came the Rockingham ministry, with Burke as its secret but powerful guiding spirit, which was dissolved as soon as it had shown a disposition systematically to undo the evil previously done, but not before the Stamp Tax had been removed in 1766, and Burke had made a deep impression as orator and publicist.

Chatham followed, with a cabinet which Burke described as a tesselated pavement without cement. Burke was offered a place in this cabinet, and was urged even by Lord Rockingham to accept it, but he preferred to stand by his party, and till the death of its leader in 1782, he never wavered in party or personal allegiance to the Rockingham Whigs. His first public service after his friends were out of office was the publication of Observations on the Present State of the Nation. His rôle was to bolster up the interest, the information, the oratory of his party leaders, and at every opportunity to speak or write so as to impress their principles upon the public.

Chatham failed to unite the Whigs, was taken ill, and resigned the government to the Duke of Grafton. In the three years of Grafton's administration, the king's obstinate desire to rule America with an arbitrary hand brought about the most unjust and oppressive legislation. But the timidity which accompanies the bullying temper, stirred by the threatening aspect of colonial commerce, repealed most of the obnoxious measures, leaving in 1769, as a monument of the supremacy which dared not be quite supreme, the Tax on Tea.

To Lord North, who was prime minister from 1770 to 1782, was left the legacy of discontent in the colonies, fixed tyranny in the spirit of the king, and as an instrument of legislation, the Tories coupled with a body of

corrupt and menial Whigs. The first five years of North's administration completed preparations for the American Revolution by a series of irritating penal laws. The good-natured minister, easily tuning his voice to the royal ear, demanded the recognition of the supremacy of Parliament and the consequent subservience of America. The whole object was to teach America a lesson, and as parts of that bitter instruction the provinces of Massachusetts and New York were especially subjected to discipline.

The opposition fought in vain. Neither Chatham in the House of Lords nor Burke in the House of Commons could persuade a venal and benumbed political conscience to conciliate America. After three years of fighting, when France and Spain had joined the colonies, and when the popular reaction in England revolted against further bloodshed amongst their American kinsmen, Lord North himself yielded every point in the contest and even the king was silenced. But it was too late; the counsels of generosity and justice could avail nothing at such a day, and the colonies were alienated forever.

America was not the only object of legislative concern during these troubled years, but it may fairly be said to have been the most pressing, and the most full of consequence to the future of England. For it must be remembered that statesmen like Chatham and Burke were not alone in seeing that the subversion of English liberties in America meant the subversion of English liberties at home. On all accounts, therefore, it is natural that we should pass lightly over the activities of Burke in other directions, while especially emphasizing his work in behalf of constitutional freedom.

PREFACE.

It is a difficult task for a young student to master the Speech on Conciliation as a body of political thought. Yet this must be done to a degree, that he may appreciate the speech as a work of literary art. I have, like the master's assistant in the old-time painting class, de-. voted myself to grinding the colors. In the place of fascinating passages quoted or cited from Burke's contemporaries, the substance of these originals has been introduced, in a brief and pointed form. Incorporated in the notes are sentences giving the gist of the successive paragraphs of the speech, so framed as to form an intelligible brief when read consecutively. In the notes also, remembering how great matter a little question kindleth, I have pronounced decisively upon many debatable but immaterial points.

If one were to treat the speech purely as a political document, such guide-posts would justly be thought impertinent. But if it is to be studied as a masterpiece of oratory, its power and beauty ought to be refracted as little as possible by other considerations.

For aid in the reduction of references I am indebted to

Throughout the struggle of John Wilkes for his justly won seat in the House of Commons, Burke fought strongly on the side of liberty of election. In 1770, in the midst of threatening anarchy, was published his Thoughts on the Present Discontents, a calm and powerful exposition of the nature of true government, and a conservative proposition for rendering Parliament more truly representative of the national will. In November, 1774, six months after his speech on American Taxation, Burke was honored with an unsought election to Parliament from Bristol, commercially the second city in the realm. His speeches at Bristol are of interest from the light they throw upon his theory of the duties of a popular representative-a trustee of his constituency.

The March of the following year saw Burke delivering his speech on Conciliation to a parliament of ears that heard not. Seventy members of that house sat for rotten boroughs which were the property of the king; about a hundred and fifty more were controlled by boroughjobbing nobles like the Duke of Newcastle, and were at the disposal of the king; a great number more were owners of estates whose highest political ambition was to lighten their burden of taxes by exacting a war-revenue from America. Several seats, at a time when it cost a decent man thousands of pounds to secure a seat for honorable service were occupied by the puppet-officers of the royal household. There was no doubt how the turnspit of the king's kitchen would stand on questions of sacrifice of personal advantage for the public good, none about the position of the groom of the stole or his treasurer, the steward of the household or his retinue, the board of green cloth, or the board of works. It is easy