisted upon. The 
 numbers given below in parentheses refer to 
 paragraphs of the speech. Directions to the 
 pupil are in brackets. Material not in brackets 
 stands as part of the final Brief. It will pay to 
 
LOGICAL STRUCTURE 133 
 
 adhere to the form and system of numoering sug 
 gested, mid to draw oil a complete Brief. Before 
 beginning to make the Brief Proper, let the pupil 
 read the first fourteen paragraphs of the speech, 
 comparing them one by one with the Brief of the 
 introduction given below. Let him note that the 
 main thought of paragraph (1) may be expressed 
 in a single, complete sentence, as (I) below; that 
 the same is true of (2); but (hat (3) and (4) belong 
 together, forming a contrast; that (5), (G), (7), 
 and (8) also belong together, since they give 
 Burke s excuses for speaking; that (0) gives 
 Burke s proposition; that (10), (11), (12), and (13) 
 belong together because they contrast Burke s 
 plan with Lord North s and show what advantage 
 the former gains from the fact that the latter has 
 been presented; that (13) also adds a new thought 
 (VII below); that (14) closes the introduction by 
 dividing the subject preparatory to the argument 
 proper. Arranging this material in the orderly 
 form of a brief, we have the following. 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 I. The return of the grand penal bill gives Parlia 
 inent another opportunity to choose a plan for 
 managing the American colonies (1). 
 II. Having studied the subject, Burke has arrived at 
 
 fixed ideas of imperial policy (2). 
 
 III. Burke s sentiments have not changed (3); but 
 Parliament has frequently changed its policy, 
 with disastrous results (4). 
 
131 BURKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 IV. Burke ventures to address the House, for, 
 
 A. Those opposing the ministry must now pro 
 
 duce their plan (5). 
 
 B. Though Burke is reluctant (6), the awful 
 
 situation makes it his duty to do good 
 if he can (7). 
 
 C. Burke s insignificance will ensure a discus 
 
 sion of his plan wholly on its merits (8). 
 V. Burke s proposition is to secure peace by 
 removing the grounds of difference (9). 
 
 VI. Burke s plan, simple and very different from 
 
 Lord North s (10), derives advantages from 
 the latter s presentation (11), for, 
 
 A. By accepting Lord North s plan, the House 
 
 has voted that the idea of conciliation is 
 admissible (11). 
 
 B. By accepting Lord North s plan, the House 
 
 has voted that the idea of conciliation is 
 admissible previous to submission by the 
 colonies (12) 
 
 C. By accepting Lord North s plan, the House 
 
 has voted that complaints in regard to 
 taxation are not wholly unfounded 
 (12). 
 
 D. Burke s plan is based upon the same prin 
 
 ciple as Lord North s, that of concilia* 
 tion (13). 
 
 VII. The proposal for peace ought to originate with 
 
 England, the superior powder (13). 
 
 VIII. The two leading questions are: Whether Eng 
 land ought to concede; and, What the con 
 cession should be ; the determination of which 
 depends upon the actual condition and circum 
 stances of America and not upon abstractions 
 or theories (14). 
 
LOGICAL STRUCTURE 135 
 
 BRIEF PROPER 
 
 A. ENGLAND SHOULD CONCILIATE THE AMERICAN 
 
 COLONIES (15-64), FOR, 
 
 I. The nature and condition of America require 
 conciliation (15), for [Read (15-30), and having 
 discovered A, B, C and D, set them down in 
 complete sentences reading as reasons for I. 
 Follow the form of the Introduction VI] . 
 II. Those who advocate force against America are 
 wrong (31), for [Read (32-35), and having 
 found the reasons, et them down as before]. 
 
 III. [Express (36) in form similar to I above. A (37) 
 
 is followed by reasons, which should be marked 
 1, 2, etc.] 
 
 IV. This unnatural contention has shaken all fixed 
 
 principles of government (45-46), for [Mark 
 the three evil effects A, B and C] . 
 V. Of the only three ways of dealing with America, 
 we must adopt the third (47), for, 
 
 A. The first way (to remove the causes of the 
 
 American spirit) is impossible (48-57) for 
 [Find the reasons, marking them 1, 2, 
 etc., and if reasons for 1, or 2, etc., are 
 given, mark them a, b, c, etc.]. 
 
 B. [Supply the thought. Keep the form of 
 
 sentence used for A just above. ] 
 
 C. The third way, to comply with the Ameri 
 
 can spirit, we must, therefore, adopt (64). 
 
 B. THE MEASURES OF CONCILIATION ADOPTED SHOULE. 
 
 SATISFY THE AMERICAN COMPLAINT AGAINST 
 TAXATION (65-88), FOR, 
 
 I. To please any people, you must give them the 
 
 boon they ask (65). 
 II, To refuse satisfaction on the ground of a legal 
 
136 BUKKE S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION 
 
 right to tax is illogical (60), for [Read (66-68) 
 to find reasons. Reason A is implied in the 
 f]uestions in (68)]. 
 
 III. [Express (70) in the form of sentence used in II, 
 
 just above, "To refuse," etc. Read (71-74) for 
 reasons. ] 
 
 IV. [Express (75) in the form of sentence used in II. 
 
 Reason A (last sentence of 75). Reason B (76).] 
 V. Such satisfaction would be in accordance with 
 four great constitutional precedents (77-78), for 
 [Phrase A, B, C, D, (79-87), and E (88), with 
 reasons, if any are given, under each]. 
 C. SATISFACTION OF THE AMERICAN COMPLAINT Is 
 POSSIBLE WITHOUT GRANTING REPRESENTATION 
 IN PARLIAMENT (89 AND 90), FOR, 
 I. Parliament would give satisfaction (in part) by 
 ceasing to impose taxes and declaring the 
 competency of colonial grants (91), and record 
 ing its belief in the following resolutions (92-93) . 
 
 A. That the colonies are not represented in 
 
 Parliament (93). 
 
 B. That the colonies have been grieved by 
 
 taxes (94-95), for, 
 
 1, It is a grievance to be hurt in one s privi 
 leges, irrespective of the money involved 
 (96). [Supply 2, 3, etc., from the rest of 
 paragraph (96).] 
 
 [C (97), D (98), D 1 (99), E (100), E 1 (100-105), 
 
 F (106-108).] 
 II. Parliament would give satisfaction (in part) also 
 
 by repealing the Acts named in the Resolution 
 
 (109), for, 
 
 A. The Boston Port Bill is unjust (110) for 
 [Find in (110) two reasons, 1 and 2]. 
 
 [B (111), C (112), D (113), with reasons, if 
 any are given.] 
 
LOGICAL STRUCTURE 137 
 
 III. [Read (114-118). Express the thought in the form 
 
 of sentence used in I and II, just above.] 
 
 IV. The argument that the grievance of taxation 
 
 extends to all legislation cannot stand (118), 
 for [Read to (121), finding reasons]. 
 V. [Express ( 122) in the form of sentence used in IV, 
 
 just above.] 
 
 VI. The foregoing plan of satisfying the American 
 complaint is better than Lord North s (123), 
 for [Read (124-182), drawing off the reasons]. 
 VIL [Express ( 133) in the form of IV, just above. Find 
 reasons. ] 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 I. The real ties that bind the colonies to the Empire 
 are not laws, but ties of loyalty and affection 
 (137-138). 
 II. [Find in paragraph (139) a single sentence that 
 
 expresses the thought.] 
 
