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diff --git a/old/burke10.txt b/old/burke10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1345d8b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/burke10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3475 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Burke's Speech on Conciliation with America +by Edmund Burke +(#3 in our series by Edmund Burke) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Burke's Speech on Conciliation with America + +Author: Edmund Burke + +Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5655] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on August 5, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, BURKE'S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA *** + + + + +This eBook was produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + +BURKE'S SPEECH + +ON + +CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA + + +EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES + +BY + +SIDNEY CARLETON NEWSOM + +TEACHER OF ENGLISH, MANUAL TRAINING HIGH SCHOOL INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA + + + + + + +PREFACE + +The introduction to this edition of Burke's speech on Conciliation with America +is intended to supply the needs of those students who do not have access to a +well-stocked library, or who, for any reason, are unable to do the collateral +reading necessary for a complete understanding of the text. + +The sources from which information has been drawn in preparing this edition are +mentioned under "Bibliography." The editor wishes to acknowledge indebtedness to +many of the excellent older editions of the speech, and also to Mr. A. P. +Winston, of the Manual Training High School, for valuable suggestions. + + + + +CONTENTS + + POLITICAL SITUATION + + EDMUND BURKE + + BURKE AS A STATESMAN + + BURKE IN LITERATURE + + TOPICS FOR SPECIAL REPORTS + + BIBLIOGRAPHY + + SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA + + NOTES + + INDEX + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +POLITICAL SITUATION + +In 1651 originated the policy which caused the American Revolution. That policy +was one of taxation, indirect, it is true, but none the less taxation. The first +Navigation Act required that colonial exports should be shipped to England in +American or English vessels. This was followed by a long series of acts, +regulating and restricting the American trade. Colonists were not allowed to +exchange certain articles without paying duties thereon, and custom houses were +established and officers appointed. Opposition to these proceedings was +ineffectual; and in 1696, in order to expedite the business of taxation, and to +establish a better method of ruling the colonies, a board was appointed, called +the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations. The royal governors found in +this board ready sympathizers, and were not slow to report their grievances, and +to insist upon more stringent regulations for enforcing obedience. Some of the +retaliative measures employed were the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, +the abridgment of the freedom of the press and the prohibition of elections. But +the colonists generally succeeded in having their own way in the end, and were +not wholly without encouragement and sympathy in the English Parliament. It may +be that the war with France, which ended with the fall of Quebec, had much to do +with this rather generous treatment. The Americans, too, were favored by the +Whigs, who had been in power for more than seventy years. The policy of this +great party was not opposed to the sentiments and ideas of political freedom +that had grown up in the colonies; and, although more than half of the +Navigation Acts were passed by Whig governments, the leaders had known how to +wink at the violation of nearly all of them. + +Immediately after the close of the French war, and after George III. had +ascended the throne of England, it was decided to enforce the Navigation Acts +rigidly. There was to be no more smuggling, and, to prevent this, Writs of +Assistance were issued. Armed with such authority, a servant of the king might +enter the home of any citizen, and make a thorough search for smuggled goods. It +is needless to say the measure was resisted vigorously, and its reception by the +colonists, and its effect upon them, has been called the opening scene of the +American Revolution. As a matter of fact, this sudden change in the attitude of +England toward the colonies, marks the beginning of the policy of George III. +which, had it been successful, would have made him the ruler of an absolute +instead of a limited monarchy. He hated the Tories only less than the Whigs, and +when he bestowed a favor upon either, it was for the purpose of weakening the +other. The first task he set himself was that of crushing the Whigs. Since the +Revolution of 1688, they had dictated the policy of the English government, and +through wise leaders had become supreme in authority. They were particularly +obnoxious to him because of their republican spirit, and he regarded their +ascendency as a constant menace to his kingly power. Fortune seemed to favor him +in the dissensions which arose. There grew up two factions in the Whig party. +There were old Whigs and new Whigs. George played one against the other, +advanced his favorites when opportunity offered, and in the end succeeded in +forming a ministry composed of his friends and obedient to his will. + +With the ministry safely in hand, he turned his attention to the House of +Commons. The old Whigs had set an example, which George was shrewd enough to +follow. Walpole and Newcastle had succeeded in giving England one of the most +peaceful and prosperous governments within in the previous history of the +nation, but their methods were corrupt. With much of the judgment, penetration +and wise forbearance which marks a statesman, Walpole's distinctive qualities of +mind eminently fitted him for political intrigue; Newcastle was still worse, and +has the distinction of being the premier under whose administration the revolt +against official corruption first received the support of the public. + +For near a hundred years, the territorial distribution of seats in the House had +remained the same, while the centres of population had shifted along with those +of trade and new industries. Great towns were without representation, while +boroughs, such as Old Sarum, without a single voter, still claimed, and had, a +seat in Parliament. Such districts, or "rotten boroughs," were owned and +controlled by many of the great landowners. Both Walpole and Newcastle resorted +to the outright purchase of these seats, and when the time came George did not +shrink from doing the same thing. He went even further. All preferments of +whatsoever sort were bestowed upon those who would do his bidding, and the +business of bribery assumed such proportions that an office was opened at the +Treasury for this purpose, from which twenty-five thousand pounds are said to +have passed in a single day. Parliament had been for a long time only partially +representative of the people; it now ceased to be so almost completely. + +With, the support which such methods secured, along with encouragement from his +ministers, the king was prepared to put in operation his policy for regulating +the affairs of America. Writs of Assistance (1761) were followed by the passage +of the Stamp Act (1765). The ostensible object of both these measures was to +help pay the debt incurred by the French war, but the real purpose lay deeper, +and was nothing more or less than the ultimate extension of parliamentary rule, +in great things as well as small, to America. At this crisis, so momentous for +the colonists, the Rockingham ministry was formed, and Burke, together with +Pitt, supported a motion for the unconditional repeal of the Stamp Act. After +much wrangling, the motion was carried, and the first blunder of the mother +country seemed to have been smoothed over. + +Only a few months elapsed, however, when the question of taxing the colonies was +revived. Pitt lay ill, and could take no part in the proposed measure. Through +the influence of other members of his party,--notably Townshend,--a series of +acts were passed, imposing duties on several exports to America. This was +followed by a suspension of the New York Assembly, because it had disregarded +instructions in the matter of supplies for the troops. The colonists were +furious. Matters went from bad to worse. To withdraw as far as possible without +yielding the principle at stake, the duties on all the exports mentioned in the +bill were removed, except that on tea. But it was precisely the principle for +which the colonists were contending. They were not in the humor for compromise, +when they believed their freedom was endangered, and the strength and +determination of their resistance found a climax in the Boston Tea Party. + +In the meantime, Lord North, who was absolutely obedient to the king, had become +prime minister. Five bills were prepared, the tenor of which, it was thought, +would overawe the colonists. Of these, the Boston Port Bill and the Regulating +Act are perhaps the most famous, though the ultimate tendency of all was blindly +coercive. + +While the king and his friends were busy with these, the opposition proposed an +unconditional repeal of the Tea Act. The bill was introduced only to be +overwhelmingly defeated by the same Parliament that passed the five measures of +Lord North. + +In America, the effect of these proceedings was such as might have been expected +by thinking men. The colonies were as a unit in their support of Massachusetts. +The Regulating Act was set at defiance, public officers in the king's service +were forced to resign, town meetings were held, and preparations for war were +begun in dead earnest. To avert this, some of England's greatest statesmen--Pitt +among the number--asked for a reconsideration. On February the first, 1775, a +bill was introduced, which would have gone far toward bringing peace. One month +later, Burke delivered his speech on Conciliation with the Colonies. + + + + +EDMUND BURKE + +There is nothing unusual in Burke's early life. He was born in Dublin, Ireland, +in 1729. His father was a successful lawyer and a Protestant, his mother, a +Catholic. At the age of twelve, he became a pupil of Abraham Shackleton, a +Quaker, who had been teaching some fifteen years at Ballitore, a small town +thirty miles from Dublin. In after years Burke was always pleased to speak of +his old friend in the kindest way: "If I am anything," he declares, "it is the +education I had there that has made me so." And again at Shackleton's death, +when Burke was near the zenith of his fame and popularity, he writes: "I had a +true honor and affection for that excellent man. I feel something like a +satisfaction in the midst of my concern, that I was fortunate enough to have him +under my roof before his departure." It can hardly be doubted that the old +Quaker schoolmaster succeeded with his pupil who was already so favorably +inclined, and it is more than probable that the daily example of one who lived +out his precepts was strong in its influence upon a young and generous mind. + +Burke attended school at Ballitore two years; then, at the age of fourteen, he +became a student at Trinity College, Dublin, and remained there five years. At +college he was unsystematic and careless of routine. He seems to have done +pretty much as he pleased, and, however methodical he became in after life, his +study during these five years was rambling and spasmodic. The only definite +knowledge we have of this period is given by Burke himself in letters to his +former friend Richard Shackleton, son of his old schoolmaster. What he did was +done with a zest that at times became a feverish impatience: "First I was +greatly taken with natural philosophy, which, while I should have given my mind +to logic, employed me incessantly. This I call my FUROR MATHEMATICUS." Following +in succession come his FUROR LOGICUS, FUROR HISTORICUS, and FUROR PEOTICUS, each +of which absorbed him for the time being. It would be wrong, however, to think +of Burke as a trifler even in his youth. He read in the library three hours +every day and we may be sure he read as intelligently as eagerly. It is more +than probable that like a few other great minds he did not need a rigid system +to guide him. If he chose his subjects of study at pleasure, there is every +reason to believe he mastered them. + +Of intimate friends at the University we hear nothing. Goldsmith came one year +later, but there is no evidence that they knew each other. It is probable that +Burke, always reserved, had little in common with his young associates. His own +musings, with occasional attempts at writing poetry, long walks through the +country, and frequent letters to and from Richard Shackleton, employed him when +not at his books. + +Two years after taking his degree, Burke went to London and established himself +at the Middle Temple for the usual routine course in law. Another long period +passes of which there is next to nothing known. His father, an irascible, hot- +tempered man, had wished him to begin the practice of law, but Burke seems to +have continued in a rather irregular way pretty much as when an undergraduate at +Dublin. His inclinations were not toward the law, but literature. His father, +angered at such a turn of affairs, promptly reduced his allowance and left him +to follow his natural bent in perfect freedom. In 1756, six years after his +arrival in London, and almost immediately following the rupture with his father, +he married a Miss Nugent. At about the same time he published his first two +books, [Footnote: A Vindication of Natural Society and Philosophical Inquiry +into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful] and began in earnest +the life of an author. + +He attracted the attention of literary men. Dr. Johnson had just completed his +famous dictionary, and was the centre of a group of writers who accepted him at +his own valuation. Burke did not want for company, and wrote +copiously.[Footnote: Hints for an Essay on the Drama. Abridgement of the History +of England] He became associated with Dodsley, a bookseller, who began +publishing the Annual Register in 1759, and was paid a hundred pounds a year for +writing upon current events. He spent two years (1761-63) in Ireland in the +employment of William Hamilton, but at the end of that time returned, chagrined +and disgusted with his would-be patron, who utterly failed to recognize Burke's +worth, and persisted in the most unreasonable demands upon his time and energy. + +For once Burke's independence served him well. In 1765 Lord Rockingham became +prime minister, and Burke, widely known as the chief writer for the Annual +Register, was free to accept the position of private secretary, which Lord +Rockingham was glad to offer him. His services here were invaluable. The new +relations thus established did not end with the performance of the immediate +duties of his office, but a warm friendship grew up between the two, which +lasted till the death of Lord Rockingham. While yet private secretary, Burke was +elected to Parliament from the borough of Wendover. It was through the influence +of his friend, or perhaps relative, William Burke, that his election was +secured. + +Only a few days after taking his seat in the House of Commons, Burke made his +first speech, January 27, 1766. He followed this in a very short time with +another upon the same subject--the Taxation of the American Colonies. +Notwithstanding the great honor and distinction which these first speeches +brought Burke, his party was dismissed at the close of the session and the +Chatham ministry formed. He remained with his friends, and employed himself in +refuting [Footnote: Observations on the Present State of the Nation] the charges +of the former minister, George Grenville, who wrote a pamphlet accusing his +successors of gross neglect of public duties. + +At this point in his life comes the much-discussed matter of Beaconsfield. How +Burke became rich enough to purchase such expensive property is a question that +has never been answered by his friends or enemies. There are mysterious hints of +successful speculation in East India stock, of money borrowed, and Burke +himself, in a letter to Shackleton, speaks of aid from his friends and "all [the +money] he could collect of his own." However much we may regret the air of +mystery surrounding the matter, and the opportunity given those ever ready to +smirch a great man's character, it is not probable that any one ever really +doubted Burke's integrity in this or any other transaction. Perhaps the true +explanation of his seemingly reckless extravagance (if any explanation is +needed) is that the conventional standards of his time forced it upon him; and +it may be that Burke himself sympathized to some extent with these standards, +and felt a certain satisfaction in maintaining a proper attitude before the +public. + +The celebrated case of Wilkes offered an opportunity for discussing the narrow +and corrupt policy pursued by George III. and his followers. Wilkes, outlawed +for libel and protected in the meantime through legal technicalities, was +returned to Parliament by Middlesex. The House expelled him. He was repeatedly +elected and as many times expelled, and finally the returns were altered, the +House voting its approval by a large majority. In 1770 Burke published his +pamphlet [Footnote: Present Discontents] in