This fragment was perused in
manuscript
by a
learned and judicious critic, our late lamented friend,
Mr.
learned and judicious critic, our late lamented friend,
Mr.
Edmund Burke
?
?
PREFACE
TO THE SECOND POSTHUMOUS VOLUME,*
IN A LETTER TO
THE RIGHT HON. WILLIAM ELLIOT
M Y DEAR SIR, -As some prefatory account of
the materials which compose this second posthumous volume of the Works of Mr. Burke, and of
the causes which have prevented its earlier appearance, will be expected from me, I hope I may be indulged in the inclination I feel to run over these
matters in a letter to you, rather than, in a formal
address to the public.
Of the delay that has intervened since the publication of the former volume I shall first say a few
words. Having undertaken, in conjunction with the
late Dr. Laurence, to examine the manuscript papers of Mr. Burke, and to select and prepare for
the press such of them as should be thought proper
for publication, the difficulties attending our cobpera* Works, Vol. V. , quarto edition, (London, F. , C. , & J. Rivington, 1812,) - Vol. IV. of that edition (London, F. & C. Rivington, 1802) being the first posthumous volume, --and Vols. I. , II. , and
III. (London, J. Dodsley, 1792) comprising the collection published
during the lifetime of Mr. Burke.
? ? ? ? Vi PREFACE.
tion were soon experienced by us. The remoteness
of our places of residence in summer, and our professional and other avocations in winter, opposed perpetual obstacles to the progress of our undertaking.
Soon after the publication of the fourth volume,
I was rendered incapable of attending to any business
by a severe and tedious illness. And it was not long
after my recovery before the health of our invaluable
friend began gradually to decline, and soon became
unequal to the increasing labors of his profession and
the discharge of his Parliamentary duties. At length
we lost a man, of whom, as I shall have occasion to
speak more particularly in another part of this undertaking, I will now content myself with saying, that
in my humble opinion he merited, and certainly obtained with those best acquainted with his extensive
learning and information, a considerable rank amongst
the eminent persons who have adorned the age in
which we have lived, and of whose services the public have been deprived by a premature death.
From these causes little progress had been made
in our work when I was deprived of my coadjutor.
But from that time you can testify of me that I have
not been idle. You can bear witness to the confused
state in which the materials that compose the present
volume came into my hands. The difficulty of reading many of the manuscripts, obscured by innumerable erasures, corrections, interlineations, and marginal insertions, would perhaps have been insuperable
? ? ? ? PREFACE. Vii
to any person less conversant in the manuscripts of
Mr. Burke than myself. To this difficulty succeeded
that of selecting from several detached papers, written upon the same subject and the same topics, such
as appeared to contain the author's last thoughts and
emendations. WVhen these difficulties were overcome,
there still remained, in many instances, that of assigning its proper place to many detached members
of the same piece, where no direct note of connection
had been made. These circumstances, whilst they
will lead the reader not to expect, in the cases to
which they apply, the finished productions of Mr.
Burke, imposed upon me a task of great delicacy
and difficulty, - namely, that of deciding upon the
publication of any, and which, of these unfinished
pieces. I must here beg permission of you, and
Lord Fitzwilliam, to inform the public, that in the
execution of this part of my duty I requested and
obtained your assistance.
Our first care was to ascertain, from such evidence,
internal and external, as the manuscripts themselves
afforded, what pieces appeared to have been at any
time intended by the author for publication. Our
next was to select such as, though not originally intended for publication, yet appeared to contain matter that might contribute to the gratification and instruction of the public. Our last object was to determine what degree of imperfection and incorrectness in papers of either of these classes ought o
? ? ? ? V111 PREFACE.
ought not to exclude them from a place in the present volume. This was, doubtless, the most nice and
arduous part of our undertaking. The difficulty,
however, was, in our minds, greatly diminished by
our conviction that the reputation of our author stood
far beyond the reach of injury from any injudicious
conduct of ours in making this selection. On the
other hand, we were desirous that nothing should be
withheld, from which the public might derive ally
possible benefit.
Nothing more is now necessary than that I should
give a short account of the writings which compose
the present volume.
I. Fourth Letter on a Regicide Peace.
Some account has already been given of this Letter
in the Advertisement to the fourth quarto volume. *
That part of it which is contained between the first
and the middle of the page 67 t is taken from a manuscript which, nearly to the conclusion, had received
the author's last corrections: the subsequent part, to
the middle of the page 71,$ is taken from some loose
manuscripts, that were dictated by the author, but do
not appear to have been revised by him; and though
they, as well as what follows to the conclusion, were
evidently designed to make a part of this Letter, the
~ Prefixed to the first volume, in the other editions. For the account referred to, see, in the present edition, Vol. I. , pp. xiii. , xiv. T Page 86 of the present edition.
I In this edition, p. 91, near the top.
? ? ? ? PREFACE. iX
editor alone is responsible for the order in which they
are here placed. The last part, from the middle of
the page 71, had been printed as a part of the Letter
which was originally intended to be the third on Regicide Peace, as in the preface to the fourth volume has already been noticed.
It was thought proper to communicate this Letter
before its publication to Lord Auckland, the author
of the pamphlet so frequently alluded to in it. His
Lordship, in consequence of this communication, was
pleased to put into my hands a letter with which he
had sent his pamphlet to Mr. Burke at the time of its
publication, and MIr. Burke's answer to that letter.
These pieces, together with the note with which his
Lordship transmitted them to me, are prefixed to the
Letter on Regicide Peace.
II. Letter to the Empress of Russia.
III. Letter to Sir Charles Bingham.
IV. Letter to the Honorable Charles James Fox.
Of these Letters it will be sufficient to remark, that
they come under the second of those classes into
which, as I before observed, we divided the papers
that presented themselves to our consideration.
V. Letter to the Marquis of Rockingham.
VI. An Address to the King.
VII. An Address to the British Colonists in North
America.