 III. Burke therefore moves the following resolution 
 [as given in (140-155)], 
 
NOTES 
 
 H [1] 8ir The Speaker of the House of Commons. 
 
 austerity of the Chair. The severe impartiality of the 
 speaker. 
 
 my motion. At the end of the speech 
 
 grand penal bill, Lord North s bill ;proposed Feb. 10, 1775) 
 entitled "An Act to restrain the Commerce of the Provinces 
 of Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire, and Colonies 
 of Connecticut and Rhode? Island, and Providence Planta 
 tion, in North America, to Great Britain, Ireland, and the 
 British Islands in the West Indies, and to prohibit such 
 Provinces and Colonies from carrying- on any Fishery on 
 the Banks of Newfoundland, and other places therein 
 mentioned, under Certain conditions and limitations." By 
 this bill thousands of New England fishermen were to be 
 reduced to beggary , 
 
 is to be returned to us. The Lords wanted the bill amended 
 so that it should apply to other American colonies besides 
 those of New England 
 
 mixture of coercion and restraint. A. contemptuous name for 
 the Grand Penal Bill, incongruous with conciliation. Burke 
 cannot mean that coercion is incongruous with restraint. 
 
 II [2] blown about. Ephesians iv, 14. In this and adjacent 
 lines Burke refers to the rapid changes of opinion in and 
 out of Parliament as to the best way to deal with the col 
 onies. Parliament passed the Stamp Act one year and 
 repealed it the next. 
 
 IT [3] At that period. The repeal of the Stamp Act The 
 vote stood 275 for the repeal, 161 against, 
 
 1 [4] Everything administered as remedy. The Tea-Tax, 
 Boston Port Bill, Massachusetts Colony Bill, Transporta 
 tion Bill, and Quebec Act. 
 
 her present situation. The colonies were preparing for war 
 Lexington was fought within a month, 
 133 
 
NOTES 139 
 
 Tl [5] a, worthy member. Mr. Rose Fuller. A year before^ 
 Burke had delivered his speech on American Taxation on 
 a motion by Mr. Fuller to repeal the tax on tea. 
 
 American committee. The whole House of Commons sit 
 ting 1 as a committee on American affairs. A * committee 
 of the whole " chooses its own chairman some member, 
 not the speaker. 
 
 our former methods. The methods of " the opposition," 
 (the minority party or parties) which had been confined to 
 criticism of measures proposed by the ministry (chosen 
 from the majority party). 
 
 platform. Plan. 
 
 M \Q] seat of authority. Here means the government min 
 istry. 
 
 disreputably. Ill-timed propositions discredit the maker 
 of them. 
 
 H [?] paper government. Merely on paper, theoretical, in 
 capable of being 1 put into operation because not practical 
 A reference perhaps to the scheme of g-overnment which 
 the philosopher Locke drew up for Carolina. 
 
 separated from the execution. A plan which is not to be 
 executed bv the one who drafted it. 
 
 my caution. My disinclination to bring- for ward a plan. 
 
 laid hold on, I Timothy vi, 19. Hebrews vi, 18. 
 
 TI [8] natural. Arising 1 from ability, adventitious- Aris 
 ing- from rank, title, wealth, or other external circum 
 stance. 
 
 1 [9] discord fomented from principle. Burke refers to the 
 principle underlying 1 Lord North s project (see note on 
 1 10) to weaken the colonies by dividing 1 them into two 
 classes, 
 
 juridical. Purely legal and technical, without reference 
 to equity and justice. Compare ^ 66. 
 
 shadowy boundaries, ^Limits of power in regard to the 
 right to tax. The Tories held that the right to tax the 
 colonies was Implied in Parliament s general right of legis 
 lation. The radical Whigs held to the contrary. The 
 Whigs of Burke s type waived the question of legal right 
 and declared that it was inexpedient to tax the colonies, 
 whether Parliament had the legal right, or not. 
 
MO NOTES 
 
 unsuspecting confidence. Italicized because used by the 
 Congress at Philadelphia in 1774 to express the state 
 of feeling in the colonies after the repeal of the Stamp 
 Act. 
 
 If ftO] the project. February 20, 1775, Lord North brought 
 in resolutions, entitled " Propositions for Conciliating the 
 Differences with America," which were agreed to by the 
 House February 27, as follows* "That when the governor, 
 council, or assembly, or general court, of any of his Majes 
 ty s provinces or colonies in America, shall propose to 
 make provision, according to the condition, circumstances, 
 arid situation of such province or colony, for contributing 
 their proportion to the common defense (such proportion 
 to be raised under the authority of the general court or 
 general assembly of such province or colony, and dispos 
 able by Parliament), and shall engage to make provision 
 also for the support of the civil government and the ad 
 ministration of justice, in such province or colony, it will 
 be proper, if such proposal shall be approved by his 
 Majesty and the two Houses of Parliament, and for 
 so long as such provision shall be made accordingly, 
 to forbear, in respect of such province or colony, to levy 
 any duty, tax, or assessment, or to impose any further 
 duty, tax, or assessment, except such duties as it may be 
 expedient to continue to levy or impose, for regulation of 
 commerce; the net produce of the duties last mentioned 
 to be carried to the account of such province or colony 
 respectively " 
 
 noble lord Lord North, a Knight of the Garter, wore the 
 badge of that order, a blue ribbon, 
 
 colony agents The colonies not having direct representa 
 tion in Parliament engaged agents to watch legislation 
 and otherwise look after colony interests there. Frank 
 lin was once such an agent for Pennsylvania, Massachu 
 setts, Maryland, and Georgia, and Burke himself was 
 agent for New York for a short time. 
 
 *fl fll] registry, In the House journals. 
 
 resolution. Lord North s project. The advantage lay In 
 the use of the word " conciliating- " In the title of Lord 
 North s resolutions, 
 
NOTES 141 
 
 menacing front of vur address. Feb. 9, 1775, Parliament 
 had presented an address to the king- declaring" that no 
 part of his authority over the colonies should be relin 
 quished. For the use of front, see Othello I, iii, 80. 
 
 bills of pains and penalties. Two of these bills were the 
 Boston Port Bill and the Grand Penal Bill. 
 
 tdeas of free grace. Voluntary concessions. 
 
 H [121 it has declared . . . and has admitted. By the 
 very fact of agreeing to Lord North s resolutions. 
 
 1 [13] I shall endeavour to show. See T[ 124 to If 131. 
 
 1 [14] the object. The colonies. 
 
 1 [16] minima. Trifles. De minimis non curat lex, the law 
 takes no account of trifles. The logical subject of this 
 sentence is America. 
 
 U [1~3 ground has "been trod. The matter has beer- dis 
 cussed, some days ago. March 16. 
 
 person. Mr. Glover, esteemed a poet in his day. 
 
 at your bar. The bar is a rod across the entry to the 
 chamber in which Parliament sits. Members and officers 
 alone are admitted within the bar. 
 
 1 [19] comparative state. A statement making compari 
 sons. 
 
 on your table. Officially before you. 
 
 Davenani. Appointed inspector-general of exports and 
 imports in 1705. 
 
 1 [20] The African, The slave trade, principally ; hence 
 rightfully regarded by Burke as a branch or England 1 a 
 export trade to the colonies, since the slaves were taken to 
 the colonies and sold, 
 
 t [25] It is good, etc. Mark ix, 5. 
 
 Clouds, indeed, etc, Addison, Cato V, i: 
 The wide th unbounded Prospect lies before me 
 And Shadows, Clouds, and Darkness, rest upon it. 
 
 Lord Bathnrst. Born 1684; took his seat in Parliament in 
 1705; died Sept., 1775. 
 
 angel. The guardian angel. 
 
 the fourth generation, the third prince. George the Third \vas 
 the grandson of George the Second. 
 
 made Great Britain. By the Act of Union (1707) En^.and 
 a*"I Scotland became one. 
 
14* NOTES 
 
 Higher rank. Bathurst was made Earl in 17T2. 
 
 a new one. His son was made Lord Chancellor with the 
 title of Baron Apsley the year previous. 
 
 taste of death. Matthew xvi, 28. 
 