which he discussed the situation. +For the first time he showed the full sweep and breadth of his understanding. +His tract was in the interest of his party, but it was written in a spirit far +removed from narrow partisanship. He pointed out with absolute clearness the +cause of dissatisfaction and unrest among the people and charged George III. and +his councillors with gross indifference to the welfare of the nation and +corresponding devotion to selfish interests. He contended that Parliament was +usurping privileges when it presumed to expel any one, that the people had a +right to send whomsoever they pleased to Parliament, and finally that "in all +disputes between them and their rulers, the presumption was at least upon a par +in favor of the people." From this time until the American Revolution, Burke +used every opportunity to denounce the policy which the king was pursuing at +home and abroad. He doubtless knew beforehand that what he might say would pass +unnoticed, but he never faltered in a steadfast adherence to his ideas of +government, founded, as he believed, upon the soundest principles. Bristol +elected him as its representative in Parliament. It was a great honor and Burke +felt its significance, yet he did not flinch when the time came for him to take +a stand. He voted for the removal of some of the restrictions upon Irish trade. +His constituents, representing one of the most prosperous mercantile districts, +angered and disappointed at what they held to be a betrayal of trust, refused to +reelect him. + +Lord North's ministry came to an end in 1782, immediately after the battle of +Yorktown, and Lord Rockingham was chosen prime minister. Burke's past services +warranted him in expecting an important place in the cabinet, but he was +ignored. Various things have been suggested as reasons for this: he was poor; +some of his relations and intimate associates were objectionable; there were +dark hints of speculations; he was an Irishman. It is possible that any one of +these facts, or all of them, furnished a good excuse for not giving him an +important position in the new government. But it seems more probable that +Burke's abilities were not appreciated so justly as they have been since. The +men with whom he associated saw some of his greatness but not all of it. He was +assigned the office of Paymaster of Forces, a place of secondary importance. + +Lord Rockingham died in three months and the party went to pieces. Burke refused +to work under Shelburne, and, with Fox, joined Lord North in forming the +coalition which overthrew the Whig party. Burke has been severely censured for +the part he took in this. Perhaps there is little excuse for his desertion, and +it is certainly true that his course raises the question of his sincere devotion +to principles. His personal dislike of Shelburne was so intense that he may have +yielded to his feelings. He felt hurt, too, we may be sure, at the disposition +made of him by his friends. In replying to a letter asking him for a place in +the new government, he writes that his correspondent has been misinformed. "I +make no part of the ministerial arrangement," he writes, and adds, "Something in +the official line may be thought fit for my measure." + +As a supporter of the coalition, Burke was one of the framers of the India Bill. +This was directed against the wholesale robbery and corruption which the East +India Company had been guilty of in its government of the country. Both Fox and +Burke defended the measure with all the force and power which a thorough mastery +of facts, a keen sense of the injustice done an unhappy people, and a splendid +rhetoric can give. But it was doomed from the first. The people at large were +indifferent, many had profitable business relations with the company, and the +king used his personal influence against it. The bill failed to pass, the +coalition was dismissed, and the party, which had in Burke its greatest +representative, was utterly ruined. + +The failure of the India Bill marked a victory for the king, and it also +prepared the way for one of the most famous transactions of Burke's life. +Macaulay has told how impressive and magnificent was the scene at the trial of +Warren Hastings. There were political reasons for the impeachment, but the chief +motive that stirred Burke was far removed from this. He saw and understood the +real state of affairs in India. The mismanagement, the brutal methods, and the +crimes committed there in the name of the English government, moved him +profoundly, and when he rose before the magnificent audience at Westminster, for +opening the cause, he forced his hearers, by his own mighty passion, to see with +his own eyes, and to feel his own righteous anger. "When he came to his two +narratives," says Miss Burney, "when he related the particulars of those +dreadful murders, he interested, he engaged, he at last overpowered me; I felt +my cause lost. I could hardly keep my seat. My eyes dreaded a single glance +toward a man so accused as Mr. Hastings; I wanted to sink on the floor, that +they might be saved so painful a sight. I had no hope he could clear himself; +not another wish in his favor remained." The trial lasted for six years and +ended with the acquittal of Hastings. The result was not a surprise, and least +of all to Burke. The fate of the India Bill had taught him how completely +indifferent the popular mind was to issues touching deep moral questions. Though +a seeming failure, he regarded the impeachment as the greatest work of his life. +It did much to arouse and stimulate the national sense of justice. It made clear +the cruel methods sometimes pursued under the guise of civilization and +progress. The moral victory is claimed for Burke, and without a doubt the claim +is valid. + +The second of the great social and political problems, which employed English +statesmen in the last half of the eighteenth century, was settled in the +impeachment of Warren Hastings. The affairs of America and India were now +overshadowed by the French Revolution, and Burke, with the far-sighted vision of +a veteran statesman, watched the progress of events and their influence upon the +established order. In 1773 he had visited France, and had returned displeased. +It is remarkable with what accuracy he pointed out the ultimate tendency of much +that he saw. A close observer of current phases of society, and on the alert to +explain them in the light of broad and fundamental principles of human progress, +he had every opportunity for studying social life at the French capital. Unlike +the younger men of his times, he was doubtful, and held his judgment in +suspense. The enthusiasm of even Fox seemed premature, and he held himself aloof +from the popular demonstrations of admiration and approval that were everywhere +going on. The fact is, Burke was growing old, and with his years he was becoming +more conservative. He dreaded change, and was suspicious of the wisdom of those +who set about such widespread innovations, and made such brilliant promises for +the future. But the time rapidly approached for him to declare himself, and in +1790 his Reflections on the Revolution in France was issued. His friends had +long waited its appearance, and were not wholly surprised at the position taken. +What did surprise them was the eagerness with which the people seized upon the +book, and its effect upon them. The Tories, with the king, applauded long and +loud; the Whigs were disappointed, for Burke condemned the Revolution +unreservedly, and with a bitterness out of all proportion to the cause of his +anxiety and fear. As the Revolution progressed, he grew fiercer in his +denunciation. He broke with his lifelong associates, and declared that no one +who sympathized with the work of the Assembly could be his friend. His other +writings on the Revolution [Footnote: Letter to a Member of the National +Assembly and Letters on a Regicide Peace.] were in a still more violent strain, +and it is hard to think of them as coming from the author of the Speech on +Conciliation. + +Three years before his death, at the conclusion of the trial of Warren Hastings, +Burke's last term in Parliament expired. He did not wish office again and +withdrew to his estate. Through the influence of friends, and because of his +eminent services, it was proposed to make him peer, with the title of Lord +Beacons field. But the death of his son prevented, and a pension of twenty-five +hundred pounds a year was given instead. It was a signal for his enemies, and +during his last days he was busy with his reply. The "Letter to a Noble Lord," +though written little more than a year before his death, is considered one of +the most perfect of his papers. Saddened by the loss of his son, and broken in +spirits, there is yet left him enough old-time energy and fire to answer his +detractors. But his wonderful career was near its close. His last months were +spent in writing about the French Revolution, and the third letter on a Regicide +Peace--a fragment--was doubtless composed just before his death. On the 9th of +July, 1797, he passed away. His friends claimed for him a place in Westminster, +but his last wish was respected, and he was buried at Beaconsfield. + + + + +BURKE AS A STATESMAN + +There is hardly a political tract or pamphlet of Burke's in which he does not +state, in terms more or less clear, the fundamental principle in his theory of +government. "Circumstances," he says in one place, "give, in reality, to every +political principle, its distinguishing color and discriminating effect. The +circumstances are what renders every civil and political scheme beneficial or +obnoxious to mankind." At another time he exclaims: "This is the true touchstone +of all theories which regard man and the affairs of men; does it suit his nature +in general, does it suit his nature as modified by his habits?" And again he +extends his system to affairs outside the realm of politics. "All government," +he declares, "indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every +prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter." + +It is clear that Burke thought the State existed for the people, and not the +people for the State. The doctrine is old to us, but it was not so in Burke's +time, and it required courage to expound it. The great parties had forgotten the +reason for their existence, and one of them had become hardened and blinded by +that corruption which seems to follow long tenure of office. The affairs of +India, Ireland, and America gave excellent opportunity for an exhibition of +English statesmanship, but in each case the policy pursued was dictated, not by +a clear perception of what was needed in these countries, but by narrow +selfishness, not unmixed with dogmatism of the most challenging sort. The +situation in India, as regards climate, character, and institutions, counted for +little in the minds of those who were growing rich as agents of the East India +Company. Much the same may be said of America and Ireland. The sense of +Parliament, influenced by the king, was to use these parts of the British Empire +in raising a revenue, and in strengthening party organization at home. In +opposing this policy, Burke lost his seat as representative for Bristol, then +the second city of England; spent fourteen of the best years of his life in +conducting the impeachment of Warren Hastings, Governor-General of India; and, +greatest of all, delivered his famous speeches on Taxation and Conciliation, in +behalf of the American colonists. + +Notwithstanding the distinctly modern tone of Burke's ideas, it would be wrong +to think of him as a thoroughgoing reformer. He has been called the Great +Conservative, and the title is appropriate. He would have shrunk from a purely +republican form of government, such as our own, and it is, perhaps, a fact that +he was suspicious of a government by the people. The trouble, as he saw it, lay +with the representatives of the people. Upon them, as guardians of a trust, +rested the responsibility of protecting those whom they were chosen to serve. +While he bitterly opposed any measures involving radical change in the +Constitution, he was no less ardent in denouncing political corruptions of all +kinds whatsoever. In his Economical Reform he sought to curtail the enormous +extravagance of the royal household, and to withdraw the means of wholesale +bribery, which offices at the disposal of the king created. He did not believe +that a more effective means than this lay in the proposed plan for a +redistribution of seats in the House of Commons. In one place, he declared it +might be well to lessen the number of voters, in order to add to their weight +and independence; at another, he asks that the people be stimulated to a more +careful scrutiny of the conduct of their representatives; and on every occasion +he demands that the legislators give their support to those measures only which +have for their object the good of the whole people. + +It is obvious, however, that Burke's policy had grievous faults. His reverence +for the past, and his respect for existing institutions as the heritage of the +past, made him timid and overcautious in dealing with abuses. Although he stood +with Pitt in defending the American colonies, he had no confidence in the +thoroughgoing reforms which the great Commoner proposed. When the Stamp Act was +repealed, Pitt would have gone even further. He would have acknowledged the +absolute injustice of taxation without representation. Burke held tenaciously to +the opposing theory, and warmly supported the Declaratory Act, which "asserted +the supreme authority of Parliament over the colonies, in all cases whatsoever." +His support of the bill for the repeal of the Stamp Act, as well as his plea for +reconciliation, ten years later, were not prompted by a firm belief in the +injustice of England's course. He expressly states, in both cases that to +enforce measures so repugnant to the Americans, would be detrimental to the home +government. It would result in confusion and disorder, and would bring, perhaps, +in the end, open rebellion. All of his speeches on American affairs show his +willingness to "barter and compromise" in order to avoid this, but nowhere is +there a hint of fundamental error in the Constitution. This was sacred to him, +and he resented to the last any proposition looking to an organic change in its +structure. "The lines of morality," he declared, "are not like ideal lines of +mathematics. They are broad and deep, as well as long. They admit of exceptions; +they demand modifications. These exceptions and modifications are made, not by +the process of logic, but the rules of prudence. Prudence is not only first in +rank of all the virtues, political and moral, but she is the director, the +regulator, the standard of them all." + +The chief characteristics, then, of Burke's political philosophy are opposed to +much that is fundamental in modern systems. His doctrine is better than that of +George III, because it is more generous, and affords opportunity for superficial +readjustment and adaptation. It is this last, or rather the proof it gives of +his insight, that has secured Burke so high a place among English statesmen. + + + + +A GROUP OF WRITERS COMING IMMEDIATELY BEFORE BURKE + +Addison. . . . 1672-1719 +Steele . . . . 1672-1729 +Defoe. . . . . 1661-1731 +Swift. . . . . 1667-1745 +Pope . . . . . 1688-1744 +Richardson . . 1689-1761 + + + + +A GROUP OF WRITERS CONTEMPORARY WITH BURKE + +Johnson . . . . 1709-1784 +Goldsmith . . . 1728-1774 +Fielding. . . . 1707-1754 +Sterne. . . . . 1713-1768 +Smollett. . . . 1721-1771 +Gray. . . . . . 1716-1771 +Boswell . . . . 