These pieces relate to a most important period in
? ? ? ? X PREFACE.
the present reign; and I hope no apology will be
necessary for giving them to the public.
VIII. Letter to the Right Honorable Edmund
[Sexton] Pery.
IX. Letter to Thomas Burgh, Esq.
X. Letter to John MIerlott, Esq.
The reader will find, in a note annexed to each of
these Letters, an account of the occasions on which
they were written. The Letter to T. Burgh, Esq. ,
had found its way into some of the periodical prints
of the time in Dublin.
XI. Reflections on the Approaching E*ecutions.
It may not, perhaps, now be generally known that
Mr. Burke was a marked object of the rioters in this
disgraceful commotion, from whose fury he narrowly
escaped. The Reflections will be found to contain
maxims of the soundest judicial policy, and do equal
honor to the head and heart of their illustrious
writer.
XII. Letter to the Right Honorable Henry Dundas; with the Sketch of a Negro Code.
Mr. Burke, in the Letter to Mr. Dundas, has entered fully into his own views of the Slave Trade, and has thereby rendered any further explanation on that
subject at present unnecessary. With respect to the
Code itself, an unsuccessful attempt was made to procure the copy of it transmitted to Mr. Dundas. It was not to be found amongst his papers. The Editor
? ? ? ? PREFACE. Xi
has therefore been obliged to have recourse to a
rough draft of it in Mr. Burke's own handwriting;
from which he hopes he has succeeded in making a
pretty correct transcript of it, as well as in the attempt
lie has made to supply the marginal references alluded to in Mr. Burke's Letter to Mr. Dundas. XIII. Letter to the Chairman of the Bucking.
hamshire Meeting.
Of the occasion of this Letter an account is given
in the note subjoined [prefixed] to it.
XIV. Tracts and Letters relative to the Laws
against Popery in Ireland.
These pieces consist of,1. An unfinished Tract on the Popery Laws. Of
this Tract the reader will find an account in
the note prefixed to it.
2. A Letter to William Smith, Esq. Several copies of this letter having got abroad, it was printed and published in Dublin without the
permission of Mr. Burke, or of the gentleman
to whom it was addressed.
3. Second Letter to Sir Hercules Langrishe. This
may be considered as supplementary to the
first letter, addressed to the same person ill
January, 1792, which was published in the
third volume. *
4. Letter to Richard Burke, Esq. Of this letter
* In the fourth volume of the present edition.
? ? ? ? Xii PREFACE.
it will be necessary to observe, that the first
part of it appears to have been originally addressed by Mr. Burke to his son in the manner
in which it is now printed, but to have been
left unfinished; after whose death he probably
designed to have given the substance of it,
with additional observations, to the public in
some other form, but never found leisure or
inclination to finish it.
5. A Letter on the Affairs of Ireland, written in
the year 1797. The name of the person to
whom this letter was addressed does not appear on the manuscript; nor has the letter
been found to which it was written as an answer. And as the gentleman whom he employed as an amanuensis is not now living, no discovery of it can be made, unless this
publication of the letter should produce some
information respecting it, that may enable us
in a future volume to gratify, on this point,
the curiosity of the reader. The letter was
dictated, as he himself tells us, from his couch
at Bath; to which place he had gone, by the
advice of his physicians, in March, 1797. His
health was now rapidly declining; the vigor
of his mind remained unimpaired. This, my
dear friend, was, I believe, the last letter dictated by him on public affairs: - here ended
his political labors.
? ? ? ? PREFACE. xiii
XV. Fragments and Notes of Speeches in Parliament.
1. Speech on the Acts of Uniformity.
2. Speech on a Bill for the Relief of Protestant Dissenters.
8. Speech on the Petition of the Unitarians.
4. Speech on the Middlesex Election.
5. Speech on a Bill for shortening the Diuration of Parliaments. 6. Speech on the Reform of the Representation in Parliament. 7. Speech on a Bill for explaining the Powers
of Juries in Prosecutions for Libels.
*7. Letter relative to the same subject.
8. Speech on a Bill for repealing the Marriage
Act.
9. Speech on a Bill to quiet the Possessions of
the Subject against Dormant Claims of
the Church.
With respect to these fragments, I have already
stated the reasons by which we were influenced in
our determination to publish them. An account of
the state in which these manuscripts were found is
given in the note prefixed to this article.
XVI. Hints for an Essay on the Drama.
This fragment was perused in manuscript by a
learned and judicious critic, our late lamented friend,
Mr. Malone; and under the protection of his opinion
? ? ? ? xiv PREFACE.
we can feel no hesitation in submitting it to the judg.
ment of the public.
XVII. We are now come to the concluding article of this volume, -the Essay on the
History of England.
At what time of the author's life it was written
cannot now be exactly ascertained; but it was certainly begun before he had attained the age of twenty-seven years, as it appears from an entry in the books of the late Mr. Dodsley, that eight sheets of
it, which contain the first seventy-four pages. of the
present edition, * were printed in the year 1757. This
is the only part that has received the finishing
stroke of the author. In those who are acquainted
with the manner in which Mr. Burke usually composed his graver literary works, and of which some
account is given in the Advertisement prefixed to the'fourth volume, this circumstance will excite a deep
regret; and whilst the public partakes with us in
this feeling, it will doubtless be led to judge with. candor and indulgence of a work left in this imper-;fect and unfinished state by its author.
Before I conclude, it may not be improper to take,this opportunity of acquainting the public with the
progress that has been made towards the completion
of this undertaking. The sixth and seventh vol* The quarto edition, -extending as far as Book II. ch. 2, near
the middle of the paragraph commencing, t The same regard to the'welfare of the people," &c.
? ? ? ? PREFACE. XV
umes, which will consist entirely of papers that
have a relation to the affairs of the East India
Company, and to the impeachment of Mr. Hastings, are now in the press. The suspension of the
consideration of the affairs of the East India Company in Parliament till its next session has made me
very desirous to get the sixth volume out as early as
possible in the next winter. The Ninth and Eleventh
Reports of the Select Committee, appointed to take
into consideration certain affairs of the East India
Company in the year 1783, were written by Mr.