 If [28] deceive the burthen. Lighten the burden by beguil 
 ing- the burden-bearer. A Latinism (fallere). 
 
 II [29] corn. Grain. 
 
 Roman charity, etc. A reference to an old Roman story, 
 one version of which is that Cymon, having 1 been con 
 demned to die by starvation, was kept alive by his daughter 
 Xanthippe, who visited him in prison and nourished him 
 from her own breasts. 
 
 1 [30] fierjwnt. A constellation within the Antarctic 
 Circle. 
 
 Falkland Island .... national ambition. Spain and Eng 
 land disputed the ownership of these islands in 1770. Many 
 Englishmen thought them not worth fighting for. Spain 
 yielded before war broke out. These islands were supply 
 stations for whalers. 
 
 run the longitude. Literally, sail east or west ; here, south 
 west. 
 
 vexed. Agitated. A Latinism (vexare). 
 
 H [31] completions. Temperament. 
 
 military art. Several army men in the House, including 
 General Burgoyne, had made speeches advocating the use 
 jf force against the colonies. 
 
 ivield the thunder. An allusion to Jupiter and his thunder 
 bolts. Lord North as prime minister might be said to 
 " wield the thunder of the state." 
 
 M [34] British strength. The colonists were Englishmen. 
 It was for their rights as Englishmen that they were con 
 tending. 
 
 (t foreign enemy. France or Spain might take advantage 
 of England when England was engaged in war with her 
 colonies. 
 
 "i [35] Uur qncient indulgence. Our former kindness to 
 the colonies. 
 
 our penitence. Our recent policy of coercion. 
 
 1] [37] restive. Properly means stubborn. Here used in 
 the sense of restless. 
 
NOTES 143 
 
 IT [38] when. In the times preceding the establishment 
 of the Commonwealth. 
 
 sensible object. An object capable of being- perceived by 
 the senses. 
 
 ancient commonwealths. Rome and the states of Greece. 
 
 several orders. Several ranks or classes of the people. 
 
 greatest spirits. Pym, Hampden, Vane. 
 
 ^f [39] popular. Controlled by the people. 
 
 I [40] of that kind. Dissenters from the Church of Eng 
 land. 
 
 dissidence of dissent. Dissent carried to the extreme. 
 Matthew Arnold uses this phrase (of Hooker s) in Culture 
 and Anarchy, eh. I, 21. 
 
 the establishments. The state churches. 
 
 1[ [41] Gothic. Teutonic. 
 
 were the Poles. Burke uses the past tense were because 
 he is speaking- of the Poles before 1772, the year of the 
 Partition of Poland between Austria, Russia and Prus 
 sia. 
 
 II [42] liy successful chicane. Gen. Gage forbade the col 
 onists from calling any town meetings after August 1, 
 1774. They evaded the order by adjourning over the n rst 
 to a time definite ; by continuing this process of keeping 
 alive the same adjourned meeting they obviated the neces 
 sity of calling a meeting. Consult Hosmer, Samuel Adams. 
 322"-323. 
 
 friend. Thurlow, the attornej -general. who was taking 
 notes of Burke s speech, on the floor. The lowest tier of 
 benches, occupied by members of the cabinet. 
 
 If [43] ivinged ministers of vengeance. Ships, which are 
 compared to the eagle that carried Jupiter s thunderbolts 
 in its pounces, or talons. 
 
 No far shalt thou go. Job xxxviii, 11. 
 
 1 [45] with all its imperfections, etc. Hamlet I, v 
 
 Lord Dunmore. Governor of Virginia 
 
 If [46] abrogated the ancient government of Ma&sacliusetts. 
 In 1774, an act of Parliament forbade the people of Massa 
 chusetts to hold town meetings except by permission of 
 the royal governor ; gave to the royal governor the power 
 to appoint and remove at pleasure all judges and magis- 
 
144 NOTES 
 
 trates, including- sheriffs, and charged the sheriffs with 
 the duty of summoning* jurymen. The object was of course 
 to make the courts mere creatures of the royal will. 
 
 11 [47] inconvenient. Troublesome. 
 
 giving up the colonies. This was seriously proposed and de 
 fended by Dr. Tucker, Dean of Gloucester, in 1774, on the 
 ground that England would have the trade of the colonies 
 whether she owned them or not, if she offered them the best 
 markets. 
 
 TI [50] English Tartars. The allusion is to the hordes of 
 Tartars and Mongols who under Genghis Khan (1160-1227) 
 and Timour (1336-1405) swept over Asia, conquering as they 
 went. 
 
 Increase and multiply. Paradise Lost X, 730. Genesis i, 
 28. 
 
 children of men. Psalms cxv, 16. 
 
 wax and parchment. Legal forms. 
 
 1 [53] your speech. Matthew xxvi, 73. Judges xii, 6. 
 
 IF [54] burn their books. Acts xix, 19. 
 
 chargeable. Expensive. 
 
 IF [55] 7ios had its advocates. Dr. Johnson in his pam 
 phlet, Taxation no Tyranny, favored this plan. In 1775, 
 Governor Dunmore of Virginia threatened to try this plan. 
 
 other people. For instance, the Romans after Cannae 
 armed 8,000 slaves and allowed them to earn their freedom 
 by valor. 
 
 1[ [56] their refusal. In the years preceding the Revolu 
 tion attempts were repeatedly made by the legislatures of 
 Virginia and other southern colonies to restrict the slave 
 trade, but the English government prevented the restriction 
 each time, in the interest of English traders. 
 
 Angola. On the west coast of Africa. Noted for its 
 activity in the slave trade. 
 
 Guinea captain. The captain of an English ship engaged 
 in the Guinea trade. 
 
 IF [57] Ye gods, etc. Quoted as an example of hyperbole 
 in chapter xi of The Art of Sinking in Poetry written by 
 Arbuthriot, Pope and Swift. 
 
 IF [59] Si)- Edward Coke. At Raleigh s trial for treason 
 (1603), Coke, then attorney general, assailed Raleigh in most 
 
NOTES 145 
 
 unjust and brutal terms: "Thou art a monster P "Thou 
 hast a Spanish heart, and thyself art a spider of hell !" 
 Raleigh was accused of having a part in the plots against 
 James the First. 
 
 T [60] ex vi termini. From the meaning of the word; 
 from the force of the term. 
 
 T [61] civil litigant. A party to a suit in which a right 
 (not a crime) is the subject of dispute ; in this case, England s 
 right to tax the colonies, a culprit. Because, if Parliament 
 decides that it has the right to tax, America is criminal in 
 resisting. 
 
 "f [62] those very persons. The majority in Parliament. 
 
 declaring a rebellion. February 9, 1775. 
 
 formerly addressed. February 13, 1769. addressed. Pe 
 titioned the king. 
 
 If [66] startle. Are startled. Startle is now used transi 
 tively. 
 
 great Serbonian bog, etc. Paradise Lost II, 592-594. The 
 great Serbonian bog is Lake Serbonis between Damiata, a 
 town near the mouth of the Kile and Mt. Casius, on the coast 
 farther east. 
 
 *f [67] unity of spirit. Ephesians iv, 3. 
 
 ^ [69] a revenue act. The Stamp Act, repealed in 1766. 
 
 understood principle. As an act for raising revenue, not 
 for controlling trade. 
 
 1f [70] American financiers. Members of Parliament 
 who still think America can be made to yield England a 
 revenue. 
 
 have further views. Will keep asking for further conces 
 sions. 
 
 trade laws. The Navigation Acts were the chief trade laws. 
 
 a gentleman, etc. Mr. Rice. 
 
 ? [71] acts of navigation. One of these acts secured to 
 England the lion s share of the carrying trade by forbidding 
 every other nation to bring to England or to her colonies ony 
 thing but the actual products of that nation ; another foroade 
 the colonies to send exports, directly, anywhere except to 
 England or to other English colonies ; by another, all exports 
 from the colonies to England must be shipped in American 
 or English vessels. 
 