1740-1795 + + + + +BURKE IN LITERATURE + +It has become almost trite to speak of the breadth of Burke's sympathies. We +should examine the statement, however, and understand its significance and see +its justice. While he must always be regarded first as a statesman of one of the +highest types, he had other interests than those directly suggested by his +office, and in one of these, at least, he affords an interesting and profitable +study. + +To the student of literature Burke's name must always suggest that of Johnson +and Goldsmith. It was eight years after Burke's first appearance as an author, +that the famous Literary Club was formed. At first it was the intention to limit +the club to a membership of nine, and for a time this was adhered to. The +original members were Johnson, Burke, Goldsmith, Reynolds, and Hawkins. Garrick, +Pox, and Boswell came in later. Macaulay declares that the influence of the club +was so great that its verdict made and unmade reputations; but the thing most +interesting to us does not lie in the consideration of such literary +dictatorship. To Boswell we owe a biography of Johnson which has immortalized +its subject, and shed lustre upon all associated with him. The literary history +of the last third of the eighteenth century, with Johnson as a central figure, +is told nowhere else with such accuracy, or with better effect. + +Although a Tory, Johnson was a great one, and his lasting friendship for Burke +is an enduring evidence of his generosity and great-mindedness. For twenty +years, and longer, they were eminent men in opposing parties, yet their mutual +respect and admiration continued to the last. To Burke, Johnson was a writer of +"eminent literary merit" and entitled to a pension "solely on that account." To +Johnson, Burke was the greatest man of his age, wrong politically, to be sure, +yet the only one "whose common conversation corresponded to the general fame +which he had in the world"--the only one "who was ready, whatever subject was +chosen, to meet you on your own ground." Here and there in the Life are +allusions to Burke, and admirable estimates of his many-sided character. + +Coming directly to an estimate of Burke from the purely literary point of view, +it must be borne in mind that the greater part of his writings was prepared for +an audience. Like Macaulay, his prevailing style suggests the speaker, and his +methods throughout are suited to declamation and oratory. He lacks the ease and +delicacy that we are accustomed to look for in the best prose writers, and +occasionally one feels the justice of Johnson's stricture, that "he sometimes +talked partly from ostentation", or of Hazlitt's criticism that he seemed to be +"perpetually calling the speaker out to dance a minuet with him before he +begins." + +There may be passages here and there that warrant such censure. Burke is +certainly ornate, and at times he is extremely self-conscious, but the dominant +quality of his style, and the one which forever contradicts the idea of mere +showiness, is passion. In his method of approaching a subject, he may be, and +perhaps is, rather tedious, but when once he has come to the matter really in +hand, he is no longer the rhetorician, dealing in fine phrases, but the great +seer, clothing his thoughts in words suitable and becoming. The most magnificent +passages in his writings--the Conciliation is rich in them--owe their charm and +effectiveness to this emotional capacity. They were evidently written in moments +of absolute abandonment to feeling--in moments when he was absorbed in the +contemplation of some great truth, made luminous by his own unrivalled powers. + +Closely allied to this intensity of passion, is a splendid imaginative quality. +Few writers of English prose have such command of figurative expression. It must +be said, however, that Burke was not entirely free from the faults which +generally accompany an excessive use of figures. Like other great masters of a +decorative style, he frequently becomes pompous and grandiloquent. His thought, +too, is obscured, where we would expect great clearness of statement, +accompanied by a dignified simplicity; and occasionally we feel that he forgets +his subject in an anxious effort to make an impression. Though there are +passages in his writings that justify such observations, they are few in number, +when compared with those which are really masterpieces of their kind. + +Some great crisis, or threatening state of affairs, seems to furnish the +necessary condition for the exercise of a great mind, and Burke is never so +effective as when thoroughly aroused. His imagination needed the chastening +which only a great moment or critical situation could give. Two of his greatest +speeches--Conciliation, and Impeachment of Warren Hastings--were delivered under +the restraining effect of such circumstances, and in each the figurative +expression is subdued and not less beautiful in itself than, appropriate for the +occasion. + +Finally, it must be observed that no other writer of English prose has a better +command of words. His ideas, as multifarious as they are, always find fitting +expression. He does not grope for a term; it stands ready for his thought, and +one feels that he had opportunity for choice. It is the exuberance of his fancy, +already mentioned, coupled with this richness of vocabulary, that helped to make +Burke a tiresome speaker. His mind was too comprehensive to allow any phase of +his subject to pass without illumination. He followed where his subject led him, +without any great attention to the patience of his audience. But he receives +full credit when his speeches are read. It is then that his mastery of the +subject and the splendid qualities of his style are apparent, and appreciated at +their worth. + +In conclusion, it is worth while observing that in the study of a great +character, joined with an attempt to estimate it by conventional standards, +something must always be left unsaid. Much may be learned of Burke by knowing +his record as a partisan, more by a minute inspection of his style as a writer, +but beyond all this is the moral tone or attitude of the man himself. To a +student of Burke this is the greatest thing about him. It colored every line he +wrote, and to it, more than anything else, is due the immense force of the man +as a speaker and writer. It was this, more than Burke's great abilities, that +justifies Dr. Johnson's famous eulogy: "He is not only the first man in the +House of Commons, he is the first man everywhere." + + + + +A GROUP OF WRITERS COMING IMMEDIATELY AFTER BURKE + +Wordsworth . . . . 1770-1850 + +Coleridge . . . . . 1772-1834 + +Byron . . . . . . . 1788-1824 + +Shelley . . . . . . 1792-1822 + +Keats . . . . . . . 1795-1821 + +Scott . . . . . . . 1771-1832 + + + + +TOPICS FOR SPECIAL REPORTS + +1. "Like Goldsmith, though in a different sphere, Burke belongs both to the old +order and the new." Discuss that statement. + +2. Burke and the Literary Club. (Boswell's Life of Johnson.) + +3. Lives of Burke and Goldsmith. Contrast. + +4. An interpretation of ten apothegms selected from the Speech on Conciliation. + +5. A study of figures in the Speech on Conciliation. + +6. A definition of the terms: "colloquialism" and "idiom" Instances of their use +in the Speech on Conciliation. + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +1. Burke's Life. John Morley. English Men of Letters Series. + +2. Burke. John Morley. An Historical Study. + +3. Burke. John Morley. Encyclopaedia Britannica. + +4. History of the English People. Green. Vol. IV., pp 193-271. + +5 History of Civilization in England. Buckle. Vol I, pp. 326-338 + +6. The American Revolution. Fiske. Vol. I, Chaps. I., II. + +7. Life of Johnson. Boswell. (Use the Index) + + + + +EDMUND BURKE + +ON MOVING HIS RESOLUTIONS FOR CONCILIATION WITH THE COLONIES. HOUSE OF COMMONS, +MARCH 22, 1775 + + +I hope, Sir, that notwithstanding the austerity of the Chair, your good nature +will incline you to some degree of indulgence towards human frailty. You will +not think it unnatural that those who have an object depending, which strongly +engages their hopes and fears, should be somewhat 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, [Footnote: 1] 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 looking on this event as a +fortunate omen. I look upon it as a sort of providential favor, by which we are +put once more in possession of our deliberative capacity upon a business so very +questionable in its nature, so very uncertain in its issue. By the return of +this bill, which seemed to have taken its flight forever, we are at this very +instant nearly as free to choose a plan for our American Government as we were +on the first day of the session. If, Sir, we incline to the side of +conciliation, we are not at all embarrassed (unless we please to make ourselves +so) by any 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. + +Surely it is an awful subject, or there is none so on this side of the grave. +When I first had the honor [Footnote: 2] of a seat in this House, the affairs of +that continent pressed themselves upon us as the most important and most +delicate object of Parliamentary attention. My little share in this great +deliberation oppressed me. I found myself a partaker in a very high trust; and, +having no sort of reason to rely on the strength of my natural abilities for the +proper execution of that trust, I was obliged to take more than common pains 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. Something 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 by every wind of +fashionable doctrine. I really did not think it safe or manly to have fresh +principles to seek upon every fresh mail which should arrive from America. + +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 sentiments. [Footnote: 3] +Whether this be owing to an obstinate perseverance in error, or to a religious +adherence to what appears to me truth, and reason, it is in your equity to +judge. + +Sir, Parliament having an enlarged view of objects, made, during this interval, +more frequent changes in their 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 a 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. +[Footnote: 4] 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 know how to comprehend in the terms of any description. + +In this posture, Sir, things stood at the beginning of the session. About that +time, a worthy member [Footnote: 5] 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 [Footnote: 6] 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 convicting 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 vigor as cruel, and every proposal of lenity as weak and irresolute. +The public, he said, would not have patience to see us play the game out with +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. + +I felt the truth of what my honorable 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 seat of authority. 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; [Footnote: 7] nor of any politics in +which the plan is to be wholly separated from the execution. But when I saw that +anger and violence prevailed every day more and more, and that things were +hastening towards an incurable alienation of our 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 when +any, even the slightest, chance of doing good must be laid hold on, even by the +most inconsiderable person. + +To restore order and repose to an empire so great and so distracted as ours, is, +merely in the attempt, an undertaking that would ennoble the flights of the +highest genius, and obtain pardon for the efforts of the meanest understanding. +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 nothing but its reason to recommend it. On the other hand, being totally +destitute of all shadow of influence, natural or adventitious, I was very sure +that, if my proposition were futile or dangerous--if it were weakly conceived, +or improperly timed--there was nothing exterior to it of power to awe, dazzle, +or delude you. You will see it just as it is; and you will treat it just as it +deserves. + +The proposition is peace. Not peace through the medium of war; not peace to be +hunted through the labyrinth of intricate and endless negotiations; not peace to +arise out of universal discord fomented, from principle, in all parts of the +Empire, not peace to depend on the juridical determination of perplexing +questions, or the precise marking the shadowy boundaries of a complex +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, by removing the ground of the difference, +and by restoring the former unsuspecting confidence of the Colonies in the +Mother Country, to give permanent satisfaction to your people; and (far from a +scheme of ruling by discord) to reconcile them to each other in the same act and +by the bond of the very same interest which reconciles them to British +government. + +My idea is nothing more. Refined policy [Footnote: 8] 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 mankind. +Genuine simplicity of heart is an healing and cementing principle. My plan, +therefore, being formed upon the most simple grounds imaginable, may disappoint +some people when they hear it. It has nothing to recommend it to the pruriency +of curious ears. There is nothing at all new and captivating in it. It has +nothing of the splendor of the project [Footnote: 9] which has been lately laid +upon your table by the noble lord in the blue ribbon. [Footnote: 10] It does not +propose to fill your lobby with squabbling Colony agents, [Footnote: 11] who +will require the interposition of your mace, at every instant, to keep the peace +amongst them. It does not institute a magnificent auction of finance, where +captivated provinces come to general ransom by bidding against each other, until +you knock down the hammer, and determine a proportion of payments beyond all the +powers of algebra to equalize and settle. + +The plan which I shall presume to suggest derives, however, one great advantage +from the proposition and registry of that noble lord's project. The idea of +conciliation is admissible. First, the House, in accepting the resolution moved +by the noble lord, has admitted, notwithstanding the menacing front of our +address, [Footnote: 12] notwithstanding our heavy bills of pains and penalties-- +that we do not think ourselves precluded from all ideas of free grace and +bounty. + +The House has gone farther; it has declared conciliation admissible, previous to +any submission on the part of 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 something reprehensible in it, something unwise, or something grievous; +since, in the midst of our heat and resentment, we, of ourselves, have proposed +a capital alteration; and in order to get rid of what seemed so very +exceptionable, have instituted a mode that is altogether new; one that is, +indeed, wholly alien from all the ancient methods and forms of Parliament. + +The principle of this proceeding is large enough for my purpose. The means +proposed by the noble lord for carrying his ideas into execution, I think, +indeed, are very indifferently suited to the end; and this I shall endeavor to +show you before I sit down. But, for the present, I take my ground on the +admitted principle. I mean to give peace. Peace implies reconciliation; and +where there has been a material dispute, reconciliation does in a manner always +imply concession on the one part or on the other. In this state of things, I +make no difficulty in affirming that the proposal ought to originate from us. +Great and acknowledged force is not impaired, either in effect or in opinion, by +an unwillingness to exert itself. The superior power may offer peace with honor +and with safety. Such an offer from such a power will be attributed to +magnanimity. But the concessions of the weak are the concessions of fear. When +such a one is disarmed, he is wholly at the mercy of his superior; and he loses +forever that time and those chances, [Footnote: 13] which, as they happen to all +men, are the strength and resources of all inferior power. + +The capital leading questions on which you must this day decide are these two: +First, whether you ought to concede; and secondly, what your concession ought to +be. On the first of these questions we have gained, as I have just taken the +liberty of observing to you, some ground. But I am sensible that a good deal +more is still to be done. Indeed, Sir, to enable us to determine both on the one +and the other of these great questions with a firm and precise judgment, I think +it may be necessary to consider distinctly the true nature and the peculiar +circumstances of the object which we have before us; because after all our +struggle, whether we will or not, we must govern America according to that +nature and to those circumstances, [Footnote: 14] and not according to our own +imaginations, 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 endeavor, +with your leave, to lay before you some of the most material of these +circumstances in as full and as clear a manner as I am able to state them. + +The first thing that we have to consider with regard to the nature of the object +is--the number of people in the Colonies. I have taken for some years a good +deal of pains on that point. I can by no calculation justify myself in placing +the number below two millions of inhabitants of our own European blood and +color, besides at least five hundred thousand others, who form no inconsiderable +part of the strength and opulence of the whole. This, Sir, is, I believe, about +the true number. There is no occasion to exaggerate where plain truth is of so +much weight and importance. But whether I put the present numbers too high or +too low is a matter of little moment. Such is the strength with which population +shoots in that part of the world, that, state the numbers as high as we will, +whilst the dispute continues, the exaggeration ends. Whilst we are discussing +any given 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. + +I put this consideration of the present and the growing numbers in the front of +our deliberation, because, Sir, this consideration will make it evident to a +blunter discernment than yours, that no partial, narrow, contracted, pinched, +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 may be 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 interests 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. + +But the population of this country, the great and growing population, though a +very important consideration, will lose much of its weight if not combined with +other 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 erudition 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 enlightened and discriminating experience. + +Sir, I should be inexcusable in coming after such a person with any detail, if a +great part of the members who now fill the House had not the misfortune to be +absent when he appeared at your bar. Besides, Sir, I propose to take the matter +at periods of time somewhat different from his. There is, if I mistake not, a +point of view from whence, if you will look at the subject, it is impossible +that it should not make an impression upon you. + +I have in my hand two accounts; one a comparative state of the export trade of +England to its Colonies, as it stood in the year 1704, and as it stood in the +year 1772; the other 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. + +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. [Footnote: 15] + +The trade to the Colonies, taken on the export side, at the beginning of this +century, that is, in the year 1704, stood thus:-- + + Exports to North America and the West Indies. L483,265 + To Africa. .................................. 