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NOTES.

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

31. Sir, that notwithstanding the austerity of the Chair. In the House of Commons and similar bodies speeches are nominally addressed, not to the members, but to the presiding officer, called the Speaker, the Chairman, or often the Chair. Instances of this form of address are found in the following passages: 10 27-29 and 28 17. The Speaker at this time was Sir Fletcher Norton, who held the office from 1770 to 1780. Any one interested in his career may study it in the Dictionary of National Biography. He is bitterly attacked in letter xxxix of Junius. The phrase austerity of the Chair refers to the fact that in impartially preserving order the Speaker is necessarily austere and sometimes even severe. 37. event. Result. my motion.

the speech.

The motion made at the end of

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

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

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

3 13.

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

3 18. first day. November 29, 1774. P. H., I.

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

4 2. first. In 1765 Burke was elected to Parliament as member for the borough of Wendover, but he did not take his seat till early in 1766. 4 4. delicate. Requiring careful treatment. Compare, "These delicate points ought to be wholly left to the crown." Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol, W., II, 222.

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

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

As a result, he probably knew

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

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

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

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

4 29.

more frequent changes. See Introduction, xv-xviii.

5 3. complaint. Disease.

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

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

Presided when the

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

5 26. produce our hand. Show the cards in our hand; that is, set forth our own policy. The prevalence of gambling in Burke's day made allusions to it more natural than they would be now. See 69 27, 70 22, 23; also George Selwyn and His Contemporaries, London, 1843, I, 18, 27, 28. 5 30. platform. Outline, ground plan.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

17-21.

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

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

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

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