146 NOTES 
 
 If [73] the pamphlet. Written by Dean Tucker. See note 
 to 1 47. 
 
 1f [75] But the colonies ivill go further. The objection of 
 Burke s opponents. 
 
 H [78] Philip the Second. King of Spain, 1556-1598. 
 
 English constitution. Partly denned in the preceding para 
 graph; not a single document like the Constitution of the 
 United States, but all of the important state documents (such 
 as Magna Charta and the Bill of Rights) as well as the his. 
 torical traditions, precedents, long established principles, in 
 stitutions, and the enacted laws. 
 
 If [79] English conquest. See Green. Short History of the 
 English People, ch. vii, sec. viii. 
 
 Magna Charta. See Green, Short History of the English 
 People, ch. iii, sees, ii and iii. 
 
 all Ireland. English settlers in Ireland kept within certain 
 limits called the Pale. " Beyond the Pale " English laws and 
 liberties were not enjoyed. 
 
 Sir John Davis (or Dames) . Published in 1612 the book to 
 which Burke refers, entitled 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. (Jarnes the First was 
 king.) 
 
 vain projects. See Green, Short History of the English 
 people, ch. vii, sec viii. 
 
 changed the people. By settling parts of Ireland with Eng 
 lish and Scotch. 
 
 altered the religion. From Catholic to Protestant. 
 
 deposed kings. Charles the First and James the Second- 
 
 altered the succession. By the Act of Settlement (1701) the 
 House of Hanover came to the throne in 1714. 
 
 usurpation. The protectorate of Cromwell 1649-1660. 
 
 restoration. Charles the Second, 1660. 
 
 Revolution. In 1688 Parliament deposed James the Second 
 and i_ut William, Prince of Orange, on the throne. 
 
 lucrative amount, Irony. 
 
 t [80] Henry the Third. 1216-1272. Edward the First. 
 1272-1307. 
 
 lords marchers. Lords of the marches (border-lands) be- 
 
NOTES 14? 
 
 tween England and Wales. Each had the authority of a king 
 in his own district, which he had conquered. 
 
 *l [81] question on the legality. Burke implies (hat an act 
 of Parliament was required, instead of a mere instruction 
 (an executive order). 
 
 <| [82] rid. Rode. 
 
 | [83] day-star. 2 Peter i, 19. 
 
 *1 [84] county palatine. A county in which the owner 
 had royal power. 
 
 ^1 [85 j Shown t predicate of inhabitants. 
 
 where. Whereas. 
 
 disherisons. Deprivations. 
 
 commonwealth. Common weal, common welfare. 
 
 ne. Nor. 
 
 "I [86] Reject it, etc. These questions ehow the kii d oi 
 treatment that had been accorded to the addresses arid peti 
 tions of the American colonists. 
 
 temperament. Modification. 
 
 *I [88] Judge Barrinyton. Appointed justice of three 
 counties in Wales in 1757. 
 
 But your legislative authority is perfect, etc. (So my oppo 
 nents say.; 
 
 legislative authority. Authority, or legal right, to legislate. 
 
 Bid America is virtually represented. ( So my opponents 
 eay.) virtually represented. When the radical Whigs argued 
 that representation is a " natural right" and that there could 
 legally be no taxation without representation," the Tories 
 replied that America was * virtually" represented. The doc 
 trine of virtual representation implied that even though the 
 Americans had no members of Parliament of their own 
 choosing, yet Parliament as constituted represented the 
 Americans since every member of Parliament is in duty 
 bound to care for the interests, not merely of his own con 
 stituency, but of the whole empire. 
 
 If [89]. arm shortened. Isaiah lix. 1. 
 
 1 [90] rude swain. Milton, Comus, 634, 635. Milton 
 has "dull swain." clouted shoon. Shoes with big-headed nails 
 in the soles. 
 
 1763. The first year of the Grenville administration, which 
 passed the Stamp Act. 
 
148 NOTES 
 
 !T [91] by grant. By the voluntary contribution of the 
 colonies through act of their own legislative assemblies. 
 
 by imposition. By a tax imposed by Parliament. 
 
 H [92] temple of British concord. An allusion to the tem 
 ple which the Romans dedicated to Concord. 
 
 ^ [93] fourteen. Including the Province of Quebec. 
 
 description. The particular names. 
 
 U [94] like unto. Matthew xxii, 39. 
 
 IT [95] touch ivith a tool. Exodus xx, 25. 
 
 ivise beyond what was written. 1 Corinthians iv, 6. 
 
 form of sound words. 2 Timothy i, 13. 
 
 IT [96] the sixth (act) of George II. An act for the better 
 securing of the trade of his Majesty s sugar colonies in America. 
 
 Lord Hillsborough. Secretary of State for the Colonies, 
 1768 to 1772. 
 
 1 [99] an aid. Originally an aid was a grant of money 
 voluntarily made by a tenant to his lord. 
 
 those who hare been pleased, etc. Grenville, Prime Minister 
 1763-5, and originator of the Stamp Act. 
 
 if the crown could be responsible. Whatever the sovereign 
 of England does officially is done by the advice of his minis 
 ters, who are held responsible. In this sense "The King can 
 do no wrong." 
 
 the council. The Privy Council. A body of selected advis 
 ers to the sovereign. 
 
 first lords of trade. A committee of the Council. 
 
 ^1 [100] so high. So far back. 
 
 1 [105] misguided people. The English. 
 
 unhappy system. That of taxing America instead of depend 
 ing on America s voluntary grants. 
 
 state. Statement. 
 
 those untaxed people. Those who were said to &e untaxed. 
 
 requisitions. Demands for money addressed by the English 
 Secretary of State to the colonies, to be met by voluntary 
 grants. This process involved an act of the colonial legisla 
 tures, which might refuse a grant. Burke repeatedly insists 
 on the fundamental distinction between money thus secured 
 and taxes imposed by Parliament without any act of the colo 
 nial legislatures. 
 
 TI [107] utmost rights. Taxing the unrepresented. 
 
NOTES 149 
 
 another legal body. The colonial legislature. 
 
 TI [109] clandestine running. Smuggling. 
 
 1[ [110] during the king s pleasure. The Boston Port Bill 
 provided that the King was to decide when the port should be 
 reopened. 
 
 restraining bill. Another name for the Grand Penal Bill 
 See note to ^[ 1. 
 
 partially. Unfairly. 
 
 1[ [111] far less power. The crown did not have the veto 
 power in Connecticut and Rhode Island. 
 
 returning officer. The officer who summoned the jury. The 
 object of the regulation was to secure verdicts favorable to the 
 crown. 
 
 t [112] temporary. The act was to continue in force three 
 years from June 1, 1774. 
 
 j [115] courts of admiralty. These had jurisdiction in 
 the case of offenses committed on the sea, including cases of 
 smuggling, which were tried without a jury. 
 
 more decent maintenance. These judges were paid out of 
 the fines which they imposed ; hence the temptation to excess 
 ive fines and numerous seizures. 
 
 U [120] logical illation. In the Speech on American Tax 
 ation Burke uses the expression, "too much logic and too little 
 sense." 
 
 immediate jewel. Othello, III, iii, 156. 
 
 a great house . . . slaves haughty. Juvenal, Satires, V, 06, 
 has: Maxima quaeque domus servis est plena superbis. 
 Every great house is full of haughty slaves. 
 
 cords of man. Hosea xi, 4. 
 
 Aristotle . . . cautions us. Aristotle, Ethics, I, iii. 
 
 1[ [121] superintending legislature. In his Speech on Amer 
 ican Taxation Burke says : "The Parliament of Great Britain 
 Bits 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 instrumen 
 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." 
 