86,665 + -------- + L569,930 + +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 ...... L4,791,734 + To Africa. ................................ 866,398 + To which, if you add the export trade from + Scotland, which had in 1704 no existence .. 364,000 + ---------- + L6,022,132 + +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 meditation. But this is not all. Examine my second account. See how +the export trade to the Colonies alone in 1772 stood in the other point of view; +that is, as compared to the whole trade of England in 1704:-- + + The whole export trade of England, including + that to the Colonies, in 1704. ................ L6,509,000 + Export to the Colonies alone, in 1772 ......... 6,024,000 + ---------- + Difference, L485,000 + +The trade with America alone is now within less than L500,000 of being equal to +what this great commercial nation, England, carried on at the beginning of this +century with the whole world! If I had taken the largest year of those on your +table, it would rather have exceeded. But, it will be said, is not this American +trade an unnatural protuberance, that has drawn the juices from the rest of the +body? The reverse. It is the very food that has nourished every other part into +its present magnitude. Our general trade has been greatly augmented, and +augmented more or less in almost every part to which it ever extended; but with +this material difference, that of the six millions which in the beginning of the +century constituted the whole mass of our export commerce, the Colony trade was +but one-twelfth part, it is now (as a part of sixteen millions) considerably +more than a third of the whole. This is the relative proportion of the +importance of the Colonies at these two periods, and all reasoning concerning +our mode of treating them must have this proportion as its basis, or it is a +reasoning weak, rotten, and sophistical. + +Mr. Speaker, I cannot prevail on myself to hurry over this great consideration. +[Footnote: 15] IT IS GOOD FOR US TO BE HERE. [Footnote: 16] We stand where we +have an immense view of what is, and what is past. Clouds, indeed, and darkness, +rest upon the future. Let us, however, before we descend from this noble +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 quae sit potuit cognoscere virtus. +[Footnote: 17] 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 counsels, was to be made Great Britain, he should see his son, Lord +Chancellor of England, turn back the current of hereditary dignity to its +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 +honor 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 commercial grandeur of England, the genius should point out to him a +little speck, scarcely visible in the mass of the national interest, a small +seminal principle, rather than a formed body, and should tell him: "Young man, +there is America--which at this day serves for little more than to amuse you +with stories of savage men, and uncouth manners; yet shall, before you taste of +death, [Footnote: 18] show itself equal to the whole of that commerce which now +attracts the envy of the world. Whatever England has been growing to by a +progressive increase of improvement, 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! + +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 particular instance of it in the single province +of Pennsylvania. In the year 1704 that province called for L11,459 in value of +your commodities, native and 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 L507,909, nearly equal to the export to all the Colonies +together in the first period. + +I choose, Sir, to enter into these minute and particular details, because +generalities, which in all other cases are apt to heighten and raise the +subject, have here a tendency to sink it. When we speak of the commerce with our +Colonies, fiction lags after truth, invention is unfruitful, and imagination +cold and barren. + +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 +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. + +I pass, therefore, to the Colonies in another point of view, their agriculture. +This they have prosecuted with such a spirit, that, besides feeding plentifully +their own growing multitude, their annual export of grain, comprehending rice, +has some years ago exceeded a million in value. Of their last harvest I am +persuaded they will export much more. At the beginning of the century some of +these Colonies imported corn from the Mother Country. For some time past the Old +World has been fed from the New. The scarcity 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, [Footnote: 19] had not put the full breast of its +youthful exuberance to the mouth of its exhausted parent. + +As to the wealth which the Colonies have drawn from the sea by their fisheries, +you had all that matter fully opened at your bar. You surely thought those +acquisitions of value, for they seemed even to excite your envy; and yet the +spirit by which that enterprising employment has been exercised ought rather, in +my opinion, to have raised your esteem and 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 +ambition, is but a stage and resting-place in the progress of their victorious +industry. Nor is the equinoctial heat more discouraging to them than the +accumulated winter of both the poles. We know that whilst some of them draw the +line and strike the harpoon on the coast of Africa, others run the longitude and +pursue their gigantic game along the coast of Brazil. No sea but what is vexed +by their fisheries; no climate that is not witness to their toils. Neither the +perseverance of Holland, nor the activity of France, nor the dexterous and firm +sagacity of English enterprise ever carried this most perilous mode of hardy +industry to the extent to which it has been pushed by this recent people; a +people who are still, as it were, but in the gristle, and not yet hardened into +the bone of manhood. When I contemplate these things; when I know that the +Colonies in general owe little or nothing to any care of ours, and that they are +not squeezed into this happy form by the constraints of watchful and suspicious +government, but that, through a wise and salutary neglect, a generous nature has +been suffered to take her own way to perfection; when I reflect upon these +effects, when I see how profitable they have been to us, I feel all the pride of +power sink, and all presumption in the wisdom of human contrivances melt and die +away within me. My rigor relents. I pardon something to the spirit of liberty. + +I am sensible, Sir, that all which I have asserted in my detail is admitted in +the gross; but that quite a different conclusion is drawn from it. America, +gentlemen say, is a noble object. It is an object well worth fighting for. +Certainly it is, if fighting a people be the best way of gaining them. Gentlemen +in this respect will be led to their choice of means by their complexions +[Footnote: 20] 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 +[Footnote: 21] may have more confidence in the efficacy of arms. But I confess, +possibly for want of this knowledge, my opinion is much more in favor of prudent +management than of force; considering force not as an odious, but a feeble +instrument for preserving a people so numerous, so active, so growing, so +spirited as this, in a profitable and subordinate connection with us. + +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 [Footnote: 22] which is perpetually to be +conquered. + +My next objection is its uncertainty. Terror is not always the effect of force, +and an armament is not a victory. If you do not succeed, you are without +resource; for, conciliation failing, force remains; but, force failing, no +further hope of reconciliation is left. Power and authority are sometimes bought +by kindness; but they can never be begged as alms by an impoverished and +defeated violence. + +A further objection to force is, that you impair the object by your very +endeavors to preserve it. The thing you fought for is not the thing which you +recover; but depreciated, sunk, wasted, and consumed in the contest. Nothing +less will content 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 +consume. I do not choose to be caught by a foreign enemy at the end of this +exhausting conflict; and still less in the midst of it. I may escape; but I can +make no insurance against such an event. Let me add, that I do not choose wholly +to break the American spirit; because it is the spirit that has made the +country. + +Lastly, we have no sort of experience in favor of force as an instrument in the +rule of our Colonies. Their growth and their utility has been owing to methods +altogether different. Our ancient indulgence [Footnote: 23] 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. + +These, Sir, are my reasons for not entertaining that high opinion of untried +force by which many gentlemen, for whose sentiments in other particulars I have +great respect, seem to be so greatly captivated. But there is still behind a +third consideration concerning this object which serves to determine my opinion +on the sort of policy which ought to be pursued in the management of America, +even more than its population and its commerce--I mean its temper and character. + +In this character of the Americans, a love of freedom is 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. + +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 +according to English ideas, and on English principles. 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 favorite point, which by way +of eminence becomes the criterion of their happiness. It happened, you know, +Sir, that the great contests [Footnote: 24] 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 balance among the several orders of the state. The +question of money was not with them so immediate. But in England it was +otherwise. On this point of taxes the ablest pens, and most eloquent tongues, +have been exercised; the greatest spirits have acted and suffered. In order to +give the fullest satisfaction 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 +fundamental principle, that in all monarchies the people must in effect +themselves, mediately or immediately, possess the power of granting their own +money, or no shadow of liberty can 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, through wisdom or mistake, confirmed them in the +imagination that they, as well as you, had an interest in these common +principles. + +They were further confirmed in this pleasing error by the form of their +provincial legislative assemblies. Their governments are popular in an high +degree; some are merely popular; in all, the popular representative is the most +weighty; and this share of the people in their ordinary government never fails +to inspire them with lofty sentiments, and with a strong aversion from whatever +tends to deprive them of their chief importance. + +If anything were wanting to this necessary operation of the form of government, +religion would have given it a 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 favorable to +liberty, but built upon it. I do not think, Sir, that the reason of this +averseness in the dissenting churches from all that looks like absolute +government is so much to be sought in their religious tenets, as in their +history. Every one knows that the Roman Catholic religion is at least co-eval +with most of the governments where it prevails; that it has generally gone hand +in hand with them, and received great favor and every kind of support from +authority. The Church of England too was formed from her cradle under the +nursing care of regular government. But the dissenting interests 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 prevalent in our Northern Colonies is a refinement on the +principle of resistance; it is the dissidence of dissent, and the protestantism +of the Protestant religion. This religion, under a variety of denominations +agreeing in nothing but in the communion of the spirit of liberty, is +predominant in most of the Northern Provinces, where the Church of England, +notwithstanding its legal rights, is in reality no more than a sort of private +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, who have brought with them a temper +and character far from alien to that of the people with whom they mixed. + +Sir, I can perceive by their manner that some gentlemen object to the latitude +of this description, because in the 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 +Carolinas they have a vast multitude of slaves. Where this is the case in any +part of the world, those who are free are by far the most proud and jealous of +their freedom. Freedom is to them [Footnote: 25] 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 commend the superior morality of this sentiment, which has at +least as much pride as virtue in it; but I cannot alter the nature of man. The +fact is so; and these people of the Southern Colonies are much more strongly, +and with an higher and more stubborn spirit, attached to liberty than those to +the northward. Such were all the ancient commonwealths; such were our Gothic +ancestors; such in our days were the Poles; and such will be all masters of +slaves, who are not slaves themselves. In such a people the haughtiness of +domination combines with the spirit of freedom, fortifies it, and renders it +invincible. + +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 Congress were lawyers. But +all who read, and most do read, endeavor 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 so many books as those on the +law exported to the Plantations. The Colonists have now fallen into the way of +printing them for their own use. I hear that they have sold nearly as many of +Blackstone's Commentaries 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 honorable and learned friend on the floor, who condescends to mark +what I say for animadversion, will disdain that ground. He has heard, as well as +I, that when great honors and great emoluments do not win over 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 studia in mores. [Footnote: 26] This study readers men acute, +inquisitive, dexterous, prompt in attack, ready in defence, full of resources. +In other countries, the people, more simple, and of a less mercurial cast, judge +of an ill principle in government only by an actual grievance; here they +anticipate the evil, and judge of the pressure of the grievance by the badness +of the principle. They augur misgovernment at a distance, and snuff the approach +of tyranny in every tainted breeze. + +The last cause of this disobedient spirit in the Colonies is hardly less +powerful than the rest, as it is not merely moral, but laid deep in the natural +constitution of things. Three thousand miles of ocean lie between you and them. +No contrivance can prevent the effect of this distance in weakening 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, [Footnote: 27] 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 SHALL THOU GO, AND NO FARTHER. Who are you, that you 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 circulation [Footnote: 28] of power +must be less vigorous at the extremities. Nature has said it. The Turk cannot +govern Egypt and Arabia and Kurdistan as he governs Thrace; nor has he the same +dominion in Crimea and Algiers which he has at Brusa and Smyrna. Despotism +itself is obliged to truck and huckster. The 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 vigor 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 condition, the eternal law of extensive and detached +empire. + +Then, Sir, from these six capital sources--of descent, of form of government, of +religion in the Northern Provinces, of manners in the Southern, of education, of +the remoteness of situation from the first mover of government--from all these +causes a fierce spirit of liberty has grown up. It has grown with the growth of +the people in your Colonies, and increased with the increase of their wealth; a +spirit that unhappily meeting with an exercise of power in England which, +however lawful, is not reconcilable to any ideas of liberty, much less with +theirs, has kindled this flame that is ready to consume us. + +I do not mean to commend either the spirit in this excess, or the moral causes +which produce it. Perhaps a more 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 guardians during a perpetual minority, than +with any part of it in their own hands. The question is, not whether their +spirit deserves praise or blame, but--what, in the name of God, shall we do with +it? You have before you the object, such as it is, with all its glories, with +all its imperfections [Footnote: 29] 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 some rule and line for our future conduct which may give a little +stability to our politics, and prevent the return of such unhappy deliberations +as the present. Every such return will bring the matter before us in a still +more untractable 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 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 discontented Colonies could do was to disturb authority; we +never dreamt they could of themselves supply it--knowing in general what an +operose business it is to establish a government absolutely new. But having, for +our purposes in this contention, resolved