Burke, and will be given in that volume. They
contain a full and comprehensive view of the commerce, revenues, civil establishment, and general
policy of the Company, and will therefore be peculiarly interesting at this time to the public.
The eighth and last volume will contain a narrative of the life of Mr. Burke, which will be accompanied with such parts of his familiar correspondence, and other occasional productions, as shall be thought
fit for publication. * The materials relating to the
early years of his life, alluded to in the Advertisement to the fourth volume, have been lately recovered; and the communication of such as may
still remain in the possession of any private individuals is again most earnestly requested.
Unequal as I feel myself to the task, I shall, my
dear friend, lose no time, nor spare any pains, in
* This design the editor did not live to execute.
? ? ? ? xvi PREFACE.
discharging the arduous duty that has devolved upon
me. You know the peculiar difficulties I labor under
from the failure of my eyesight; and you may congratulate me upon the assistance which I have now procured from my neighbor, the worthy chaplain* of
Bromley College, who to the useful qualification of a
most patient amanuensis adds that of a good scholar
and intelligent critic.
And now, adieu, my dear friend,
And believe me ever affectionately yours,
WR. ROFFEN.
BROMLEY HousE, August 1, 1812.
* The Rev. J. J. Talman.
? ? ? ? FOURTH LETTER
ON THE
PROPOSALS FOR PEACE WITH THE REGICIDE DIRECTORY OF FRANCE.
ADDRESSED TO
THE EARL FITZWILLIAM.
I 795-7.
? ? ? ? PRELIMINARY CORRESPONDENCE.
Letter from the Right Honorable the Lord Auckland to the
Lord Bishop of Rochester.
EDEN FARM, KENT, July 18th, 1812.
M Y DEAR LORD, --MMr. Burke's fourth letter
to Lord Fitzwilliam is personally interesting to
me: I have perused it with a respectful attention.
When I communicated to Mr. Burke, in 1795, the
printed work which he arraigns and discusses, I was
aware that he would differ from me.
Some light is thrown on the transaction by my
note which gave rise to it, and by his answer, which
exhibits the admirable powers of his great and good
mind, deeply suffering at the time under a domestic
calamity.
I have selected these two papers from my manuscript collection, and now transmit them to your Lordship with a wish that they may be annexed to the publication in question.
I have the honor to be, my dear Lord,
Yours most sincerely,
AUCKLAND.
To THE RIGHT REV. THE LORD BISHOP OF ROCHESTER.
? ? ? ? 4 LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE,
Letter from Lord Auckland to the Righit Honorable
Edmund Burke.
EDEN FARM, KENT, October 28th, 1795.
MY DEAR SIR,Though in the stormy ocean of the last twentythree years we have seldom sailed on the same tack, there has been nothing hostile in our signals or manceuvres, and, on my part at least, there has been
a cordial disposition towards friendly and respectful
sentiments. Under that influence, I now send to you
a small work which exhibits my fair and full opinions
on the arduous circumstances of the moment, "as
far as the cautions necessary to be observed will
permit me to go beyond general ideas. "
Three or four of those friends with whom I am
most connected in public and private life are pleased
to think that the statement in question (which at
first made part of a confidential paper) may do good,
and accordingly a very large impression will be published to-day. I neither seek to avow the publication
nor do I wish to disavow it. I have no anxiety inll
that respect, but to contribute my mite to do service,
at a moment when service is much wanted.
I am, my dear Sir,
Most sincerely yours,
AUCKLAND.
RIGHT HON. EDMUND BURKE.
Letter from the Right Honorable Edmund Burke to Lord
Auckland.
MY DEAR LORD,I am perfectly sensible of the very flattering honor
you have done me in turning any part of your at
? ? ? ? CORRESPONDENCE INTRODUCTORY TO LETTER IV. 5 tention towards a dejected old man, buried in the anticipated grave of a feeble old age, forgetting and forgotten in an obscure and melancholy retreat.
In this retreat I have nothing relative to this world
to do, but to study all the tranquillity that in the
state of my mind I am capable of. To that end I
find it but too necessary to call to my aid an oblivion
of most of the circumstances, pleasant and unpleasant, of my life, -- to think as little and indeed to know as little as I can of everything that is doing
about me, - and, above all, to divert my mind from
all presagings and prognostications of what I must (if
I let my speculations loose) consider as of absolute necessity to happen after my death, and possibly even before it. Your address to the public, which you
have been so good as to send to me, obliges me to break in upon that plan, and to look a little on what
is behind, and very much on what is before me. It creates in my mind a variety of thoughts, and all of them unpleasant.
It is true, my Lord, what you say, that, through
our public life, we have generally sailed on somewhat different tacks. We have so, undoubtedly; and we should do so still, if I had continued longer to keep
the sea. In that difference, you rightly observe that
I have always done justice to your skill and ability as
a navigator, and to your good' intentions towards the safety of the cargo and of the ship's company. I connot say now that we are on different tacks. There would be no propriety in the metaphor. I can sail
no longer. My vessel cannot be said to be even in
port. She is wholly condemned and broken up. To have an idea of that vessel, you must call to mind what you have often seen on the Kentish road. Those
? ? ? ? 6 LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE.
planks of tough and hardy oak, that used for years
to brave the buffets of the Bay of Biscay, are now
turned, with their warped grain and empty trunnionholes, into very wretched pales for the inclosure of a
wretched farm-yard.
The style of your pamphlet, and the eloquence and
power of composition you display in it, are such as
do great honor to your talents, and in conveying any
other sentiments would give me very great pleasure.