150 NOTES 
 
 1f [122J a separate . . . legislature. The Irish Parliament 
 was abolished in 1800. See Green, Short History of the Eng 
 lish People , ch. x, sec, iv. 
 
 V [123] promised. See If 13. 
 
 the proposition of the noble lord. See note to *J[ 10. 
 
 If [125] ante-chamber of the noble lord. The Cabinet or a 
 committee of the Cabinet. 
 
 state auctioneer. Compare If 10. 
 
 back-door. Some committee. 
 
 quarrelling. Compare If 10. 
 
 I [126] quantum. Amount. 
 
 If [128J composition. Agreement. A creditor "com 
 pounds" with an insolvent debtor for a less sum than the 
 debt. 
 
 you give its death-wound. Because England already taxed 
 imported tobacco, and Virginia tobacco could not endure an 
 other tax. 
 
 If [130] treasury extent. A writ for valuing lands of a 
 debtor that are to be taken in payment of his debt. 
 
 empire of Germany. Not the present empire ; the Holy 
 Roman Empire is meant. 
 
 II [132] certain colonies only. Only those that should 
 choose to contribute instead of being taxed. 
 
 If [133] debt. An evidence of the government s credit. 
 
 If [134] Ease would retract, etc. Paradise Lost, iv, 96-97. 
 Milton has recant, not retract. 
 
 If [136] return in loan. The reference is to Lord North s 
 Indian Act of 1773, by which 1,400,000 were loaned to the 
 East India Company at four per cent, arid the annual pay 
 ment of 400,000 by the company to the government was 
 remitted until the loan should be discharged. 
 
 enemies. France and Spain. 
 
 If [137] ties . . . light as air. Compare Othello III, iii, 
 322-324. 
 
 links of iron. Compare Julius Caesar I. iii, 94-95. 
 
 grapple. Compare Hamlet I, iii, 63. 
 
 turn their faces. Compare 1 Kings viii, 44, 45. Danie] 
 vi, 10. 
 
 of price. Compare Matthew xiii, 46. 
 
 cockets . . . clearances. Most of the nouns of this sen- 
 
NOTES 151 
 
 tence are custom-house terms. A cocket is a custom-house 
 seal or certificate. A clearance is a permit for a vessel to 
 sail. 
 
 spirit. Compare ./Eneid vi, 726, 727. Dryden s translation, 
 982-985 : 
 
 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. 
 
 II f 138 j land tax act. An act passed by Parliament each 
 year for raising revenue. 
 
 mutiny bill. A bill providing for the discipline of army 
 and navy, passed by Parliament each year. 
 
 U [139 J profanehsrd. Horace, Odes, III, i, 1: Odi pro- 
 famtm vulgus. I hate the profane herd. 
 
 all in ah. 1 Corinthians xv, 28. 
 
 U [141] In the first edition of this speech, which has 
 been followed by almost all editors, this paragraph reads as 
 follows: "Upon this resolution, the previous question was 
 put, and carried; for the previous question 270, against it 
 78." The Parliamentary History, however, gives the ayes 
 as 78 and the nays as 270 and adds: "So it passed in the neg 
 ative." All of the resolutions advocated by Burke in this 
 speech failed of adoption. This result was brought about by 
 an adverse vote on the "previous question." In America, "1 
 move that the previous question be now put," stops debate 
 at once, and a vote is immediately taken on tho question 
 "Shall the previous question be now put?" If the vote is 
 adverse, debate may continue. But in England, if the vote 
 is adverse to putting the previous question, debate can no 
 continue, and the previous question (which is the main ques 
 tion) is considered to be disposed of in the negative. By 
 moving the "previous question" and then defeating the 
 motion, Burke s opponents escaped the need of committing 
 themselves on the main issues raised by his resolutions. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Numbers in brackets refer to paragraphs ; other numbers refer to pages 
 
 Abeunl stadia, etc., 53 [42], 
 Abrogated the ancient government 
 
 of Massachusetts, 58 [46] and p. 143 
 
 note to [46] . 
 Abstract ideas, 34 [14]. 
 Abstract liberty, 48 [38], 
 Abstract right, 69 [61]. 
 Act of union, 40 [25] and p. 141 note 
 
 to [25]; act of Henry the Eighth, 
 
 69 [62]; act of settlement, p 1 Hi 
 
 note to [79]. 
 Ada parentum, etc., 40. 
 Acts, p. 144 note to [54], 
 Addison.p. 141 note to [25]. 
 Address, 32 [11] and p. 141 note to 
 
 [11] ; 69 [62] and p. 145 note to [62] ; 
 
 p. 147 note to [88]. 
 Admit the people of our colonies Into 
 
 an interest in the constitution, 73 
 
 [68]; 118 [137]. 
 African trade, 37 [20] and p 141 note 
 
 to [20]. 
 
 Agriculture of the colonies, 42 [29]. 
 Aid, p. 148 note to [99]. 
 All in all, p. 151 note to [139]. 
 America worth fighting for, 45 [31], 
 American financiers, 74 [70] and 
 
 p. 145 note to [70]. 
 Ancient indulgence, 46 [35] and 
 
 p. 142 note to [35], 
 
 Ancient methods and forms, 32 [12], 
 Angola negroes, 65 [56] and p. 144 
 
 note to [53]. 
 
 Arbuthnot, p. 144 note to [57]. 
 Arnold, Matthew, p. 143 note to [40]. 
 
 Art of Sinking in Poetry, The, p. 141 
 
 note to [57]. 
 Assemblies, colonial legislative, 49 
 
 [39]. 
 Auction of finance, 32 [10], 109 [124], 
 
 111 [127]. 
 Authority, legislative, 87 [88] and 
 
 p 147 note to [88]. 
 
 Bacon, p. 144 note to 53. 
 
 Bar, 36 [171 and p 141 note to [IT]. 
 
 Barrington, Judge, 87 [88] and p. 147 
 
 note to [88]. 
 Bathurst, Lord, 40 [25] and p 141 
 
 note to [25], 
 Bengal, 118 [136]. 
 Bibliography, 21. 
 Bills of pains and penalties, 32 [11] 
 
 and p. 141 note to [11]. 
 Blown abont by every wind, 26 [2j 
 
 and p. 138 note to [2], 
 Books of curious science, 64 [54]. 
 Boston Port Bill, p. 138 note to [4? ; 
 
 100 [109]; 101 [110], and p. 149 note 
 
 to [110]. 
 Boundaries, shadowy, 31 [9] and 
 
 p. 139 note to [9], 
 British Empire, 26 [2] and p. 149 note 
 
 to [121]; source of wealth In the, 
 
 81 [79]. 
 British strength, 46 [34] and p 142 
 
 note to [34]. 
 
 Brunswick, House of, 40 [25]. 
 Burgoyne, General, p. 142 note to 45 
 
 [31]. 
 
 153 
 
154 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Burn their books, 64 [54* and p. 144 
 note to [54], 
 
 Burke, Edmund, born, 11; religion, 
 ll; schooling, 11; collegedays.il; 
 habits of reading 11 ; law student, 
 11; goes to London, 12; travels, 
 12; first publications, 12; marries, 
 12- Annual Register, 12; secretary 
 to Hamilton, 13; pensioned, 13,19: 
 luerary club, 13; secretary to 
 Rocidngham, 13; first election to 
 Parliament, 13; opposes the king s 
 policy, 13; the Wilkes case, 14; 
 elected member for Bristol, 15; 
 speeches on America, 15; opposed 
 to armed force, 15; refuses to obey 
 instructions, 15; member for Mai- 
 ton, 16; disappointed by his party, 
 16; party services, IG; poverty and 
 debts, 16, 20; charges against 
 honesty of 16; irritability, 16; poli 
 tical enemies, 16; refuses office 
 under Shelburne, 16; in opposition 
 with Fox, 16; Paymaster, 16, 17; 
 advocates reform in India, 16; Im 
 peaches Hastings, 17; opinions of 
 the French Revolution, 18; retires 
 from parliament, 19; death, 19; 
 Johnson s opinion of, 20; Mac- 
 aulay s opinion of, 20; permanent 
 value of speeches, 20; Fox s 
 opinion of, 20. 
 