that none but an obedient Assembly +should sit, the humors of the people there, finding all passage through the +legal channel stopped, with great violence broke out another way. Some provinces +have tried their experiment, 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 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 government has originated directly from the +people, and was not transmitted through any of the ordinary artificial media of +a positive constitution. It was not a manufacture ready formed, and transmitted +to them in that condition from England. The evil arising from hence is this; +that the Colonists having once found the possibility of enjoying the advantages +of order in the midst of a struggle for liberty, such struggles will not +henceforward seem so terrible to the settled and sober part of mankind as they +had appeared before the trial. Pursuing the same plan [Footnote: 30] of +punishing by the denial of the exercise of government to still greater lengths, +we wholly abrogated the ancient government of Massachusetts. We were confident +that the first feeling if not the very prospect, of anarchy would instantly +enforce a complete submission. The experiment was tried. A new, strange, +unexpected face of things appeared. Anarchy is found tolerable. A vast province +has now subsisted, and subsisted in a considerable degree of health and vigor +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 +were imagined to be, or that we have not at all adverted to some other far more +important and far more powerful principles, which entirely overrule those we had +considered as omnipotent. I am much against any further experiments which tend +to put to the proof any more of these allowed opinions which contribute so much +to the public tranquillity. In effect we suffer as much at home by this +loosening of all ties, and this concussion of all established opinions as we do +abroad; for in order to prove that the Americans have no right to their +liberties, we are every day endeavoring 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 some of those feelings, for which our ancestors have +shed their blood. + +But, Sir, in wishing to put an end to pernicious experiments, I do not mean to +preclude the fullest inquiry. Far from it. Far from deciding on a sudden or +partial view, [Footnote: 31] 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 [Footnote: 32] of proceeding relative to +this stubborn spirit which prevails in your Colonies, and disturbs your +government. These are--to change that spirit, as inconvenient, by removing the +causes; to prosecute it as criminal; or to comply with it as necessary. I would +not 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 forwardness of +peevish children who, when they cannot get all they would have, are resolved to +take nothing. + +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 difficulties, some of them little +short, as I conceive, of impossibilities. This will appear by examining into the +plans which have been proposed. + +As the growing population in the Colonies is evidently one cause of their +resistance, it was last session mentioned in both Houses, by men of weight, and +received not without 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 this be the +case, then the only effect of this avarice of desolation, this hoarding of a +royal wilderness, would be to raise the value of the possessions in the hands of +the great private monopolists without any adequate cheek to the growing and +alarming mischief of population. + +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 settlements are already +little attached to particular situations. 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 +unfortified frontiers a fierce and irresistible cavalry, become masters of your +governors and your counsellors, your collectors and comptrollers, and of all the +slaves that 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 an evil the command and +blessing of providence, INCREASE AND MULTIPLY. Such would be the happy result of +the endeavor to keep as a lair of wild beasts that earth which God, by an +express charter, has given to the children of men. Far different, and surely +much wiser, has been our policy hitherto. Hitherto we have invited our people, +by every kind of bounty, to fixed establishments. We have 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 carefully attended every +settlement with government. + +Adhering, Sir, as I do, to this policy, as well as for the reasons I have just +given, I think this new project of hedging-in population to be neither prudent +nor practicable. + +To impoverish the Colonies in general, and in particular to arrest the noble +course of their marine enterprises, would be a more easy task. I freely confess +it. We have shown a disposition to a system of this kind, a disposition even to +continue the restraint after the offence, looking on 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 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 moments in the fortune of all states when they who are +too weak to contribute to your prosperity may be strong enough to complete your +ruin. Spoliatis arma supersunt. [Footnote: 34] + +The temper and character which prevail in our Colonies are, I am afraid, +unalterable by any human art. We cannot, I fear, falsify the pedigree of this +fierce people, and persuade them that they are not sprung from a nation in whose +veins the blood of freedom circulates. The language in which they would hear you +tell them this tale would detect the imposition; your speech would betray you. +[Footnote: 35] An Englishman is the unfittest person on earth to argue another +Englishman into slavery. + +I think it is nearly as little in our power to change their republican religion +as their free descent; or to substitute the Roman Catholic as a penalty, or the +Church of England as an improvement. The mode of inquisition and dragooning is +going out of fashion in the Old World, and I should not confide much to their +efficacy in the New. The education of the Americans is also on the same +unalterable bottom with 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. 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 +general enfranchisement of their slaves. This object has had its advocates and +panegyrists; yet I never could argue myself into any opinion of it. Slaves are +often much attached to their masters. A general wild offer of liberty would not +always be accepted. History furnishes few instances of it. It is sometimes as +hard to persuade slaves [Footnote: 36] 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 when 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. + +Slaves as these unfortunate black people are, and dull as all men are from +slavery, must they not a little suspect the offer of freedom from that very +nation which has sold them to their present masters?--from that nation, one of +whose causes of quarrel [Footnote: 37] 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. You +cannot pump this dry; and as long as it continues in its present bed, so long +all the causes which weaken authority by distance will continue. + + "Ye gods, annihilate but space and time, + And make two lovers happy!" + +was a pious and passionate prayer; but just as reasonable as many of the serious +wishes of grave and solemn politicians. + +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 produce such +effects as now embarrass us--the second mode under consideration is to prosecute +that spirit in its overt acts as criminal. + +At this proposition I must pause a moment. The thing seems a great deal too big +for my ideas of jurisprudence. It should seem to my way of conceiving such +matters that there is a very wide difference, in reason and policy, between the +mode of proceeding on the irregular conduct of scattered individuals, or even of +bands of men who disturb order within the state, and the civil dissensions which +may, from time to time, on great questions, agitate the several 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 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. + +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 an empire is the +aggregate of many states under one common head, whether this head be a monarch +or a presiding republic. It does, in such constitutions, 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, [Footnote: 38] to imply a +superior power; for to talk of the privileges of a state or of a person who has +no superior is hardly any better than speaking nonsense. Now, in such +unfortunate quarrels among the component parts of a great political union of +communities, I can scarcely conceive anything more completely imprudent than for +the head of the empire to insist that, if any privilege is pleaded against his +will or his acts, his whole authority is denied; instantly to proclaim +rebellion, to beat to arms, and to put the offending provinces 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 +dependent communities with such an idea. + +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 subordinate power. Sir, let me add, +too, that the opinion of my having some abstract right [Footnote: 39] in my +favor would not put me much at my ease in passing sentence, unless I could be +sure that there were no rights which, in their exercise under certain +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. + +There is, Sir, also a circumstance which convinces me that this mode of criminal +proceeding is not, at least in the present stage of our contest, altogether +expedient; which is nothing less than the conduct of those very persons who have +seemed to adopt that mode by lately declaring a rebellion in Massachusetts Bay, +as they had formerly addressed to have traitors brought hither, under an Act of +Henry the Eighth, [Footnote: 40] for trial. For though rebellion is declared, it +is not proceeded against as such, nor have any steps been taken towards the +apprehension or conviction of any individual offender, either on our late or our +former Address; but modes of public coercion have been adopted, and such as have +much 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. + +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. [Footnote: 41] + +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 as necessary; or, if you please, to submit to it +as a necessary evil. + +If we adopt this mode,--if we mean to conciliate and concede,--let us see of +what nature the concession ought to be. To ascertain the nature of our +concession, we must look at their complaint. The Colonies complain that they +have not the characteristic mark and seal of British freedom. They complain that +they are taxed in a Parliament in which they are not represented. If you mean to +satisfy them at all, you must satisfy them with regard to this complaint. If you +mean to please any people you must give them the boon which they ask; not what +you may think better for them, but of a kind totally different. Such an act may +be a wise regulation, but it is no concession; whereas our present theme is the +mode of giving satisfaction. + +Sir, I think you must perceive that I am resolved this day to have nothing at +all to do with the question of the right of taxation. Some gentlemen start--but +it is true; I put it totally out of the question. It is less than nothing in my +consideration. I do not indeed wonder, nor will you, Sir, that gentlemen of +profound learning are fond of 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 general trust of government, and how far all +mankind, in all forms of polity, are entitled to an exercise of that right by +the charter of nature; or whether, on the contrary, a right of taxation is +necessarily involved in the general principle of legislation, and inseparable +from the ordinary supreme power. These are deep questions, where great names +militate against each other, where reason is perplexed, 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." + [Footnote: 42] + +I do not intend to be overwhelmed in that bog, though in such respectable +company. The question [Footnote: 43] 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, reason, and +justice tell me I OUGHT to do. Is a politic act the worse for being a generous +one? Is no concession proper but that which is made from your want of right to +keep what you grant? Or does it lessen the grace or 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 use of my own weapons? + +Such is steadfastly my opinion of the absolute necessity of keeping up the +concord of this Empire by an unity of spirit, though in a diversity of +operations, that, if I were sure the Colonists had, at their leaving this +country, sealed a regular compact of servitude; that they had solemnly abjured +all the rights of citizens; that they had made a vow to 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 million 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 what sort of +government is fitted for them. That point nothing else can or ought to +determine. + +My idea, therefore, without considering whether we yield as matter of right, or +grant as matter of favor, is to admit the people of our Colonies into an +interest in the Constitution; and, by recording that admission in the journals +of Parliament, to give them as strong an assurance as the nature of the thing +will admit, that we mean forever to adhere to that solemn declaration of +systematic indulgence. + +Some years ago the repeal of a revenue Act, upon its understood principle, might +have served to show that we intended an unconditional abatement of the exercise +of a taxing power. Such a measure was then sufficient to 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 proceedings. + +I have taken a very incorrect measure of the disposition of the House if this +proposal in itself would be received with dislike. I think, Sir, we have few +American financiers. But our misfortune is, we are too acute, we are too +exquisite [Footnote: 44] 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 taxation, +but they apprehend the Colonists have further views; and if this point were +conceded, they would instantly attack the trade laws. [Footnote: 45] 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 with it, and which are often urged from the same mouths and on +the same day. + +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 ribbon +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. + +Such is the merit of the trade laws in this posture of the debate. But when +strong internal circumstances are urged against the taxes; when the scheme is +dissected; when experience and the nature of things are brought to prove, and do +prove, the utter impossibility of obtaining an effective revenue from the +Colonies; when these things are pressed, or rather press themselves, so as to +drive the advocates of Colony taxes to a clear admission of the futility of the +scheme; then, Sir, the sleeping trade laws revive from their trance, and this +useless taxation is to be kept sacred, not for its own sake, but as a +counterguard and security of the laws of trade. + +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 up as of no value, and yet one is always to be +defended for the sake of the other; but I cannot agree with the noble lord, nor +with the pamphlet from whence he seems to have borrowed these ideas concerning +the inutility of the trade laws. For, without idolizing them, I am sure they 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 commercial regulations are the true ground of the +quarrel, or that the giving way, in any one instance of authority, is to lose +all that may remain unconceded. + +One fact is clear and indisputable. The public and avowed origin of this quarrel +was on taxation. This quarrel has indeed brought on new disputes on new +questions; but certainly the least bitter, and the fewest of all, on the trade +laws. To judge which of the two be the real radical cause of quarrel, we have to +see whether the commercial dispute 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 will be able to discern +correctly what is the true object of the controversy, or whether any controversy +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, recommend to your serious consideration whether +it be prudent to form a rule for punishing people, not on their own acts, but on +your conjectures? Surely it is preposterous at the very best. It is not +justifying your anger by their misconduct, but it is converting your ill-will +into their delinquency. + +But the Colonies will go further. Alas! alas! when will this speculation against +fact and reason end? What will quiet these panic fears which we entertain of the +hostile effect of a conciliatory conduct? Is it true that no case can exist in +which it is proper for the sovereign to accede to the desires of his +discontented subjects? Is there anything peculiar in this case to make a rule +for itself? Is all authority of course lost when it is not pushed to the +extreme? Is it a certain maxim that the fewer causes of dissatisfaction are left +by government, the more the subject will be inclined to resist and rebel? + +All these objections being in fact no more than suspicions, conjectures, +divinations, formed in defiance of fact and experience, they did not, Sir, +discourage me from entertaining the idea of a conciliatory concession founded on +the principles which I have just stated. + +In forming a plan for this purpose, I endeavored to put myself in that frame of +mind which was the most natural and the most reasonable, and which was certainly +the most probable means