Perhaps I do not very perfectly comprehend your
purpose, and the drift of your arguments. If I do
not, pray do not attribute my mistake to want of
candor, but to want of sagacity. I confess, your address to the public, together with other accompanying circumstances, has filled me with a degree of
grief and dismay which I cannot find words to express. If the plan of politics there recommended --
pray excuse my freedom - should be adopted by the
king's councils, and by the good people of this kingdom, (as, so recommended, undoubtedly it will,) nothing can be the consequence but utter and irretrievable ruin to the ministry, to the crown, to the succession,
- to the importance, to the independence, to the very
existence, of this country. This is my feeble, perhaps, but clear, positive, decided, long and maturely
reflected and frequently declared opinion, from which
all the events which have lately come to pass, so far
from turning me, have tended to confirm beyond the
power of alteration, even by your eloquence and authority. I find, my dear Lord, that you think some
persons, who are not satisfied with the securities of a
Jacobin peace, to be persons of intemperate minds.
I may be, and I fear I am, with you in that description; but pray, my Lord, recollect that very few of
? ? ? ? CORRESPONDENCE INTRODUCTORY TO LETTER IV. 7
the causes which make men intemperate can operate
upon me. Sanguine hopes, vehement desires, inordinate ambition, implacable animosity, party. attachments, or party interests, - all these with me have no existence. For myself, or for a family, (alas! I
have none,) I have nothing to hope or to fear in this
world. I am attached, by principle, inclination, and
gratitude, to the king, and to the present ministry.
Perhaps you may think that my animosity to opposition is the cause of my dissent, on seeing the politics
of Mr. Fox (which, while I was in the world, I combated by every instrument which God had put into
my hands, and in every situation in which I had
taken part) so completely, if I at all understand you,
adopted in your Lordship's book: but it was with
pain I broke with that great man forever in that
cause; and I assure you, it is not without pain that
I differ with your Lordship on the same principles.
But it is of no concern. I am far below the region of
those great and tempestuous passions. I feel nothing
of the intemperance of mind. It is rather sorrow and
dejection than anger.
Once more my best thanks' for your very polite attention; and do me the favor to believe me, with the
most perfect sentiments of respect and regard,
My dear Lord,
Your Lordship's most obedient and humble servant,
EDMUND BURE.
BEACONSFIELD, Oct. 30th, 1795.
Friday Evening.
? ? ? ? LETTER IV.
TO THE EARL FITZWILLIAM.
M Y DEAR LORD, --I am not sure that the best
way of discussing any subject, except those that
concern the abstracted sciences, is not somewhat in
the way of dialogue. To this mode, however, there
are two objections: the first, that it happens, as in
the puppet-show, one man speaks for all the personages. An unnatural uniformity of tone is in a manner unavoidable. The other and more serious objection is, that, as the author (if not an absolute skeptic) must have some opinion of his own to enforce, he will be continually tempted to enervate the
arguments he puts into the mouth of his adversary,
or to place them in a point of view most commodious
for their refutation. There is, however, a sort of dialogue not quite so liable to these objections, because
it approaches more nearly to truth and Nature: it
is called CONTROVERSY. Here the parties speak for
themselves. If the writer who attacks another's notions does not deal fairly with his adversary, the
diligent reader has it always in his power, by resorting to the work examined, to do justice to the
original author and to himself. For this reason you
will not blame me, if, in my discussion of the merits
of a Regicide Peace, I do not choose to trust to my
own statements, but to bring forward along with!
? ? ? ? 10 LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE.
them the arguments of the advocates for that measure. If I choose puny adversaries, writers of no estimation or authority, then you will justly blame me. I might as well bring ill at once a fictitious speaker,
and thus fall into all the inconveniences of all imaginary dialogue. This I shall avoid; and I shall take
no notice of any author who my friends in town do
not tell me is in estimation with those whose opinions he supports.
A piece has been sent to me, called " Some Remarks on the Apparent Circumstances of the War in
the Fourth Week of October, 1795," with a French
motto: "Que faire encore une fois dans une telle nuit? .
Attendre le jour. " The very title seemed to me striking and peculiar, and to announce something uncommon. In the time I have lived to, I always seem to walk on enchanted ground. Everything is new. and,
according to the fashionable phrase, revolutionary.
In former days authors valued themselves upon the
maturity and fulness of their deliberations. Accordingly, they predicted (perhaps with more arrogance
than reason) an eternal duration to their works.
The quite contrary is our present fashion. Writers
value themselves now on the instability of their opinions and the transitory life of their productions. On
this kind of credit the modern institutors open their
schools. They write for youth, and it is sufficient,
if the instruction "lasts as long as a present love, or
as the painted silks and cottons of the season. "
The doctrines in this work are applied, for their
standard, with great exactness, to the shortest possible periods both of conception and duration. The
title is " Some Remarks on the Apparent Circum-:stances of the War in the Fozurth Week of October,
? ? ? ? LETTER IV. 11
1795. " The time is critically chosen. A month or
so earlier would have made it the anniversary of a
bloody Parisian September, when the French massacre one another. A day or two later would have carried it into a London November, the gloomy month in which it is said by a pleasant author that Englishmen hang and drown themselves. In truth, this
work has a tendency to alarm us with symptoms
of public suicide. However, there is one comfort
to be taken even from the gloomy time of year. It
is a rotting season. If what is brought to market is
not good, it is not likely to keep long. Even buildings run up in haste with untempered mortar in that
humid weather, if they are ill-contrived tenements,
do not threaten long to incumber the earth. The
author tells us (and I believe he is the very first
author that ever told such a thing to his readers)
"that the entire fabric of his speculations might be
overset by unforeseen vicissitudes," and what is far
more extraordinary, " that even the whole consideration might be varied whilst he was writing those
pages. " Truly, in my poor judgment, this circumstance formed a very substantial motive for his not
publishing those ill-considered considerations at all.
He ought to have followed the good advice of his
motto: " Quefaire encore dans une telle nuit? Attendre le jour. " He ought to have waited till he had
got a little more daylight on this subject. Night itself is hardly darker than the fogs of that time.