 Calamity, public, 29 [7]. 
 Carolina, spirit of liberty In. 51 i"41], 
 Changes in parliament, 27 [4] 
 Charity, Reman, 13 [29] and p. 142 
 
 note to [29], 
 Charles, the First, p. 146 note to [79] , 
 
 the Second, p. 146 note to [79] 
 Chatham, 105 [119], 
 Chester, 84 [84]. 
 Chicane, 52[42] and p. 143 note to 
 
 [42]. 
 
 Children of men, 62 [50]. 
 Church of England, 50 [40], 51 [41], 
 Civil litigant, the colonies as,6 [61] 
 
 and p. 145 note to [61]. 
 
 Clouds and darkness, 39, [25] and 
 p. 141 note to [25]. 
 
 Cockets and clearances, p. 150 note 
 to [137], 
 
 Coke, Sir Edward, 67 [59] and p. 144 
 note to [59]. 
 
 Colonies, number of people in, 34 
 [15] ; no narrow system of govern 
 ment suited to, 35 [ 16] ; commerce 
 of, 35-42 [17-28] ; agriuul ture of. 42 
 [29], fisheries of, 43 J30i; owe 
 nothing to English care, 44 |30]; 
 are worth lighting for, 45 [311; 
 temper and character of, 47 [37 el. 
 s&t.~\ ; legislative assemblies of, 43 
 [39] ; rcJigion of, 50 [40] and p. 143 
 note to [40] ; education in, 52 [42] ; 
 distance from England, 54 [45]; 
 65 [57], 88 [89] ; three ways to deal 
 with, 59 [40 et.seq.~\; proposal to 
 give up, 60 [47] ; proposal to prose 
 cute as criminals, 66 [58-59], as 
 civil litigant and culprit, 69 [61]; 
 the complaint of, 71 [65]; have 
 further views, 74 [70] and p. 145 
 note to [70] ; legal competency of, 
 89 [91],94[99] ; reimbursed, 95[ 101 ]; 
 should be admitted to an interest 
 in the constitution, 73 [68],113[137]. 
 
 Colony agents, 31 [10] and p. 140 note 
 to [10]; 111 [127], 
 
 Commerce, 35-42 [17-28]. 
 
 ( Committee of the whole, p. 139 note 
 to [5]. 
 
 Comparative state, 36 [19] and p. 141 
 note to 19], 
 
 Complexions, 45 [31] and p. 142 note 
 to [31]. 
 
 Compromise and barter, 106 [120], 
 
 Concessions of the weak, 33 [13]. 
 
 Conciliation admissible, 32 [11 ]. 
 
 Concord, of this empire, 73 [R71; 
 temple of 89 [92] and p. 148 note to 
 [92]. 
 
 Confidence, former unsuspecting, 31 
 [9] and p. 139 note to [9], 
 
 Connecticut, 101 [111] and p. 149 note 
 to [111]. 
 
INDEX 
 
 355 
 
 Constitution, an Interest in the, 73 
 
 [68], 118 [137]; the English, 78 [78] 
 
 and p 146 note to [78]. 
 Cords of man, 107 [120] and p. 149 
 
 note to [120]. 
 Corinthians, p. 143, 151, notes to [95], 
 
 [139]. 
 
 Corn, 43 [29] and p. 142 note to [29], 
 Council, the Privy, p. 148 note to [99]. 
 County Palatine, p. 147 note to [84], 
 Courts, 103 [114]; of admiralty, 103 
 
 [115] and p. 149 note to 1115). 
 Criminal prosecution of colonies, 66 
 
 [58-50]. 
 
 Cromwell, p. 146 note to [79], 
 Culprit, the colonies as, 69 [61] and 
 
 p. 145 note to [61], 
 Culture and Anarchy, p. 143 note to 
 
 [40]. 
 
 Daniel, p, 151 note to [137]. 
 Davenant, 37 [19] and p. 141 note to 
 
 [19]. 
 Davis, Sir John TO [79] and p. 149 
 
 note to [79]. 
 Davis s Straits, 43 [30]. 
 Day-star, 84 [83] and p. 147 note to 
 
 [83], 
 Deceive the burthen 42 [28] and p. 
 
 142 note to [28]. 
 De jure, de facto, 105 [119J. 
 Delicate, 26 [2], 127. 
 Discord, fomented from principle, 
 
 3D [9] and p. 139 n te to [9] ; ruling 
 
 by, 31 [9] and p. 139 note to [9], 
 Disreputably, 29 [6] and p. 139 note 
 
 to [6J. 
 
 Disddence of dissent, 50 [40]. 
 Distance of the colonies from Eng 
 land, 54 [43]. 
 Doctrine, fashionable, 27 [2] and p. 
 
 138 note to [2]. 
 Dryden, p. 151 note to [137 J. 
 Dnnmore, Lord, 57 [45] and p. 143 
 
 notes to [4o] and to p. 144 [55]. 
 Durham, 86 [87] . 
 
 would retract, p. 150 note to 
 
 Education In the colonies, . 2 [421 
 
 Edward the First, 81 [80] and p 146 
 note to [80]. 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen, 80 [79]. 
 
 Empire, British, 26 [2] and p 143 
 note to [121]; distracted, 30 [8]; 
 how composed, 66 [59-61]; concord 
 of this, 73 [67]; source of wealth 
 in British, 81 [79]; compromise in, 
 107 [120]; unity of, 108 [1211, of 
 Germany, 114 [130] and p 150 note 
 to [130]; bow held together, 119 
 [137], 121 [139]. 
 
 Enfranchisement of slaves, 64 [55, 
 and p. 144 note to [55]. 
 
 Ephesians, pp. 138. 145 notes to [2] t 
 [67 j. 
 
 Event, 2-5 [1] and 127. 
 
 Ex vi termini, 67 [60] and p. 145 note 
 to [60]. 
 
 Experiments, pernicious, 59 [47]. 
 
 Expennwntum in corpore viti, 109 
 [124]. 
 
 Exodus, p 113 note to [95J. 
 
 Export trade to the colonies, 36-39. 
 
 Extent, treasury, p, 150 note to [130J. 
 
 Falkland Island, 43 [30] and p. 142 
 
 note to [30]. 
 
 Falsify the pedigree, 63 [53]. 
 Fashionable doctrine, 27 [2] and p. 
 
 138 note to [2] . 
 
 Fiction lags after truth, 42 [27]. 
 Financiers, American, 74 [70] and 
 
 p. 145 note to [70]. 
 First lords of trade, p. 148 note to 
 
 []. 
 
 Fisheries of the colonies. 43 [30j. 
 Force, objections to, 45-46 [32-36]. 
 Foreign enemy, 46 [34] and p. 142 
 
 note to [34] ; p. 150 note to [136] . 
 Former unsuspecting confidence, 31 
 
 [9] and p. 140 note to [9]. 
 Form of sound words, 91 [95] and 
 
 p,148 note to [95]. 
 Fresh principles, 27 [2J. 
 Front, 32 [11] and p. 141 note to[llj, 
 
 35 [16]. 
 
156 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Fuller, Mr. Rose, 28 [5] and p. 139 
 
 note to [5], 
 Further views, colonists have, 74 
 
 [70] aiidp, 145 note to [70]. 
 