of securing me from all error. I set out with a perfect +distrust 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 constitution and so flourishing an empire, and, +what is a thousand times more valuable, the treasury of the maxims and +principles which formed the one and obtained the other. + +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 Durham. + +Ireland, before the English conquest, [Footnote: 46] though never governed by a +despotic power, had no Parliament. How far the English Parliament itself was at +that time modelled according to the present form is disputed among antiquaries; +but we have all the reason in the world to be assured that a form of Parliament +such as England then enjoyed she instantly communicated to Ireland, and we are +equally sure that almost every successive improvement in constitutional liberty, +as fast as it was made here, was transmitted thither. The feudal baronage and +the feudal knighthood, the roots of our primitive Constitution, were early +transplanted into that soil, and grew and flourished there. Magna Charta, if it +did not give us originally the House of Commons, gave us at least a House of +Commons of weight and consequence. But your ancestors did not churlishly sit +down alone to the feast of Magna Charta. Ireland was made immediately a +partaker. This benefit of English laws and liberties, I 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 Queen Elizabeth, it was soon +discovered that nothing could make that country English, in civility and +allegiance, but your laws and your forms of legislature. It was not English +arms, but the English Constitution, that conquered Ireland. From that time +Ireland has ever had a general Parliament, as she had before a partial +Parliament. You changed the people; you altered the religion; but you never +touched the form or the vital substance of free government in that kingdom. You +deposed kings; [Footnote: 47] you restored them; you altered the succession to +theirs, as well as to your own Crown; but you never altered their Constitution, +the principle of which was respected by usurpation, restored with the +restoration of monarchy, and established, I trust, forever, by the glorious +Revolution. This has made Ireland the great and flourishing kingdom that it is, +and, from a disgrace 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. None 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 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. + +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 destroyed, and no good one was +substituted in its place. The care of that tract was put into the hands of Lords +Marchers [Footnote: 48]--a form of government of a very singular kind; a strange +heterogeneous monster, something between hostility and government; perhaps it +has a sort of resemblance, according to the modes of those terms, to that of +Commander-in-chief at present, to whom all civil power is granted as secondary. +The manners of the Welsh nation followed the genius of the government. The +people were ferocious, restive, 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 there were +none. Wales was only known to England by incursion and invasion. + +Sir, during that state of things, Parliament was not idle. They attempted to +subdue the fierce spirit of the Welsh by all sorts of rigorous laws. They +prohibited by statute the sending all sorts of arms into Wales, as you prohibit +by proclamation (with something more of doubt on the legality) the sending arms +to America. They disarmed the Welsh by statute, as you attempted (but still with +more question on the legality) to disarm New England by an instruction. They +made an Act to drag offenders from Wales into England for trial, as you have +done (but with more hardship) with regard to America. By another Act, where one +of the parties was an Englishman, they ordained that his trial should be always +by English. They made Acts to restrain trade, as you do; and they prevented the +Welsh from the use of fairs and markets, as you do the Americans from fisheries +and foreign ports. In short, when the Statute Book was not quite so much swelled +as it is now, you find no less than fifteen acts of penal regulation on the +subject of Wales. + +Here we rub our hands.--A fine body of precedents for the authority of +Parliament and the use of it!--I admit it fully; and pray add likewise to these +precedents that all the while Wales rid this Kingdom like an incubus, that it +was an unprofitable and oppressive burthen, and that an Englishman travelling in +that country could not go six yards from the high road without being murdered. + +The march of the human mind is slow. Sir, it was not until after two hundred +years discovered that, by an eternal law, providence had decreed vexation to +violence, and 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 all tyrannies the least be endured, and that laws made against a +whole nation were not the most effectual methods of securing its obedience. +Accordingly, in the twenty-seventh year of Henry the Eighth 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 Parliament. From that moment, as by a charm, the +tumults subsided; obedience was restored; peace, order, and civilization +followed in the train of liberty. When the day-star of the English Constitution +had arisen in their hearts, all was harmony within and without-- + + "--simul alba nautis + Stella refulsit, + Defluit saxis agitatus humor; + Concidunt venti, fugiuntque nubes, + Et minax (quod sic voluere) ponto + Unda recumbit." + [Footnote: 49] + +The very same year the County Palatine of Chester received the same relief from +its oppressions and the same remedy to its disorders. Before this time Chester +was little less distempered than Wales. The inhabitants, without rights +themselves, were the fittest to destroy the rights of others; and from thence +Richard the Second 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: + + "To the King, our Sovereign Lord, in most hunible wise + shewen unto your excellent Majesty the inhabitants of + your Grace's County Palatine of Chester: (1) That where + the said County Palatine of Chester is and hath been always + hitherto exempt, excluded, and separated out and + from your High Court of Parliament, to have any Knights + and Burgesses within the said Court; by reason whereof + the said inhabitants have hitherto sustained manifold + disherisons, losses, and damages, as well in their lands, + goods, and bodies, as in the good, civil, and politic governance + and maintenance of the commonwealth of their said + county; (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 oftentime 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 within 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 table? Did they burn it by the hands of +the common hangman?--They took the petition of grievance, all rugged as it was, +without softening or temperament, unpurged of the original bitterness and +indignation of complaint--they made it the very preamble to their Act of +redress, and consecrated its principle to all ages in the sanctuary of +legislation. + +Here is my third example. It was attended with the success of the two former. +Chester, civilized as well as Wales, has demonstrated that freedom, and not +servitude, 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 the Second with regard to the County Palatine of Durham, which is my +fourth example. This county had long lain out of the pale of 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 recognizes the equity of +not suffering any considerable district in which the British subjects may act as +a body, to be taxed without their own voice in the grant. + +Now if the doctrines of policy contained in these preambles, and the force of +these examples in the Acts of Parliaments, avail anything, what can be said +against applying them with regard to America? Are not the people of America as +much Englishmen as the Welsh? The preamble of the Act of Henry the Eighth says +the Welsh speak a language no way resembling that of his Majesty's English +subjects. Are the Americans not as numerous? If we may trust the learned and +accurate Judge Barrington's account of North Wales, and take that as a standard +to measure the rest, there is no comparison. The people 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 at tempted 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 neighborhood--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 it sufficient +for those which are infinitely greater, and infinitely more remote? + +You will now, Sir, perhaps imagine that I am on the point of proposing to you a +scheme for a representation of the Colonies in Parliament. Perhaps I might be +inclined to entertain some such thought; but a great flood stops me in my +course. Opposuit natura. [Footnote: 50 ]--I cannot remove the eternal barriers +of the creation. The thing, in that mode, I do not know to be possible. As I +meddle with no theory,[Footnote: 51] 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 has disjoined in one 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? + +Fortunately I am not obliged, for the ways and means of this substitute, to tax +my own unproductive invention. I am not even obliged to go to the rich treasury +of the fertile framers of imaginary commonwealths--not to the Republic of Plato, +[Footnote: 52] not to the Utopia of More, [Footnote: 52] 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." + [Footnote: 53] + +I only wish you to recognize, 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 a +uniform experience has marked out to you as best, and in which you walked with +security, advantage, and honor, until the year 1763. [Footnote: 54] + +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 +[Footnote: 55] 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 a DUTIFUL AND BENEFICIAL EXERCISE; and that experience has +shown the BENEFIT OF THEIR GRANTS and the FUTILITY OF PARLIAMENTARY TAXATION as +a method of supply. + +These solid truths compose six fundamental propositions. There are three more +Resolutions corollary to these. If you admit the first set, you can hardly +reject the others. But if you admit the first, I shall be far from solicitous +whether you accept or refuse the last. I think these six massive 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 management, a lasting +obedience in America. I am not arrogant in this confident assurance. The +propositions are all mere matters of fact, and if they are such facts as draw +irresistible conclusions even in the stating, this is the power of truth, and +not any management of mine. + +Sir, I shall open the whole plan to you, together with 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 inhabitants, have not had the liberty and privilege of electing and sending +any Knights and Burgesses, or others, to represent them in the High Court of +Parliament." + +This is a plain matter of fact, necessary to be laid down, and, excepting the +description, it is laid down in the language of the Constitution; it is taken +nearly verbatim from Acts of Parliament. + +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 subsidies given, granted, and assented to, in the said Court, in +a manner prejudicial to the commonwealth, quietness, rest, and peace of the +subjects inhabiting within the same." + +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 hic sermo, sed quae praecepit Ofellus, + Rusticus, abnormis sapiens." + [Footnote: 56] + +It is the genuine produce of the ancient, rustic, manly, homebred 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 let others +abound in their own sense, and carefully to abstain from all expressions of my +own. What the law has said, I say. In all things else I am silent. I have no +organ but for her words. This, if it be not ingenious, I am sure is safe. +[Footnote: 57] + +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. When a man is robbed of a trifle on the +highway, it is not the twopence lost that constitutes the capital outrage. This +is not confined to privileges. Even ancient indulgences, withdrawn without +offence on the part of those who enjoyed such favors, operate as grievances. But +were the Americans then not touched and grieved by the taxes, in some measure, +merely as taxes? If so, why were they almost all either wholly repealed, or +exceedingly reduced? Were they not touched and grieved even by the regulating +duties of the sixth of George the Second? Else, why were the duties first +reduced to one third in 1764, and afterwards to a third of that third in the +year 1766? Were they not touched and grieved by the Stamp Act? I shall say they +were, until that tax is revived. Were they not touched and grieved by the duties +of 1767, which were likewise repealed, and which Lord Hillsborough tells you, +for the Ministry, were laid contrary to the true principle of commerce? Is not +the assurance given by that noble person to the Colonies of a resolution to lay +no more taxes on them an admission that taxes would touch and grieve them? Is +not the Resolution of the noble lord in the blue ribbon, now standing on your +Journals, the strongest of all proofs that Parliamentary subsidies really +touched and grieved them? Else why all these changes, modifications, repeals, +assurances, and resolutions? + +The next proposition is-- + +"That, from the distance of the said Colonies, and from other circumstances, no +method hath hitherto been devised for procuring a representation in Parliament +for the said Colonies" + +This is an assertion of a fact, I go no further on the paper, though, in my +private judgment, a useful representation is impossible--I am sure it is not +desired by them, nor ought it perhaps by us--but I abstain from opinions + +The fourth Resolution is-- + +"That each of the said Colonies hath within itself a body, chosen in part, or in +the whole, by the freemen, free-holders, or other free inhabitants thereof, +commonly called the General 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" + +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 uniform 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 passed, biennially in Ireland, or annually in the +Colonies--are in an habitual course of committing impeachable offences. What +habitual offenders have been all Presidents of the Council, all Secretaries of +State, all First Lords of Trade, all Attorneys and 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. + +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 subsidies and public aids for + his Majesty's service, according to their abilities, when + required thereto by letter from one of his Majesty's + principal Secretaries of State; and that their right to grant the + same, and their cheerfulness and sufficiency in the said + grants, have been at sundry times acknowledged by 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 contributions in the year 1710--I shall begin to travel +only where the journals give me light, resolving to deal in nothing but fact, +authenticated by Parliamentary record, and to build myself wholly on that solid +basis. + +On the 4th of April, 1748, a Committee of this House came 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, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and + Rhode Island, be reimbursed the expenses they have been + at in taking and securing to the Crown of Great Britain, + the Island of Cape Breton and its dependencies." + +The expenses were immense for such Colonies. They were above L200,000 sterling; +money first raised and advanced on their public credit. + +On the 28th of January, 1756, a message from the King came to us, to this +effect: + + "His Majesty, being sensible of the zeal and vigor with which + his faithful subjects of certain Colonies in North America + have exerted themselves in defence of his Majesty's just + rights and possessions, recommends it to this House to + take the same into their consideration, and to enable his + Majesty to give them such assistance as may be a proper + reward and encouragement." + +On the 3d of February, 1756, the House came to a suitable Resolution, expressed +in words nearly the same as those of the message, but with the further addition, +that the money then voted was as an encouragement to the Colonies to exert +themselves with vigor. It will not be necessary to go through all the +testimonies which your own records have given to the truth of my Resolutions. I +will only refer you 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. 