Finding the last week in October so particularly referred to, and not perceiving any particular event,
relative to the war, which happened on any of the
days in that week, I thought it possible that they
were marked by some astrological superstition, to
? ? ?
TO THE SECOND POSTHUMOUS VOLUME,*
IN A LETTER TO
THE RIGHT HON. WILLIAM ELLIOT
M Y DEAR SIR, -As some prefatory account of
the materials which compose this second posthumous volume of the Works of Mr. Burke, and of
the causes which have prevented its earlier appearance, will be expected from me, I hope I may be indulged in the inclination I feel to run over these
matters in a letter to you, rather than, in a formal
address to the public.
Of the delay that has intervened since the publication of the former volume I shall first say a few
words. Having undertaken, in conjunction with the
late Dr. Laurence, to examine the manuscript papers of Mr. Burke, and to select and prepare for
the press such of them as should be thought proper
for publication, the difficulties attending our cobpera* Works, Vol. V. , quarto edition, (London, F. , C. , & J. Rivington, 1812,) - Vol. IV. of that edition (London, F. & C. Rivington, 1802) being the first posthumous volume, --and Vols. I. , II. , and
III. (London, J. Dodsley, 1792) comprising the collection published
during the lifetime of Mr. Burke.
? ? ? ? Vi PREFACE.
tion were soon experienced by us. The remoteness
of our places of residence in summer, and our professional and other avocations in winter, opposed perpetual obstacles to the progress of our undertaking.
Soon after the publication of the fourth volume,
I was rendered incapable of attending to any business
by a severe and tedious illness. And it was not long
after my recovery before the health of our invaluable
friend began gradually to decline, and soon became
unequal to the increasing labors of his profession and
the discharge of his Parliamentary duties. At length
we lost a man, of whom, as I shall have occasion to
speak more particularly in another part of this undertaking, I will now content myself with saying, that
in my humble opinion he merited, and certainly obtained with those best acquainted with his extensive
learning and information, a considerable rank amongst
the eminent persons who have adorned the age in
which we have lived, and of whose services the public have been deprived by a premature death.
From these causes little progress had been made
in our work when I was deprived of my coadjutor.
But from that time you can testify of me that I have
not been idle. You can bear witness to the confused
state in which the materials that compose the present
volume came into my hands. The difficulty of reading many of the manuscripts, obscured by innumerable erasures, corrections, interlineations, and marginal insertions, would perhaps have been insuperable
? ? ? ? PREFACE. Vii
to any person less conversant in the manuscripts of
Mr. Burke than myself. To this difficulty succeeded
that of selecting from several detached papers, written upon the same subject and the same topics, such
as appeared to contain the author's last thoughts and
emendations. WVhen these difficulties were overcome,
there still remained, in many instances, that of assigning its proper place to many detached members
of the same piece, where no direct note of connection
had been made. These circumstances, whilst they
will lead the reader not to expect, in the cases to
which they apply, the finished productions of Mr.
Burke, imposed upon me a task of great delicacy
and difficulty, - namely, that of deciding upon the
publication of any, and which, of these unfinished
pieces. I must here beg permission of you, and
Lord Fitzwilliam, to inform the public, that in the
execution of this part of my duty I requested and
obtained your assistance.
Our first care was to ascertain, from such evidence,
internal and external, as the manuscripts themselves
afforded, what pieces appeared to have been at any
time intended by the author for publication. Our
next was to select such as, though not originally intended for publication, yet appeared to contain matter that might contribute to the gratification and instruction of the public. Our last object was to determine what degree of imperfection and incorrectness in papers of either of these classes ought o
? ? ? ? V111 PREFACE.
ought not to exclude them from a place in the present volume. This was, doubtless, the most nice and
arduous part of our undertaking. The difficulty,
however, was, in our minds, greatly diminished by
our conviction that the reputation of our author stood
far beyond the reach of injury from any injudicious
conduct of ours in making this selection. On the
other hand, we were desirous that nothing should be
withheld, from which the public might derive ally
possible benefit.
Nothing more is now necessary than that I should
give a short account of the writings which compose
the present volume.
I. Fourth Letter on a Regicide Peace.
Some account has already been given of this Letter
in the Advertisement to the fourth quarto volume. *
That part of it which is contained between the first
and the middle of the page 67 t is taken from a manuscript which, nearly to the conclusion, had received
the author's last corrections: the subsequent part, to
the middle of the page 71,$ is taken from some loose
manuscripts, that were dictated by the author, but do
not appear to have been revised by him; and though
they, as well as what follows to the conclusion, were
evidently designed to make a part of this Letter, the
~ Prefixed to the first volume, in the other editions. For the account referred to, see, in the present edition, Vol. I. , pp. xiii. , xiv. T Page 86 of the present edition.
I In this edition, p. 91, near the top.
? ? ? ? PREFACE. iX
editor alone is responsible for the order in which they
are here placed. The last part, from the middle of
the page 71, had been printed as a part of the Letter
which was originally intended to be the third on Regicide Peace, as in the preface to the fourth volume has already been noticed.
It was thought proper to communicate this Letter
before its publication to Lord Auckland, the author
of the pamphlet so frequently alluded to in it. His
Lordship, in consequence of this communication, was
pleased to put into my hands a letter with which he
had sent his pamphlet to Mr. Burke at the time of its
publication, and MIr. Burke's answer to that letter.
These pieces, together with the note with which his
Lordship transmitted them to me, are prefixed to the
Letter on Regicide Peace.
II. Letter to the Empress of Russia.
III. Letter to Sir Charles Bingham.
IV. Letter to the Honorable Charles James Fox.
Of these Letters it will be sufficient to remark, that
they come under the second of those classes into
which, as I before observed, we divided the papers
that presented themselves to our consideration.
V. Letter to the Marquis of Rockingham.
VI. An Address to the King.
VII. An Address to the British Colonists in North
America.
These pieces relate to a most important period in
? ? ? ? X PREFACE.
the present reign; and I hope no apology will be
necessary for giving them to the public.