 Gage, General, p. 143 note to [42] 
 General theories, 34 [14]. 
 Genesis, p. 144 note to [50], 
 George the Second, 93 [96] and p 148 
 
 note to [96], 
 Glover, Mr. 36 [17] and p 141 note to 
 
 [17]. 
 Good for us to be here, it is, 39 [25] 
 
 and p. 141 note to [25]. 
 Gothic, 52 [41] and p. US note to 
 
 [41]. 
 
 Government, good intention in, 31 
 [10] ; by abstract ideas, 34 [14] ; by 
 general theories, 34 [14]; must be 
 suited to the people, 35 [16], 73 [67] ; 
 care and caution in, 35 [16]; wise 
 and salutary neglect in, 44 [30]; 
 determined by the character of the 
 people, 47 [37]; must win the 
 learned to its support, 53 [42], is 
 relaxed by distance, 55 [43]; 
 founded on compromise, 106 
 [120] ; maintained by loyalty, 120 
 [137]. 
 Grace and bounty, 32 [11] and p. 141 
 
 note to [11]. 
 Grand penal bill, 25 [1] and p. 138 
 
 note to [1]; 31 [10], 
 Grant, taxation by, 48 [38], 81 [79], 
 83 [83], 86 [87],89[91] and p. 148 note 
 to [91], 94 [99], 97 [105] and p. 148 
 note to [105]; 98 [106]; 109 [124]; 
 power of refusal, 115 [133]. 
 Grants, of land, 60 [49]; popular, 81 
 
 [79]. 
 Great Britain, 40 [25] and p. Ill note 
 
 to [25]. 
 Green, J. R.pp. 146, 150, notes to [79], 
 
 [122]. 
 Grenville, p 148 note to [99], 97 [105], 
 
 105 [119]. 
 Guinea, cap tain, 65 [56], 
 
 Hampden, p. 143 note to {38]. 
 Hanover, house of, p. 148 note to 
 
 179]. 
 
 Harrington, 88 [90]. 
 Hebrews, p. 139 note to [7]. 
 Henry, the Third, 81 [80] and p. 146 
 
 note to [80]; the Eighth, 83 [83], 
 
 102 [113]. 
 HillsDorough,Lord,93 [96] and p. 148 
 
 note to [96]. 
 Holy Roman Empire, p. 150 note to 
 
 [130]. 
 
 Horace, notes to 84, 91. [139]. 
 Hosea, p. 149 note to [120]. 
 Hosmer s, Samuel Adktins, p 143 
 
 note to [42], 
 Hudson s Bay, 43 [30]. 
 
 Imposition, taxation by, 89 [91 ] ami 
 
 p. 148 note to [91], 98 [lOfi]. 
 Inconsiderable person, 30 [7], 
 Increase and multiply, 62 [50] and 
 
 p. 144 note to [50]. 
 Indian, act of, 1773, p. 150 note to 
 
 [136]. 
 Indictment against a whole people, 
 
 67 [59], 
 | Indulgence, our ancient, 46 [35] and 
 
 p. 142 note to [35] ; systematic, 73 
 
 [68]. 
 Influence, natural or adventitious, 
 
 30 [8] and p. 139 note to [8] 
 Instruction, disarm by, 82 [81] and 
 
 p. 147 note to [81]. 
 Ireland, 79 [79] and p. 146 note to 
 
 [79] ; 108 [122] and p. 150 note to 
 
 [122]. 
 Irish parliament abolished, p. 150 
 
 note to [122], 
 Irish pensioners, 81 [79]. 
 Isaiah, p. 147 note to [89], 
 
 James, the First, p. 146 note to [79]; 
 
 the Second, p. 146 note to [79]. 
 Jewel, 107 [120]. 
 Job, p. 143 note to [43]. 
 Johnson, Dr. p. 144 note to [55] 
 Judges, p. 144 note -o 153J. 
 
INDEX 
 
 157 
 
 Judges, pay of, p. 149 note [115]. 
 Juridical, 30 [9] and p. 139 note to [9]. 
 Juvenal, notes to 63, 88,[120], llti. 
 
 Kings, p. 150 note to [137J. 
 
 Laid hold on, 30 [7] and p. 139 note 
 
 to [7]. 
 Land tax act, 120[138] and p. 151 note 
 
 to [138]. 
 
 Law study in the colonies, 52 [42]. 
 Legislative authority, 87 [88] and 
 
 p. 147 note to [S8J, 104 [118]. 
 Legislature,superintending,108 [121] 
 
 and p. 149 note to [121]. 
 Leveller, a mighty, 29 [7]. 
 Lexington, p. 138 note to [4]. 
 Liberty, English ideas of, 47 [38] ; 
 
 abstract, 48 [38] ; spirit in Virginia 
 
 and Carolina, 51 [41]; inheres in 
 
 some sensible object, 48 [38] and 
 
 p. 143 note to [38]. 
 Like unto, 90 [94] and p. 148 note to 
 
 [94]. 
 Loan, return in, 118 [136] and p, 15" 
 
 note to [130]. 
 
 Locke, John, p. 139 note to [7]. 
 Logical illation, 106 [120] and p. 149 
 
 note to [120]. 
 
 Longitude, run the, 44 [30]. 
 Lords marchers, 81 [80] and p. 140 
 
 110 te to [80]. 
 
 Magnacharta,79[79]. 
 Magnanimity, 33 [13] ; in politics, 
 
 121 [139]. 
 Marchers lords, 81 [80] and p. 14G 
 
 note to [80]. 
 
 Mark, p. 141 note to [25]. 
 Massachusetts, colony bill, p. 138 
 
 note to [4]; 68 [46] and p. 143 note 
 
 to [46] ; declared in rebellion, 69 [62] 
 
 and p. 145 note to [62], 102 [111]. 
 Matthew, pp. 141, 144, 148, 150 notes 
 
 to [25], [53], [94], [137]. 
 Menacing front of our address, 32 
 
 [11] aud p. 141 note to [1JJ- 
 
 Milton, pp. 144, 145, 147, 150 notes to 
 
 [50], [66], [90], [134]. 
 Minima, 35 [16] and p. 141 note to 
 
 [16]. 
 Ministers of vengeance, 54 [43] and 
 
 p. 143 note on [43]. 
 More, 88 [90]. 
 Mutiny bill, 120 [138] and p. 151 note 
 
 to [138]. 
 
 Natural or adventitious Influence, 
 30 [8] and p. 139 note to [8]. 
 
 Navigation acts, 74 [70-72] and p. 
 145 note to [71], 
 
 Non meus hie sermo, 91 [95] . 
 
 North, Lord, 31 [10] and p 140 note 
 to [10]; 32 [11]; 33 [13]; p. 142 note 
 to [31] ; 109 [123] ; p 150 note to 
 [136], 
 
 Obedience is what makes govern 
 ment, 57 [45], 
 Oceana,88[90]. 
 Omen, 25 [1]. 
 Ovid. p. J44 note to 53. 
 
 Palatirre, coucn^, tn (.84] and p. !-. 
 
 note to [84], 
 Pale, p. 146 note to [79]. 
 Pamphlet, 76 [73], 
 Paper government, 29 [7] and p. 139 
 
 note to [7]. 
 Parliament, enlarged view of, 27 
 
 [4]; ought to propose peace, 33 
 
 [13]; as judge and litigant, 69 [61]; 
 
 as superintending legislature, 108 
 
 [121] and p. 149 note to [121J. 
 Parties must exist, 117 [134], 
 Partition of Poland, p. 143 note to 
 
 [41]. 
 
 Passed sentence, 25 [1]. 
 Peace, 30 [9]. 33 [13] ; with honor, 33 
 
 [13]. 
 
 Pedigree, falsify the, 63 [53]. 
 Pennsylvania, trade of, 41 [26]. 
 Person, inconsiderable, 30 [7J. 
 Peter, p. 147 note to, [83]. 
 Philip the Second, 78 [78] and p. 146 
 
 note to [78]. v 
 
158 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Plato, 88 [90]. 
 