22d and 26th, 1762; March 14th and 17th, + 1763. + +Sir, here is the repeated acknowledgment of Parliament that the Colonies not +only gave, but 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 +collect 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 honorable to +them and to you, will, indeed, be mortal to all the miserable stories by which +the passions of the misguided people [Footnote: 58] have been engaged in an +unhappy system. The people heard, indeed, from the beginning of these disputes, +one thing continually dinned in their ears, that reason and justice demanded +that the Americans, who paid no taxes, should be compelled 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 millions six hundred thousand +pounds sterling money, and was of opinion they would discharge that debt in four +years. On this state, those untaxed people were actually subject to the payment +of taxes to the amount of six hundred and fifty thousand a year. In fact, +however, Mr. Grenville was mistaken. The funds given for sinking the debt did +not prove quite so ample as both the Colonies and he expected. The calculation +was too sanguine; the reduction was not completed 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 imposed 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. + +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 competent 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 qualified, and having that competence, had neglected the duty. + +The question now, on all this accumulated matter, is: whether you will choose to +abide by a profitable experience, or a mischievous theory; whether you choose to +build on imagination, or fact; whether you prefer enjoyment, or hope; +satisfaction in your subjects, or discontent? + +If these propositions are accepted, everything which has been made to enforce a +contrary system must, I take it for granted, fall along with it. On that ground, +I have drawn the following Resolution, which, when it comes to be moved, will +naturally be divided in a proper manner: + +"That it may be proper to repeal an Act [Footnote: 59] made in the seventh year +of the reign of his present Majesty, entitled, An Act for granting certain +duties in the British Colonies and Plantations in America; for allowing a +drawback of the duties of customs upon 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 to America; +and for more effectually preventing the clandestine running of goods in the said +Colonies and Plantations. And that it may be proper to repeal an Act [Footnote: +60] made in the fourteenth year of the reign of his present Majesty, entitled, +An Act to discontinue, in such manner and for such time as are therein +mentioned, the landing and discharging, lading or shipping of goods, wares, and +merchandise at the town and within the harbor 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, entitled, An +Act for the impartial administration of justice [Footnote: 61] in the 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 the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in +New England. And that it may be proper to repeal an Act made in the fourteenth +year of the reign of his present Majesty, entitled, An Act for the better +regulating [Footnote: 62] of the Government of the Province of the 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, entitled, +An Act for the Trial of Treasons [Footnote: 63] committed out of the King's +Dominions." + +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 corporation of Boston was not heard before +it was condemned. Other towns, full as guilty as she was, have not had their +ports blocked up. 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. + +Ideas of prudence and accommodation to circumstances prevent you from taking +away the charters of Connecticut and Rhode Island, as you have taken away that +of Massachusetts Bay, though the Crown has far less power in the two former +provinces than it enjoyed in the latter, and 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 +Massachusetts 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 returning officer for every special cause. It is shameful to +behold such a regulation standing among English laws. + +The Act for bringing persons accused of committing murder, under the orders of +Government to England for trial, is but temporary. That Act has calculated the +probable 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. + +The Act of Henry the Eighth, for the Trial of Treasons, I do not mean to take +away, but to confine it to its proper bounds and original intention; to make it +expressly for trial of treasons--and the greatest treasons may be committed--in +places where the jurisdiction of the Crown does not extend. + +Having guarded the privileges of local legislature, 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 behavior, and shall not be removed therefrom but when +the said removal shall be adjudged by his Majesty in Council, upon a hearing on +complaint from the General Assembly, or on a complaint from the Governor, or +Council, or the House of Representatives severally, or of the Colony in which +the said Chief Justice and other Judges have exercised the said offices" + +The next Resolution relates to the Courts of Admiralty. It is this. + +"That it may be proper to regulate the Courts of Admiralty or Vice Admiralty +authorized by the fifteenth Chapter of the Fourth of George the Third, in such a +manner as to make the same more commodious to those who sue, or are sued, in the +said Courts, and to provide for the more decent maintenance of the Judges in the +same." + +These courts I do not wish to take away, they are in 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 partaking in the fruits of its +own condemnation is a robber. The Congress complain, and complain justly, of +this grievance. + +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 incumbrances on +the building, than very materially detrimental to its strength and stability. + +Here, Sir, I should close, but I plainly perceive some objections remain which I +ought, if possible, to remove. 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 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 Parliament, formerly moved to have read at your +table in confirmation of his tenets. It is true that Lord Chatham considered +these preambles as declaring strongly in favor of his opinions. He was a no less +powerful advocate for the privileges of the Americans. Ought I not from hence to +presume that these preambles are as favorable as possible to both, when properly +understood; favorable both to the rights of Parliament, and to the privilege of +the 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 Colonies. But whether the +unrepresented counties were de jure or de facto [Footnote: 64] bound, the +preambles do not accurately distinguish, nor indeed was it necessary; for, +whether de jure or de facto, the Legislature thought the exercise of the power +of taxing as of right, or as of fact without right, equally a grievance, and +equally oppressive. + +I do not know that the Colonies have, in any general way, or in any cool hour, +gone much beyond the demand of humanity 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 logical illation. We Englishmen +stop very short of the principles upon which we support any given part of our +Constitution, or even the whole of it together. I could easily, if I had not +already tired you, give you very striking and convincing instances of it. This +is nothing but what is 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 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. [Footnote: 65] Though a great +house is apt to make slaves haughty, yet it is purchasing a part of the +artificial importance 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 improvements 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; 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 +relative to his interest, and not on metaphysical speculations. Aristotle, the +great master of reasoning, cautions us, and with great weight and propriety, +against this species of delusive geometrical accuracy in moral arguments as the +most fallacious of all sophistry. + +The Americans will have no interest contrary to the grandeur and glory of +England, when they are not oppressed by the weight of it; and they will rather +be inclined to respect the acts of a superintending 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 discontents 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. + +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 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. + +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 proposition of the +noble lord on the floor, which has been so lately received and stands on your +Journals. I must be deeply concerned whenever it is my misfortune to continue a +difference with the majority of this House; but as the reasons for that +difference are my apology for thus troubling you, suffer me to state them in a +very few words. I shall compress them into as small a body as I possibly can, +having already debated that matter at large when the question was before the +Committee. + +First, then, I cannot admit that proposition of a ransom [Footnote: 66] by +auction; because it is a mere project. It is a thing new, unheard of; supported +by no experience; justified by no analogy; without example of our ancestors, or +root in the Constitution. It is neither regular Parliamentary taxation, nor +Colony grant. Experimentum in corpore vili [Footnote: 67] is a 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. + +Secondly, it is an experiment which must be fatal in the end to our +Constitution. For what is it but a scheme for taxing the Colonies in the ante- +chamber of the noble lord and his successors? To settle the quotas and +proportions in this House is clearly impossible. You, Sir, may flatter yourself +you shall sit a state auctioneer, with your hammer 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 proposition? 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. + +Thirdly, it does not give satisfaction to the complaint of the Colonies. They +complain that they are taxed without their consent, you answer, that you will +fix the sum at which 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 pardon--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. + +Fourthly, this method of ransom by auction, unless it be universally accepted, +will plunge you into great and inextricable difficulties. In what year of our +Lord are the proportions of payments to be settled? To say nothing of the +impossibility that Colony agents should have general powers of taxing the +Colonies at their discretion, consider, I implore you, that the communication by +special messages and orders between these agents and their constituents, on each +variation of the case, when the parties come to contend together and to dispute +on their relative proportions, will be a matter of delay, perplexity, and +confusion that never can have an end. + +If all the Colonies do not appear at the outcry, what is the condition of those +assemblies who offer, by themselves or their agents, to tax themselves up to +your ideas of their proportion? The refractory Colonies who refuse all +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 unburdened. What will you +do? Will you lay new and heavier taxes by Parliament on the disobedient? Pray +consider in what way you can do it. You are perfectly convinced that, in the way +of taxing, you can do nothing but at the ports. Now suppose it is Virginia that +refuses to appear at your auction, while Maryland and North Carolina bid +handsomely for their ransom, and are 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? 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 of 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 Virginia and Maryland, +the central and most important of them all. + +Let it also be considered that, either in the present confusion you settle a +permanent contingent, which will and must be trifling, and then you have no +effectual revenue; or you change the quota at every exigency, and then on every +new repartition you will have a new quarrel. + +Reflect, besides, that when you have fixed a quota for every Colony, you have +not provided for prompt and punctual 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 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 seems +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 +disunion seems to be at the bottom of the project; for I will not suspect that +the noble lord meant nothing but merely to delude the nation by an airy phantom +which he never intended to realize. But whatever his views may be, as I propose +the peace and 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 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 a matter of bargain and sale. I have done my duty in proposing +it to you. I have indeed tired you by a long discourse; but this is the +misfortune of those to whose influence nothing will be conceded, and 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 stage of the American affairs I have steadily opposed the +measures that have produced the confusion, and may bring on the destruction, of +this Empire. I now go so far as to risk a proposal of my own. If I cannot give +peace to my country, I give it to my conscience. + +But what, says the financier, is peace to us without money? Your plan gives us +no revenue. No! But it does; for it secures to the subject the power or 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 the +fortune of man. It does not indeed vote you L152,750 11s. 23/4d, 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 arca. [Footnote: 68] 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 140,000,000 in this country? Is +this principle to be true in England, and false everywhere else? Is it not true +in Ireland? Has it not hitherto been true in the Colonies? Why should you +presume that, in any country, a body duly constituted for any function will +neglect to perform its duty and abdicate its trust? Such a presumption +[Footnote: 69] 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 honor of their own government, that sense of dignity and that +security to property which ever attends freedom has a tendency to increase the +stock of the free community. Most may be taken where most is accumulated. And +what is the soil or climate where experience has not uniformly proved that the +voluntary flow of heaped-up plenty, bursting from the weight of its own rich +luxuriance, has ever run with a more copious stream of revenue than could be +squeezed from the dry husks of oppressed indigence by the straining of all the +politic machinery in the world? [Footnote: 70] + +Next, we know that parties must ever exist in a free country. We know, too, that +the emulations of such parties--their contradictions, their reciprocal +necessities, their hopes, and their fears--must send them all in their turns to +him that holds the balance of the State. The parties are the gamesters; but +Government keeps the table, and is sure to be the winner in the end. When this +game is played, I really think it is more to be feared that the people will 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 Vows made in pain, as violent and void." + +I, for one, protest against compounding our demands. I declare against +compounding, for a poor limited sum, the immense, ever-growing, eternal debt +which is due to 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 Colonies +to a sum certain, either in the way of ransom or in the way of compulsory +compact. + +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 permitted to exhaust +herself. She ought to be reserved to a war, the weight of which, with the +enemies [Footnote: 71] that we are most likely to have, must be considerable in +her quarter of the globe. There she may serve you, and serve you essentially. + +For that service--for all service, whether of revenue, trade, or empire--my +trust is in her interest in the British 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, [Footnote: 72] are as strong as links of iron. Let the Colonists always +keep the idea of their civil rights associated with your government,--they will +cling and grapple to you, [Footnote: 73] 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 two +things may exist without any mutual relation, the cement is gone [Footnote: 74]- +-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 of liberty, the sacred temple consecrated to our common faith, +wherever the chosen race and sons of England worship freedom, they will turn +their faces towards you. The more they multiply, the more friends you will have; +the more ardently they love liberty, 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 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 affidavits 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 suspending 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 English Constitution which, infused through the mighty mass, +pervades, feeds, unites, invigorates, vivifies every part of the Empire, even +down to the minutest member. + +Is it not the same virtue which does everything for us here 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 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. + +All this, I know well enough, will sound wild and chimerical to the profane herd +[Footnote: 75] of those vulgar and mechanical politicians who have no place +among us; a sort of people who think that nothing exists but what is gross and +material, and who, therefore, far from being qualified to be directors 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 [Footnote: 76] in politics is +not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill +together. If we are conscious of our station, and glow with zeal to fill our +places as becomes our situation and ourselves, we ought to auspicate [Footnote: +77] all our public proceedings on America with the old warning of the church, +Sursum corda! [Footnote: 78] We ought to elevate our minds to the greatness of +that trust to which the order of providence has called us. By adverting to the +dignity of this high calling our ancestors have turned a savage wilderness into +a glorious empire, and have made the most extensive and the only honorable +conquests--not by destroying, but by promoting the wealth, the number, the +happiness, of the human race. 