VIII. Letter to the Right Honorable Edmund
[Sexton] Pery.
IX. Letter to Thomas Burgh, Esq.
X. Letter to John MIerlott, Esq.
The reader will find, in a note annexed to each of
these Letters, an account of the occasions on which
they were written. The Letter to T. Burgh, Esq. ,
had found its way into some of the periodical prints
of the time in Dublin.
XI. Reflections on the Approaching E*ecutions.
It may not, perhaps, now be generally known that
Mr. Burke was a marked object of the rioters in this
disgraceful commotion, from whose fury he narrowly
escaped. The Reflections will be found to contain
maxims of the soundest judicial policy, and do equal
honor to the head and heart of their illustrious
writer.
XII. Letter to the Right Honorable Henry Dundas; with the Sketch of a Negro Code.
Mr. Burke, in the Letter to Mr. Dundas, has entered fully into his own views of the Slave Trade, and has thereby rendered any further explanation on that
subject at present unnecessary. With respect to the
Code itself, an unsuccessful attempt was made to procure the copy of it transmitted to Mr. Dundas. It was not to be found amongst his papers. The Editor
? ? ? ? PREFACE. Xi
has therefore been obliged to have recourse to a
rough draft of it in Mr. Burke's own handwriting;
from which he hopes he has succeeded in making a
pretty correct transcript of it, as well as in the attempt
lie has made to supply the marginal references alluded to in Mr. Burke's Letter to Mr. Dundas. XIII. Letter to the Chairman of the Bucking.
hamshire Meeting.
Of the occasion of this Letter an account is given
in the note subjoined [prefixed] to it.
XIV. Tracts and Letters relative to the Laws
against Popery in Ireland.
These pieces consist of,1. An unfinished Tract on the Popery Laws. Of
this Tract the reader will find an account in
the note prefixed to it.
2. A Letter to William Smith, Esq. Several copies of this letter having got abroad, it was printed and published in Dublin without the
permission of Mr. Burke, or of the gentleman
to whom it was addressed.
3. Second Letter to Sir Hercules Langrishe. This
may be considered as supplementary to the
first letter, addressed to the same person ill
January, 1792, which was published in the
third volume. *
4. Letter to Richard Burke, Esq. Of this letter
* In the fourth volume of the present edition.
? ? ? ? Xii PREFACE.
it will be necessary to observe, that the first
part of it appears to have been originally addressed by Mr. Burke to his son in the manner
in which it is now printed, but to have been
left unfinished; after whose death he probably
designed to have given the substance of it,
with additional observations, to the public in
some other form, but never found leisure or
inclination to finish it.
5. A Letter on the Affairs of Ireland, written in
the year 1797. The name of the person to
whom this letter was addressed does not appear on the manuscript; nor has the letter
been found to which it was written as an answer. And as the gentleman whom he employed as an amanuensis is not now living, no discovery of it can be made, unless this
publication of the letter should produce some
information respecting it, that may enable us
in a future volume to gratify, on this point,
the curiosity of the reader. The letter was
dictated, as he himself tells us, from his couch
at Bath; to which place he had gone, by the
advice of his physicians, in March, 1797. His
health was now rapidly declining; the vigor
of his mind remained unimpaired. This, my
dear friend, was, I believe, the last letter dictated by him on public affairs: - here ended
his political labors.
? ? ? ? PREFACE. xiii
XV. Fragments and Notes of Speeches in Parliament.
1. Speech on the Acts of Uniformity.
2. Speech on a Bill for the Relief of Protestant Dissenters.
8. Speech on the Petition of the Unitarians.
4. Speech on the Middlesex Election.
5. Speech on a Bill for shortening the Diuration of Parliaments. 6. Speech on the Reform of the Representation in Parliament. 7. Speech on a Bill for explaining the Powers
of Juries in Prosecutions for Libels.
*7. Letter relative to the same subject.
8. Speech on a Bill for repealing the Marriage
Act.
9. Speech on a Bill to quiet the Possessions of
the Subject against Dormant Claims of
the Church.
With respect to these fragments, I have already
stated the reasons by which we were influenced in
our determination to publish them. An account of
the state in which these manuscripts were found is
given in the note prefixed to this article.
XVI. Hints for an Essay on the Drama.
This fragment was perused in manuscript by a
learned and judicious critic, our late lamented friend,
Mr. Malone; and under the protection of his opinion
? ? ? ? xiv PREFACE.
we can feel no hesitation in submitting it to the judg.
ment of the public.
XVII. We are now come to the concluding article of this volume, -the Essay on the
History of England.
At what time of the author's life it was written
cannot now be exactly ascertained; but it was certainly begun before he had attained the age of twenty-seven years, as it appears from an entry in the books of the late Mr. Dodsley, that eight sheets of
it, which contain the first seventy-four pages. of the
present edition, * were printed in the year 1757. This
is the only part that has received the finishing
stroke of the author. In those who are acquainted
with the manner in which Mr. Burke usually composed his graver literary works, and of which some
account is given in the Advertisement prefixed to the'fourth volume, this circumstance will excite a deep
regret; and whilst the public partakes with us in
this feeling, it will doubtless be led to judge with. candor and indulgence of a work left in this imper-;fect and unfinished state by its author.
Before I conclude, it may not be improper to take,this opportunity of acquainting the public with the
progress that has been made towards the completion
of this undertaking. The sixth and seventh vol* The quarto edition, -extending as far as Book II. ch. 2, near
the middle of the paragraph commencing, t The same regard to the'welfare of the people," &c.
? ? ? ? PREFACE. XV
umes, which will consist entirely of papers that
have a relation to the affairs of the East India
Company, and to the impeachment of Mr. Hastings, are now in the press. The suspension of the
consideration of the affairs of the East India Company in Parliament till its next session has made me
very desirous to get the sixth volume out as early as
possible in the next winter. The Ninth and Eleventh
Reports of the Select Committee, appointed to take
into consideration certain affairs of the East India
Company in the year 1783, were written by Mr.