 Play the game out, 28 [5], 128. 
 
 Poles, 52 [41] and p. 143 note to [41]. 
 
 Pope, p 144 note to [57]. 
 
 Postta ludttur area, 116 [133] 
 
 Principles, fresh, 27 [2]: of colony 
 
 government, 28 [5], 
 Privilege implies a superior power, 
 
 (i7 [00]. 
 
 Produce our hand, 28 [5], 128. 
 Profane herd, 121 [139] and p. 151 
 
 note to [139]. 
 Prohibition by proclamation, 82 [81] 
 
 and p. 147 note to [81]. 
 Project, 31 [10] and p. 140 note to 
 
 1 10], 82 [11]. 
 Protestantism of the Protestant 
 
 religion, 51 [40], 
 Psalms, p. 144 note to [50]. 
 Pym, p. 143 note to [38]. 
 
 Quebec, p. 148 note to [93], 
 Quebec act, p. 138 note to [4]. 
 
 Raleigh, Sir Walter, 07 [59] and p. 144 
 note to [59]. 
 
 Ransom, 32 [10] ; 109 [124]; 111 [127]. 
 
 Rebellion declared in Massachu 
 setts, 69 [P.2] and p. 145 note to[02J. 
 
 Reconciliation, 33 [131. 
 
 Refined po 1 icy, 31 [10]. 
 
 Refusal .power of, 115 [133]. 
 
 Registry, [11] and p. 140 note to 
 [113. 
 
 Religion -f the colonies, 50 [40] and 
 p. 143 note to [40J. 
 
 Representation, taxation without, 
 76 [74], 86 [87]; granted to Wales, 
 83 [83]; virtual, 87 [88] and p. 147 
 note to [88] ; substitute for 88 [89] ; 
 and legislation, 101 [118]. 
 
 Republic of Plato, 88 [90], 
 
 Requisitions, 97 [105] and p. 148 note 
 to [105]. 
 
 Responsibility of ministers, p. 148 
 note to [99]. 
 
 Restoration, the, 80 [79J and p. 146 
 note to 179], 
 
 Return In loan, 118 [136] &nd p. 16 
 
 note to [136], 
 
 Revenue by grant, see taxation. 
 Revenue by imposition, see taxa 
 
 tion. 
 
 Revenue from America, 118 [130]. 
 Revolution, the, 80 [79] and p. 146 
 
 note to [79], 
 Rhode Island, 101 [111] and p. 14& 
 
 note to [111]. 
 Rice, Mr. 74 [70], 
 Richard the Second, 84 [84]. 
 Roman Catholic religion, 50 [40]. 
 Roman charity, 43 [29] and p. 142 
 
 note to [29]. 
 Ruling by discord, 31 [9] and p. 139 
 
 note to [9], 
 Run the longitude, 44 [30] and p. 142 
 
 note to [30] 
 
 Sensible object, 48 [38] and p. 143 
 
 note to [38], 
 S&ibonian bog, 72 [00] and p. 145 note 
 
 to [00]. 
 Serpent, 43 30] and p. 142 note to 
 
 [30]. 
 Shadowy boundaries, 31 [9] and p. 
 
 139 note to [9J. 
 Shakspere, pp. 141, 143, 149, 150 notes 
 
 to [11], [45], [120], [137]. 
 Slave trade, 37 [20] and p, 141 note to 
 
 [20]. 
 Slaves, haughty, 107 [120] and p. 149 
 
 note to [120]. 
 So far shalt thou go, 54 [43] and 
 
 p. 143 note to [43], 
 Speech would betray you 63 [53] and 
 
 p. 144 note to [53]. 
 Spirit of the colonies, 46 [34], 47 [37] 
 Spoliatis arma snpersuni,G3 [52] 
 Stamp act. pp. 133, 139, 145, 147 notes 
 
 to [2], [3], [9], [69], [90], 93 [96,, 
 
 p. 148 note to [99], 
 Startle, 71 [66] and p. 145 note to [66], 
 State, comparative, 36 [19] and p 111 
 
 note to [19]. 
 Suit, loss of my, 72 [66J. 
 
INDEX 
 
 150 
 
 Jfursum corda, 121 [1391. 
 Swift, p, H note to [57J. 
 
 Tartars, Cl [50] and p. 144 note to 
 
 [50). 
 
 Paste of death, 41 [25], 
 Taxation, and liberty, 48 [38]; by 
 fcTant, 43 [38], 81 [79], 83 [831, 80 
 1.871,89 [91] and p. 148 note to [91]; 
 94 [99] p. 148 note to [105] : 108 [121] ; 
 115 [133] by imposition, 89 [91] and 
 p. 148 note to [91]; right of, p 139. 
 note to [9]; 71 [6G]; 104 [118], 106 
 [120]; the origin of the trouble, 76 
 174]; of Virginia tobacco, 112 [128] 
 and p. 150 note to [128]. 
 Taxation no Tyranny, p. 144 note to 
 
 [55]. 
 
 Tea-tax, pp. 138, 139 notes to [4]. [5]. 
 Temper and character of the 
 
 colonies, 47 [36 et. seq.]. 
 Thurlow, 53 [42] and p. 143 note to 
 
 [42]. 
 
 Ties light as air, p. 150 note to [137]. 
 Timothy, pp. 139, 148 notes to [7], 
 
 [95], 
 
 Title, the assertion of my, 72 [86]. 
 Tobacco, Virginia, 112 [128] and p. 
 
 J50 note to [128]. 
 Tories, p. 139 note to [9] ; p. 147 note 
 
 to [88]. 
 Touch with a tool, 91 [95]. and 148 
 
 note to [95]. 
 Touched and grieved, 85 [85], 90 
 
 [94],92[96J. 
 
 Trade with the colonies, 3r,-42[ 17-28] ; 
 African, 37 [20] and p. 141 note to 
 [20]; attempts to restrict slave 
 trade, 05 [oG] and p. 144 note to 
 [50]; laws, 74 [70] and p. 145 nota 
 l o [70]; 82 [81]; p. 148 note to [96]. 
 transportation bill, p. 138 note to 
 14J. 
 
 Treasury extent, p. 150 rote to 1.130} 
 Truck and huckster, 55 [43j 
 Trust, 26 [2]. 
 Tucker, Dean of Gloucester, pp. 144, 
 
 146 notes to [47], 173]. 
 Turk, government of, 65 [43], 
 
 Union, act of, 40 [25] and p. 141 note 
 
 to [25] . 
 Unity, of spirit, 73 [67]; of the 
 
 empire, 108 [122], 
 Unsuspecting confidence, 31 [9] ar.d 
 
 p. 140 note to [9]. 
 Utopia 88 [90]. 
 
 Vane, p. 143 note to [38]. 
 Vergil, notes to 40 p. 151 [13?V 
 Veto power, p. 149 note to [111]. 
 Vexed, 44 [30], and p. 142 note to 
 
 [30J. 
 Virginia, spirit of liberty in, 51 
 
 :]. 
 
 Virtually represented, p. 147 note 
 to [88]. 
 
 Wales, 81 [80]. 
 
 Wax and parchment, 62 [50j and 
 
 p. 144 note to [50]. 
 Whigs, opinions on taxation, 
 
 p. 139 note to [9]; opinions on 
 
 representation, p. 147 note to [88]. 
 Wield the thunder, 45 [31] ami 
 
 p. 142 note to [31]. 
 William, Prince of Orange, p 146 
 
 note to, [79], 
 Winged ministers of vengeance, 54 
 
 [43] and p. 143 note to [43], 
 Wise beyond what was written 
 
 91 [95] and p. 118 note to [95]. 
 
 Ye gods, annihilate, etc., 66 f57] 
 and p. 144 note to [67J. 
 
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