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. + +In full confidence of this unalterable truth, I now, quod felix faustumque sit, +[Footnote: 79] 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." + + + + +FOOTNOTES + +[Footnote: 1. grand penal bill. This bill originated with Lord North. It +restricted the trade of the New England colonies to England and her +dependencies. It also placed serious limitations upon the Newfoundland +fisheries. The House of Lords was dissatisfied with the measure because it did +not include all the colonies.] + +[Footnote: 2. When I first had the honor. Burke was first elected to Parliament +Dec. 26, 1765. He was at the time secretary to Lord Rockingham, Prime Minister. +Previous to this he had made himself thoroughly familiar with England's policy +in dealing with her dependencies--notably Ireland.] + +[Footnote: 3. my original sentiments. After many demonstrations both in America +and England the Stamp Act became a law in 1765. One of the first tasks the +Rockingham ministry set itself was to bring about a repeal of this act. Burke +made his first speech in support of his party. He argued that the abstract and +theoretical rights claimed by England in matters of government should be set +aside when they were unfavorable to the happiness and prosperity of her colonies +and herself. His speech was complimented by Pitt, and Dr. Johnson wrote that no +new member had ever before attracted such attention.] + +[Footnote: 4. America has been kept in agitation. For a period of nearly one +hundred years the affairs of the colonies had been intrusted to a standing +committee appointed by Parliament. This committee was called "The Lords of +Trade." From its members came many if not the majority of the propositions for +the regulation of the American trade. To them the colonial governors, who were +appointed by the king, gave full accounts of the proceedings of the colonial +legislatures. These reports, often colored by personal prejudice, did not always +represent the colonists in the best light. It was mainly through the influence +of one of the former Lords of Trade, Charles Townshend, who afterwards became +the leading voice in the Pitt ministry, that the Stamp Act was passed.] + +[Footnote: 5. a worthy member. Mr. Rose Fuller.] + +[Footnote: 6. former methods. Condense the thought in this paragraph. Are such +"methods" practised nowadays?] + +[Footnote: 7. paper government. Burke possibly had in mind the constitution +prepared for the Carolinas by John Locke and Earl of Shaftesbury. The scheme was +utterly impracticable and gave cause for endless dissatisfaction.] + +[Footnote: 8. Refined policy. After a careful reading of the paragraph determine +what Burke means by "refined policy."] + +[Footnote: 9. the project. The bill referred to had been passed by the House on +Feb. 27. It provided that those colonies which voluntarily voted contributions +for the common defence and support of the English government, and in addition +made provision for the administration of their own civil affairs, should be +exempt from taxation, except such as was necessary for the regulation of trade. +It has been declared by some that the measure was meant m good faith and that +its recognition and acceptance by the colonies would have brought good results. +Burke, along with others of the opposition, argued that the intention of the +bill was to cause dissension and division among the colonies. Compare 7, 11-12. +State your opinion and give reasons.] + +[Footnote: 10. the noble lord in the blue ribbon Lord North (1732-1792) He +entered Parliament at the age of twenty-two, served as Lord of the Treasury, +1759; was removed by Rockingham, 1765; was again appointed by Pitt to the office +of Joint Paymaster of the Forces, became Prime Minister, 1770, and resigned, +1781 Lord North is described both by his contemporaries and later histonaus as +an easy-going, indolent man, short-sighted and rather stupid, though obstinate +and courageous. He was the willing servant of George III, and believed in the +principle of authority as opposed to that of conciliation. The blue ribbon was +the badge of the Order of the Garter instituted by Edward III Lord North was +made a Knight of the Garter, 1772. Burke often mentions the "blue ribbon" in +speaking of the Prime Minister. Why?] + +[Footnote: 11. Colony agents. It was customary for colonies to select some one +to represent them in important matters of legislation. Burke himself served as +the agent of New York. Do you think this tact accounts in any way for his +attitude in this speech?] + +[Footnote: 12. our address Parliament had prepared an address to the king some +months previous, in which Massachusetts was declared to be in a state of +rebellion. The immediate cause of this address was the Boston Tea Party. The +lives and fortunes of his Majesty's subjects were represented as being in +danger, and he was asked to deal vigorously not only with Massachusetts but with +her sympathizers.] + +[Footnote: 13. those chances. Suggested perhaps by lines in Julius Caesar, IV., +iii., 216-219:-- + + "There is a tide in the affairs of men, + Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; + Omitted, all the voyage of their life + Is bound in shallows and in miseries."] + +[Footnote: 14. according to that nature and to those circumstances. Compare with +8. Point out the connection between the thought here expressed and Burke's idea +of "expediency."] + +[Footnote: 15. great consideration. This paragraph has been censured for its too +florid style. It may be rather gorgeous and rhetorical when considered as part +of an argument, yet it is very characteristic of Burke as a writer. In no other +passage of the speech is there such vivid clear-cut imagery. Note the +picturesque quality of the lines and detect if you can any confusion in +figures.] + +[Footnote: 16. It is good for us to be here. Burke's favorite books were +Shakespeare, Milton, and the Bible. Trace the above sentence to one of these.] + +[Footnote: 17. + "Facta parentun + Jam legere et quae sit poteris cognoscere virtus." + --VIRGIL'S Eclogues, IV., 26, 27] + +Notice the alteration. Already old enough to study the deeds of his father and +to know what virtue is. + +[Footnote: 18. before you taste of death. Compare 16.] + +[Footnote: 19. Roman charity. This suggests the more famous "Ancient Roman +honor" (Merchant of Venice, III., 11, 291). The incident referred to by Burke is +told by several writers. A father condemned to death by starvation is visited in +prison by his daughter, who secretly nourishes him with milk from her breasts.] + +[Footnote: 20. complexions. "Mislike me not for my COMPLEXION."--M. V. Is the +word used in the same sense by Burke?] + +[Footnote: 21. the thunder of the state. What is the classical allusion?] + +[Footnote: 22. a nation is not governed. + + "Who overcomes By force hath overcome but half his foe" + --Paradise Lost, 1, 648, 649.] + +[Footnote: 23. Our ancient indulgence. "The wise and salutary neglect," which +Burke has just mentioned, was the result of (a) the struggle of Charles I. with +Parliament, (b) the confusion and readjustment at the Restoration, (c) the +Revolution of 1688, (d) the attitude of France in favoring the cause of the +Stuarts, (e) the ascendency of the Whigs. England had her hands full in +attending to affairs at home. As a result of this the colonies were practically +their own masters in matters of government. Also the political party known as +the Whigs had its origin shortly before William and Mary ascended the throne. +This party favored the colonies and respected their ideas of liberty and +government.] + +[Footnote: 24. great contests. One instance of this is Magna Charta. Suggest +others.] + +[Footnote: 25. Freedom is to them Such keen analysis and subtle reasoning is +characteristic of Burke It is this tendency that justifies some of his admirers +in calling him "Philosopher Statesman". Consider his thought attentively and +determine whether or not his argument is entirely sound. Is he correct in +speaking of our Gothic ancestors?] + +[Footnote: 26. Abeunt studia in mores. Studies become a part of character.] + +[Footnote: 27. winged ministers of vengeance. A figure suggested perhaps by +Horace, Odes, Bk. IV., 4: "Ministrum fulmims alitem"--the thunder's winged +messenger.] + +[Footnote: 28. the circulation. The Conciliation, as all of Burke's writings, is +rich in such figurative expressions. In every instance the student should +discover the source of the figure and determine definitely whether or not his +author is accurate and suggestive.] + +[Footnote: 29. its imperfections. + + "But sent to my account + With all my imperfections upon my head." + --Hamlet, I, v, 78, 79.] + +[Footnote: 30. same plan. The act referred to, known as the Regulating Act, +became a law May 10, 1774. It provided (a) that the council, or the higher +branch of the legislature, should be appointed by the Crown (the popular +assemblies had previously selected the members of the council); (b) that +officers of the common courts should be chosen by the royal governors, and (c) +that public meetings (except for elections) should not be held without the +sanction of the king. These measures were practically ignored. By means of +circular letters the colonies were fully instructed through their +representatives. As a direct result of the Regulating Act, along with other +high-handed proceedings of the same sort, delegates were secretly appointed for +the Continental Congress on Sept. 1 at Philadelphia. The delegates from +Massachusetts were Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Paine, and Thomas Cushing.] + +[Footnote: 31. their liberties. Compare 24] + +[Footnote: 32. sudden or partial view. Goodrich, in his Select British +Eloquence, speaking of Burke's comprehensiveness in discussing his subject, +compares him to one standing upon an eminence, taking a large and rounded view +of it on every side. The justice of this observation is seen in such instances +as the above. It is this breadth and clearness of vision more than anything else +that distinguishes Burke so sharply from his contemporaries.] + +[Footnote: 33. three ways. How does the first differ from the third?] + +[Footnote: 34. Spoliatis arma supersunt. Though plundered their arms still +remain.] + +[Footnote: 35. your speech would betray you. "Thy speech bewrayeth thee"--Matt. +xxvi 73. There is much justice in the observation that Burke is often verbose, +yet such paragraphs as this prove how well he knew to condense and prune his +expression. It is an excellent plan to select from day to day passages of this +sort and commit them to memory for recitation when the speech has been +finished.] + +[Footnote: 36. to persuade slaves. Does this suggest one of Byron's poems?] + +[Footnote: 37. causes of quarrel. The Assembly of Virginia in 1770 attempted to +restrict the slave trade. Other colonies made the same effort, but Parliament +vetoed these measures, accompanying its action with the blunt statement that the +slave trade was profitable to England. Observe how effectively Burke uses his +wide knowledge of history.] + +[Footnote: 38. ex vi termini. From the force of the word.] + +[Footnote: 39. abstract right. Compare with 14; also 8. Point out connection in +thought.] + +[Footnote: 40. Act of Henry the Eighth. Burke alludes to this in his letter to +the sheriffs of Bristol in the following terms: "To try a man under this Act is +to condemn him unheard. A person is brought hither in the dungeon of a ship +hold; thence he is vomited into a dungeon on land, loaded with irons, +unfurnished with money, unsupported by friends, three thousand miles from all +means of calling upon or confronting evidence, where no one local circumstance +that tends to detect perjury can possibly be judged of;--such a person may be +executed according to form, but he can never be tried according to justice."] + +[Footnote: 41. correctly right. Explain.] + +[Footnote: 42. Paradise Lost, II., 392-394.] + +[Footnote: 43. This passage should be carefully studied. Burke's theory of +government is given in the Conciliation by just such lines as these. Refer to +other instances of principles which he considers fundamental in matters of +government.] + +[Footnote: 44. exquisite. Exact meaning?] + +[Footnote: 45. trade laws. What would have been the nature of a change +beneficial to the colonies?] + +[Footnote: 46. English conquest. At Henry II.'s accession, 1154, Ireland had +fallen from the civilization which had once flourished upon her soil and which +had been introduced by her missionaries into England during the seventh century. +Henry II. obtained the sanction of the Pope, invaded the island, and partially +subdued the inhabitants. For an interesting account of England's relations to +Ireland the student should consult Green's Short History of the English People.] + +[Footnote: 47. You deposed kings. What English kings have been deposed?] + +[Footnote: 48. Lords Marchers. March, boundary. These lords were given +permission by the English kings to take from the Welsh as much land as they +could. They built their castles on the boundary line between the two countries, +and when they were not quarrelling among themselves waged a guerilla warfare +against the Welsh. The Lords Marchers, because of special privileges and the +peculiar circumstances of their life, were virtually kings--petty kings, of +course.] + +[Footnote: 49. "When the clear star has shone upon the sailors, the troubled +water flows down from the rocks, the winds fall, the clouds fade away, and, +since they (Castor and Pollux) have so willed it, the threatening waves settle +on the deep."--HORACE, Odes, I., 12, 27-32.] + +[Footnote: 50. Opposuit natura. Nature opposed.] + +[Footnote: 51. no theory. Select other instances of Burke's impatience with +fine-spun theories in statescraft] + +[Footnote: 52. Republic of Plato Utopia of More Ideal states + Consult the Century Dictionary] + +[Footnote: 53. + "And the DULL swain + Treads daily on it with his clouted shoon" + --MILTON'S Comus, 6, 34, 35.] + +[Footnote: 54. the year 1763 The date marks the beginning of the active struggle +between England and the American colonies. The Stamp Act was the first definite +step taken by the English Parliament in the attempt to tax the colonies without +their consent.] + +[Footnote: 55. legal competency. This had been practically recognized by +Parliament prior to the passage of the Stamp Act. In Massachusetts the Colonial +Assembly had made grants from year to year to the governor, both for his salary +and the incidental expenses of his office. Notwithstanding the fact that he was +appointed (in most cases) by the Crown, and invariably had the ear of the Lords +of Trade, the colonies generally had things their own way and enjoyed a +political freedom greater, perhaps, than did the people of England.] + +[Footnote: 56. This is not my doctrine, but that of Ofellus; a rustic, yet +unusually wise] + +[Footnote: 57. Compare in point of style with 43, 22-25; 44, 1-6 In what way do +such passages differ from Burke's prevailng style? What is the central thought +in each paragraph?] + +[Footnote: 58. misguided people. There is little doubt that the colonists m many +instances were misrepresented by the Lords of Trade and by the royal governors. +See an interesting account of this in Fiske's American Revolution.] + +[Footnote: 59. an Act. Passed in 1767. It provided for a duty on imports, +including tea, glass, and paper.] + +[Footnote: 60 An Act. Boston Post Bill.] + +[Footnote: 61. impartial administration of justice. This provided that if any +person in Massachusetts were charged with murder, or any other capital offence, +he should be tried either in some other colony or in Great Britain] + +[Footnote: 62. An Act for the better regulating See 87, 23. ] + +[Footnote: 63. Trial of Treasons See 50, 20.] + +[Footnote: 64. de jure. According to law. de facto. According to fact.] + +[Footnote: 65. jewel of his soul. + + "Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, + Is the immediate jewel of their souls" + --Othello, III, iii, 155,156.] + +[Footnote: 66. proposition of a ransom. See 8, 13.] + +[Footnote: 67. An experiment upon something of no value.] + +[Footnote: 68. They stake their fortune and play.] + +[Footnote: 69. Such a presumption Is Burke right in this? Select instances which +seem to warrant rest such a presumption. Discuss the political parties of +Burke's own day from this point of view.] + +[Footnote: 70. What can you say about the style of this passage? Note the +figure, sentence structure, and diction. Does it seem artificial and +overwrought? Compare it with 43, 22-25; 44. 1-6; also with 90, 23-25, 91, 1-25, +92, 1-23.] + +[Footnote: 71. enemies. France and Spain.] + +[Footnote: 72. light as air. + + "Trifles light as air + Are to the jealous confirmations strong + As proofs of holy writ" + --Othello, III, iii, 322-324] + +[Footnote: 73. grapple to you. + "The friends thou hast and their adoption tried + Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel" + --Hamlet, I., iii, 62,63.] + +[Footnote: 74. the cement is gone. Figure?] + +[Footnote: 75. profane herd. + + "Odi profanum volgus et arceo" + I hate the vulgar herd and keep it from me + --Horace, Odes, III, 1, 1] + +[Footnote: 76. Magnanimity. Etymology?] + +[Footnote: 77. auspicate Etymology and derivation?] + +[Footnote: 78. Sursum corda. Lift up your hearts.] + +[Footnote: 79. quod felix faustumque sit. May it be happy and fortunate.] + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, BURKE'S SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA *** + +This file should be named burke10.txt or burke10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, burke11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, burke10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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