Burke, and will be given in that volume. They
contain a full and comprehensive view of the commerce, revenues, civil establishment, and general
policy of the Company, and will therefore be peculiarly interesting at this time to the public.
The eighth and last volume will contain a narrative of the life of Mr. Burke, which will be accompanied with such parts of his familiar correspondence, and other occasional productions, as shall be thought
fit for publication. * The materials relating to the
early years of his life, alluded to in the Advertisement to the fourth volume, have been lately recovered; and the communication of such as may
still remain in the possession of any private individuals is again most earnestly requested.
Unequal as I feel myself to the task, I shall, my
dear friend, lose no time, nor spare any pains, in
* This design the editor did not live to execute.
? ? ? ? xvi PREFACE.
discharging the arduous duty that has devolved upon
me. You know the peculiar difficulties I labor under
from the failure of my eyesight; and you may congratulate me upon the assistance which I have now procured from my neighbor, the worthy chaplain* of
Bromley College, who to the useful qualification of a
most patient amanuensis adds that of a good scholar
and intelligent critic.
And now, adieu, my dear friend,
And believe me ever affectionately yours,
WR. ROFFEN.
BROMLEY HousE, August 1, 1812.
* The Rev. J. J. Talman.
? ? ? ? FOURTH LETTER
ON THE
PROPOSALS FOR PEACE WITH THE REGICIDE DIRECTORY OF FRANCE.
ADDRESSED TO
THE EARL FITZWILLIAM.
I 795-7.
? ? ? ? PRELIMINARY CORRESPONDENCE.
Letter from the Right Honorable the Lord Auckland to the
Lord Bishop of Rochester.
EDEN FARM, KENT, July 18th, 1812.
M Y DEAR LORD, --MMr. Burke's fourth letter
to Lord Fitzwilliam is personally interesting to
me: I have perused it with a respectful attention.
When I communicated to Mr. Burke, in 1795, the
printed work which he arraigns and discusses, I was
aware that he would differ from me.
Some light is thrown on the transaction by my
note which gave rise to it, and by his answer, which
exhibits the admirable powers of his great and good
mind, deeply suffering at the time under a domestic
calamity.
I have selected these two papers from my manuscript collection, and now transmit them to your Lordship with a wish that they may be annexed to the publication in question.
I have the honor to be, my dear Lord,
Yours most sincerely,
AUCKLAND.
To THE RIGHT REV. THE LORD BISHOP OF ROCHESTER.
? ? ? ? 4 LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE,
Letter from Lord Auckland to the Righit Honorable
Edmund Burke.
EDEN FARM, KENT, October 28th, 1795.
MY DEAR SIR,Though in the stormy ocean of the last twentythree years we have seldom sailed on the same tack, there has been nothing hostile in our signals or manceuvres, and, on my part at least, there has been
a cordial disposition towards friendly and respectful
sentiments. Under that influence, I now send to you
a small work which exhibits my fair and full opinions
on the arduous circumstances of the moment, "as
far as the cautions necessary to be observed will
permit me to go beyond general ideas. "
Three or four of those friends with whom I am
most connected in public and private life are pleased
to think that the statement in question (which at
first made part of a confidential paper) may do good,
and accordingly a very large impression will be published to-day. I neither seek to avow the publication
nor do I wish to disavow it. I have no anxiety inll
that respect, but to contribute my mite to do service,
at a moment when service is much wanted.
I am, my dear Sir,
Most sincerely yours,
AUCKLAND.
RIGHT HON. EDMUND BURKE.
Letter from the Right Honorable Edmund Burke to Lord
Auckland.
MY DEAR LORD,I am perfectly sensible of the very flattering honor
you have done me in turning any part of your at
? ? ? ? CORRESPONDENCE INTRODUCTORY TO LETTER IV. 5 tention towards a dejected old man, buried in the anticipated grave of a feeble old age, forgetting and forgotten in an obscure and melancholy retreat.
In this retreat I have nothing relative to this world
to do, but to study all the tranquillity that in the
state of my mind I am capable of. To that end I
find it but too necessary to call to my aid an oblivion
of most of the circumstances, pleasant and unpleasant, of my life, -- to think as little and indeed to know as little as I can of everything that is doing
about me, - and, above all, to divert my mind from
all presagings and prognostications of what I must (if
I let my speculations loose) consider as of absolute necessity to happen after my death, and possibly even before it. Your address to the public, which you
have been so good as to send to me, obliges me to break in upon that plan, and to look a little on what
is behind, and very much on what is before me. It creates in my mind a variety of thoughts, and all of them unpleasant.
It is true, my Lord, what you say, that, through
our public life, we have generally sailed on somewhat different tacks. We have so, undoubtedly; and we should do so still, if I had continued longer to keep
the sea. In that difference, you rightly observe that
I have always done justice to your skill and ability as
a navigator, and to your good' intentions towards the safety of the cargo and of the ship's company. I connot say now that we are on different tacks. There would be no propriety in the metaphor. I can sail
no longer. My vessel cannot be said to be even in
port. She is wholly condemned and broken up. To have an idea of that vessel, you must call to mind what you have often seen on the Kentish road. Those
? ? ? ? 6 LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE.
planks of tough and hardy oak, that used for years
to brave the buffets of the Bay of Biscay, are now
turned, with their warped grain and empty trunnionholes, into very wretched pales for the inclosure of a
wretched farm-yard.
The style of your pamphlet, and the eloquence and
power of composition you display in it, are such as
do great honor to your talents, and in conveying any
other sentiments would give me very great pleasure.
Perhaps I do not very perfectly comprehend your
purpose, and the drift of your arguments. If I do
not, pray do not attribute my mistake to want of
candor, but to want of sagacity. I confess, your address to the public, together with other accompanying circumstances, has filled me with a degree of
grief and dismay which I cannot find words to express. If the plan of politics there recommended --
pray excuse my freedom - should be adopted by the
king's councils, and by the good people of this kingdom, (as, so recommended, undoubtedly it will,) nothing can be the consequence but utter and irretrievable ruin to the ministry, to the crown, to the succession,
- to the importance, to the independence, to the very
existence, of this country. This is my feeble, perhaps, but clear, positive, decided, long and maturely
reflected and frequently declared opinion, from which
all the events which have lately come to pass, so far
from turning me, have tended to confirm beyond the
power of alteration, even by your eloquence and authority. I find, my dear Lord, that you think some
persons, who are not satisfied with the securities of a
Jacobin peace, to be persons of intemperate minds.
I may be, and I fear I am, with you in that description; but pray, my Lord, recollect that very few of
? ? ? ? CORRESPONDENCE INTRODUCTORY TO LETTER IV. 7
the causes which make men intemperate can operate
upon me. Sanguine hopes, vehement desires, inordinate ambition, implacable animosity, party. attachments, or party interests, - all these with me have no existence. For myself, or for a family, (alas! I
have none,) I have nothing to hope or to fear in this
world. I am attached, by principle, inclination, and
gratitude, to the king, and to the present ministry.
Perhaps you may think that my animosity to opposition is the cause of my dissent, on seeing the politics
of Mr. Fox (which, while I was in the world, I combated by every instrument which God had put into
my hands, and in every situation in which I had
taken part) so completely, if I at all understand you,
adopted in your Lordship's book: but it was with
pain I broke with that great man forever in that
cause; and I assure you, it is not without pain that
I differ with your Lordship on the same principles.
But it is of no concern. I am far below the region of
those great and tempestuous passions. I feel nothing
of the intemperance of mind. It is rather sorrow and
dejection than anger.
Once more my best thanks' for your very polite attention; and do me the favor to believe me, with the
most perfect sentiments of respect and regard,
My dear Lord,
Your Lordship's most obedient and humble servant,
EDMUND BURE.
BEACONSFIELD, Oct. 30th, 1795.
Friday Evening.
? ? ? ? LETTER IV.
TO THE EARL FITZWILLIAM.
M Y DEAR LORD, --I am not sure that the best
way of discussing any subject, except those that
concern the abstracted sciences, is not somewhat in
the way of dialogue. To this mode, however, there
are two objections: the first, that it happens, as in
the puppet-show, one man speaks for all the personages. An unnatural uniformity of tone is in a manner unavoidable. The other and more serious objection is, that, as the author (if not an absolute skeptic) must have some opinion of his own to enforce, he will be continually tempted to enervate the
arguments he puts into the mouth of his adversary,
or to place them in a point of view most commodious
for their refutation. There is, however, a sort of dialogue not quite so liable to these objections, because
it approaches more nearly to truth and Nature: it
is called CONTROVERSY. Here the parties speak for
themselves. If the writer who attacks another's notions does not deal fairly with his adversary, the
diligent reader has it always in his power, by resorting to the work examined, to do justice to the
original author and to himself. For this reason you
will not blame me, if, in my discussion of the merits
of a Regicide Peace, I do not choose to trust to my
own statements, but to bring forward along with!
? ? ? ? 10 LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE.
them the arguments of the advocates for that measure. If I choose puny adversaries, writers of no estimation or authority, then you will justly blame me. I might as well bring ill at once a fictitious speaker,
and thus fall into all the inconveniences of all imaginary dialogue. This I shall avoid; and I shall take
no notice of any author who my friends in town do
not tell me is in estimation with those whose opinions he supports.
A piece has been sent to me, called " Some Remarks on the Apparent Circumstances of the War in
the Fourth Week of October, 1795," with a French
motto: "Que faire encore une fois dans une telle nuit? .
Attendre le jour. " The very title seemed to me striking and peculiar, and to announce something uncommon. In the time I have lived to, I always seem to walk on enchanted ground. Everything is new. and,
according to the fashionable phrase, revolutionary.
In former days authors valued themselves upon the
maturity and fulness of their deliberations. Accordingly, they predicted (perhaps with more arrogance
than reason) an eternal duration to their works.
The quite contrary is our present fashion. Writers
value themselves now on the instability of their opinions and the transitory life of their productions. On
this kind of credit the modern institutors open their
schools. They write for youth, and it is sufficient,
if the instruction "lasts as long as a present love, or
as the painted silks and cottons of the season. "
The doctrines in this work are applied, for their
standard, with great exactness, to the shortest possible periods both of conception and duration. The
title is " Some Remarks on the Apparent Circum-:stances of the War in the Fozurth Week of October,
? ? ? ? LETTER IV. 11
1795. " The time is critically chosen. A month or
so earlier would have made it the anniversary of a
bloody Parisian September, when the French massacre one another. A day or two later would have carried it into a London November, the gloomy month in which it is said by a pleasant author that Englishmen hang and drown themselves. In truth, this
work has a tendency to alarm us with symptoms
of public suicide. However, there is one comfort
to be taken even from the gloomy time of year. It
is a rotting season. If what is brought to market is
not good, it is not likely to keep long. Even buildings run up in haste with untempered mortar in that
humid weather, if they are ill-contrived tenements,
do not threaten long to incumber the earth. The
author tells us (and I believe he is the very first
author that ever told such a thing to his readers)
"that the entire fabric of his speculations might be
overset by unforeseen vicissitudes," and what is far
more extraordinary, " that even the whole consideration might be varied whilst he was writing those
pages. " Truly, in my poor judgment, this circumstance formed a very substantial motive for his not
publishing those ill-considered considerations at all.
He ought to have followed the good advice of his
motto: " Quefaire encore dans une telle nuit? Attendre le jour. " He ought to have waited till he had
got a little more daylight on this subject. Night itself is hardly darker than the fogs of that time.
Finding the last week in October so particularly referred to, and not perceiving any particular event,
relative to the war, which happened on any of the
days in that week, I thought it possible that they
were marked by some astrological superstition, to
? ? ?
